Never mind new planes, I need a new installer!

[Seeker]

So I bought two new hard drives and a new SATA optical drive, rebuild my machine and try to install IL-2....

A day later I'm finished. I takes me less time to install and configure whole AD infrastructures.....

1) The dam disk won't play in the new optical drive. We've known for half a decade that set up exe has problems with CD burners, and so we use A exe instead (why hasn't this been fixed? half a decade!!); but this time A exe won't run either (yes I tried all the rights and compatability options), plus that my original disks are seen has home burnt by the new drive.

2) No problem, I pop the disk in a server drive, share the drive over the network and map to it. Now A exe will run, but after 1 1/2 hours I'm only at 4 %.

3) Burn the disk t an ISO, copy the ISO over to the game machine and mount it and the install will finaly run.

4) But the game won't run on the ISO, It wants the disk in the drive.

5) Hunt down the no-cd patch

6) Begin the patching process; running the game after each patch.

7) The game won't start after BoE is patched. Uninstall and start all over again (yes, I'd made a zip copy of the whole 4.07 install but after the BoE patch that wouldn't run either)

finaly got it patched and running. A full 18 hour work day.

No, I don't now why it took so long either; I'm good at this crap! If it had been any other software I'd have thrown it back at the supplier......

Thank Cod for UP's patch and restore process - there's a group who have focus on more than just tinkering with the 190's cockpit bar.

I don't need yet another Spitfire, I need a game that will install, a game that has a mission and campaign structure that actually allows me to fly more than 5% of the planes stock and a game where it doesn't take me hours to find other people who run _exactly_ the same build version before I can join in.

Now that would be an update worth waiting for.

Rant over, now I'm off to play with an Oracle DB for light refreshment.......

[robtek]

If you had the game running before you should have copied the game folder to a usb stick (16GB are enough usually, with skins) and just copied it back on your new system.
voila, a running il2, no hassle, no problems.
Some people just have to go the difficult way.

[Seeker]

I guess you missed the bit above where I wrote that's exactly what I did....

But never mind, your insightfull and helpfull comments have inspired me.

I'll try harder in future. Thank you.

[robtek]

Sorry that i missed the small part about the UNPATCHED 4.07 zip file.
Of course i meant a patched and updated install to be copied, not some basic install.
And your intentions are noted and will bode well for your future

[IceFire]

Sounds like you were doing alright till BoE screwed up things again. I think maybe the sequence in which you installed that (after the other patches) may have done something... not sure.

The install problem has always been about the crappy last minute effort (by Ubisoft) to add DRM to the install and consequently patched it by offering a no-cd check exe because they did such a shoddy job of it in the first place. The DRM makes it difficult for some drives to work with it and later versions of Windows add some more interdependency that just make it a nightmare. I have a permanent backup of IL-2 so I never have to install it again. Fortunately it's a game that doesn't mind that.

Since Ubisoft doesn't support the game in any meaningful way (except the forums) I doubt this will ever be fixed.

[Seeker]

Yes, it was the crappy secure rom protection that was the problem.

I think the BoE install, or rather, it's patch, left some stuff in the /users/apdata/ file structure I missed, and that's what was preventing the simple replacement of the install folder from working.

Nonetheless, it's worrying that newer hardware and OS make it so difficult to install. I wonder how the Steam version fares? As you say, IDE CD burners have always had problems with IL2 disks, but this new SATA CD just flatly refused to run it.

Ironicaly, the UP install was a breeze after finally getting IL2 installed. Very well thought out.

But my point still stands - it seems that most on this board (or the Zoo) are waiting with baited breath for yet another 109 load out option or for the plane of thier choice to finaly get the correct rivet pattern over the gun covers. Or evén worse, still hlding out for the P51 to be finaly "fixed"...

I'm much more interested in the game engine it's self. Dgen sucks, static campaigns are limited and the interface horrible.

It seems 4.10 may actually be more than just another new plane/skin pack, a development I'd really like to praise and encourage.