Why is the NCSoft Launcher such a turd?
By
Aggelakis,
Posted on: 2011-12-09 15:25 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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Originally Posted by Gatecrasher
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Reading Akamai's own material I believe its both. They mirror the resources and the client uses p2p tech.|
Originally Posted by Rajani Isa
Seem to recall whatever it uses is less actual peer-to-peer and more mirrored sources.
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I'd never heard of it until I tried installing CoX on an old XP machine. I believe it will work well for most people unless your ISP has particularly draconian throttling practices.
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Well I tried your guide... and sometimes it even works. But I've had instances since reading and implementing your guide's suggestions, where the launcher crashes before I've even had a chance to start the game. |
Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Don't do that.
The only time you wanna do that is when you're slurping in updates during patch day. You...leave it...up? *Mutters to self* Hoo boy. LONG way to go with this'un. In short:  Read it. Use it. STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE LAUNCHER EVER AGAIN! No. Let's face it, the launcher is an app that really isn't meant to be kept up 24/7. Especially not when it's done its job (launching the game). Leaving it live in memory is just bad. Even if it wasn't prone to memory leaks. Set up properly, on a well-maintained system, and the launcher is quite reliable. I've had exactly 2 (TWO!!) instances where the launcher has failed on me and needed to be restarted. That's a pretty decent track record. Again, read the guide, optimize your use of the launcher and soldier on. |
My rig is up to date and my drivers are current. I'm still on XP and not inclined to upgrade to 7 but I can't see that being an issue.
As for why I left the launcher running in the background: Because crashy game is crashy and so when I invariably crash during an iTrial it saved time.
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Sorry Riffster, I'm going with the masses here
I've never had an issue, always works flawlessly, loads the game up fine, easy to use, it's set to close after starting the game and has never crashed or not worked for me.
Only time I leave it open is when I know there's a patch coming, and it preloads it for me then. Other than that, unexpected patches download hellafast (usually my entire bandwidth or close to it) and installs quickly as well.
It sure ain't a dealbreaker for me in any way shape or form
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Thing is, if the launcher crashes and locks your game (or system) too, it's not saving time, is it?
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Originally Posted by Scarlet Shocker
As for why I left the launcher running in the background: Because crashy game is crashy and so when I invariably crash during an iTrial it saved time.
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Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
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This sounds as if you have other issues going on with your computer and they are affecting the launcher.|
Originally Posted by Scarlet Shocker
Well I tried your guide... and sometimes it even works. But I've had instances since reading and implementing your guide's suggestions, where the launcher crashes before I've even had a chance to start the game.
My rig is up to date and my drivers are current. I'm still on XP and not inclined to upgrade to 7 but I can't see that being an issue. As for why I left the launcher running in the background: Because crashy game is crashy and so when I invariably crash during an iTrial it saved time. |
Hyperstrike already posted my thoughts on the launcher crashing vs time-saving.
Having installed the launcher and game on several work computers to stress test some hardware repairs, I can verify that if the computer isn't having any other issues, the launcher doesn't have issues.
If it were me, I'd start by backing up the game directories, running a full scan with Malwarebytes, a full scan with Spybot and a full scan with Spyware Doctor, running a full AV scan, uninstalling the launcher, uninstalling and then reinstalling all of the .Net Framework packages one by one and then reinstalling the launcher. It should detect the game installation and if not then you can start a reinstall from the launcher and then stop it and paste your backup files into the directory then do a repair.
That's not a guaranteed fix, but it's the first troubleshooting steps I'd take if it were on one of my computers.
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For the OP: Do you have Windows Service Pack 3 installed (assuming you're in Windows)?
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Originally Posted by VoodooGirl
For the OP: Do you have Windows Service Pack 3 installed (assuming you're in Windows)?
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Yes. I'm all up to date and I've got pretty good security and scan frequently and nothing shows up as untoward.
Thelonious Monk
Have you tried How To Resolve Issues With the NCsoft Launcher ?
The NCSoft launcher isn't perfect, but it's come a long ways over the years, and it's considerably better than the old launcher. In the old days, I remember having to bypass the patcher on numerous occasions just to be able to play the game, and even made it a habit after a while because it'd take *forever* to re-verify all of the game files after a crash).
As for your situation Scarlet, if everything checks-out with the software on your computer, it's possible there's a hardware issue with your system. Could be something as simple as a bad memory stick (I've seen that a lot lately), or it could be an unstable Power Supply, or an Hard Drive that's dying.
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Sorry, Tex, that doesn't work for those of us with ISPs that are specifically throttling the P2P aspect of the launcher.
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Originally Posted by Tex
Have you tried How To Resolve Issues With the NCsoft Launcher ?
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Tex, wish I could message you this but you're not taking PMs.|
Originally Posted by Tex
Have you tried How To Resolve Issues With the NCsoft Launcher ?
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If I may ask, is the client actually P2P? Where other clients are sharing parts of a file out to others.
Or is it more like a content delivery network (like Akamai), where you simply have the file(s) up on the service and the service has the files mirrored to multiple locations throughout the country/world where. Then the client is connected to the "best" fit, based on network metrics?
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
I believe it is the latter, using Akamai.
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Sorry, I was suggesting that link to Scarlet Shocker to help resolve the crashing issues.
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Originally Posted by Snow Globe
Sorry, Tex, that doesn't work for those of us with ISPs that are specifically throttling the P2P aspect of the launcher.
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The launcher uses BITS to do the actual download. It's what Windows uses to download patches as well. This allows patches to download in the background even if you close the launcher after starting an update.
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Akami (from what i get reading their website) basically provides three versions of content distro - Mirrored, P2P, and a blend of the two. From what I recall when the current base version of the launcher came out, they said they only used the mirrored version. I believe that is what tex was indicating with his post.
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Originally Posted by Jagged
Reading Akamai's own material I believe its both. They mirror the resources and the client uses p2p tech.
I'd never heard of it until I tried installing CoX on an old XP machine. I believe it will work well for most people unless your ISP has particularly draconian throttling practices. |
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I have CoH on three home networked PC's, all of which are running XP (SP3) |
Originally Posted by Scarlet Shocker
Well I tried your guide... and sometimes it even works. But I've had instances since reading and implementing your guide's suggestions, where the launcher crashes before I've even had a chance to start the game.
My rig is up to date and my drivers are current. I'm still on XP and not inclined to upgrade to 7 but I can't see that being an issue. As for why I left the launcher running in the background: Because crashy game is crashy and so when I invariably crash during an iTrial it saved time. |
with varying architectures.
I don't have any issues with the launcher on any of them.
I also make sure the launcher terminates when I run the game.
I'm starting to think there are other issues that are contributing to the trouble
you seem to be having. You may want to explore that a bit more.
GL,
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I also set the updater to close on launch, but then I don't remember the last time the game or the updater crashed on me.
So the claim that the new launcher is slower doesn't actually stand up to real world testing. Now your internet connection could be slow and/or your computer could be but the launcher.... No.
But it's MY sadistic mechanical monster and I'm here to make sure it knows it. - Girl Genius
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