Beta Download/Install Nightmare!!

[DavidR]

I am losing the will to live .................

10 hours after purchase .... still not had a sniff of this game yet.

So after discovering that Simware had forgotten to provide one of the files (no hard feelings) and after hours of finally downloading (no moans there, all good games & sims take some d/load time), I finally run the EXE to be told that the "SecuROM" has found a 'security issue' with my PC and will not run the program, "probably because I have a virus".

After swapping emails with "SecuROM" (who the heck am I dealing with here??) it seems I don't have a virus and should try installing again.

So.......... I install again and this time I don't get the 'security error' and all seems to go well with the activation .... yippeeee!!

So I run the program and this time I get this error message:-

"Data file too short 'addons/air_us_h.pbo'. Expected 277163363 B, got 85772928 B".

....and the program closes.

I'm trying to stay positive here, 10 hours after purchase, but I've really not experienced anything like this, after handing over my cash. I suspect all these problems are caused by having seperate .BIN files that are referenced by the EXE. If everything was packaged into the EXE I reckon I'd be flying by now.

So..... what to do now I wonder? .... another 6 hours of downloading the files from Simware to see if it works next time ........

I'm not a flamer, nor a troll, and I have nothing against Simware, having spent £0,000s on hardware with them, but until this mess is resolved I would advise against anyone buying this pre-order from them, as this experience has been PAIN and not a lot of fun!

Yours exasperated,
David.

[.kju [PvPscene]]

Ask them (SimWare) for a refund and buy it at Sprocket or Steam.

[zoog]

Ask them (SimWare) for a refund and buy it at Sprocket or Steam.

Second that. I would go for sprocket, directly from the developers and no possible problems with trying to get addons to work when having the steam version etc.

Hope you can get your money back. And otherwise, I think you'll have to re-download the corrupted file, because it sounds as if a .bin file has an error.

[DavidR]

Thanks guys.

I am doing what I knew would need to be done, before taking things further; completing a full re-download of all the files, from Simware, in case one of the files was corrupted during the last download.

So a few more hours of downloading, and we'll see what happens. It's now 23 hours since purchasing, the clock is ticking lol! ..... let's see how long it takes to be able to try out the beta.

Incidentally, none of my frustrations are with Bohemia (at this point!).

....but it would be nice to hear from someone on the team about this issue, eg, are steps being take with Simware to investigate if there is a problem etc?

I don't know if there were any installation instructions provided through the Steam or Sprocket purchase systems, but with Simware the comms were non-existant.

No installation instructions or guidance of any type, just 5 links (one missing), one of which was the md5 file which needs to be downloaded differently (right click and save as, as it's not an executable file or a BIN)........... as is so often the case, it's communication (or lack of) that has caused all of these problems.

Judging from the fact that no-one else who has purchased from Simware has mentioned anything on this thread, I am wondering if I am the only 'mug' who has chosen Simware to pre-order from.

I won't be making that mistake again!

Cheers for the help and encouragement. The v/beers are on me if and when I ever get to run the beta!

[JustGotWicked]

Have you verified the existing files on your HDD to see which are and aren't complete? TKOH....01.bin for example provides air_us_h.pbo, given that the size is indeed 270MB and you seem to of ended up with roughly 83MB you could prioritise that download.

Johny posted the MD5 of each file; you can use a program called md5sums to verify the files. Simply drop them onto the executable to get the output to check against.

Hopefully you can get up and running within the shortest possible time.

[zoog]

Maybe I shouldn't tell you this, but when the game is released you have to re-download the full game, ~20GB (iirc you cannot upgrade the beta installation). So I'm afraid you might have a good chance to run into these kind of issues again once it's the end of october If simware doesn't change it's delivery style/method of course. Maybe it's still possible to consider a refund. Or not. Up to you of course, and simware's policy as well.

[dale0404]

Just to echo what others have said mate, try and get a refund because the full game is ~ 20GB and you do not want to d/l 20 gig to find you have a problem installing the game. Use Sprocket mate, its a damn fine system and I have never had a problem with them.

Horse bolting and all that I know but its the best advice to give you buddy.

[Johny]

Hi,
I have prepared a small script that should allow you to see what setup files are corrupted.
It is just a script which checks the MD5 file but you don't have to know anything about MD5s.

check_TakeonBeta.zip

You need to download it, unzip/unpack the contents to the directory where you downloaded the beta files to and then run Check_TakeOnBeta.bat .

It will start script which checks the files. Please note that it takes a few minutes for each file. Then you will be able to see which file is corrupted.


I hope it helps some of you that might have trouble downloading.

Oh and a small note - full game download will have no more than 15GB.

[tommytoad2]

Everyone is saying simware is at fault here but it could just aswell be the OP:s internet connection. It would be so much better for people with slow/inconsistant connections if there was a BitTorrent alternative.

[DavidR]

Everyone is saying simware is at fault here but it could just aswell be the OP:s internet connection. It would be so much better for people with slow/inconsistant connections if there was a BitTorrent alternative.

Uhhhm, BT "Infinity" (Fibre Optic) running at 44Mbps....... ...I do take your point, but I have a high speed, fibre optic broadband connection

THANKS to all the other posters for their help and advice. And thanks for the check tool, Johhny. I NOW HAVE THE BETA RUNNING!

I asked Simware to check all of the files they had uploaded. I then redownloaded, ran the EXE and all now works fine.

Just going through the 'startup & shutdown tutorial' ; this looks fun! (I am a 20yr veteran of MSFS, but am very up for something new, and looking forward to a fresh take on flight sims).

Haven't quite got my graphics/displays right yet as I seem to have no AA displaying, but I'm sure we can get that sorted.

Tonight will be spent reading the manual (luckily something I really enjoy with a new product, unlike many!).

Cheers again,

David.