Unable to install CoH on Vista
By
FloatingFatMan,
Posted on: 2009-06-09 09:27 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
hey pixels 
I'm not great on vista but some things that may affect the instillation of the game are your user rights
Its probably the case that you need to be a administrator or what ever the Vista equivalent is to install
[ QUOTE ]
hey pixels
I'm not great on vista but some things that may affect the instillation of the game are your user rights
Its probably the case that you need to be a administrator or what ever the Vista equivalent is to install
[/ QUOTE ]
Did that too, nothing happened. 
If memory serves (and I'll get FFM to verify, as I don't currently use Vista), you need a few things to install CoH properly on Vista, and the first is that you need to run the install with Administrator rights (which you have to turn ON, since they're off by default). I also believe that Vista dislikes installing software to certain root directories.
More details soon.
The wisdom of Shadowe: Ghostraptor: The Shadowe is wise ...; FFM: Shadowe is no longer wise.
; Techbot_Alpha: Also, what Shadowe said. It seems he is still somewhat wise 
; Bull Throttle: Shadowe was unwise in this instance...; Rock_Powerfist: in this instance Shadowe is wise.; Techbot_Alpha: Shadowe is very wise *nods*; Zortel: *Quotable line about Shadowe being wise goes here.*
[ QUOTE ]
If memory serves (and I'll get FFM to verify, as I don't currently use Vista), you need a few things to install CoH properly on Vista, and the first is that you need to run the install with Administrator rights (which you have to turn ON, since they're off by default). I also believe that Vista dislikes installing software to certain root directories.
More details soon.
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I do ? How do I do that ? And Vista smells ! 
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If memory serves (and I'll get FFM to verify, as I don't currently use Vista), you need a few things to install CoH properly on Vista, and the first is that you need to run the install with Administrator rights (which you have to turn ON, since they're off by default). I also believe that Vista dislikes installing software to certain root directories.
More details soon.
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I do ? How do I do that ? And Vista smells !
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A friend at work just suggested that you attempt to install it to the "My Documents>Games" location, rather than the default. If that doesn't work, it's because your account on the PC doesn't have Admin rights.
The wisdom of Shadowe: Ghostraptor: The Shadowe is wise ...; FFM: Shadowe is no longer wise.
; Techbot_Alpha: Also, what Shadowe said. It seems he is still somewhat wise ; Bull Throttle: Shadowe was unwise in this instance...; Rock_Powerfist: in this instance Shadowe is wise.; Techbot_Alpha: Shadowe is very wise *nods*; Zortel: *Quotable line about Shadowe being wise goes here.*
Actually, Vista doesn't smell... It's just trying to protect you as a lot of older programs just aren't written with its security model in mind, COH being one of them. Unfortunately, people mistake this security feature for a bug and accuse the OS of being rubbish when in fact, it's just different to how XP did things.
Firstly, you should not need to install CoH as an Administrator. Very few programs require this BUT you should NOT install it to the default directory (C:\Program Files\City of Heroes).
Like all MMO's, CoH requires write access to be able to update itself, and the \Program Files\ directory tree falls under Vista's new security model. It will not permit programs to write files in there after their initial installation and instead creates a virtual folder path which is deleted when the program terminates.
What this basically means is that you will need to install to a different folder. Personally, I have a \Games\ folder and I install all my games under there. That way there are no problems with permissions.
One thing though. Once installed, Vista is going to flag CoH as needing security permission to run every time you start it. This is a bit annoying as it means there's an extra button to click every time you start it, but it's really just the OS noticing that the file your running has the word "update" in it, and thinks "Hang on, this could be dodgy!", so quite sensibly asks you if it's OK. Maybe one day Paragon Studios will address this issue, but in all fairness to them, Vista is NOT listed as a supported OS (even though it works great under it).
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
It's pretty simple to get CoH to run without an administrator prompt, but let's get the thing to work first.
Follow FFM's advice, the man is wise. Install the game to C:\Games so that it can fully write to itself.
Security like this prevents any old bit of code from getting full access to your PC. Consider this 'administrator access' like you would your car keys. With Windows XP, it would happily give the keys to your system to any and every program that it saw. This allows viruses and trojans to help themselves to everything in your car, then drive off in it. Like a bunch of chavs.
With Vista, it will ask you before giving away these 'keys'. If a program was written well, it doesn't need them, or ask for them. You only need administrator access to change sensitive folders on your PC, install things, and muck about with Windows; things that you don't need to do very often. If a program was written badly, it will ask for access even though it doesn't need it.
Vista has been out long enough that every program you'd want supports this new security system, and so won't ask for the keys to your computer. However, installing stuff will always need to.
Necrobond - 50 BS/Inv Scrapper made in I1
Rickar - 50 Bots/FF Mastermind
Anti-Muon - 42 Warshade
Ivory Sicarius - 45 Crab Spider
Aber ja, nat�rlich Hans nass ist, er steht unter einem Wasserfall.
Thanks for the replies. But I NEVER install my games into the default windows folders. Always have my very own one. So my problem still remains -sighs-. And I never run any programs in adminstrator mode unless I'm very desperate !
Update:
Problem solved. I have no idea how, why or when. I think it was just a bug or something. Works fine now - thanks for the help !
OK, then assuming CoH is installed to a folder you created, I suggest right clicking that folder and bringing up the security properties. Make sure that your current user has both Ownership of the folder AND Full Control access rights.
If you don't, add them (the help will guide you through doing that).
EDIT: Ah, I see it's fixed. Good! Glad it's now working for you!
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Now it works, let's remove the UAC prompt. This is optional but it's worth doing.
Make a shortcut to CityOfHeroes.exe. Not the updater. Add -project EUCoH to the end of the Target. You want it looking like this:
"C:\...whatever...\City of Heroes\CityOfHeroes.exe" -project EUCoH
Character for character, word for word, with the " where you see them. Start CoH with this shortcut to bypass the updater and play it directly.
You will still need to run the updater manually should a patch come out. I should point out that this shortcut isn't officially supported.
This also lets you use more advanced keyboard and mouse software, like the kind found with Logitech peripherals. If CoH is running with admin privileges, I personally can't use game-specific keybinds.
Necrobond - 50 BS/Inv Scrapper made in I1
Rickar - 50 Bots/FF Mastermind
Anti-Muon - 42 Warshade
Ivory Sicarius - 45 Crab Spider
Aber ja, nat�rlich Hans nass ist, er steht unter einem Wasserfall.
Hello there,
For some odd reason it doesn't let me install the game on my laptop with Vista.
I get the following error:
Whenever I launch the CoH Updater I get an error which says that there was an error opening the file and as a eventual problem it says that either I don't have enough space or not writing rights at this location. To exclude those I checked the space - I have more than 50 GB left. Moreover I disabled Kaspersky Internet Security, added the updater and the TMP file to trusted files.
Still nothing. Also I tried copying my entire CoH folder on my laptop but it also tries to install the game with no success.
Any suggestions how to fix it ?