GuildCom

Forewarning:  This post is long and is largely a tale of woe and hardship, and therefore contains much more cursing and general vulgarity than normal.  You’ve been warned.

What a way to end 2008.  Christmas was great, I amassed a goodly amount of loot, drank good beer, and ate way too much good cooking.  Thanks to massive Steam sales, I bought Bioshock for $5 and (finally) Far Cry for about $7 (am I the only one thinking that’s odd?  FC is freakin’ old now, yet it cost me more!  Then again, it wasn’t 75% off either…).  I picked up Grand Theft Auto IV, and once I got it running (I’ll get to that in a minute) it seems pretty awesome in the limited time I’ve gotten to spend with it, even running it at only medium settings.  I also finally got Fallout 3 as well.  I got a nice 8GB Phillips MP3/WMA player for Christmas, and it sounds pretty darn good.  Good enough I went and bought $30 Sony headphones to do it justice (my old Koss KC-75s need some burden taken off them anyways; the right headphone has some buzzing at certain bass frequencies; it’ll likely get regulated to games-only duty).  I (finally) picked up the 2-disk version of The Dark Knight.  Other nice things in my pile of loot is new slippers (my old ones were in a sore state of disrepair), two sweet shirts, jeans that actually *FIT*, and a nice light jacket.  Oh, yeah, Marissa and I got a printer too.  And an assload of candy.  I like candy.  :mrgreen:

Sounds good, right?  So what made this week so long?  Well, it was what happened after Christmas (though the problem started beforehand; I had been working on it for several days beforehand, actually, it just gradually got worse).  Remember, I had just migrated all my day-to-day operations from Windows XP to Windows Vista just a few short weeks ago (I hadn’t even reinstalled everything yet).  A few days ago, I decided to go ahead and get Games for Windows Live Client 2.0 (as well as the in-game redistributable).  I had installed it once before, and it worked fine, but since I didn’t actually have any GFWL-supported games yet, I uninstalled it.  Don’t ask why.  Anyways, I decided to reinstall it in preparation of getting Fallout 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV, both GFWL-compatible games (the latter requiring it, actually).  So I went ahead and installed it, ran the program, and…uh-oh:  crash during the loading screen.  That isn’t good.  I closed it and re-ran the program:  same thing.  Not good.

“What the fuck?  This goddamn thing worked before!"  And indeed it had.  To make matters more confusing, the only major system changes I had done since the last time I installed it was install some .NET Framework 3.5 updates.  The error jargon only code-monkeys truly understand read, among other nonsense, APPCRASH and something to do with KERNEL32 (I still have the actual full error report laying around but I’m lazy, and I’m writing this post amidst of a crapload of IE7 lockups/crashes).  In any case, the prognosis was clear:  Not Good.

“What the fuck?  This goddamn thing worked before!"  And indeed it had, with me making no major changes to the system except for some .NET Framework updates.  So what was wrong?  Honestl,y I still don’t know, though I have an idea.  Either way, its irrelevant; the problem is fixed; I did it the Guildsman way:  after FUBARing things all to shit, I just blew it all to hell and rebuilt it.  Again.  For the second time in a month.  I’ll explain:

The first solution was, obviously, uninstalling them ess and re-installing it.  Of course, it didn’t work.  Secondly, I double-checked that my regional settings hadn’t been fucked with (it turns out GFWL Client doesn’t like you not using decimels and commas for your currency and number formatting…).  Mine were set correctly.  Of course they were:  I’m an English-speaking American with only one language installed on my copy of Windows (English!).  Of course the shite was set right.  But I looked anyways because Windows doesn’t have a True Texas Guildsman option on it *locking* it to what God intended it all to be and not allowing fool-ass Yankees from farting with it.  So that wasn’t the cause either.  Next, I ran System File Checker; it did find some errors, but claims it fixed them.  I then uninstalled .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 as well as 3.0, and ran a .NET Cleaner, then put it all back and reinstalled GFWL.  No dice.  This was starting to piss me off.  To make matters worse, since this was still before Christmas, I didn’t have any GFWL games to test to see if the in-game part worked and it was just the client that was fucking up…or if it was the whole damn thing.

I only had a day or two (depending on how Christmas gifts went) to find out, so I decided to leave it be unless I found another solution to try.  Finally, on Christmas morning, I ripped open a package shaped much like a PC game case and discovered it was Fallout 3.  Perfect; this would help me diagnose the extent of the problem.  And its a badass gameto boot.  Time to solve this damn thing. 

The next day, I installed Fallout 3 and reinstalled GFWL.  The client still crashed (of course), so I hopped into FO3 and chose the proper Live option from the main menu.  The fucking thing *worked*!  Not only did it work, I signed in just fine, and it even downloaded the patch for FO3 for me.  Nice of it; I didn’t know it did that.  And unlike Steam, getting the patch was optional.  That’s always nice.  So I signed off, exited the game, tried running GFWL client again, and witnessed the same damn crash screen I’d been seeing for days.  Damn.  But at least I know the problem was only with the stand-alone client and not the whole damn thing.  Finally, some good news.  The next evening, I went and bought GTA4 (and The Dark Knight) and installed it.  Or tried to.

First thing is first:  GTA4 is *big*.  Its the first game I’ve seen that takes two DVDs to install.  Total install size for the game alone is 14.9 GBs.  About as big as the full Cinematic Mod 9.5 with the HD addon for Half-Life 2.  Anyways, back to the story.  The first thing the GTA4 installer has you do is install RockstarGames Social Club (some other needlessprogramyoumusthave to run the game).  "Fine, whatever, continue damn you."  Then we get to the actual game install.  It didn’t take as long as I would have thought, to be honest; maybe 30 minutes or so.  Not bad for two DVDs.  Onwards it goes.  Next it has to do a Release Date Check to make sure I’m not pirating it days before the release (mind, you, this is a few weeks after the release now).  This is also a fancy way to get you to activate the game (which you must to to play; it doesn’t install the game’s executable until you do.  Pretty slick).  Well, I couldn’t connect to the damn server to activate and verify the release date.  Hell, my firewall was even off!.  So I did the offline activation (which still requires an Internet connection, but can be done from another machine).  I kinda like the idea of being able to activate my game if I’m ever Internet-less again; all I need is a Net-enabled machine elsewhere to get an unlock code.  Pretty nifty, really, despite the pain in the ass activating in principle is.  At least Rockstar didn’t require the computer you want ot play on to have Internet like EA’s Mass Effect and Crysis Warhead.  No install limits, either.  So, for a SecuROM game that makes me run two pieces of software to play, it isn’t as bad as some other recent titles.  ^_^

A note about that failing Release Date Check/Activation:  it worked perfectly fine later, and when I had my firewall on.  Either the server was down, or I caused the problem myself somehow when I turned off my firewall (I suspect the connection was still being blocked somehow, but I couldn’t tell it to allow it through).  Either way, my opinion on the whole ordeal wasn’t as negative after that second reinstall.

So I tried to start the game.  RockstarSocial Club encountered a crash.  The same damn error as GFWL.  "What the hell is this bullshit?”  I was beginning to see something was very, very fucked up.  And unlike FO3, I couldn’t even load GTA4 until I figured out that he hell was broken.

After even more trial-and-error troubleshooting, I decided to try the whole .NET Framework removal thing again; I was pretty sure the problem was tied to .NET somehow.  So I went through the process again, removing both the 3.0 and 3.5 SP1 Framework and reinstalling them.  When I went to reinstall GFWL (again), something new happened:  .NET Framework 3.0 wasn’t installed.  Well, according to Add/Remove Windows Features, yet it was:  all three boxes were checked.  Something smells wrong here.  So I run System File Checker again.  This time it says there’s lots of corrupted files…that it can’t repair.  Not good.  The situation was gradually getting worse.  Time to end this nonsense–hopefully. 

It was time to execute the Final Solution, one which I try to avoid like the plague, especially since I’d already done it once this month.  If this didn’t fix the GFWL/RGSC problem, nothing likely would, at least for now.  But at least my file system would be back to normal and .NET Framework would be working again.  So, it was time to reformat.  But how does one reformat and keep his data with no viable backup solution?  Luckily, I solved this last time, and in such a way, you only have to move data once rather than twice.  It was time to make a new partition on my hard drive.

I started off removing all games and non-essential apps (after backing up my save files, of course) to free up hard drive space.  The trick is to free up enough to equal the size of your Windows install, absolutely essential software (like the partition software and a good hard drive defragger), and your data.  For me, this was about 230 gigabytes.  Once I freed up the needed room, I went about using all of that free space I could to create my new partition.  I was using Easeus Partition Manager for this job; last time I had several minor problems (as in major problems that were easily fixed) with the bootloader that I think Acronis Disk Director was causing (its a hell of a nice program, though), so I decided to try something new this time.  And Easeus is free.  Nice.

I started off with telling it to create a new partition with the free space on the hard drive.  Simple enough.  Acronis would have had the task finished between 30 minutes and an hour at most.  Easeus took four.  FOUR FUCKING HOURS.  I guess that’s the price you pay for free.  But, hell it *did* work, no problems at all.  So now came the fun task of re-installing Windows Vista on the new partition so I can start copying over my data.  Fast forward a few hours; it takes a while to completely update Windows & cut-and-paste 200 GBs of crap.  Before I went to bed, I had one more thing to try:  does GFWL work now?  I installed .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, then installed GFWL.  It…worked!  But was it just a one-time thing like before?  Time to find out.  I rebooted, and did a few misc. installs of essential utilities like CCleaner and such, and threw in more reboots.  Launched GFWL again; it still worked!  Good.  Now, to see about RGSC…

I went about installing GTA4 again, and with it RGSC.  This time I activated with no issues (this is what I was referring to earlier; now you know why I reinstalled this beast of a game so soon).   And this time it worked too.  I can finally *see* the damn game!    And now its time for bed.

The next morning, it was time to get back to work (this was yesterday).  After ensuring nothing important was left on the old install, it was time to format it, remove its entry from the bootloader, *fix* the damn bootloader (it seems the error happens even when I *don’t* use Acronis.  Figures, but easily fixed), delete the partition, and tell Easeus to gobble up the free space into my sparkling new partition with my fresh install of Windows.  Hell, it even smells new.

Assuming Easues would take its sweet-ass time again, I left the computer to do its thing in peace (partitioning is the most nerve-racking part of the process.  If something screws up or the power goes out, kiss your data goodbye).  An hour or two later, I return to check the progress.  As I reach to turn the monitor on, the computer shuts off.  Seriously.  Easily one of the eeriest things I’ve ever experienced.  And two seconds when it turned back on with no video signal, I knew something was wrong; it was no normal reboot-when-done things.  And I knew five years of personal files were gone.

After staring at the running computer with no video signal, wrestling with the decision to turn it off myself and turn it back on (hey, it may not be screwed up yet but I could fuck it up myself, I think to myself).  I finally jab the Reset button and watch all the BIOS-loading babble scroll by, expecting to see an error or nothingness afterwards.

A green scrollbarappears.  Vista is still booting!  "What the holy hell is going on?"  But I’d never been happier to see that half-assed boot screen Vista has.  I was even happier when the login screen appears, and absolutely ecstatic when my desktop appeared.  Time to check the damage.  All my data seemed intact, and SFC reported no issues.  Equally important, GFWL and RGSC still worked.  Nice.  But the partition still hadn’t merged with the unallocated disk space.  It was as if nothing had happened for the past couple of hours, except me damn near having a heart attack.

Fuck Easeus.  Nevermore shall I use it after that stunt.  On the flip side, somehow it did manage to preserve my data despite whatever-the-hell happened.  [Edit (10/22/09):  I've since heard more and more good things about Easeus, and now thing what happened was a fluke.  I take back my venomous speech, which was written out of frustration, and I'll likely be trying their software again in the future sometime.]

I loaded up Acronis Disk Director (which isn’t free) and told it to do the job Easeus failed to do.  Thirty minutes later, I was back rocking with just one partition that had more than two hundred gigabytes of free space…and the need for me to do lots of reinstalling.  But at least everything was back to normal.

Since then, I’ve mainly been letting Steam download and install its wares.  After that comes the unenviable job to reinstalling lots of other applications and games.  Fuck, what a way to end the year.  On the plus side, I start the year with a fresh working install.  And tonight, I’ll be drinking cheap beer and rocking GTA4 or something.  I’m not stupid enough to get out with all the drunken idiots who can’t even drive when stone-sober; I can get just as drunk on my own couch. 

So, this is me signing off for the remainder of the year.  You all be safe tonight so you can actually visit here tomorrow…not that I’m planning to update tomorrow, mind you. 

Have a good one, everybody.