Restore From Archive

from GalCiv2 Forums
To resolve some issues with Impulse installing to the wrong folder (could be my fault), I uninstalled all GC2 items and chose to reinstall them. To keep from having to download them again and again, I right clicked and chose 'Download and Archive'. A few issues:

  • The expansions will not download and archive until the previous one is installed. I should be able to download them regardless, yes?
  • When choosing 'Restore Archive' from the menu top left and choosing the downloaded archive, I am taken to the 'Downloads and Installs' page but nothing is shown there. It simply refuses to install.
  • Is there a way to specify what folder Impulse should save archives to? I would prefer it wasn't cluttering up my OS drive.
  • If I have archived the game and choose the 'install' option, it starts to download it again despite having it already downloaded.
  • Shouldn't it check to see if an up to date archive exists locally before choosing to download again?
Regarding issue #2:
I removed all folders regarding GC2, and confirmed registry keys to be removed. The keys I checked were all already gone, so no editing took place. I show no software anywhere on my system grabbing a handle for the install folder, nor is it created if it does not exist. A second process does start and requests administrator rights, but appears to do nothing.

The error log says this over and over until it says 'success' instead of 'transient error'.  The rest of the log entry is the same.

-- [5/1/2008 11:06:45 AM] ----------------------------------------------------
Context:    DownloadJob Transient Error - gc2/drengin PublicProduction 1.50.135
Message:    The connection with the server was terminated abnormally
http://dl1.impulsedriven.com/download.ashx?b=154&v=1.50.135&t=FGwgwUFlgN8BaKkBT23w9AmMa%2fD8bH9I95HuufI5AcB9Ph1Rxj8dCJqqCa39Y83vOxOgkZOQtcy4Z44P7tZhcTxzL5EKQMWHhLYaf048AiZZ9an57EGE%2bRFTPR%2bPfI%2fJDX79%2fvHE%2fDX%2b6nQv42n%2bexm%2bhF%2fDRNz05FdWo2FqcZ%2fhvmkNErWxav2wzlbf7IBc00xTHGzVv%2bXIqbGohqZi8%2fMV5WanLlui2px9pn9XI82P0i9dw94cLtKHEPop0U%2fPFKMUKzk7XbmtOdgk4wdyNWYlVG41Xv6MRl6OB0fFVW20HmGNrZclp0TueqMmVoZCxUMZcEfBy5m4LwMVl3Yfwvy8ACZq6clq0GSKmNfn3tr3YSE15hJmJABdjSqPwwBvzsrqJIdf5uV25UBVeZ%2fb9akBQl7lrf8xNLucRWY7op5fO6IYZoVgTBMZgSkuLHBba8E8VUiGdZAEtCiRUyDg2%2b4WlslIs0g2pAIwRETbtPA%3d&f=The error occurred while the remote file was being processed.

Also tried downloading the file manually via browser from above address, still no install from archive after successful download.

Please advise.
14,372 views 15 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Ok, I finally got GC2:DL installed after I let it download the whole thing again. Now I am wondering why it insists on installing to the
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Did you change where games install to in the Impulse options? I did that, and when I restored from archive, it actually put GalCiv2 and the expansions in that folder.

If your registry keys are pointing to wrong locations, then you'll have the issues you did with installs ending up int he wrong place for the expansions. I experienced the same thing.

-HM
ObjectDock - Access shortcuts and frequently used applications from an animated dock.
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thanks for the response! As above notes, I checked to ensure there were no keys regarding the game left (there weren't). As said above, I set the install folder as I desired, but it adds additional folders underneath it.

Any ideas?
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Let me just say that when I archived my GalCiv2 stuff last night, with the intent of restoring them on my work PC this morning, I FULLY expected to have the problem you did. For whatever weird reason, however, it actually put the games in the directory structure I have listed in "My Games" (Advanced Settings - Folders). Which, incidentally, is different then where they're installed at home, so it isn't pulling the directory structure from the archives.

So my assumption was that it got it from the Impulse settings, but perhaps not.

HOWEVER, there is nothing I think we can do about the fact that wherever you point it, it's always going to add "Stardock\Totalgaming\GalCiv2" to the mix. I've accepted this even though it's annoying.

So the question I have is this: what is the full path, including drive letter that you want GalCiv2 to reside in? Take into account that no matter what, the installation folders will look like this:

[path you want]\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2
[path you want]\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\DarkAvatar
[path you want]\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Twilight

So you can specify what I have denoted as [path you want], and the rest you don't appear to have control over.

-HM

Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thanks for the help.

Yea, I figured that would happen. I can live with that, but my main issue is that I can't restore from archive. That means that I am going to have to redownload the entire thing to reinstall it.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What happens when you try to restore? For me it would not work from a DVD I created. The DVD just spun and nothing happened But if I copied it to my hard drive it worked fine. It didn't have to be in the Impulse "backup" folder. I just copied them to my desktop temporarily.

-HM
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It takes me to the 'Downloads and Installs' tab and thats it. Nothing.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Addendum: the restore works the same way you described (taking me to the Updates - Downloads & Installs tab). But if you click back on "My Games", and wait a bit, you will eventually see the status change to something else (I forgot what it says first, probably something like "restoring archive").

It does take a while to see that first message. And wait for a number of different messages for it to complete. Especially since one is something like "complete", but it isn't really complete. EVENTUALLY it gives some kind of complete notice with an exclamation point. That's when it's really done.

Sorry I didn't take more copious notes on all the status messages. :)

And remember that I never got this to work off of burned media. That would just sit there forever and do very little. The .impulse files have to be on your hard drive.

-HM
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hmm, perhaps the problem is simply a complete lack of feedback. I'll let it go a while (I did watch for file handles to see when it actually read the archive before). A little more patience perhaps?
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I hear ya. I thought for a while it did nothing too...especially since I was trying it off a burned DVD. But it should work if you do the restore from your drive. I hung in there because I saw my hard drive was churning away, even though it took a while to get a message. Yes, Stardock REALLY needs to work on their status messages. :)

-HM
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
DA seems to have finally got the message and now says "Ready to restore". I wonder how long I'd have to wait for DL's 1.4 GB?
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
A suggestion for Stardock: Simple and elegant UI's are fantastic, but they should give the advanced user the ability to see more information when it is desired. There is plenty of screen real estate not being utilized. Right clicking and choosing something like "see details" would be good enough to me (though not the best way to implement such a feature). Said details might be a log of what has occurred and will happen next with percentages or even progress bars.
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
DA seems to have finally got the message and now says "Ready to restore". I wonder how long I'd have to wait for DL's 1.4 GB?


Longer than one would like. It was definitely speedier on my 2 GB RAM/dual core desktop than my 1 GB RAM/single core laptop.

But faster than re-downloading. :)

I second the motion for progress bars. And something that IMMEDIATELY comes up when restoring from archive saying it's working. Right now it does nothing, which is baffling (and obviously, made us think it wasn't doing anything).

Oh, and the ability to restore from removable media. I waited for a while, and could get nothing to restore if the .impulse file was on a burned DVD.

-HM
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I miss my ridiculously fast internet connection. My new office is much nicer, but the speed dropped drastically. Have to see what I can do about that...
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
My work connection is fast, but since Impulse doesn't tell me the transfer rate (hint, hint), I couldn't tell for sure if it was being utilized.

I should probably just play the game instead of messing around with all the Stardock technology, hah!

-HM