View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0005381Valley 1Crash/ExceptionFeb 6, 2012 10:37 am
ReporterSwadius Assigned ToChris_McElligottPark  
Status closedResolutionno change required 
Product Version0.540 (Beta Series 2) 
Summary0005381: Crash Upon Initiating Autoupdater- Administrator Priviledges
DescriptionThe crash takes place during the process starting with the option to download and install the updates with the in-game option.

The downloading (7 updates as of today) of updates has no issue. After all the updates have been downloaded, an open file security warning pop-up pops under the game asking me if I am sure I want to run the software. When I click yes, this is when it crashes.

The pop up that comes up is:

"Error

*Big red X* This installer requires administrator privileges. Please become administrator before executing the installer."

I would happily comply if I were not already running it as administrator. I am running vista and have already turned uac off. Running the program (both autoupdater, and AVWW) with right clicking "run as administrator" does not solve this problem. It still asks that I acquire administrator privileges that I already have given it.

After clicking Okay to the error message, the TMP files the updater makes in the AVWW folder disappears along with the message.
Tagsadministrator, autoupdate, crash, update
Internal WeightDiscussion Only

Activities

Swadius

Dec 24, 2011 5:35 am

reporter   ~0017941

Edit: You know what? This also happens with AI war too.

Chris_McElligottPark

Jan 2, 2012 3:41 pm

administrator   ~0017960

Are you able to manually run the autoupdater after this happens? It sounds like there is something very unusual going on with your windows installation, would be my best guess, because this updater is in the hands of so many people on the same OS, and this is the first I've heard of it.

The actual updater itself isn't our code, it's just a Bitrock Installbuilder installer project. I'm wondering if there was some sort of recent windows update that might have caused this, or something else being awry. I'm afraid I don't have too many ideas of what to try on this one. :/

Swadius

Jan 4, 2012 2:39 am

reporter   ~0017966

Could have sworn I replied to this.

Anyways, if by "mannually run the updater" you mean run the autoupdater program without initiating the game, I've done this too. It gives the same result, the updater crashing, but without the game crashing with it because I haven't initiated it.

It doesn't seem to be a problem with the firewall. I've added both the game executable as well as the updater program as well with no detectable differing results.

In any case, don't worry about it. I've installed and modified parts of the OS in the past trying to get modding tools, as well as mods to work. So long as there's a download at the very end of game development where I don't need to patch it (or not) it's fine.

Chris_McElligottPark

Jan 4, 2012 9:13 am

administrator   ~0017971

A couple of notes that might be helpful:

1. When you run the autoupdater program without initiating the game (which is indeed what I meant with "manually run the updater"), that doesn't do anything except read a text file and then unzip some zip folders. No connections to the Internet or anything. The actual game itself is what does all the Internet connections and downloading, so that definitely would exclude firewalls -- as you say -- when you're manually running it and it's not working.

2. If you run the in-game updater and it does the downloads, and then the actual updater program fails (which really is an un-PACKER program, if you want to get literal), you can still manually update your game very easily at that point. The game itself would have downloaded a number of zip files into the RuntimeData/Updates folder. These updates all have numbers like 501, 550, etc. If you unzip each of them in sequence into the base AVWW (or AI War, when talking about AI War) folder, and have them overwrite all files, then you've just updated the game.

Often that would be unzipping one zip file, but sometimes it might be something like 8 at worst. We've done 56 new versions since the start of beta, but most of our updates replace the prior update, so to get from 0.500 to 0.556 it's only 21 zip files to do. And I believe that we updated the installer after about 13 of those, making it so that it's only 8 updates since the last installer.

3. Anyway, number 2 above might be too much hassle, but I just did want to make sure you had all the options. We'll definitely be doing another cumulative installer at the 1.0 mark and probably even sometime before that. However, even post-1.0 this is going to be seeing a lot of ongoing updates (like AI War always has), so having a way to get them without waiting for the next installer (which only comes a couple times per year) would definitely be a good thing. Hence the manual options.

4. On a related note, I'm very curious what would happen if you turned the UAC back on in windows, then tried to run the installer. Sometimes I've seen where the UAC can cause some really odd stuff with third party software (unrelated to Arcen, just with my personal stuff) when disabled. With Windows 7 it seems to be better, and they added more options to the UAC such as disabling the screen darkening without disabling the prompt, and having it only prompt on certain activities -- that's what I set my computer to do. I'm not sure if they patched that into Vista or not, but it might be something that would prevent issues with some installers by a number of companies, since a lot of folks use the same installer technology that we are, and I imagine that you'd run into issues somewhere else, too.

5. Come to that, I'm suddenly wondering how you installed the games at all, given that that's the same installer technology as the updater... very strange. That's making me think this might be some sort of permissions issue. Sometimes the later versions of Windows get really funky with what they are letting programs do if they are in Program Files. You might try right-clicking the AVWW folder in Program Files, and then making sure that both yourself, users, and administrators all have full access rights to the folder. Then check the option that propagates the permissions to all subfolders within the AVWW folder tree -- that might help. Granted, installing AVWW at all is supposed to do that on that folder, and the fact that the game can download the updates and that you can save world files makes me think that it's working okay. But it's worth a shot.


Hope one of those helps, at least!

tigersfan

Jan 28, 2012 9:30 am

reporter   ~0018314

Not heard anything in a while... I'm going to assume this is no longer an issue. Please let us know if you are still having problems.

Swadius

Feb 2, 2012 12:40 am

reporter   ~0018491

Sorry about the hiatus, something else came up.

Option 2 seems to be a sure fire thing, those updates are indeed in the runtime data folder.

As for options 4. and 5. I think I know what the problem is and it was staring me in the face the whole time.

http://imgur.com/JcmEc

I've no idea what that means, but it's probably what's causing the problems as all the other folders don't have those symbols. My lack of terminology for those icons however, have not been fruitful when looking at how to fix it.

All users have access to the folder, curiously though, the folders have this user called "Everyone" that no other folder in the Favorites folder has.

Removal of the "everyone" user from AI War did nothing.

I suspect it might have something to do with this: http://imgur.com/c9umD

The inherited thing is not the same with the other base folders of other games. As in there's a path that's inherited.

I will not be able to try out re-installation with UAC off until the weekend. I have to watch bandwidth consumption where I am at the moment.

Chris_McElligottPark

Feb 2, 2012 8:50 am

administrator   ~0018493

Cheers, thanks for the update. In terms of this (http://imgur.com/c9umD) -- are you actually having AVWW in the Favorites folder that is shown? Or is that a filesystem link to the folder in program files? Because if it's a filesystem link, which I suspect it is, then you're actually looking at the permissions of the link rather than the folder. And given that those sorts of filesystem links are new since after XP, I haven't really had time to read up on how they handle things like permissions. You'd think they'd be the same on both sides, but it does make me wonder.

Swadius

Feb 2, 2012 9:20 pm

reporter   ~0018528

Do you mean that the AVWW folder in the favorites folder is a shortcut? I did choose to install there, when the installer prompted for a location, no idea what filesystem means though.

I've been tweaking the security options of AI War, and haven't come up with a fix regardless of making the settings identical to other folders. I think the only alternative at this point would be to try installing them somewhere else and/or with UAC on, and see if that helps.

Chris_McElligottPark

Feb 3, 2012 8:21 am

administrator   ~0018537

I meant the favorites folder -- I'm not sure if it's actually a folder, or of it's really a kind of new-style shortcut. Windows 7 lets you pin folders in various ways, for quick access. But it doesn't really move the folder, it just gives the folder 2 different file paths. That is both useful and troubling. It causes all manner of tomfoolery with some programs that try to use the other paths, but I really like that pin ability. My understanding was that favorites was something like that, so I have no idea what installing the game into there would do -- maybe this.

Swadius

Feb 5, 2012 6:01 am

reporter   ~0018623

I think you might be right, after a little googling on Friday it seems there's something particular about the Favorites folder's integrity level.

Installing the game in a folder in c:/ allows the updater to work perfectly.

Chris_McElligottPark

Feb 6, 2012 10:37 am

administrator   ~0018636

Whew, glad that did it at least! And good to know that the Favorites folder is definitely "funny."

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Dec 24, 2011 5:34 am Swadius New Issue
Dec 24, 2011 5:35 am Swadius Note Added: 0017941
Dec 29, 2011 6:42 am Swadius Tag Attached: administrator crash update autoupdate
Dec 29, 2011 6:42 am Swadius Tag Detached: administrator crash update autoupdate
Dec 29, 2011 6:43 am Swadius Tag Attached: administrator
Dec 29, 2011 6:43 am Swadius Tag Attached: autoupdate
Dec 29, 2011 6:43 am Swadius Tag Attached: crash
Dec 29, 2011 6:43 am Swadius Tag Attached: update
Jan 2, 2012 7:42 am tigersfan Internal Weight => Fix ASAP
Jan 2, 2012 7:42 am tigersfan Assigned To => Chris_McElligottPark
Jan 2, 2012 7:42 am tigersfan Status new => assigned
Jan 2, 2012 3:41 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0017960
Jan 2, 2012 3:41 pm Chris_McElligottPark Status assigned => feedback
Jan 4, 2012 2:39 am Swadius Note Added: 0017966
Jan 4, 2012 2:39 am Swadius Status feedback => assigned
Jan 4, 2012 9:13 am Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0017971
Jan 4, 2012 9:13 am Chris_McElligottPark Status assigned => feedback
Jan 28, 2012 9:30 am tigersfan Note Added: 0018314
Jan 28, 2012 9:31 am tigersfan Status feedback => closed
Feb 2, 2012 12:40 am Swadius Note Added: 0018491
Feb 2, 2012 8:47 am tigersfan Status closed => assigned
Feb 2, 2012 8:50 am Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0018493
Feb 2, 2012 9:06 am tigersfan Internal Weight Fix ASAP => Discussion Only
Feb 2, 2012 9:20 pm Swadius Note Added: 0018528
Feb 3, 2012 8:21 am Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0018537
Feb 5, 2012 6:01 am Swadius Note Added: 0018623
Feb 6, 2012 10:37 am Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0018636
Feb 6, 2012 10:37 am Chris_McElligottPark Status assigned => closed
Feb 6, 2012 10:37 am Chris_McElligottPark Resolution open => no change required
Apr 14, 2014 9:28 am Chris_McElligottPark Category Bug - Crash or Exception => Crash/Exception