Question about DRM-free installer for Destroyer of Worlds

[LaGrange]

Over the years I bought AI War and its first five expansions from Humble Bundle (some more than once). This means I can just download the game from HB, and install it on any computer, without Steam. Of course, HB also gave me Steam keys, which I use for my main PC installation of the game.

I recently bought the sixth expansion, Destroyer of Worlds. That was a good decision. But I bought it from Steam, rather than from HB. That was a bad decision. Because now it means I don't have a DRM-free installer for the *whole* game.

Question: is there a way for me to get a direct download version of Destroyer of Worlds from Arcen, on the grounds that I bought it through Steam? Or will Arcen Games say, "Sorry, pal, you should have bought it direct from us, or from HB!"

Barring this, what will happen if I copy the RuntimeData/Expansions/6 folders from the Steam installation to the direct download installation on my other PC, in order to 'install' DoW there? Will AIWar.exe detect these files and say, "Hey, where did these come from? There's no license key. You have demo status only!" or something?

[keith.lamothe]

Question: is there a way for me to get a direct download version of Destroyer of Worlds from Arcen, on the grounds that I bought it through Steam? Or will Arcen Games say, "Sorry, pal, you should have bought it direct from us, or from HB!"

You could email arcengames at gmail dot com with some kind of proof of purchase.  I don't know the exact policy but I think we can set you up.

Barring this, what will happen if I copy the RuntimeData/Expansions/6 folders from the Steam installation to the direct download installation on my other PC, in order to 'install' DoW there? Will AIWar.exe detect these files and say, "Hey, where did these come from? There's no license key. You have demo status only!" or something?

That will work just fine

[x4000]

Barring this, what will happen if I copy the RuntimeData/Expansions/6 folders from the Steam installation to the direct download installation on my other PC, in order to 'install' DoW there? Will AIWar.exe detect these files and say, "Hey, where did these come from? There's no license key. You have demo status only!" or something?

That will work just fine

Also, I should note that the "installer" for DOW is literally just a zip of that folder, with a little instruction file that reads as follows:

Installing the Destroyer of Worlds expansion for AI War: Fleet Command is very straightforward:

1. Navigate to the folder in which you have placed the base game.
2. Inside this folder, click into the RuntimeData folder.
3. Then click into the Expansions folder.
4. Unzip this archive into the Expansions folder.

At that point you should have a folder named as follows:
{GameInstallLocation}/RuntimeData/Expansions/6/

When you start up version 7.048 or higher of AI War, it will detect
the expansion and you will see the logo for "Destroyer of Worlds" on the title
screen under the main AI War logo.

We no longer use literal installers, because those were not linux-compatible, and added a goodly bit of bloat to the actual game download size, as well as taking longer to install, and being annoying with add/remove programs, and so on.  Humble should actually have the latest version of stuff on there now, so if you downloaded it back when there was the weekly Arcen sale, it should now have the new zip-file-style version of the game up there instead.  DOW aside, of course, since that's newer.

[LaGrange]

We no longer use literal installers, because those were not linux-compatible, and added a goodly bit of bloat to the actual game download size, as well as taking longer to install, and being annoying with add/remove programs, and so on.  Humble should actually have the latest version of stuff on there now, so if you downloaded it back when there was the weekly Arcen sale, it should now have the new zip-file-style version of the game up there instead.  DOW aside, of course, since that's newer.

Thanks guys. (You are amazing developers, BTW!)

OK, so it's just .zip files nowadays. Chris, you're right that Humble has the latest version of stuff. I was surprised to see that, but it was in fact updated. In fact, I redownloaded the AI War Collection (2013) last night. But it doesn't include DoW, since I bought that off Steam. So I was wondering what would happen if I copied the DoW-from-Steam files to the other installation. I guess you're saying that it will recognize DoW as the genuine article, and won't cripple it as a demo or something?

[LaGrange]

You could email arcengames at gmail dot com with some kind of proof of purchase.  I don't know the exact policy but I think we can set you up.

Well, I don't want to take advantage of your kindness. After all, I think you get less money from the Steam sale than from any direct sale.

That will work just fine

OK, I think that settles it, then. I can just copy the files over and it will work. I should just zip up the Steam files for DoW, and that will be that! :-)

[keith.lamothe]

OK, I think that settles it, then. I can just copy the files over and it will work. I should just zip up the Steam files for DoW, and that will be that! :-)

Yea, the game's fully portable, even the steam version can be run without steam running, and can be zipped up, put on a jumpdrive, moved to a different computer, run there (from the jumpdrive, if you wish, though ymmv), etc.  If it's got all the executable files (rather than just the windows .exe) you can even hop across OS's that way

[x4000]

We no longer use literal installers, because those were not linux-compatible, and added a goodly bit of bloat to the actual game download size, as well as taking longer to install, and being annoying with add/remove programs, and so on.  Humble should actually have the latest version of stuff on there now, so if you downloaded it back when there was the weekly Arcen sale, it should now have the new zip-file-style version of the game up there instead.  DOW aside, of course, since that's newer.

Thanks guys. (You are amazing developers, BTW!)

OK, so it's just .zip files nowadays. Chris, you're right that Humble has the latest version of stuff. I was surprised to see that, but it was in fact updated. In fact, I redownloaded the AI War Collection (2013) last night. But it doesn't include DoW, since I bought that off Steam. So I was wondering what would happen if I copied the DoW-from-Steam files to the other installation. I guess you're saying that it will recognize DoW as the genuine article, and won't cripple it as a demo or something?

Thank you much!  And I know Keith already cleared this up, but just to be extra clear: everything that the game needs in order to know "this is the real deal full expansion" is within that DoW-from-Steam files folder (the "6" folder from inside the Expansions folder).  There is also a demo version of the expansion, but it's different from the full version one you have.

[LaGrange]

And I know Keith already cleared this up, but just to be extra clear: everything that the game needs in order to know "this is the real deal full expansion" is within that DoW-from-Steam files folder (the "6" folder from inside the Expansions folder).  There is also a demo version of the expansion, but it's different from the full version one you have.

OK, that makes complete sense. In fact, I was comparing the DoW-demo zip file with the "6" DoW-Steam folder, and the latter seemed to have quite a few more files.

BTW, one final question: what is the distinctive property of the demo files? Is it the full game with a time limit per session or something?

[x4000]

Sorry for the slow response, it was a holiday weekend as well as my son's 4th birthday.

The demo causes the game to be limited to simple ship types, and 3 hours per campaign.

[LaGrange]

Sorry for the slow response, it was a holiday weekend as well as my son's 4th birthday.

The demo causes the game to be limited to simple ship types, and 3 hours per campaign.

OK, thanks!

I have three sons myself, ages 12, 10, and 9. Next birthday is November :-)

[x4000]

Good ages!  That's such a fun range of ages for boys in particular.