Downloading Help here

Some of these games are pretty big and some of you are downloading from very very far away. So if you do run into any problems, let us know here. We'll be monitoring this thread.
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Reply #1 Top
Just a suggestion, when the games are listed, it would be nice to also see how big they are.
Reply #2 Top
I don't know about you guys....but I've been having some incredibly slow download times right now (and since several hours ago). I first bought and started using TotalGaming last night...and the d/l times were like 250Kb a second....but that lasted for about an hour...and ever since then...the fastest speed I've gotten is 1Kb a second. Anyone else having slow d/ls? BTW, I have a very nice cable modem...
Reply #3 Top
My speeds tend to fluxuate. Peak gaming hours it crawls, then I try just now and im getting around 200Kb pre/second. I suppose it depends on how many people are accessing stuff at the time
Reply #4 Top
The problem I am having is only with Disciples, I get http error -8 errors after grabbing 1-2% of the title.

ORB and Celtic Kings downloaded in one easy chunk, but not Disciples II.
Reply #5 Top
I'm on a 56k modem with a fresh install of the latest stardock central, my problem is my downloads don't resume...they start from scratch. This means I can't download any of the new games , If anyone can help me out it would be great.
Reply #6 Top
Nevermind, seems to be working now... just wish there was a stop button for downloading that does cancel, like a pause button.

At the moment I exit stardock central to achieve the desired effect (if I want to use the net between downloading ). I'm happy its working
but after having a few times were it restarted I'm left wondering when I'll have to start again next.

Anyway nice job Stardock am happy with this new "total gaming" direction .
Reply #7 Top
I agree. We should have a pause feature. If you hit cancel, it will restart where you left off when you redownload it (as you noticed).
Reply #8 Top
I've had several problems witht he download client while attempting to download disciples II. Download speeds can be pretty atrocious, but during non-peak hours they tend to pick up. Most annoying to me is that the stardock client uses 99 percent of my cpu resources while it is downloading, essentially making it impossible for me to do anything BUT download. This, coupled with slow downloads essentially means that getting a large game through stardock will put my computer out of commission for days. To make matters worse, even after I waited several days without beng able to use my primary computer I came home one day to find disciples 2 completely downloaded (1.09 gb of 1.09gb) only to discover that it would not install. It hadn't hung, but it sat for 3 hours reporting 0 percent progress unpacking some insignificant file, and then it wouldn't resume installation after I restarted the stardock client, instead opting to start the download over from scratch.

Perhaps integrating some sort of hashing nodal distribution protocol like bit torrent into stardock, so that there will always be enough bandwidth to work with would help with some of these problems. Also perhaps making the installation process a little more standard, so that customers can store their games on their hardrive and uninstall/reinstall them from scratch at will using the downloaded files.
Reply #9 Top
O.R.B. refuses to start up, asking for a file named BINKW32.dll . I was able to previously start the program, before it crashed stating that "ORB has conflicted with ORB.exe). I have also had download problems with all of the new games. I hope this information helps, I loved drengin, and I love this new concept. Stardock rocks my world!
Reply #10 Top
that does cancel
<- thankfully you knew what I meant Frogboy.... this should have been "doesn't". Yup I noticed the cancel button alright and have used it by mistake on many occasion especially when distracted , afterwards I'm more like and and wondering why I clicked it.

stardock client uses 99 percent
<- I've had the same thing as Zeigefus.
As a short term solution shutting stardock central and restarting it returns it to normal (download resume worked too) however there is a problem there.

Also I tried letting the download going overnight.... when my internet disconnected stardock central froze and this morning when I right click and closed the program (the only way I could shut it down). Unfortunately all progress in my download (200 megabytes, which may not seem like much but is too me ) was lost . So if a pause function does get included it would be great to have it the default program reaction for any problems instead of cancel. That way those like me could download 5 hours each night (about 60meg for me) and not fear losing their progress.
Reply #11 Top
I found part of the problem I was having trouble with disciples 2. Whenever the stardock client loses it's connection (whenever my connection drops that is) It automatically tries to install whatever it was downloading, whether or not the download was finished. That is the reason it always failed at the start of the installation: it hadn't actually finished downloading all the disciples 2 files. My question is whether or not I can get disciples 2 ultimate edition on CD, because it looks like there is no way in hell I am going to get it installed through the internet as at 1k a second it will require 2 weeks of solid uptime to install.
Reply #12 Top
I am having issues with the non-stardock large retail games, specifically Disciples II on totalgaming.net. Using SDCentral I can see the games there to download, and I can select them. They begin downloading, but once the download is complete, the game tries to install and comes up with an error. The same thing happens when I tried to archive the game straight from online. It downloaded the files, then SAID it had archived them, however the archive zip was onliy 8k and I couldn't find the raw Gb of data anywhere on my system.

I have changed the default locations in SDCentral from storing Archives and Temporary downloads, I don't know if that will have made a difference? But at the moment I can't seem to get Disciples to want to download and install or download and archive. Any ideas Stardock?
Reply #13 Top
Hi there !
Just bought TG subscription yesterday and proceeded immediately to d/l Disciples 2 . I really support the TG concept and pray it can spread among the PC Games and general media industry. If those big media corps were thinking ahead, trying to satisfy demand and creating new services like TG rather than yelling stupidly against "piracy" !
About d/l :my DSL connection is ca 2 Mb, but can get up to 5Mb with segmented d/l (using DAP for example), it's some weird French tech : but with SDC I only get 60KB/s (500 Kb) bandwidth (although stable). With 1.1 GB game files + 900 Mb music it's some 10 hours long ...
I suppose that segmented d/l isn't supported on SDC for some valid (but obscure) tech reasons, but could'nt SDC at least mention file size *before* starting d/l ? Currently the d/l manager indicates time remaining, but only *after* starting d/l ...
Reply #14 Top
Some thoughts after having used SDC with the totalgaming network:

1. With the incorporation of large amounts of game data there needs to be some support for resuming and pausing downloads.
2. Having a way to limit the bandwidth that SDC uses to download (for long downloads like Disciples, other people need to use the bandwidth I am higging as well)
3. A listing of file sizes before beginning of download (this was there, but with the latest builds is missing)
4. After installation of SDC auto-archiving should be turned OFF. With it set, after launching SDC and trying to download updates to GalCiv it tried to archive the existing installation to the default directory, which lacked the space (400+ Mb) which caused SDC to crash without warning. I can see this problem could get bad with huge games like Disciples being archives automatically to default directories which people may not have noticed are set.... At least a diskspace check and warning before the archive operation is undertaken would fix this.

That's all that comes to mind now. Stardock Central is a brilliant application, I probably wouldn't be half as satisfied with my purchase without it. your constant developments and improvements upon suggestion are a real positive note to your already shining record. Hope to see some of these features in the future.
Reply #15 Top
I had windows totally die on me (don't ask - it was not long after i got SDC working, and somehow doing an uninstall inside it deleted most of my system32 directory along with all of c:\progra~1\stardock - nothing else...) when i had maybe 3 games downloaded, and half of disciples 2.

Now after reinstalling SDC there is no way of making it scan for my d:\games\stardock\*.* and understand that yes, it does have games already part deployed - so i have 2GB or so i have to download again.

A way of scanning would be nice (but the be on the safe side i am archiving and storing em in another directory too i am hoping an archive restore should re-clue SDC).
Reply #16 Top
The problem I am having is only with Disciples, I get http error -8 errors after grabbing 1-2% of the title.

ORB and Celtic Kings downloaded in one easy chunk, but not Disciples II.


Fugmulch: Make sure that you are running the latest version of StardockCentral 2.00.291 build: 57 That should clear up any of the issues that you are having like.

Zeigfus: For those of you that are having issues with SDC taking up 99% of the cpu while downloading, please make sure you are not running SDC in debug mode. If you are using the link that is created on the desktop (which says DEBUG in the icon title) then please edit that shortcut and remove the "/debug" section. That should get that issue cleared up. Just as a note that shortcut has been fixed in the new releases. It also seems that the /debug switch is contributing to the 1Kb/s issue as well.

4D: Version 2.00.291, build: 57 of SDC seems to have Auto-Archive disabled by default. Also in that same version, the File size is incorporated in the title bar of the bottom right hand pane. As far as the Resume and pause issue, a current work around it so close stardockCentral. When you re-open it, the download will continue. Its not the most elegant solution, however it does work for now.

Heathnourse: What version were you running when this happened? Also what exactly were you trying to uninstall, all of SDC or some of the components within? If it was some of the individual components, which ones exactly?

Thanks for the feedback guys!
Reply #17 Top
Is Stardock Central likely to have the download resume function in August? I can only manage about 800MB a Day on my leased line, as I do not wanto lag out other users when they have critical tasks, and Disciples 2 Ultimate refuses to carry on from where it left off. I am exiting stardock central via the Alt-F4 function. Edit: It would be a big bandwith saver for youself if the Disciples 2 SDC was split into 11 100mb chunks.
Reply #18 Top
I am having the same problems as Harcon. I have tried to download Disciples II several times. Unfortunately, I only have dial-up, so it goes slow. I could handle that all right if the downloading started up where it left off, but it never has. It always starts over. That essentially means that I can never download any of these big games. I have only gotten to about 20% b/f getting cleared out. This is not fun.

Splitting into 11 files sounds like a brilliant idea!
Reply #19 Top
We are working on an official pause button that should be released in the next few weeks. For now, try pressing Cancel and then close StardockCentral. When you re-open stardockCentral and select install it should pick up where it left off. I appologize for the incorrect info from before. This procedure should work for you.
Reply #20 Top
Thanks Jake its good to hear (about the pause button ) , just one question if a connection is dropped will the download pause by default? If so I think I have a chance of trying out some of these new titles .
Reply #21 Top
Re "resume" function : a couple of times I had to shut down my comp while d/ling from SDC, and to my surprise it "resumed" when I launched SDC d/ll again - or so it seemed: the d/l manager reported at start the previously d/led part, for example it restarted indicating 100Mb already gotten and continued from here. The estimated time remaining was totally false though , as it calculated it as if the 100Mb were gotten in no time...
However I have another weird issue : when SDC runs it "corrupts" my desktop screen after some minutes- for example the shortcuts go black, the text below goes bold, the windows bar text disappears ... It's as if SDC corrupted somehow my video memory ... Strange
I have a W98SE rig with an ATI 9600 card, latest drivers, DX 9.0b.
Reply #22 Top
Thanks, Jake, for responding. With respect to what Stydracos said, I don't know what StardockCentral is supposed to do, but every time my connection has been dropped, when I re-connect and start downloading again, it certainly does not resume. So, it appears that it does not "pause."

Auto-pausing would perhaps be a good idea. Is it possible to set SDC to pause by default anytime the connection is stopped, whether by a user or by an interruption?
Reply #23 Top
Thanks for the info Jake. I managed to get Disciples on the third try The pause button will be much appreciated, I second the opinion of earlier posters in that this has to be costing Stardock additional and unneccesary bandwidth with all the repeated downloading. Hope it all gets smoothed out... These are the early days, Stardock is stellar at listening and adpating to customer needs, I am sure they will make the jump to incorporate these new larger titles just as they have adapted to the demands of the customization world in the past. Cheers.
Reply #24 Top
Hi ...

I can´t download Gal Civ from Stardock.

I subscribed TG.Net yesterday and it stops at weapons.mdl_ with an invalid url error (code -14) either from the chicago or california server. please help

thanks.
Reply #25 Top
Due to my latest loss of download after 600 MB of Disciples II due to an error, I was hoping someone could help clarify this alternate method of obtaining Disciples II. I had previously asked the question in the GalCiv forums whether it would be possible to download DII on my work computer (which has a fast connection), burn that to a CD and then transfer the game to my home computer where it will be played. I received this response....

"Diplomat Arturus Magi  - The offical method is to archive the programs and burn the SDC installer plus archives to a CD."

Here is my understanding of this method, please let me know if I'm way off base. I install Stardock Central on the work computer and input my serial numbers to get access to my subscription. I then comence download of the behemoth DII. Heres where it gets dicey. Following the download, I should archive the DII file and burn the entire SDC directory to a CD? Then do I paste the entire CD contents over my home SDC directory? As one can probably tell my computer literacy is limited but I can follow directions quite well if anyone is able.