Help! Looking for a specific, slightly older Ubisoft Connect installer

[Knightmare]

Well, they finally did it.  Ubisoft Connect pushed out an update that broke the app on Windows 8.1.  At least Steam is giving several months of advance notice of the date when they're going to do this.

I get this error on launch with the latest version (142.1.0.10881): "The procedure entry point DiscardVirtualMemory could not be located in the dynamic link library G:\Uplay\libcef.dll."

This means that I can't play any Ubisoft games newer than Far Cry 2.  And I was just about to get back into AC Valhalla and start Far Cry 5, which I purchased last year.

There is hope, though.  If I can find an installer for an older, more recent version of Ubisoft Connect, I can install that over it and launch it offline, and then disable updates.

I'm looking for the last version that worked, 141.0.0.10865, or one slightly older.  The only version somewhat close I was able to find via web search was 127.4.0.10629, which is from November 2021.  There are some download sites that come up in search results as having an older build, but the actual download has changed to the latest 142.1.0.10881.

I'm stuck in a bit of a hard place here, as I need to finish up a couple projects before I can reinstall everything on Windows 10.  I tried upgrading to Win10 earlier this year, but that failed multiple times, and I gave up on it for the time being.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Hmmm this site lists it as 141.0.0.10865 but it's 142.0.0.10872.

https://winstall.app/apps/Ubisoft.Connect

hmmm also seems a few sites have the same kind of link but anything that goes to https://ubistatic3-a.akamaihd.net/orbit/launcher_installer/ will just be the most recent I think.

I can look when I get home what install version I have but it's a long shot that I still have anything and that it's not more recent.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah the installer version I have at home is 121.0.0.10451, which is probably too old? I can upload it if you want.

[Knightmare]

I already have 124.1.0.10585 and 127.4.0.10629 installers, so I'll pass on that one.

I'll probably try using the latter one tonight and see if I can find a setting to disable updates.

Considering how most apps were still running on Win7 3 years after its end of support, I didn't expect this to happen to Win8.1 so quickly.

[Knightmare]

I found a fix/workaround on Reddit:

from r/linux_gaming

It involves extracting a zip of version 140.1.0.10861 (helpfully included in a Dropbox link) over the installed Ubisoft Connect program files.

Here's the direct download link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/r0oqhvjkyemrodx/UbisoftGameLauncher.zip?dl=0

Apparently it will be necessary to restore this archived version each time Ubisoft Connect updates.

The file causing the issue is libcef.dll, which is the "Chromium Embedded Framework".

If this overwrite-with-older-version workaround stops working, it *might* be possible to hack future versions of this chromium DLL to w0#k on Win8.1 using these instructions:
https://ledstrain.org/d/2231-how-to-make-newer-versions-of-chromium-w0#k-in-windows-81-x64

Chromium is open source as well.  This means it should be very doable to build a drop-in compatible version of libcef without the dependency on the DiscardVirtualMemory() Windows API call.

[Knightmare]

And AC Valhalla is once again running on Win8.1:

[Dweller_Benthos]

Well glad you got it fixed at least for now. Having skipped over win8 by going directly to 10 from 7 I never had any experience with that version. As for win11 that will happen only when I get a new computer with it installed fresh as I don't bother upgrading my OS anymore.

[Knightmare]

Having skipped over win8 by going directly to 10 from 7 I never had any experience with that version. As for win11 that will happen only when I get a new computer with it installed fresh as I don't bother upgrading my OS anymore.

Win8.1 is pretty nice once you install OpenShell to add a proper start menu (and disable those annoying hot corners).  You can also install a Win7 theme on top of it.   This turns it into an enhanced Windows 7 with modern hardware support.  USB3, NVMe, and UEFI booting are all supported out of the box, unlike Windows 7.

It's a shame that 8.1 didn't add a start menu back in for non-touchscreen PCs (along with its many improvements) after the debacle that was the Windows 8 launch.  It could have actually become quite popular.

As far as upgrading Windows, it's usually best to do a from-scratch install instead of an in-place upgrade.  Much less can go wrong that way and you get a system that runs like new, but it's also the most labor-intensive method.

I personally keep very little on my Windows boot SSD, not even Steam or Uplay (er, Ubisoft Connect) gets installed there.  I back up the start menu and registry entries of games that would have to be reinstalled from DVD, and keep copies of their Visual C++ and DirectX runtime installers.  This allows for very fast re-installation.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah I heard of the win8 start menu or lack thereof and with the other things saw no reason to upgrade. Since I didn't buy a new computer during that time period to have it installed fresh I never used it.

[PZ]

Glad you got it sorted Knightmare