Stuck in Steam Auto Update / Validation hell? Turn off Auto Updates and Don't ...
 

If you are having issues with your steam bought version of King's Bounty Crossworlds, you may want to try this.

Issue: You fresh install King's Bounty Armored Princess, then install Kings Bounty Crossworlds. Steam then either doesn't let the game play, or you're not seeing the content to Crossworlds. The issue being that Steam goes into some kind of a loop of validating KBAP's content, then Steam validates KBCR(crossworlds) content. What I believe is happening is that because both KBAP and KBCR are installed in the same folder, they are both downloading files that are used by both of the games but which are not exactly the same, so when steam goes to validate KBAP it downloads all the files that were added by KBCR, and when steam validates KBCR, it sees all the files are not the right ones that were downloaded in the validation of KBAP. Thus it can go into a continuous loop between the game and it's expansion, and unless stopped by the user, or steam or whomever, will just continually invalidate what steam downloads for those files that failed validation on KBCR during it's validation of KBAP and visa versa.

The simplest solution is to

1. Download fresh copy of KBAP, and then validate it. Then turn off the option to update KBAP automatically in steam (right click name of game, and choose properties then turn off the auto updating)
2. Download fresh copy of KBCR, and then validate it, it may or may not find failed files, depending if steam ran validation for KBAP after you installed KBCR. If it found failed files, go ahead and download them.

Now as long as you keep the auto updating turned off for KBAP, and don't manually try to validate the files for KBAP, you should be good to go.

My belief is either that Steam has somehow messed this up, or that KBAP and KBCR should not be installed into the same folder structure if (*IF*) they are using the same files for each game, but those files are different and thus found to fail the validation when steam trys to validate all the files for KBAP, after KBCR has been installed. But this is my guess only.

It could also simply be that Steam has screwed something up and is not validating the two programs correctly when it should be. As megakill is aware of the issue, he will be checking with Steam, but in the meantime if you have an issue of losing the expansion pack (i.e. can't see the new main menu screen, it still looks like KBAP's main menu, then you may be experiencing this issue with Steam and KBAP, KBCR) then validate KBCR and do NOT try to play KBAP, only play KB Crossworlds until they have a fix for this issue.

Hope this helps anybody else that might be experiencing this issue too and I know there are a few at least.

cc: reposted to Steam forums

Crossworlds needs its own Steam appID and subfolder in the ..\steamapps\ structure. Otherwise, steam client functions for things such as verifying the GCF (game cache files), and probably (I'm not about to test this theory) "delete local content" will not function correctly in several situations. And so far, this cost me the time it took to redownload parts of either game 4 times.

They - that is, Valve, 1C, whoever - really needs to set up Crossworlds so that it doesn't step all over Armored Princess. At the moment, someone that purchased either of the bundles through steam can only play one of the games with the correct installation files. This isn't difficult to do - and I can say this with some confidenece because every other base game and expansion pack and stand-alone expansion pack installed in my Steam library does it as I describe.

Why is this game different?

More info from Steam client logs:

Yep. Same problem here. Stuck in the endless downloading hell auto-update cycle. :(

After automatically downloading files for 1 hour for Armored Princess, and patiently waiting, I was finally able to disable auto-update... and then went through another 1 hour of downloading for Crossworld.

After those long 2 hours, I was then able to start clicking on the Orc banner and playing the new Orc campaign... But the game is starting a new Armored Princess game from the beginning! WTF? *confused*... Do we have to start again all the way from the start? I thought we were supposed to be able to continue from a save game? *confused again*.

And then I quit the game to answer the phone... and by mistake I click on the Armored Princess button in my Steam list instead of Crossword and then *gasp* it start AGAIN to update it from 0% !!!!! *confused* *pressure rising*.

And I DISABLED auto-updating in BOTH games! So why is it auto-updating again?!?! *more confusion*

Sigh. I think we will have to wait for monday morning before playing. *Looking at Armored Princess at 14% and waiting... again...*

Why do they ALWAYS do this on a friday, just before leaving?

It's a mess.

How do you people have problems with steam auto-updating? i had no problems whatsoever, no errors, nothing... perhaps you didn't listen the advice that you have to have clean install of AP? because i havent encountered any of these problems and steam is same globally so it means there must be something you're doing wrong.

Don't assume anything rancor.

My version of both Steam and KB Armor Princess were fresh, new, clean installs this morning since I mistakenly wiped out all my games when I uninstalled Steam from my computer.

And as far as advice goes... Unless it's in the installer telling users, we can't assume nor should we even expect them to go to some forum to see if there is some special instructions. One should not need special instructions to install an expansion pack.

Anyway, this is an issue between Steam and 1C, they really should not have the expansion in the same folder as KB, as it will go through a continual validation back and forth unless somebody fixes it at steam and or 1C, or until we the users stop it from happening.

Saying you had no problems whatsoever, is as useful as the person that says 'my computer never crashes with such and such game'.

I don't believe we've done anything wrong, but I do believe that the developers didn't know how to deal with this expansion on steam properly, and or Steam did not instruct them properly.

Anyway, there is the work around to prevent the problem and that's all that really matters for the moment.

I'm just saying i didn't have any problems with the game updates and such and propably 95% of the other people are the same... there's always someone in every game ever released that has a some kind of problem but that doesn't mean developers failed when few people have some problems. What else can i do than assume? if we both did the same and i have the game working and u dont i cant see how it would be developers fault? It's something about your equipment or the things you did different than me.

Do you have steam set to keep KB updated automatically? I know before I wiped out Steam and all my games, only 2 or 3 out of the 40 of them were set to automatically update, the rest were set to manual or do not auto update.

That could be the difference too. I know many power gamers that have their steam games set to not auto update because they may not want the latest update as soon as it comes out due to more problems that some developers patches sometimes cause, not saying I'm a power gamer, I just like control over what is going on, on my computer and at the very least knowing or acknowledging what is about to happen before hand, so I just turned off auto updating but didn't after reinstalling Steam and AP this morning.

New problems with Steam, as I can see in the morning... Oh well, I will see what can we do here assuming that Steam is on skeleton staff on the weekend. But this is some sort of nightmare and never happend to any of other 34 games we have on Steam before...

I were offline on steam until i was sure the game was unlocked (i had already AP and CW installed) then i went online on steam and i had auto-update on so the steam started to update CW immediately as i went online. After it was done i verified the game files just in case and after that played and i haven't had any problems.

Not sure if this data point is of any use but I had a steam copy of AP (from when it first came out). Pre ordered KBC; installed it Friday 5PM EST without any issues. Started a game (orc campaign) without any issues.

Region for me is USA in case that matters.

Hey Rancor, do this:

Install Armored Princess.
Install Crossworld
verify game cache files for AP.
Play Crossworld.

I just broke both of your games.

This is the only game+expansion in steam's catalogue that I'm aware of where both the expansion and base game share the same ..\steamapps subfolder.

What the hell are you talking about? I haven't had any problems with steam and CW...

Don't ask what the hell I'm talking about if you haven't done the above steps.

Also, on the first page of this forum alone, there are already five separate topics on this same issue.

You not having (or not realizing that you have) a problem is great for you. It doesn't fix the problem though.

I usually don't call anyone retarded... but it fits perfectly here so let me ask an honest question, are you mentally retarded? If i said i don't have any problems with CW or steam that means i dont have any problems... is there seriously something that you didn't understand there? Really me not having a problem doesn't fix other people problems from around the world? really, sherlock?

You sound upset.

Feel free to continue posting how you don't have any problems. And also ignore the steps I provided to reproduce the problem on your system. And then continue to say there are no problems. Because that isn't retarded.

Okay thanks to you i decided to try AP and the steam completely broke CW?!! What the ****... this shit is seriously pissing me off, yes i was upset and now i'm even more upset so i guess i have to download CW now completely over again just by pressing play armored princess... WOW this is some serious problem then... i shouldnt have listened to you though because everything worked flawlessly before and who plays AP anyway when you have CW... in other words i'm ******* pissed... not to you but to the steam this is getting ridiculous.

EDIT: Although there's no need to install AP and CW separately if you're only going to play CW which most people propably do becuase it includes ap campaign aswell...

Rancor, I'm actually sorry. I apologize. I wrote earlier those steps and did write:

"I just broke both of your games."

Because I wanted to be clear that this is one way to create the problem that you are seeing posted about in the topics.

I've done some checking - and while I can't obviously test every expansion toa game sold on Steam - as far as I've been able to find, this problem is unique to Crossworld and AP right now.

They really do need to patch in a new subfolder in ..\steamapps for Crossworld. Otherwise you will see posts from a lot of people in the coming months (as more people install and reinstall the game, they are more likely to run into this issue).

Your save games should be fine.

I understand what you're saying and why. But that isn't how games and expansions normally work in Steam. Please try to trust me on that, as the explanation is long/boring. But as an example, even I still regularly play Civ IV (vanilla) and also the Beyond the Sword expansion for that game separately. Same for the Heroes of Might & Magic collection I have. I'm not alone. And again, normally in steam, you should be able to (if you choose) run AP (especially if you have a campaign you're still working on completing) without breaking the CW install (and vice versa).

Ya but i purchased both AP and CW at the same time and i didn't have any AP savegames or anything and i'm not planning to ever launch AP so whatever i download the broken version just to save time.

People that don't know any better not to play AP after CR are who will do this. It's not so foolish as one might believe to want to play the original game and try to do so in the normal fashion.

Aesir. You are right on. For now, the only way to play Crossworld with Steam is to do exactly what you said. Install and validate files for Armored princess, then install and validate Crossworld, de-activate auto-update, and... DON'T touch the Armored Princess button anymore!

I was able to play Crossworld for 4 hours in a row, and everything is fine now.

But something is broken here. Hope they will fix it monday morning, because if you touch the AP button for any reason, then you have to re-download and re-validate everything all over again...

I have over 75 games in my Steam folder, and alot of DLCs and expansion packs. It's the first time I see something like that.

But for now, those on Steam just need to follow Aesir instrutions and it will work.

Or those who have the game working without problems should NOT touch the kb-ap play button... just enjoy playing the game and dont touch that button.

Yes, Rancor, that is correct. You will not encounter the problem I describe if:

* You installed AP, then CW.
* Have only launched CW from Steam and never launch AP from Steam.

The "missing" manual however remains a problem. If you want the Armored Princess manual, you'll need to download that separately. The Crossworld manual primarly just covers the changes, but leaves out much of the basic information found in the AP manual.

I'm finding this quite bothersome, not that I've started to play any of them, but that I can expect to have problems when I do. I bout the Kings Bounty bundle, and was going to play each of them in turn. Or maybe jump between the three, but it appears I may not be able to do that...

None of this impacts King's Bounty: The Legend. You can start there and not worry about any of this issue until it comes time to decide whether you want to try AP without CW, or just jump to CW. Hope that info helps.

I experienced the same problem, and my guess is that you should not attempt to validate your game cache. I did that on Crossworlds, and that's when all my problems started. Not sure if vallidating AP also causes the problem.

I resolved my endless downloads, game unavailable, wrong version errors by deleting Crossworlds and AP. I then redownloaded AP then Crossworlds. I haven't turned off auto-update, maybe I should.

Just don't play KB AP and you should be fine for now. Turning off auto updates was what I did as the initial knee jerk reaction to ensure that Steam would not download anymore updates once I had Crossworlds running properly. While it won't hurt anything to turn it off, I suspect as Aesir has posted, not touching KB AP and you should be good to go for now.

I think it quite likely that the reason why I experienced this to begin with was that I attempted to play KB AP right after installing Crossworlds which then messed up crossworlds, and steam validated the files to show the failed files, then kept messing things up as I chose one or the other to play not knowing basically I was playing AP anyway in Crossworlds, or rather an enhanced version of it.