okay i installed the game and activted it but after i click at the exe nothing happens, the same with the developer exe. its only about a second in the task manger and then it disappears. no error messages.

Entrenchment 1.2 manual patch ,anyone?

Guys guys guys...look at Impulse this way:  EVERY single PC game that has downloadable updates forces you to use some kind of third party software to download it.  Most games require downloading and installing Firefox or IE, or another browser, and using it's download manager to download their updates.  With Stardock, you download and use Impulse.  What's the difference, really?  either way you are having to install (if you don't have a browser already) and use an external piece of software.  

I'm amazed at some people. Free updates, and free online play. All you have to do, is work with an extremely easy to use, does-it-all-for-you download manager. And yet people complain.

 

People are basically complaining about the way they get their free stuff.

 

Seriously.

 

I'm using Impulse now for all my digital purchases, instead of Steam. I like Steam, I like the stat tracking stuff, friend/community options etc, and the auto-updating of my games. But it's so bloody slow to d/l a game or an update. I have no idea why this is, but Impulse is a million times faster, and when a game shows up there as well as Steam, I buy it from Impulse now.

 

By the way, just to remind some people: Free stuff. You're actually moaning, about free stuff.

so what? only because its free its okay when its bad?

 

actually for all new games except those wich use steam or impulse you can manually download updates/patches: assassins creed, hawx, gta 4, need for speed, prince of persia...

 

why do you think they use this software? to get marketing information! for free! in the time of the download progress they could scan the whole pc.

Or . . .  to lower our costs (and then yours), provide updates to paying customers, and build readily available value into a community-focused interface. 

You could've just sent him a tin foil hat in the mail to all of his addresses, and contacted him on all of his registered phone numbers to congratulate him on winning the aforementioned tin foil hat

What good is collecting all the private information if you don't put it to good use, amirite?

I'm reminded of a certain quote that I saw saying something to the effect of "If this company gave out hundred dollar bills, people will complain about how it was folded"

 

The only thing I'm disappointed with in Impulse is that it uses IE7's engine, and that it doesn't minimize to the system tray. Little things, though.

There is a tray app in the latest version that can be used to launch games and check for updates. You can also open the full client from it.

P-LEASE >.>

First off, Impulse is not spyware. Seriously.

Second, updates are made via Impulse because STARDOCK wants to:

1] Control who gets updates. Only people with a registered game can do it. Anti-piracy policy, protecting one's own wallet, you name it.
2] "Encourage" people (as in: force them) to use Impulse. It's not a readily available value built into a community-focused interface. It is a very profitable thing, that's all. There is plenty of information there that might sway you into buying another game or checking out some cool new preview (of course, that leads to buying a game through Impulse cause it is made of bargain prices).

Stardock very well understands that:

Some people 
- may NOT have a ready access to internet or
- may have a slow/limited connection or
- may not be adept in administrating their firewall into letting Impulse through (without endangering their system) or
- may expect to reinstall the game (cause they are buying a new PC in the next week and having the patches burnt on a CD would be a lot more helpful)
- may not want to wait half a f*kin day until the stupid program updates its stupid self so they can start downloading the patch (like I had to)
... and Stardock obviously understands that such people might want to update their legal copy of the game anyway.
For example by downloading the update on another machine and burning it into a dvd.
Well, screw them.

Some people do not want to install another program that mules their stupid Windows(r) by stuffing its registry with another stack of keys that are useless 99.99% of the time they spend by the PC.
Well, screw them.

Finally, Stardock is well aware that file hosts like fileplanet or filefront stand ready to host any file for free and knows that to lower our costs (and then yours) is nowhere near true.
Don't believe me? I informed filefront myself once of a 2-gig installer of some crappy MMO I wanted to download and that filefront did not host (the official download site provided me with a 24kB/sec download so I wanted it faster). 2 hours later I received an email saying Thank you for your information. We'll look into it. Three hours later that 2-gig installer was available for free, 250kB/sec download on filefront.

 

So, summing things up, it's a game of money vs. gamer's convenience.
Should we let the pirates (and legal customers) put their hands on our patches more easily or should we screw the 5% people that might HATE THIS STUPID IMPULSE.

Well, it seems Stardock hates pirates more than we deserve easy access to game updates.

You need a tin foil hat, too. And some perspective with a dash of common sense.

So I don't get banned for calling things what they really are?
Sew me.

 

You've obviously never used Impulse. Impulse = easy access to game updates

Oh didn't I?
If you live in the US where Stardock happens to have its servers, then it is easy.

If you don't, well...
Error: Can't log in to Impulse
Error: Your internet connection may be screwed
Error: can't build file list
Error: connection timed out
(FYI my connection was very freakin' fine all the time)

I downloaded v1.1 for 8 hours.
I had to wait 6 hours for Impulse to finally update itself before I could download Entrenchment.
I had to restart impulse 6 times during the download of entrenchment.

If game updates EVER land on any auxiliary file host, Impulse is out of my PC.
Oh no, I can't kick Impulse out. I can buy the next micro-expansion only via impulse. Silly me ;]

I click on impulse and start to read the forums. I find out a new update is out, so three mouse clicks later I am back in the forums with the update loading. while I am reading the forums the update finishes. I fail to see how you can get any more convient than that. Especially not finding out there is an update and having to go to another location, and searching for the correct files. Then finding out that you will have to pay this location before they will let you have the file. ((How again is this method suposed to be cheaper and more convienient than impulse?)) Then unzipping and running an exe file once you downloaded it all.

 Also I am from the UK with the cheapest cable deal you can get in this country ((ie the lowest download/upload rate there is for cable)) and the 1.1 still only took about less than 5 mins for me

I really don't understand why people are getting so upset over Impulse.

It is a FREE software item, that allows you to buy games online (or even if you physically bought the game on a cd/dvd), update that game for FREE, and allow you to download the whole game as many times as you want on any number of computers for FREE, with no DMR you have to go through.

On top of that, many games that install update automatically will install a downloading program onto your machine without you knowing. I know that Relic has done this with Company of Heroes, and i'm perfectly fine with this becasue its being used by a legitamate company that is trying to make the patching/updating interface easier and faster.

The other thing that amazes me is that people complain about not having access to updates online (this is directed at those who pirate the game). If you want to play online, you need to update, for that you need Impulse, and to use that you need to legally obtain the game. Face it, Stardock is a COMPANY, that needs to earn a profit from its marketed material so that it may continue to pay their employees, who are people to and do need to make a decent living, so that the company may continue to produce games in the future.

Remember, if everyone pirates games, companies wouldn't be able to remain in buisness, and there would be no more games. Stardock is merely protecting it's finacial future, and did it that makes thing easier for everyone execpt those who pirate the game. If you were in the same situation, you would have made the same choice.

I don't live in the US or on the same continent, and Impulse works fine for me.

Yes, alot of people had that problem. But if you actually looked for a solution online rather than just complaining about it, you would have found that reinstalling Impluse fixes that problem.

its not more convenient for the customer, its only more convenient for the manufactor. if there were a manual update you just had to download it and run the installer. then there werent any problems with the internet connection or login data or so.

is the piracy policy of stardock to sell bugged software and make the fixes only available for these with a valid regestration?

I use many products supported through Impulse. I'd rather not have to go hither and yon to update them all.

First off, almost all games have minor problems and glitches when they are released. I have yet to play a single game in it's vanilla version that dis not have some minor bugs or balance issues.

Secondly, why would you worry about this unless you didn't have a valid registration?

Thanks for agreeing that Impulse is easy to use and access updates to software all in one place.

The rest of your post shows that you are either trying to pirate the game or your Internet connection is crap.

In either case your problem is not with Impulse or Stardock. Call your ISP for internet problems. If you're trying to pirate the game, I have no sympathy for you.

No.

Yes.

Ha Ha!  The policy is ot make the best games possible; games we would buy.  And we believe that customers that support us should get *our* support with updates and features.

 

This is drivel.

I live in the UK so im pretty far away from the Stardock servers yet I downloaded the full versions of sins and demigod in less time than some games take to install from a disk. My computer can run games fine due to being upgraded over the years but its not some face melting gamer rig.

 

Stop blaming Stardock all the time, most of the time connection problems are  client side not server  side.

Its as bad as people who play MMOs complaining at the company about lag when the problem is 9/10 times client side.

 

No, reinstalling impulse didn't solve that crap. Don't imply I'm an idiot.

My connection is 8Mbit and I can suck off filefront 500mbytes per sec no problem. Yet Impulse (after it kindly updates itself and spews a few errors at me) downloads at 50 kbytes per second.
You have to understand that internet does not consist of a handful of web sites, users and ISPs only. It's not a straight line, like you-ISP-Impulse server. There is a huge architecture, millions of kilometers of cables and thousands of servers processing your game as it flies from US to wherever.
Some hosts work well for some people, some don't. It changes between places you live in. But don't think that if you can suck the game via impulse at 2132513145MB/second then everybody can. That's plain stupid.
go to http://www.speedtest.net/ and run a few tests around the world. You will see that you have awesome connection around your neighbourhood but it happens to become sucky as you start choosing destinations on the other side of the globe.
Or you can use Start->Execute , type  command then Enter and type tracert www.sinsofasolarempire.com . You will see how many other servers the signal jumps through to get from you to this site. For me, it goes into hundreds and I bet only 5% of them will be the same as yours.

I suppose you have zero understanding of what piracy is. Why would I give a **** about how sucky the impulse-only policy is if I wanted to pirate the game? There is a kazillion torrent trackers that serve the freshest version of the game.
But I appreciate your sympathy, as I have the game as legit as it can be. Wanna see the receipt??

 

My problem with Impulse is not whether it is crap or not.
My problem is that it is the ONLY place you can download such standard things as PATCHES. That for some reason Stardock believes a few servers somewhere in the US are enough to allow easy access to the patches for everyone around the world, ignoring completely that some other free file hosting companies have servers 500 times closer to the customer's PC and allow a dozen times quicker download.
I understand you may not allow the game to be downloaded from anywhere else. But patches?? For Gods sake, you HONESTLY THINK it helps you stop PIRACY?