ZakGordan07

Join Date 11/2007

Need help trying to run GalCiv II Ultimate on another PC

Hello,

I'm finding it very difficult(impossible even) to work out a solution to this problem:

I've recently bought GalCivII Ultimate edition(as part of the Space unlimited Compilation) and installed it from the DVD onto my gaming(off line) PC.

That was no problem, but then i thought i'd check to see if any updates were available, my version is 'v1.97 Twilight of the Arnor' and i see the latest version is in fact 2.03.

So i went onto my internet connected PC(not able to run the game) and found out i need to download Impulse and register my game to get pathces etc. So i've done that and eventualy worked out i needed to download and archive the enitre 1.8GB of 'GalCiv II Ultimate 2.03' to have the latest update. So no way to get the small update patch.

I have unlimited monthly bandwidth so not a problem from my end, still thats 1.8GB instead of a few hundred megs(i suspect) that someone needs to pay for.

Did that and now have the file 'GalCivII - Ultimate Edition2.03.007_08.14.2009.impulse'(1,845,679 KB) which i've copied onto a key drive.

And this is where the problem starts.

When i move that file over to my off-line PC it seems i can not do much with it. I can't connect to impulse on that PC. There is a reason for this. I'm an indie dev and that PC is also my Dev PC. It is 100% isolated from the internet in the interests of my business, so it can never be connected to keep it 'safe'.

I'm guessing the next step might be to try the 'impulse anywhere' option, which i did look at yesterday. After seeing just how slow it was downloading the part files i decided to stop the process. Is this the only option i have to go from my v1.97 GalCivII Ultimate to the latest v2.03? so more bandwidth usage just for what is effectively a small patch?

Maybe i can get the 1.8GB '.impulse' file i've already downloaded to run on my off-line gaming PC? Maybe i'm better off just sticking with my v1.97? On this point, by extension, does this mean in future i'm going to always be better off waiting for the eventual 'Ultimate/all expansion+pathces included' version of games. I was planning on getting Elemental as soon as it was released, now i'm not so sure - i should wait for patches maybe?

This isn't a criticism btw. More like my slight confusion over how things are going to work out for me. Yes i guess i could build another PC specificaly to be able to run the latest pathced versions of some of my games, but on the other hand..........

Any help/advice greatly appreciated.

EDIT: system specs

Amd Athlon FX-60 2.2Ghz

2 GB Ram

Windows XP service pack 3(Netframework 2.0)

I can run GalCivII Ultimate from my retail disk no problem.

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I've never had a problem using Impulse and its games on more than one computer. Couldn't you just temporarily connect the other computer? That way you can run Impulse and install whatever you want on that particular machine. Once the game is downloaded and installed, you no longer need to be connected or even run Impulse.

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Sadly no i can't. Like i said above my gaming PC is also my 'work' PC(so holds lots of important information that i can't risk). It has to exist in perfect isolation from the internet.

Anyway i've now downloaded the full game(again) from Impulse Anywhere and hope all the files extract ok, otherwise i'll have to download it all again(or maybe just the part where it fails?). All just to go from v1.97 to v2.03. This can't be the best way surely?

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UPDATE:

I had an error after my download from Impulse Anywhere. I did all the activation part fine but about 20mins into 'Decompressing files'(and as it doesn't tell me exactly which part the error happens on) it reports one of the files may be corrupted, so i have to re-download the whole game again!

I'd be seriously interested in any arguements why this is a good system for players to get patches that play on off-line PC setups?

I'll give it one more download, then i think if it still reports errors i'll settle for playing v1.97 of GalCivII Ultimate.

Request A:

I read a thread somewhere about no checksum error checking is currently done on the Impulse Anywhere downloads, and one of the Impulse guys responded that they would look to implement it, i'll add my vote to that being an essential upgrade to the current system.

Request B:

Would it be possible to add the Impule Anywhere tab to the general Impulse Interface? I have to do a search for 'Impulse Anywhere' then click the third thread that shows up to find a link that takes me to Impulse Anywhere - you cant type it into the Impulse 'Browser' directly, and it has no obvious links anywhere it seems?

Thanks for you attention.

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Update 2:

Ok i've now downloaded a total of 5.4GB approx(three complete downloads of galcivII ultimate v2.03) and am still getting the decompression errors.

I've changed the destination folder of Tempory Files within Impulse Settings to a root directory(as i read a post that the default can sometimes not work)

I have 8GB free on that Drive that is now the Tempory Files Location.

I've even managed to get into Impulse from the version installed with my retail version of GalCivII Ultimate v1.97. I did this by running the Impulse.exe directly from the C:\Program Files\Stardock\Impulse directory. On the latest version of Impulse i have to enter my login email and password which then fails to connect(As the PC has no net connection).

So i tried 'Restore Archive..' from the Impulse tab and found the '.impulse' archive file version of GalCivII Ultimate v2.03 i had downloaded first. But that doesn't launch as Impulse tries to find updates first and just stalls with a 'Connecting, please wait...' message.

Just to clarify all i want to do is update my galcivII Ultimate v1.97(retail disk - registerd via Impulse) to v2.03 to use on an off line PC(which v1.97 runs fine on).

This should be easy - it's simply a patch!

What about this. If i download the v2.03 version of galcivII Ultimate and install it on my internet connected PC(this business laptop) could i copy/paste the whole game over to run on my gaming PC(it wont run on the laptop) once it has installed on the laptop? what steps would i need to take(registry entries etc) to make this a possibility?

Thanks for your paitence and any assistance given that will enable me to play a fully patched version of GalCivII Ultimate.

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Okay, here's the deal. I've done this myself and it works. For GalCiv II, you can just transfer the whole directory structure over to the other computer and the game will run. There are some registry entries that need to be imported as well, (\\HKLM\Software\Stardock). However, there is a file called sig.bin that contains the authorization for the game to run. The only way to recreate this file is to allow the game to log on and authorize when it starts up. Copying that file from another computer will not work. That doesn't help you because the machine cannot connect to the internet.

You can do essentially the same thing using the download and archive function in Impulse. Take the file it creates and copy it to the correct archive location on the new computer. Impulse will see it and use it when you select "restore from archive". However, again, you're in the same boat. You must log on to the Stardock servers at some point to authorize the game.

Without some kind of short term connection to the internet, you're trying to do the impossible. There's no other way to "legitimately" run the game without connecting to the Stardock servers at some point to authorize. The early releases of GC2 on CD did not require online authorization. If you can find one of those, that would be an option, but you would be playing an early release with no patches.

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Cheers craig, well as i'm simply looking to be able to play GalCiv II ultimate fully patched using an even older version of the game wont help me. And even if i install GalCivII ultimate on another internet connected PC, and use Impulse to get the latest version over my retail v1.97, i can't transfer that to another off-line PC.

I can't use the 'Archive' option, so really my only option here is Impulse Anywhere. Sadly so far after two attempts i just get the 'you have a corrupt download or ran out of harddrive space' message while it is 'decompiling' - that is after correctly getting the Activation request+response dat files using the online PC etc. Without a proper error check on the Impulse Anywhere downloads it seems I just have to keep taking a chance untill i do finaly get a good download!

Not exactly ideal, and probably a relatively easy thing to 'fix' from Stardocks side?

I should just note that i'll keep trying once a week to get a good download from Impulse anywhere to use on my off-line gaming PC, and just keep with v1.97 until that works!

Just for general information, i'm not a pirate, infact as a dev myself i have little sympathy for those activities, you should pay for what you want in life - if people want to give stuff away for free then fine, but in over 30years of gaming i pride myself on always having supported the games industry and having a huge collection of original and legitimate games. I want to support Stardock and it's 'ethical' approach to digital downloads etc and buy games from them(infact i have with galciv1 and II so far!).

I would sincerely ask Stardock to help ensure that Impulse Anywhere(a great idea and above and beyond what any of their competitors offer) is the great service it could be - at the momment it seems to not really work in practice, which sucks for me because it is the only way i can get the latest patches or releases of their games(I next want to buy Elemental - but i currently have my concerns that have not yet been fully addressed).

Zak

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You're in a somewhat unique situation in that you are trying to run a Stardock game on a computer that has no internet connectivity at all. That's pretty much something taken for granted these days. Somone at Stardock might be able to help you, but I wouldn't expect much. Try emailing support@stardock.com

Best of luck and let us know if you find a way to do it.

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Yes i expect my 'unique situation' will mean i won't get much resolution to the problem, i'll be pigeon-holed as a 'weirdo' or something

Still to me my reasons for keeping my dev(and gaming) PC isolated from the internet are 100% legitimate. If i want online gaming i'll get a console and hang out with the 'kids' being l33t or something But at heart i'm a sp strategy game fan and all this mp fps gaming does nothing for me.

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I have created a ticket and got one reply from Stardock - the 'Impulse only works online' response, but am waiting for another response from my reply to that in which i had some question about improving Impulse Anywhere etc.

UPDATE:

In the meantime i've stumbled across a way to seemingly get it to work, in that now when i launch GalCivII Ultimate it reports on the tile screen that i'm running v2.03(so the latest version).

After (twice) downloading and running the files from Impulse Anywhere and getting the 'decomile/corrupt files' error message. I noticed in the root of the drive i had placed these files(F:) a new folder called 'Extracted Files' which i hadn't created or seen. Looking inside this is the folder 'galciv2ul'.

Interesting.

My install location for GalCivII Ultimate is F:\Program Files\Kalypso\GalCiv2Ultimate

As my version of GalCiv II Ultimate came on the Space Unlimited Compilation from Kalypso(not that i think that has anything to do with my direct version from Impulse Anywhere not decompiling properly).

Anyway a quick look around this new 'Extracted Files' folder and inside the 'galciv2ul' folder is a bunch of other folders and some XML files. The interesting folder is called 'base' and inside it appears to be the updated version of GalCivII Ultimate, all the same folders(more or less) that i can see in my older retail versions install path and location.

So i copy/pasted the later dated version .exe files from the relevent folders here(the main GalCiv2.exe and the .exe files from the 'DarkAvatar' and 'Twilight folders') into the relevant places in my main GalCiv2Ultimate directories along with the all the folders from each, leaving the dll files and SDActivate.exe behind as i already have activate.exe instead and a bunch of the dll files(and figure mine is the already activated file).

It's a bit of a fudge for sure, but so far no errors and i have access to and have tried all the expansion campaigns and have launched 2 'sandbox' games since. It feels nice to see 'GalCiv2 v2.03 Twilight of the Arnor' legend at the top of my game windowed screen :b:

I can't say for certain that i'm running a fully functional version of the latest patched version of GalCivII Ultimate, but the game reports i am and i've not had any errors and have noticed changes from my v1.97 retail version that would indicate the 'patch'-fudge thing i did has worked(spies now have a box area at the bottom of the 'spy screen' where you can easily install them in your chosen nation, rather than having to manualy click on a world and install them like that etc).

Still i'd like to see some kind of response from someone at Stardock/Impulse over what is going to happen to Impulse Anywhere to make it workable(so i dont have to resolve problems myself like above), so 'weirdos' like me can atleast have some way of giving them money in the future to support one of the few decent game devs out there!

And thanks for your interest and help Craig

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You're welcome. Sounds like you got it working.

Personally, for situations such as yours, I use a multi-boot configuration.

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Quoting CraigHB,

reply 9

..........

Personally, for situations such as yours, I use a multi-boot configuration.

The only safe method of securing important data is to keep it isolated(especialy from the internet), multi-boot OS(say Linux/Windows) wont secure data from one OS to the other to clever guys, i guess it depends on how sensitive you view your data as? I've had a 'leak' of sensitive data in the far past(had to scrap that project in the end) and this method I now use is the only 100% safe one.

I should get around to upgrading one of my other PC's to be a more current gaming rig, and use that exclusively for that, but as i've never had any trouble with my current dev/gaming rig i guess it's not been a priority.

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Games would be one of the things I would not run on a secure rig. Based on my experience, games cause hard crashes drastically more than anything else. On rare occasions, I've had such a crash result in data corruption. Games are definitely not secure in that sense.

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Sorry for the delay in getting back, i was giving the stardock team a chance to get back to me, which they never did.

As for your comment on games and safety/stability - your right, my system also uses removable HDD's so all the work/important data is safely isolated from the system when i'm gaming/experimenting with code etc.

Finally i'll just add thanks to you CraigHB for helping me out with all this. I got no joy or help from anyone at Stardock at all - no reply about making Impulse Anywhwere beter, no reply on the emails regaurding all this; other than the initial email about 'Impulse being on-line only'(which technicaly it isn't and what defines it from Steam etc).

So overall i'm not too impressed. Elemental will now have to wait for my purchase when it is in a 'Gold/Ultimate' pack as i just don't want to risk getting stuck with an unpatchable game.

I'm pretty dissapointed with the Stardock response(or lack off) over this, i was simply wanting to help improve their system. oh well.

Thanks again Craig, you were really helpful.

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