Solving common installation/patching issues, especially on Vista

[Honorbound]

There are several factors, 3rd party applications, and operating system (OS) functions which can interfere with the installation and patching of the game. While the suggestions below are not guaranteed to solve any and all issues you may encounter, they have been proved to remedy some of them in a fair number of cases, especially, but not limited to, when using Vista or Win7.


Recommendations for all Windows versions (XP, Vista, Win7)

• It is not recommended to install the game anywhere within the default "C:\Program Files" folder, not even on XP. When the installer asks for the install location, create and/or specify a folder which is completely outside of "C:\Program Files", such as "C:\Games\Anarchy Online".
  On Vista, this is not a simple recommendation but a must; you need to install the game completely outside of the "C:\Program Files" folder to prevent the most common issues from happening.
  
  If you have already installed the game to the default location in "C:\Program Files", you don't necessarily have to uninstall, then reinstall it to a different location. The installation can simply be copied to any other location on the given computer, or even on a different computer, and it will remain fully functional. Simply make a copy of the whole "Anarchy Online" folder, currently located somewhere within the "C:\Program Files" folder, to some other location completely outside of "C:\Program Files", such as in the example above, update your shortcuts to point to the new location of the game executables and check if the game can be run from the new location. Then you may want to uninstall the original game installation using the Add/remove Applications function of the OS in order to get that game instance properly removed from the "C:\Program Files" folder and from the Installed Applications list.
  
  NOTES
  • It is important that you COPY (Copy/Paste), and NOT MOVE (Cut/Paste), the installation folder, since moving it may result in file access permission conflicts, rendering some or all files of the installation inaccessible for one or more OS user accounts on the given computer after it had been placed to a new location.
  • On Vista/Win7, if you find that after having moved your AO installation, you've lost some or all of your settings (eg. GUI element positions, window locations, chat window configuration, backpack names, etc.), then you'll also have to recover and move your actual Prefs folder into your new Anarchy Online folder (because the one in the install folder under Program Files was not actually used).
    According to this post, it should be at the following (or similar) location:
    c:\users\yourusername\appdata\local\virtualstore\p rogram files\funcom\anarchy online\Prefs
    To access this folder, you are recommended to use a 3rd party file manager as Windows is set up to hide it from the user (even when logged in with admin priviledges) by way of various tricks when simply using Windows Explorer.
  
  Hint: You can make use of this to quickly "install" the client on a second, third, etc. computer without having to re download and patch a completely new installation for each of them, or to fix a corrupted installation by deleting the old one and simply copying a working one from another computer. (Before deleting a corrupted installation, you may want to copy your "Prefs" folder to some safe place first to keep your client settings, backpack names, etc., but in some cases certain files in the "Prefs" folder themselves may be corrupt and causing your problems.)
  Knowing this, you can also archive a working installation to store it on an USB stick, burn on DVD, etc. as a backup or pre-patched install kit of the sort, which only needs to be copied to a computer, let be patched up to date by the autopatcher, and it should be good to go.

• It is generally recommended to patch and play the game on the same OS user account you've installed it with. If you have installed the game while on a specific OS user account (especially if it has administrator privileges), but try to patch or even just play the game on a different OS user account, you may encounter certain issues, such as patching repeatedly failing (or apparently successfully completing but the game remaining unpatched) or in game settings (window positions, chat settings, etc.) not getting saved properly or at all.
  
  
• If you are using any 3rd party security software (such as a firewall or anti-virus software suite), it may be checksumming executable files and denying access to them if the checksum of the current one doesn't match with a stored checksum from earlier. Since most patches also replace all game executables, this feature can interfere with the patching process or with launching the game the first time after patching.
  It is recommended to manually remove checksums of the game executables from this application's database prior to patching, and/or making sure that the application is set to "Learn", "Ask permission" or some similar mode during patching and launching a recently patched game for the first time.
  
  
• A number of security applications (especially anti-virus and anti-spyware software with real time scanning feature) can cause issues, especially when very large files are being accessed for creating, executing or modifying them (such as the installation package or the resource database file of the game, both of which are close to 2 Gbytes).
  To avoid possible interference from such software when installing or patching the game, you should either temporarily disable them for the duration of installing and/or patching, or add the download location of the installer and the "Anarchy Online" folder (and all of its subfolders) to the exclusion list of such software to prevent them from locking files against access while they attempt to scan or checksum them (which might take up to several minutes, during which no other process, including the patcher or the game executables themselves, is allowed to access the files which is an abnormal and unexpected condition most applications are not prepared to deal with).

Vista/Win7 specific recommendations

Certain security features of Windows Vista (UAC and Virtual Store Redirector) are known to be a possible cause of some issues when installing or patching (or even just playing) the game.

• The most important thing to know, which should eliminate the root cause of most issues without making your computer vulnerable by having to turn UAC completely off, is that you have to install the game to a different location instead of the default one within the "C:\Program Files" folder as recommended in the previous section.
  
  
• In addition to not having the game installed to the default location under C:\Program Files, if you are still encountering issues, you may still need to disable UAC, or at least set it up in a way which ensures that it will not interfere in any way with the game trying to access its own files (all of which are located in the "Anarchy Online" folder and its subfolders).

NOTE: If you originally had the game installed under Program Files and moved it to a different location as suggested, after which you find that you've lost some or all of your settings (eg. GUI element positions, window locations, chat window configuration, backpack names, etc.), then you'll also have to recover and move your actual Prefs folder into your new Anarchy Online folder (because the one in the install folder under Program Files was not actually used).
According to this post, it should be at the following (or similar) location:
c:\users\yourusername\appdata\local\virtualstore\p rogram files\funcom\anarchy online\Prefs
To access this folder, you are recommended to use a 3rd party file manager as Windows is set up to hide it from the user (even when logged in with admin priviledges) by way of various tricks when simply using Windows Explorer.

[alfora]

big bump and request to root this

[Venachar]

Means stickied it before I could

Thanks very much Honorbound, I appreciate you doing this after we spoke about it Hopefully it'll be a great help to the Vista-using community.

Best Regards,

[CriticalDmg]

A fail-safe coding of AO & it's installation can do that... next patch FC can just force everyone with Vista move the folder elsewhere (or copy elsewhere/delete original).
(through in a fail-safe world map selection while their at it)

[alfora]

Originally Posted by CriticalDmg A fail-safe coding of AO & it's installation can do that... next patch FC can just force everyone with Vista move the folder elsewhere (or copy elsewhere/delete original). (through in a fail-safe world map selection while their at it)

I wouldn't like ANY program moving my files around.

But I would like EVERY program to let me choose the place where it should install.


For AO it would be best if the installer tells you about the issues with Vista and recommends another installation directory BEFORE it installs anything. Oh, and yes, make the map selection fail-safe. If a map makes troubles choose a default map and tell the user. If the default map also fails, tell the user. Never just crash.

[Shevrosmurf]

I would like to add something that may help or help some people.

This works when you are on a account with administrator privilages.
I think most users have their own account setup as standard and has the possibility
of admin rights. (if not on account with admin rights, this will not be possible!)

Rightmouse on the AO shortcut and click Properties. Head to the tab compatibility.
Below there is a square you can mark which says : Execute program as administrator.

Click OK and now AO should run with administrator privilages and also call the client
and patcher as such. I think even when installed under Program Files it will allow file
changes and not cause problems, but I strongly recommend when installing AO to avoid
the Program Files location.

When running in admin mode you will get the annoying question if you really want to be sure
to run the program as such, and ofcourse you accept. I myself have the question window turned
off, but will no go into this as this is not a basic windows feature and to not have average users
get confused.

If you want to be sure that all executables are running in admin mode you can go to the map
you installed AO and do the same as for the shortcut on: Clientd.exe, Anarchypatcher.exe.
This will have these run as admin also as standard.

Please mention changes where I named the buttons or whatever wrong. I am not using the
english version of windows, so I hope I named them right and I also did the .exe file names
as I think it was. I am currently not home to check the names.

Hope this helped as well and let me know if I said anything is not correct.
This is with UAC still on btw.

[Dooma]

There are just 3 plain things to do before playing ao under vista:

1. Disable UAC (why turn it off? because it does not increase your protection its a lie to secure the user not the system.)
2. Be an Admin (This can be a risk however, if you don't want to be an admin yourself you must set AO's rights to be started with adminrights inside its own folder)
3. Install AO in a selfmade Folder (like "c:\games\anarchy\")

Then it will work.

Sidenote:
There are special protected folders in Windows Vista. (e.g. Windows | Program Files | Users ) These folders and the running programs need their writing rights configured manually if the program inside the folder needs adminrights itself to run. Most programs today do not need adminrights to run and configuration of programs starting other programs inside these folders is quite a nightmare in Vista. So my recommendation ist to set up folders for user programs manually and leave the Vista protected s*** alone.

[Demoder]

to OP: Please also note: Same tricks apply for Windows 7 (the next Windows version)

[Con]

Im about to go into no mans land, gonna try to use Windows 7 beta and run AO. It's either that or I use 64bit vista but my buddy told me Windows 7 is better so idk. I'm the wrong person to be trying this and I probably wont get it working for a while but we will see how it goes.

[airwolf]

I see all these solutions for Vista. But what about problems with XP (since i believe XP is still the more used OS.) I cant update AO past 17.2.2_EP1. It keeps saying
"Unable to save settings in C:/Program Files/Funcom/Anarchy Online/Prefs/Prefs.xml. Make sure you have sufficient permissions to write this file." The thing is...I do have the persmissions, they all have full control. What else can be done?

[Honorbound]

Originally Posted by airwolf I see all these solutions for Vista. But what about problems with XP (since i believe XP is still the more used OS.) I cant update AO past 17.2.2_EP1. It keeps saying "Unable to save settings in C:/Program Files/Funcom/Anarchy Online/Prefs/Prefs.xml. Make sure you have sufficient permissions to write this file." The thing is...I do have the persmissions, they all have full control. What else can be done?

I've been thinking about reworking this into a general "Common causes of installation/patching issues, especially on Vista" kind of thing (and, apparently, I probably should) as most of what's in the OP actually applies to both XP and Vista, except the parts about UAC which is Vista specific. They are only a lot more likely to cause problems on Vista as XP is more forgiving in this regard.

Considering this, make sure any other possible causes mentioned in the OP are eliminated (including, and starting with, copying the game installation outside of Program Files). When the OS says you don't have permissions, then it doesn't matter what you think you have, you do not in fact have effective permissions (which is a different thing than specified permissions) and that's that. The permission system is a rather complex thing, easy to get lost in or mess something up with even when you know quite well how it works.

Simple tests:
- Log in with the OS user account you've tried patching with.
- Copy the current Prefs.xml to some safe place so that you can restore it after testing.
- Open the original Prefs.xml with Notepad, hit enter a few times at the top of the file to add a few blank lines, then try to save it. After saving, close and reopen to see if the added empty lines are in fact there.
- Try deleting the current Prefs.xml file.
- Once deleted, try to create a new file with Notepad, using Prefs.xml as filename (or any other name for that matter) in the Prefs folder.
- Try to add some content to this new file then save it, then reopen to see if the added content is there.

If any of these steps failed with an error message, or the changes you tried to make didn't take place, then you got permission problems.

Another thing you can try is simply deleting the whole Prefs folder and all of its content (copying it to some other location first doesn't hurt, just in case, but it will get invalidated by the patches still to be applied anyway), then reapply the patch that failed.
When patching up from an older full client install the first time without actually having played the game on that installation, the patcher shouldn't expect to find a Prefs folder at all as normally it is only created upon the first successful login (or using the Settings button in the launcher) thus there can't yet be one. It only needs to be able to modify files inside it according to patch requirements if it is an installation which lacks only the latest patch, but been played previously.

[Dooma]

Originally Posted by airwolf I see all these solutions for Vista. But what about problems with XP (since i believe XP is still the more used OS.) I cant update AO past 17.2.2_EP1. It keeps saying "Unable to save settings in C:/Program Files/Funcom/Anarchy Online/Prefs/Prefs.xml. Make sure you have sufficient permissions to write this file." The thing is...I do have the persmissions, they all have full control. What else can be done?

Maybe you have Permission to write data inside this folder, but probably AO's executable hasn't.

Like Honorbound said already, setting permissions in Windows is and was a true nightmare, always.

I'd recommend not to use any Windows protected folder [C:/Program Files/ belongs to this category]. Trying to set individual permissions inside these special folders, can be done, but i don't think its needed outside an office environment.

So please do NOT try to install AO inside "Program Files", this ist the cause for most issues. All programs installed in this folder only have user permissions, even for their own folders and sub-folders. This is part of the protection.

Install AO inside a "self-made" folder, like C:\games\anarchy or C:\AO
AO's executable needs Admin rights to run.
You need Adminrights to run it.

[airwolf]

Ok I can try those solutions. I appreciate it, thank you

[airwolf]

Ok, I have tried that, got everything to work. Now I get the "An unsupported operation was attempted" (Im stuck at 17.5.2_EP1). Ive tried everything that the forums have suggested. INCLUDING replaceing the new version of the patcher with an older version of the patcher. As soon as i run the older version though, it gets replaced by the new version. How do I stop that, or how do I manually patch since the patches on the website will only run the newer version. What am I doing wrong? (Dont forget I do use XP.)

[Dooma]

Try to shut down firewall and antivirus for the patching. Maybe something is being blocked.

Try to delete the downloaded patch and download again.

Try this Patch: ftp://ftp.funcom.com/cd/patches/AOPa...17.5.3_EP1.exe

Other manual patches here: ftp://ftp.funcom.com/cd/patches

[airwolf]

Manual patches dont work. Even after turning off all my security, Firewalls...excepting all cookies and what not. Its like XP doesnt like any version of the AO patcher whether its new, old, ancient. Nothing is working. Thank you for trying dooma. If you have any other suggestions would be greatful.

[Dooma]

Thats weird.. manual patches should work.

I heard of one person having a similar problem and this was caused by a pirated windowscopy. He reinstalled from a fresh genuine disk and it worked.

Other than that you could try patching in safemode (hit F8 before windows boot).

Also did you check that no files inside the anarchy folder are write protected? If they are the patcher cannot do its work. But that should create another type of failure message.

But i must say i am running out of ideas. There must be something seriously wrong with your system.

[airwolf]

noo i screwed up lol. With the older version of the patcher. I copied all but like 3 letters of what i was supposed to do when i was supposed to "run" it. (if that makes sense) Im ingame now, and working fine. Thank you all for your help

[Cadey]

Actually, what FC should do is get off their lazy arses and fix this!!! I dread to think how much potential new business has been lost to other games because people don't want to wade through all this...

Incidentally, i've just completed a client download onto my lappy and patching failed. WinXP install on lappy is 100% genuine and bang up to date, all security software off, AO in Games folder outside of Programs Folder and still it doesn't patch. Fixed by copying client from my desktop, but that ain't gonna work for an AO virgin. Perhaps Blizzard have hacked the patcher to deny FC new business... hehe

[Demoder]

I just ran into the issue with the AO patcher not being able to download patches properly (halting 1KB short of a successfull download). This was with testlive, of course. I added that directory to my security suites exception list (ie. it won't do checks on stuff in that folder, and won't scan the traffic anything in that folder is doing), and it worked. This was with ESET Nod32 v4 on Windows 7 x64 RC.

tl;dr: As someone else posted earlier, switching off the security suite might help fix the issue with downloading patches.