The Church of Alvis

Well guys...

Now that I have been christened into the fold of Alvis, it turns out that for the forseeable future I will not be able to play the game.

I will be spending time working to correct the issue.

To sum it up, I have had major issues with patching and dependably playing SWTOR since early May, and lately it has been cascading. Random errors that prevent me from zoning into entire planets, missing UI features, desktop crashes at various points from logging in, to zonin, to regular play....

And in the hopes for correcting this I uninstalled the game with the intentions of a fresh full install. This has failed massively as well. I have been able to get as far as the entire 12Gb downlad, and as soon as the actual installation of that downlad begins, the patcher log tells me that the downlad file is corrupt, which it then fails, and dumps, and starts the 12Gb download again... rinse and repeat. I have done this download/install 4 times, both with cat 5 plugged in, as well as wireless since the initiation last night. I have run diagnotics, memory checks, chkdsk, you-friggin-name-it.

Believe it or not, the SWTOR official forums essentially says it is my computer that is the problem. I just built this mother-loving machine, its a digital beast and runs everything I throw at it on full settings with no issues.

My only issue is SWTOR.

I look to return, but I wish I knew when that will be possible. In the meantime, I have rescinded my Ops spots for the week, and will continue to do so if I know I will be unable to make the later raids.

I'm open for ideas, if anyone wants to shoot me a message on here, or text me....425-495-6964..... I'm open to tryin anythingto fix this.

the fact that it continues to fail, even after uninstall, makes me wonder if there is a cache sitting around in another directory that it is hitting. if the cache is corrupt, that would explain why it keeps failing.
When you uninstall it, does it delete the SWTOR folder in your user directory? It may also have left some settings in your registry. Maybe a regedit search for swtor would turn up something.

Sorry that is the extent of my IT knowledge.

I remember during the beta, lots of ppl were having issues with the launcher and patcher because of their ISP. Time Warner was a big offender. I think they were throttling traffic and that would bug out the installer.

One thing to try, is to uninstall you're SATA controller drivers and use the generic controller drivers from MS. Or, if you are using those, download the latest drivers from your Mobo manufacturer.

Final option would be to wipe the HD (partitions and all) and reinstall the OS and your apps from scratch.

going with what joun posted did you try to kick it...

Boy, that's beyond frustrating, super sorry to hear it.

Could you post a link or two to the SWTOR forum threads that pertain to your specific problem?

Dumb question, but did you format the hard drive? I had to do that several times with EQ2.

Dashl wrote:Dumb question, but did you format the hard drive? I had to do that several times with EQ2.

meep!

Rub some dirt on it!

Bulwark wrote:When you uninstall it, does it delete the SWTOR folder in your user directory? It may also have left some settings in your registry. Maybe a regedit search for swtor would turn up something.

I will definitely look into this tonight. I hadn't thought that the game would have affected registry that way, but it certainly wouldnt hurt to check. And yes, every folder that had something to do with EA in general was removed from my system (even if manually)

Raikir wrote:I remember during the beta, lots of ppl were having issues with the launcher and patcher because of their ISP. Time Warner was a big offender. I think they were throttling traffic and that would bug out the installer.
One thing to try, is to uninstall you're SATA controller drivers and use the generic controller drivers from MS. Or, if you are using those, download the latest drivers from your Mobo manufacturer.
Final option would be to wipe the HD (partitions and all) and reinstall the OS and your apps from scratch.

1) If its an ISP problem, then I will be out fo the game forever. and again, since I run EVERYTHING else just fine, I don't see this as being the case. Generally I am streaming music or movies, while playing the game, and running other things. I'm basically all-bandwidth, all the time. Also, after a 12gb download, my ISP should have no effect on the installation of the already downloaded files
2) I have already done driver rollbacks, driver betas, and current drivers. No improvements regardless.
3) If it becomes a requirement for me to wipe my HD to play one specific game, then I must say I probably wont be playing that game. I have played multitudes of single player games, and MMO's (EQ, EQ2, WOW for a week, Auto Assault, Tabula Rasa, Rift, SWG for a super short time, SWTOR, DDO, DAoC) some of which had really craptastic coding, and have never had to do a HD wipe to play them. However, I have not yet tried installing onto a separate partition. That will be my next logical step.

Skiggity wrote:Could you post a link or two to the SWTOR forum threads that pertain to your specific problem?

My one and only specific issue is contained here: (easier than linking)

“An error occurred updating. Repair”
Please click the “Repair” link. Repair can take upwards of 20 minutes to complete.
If Repair does not work and you consistently receive “corrupt source” or “unknown file” errors in your Launcher logs (these can be found in the “\logs” directory in your install directory), please try the following, in order:
1.Run chkdsk
2.Run Memtest86+
3.Disable overclocking of CPU and/or memory
4.Confirm the CAS Latency setting of your memory in BIOS is correct
5.Confirm the voltage setting of your memory in BIOS is correct
6.Update your Ethernet drivers
7.Update your virus scanning software
While some applications are tolerant of minor file corruption, the SWTOR Launcher is not. The incremental patching process it uses is extremely bandwidth efficient but requires that the source and patch files be pristine to correctly apply the patch. Corrupt source and unknown file errors in the logs indicate that the Launcher has determined there are errors in the source or patch file which would prevent the patch from being cleanly applied without causing instability in the game.

The only reproducible causes for these errors that we’ve found to date have been either file system issues or memory issues. This is why we urge users to run chkdsk and memtest86+, and check their BIOS settings. It is completely possible for a system to appear stable in normal daily use and still have memory or disk issues that prevent SWTOR from patching. That said, these errors can ultimately lead to general system or data corruption so getting them fixed is in your best interest if you are affected.

Now keep in mind, I never had these issues "pre 1.2", which should be telltale in itself. Since 1.2, it started small, like 1 or 2 files to repair, if at all, and then in the past 2 to 3 weeks, anywhere from 6 to 10 files corrupted with every patch and repair.

Here's my breakdown on this:

1.Run chkdsk - Done, no errors, no bad sectors, no file fragments (i keep my crap on a tight leash)
2.Run Memtest86+ - Still need to do this, but have a gut feeling it is moot
3.Disable overclocking of CPU and/or memory Took off all my OC's and resotred everything to default, still errored on launcher
4.Confirm the CAS Latency setting of your memory in BIOS is correct - It is what its supposed to be 9-9-9-12
5.Confirm the voltage setting of your memory in BIOS is correct - it is within acceptable ranges, as voltage draw depends on load and speed
6.Update your Ethernet drivers - always do, always is
7.Update your virus scanning software - every sunday at 2am, so not an issue either

BTW, thanx for the input guys!

After doing the full uninstall, maybe try a registry cleaner program as well? If there's some pesky registry item lingering and screwing things up, that might catch it.

Marrkin wrote:Also, after a 12gb download, my ISP should have no effect on the installation of the already downloaded files

Thats exactly the case. The launcher doesn't check if the files you downloaded are corrupt until after you've downloaded them. Happened to me multiple times (every server wipe). I would have to flush my DNS cache in order to find a more stable route. But, they seemed to have resolved that issue.

Crap,

well its worth a shot. Though me and the inner workings of teh intarwebs don't get along so well. Anytime I have evern played with my DNS, I end up with network issues afterwords.

that and the voice of some old lady always pop's in my head and says "If i keep playing with it I'm gonna go blind"......

ipconfig /flushdns

So,

I must take my licks for it, but I am currently in the belief that my Ram is indeed at fault, or at least partially at fault.

I did try to install on a separate partition last night, same result at the same install point. Afterwards, I started memtest, and holy hell did the test tell me i had some errors. some 79,000+ errors in the first test pass alone.

So now, its a process of elimination, but I will bet its the 2nd set of 8 gigs I threw in about the same time as 1.2 released....

to be continued!

Good news is that RAM is usually not very expensive and if true SWTOR was the canary in the coalmine for you!

Well,

Between the car customizations, the dental work, my bills, and saving for my Vegas road trip in august... funds are a little harder to come by.

With any luck, i can just drop back down to the original 8gb I had in there to begin with and be gtg.

8 should be plenty for swtor

Yeah, 8 was fine to play with before I put in the second set of 8....

OH! almost forgot, after I did another uninstall of all the SWTOR stuff yesterday (after the failed seconday partition install) I did go into my registry. There were two files still leftover that were attached to my desktop. I verified twice that there was nothing showing on my desktop related to SWTOR, but registry said there was, so I killed those as well. Probably be trying another install tonight after removing that set of Ram modules and see how any of the changes go.

Bulwark wrote:8 should be plenty for swtor

Been playing with 4 since launch. No probs.

Fwiw, I'm quite glad to hear you're making headway figuring this thing out! Hope you're back around soon.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

WooWoo,

I'm back in people. You can all come out of hiding now

Yeah, I was in denial, removed my newest RAM modules, and it loaded up like a charm.

That's superb news, glad to hear it! Mind sharing the brand of RAM that was giving you the business?

Mushkin Enhanced Redline DDR3 PC3-17000 (2x4Gb Modules)