FAQ: STATUS REPORT (3/25)

from Stardock Forums
Here's where we stand:

On Tuesday afternoon we put up a new build of Stardock Central that gave all beta testers access to GalCiv.

The idea was to find out what problems we might run into. And boy, did we find a huge problem. The installer on some systems deleted files in c:\! Talk about a potential disaster.

We have since corrected the problem but in the immediate time we're going to direct our tech support resources to make sure the people who ran into this can recover. We will create a recovery thread shortly that will have a mini program that will help recover your system.

IF you installed SDCentral .99, check your c:\ drive and make sure files you need are there. Don't reboot if they're not, wait for the mini fix to be made available unless you have some other way to recover them (so far most people we've talked to have found ways to resolve it themselves).

We also got the second high bandwidth server up. The beta testers reported downloads speeds ranging from 50K per second to 200K per second depending on location. So that's good.

We will keep you up to to date on how things are going.

Tomorrow relatively early in the day EST we will be opening it up again with a new SDCentral installer.

If you somehow manage to get ahold of SDCEntral .99, do not install it. Wait for us to post an official new build. While the problem isn't anywhere near 100% (thankfully) don't take any chances.
1,820 views 33 replies
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
It's looking lke auto update is okay. But just keep an eye on your c:\ directory.

Like I said, it's not happening to very many people -- though even 1 person is, as far as I'm concerned a disaster.

Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Wise installer is bad about stuff like this BTW. Tell the person making your installs to ALWAYS watch for these issues. I've been using Wise for about 6 months now and I have seen it quirk out in a number of ways. The price we pay for it's ease of use :)

~SDC~
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Indeed. I'm told it's one of those last minute changes where it's trying to clear out temp files and one typo. Gak.

I remember a couple years ago our friends at Bungie ran into a similar problem. But in their case, it was on the CD and so the CDs all had to be recalled. Thankfully in this case we just had to delete the file to keep others from downloading it.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Dranor was a recent game that was (apparently) even worse than this. You could install the game just fine, but if you went to uninstall it... BOOM! :notsure:

~SDC~
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Arg, edit features are useful. ;)

The 'boom' is things in windows directory getting deleted, rather than "just" the c:\ directory. And it was apparently happening to everyone, not just a few unfortunates who got the program at the wrong moment. :)

~SDC~
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
Well I can say the uninstall works fine. ;) I've unintalled/reinstalled galciv tons of times so that part works. ;)
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
Heh, well, GalCiv itself is still downloading, so if it's messed up too I wouldn't know yet. :)

~SDC~
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
It's not GalCiv itself, it's when you installed SDCentral. You're on IRC so I'll talk to you there directly. ;)
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
I should create a thread called "Flame Brad". Where users who run into this can just go nuts flaming me. ;) No repricussions.
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Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
I don't appear to be able to use SDCentral reliably. I have been able to connect, but eventually it dies with a memory error. SDC auto updated on my system, downloaded GalCiv and everything is running. I have a W2K system, should I be concerned about missing files at this point?

~SDC~
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
By reliably, I am talking about using the chat feature of SDC. Sorry, it is a bit late.

~SDC~
Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top
Nope, no flames from me Brad. Thank you for releasing this early, and for helping solve the last minute problem! I really appreciate the fact that you are going the extra mile, so please cheer up!

*hugs*
Kimberly

~SDC~
Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
I'm having problems with the chat system myself. We used a third party OCX for that. I'm using miRC right now and the server is irc.stardock.com

svZurich, thanks a ton. You guys (and gals) are the best.

~SDC~
Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top
Think that I just ran into that chat problem. Crashed on mouseover of one of the channel tabs.

I'm about to head home from work, and I'll see if it runs into the same thing there, and I'll try and post a crash report.

~SDC~
Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top
I am not up on chat lingo, what is miRC? I need to get to bed, so it isn't all that important tonight. It looks like my W2k installation is okay. I don't see any obvious missing files at the root. I was a bit concerned by earlier posts that seemed to indicate that some damage may have occurred in the \WINNT directory. I'll wait to turn off this machine until I read a more definite answer. Talk to you in the morning.

~SDC~
Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top
Landwaster: Same problem I had. Since, ahem, we'll have to update SDCentral tomorrow, hopefully that's something we can fix at the same time.

Panzer: mIRC is a popular IRC chat program. No subdirectories seem to have been affected, just the root.
Reply #20 from Stardock Forums Top
Question: Retail version.

Has the copies of this been pressed and sent to retail stores already, or should we expect a longer wait for it. (than tomorrow)
Being a 56ker from Australia is going to make downloading 600meg a pain in the behind if so.
Reply #21 from Stardock Forums Top
Then my copy of W2K appears to have been unaffected. SDC version report 0.99a.139 build 1. I started the whole process around 7:30PM EST. I am going to grab mirc now and give it a try.

~SDC~
Reply #22 from Stardock Forums Top
Quote: "I don't see any obvious missing files at the root."

I wouldn't see any missing files either, seeing as they're not there to see LOL LOL

Damian

PS: Man am I loving SDCentral :d

~SDC~
Reply #23 from Stardock Forums Top
"Being a 56ker from Australia is going to make downloading 600meg a pain in the behind if so."

The game itself is only 84.5mb and once you have that bit, you can play it. You just won't have all the spiffy multimedia stuff.
So you can get the 84.5mb +.6mb for the bonuspack and play GalCiv while the multimedia downloads... It's what I'll be doing. :)

~SDC~
Reply #25 from Stardock Forums Top
As Frogboy says up higher, it's on irc.stardock.com
The stardock central channel you get into through SDC is #SDCentral
The GalCiv channel is #galciv :)

~SDC~