Testing empires installation and function

Discussion in 'Support' started by Silk, Feb 28, 2013.

  1. Silk

    Silk Mapper

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    So i'll keep editting this post untill i've tested everything. I'll completely uninstall steam every time i do this to avoid mistakes.

    So a week ago when i installed empires on my clean steam install on my new pc, i couldn't start up empires because of some error, and i required Vicky's fix to get it going again.

    I just finished the regular player setup: installing empiresmod from the steamstore, NOT downloading the source SDK base 2007 first (cause i'm a regular player and what the hell do i know about source sdk bases) and that's basically all i did this time.

    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/234836/Emp... without sdk base 2007/1 Empires download.gif

    Files and temporary files during the download:
    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/234836/Emp...without sdk base 2007/2 During download 1.gif
    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/234836/Emp...without sdk base 2007/3 During download 2.gif

    The files after the installation is complete:
    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/234836/Emp...n without sdk base 2007/4 After install 1.gif
    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/234836/Emp...n without sdk base 2007/5 After install 2.gif
    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/234836/Emp...n without sdk base 2007/6 After install 3.gif

    The SDK Base 2007 warning from empiresmod (apparantly):
    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/234836/Emp...t sdk base 2007/7 Source SDK Base warning.gif

    Clicking it will install Source sdk Base 2007 (but not start it up)
    Then you'll get the same error again the second time your start up empires which was even confusing for me so regular players will just think it doesn't work and click the error message away.
    Clicking "ok" the second time starts up source sdk base 2007


    Then you can start up empires, and it works flawlessly without any errors.

    My steam folder after all installs:
    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/234836/Emp...hout sdk base 2007/8 After installation 1.gif

    The gcf's seem to install themselves when you start up empires. It's only after i've been ingame and go back to the desktop, that they are present

    So last time it didn't work, this time it does.
    What i did different last time was to download and install Source SDK Base 2007 from within the Tools section of my Steam game library (and starting it up once) BEFORE starting up empires, in which case i didn't get the gcf files.

    I'll uninstall again and redo it the previous way

    EDIT:
    The test turned out useless. I did the exact same thing like i did a week ago (manually installing Source SDK base 2007 before starting up empires) but this time it works flawlessly

    So the exact same actions can have 2 very different results
    Steam had been uninstalled completely for this second test, including each and every file and folder.
    I didn't reboot, but i don't think steam has temporary files on my drives it could've used the second time around

    Edit2:
    Then again last week i had to set all my options again: graphics settings, controls, ...etc
    This time though i have uninstalled and reinstalled steam and empires twice, but my graphics settings are exactly the same (the controls however have returned to the default setting). I'm guessing it's because steam reckognizes it's the same hardware and saves my settings, but who knows what else it saves

    Is there anything else i could try, or will it just keep working now ?

    Edit3:
    I removed the gcf files, started up empires, closed empires, and they were back again. Downloading 2.2 GB of files in about 7 seconds seems unlikely ...
    I did this several times by now, and used the windows search function to check if the files were also still in some temp folder, but they're nowhere on my pc when i start up empires, and simply by double clicking empires, even before the game start up and goes to full screen, i can see them popping up instantly in my steamapps folder

    Tested the gcf files with GCFscape, and while they are present in the folder and according to the windows property window using up 2.2GB, they're not really there:
    None of the files can be opened, and trying to results in this error message (in gcfscape)
    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/234836/Emp...ation without sdk base 2007/9 Invalid gcf.gif

    This still doesn't help with why with some new empires installs, it won't work. Last time even these broken gcf files didn't appear at all and empires wouldn't work, yet i didn't do anything different this time

    Edit4:
    Repeated edit1 but this time i rebooted my pc before installing steam
    Everything is still working perfectly.
    I checked if empires is in beta mode or not (i don't know for sure if it's impossible for steam to memorize this with a new install) but it's definitely a clean install
     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2013
  2. flasche

    flasche Member Staff Member Moderator

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    did you read this thread? from what i understood the gfc files are dummies without actual content - for some reason they are required though ...
     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2013
  3. Silk

    Silk Mapper

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    That confirms my findings yes.

    Still strange that last time even the dummies didn't show up, and now i can install empires in whatever way and even remove the gcf files after the installation, and they'll always pop up automatically.

    Haven't had a single error message this entire day, empires always worked flawlessly.

    I fear there's nothing i can help with

    If i hadn't downloaded about 80 GB in 8 days (25 of which these last 2 hours), i could've kept uninstalling and installing, but i'll be running out of bandwidth in a few days
     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2013
  4. Jephir

    Jephir ALL GLORY TO THE JEPHIR

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    Empires 2.4 shouldn't be using GCFs at all. It should be downloading the game files directly to the game directory.

    The depots are still used, but they no longer download as GCFs, they just contain mappings to local files and file attributes now. I have no idea why the GCF system is still active.
     
  5. Trickster

    Trickster Retired Developer

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    Jephir, did you get chance to see my post in the dev forums? At the very least, these GCFs are required. The game won't start without them, even if they're totally empty. Cyberkiller made some post that might explain why they might be required though. Something to do with the build script still referencing them.
     
  6. LordDz_2

    LordDz_2 Strange things happens here

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    Well, a lot of the Hl2 games use the same method it seems?
    For example my Half-Life 2 content.gcf, if I try to extract the root/bin/client.dll, it shows up as empty.
     
  7. Silk

    Silk Mapper

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    Again, most likely completely unrelated and useless, but since it's no effort to put it here and in case it somehow is interesting:

    So i was working in Source sdk, started empires once from within hammer (automatically after a finished compile) and took a screenshot of it before exiting empires; started empires a second time a bit later to take a screenshot from the gamemenu and exited again; closed Hammer and source sdk. Half an hour later i want to start up empires and i get this message:

    [​IMG]

    It does happen sometimes that hl2.exe doesn't completely stop so that i have to end the process in taskmanager before i can start up empires again, but in the past the error message has ALWAYS been something similar to "an instance of this program is already running". The "mountappfilesystem" error is something i never had before.

    Also there weren't any redundant processes running, and starting up empires again right after actually just worked ...
     

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