27 replies to this topic

[Scyther]

Still making an effort to give the Portal a fair chance and see if it's workable.

So far, the Portal won't recognize my current installation, and wants to download the full 16.7 gig game files and re-install the game when I click 'Patch'.

Also, while the 'Repair Tool' in Portal does say it will check my current install directory, it simply hangs when I click 'Start Scan' and I need to use Task Manager to shut it down, since the window does not respond to anything else.

Further, 'Repair Tool' from the Launcher works fine. On Startup it brings up a dialog saying "This tool will shut down the Launcher to proceed", shuts it down, starts work. The Portal says 'please ensure no other copies of the Portal or Launcher are running.' and sits there waiting for you to go and shut them down.

PGI, I think it is wonderful that you give high school kids the chance to get some hands-on programming experience. But really, for your game launcher, don't you think it would be better to use real programmers?

Some background:
-I don't have, use or want Steam

-The current game directory is C:\Games\Piranha Games\, which was the default way back when I first installed MWO (in WinXP or maybe Vista). It's worked fine ever since.

-'Repair Tool' from Launcher ran fine, no errors. From Portal I started Repair Tool, then closed the open Portal (since the Portal repair tool seems to not be able to), then clicked Start Scan. After 10 minutes of nothing happening and not even being able to interact with the Repair window (not even to minimize or close it), I shut it down with Task Manager and tried again. Same result.

-500 gigs of free disk space.

Edited by MadBadger, 22 June 2017 - 06:27 AM.

[Tarl Cabot]

PGI Portal is having similar issues that SOE (now DayBreakGames, both much LARGER companies) had with their launchpad when they were trying to make changes it. It was installed separately in its own location but it had issues with locating existing assets and launching the games, re-installing games into a different location, etc, etc. SOE ended up REINTEGRATING the Launchpad for each game back into each game's actual folder.

What is interesting is that PGI Portal assets is similar to SOE assets, with files awesomium that sticks out, as some antivirus/firewall programs had issues with awesomium files, which is used to render GUI.

The big issue is the PGI Portal when installed elsewhere updates itself and puts it into program's default installation location @ c:\program files (x86)\Piranha Games\MWO Portal and associated programdata locations which I do NOT like. So I do not use it.

Even Steam and Origin, once installed on the user's preferred drive/location by then installs their games downloaded from it under its umbrella. And no, I do not run my games on C: drive.

PGI Portal was their attempt to access both Live and PTS servers from one screen but a much larger company had issues with it several years ago attempting to have a standalone launchpad, I do not see PGI succeeding by keeping it separated. Growing pains

Quote

Awesomium is a flexible, windowless, web-browser framework that is meant to be used in your own applications. Think of it as if we took Chrome, chopped it into smaller, re-usable pieces, and served it to you on a nice shiny 32-bit BGRA pixel-buffer platter.

It is not an application, it is not a web-browser; it is a tool to add web-browser-like capabilities to another application.

1st edit. Download the Portal and doing a reinstall of it to check if some of its functionalities have been changed since PGI does not post if any updates have been made to it or not.

2nd edit. Okay, on my installation, it did show PGI default location: c:\program files (x86)\Piranha Games\ but it did allow me to redirect to my game directory, f:\games\Piranha Games and installed there as f:\games\Piranha Games\Portal , ran and patched that game in that location.

Two months ago I had it in that location then it said it needed something, update but it installed a second copy into c:\program files (x86)\Piranha Games\Portal, uninstall and attempted to reinstall would not give my any other option so I uninstalled it.

I will uninstall the launchpad, allow this version to install in PGI default location and see what transpires.

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 22 June 2017 - 09:10 AM.

[LordNothing]

the repair tool still doesnt function when launched from the portal. you can still run it, you just have to use the launcher. its not a terrible thing but a bug is a bug.

its actually a different version of the repair tool than the one that comes with the launcher. you can launch the og repairtool without a command line and it finds all the directories just fine. the portal repair tool requires command line parameters to find the files and will not run on its own. its probibly just a textual glitch in the shell command issued by the portal. an extra backslash or improperly used relative paths.

Edited by LordNothing, 22 June 2017 - 08:11 AM.

[Tarl Cabot]

Quote

-The current game directory is C:\Games\Piranha Games\, which was the default way back when I first installed MWO (in WinXP or maybe Vista). It's worked fine ever since.

Quote

So far, the Portal won't recognize my current installation, and wants to download the full 16.7 gig game files and re-install the game when I click 'Patch'.

It is possible that Portal should be installed in the base directory, ie \Piranha Games\, the same location as the MWO is located.

Uninstall Portal. Download a new Portal installer and when it shows the default directory c:\program files (x86)\Piranha Games\, click on change directory. Locate and select the location your MWO is installed in, the C:\Games\Piranha Games\ and install it there. Does it still asks to download/install the entire game?

What the Portal needs is the ability, once installed and if PGI is going to keep it as a separate tool from the game directory itself, is to allow a player to select the default directory, and even add more than one MWO directory.

The only way to check to see what folder Portal sees is to start up the Repair tool

Mine is as follows Using base folder F:\Games\Piranha Games\MechWarrior Online\

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 22 June 2017 - 10:00 AM.

[Aesthir]

I saw the notice and downloaded the portal.

When I tried to run it, it told me I had to completely uninstall and reinstall the game to make it work.

So when PGI forces its solution to a problem nobody had onto people, I'll have to decide whether or not to keep playing.

[Thorqemada]

The Launcher did not start the game but the Portal launches it - only weird thing is i get a not supportet gpu message for my RX480....but MWO runs.

[Tarl Cabot]

Okay, created a new windows account with no history of MWO installed.

I still directed Portal installation to my F drive, F:\games\Piranha Games so its folder is sitting next to MWO folder.

Started Portal, it had the Install Button at the bottom and when I clicked on it (repair tool was not actionable at this time) it did want to install the game in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Piranha Games\ but before click Next, it did allow me to redirect it to F:\games\Piranha Games. DO NOT SELECT driver letter aka F:\games\Piranha Games\MechWarrior Online. Again, do not select your existing game folder. (see further below).

Since the game had been patched on another Window Account, it only went through validating patching but no additional files being downloaded.

F:\games\Piranha Games

It is important that when selecting where the actual game installation is to happen, it is to the base folder Piranha Games and do not select MechWarrior Online folder.

I believe this is part of the issue. The user is not aware that the directory C:\Program Files (x86)\Piranha Games\ for either Portal or MWO does not contain the actual directory that will be created, in each instance MWO Portal or MechWarrior Online. So when the user installing Portal for the first time, regardless of where he/she installs it, once it is installed and started up and the user hits Install button for MWO, the step on where to install it, the user is selecting the actual MechWarrior Online folder itself.

If the user selects MechWarrior Online then the actual path looks like this F:\games\Piranha Games\MechWarrior Online\MechWarrior Online, thus that installer is rightfully NOT seeing any game assets

So PGI needs to add a follow up screen showing how Portal, then MechWarrior Online installation path will look like before going to the NEXT button, so if necessary the user can correct it.

OR - PGI can change it and show COMPLETE NAME pathing but still have the followup confirmation screen showing the path itself.

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 22 June 2017 - 01:33 PM.

[Bulletsponge0]

MadBadger, on 22 June 2017 - 06:24 AM, said:

Still making an effort to give the Portal a fair chance and see if it's workable.

So far, the Portal won't recognize my current installation, and wants to download the full 16.7 gig game files and re-install the game when I click 'Patch'.

Also, while the 'Repair Tool' in Portal does say it will check my current install directory, it simply hangs when I click 'Start Scan' and I need to use Task Manager to shut it down, since the window does not respond to anything else.

Further, 'Repair Tool' from the Launcher works fine. On Startup it brings up a dialog saying "This tool will shut down the Launcher to proceed", shuts it down, starts work. The Portal says 'please ensure no other copies of the Portal or Launcher are running.' and sits there waiting for you to go and shut them down.

PGI, I think it is wonderful that you give high school kids the chance to get some hands-on programming experience. But really, for your game launcher, don't you think it would be better to use real programmers?

Some background:
-I don't have, use or want Steam

-The current game directory is C:\Games\Piranha Games\, which was the default way back when I first installed MWO (in WinXP or maybe Vista). It's worked fine ever since.

-'Repair Tool' from Launcher ran fine, no errors. From Portal I started Repair Tool, then closed the open Portal (since the Portal repair tool seems to not be able to), then clicked Start Scan. After 10 minutes of nothing happening and not even being able to interact with the Repair window (not even to minimize or close it), I shut it down with Task Manager and tried again. Same result.

-500 gigs of free disk space.

I've reported this issue to support. They claim the repair tool is still working, but the UI just hangs up and to wait for it to catch up to what is actually going on. That is completely false. I've let it run for over an hour and the UI never unfroze. I've informed them of this, but haven't received a response yet.

[Tarl Cabot]

Bulletsponge0, on 22 June 2017 - 01:51 PM, said:

I've reported this issue to support. They claim the repair tool is still working, but the UI just hangs up and to wait for it to catch up to what is actually going on. That is completely false. I've let it run for over an hour and the UI never unfroze. I've informed them of this, but haven't received a response yet.

From the Portal, there are two RepairTool Links..the very top from from the triple line does hang for the first time as the path to MWO has not been created for the tool. But selecting the Repair Tool the MWO picture does populate quickly.

All of that will not work if Portal is not linked to the users actual MWO directory, and for the first time it has to be directed to it following the install instructions I made in the previous post and allow it to finalize the results.

Edit. That I had to play with Portal, installing/uninstalling on different Windows accounts to check its behavior and the workarounds would mean to me that Portal setup is not intuitively setup for the average user. It lacks additional information on each screen while also missing a screen to finalize the installation location.

An example, esp for new users, if Portal is installed on G drive instead of C drive, then MWO installation should ALSO, by modified default, populate G drive instead of the base default C drive. And that is providing whether or not PGI intends to keep Portal separated from the actual game or do the smart thing and incorporate it into the actual game directory.

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 22 June 2017 - 06:16 PM.

[Tier5 Kerensky]

The portal checks for registry for where the game is supposed to be installed.

Check that the keys exists and point to right place.

https://mwomercs.com...installed-game/

[LordNothing]

registry key certainly does fix the game not detected issue. i managed to cause and fix the error by changing it. but it doesn't seem to do anything for the repair tool. when it scans it does complete the bin32 folder, which is the first folder in the 'MechWarrior Online' directory. its finding the directory, but then it screws up returning to the parent directory to scan the next folder. i think the problem lies in path switching. something stupid like using a .\ or \ instead of a ..\ could screw this up. you want to go to parent directory with ..\ but go to local directory instead with .\ and root directory (for the drive) with \. failing to count dots is bad pgi.

its better to concatenate two strings, the local path within the directory with the directory specified in the registry. thus the commands are issued with a full path with no relative path switching. explicit paths are good. no guess work, no depending on slightly varying behavior between os versions.

Edited by LordNothing, 22 June 2017 - 09:52 PM.

[Vellron2005]

On the subject of portal not working properly.. I could not install last patch, it would hang mid-way, and not install at all.. All other features and launching the game worked fine, but updating would hang and stall..

The Launcher works fine.

Support was informed of this.

[Scyther]

@Tarl Cabot:
Good testing Tarl, and TY, however the Portal is currently installed in the correct directory. My C:\Games\Piranha Games\ directory holds:

-C:\Games\Piranha Games\MechWarrior Online\
-C:\Games\Piranha Games\MWO Portal\
-C:\Games\Piranha Games\MWO Public Test\
-C:\Games\Piranha Games\MWO Update\

With the old launcher, everything works fine. With the new launcher, Public Test worked when it was up, nothing else does. I will check the second Repair Tool option you mentioned.


@Teer Kerensky:
TY for the tip, Teer, unfortunately it's not the issue for me. I'll copy the post I put in your thread:

"Good tip, Teer, and TY for the research. However, my Portal is installed in the current directory (C:\Games\Piranha Games\) and that Registry HKEY location has the entry INSTALL_LOCATION C:\Games\Piranha Games\ and it still can't find it.

It's never been moved since original install, although the OS has been updated a couple times.
The current(old) launcher has no problem finding it.
The current MWO Repair Tool finds it, but the Portal Repair Tool (although it specifically says it will check the correct current install location) simply hangs and does nothing.

The fact that the old launcher finds the correct install, and updates it correctly, and the old Repair Tool correctly works on the correct location, means that PGI already has the correct, functioning code to make this work.

They simply botched it in the Portal, are pretending the problem isn't on their end, and are ignoring multiple posts showing that their 'new improved we'll-force-you-to-use' system is broken.

When it actually works, I'll use it. Until then, any other help or advice (such as your helpful registry check) I will look into to see if the source of the problem can be located. Apparently, unless we debug their crap code for them, PGI can't be bothered."

(Edit: Running Win10 64-bit currently)

Edited by MadBadger, 23 June 2017 - 02:27 AM.

[Tarl Cabot]

Quote

The fact that the old launcher finds the correct install, and updates it correctly, and the old Repair Tool correctly works on the correct location, means that PGI already has the correct, functioning code to make this work.

Just to emphasis something here. The current launcher/repairtool is INTEGRATED in MWO folder itself, in the Mechwarrior Online\Bin32 folder. The new MWO Portal (both launcher/its repair tool) is NOT integrated into MWO. It is an external program that can be installed anywhere on a harddrive.

Once Portal has been installed then when the user clicks on the INSTALL MWO button on the launcher, if there is an existing MWO on the computer and the user points the installer to the folder RIGHT BEFORE Mechwarrior Online, the MWO will start the installation, see an existing installation and then verify the contents. If there is no MWO installed, the user can point the MWO to ANY location, any drive, again because the MWO Portal is not an integrated part of MWO.

Does that make sense?

[Scyther]

It does make sense, although the only way I can test that (now that Portal is already installed) is to uninstall Portal (hopefully without uninstalling anything else), then re-install it, carefully selecting the proper directory as you pointed out. So that is the next project once I get time this evening, will report back on success or failure.

[Bulletsponge0]

Tarl Cabot, on 22 June 2017 - 06:06 PM, said:

From the Portal, there are two RepairTool Links..the very top from from the triple line does hang for the first time as the path to MWO has not been created for the tool. But selecting the Repair Tool the MWO picture does populate quickly.

All of that will not work if Portal is not linked to the users actual MWO directory, and for the first time it has to be directed to it following the install instructions I made in the previous post and allow it to finalize the results.

Edit. That I had to play with Portal, installing/uninstalling on different Windows accounts to check its behavior and the workarounds would mean to me that Portal setup is not intuitively setup for the average user. It lacks additional information on each screen while also missing a screen to finalize the installation location.

An example, esp for new users, if Portal is installed on G drive instead of C drive, then MWO installation should ALSO, by modified default, populate G drive instead of the base default C drive. And that is providing whether or not PGI intends to keep Portal separated from the actual game or do the smart thing and incorporate it into the actual game directory.

nope. portal patches the game just fine. but the repair tool from the portal (no matter what way you start it from the portal) does not work.

[Tarl Cabot]

MadBadger, on 23 June 2017 - 03:39 AM, said:

It does make sense, although the only way I can test that (now that Portal is already installed) is to uninstall Portal (hopefully without uninstalling anything else), then re-install it, carefully selecting the proper directory as you pointed out. So that is the next project once I get time this evening, will report back on success or failure.

Uninstalling Portal should only uninstall it and nothing else. Played with it enough on two different window accounts and in different locations to observe that.

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 23 June 2017 - 02:25 PM.

[Vellron2005]

Apparently, my Portal does not want to hotfix either.. it took it over half an hour to get to some 75% hotfix, and then it just stopped..

I canceled it, opened the launcher, it was done and hotfixed in under a minute..

PGI, please, FIX THE PORTAL if you're gonna remove the launcher!

[Nesutizale]

Interesting I have none of these issues.
I uninstalled MWO, cleared my registry and installed the Portal and done. Never had any problems with it afterwards.

Only complain I would have is that the PTS is a seperate installation that downloads all the files and makes a complete installation instead of using the existing files and only replaceing the files that are needed for the PTS.
Except the patch is that complax that you have to replace all files it should be possible to keep the PTS smaller in size.

Edited by Nesutizale, 26 June 2017 - 07:04 AM.

[Calebos]

Portal is the same rubbish sh*t as the previous launcher. If the game needs so called repair tool because it is not able to keep its integrity devs should start to use brains and do something with that.