Another new client problem

[Plague]

Greetings, I'm a casual Australian RP'er with leanings of action so I decided to give Sundren a go as its one of the few servers with people actually playing.

I'm not exactly happy with Sundrens extremely convoluted system to actually get the downloads - I've had to register on forums and spend the better part of 40 minutes trying to get client files to download which isn't happening. I'm logged in, I have the client running but it just comes up with the install for .net 3.5 and doesn't actually do anything, no downloading, no installing, no cpu usage it just idles. I'm not a computer a newbie, I am a veteran of many other pw's, I've used Audolo, I've written faq's for worldgate, I've cleaned a fresh directory and despite following written instructions, designed presumably to make the process intuitive I'm just frustrated as nothing is actually happening. I am fairly sure I'm not doing anything wrong so how do I actually get some download happening?

The larger question: why does it have to be so complicated? NWN2 is a pain enough already to run online without binding potential players to layers of forums and automated streaming.

[Machiavelli]

If it's idling on the .NET 3.5 install, just get this seperately from the microsoft website and everything should be fine after that. The installer's designed to make things easy, not hard (I had to install the .NET 3.5 seperately, but have had no issues since then).

As for registering on the forums, that's a pretty minimal requirement and means that you've accepted the EULA and you're aware of the server rules (even if you haven't read them, which I'd recommend you do).

[Saulus]

Well you're probably one of the few people who has had any problems with the latest updater build.

"I'm not exactly happy with Sundrens extremely convoluted system to actually get the downloads - I've had to register on forums and spend the better part of 40 minutes trying to get client files to download which isn't happening."

All right -- so registering is complicated? You register, download the updater, run it and hit "Start". It will then take a minute to get a hash of all your local files to see what you need. If you are getting a bad download speed then it can be between you and the server, it could be an antivirus client, and/or a firewall.

The updater will not work properly unless you have .NET 3.5 installed. You should be able to get it fine through our updater page but if not you can always go to the microsoft site and get it. Unless you are running an OS other than Vista/XP/2000 SP4 you should not have any problems installing .NET 3.5 which should basically solve any issues with the updater program itself.

[Plague]

Reply ok its finally decided to work. When it says 'may take a few minutes' it means '40 minutes of idling and I may get around to it, the actual process will take 10 seconds.' I am now streaming away, the remains to be seen.

I've read the faq, isn't that assumed knowledge that if you say wanted to play the mod, you would have had to come here and read the faq before you figured out how to get the download, or if it was even worth getting the download? It seems like a redundant step designed to slow and confuse the casual person. Player ignorance shouldn't be tolerated as an excuse in game for rule violations anyway. I've had to sign a hell of a lot more stuff here then any other play world and thats before I've even had a chance to sample the product. The mandatory sign up, age sample, user disclosure, EULA etc. projects an image of cold indifference, a refusal to be accountable and projects the air of a legal firm rather then a fantasy hobby construct.

Hopefully I can actually get in game soon and find some fun

[Saulus]

I still don't see what's so confusing. Everyone else seems to figure it out fine. If your client sat there for 40 minutes and the updater wasn't downloading anything, then your HD could be full, it could be a dozen different things.

To date I've run the updater dozens of times and the only time I've ever had an issue is on the earlier build which had a few bugs.

Regardless a little persistence seems to have paid off for you.

[sparkeh]

No its not confusing at all. Seems to me that the updater makes Sundren *easier* to play on and keep up to date with required files.

Lets see, registering = easy, installing .net = easy, downloading and running updater = easy. Yep easy

[Vavutsikarios]

Another problem is that net 3.5 has so many holes in it that I am seriously considering the purchace of an extra PC that its sole purpose will be playing here. Just to feel safe for my data.