104 replies to this topic

[Doctor Dinosaur]

PFC Carsten, on 22 January 2018 - 11:29 PM, said:

Yeah, that's what I'm doing too. I just hoped that maybe the Portal would turn into something useful at some point (apart from the PTS islanders). Announcing important gameplay changes for example ...
https://twitter.com/...612111278764032

When you have to look at the forum to see what's going on on twitter to know what should be on the news on the website of that game you are playing.
What the hell PGI, what the hell.

[Nesutizale]

Little thing but could you start using UTC instead of PDT?

[Ninjah]

Nesutizale, on 23 January 2018 - 09:52 AM, said:

Little thing but could you start using UTC instead of PDT?

And CET too Maybe the code could detect/read user's timezone and switch accordingly.

Edited by Ninjah, 23 January 2018 - 11:19 AM.

[Scanz]

looking like blizzard launcher, but with some UI bugs ;D

[Krist Smith]

Nesutizale, on 23 January 2018 - 09:52 AM, said:

Little thing but could you start using UTC instead of PDT?

Do you mean in the news posts and whatnot? I'll bug Matt and Alex and ask them to include UTC. The game itself does account for timezones. At least the maintenance ticker does, not sure if there are other places that don't. If there's somewhere else that you mean, lemme know.

Scanz, on 23 January 2018 - 11:35 AM, said:

looking like blizzard launcher, but with some UI bugs ;D

Yeah, a lot of game portals tend to look similar. I say that with zero defensiveness since I didn't design it. I did, however, code it, so if you can be any more specific about the UI bugs you referred to, I'd appreciate it.

[Krist Smith]

Ninjah, on 22 January 2018 - 02:41 PM, said:

Nope, I only have one administrator account, didn't even create a windows user (skipped that). I'm running Windows 8.1 (everything up-to-date). Also I have MWO and Portal installed on my other drive since system SSD is almost full.

Well, bear in mind that both the Portal and game still use a couple of standard Windows directories, such as ProgramData and your Saved Games directories. Both of these are, by default, on your C: drive. Not that there's much data saved to either directory, usually less than 100 MB (mostly game storage), but it's something to be aware of, at least. If this is a concern, you can relocate your Windows Saved Game directory fairly easily, but I'm not sure about the ProgramData directory.

[Ninjah]

Krist Smith, on 23 January 2018 - 01:00 PM, said:

Well, bear in mind that both the Portal and game still use a couple of standard Windows directories, such as ProgramData and your Saved Games directories. Both of these are, by default, on your C: drive. Not that there's much data saved to either directory, usually less than 100 MB (mostly game storage), but it's something to be aware of, at least. If this is a concern, you can relocate your Windows Saved Game directory fairly easily, but I'm not sure about the ProgramData directory.

Everything is working just fine now, it's pretty fast too

[D V Devnull]

Krist Smith, on 22 January 2018 - 04:43 PM, said:

<<<snip>>>

Lol, I fully expected this to turn into a Q&A, so I'll A as much as I can (still have work to do for tomorrow's patch, after all).

<<<snip>>>

3. The Repair Tool. This is a different sort of thing. Right now it's conceivable to make it only run as admin if the game is installed to a protected directory, but I eventually plan on adding some more features and fixes that might require it to manipulate the registry (one of the problems with the old installer involved things being placed in per-user registry keys which should be in per-machine keys). Registry manipulation of this sort will require admin permissions out of necessity.

Hi again, and thank you for your answers on everything. They're very enlightening.

Perhaps with the Repair Tool, the first pass could be run without requiring Admin Mode, acting Read-Only with HKLM during that step? Then if Registry Manipulation is needed for some reason, ask to restart in Admin Mode where Windows will ask for needed Credentials, but only to handle what's needed in the Registry, flipping back to Non-Admin Mode afterward? I understand that would require some extra work, but it might give the opening needed to allow Per-User Operations as well?

Krist Smith, on 22 January 2018 - 04:43 PM, said:

4. Yeah, this is part of the problem we're having with download speeds, and a big reason why we're implemented the whole "download cache" option. So now while I'm completely focused on the Portal I'll do some investigation into options we may have to speed things up. Impersonating a web browser might not be possible, but I might be able to knit Portal functionality into your default browser, simplifying the process down to just a couple of clicks, as opposed to so many manual steps.

I wonder if Steam impersonates a Web Browser during Patch Downloads? Do you have a way of checking that, and possibly doing similar behavior in the Portal if needed? There was a recent shakedown in extensions for Web Browsers recently, so cross-linking out to the MWO Portal's '.exe' might not be possible anymore.



Oh, this reminds me! I have one extra question that comes to mind. With the Install of the MWO Portal, are there any extra MicroSoft Redistributable Runtimes that I should be aware of needing to have for the MWO Portal?



Thank you again for being active on this thread and answering questions and other thoughts from your community! I'll be looking forward to your reply to this post as well!

~D. V. "Very glad to have a chance to understand things" Devnull

[C337Skymaster]

Serves me right for not clicking random links on strange websites.... Had to wait until they posted a news feed post about it to realize they FINALLY fixed the Scouting weight for Clans!! My poor, neglected Stormcrows! (And just in time for the Black Lanner, eh? I still think they would have been better served to have done that before the early adopter rewards expired, but hey: better late than never ).

[Krist Smith]

D V Devnull, on 23 January 2018 - 01:59 PM, said:

Hi again, and thank you for your answers on everything. They're very enlightening. Perhaps with the Repair Tool, the first pass could be run without requiring Admin Mode, acting Read-Only with HKLM during that step? Then if Registry Manipulation is needed for some reason, ask to restart in Admin Mode where Windows will ask for needed Credentials, but only to handle what's needed in the Registry, flipping back to Non-Admin Mode afterward? I understand that would require some extra work, but it might give the opening needed to allow Per-User Operations as well? I wonder if Steam impersonates a Web Browser during Patch Downloads? Do you have a way of checking that, and possibly doing similar behavior in the Portal if needed? There was a recent shakedown in extensions for Web Browsers recently, so cross-linking out to the MWO Portal's '.exe' might not be possible anymore. Oh, this reminds me! I have one extra question that comes to mind. With the Install of the MWO Portal, are there any extra MicroSoft Redistributable Runtimes that I should be aware of needing to have for the MWO Portal? Thank you again for being active on this thread and answering questions and other thoughts from your community! I'll be looking forward to your reply to this post as well! ~D. V. "Very glad to have a chance to understand things" Devnull

Well, the problem is that a process can't be elevated once it's running. It is either started as admin or not. So the Repair Tool would have to do a scan, save out the results, restart itself as admin, make the changes, then restart itself again as non-admin. And then if you scan again, the whole thing has to happen again. It's just a lot to deal with, but as I work on the Portal in general I'll try to see if there's any way to be more "administrator wise" across the board.

As for the prerequisites, the Portal just needs .NET 4.5.2, which is pretty standard nowadays, although the installer does download and apply it if it's not already present on your system. The game itself just requires DirectX, which also gets installed if not present.

Which reminds me, there is another case in which admin access is required (and there's no real way around it) - when there's a Portal update, the update process requires elevation. I try not to drop updates too frequently for single small-scale fixes, but Portal updates do happen, and they do require admin access. Just felt I should point that out.

[Tarl Cabot]

Quicks, on 23 January 2018 - 07:45 AM, said:

I just tried the new portal download, it wants me to install the game again! This is not going to happen. I guess if the old one stops working, I will also stop playing!

Can you post a screenshot of the installer, the where it shows the location it will install? And where is your game actually installed? That is why I do not like the default installation location, ESPECIALLY for online games that are constantly being updated. Learned that a long time ago with Everquest. Started with Vista and it has simply been downhill after that with copying files to a "virtual location", etc.

If you did use the default location, you can do a few things.

Uninstall MWO Portal

make a folder off the C/D/E, whatever drive you are going to use and create a new directory/folder Games. Locate your Piranha Games\Mechwarrior Online folder and copy it to the Games folder. It should look like c:\games\Piranha Games\Mechwarrior Online Now, reinstall MWO Portal but do not use the default setup. Direct it to c:\games\Piranha Games (do not add anything afterwards) That patcher will create the MWO Portal.

Now MWO Portal, when it starts, will say it needs to install Mechwarrior Online (I am INTENTIONALLY spelling it out). Click on the install button, do NOT use default setup. Now point it to c:\games\Piranha Games but do NOT add anything after that (this is the higher folder Mechwarrior Online was moved to) It will start to patch then say it needs to validate installation..

Now you are set. Again, the installation directory needs the entire line EXCEPT Mechwarrior Online for the game and MWO Portal (for the patcher/launchpad).

And Kristy, this is what I mean, the final destination DOES NOT HAVE THE NECESSARY wording. We are talking about the average Joe/Sheila, and Portal is not an inclusion to MWO. Sony/SOE ran into that issue with several attempts and pathways they took on updating their patchers. Updated patcher, made it an external setup instead of being inclusion to the game itself, that furbar so many ways until they finally cleaned it up and included in the Everquest directory itself. What a mess, and SOE/DBG was/is definitely a much larger company then PGI.

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 23 January 2018 - 03:18 PM.

[Krist Smith]

Tarl Cabot, on 23 January 2018 - 03:04 PM, said:

...
Uninstall MWO Portal
...

I'm trying to figure out why you're advising the reinstallation of the Portal. Is there something that this solves? It doesn't matter where the Portal is installed when you go to install the game, the default location is set by the game installer. Even when you put it in a custom location, Portal updates will still need admin access, so it doesn't work around that. Is there something in particular that reinstalling it accomplishes?

Quote

...
And Kristy, this is what I mean, the final destination DOES NOT HAVE THE NECESSARY wording. We are talking about the average Joe/Sheila, and Portal is not an inclusion to MWO. Sony/SOE ran into that issue with several attempts and pathways they took on updating their patchers. Updated patcher, made it an external setup instead of being inclusion to the game itself, that furbar so many ways until they finally cleaned it up and included in the Everquest directory itself. What a mess, and SOE/DBG was/is definitely a much larger company then PGI.

(As an aside, it's Krist, not Kristy - I'm a guy, in case anyone's trying to keep track)

There's a reason why we specifically and very intentionally create a subdirectory on install, and it's because of general users. Yes, most people are computer literate enough to know not to install the game to the root of "Program Files", or install multiple distributions of the game to the exact same folder, but you'd be surprised how many people do exactly those sorts of things. No matter what the default location was set to, people kept making those mistakes. And they're very terrible mistakes to make. So I have to account for that. I know it's frustrating to have to account for other people's mistakes, but it's where we are, unfortunately.

[D V Devnull]

Krist Smith, on 23 January 2018 - 03:03 PM, said:

Which reminds me, there is another case in which admin access is required (and there's no real way around it) - when there's a Portal update, the update process requires elevation. I try not to drop updates too frequently for single small-scale fixes, but Portal updates do happen, and they do require admin access. Just felt I should point that out.

Does this still hold true even if I do the MWO Portal Install to a directory where the only permission is "Everyone > Full Control"???

~D. V. "Or would that solve the problem?" Devnull

[Krist Smith]

Khalcruth, on 22 January 2018 - 08:12 PM, said:

No thanks. The patcher works just fine, so I'll keep using it until the absolute last second I can. It isn't broke, so I'm not going to "fix" it.

You are completely entitled to do so. The last day it will work will be Feb. 19th. The reason we're making a point of asking people to at least try switching before that day is just in case you have any issues with the Portal. If you do that now and discover a problem, you can fall back to the patcher until it's resolved. If you have a problem on the 19th, then you'll be left high and dry until the problem is resolved. We'd rather allow you to play.

[Buenaventura]

AMEN Jesus is my Lord and Savior, on 23 January 2018 - 04:24 PM, said:

While at it, is there a way to add to Settings or options a check box that allows you to exit the game without clicking on "Are you sure?" every time? Leave it enabled by default as a safety feature for habitual clickers but let the rest of the population breathe a sigh of relief?

Now, that would really feel like an upgrade! At the moment it takes 4 clicks to exit the game completely. Just (optionally) not having the "Are you sure?" box 2 times would halv that amount.

And while we're at UI improvements: The ingame event system loads data when opening one of the dropdowns (current/future/recent events). It can then show a button when a reward is waiting to be claimed, so it obviously knows more than it shows at that time. How about showing the completion percentage there when nothing is to claim? So for in progress it shows the %, for completed unclaimed the current symbol and for claimed events a similar, but different one.
When there are multiple events in parallel, I sometimes lose track, so checking would be quicker. Since checking the event details ingame loads more stuff (seems like it from the noticeable pause), it might even lessen the burden on your systems.

[Quicks]

Tarl Cabot, on 23 January 2018 - 03:04 PM, said:

Can you post a screenshot of the installer, the where it shows the location it will install? And where is your game actually installed? That is why I do not like the default installation location, ESPECIALLY for online games that are constantly being updated. Learned that a long time ago with Everquest. Started with Vista and it has simply been downhill after that with copying files to a "virtual location", etc.

If you did use the default location, you can do a few things.

Uninstall MWO Portal

make a folder off the C/D/E, whatever drive you are going to use and create a new directory/folder Games. Locate your Piranha Games\Mechwarrior Online folder and copy it to the Games folder. It should look like c:\games\Piranha Games\Mechwarrior Online Now, reinstall MWO Portal but do not use the default setup. Direct it to c:\games\Piranha Games (do not add anything afterwards) That patcher will create the MWO Portal.

Now MWO Portal, when it starts, will say it needs to install Mechwarrior Online (I am INTENTIONALLY spelling it out). Click on the install button, do NOT use default setup. Now point it to c:\games\Piranha Games but do NOT add anything after that (this is the higher folder Mechwarrior Online was moved to) It will start to patch then say it needs to validate installation..

Now you are set. Again, the installation directory needs the entire line EXCEPT Mechwarrior Online for the game and MWO Portal (for the patcher/launchpad).

And Kristy, this is what I mean, the final destination DOES NOT HAVE THE NECESSARY wording. We are talking about the average Joe/Sheila, and Portal is not an inclusion to MWO. Sony/SOE ran into that issue with several attempts and pathways they took on updating their patchers. Updated patcher, made it an external setup instead of being inclusion to the game itself, that furbar so many ways until they finally cleaned it up and included in the Everquest directory itself. What a mess, and SOE/DBG was/is definitely a much larger company then PGI.

This actually works. Thanks

[Groutknoll]

Hey Krist, thanks for taking questions. I have a couple more for you.

With the old patcher being retired, can i remove the MechWarrior Online\Bin32\PatcherLogs\ frontend and backend logs? I just ran the repair tool and to my surprise i have 1.3k files there (only 3mb though, heh). Or have the repair tool remove the old patcher files?

[Nesutizale]

Krist Smith, on 23 January 2018 - 12:00 PM, said:

Do you mean in the news posts and whatnot? I'll bug Matt and Alex and ask them to include UTC. The game itself does account for timezones. At least the maintenance ticker does, not sure if there are other places that don't. If there's somewhere else that you mean, lemme know.

Yes I mean the Website. It allways confuses me and I have to look up what time it is in my country. With UTC I know what to do and I don't want to remember every countrys timezone. Personaly I think everything on the internet should be in UTC as the internet isn't fixed to one country and it dosn't make a practical sense to post all timezones

[aGentleWarrior]

The portal has one annoying flaw to me.
It opens on my laptop which runs in 1366xwhatever in such a way that i have to click it, push it up, to reach the PLAY/PATCH button... (which is the only button i use).

ANy clues how I could shrink it or make it start on top of screen?

[Nesutizale]

Good point. The position of the portal is kinda off for me too. Never bothered me much as its still on screen but its kinda weird not starting at the center of the screen.