Ready to buy but there's tech issues

[mandru]

OK, There's too much fun going on here to ignore.  I'm right at the point of taking the plunge on FC4.  I've spent so much time talking about and showing Mrs. mandru vid clips and screen shots that she's pressuring me to get it and I've spoken to my internet provider about the sizable downloads to get the game started and keep running so all's clear from that end.

What I'm running into trouble with is my comp's DVD was constantly being scanned by the security program I'm using and even when there was no disc in the drive it would still try to fire up every three or four minutes.  In my best attempt to be tech savvy I looked up DVD keeps running as a search where I found a code to type in that was supposed to be a fix and has now made my system go completely blind to the fact that there's a DVD w/Light Scribe read/write player connected to it.

I've run into a similar problem in the past on an older system and fixed it by turning off the comp, opening it up to disconnect the drive, doing a restart and then another shut down again to reconnect the drive so that the next restart will force a "Hey! Look what I found" message from the computer but I'd really rather not have to mess around with all of that.

So what it comes down to is that I'm looking at using the USB3 connection on my comp to have a drive that can be physically disconnected to load games but I'm not quite sure what would be the best option for that.  Sticking with the USB3 connection am I better off going with a straight DVD R/W or would a Blu-ray give faster data transfers?  Are there other advantages in selecting between the two formats that I'm overlooking?

I'm also concerned as to whether I would need to do a hardware uninstall each and every time I disconnect whichever drive I end up selecting to prevent system conflicts from plugging and unplugging the drive intermittently.  I don't need a permanent extra cable hanging off the front of my comp hogging a USB slot when the drive's not in use.

Sure I could unplug all the connections out of my comp to run it across town spending a couple days at a reliable service center I've found but that would leave me with no internet for a few days and getting it all hooked back up once I get it home again which is something I prefer to avoid when ever possible.

I'd appreciate any suggestions you guys might have.

[PZ]

I don't know what would be the best solution for you, mandru, but in general, I just run the programs right from the hard drive and let the developers run the updates from that.  I would not run from USB, nor DVD (of any kind) because that is unreliable storage media.

If I were to be in your place, I would purchase the physical media, and then do the install and all updates just like any pother program. That way, you would minimize the number of updates you would need to do

[mandru]

Ok.  ???

Purchasing the physical media and installing it was my intention.

It's the DVD drive a normal computer would use to install the program that my computer has gone blind to.  I need to get it a white cane.  ::)

I'm trying to find the best w@&k around without spending days while my computer is in the shop as they figure out what's wrong with it.

[Binnatics]

I think your previously proven method of letting your system re-discover the DVD drive is your best option. If it keeps self-initiating again, I would buy a new DVD drive. These devices are known to die after a while, so I think that can very well be the problem. A new DVD drive is usually cheap, and easy to install. But are you sure about that code? Any idea what it did? It sounds like it influences hardware settings on your motherboard. It would be nice to know if you could revert that action ????

I don't think USB3 is the solution either. The DVD drive seems still the best and most reliable option if downloading is out of the question. But I'm no expert either :-\\

I hope you get it sorted though, I can imagine the haste you must suddenly have to get it going :-()

[Stiku]

When you unplug a USB device, the drivers wont be uninstalled, and if you connect the device back to the same port, it wont be installing any drivers again, but if you plug it in to a port that hasn't been used before with the device that you are using, then it will install the drivers again.
Devices themselves are always removed from the system device lists when unplugged, but USB devices are specifically designed to be unplugged and replugged, without a problem.

For the speed, bluray at 1x is around 4.5MB/s(12x @ 54MB/s) and a a DVD is at 1.3MB/s (24x @ 33MB/s), which isn't even close to that of a USB3(5 Gbit/s) or SATA2/3(2 has 3 Gbits/s & 3 has 6 Gbit/s) datarates. Performance wise, bluray is slightly faster but the connection method doesnt matter that much because both of the connection types are fast enough.

So this all comes down to taste, do you like it to be an external drive or not.

[Art Blade]

nice. Very nice, actually, very useful and compact information -- slap on the back :-D +1 :-X for that reply, stiku

[mandru]

I agree with Art's opinion Stiku, that was the information I needed.  +1 from me too.  :)  :-X

I agree Binn, having the resident DVD drive functional would be the best option but with my tech skills a 4 lb splitting maul sums up what I consider to be a repair tool for fine w@&k.  I just drive 'em I don't fix them.  + 1 for you too.  :-D

[fragger]

I can't help you much, mandru - my level of hardware knowledge re DVDs etc is about on a par with yours.

If you do go for physical media (and given your ISP situation, it's probably best if you do) remember that you'll only need the disk for installing/activation. Once installed it won't have to be in the drive anymore. But you probably know this already.

I hope you can get it sorted mate. I think you will enjoy the game. Yep, the main missions aren't much fun, but even on my second playthrough I found them much easier and tolerable to get through and thus get them out of the way relatively quickly. There aren't actually a huge number of them, less than there were in FC3 I think, whereas the incidental stuff, side quests and spontaneous optional mini-missions are way more plentiful than in the previous game and are generally a lot more fun to do.

Best of luck :)

[mandru]

Thanks fragger.  :)

[Binnatics]

It's good to have you around, Stiku! You're by far the expert in most IT questions and thus the guy we need around here. +1 from me too.  :-X
I remember when I wrote my reply to Mandru's question thinking; "Stiku will know the exact specs of all possible options. Better let him answer". But I couldn't resist spamming my own opinion :-D

And thanx Mandru ^-^

[fragger]

+1 from me too Stiku, great tech knowledge you have :)

[mandru]

FC4 purchased.  :)

Received a $10 discount off list price!  ^-^

Discovered it's a Limited Edition with Hurk's Redemption and access to the harpoon gun.  :o  :-X

USB3 Blu-ray drive purchased and it was plug and play ready.  :-D

Disc 1 started loading at 8:40 pm finished at 10:43 pm whereupon I received the install program's prompt to insert Disc 2 and hit OK but I fumbled Disc 3 out of the game case while trying to shift Disc 1 to the bottom of the stack and accidentally bumped the keyboard irretrievably erasing the target point where disc 2 was supposed to continue loading...



                                                                          ???  ^{Son of a crap!}



Only option:  Cancel install and lose all progress so that I can start over from scratch in the morning.  :D

Spoiler

Maybe it would be a good entry in Tricks and tips to never touch the keyboard while a download is in progress!  Meanwhile (similar to the forum's "Huh?" emoticon) I feel like something out of the Trips and Tics thread.  :'(

[nexor]

Good buy mandru, I just did the first of Hurk's missions and saw him with the harpoon gun, one needs wheels for that thing.
Glad the Blu-ray works for you as well, my initial install took several hours and then the Uplay update took another couple of hours  ::)
You should line the disks up on the table BEFORE you start, and then put your hands in your pockets and keep them there until you have to change disks    :D :-D

[PZ]

or better yet, have the missus handcuff your hands behind your back and just watch as she installs the game.

I find that the better I should be at something, the worse I am

[nexor]

Man, would the missus love that.... :lol

[Art Blade]

nice one, mandru :) And hilarious, that mishap  :-()

[mandru]

Uh... Like, I'm glad you enjoyed it.  :D

Restarted Disc 1 at 6:30 am this morning and now at almost noon it looks like it's going to finish up Disc 3 ion the next twenty or so minutes.  I'll tell you it was stressful.  After last night's fail I treated the disc swaps like I was working with radioactive materials.

I'll get the activation key loaded in and then I'm going to go nap for a long time.  With things to do this evening I'll get around to the updates later tonight and maybe be able to start in on the game tomorrow morning.

Hopefully Uplay has worked most of the bugs out of the update procedures.  Admittedly the lack of complaints about system updater snarfs and fails was part of the determining factor to trust UBI with yet another purchase.  ::)

[Binnatics]

2 hours for installing one disc of game-content :o

Glad you made it finally, and I hope you won't have to deal with more setbacks during downloading and initiation ;)

[Art Blade]

good luck mandru and once you've installed it, have fun with the game :) I only enjoyed the story, your mishap, because it reminded me of something similar that happened to me long ago, so I had to grin because it doesn't happen to only you or me, there are other people too who manage to screw stuff up just the same way  :-D

[nexor]

Thus far UPlay updates are going smoothly for me mandru, not too many I might add, some do take a while which prevents one from playing, so hopefully you won't have any problems with that.

Good luck with the installation  :-X

[fragger]

Hope you get to play soon, mandru :) Hopefully you'll have more fun playing the game than you've had installing it 8-X

...there are other people too who manage to screw stuff up just the same way  :-D

Like me spending four straight hours working on a 3d model before deciding that it might be prudent to do a save lest I lose all my w@&k, then proceeding to create a new blank file instead. I even went and clicked on "Yes" in the conformation dialog :D

Maybe if the dialog had said, "You'll lose several hours' worth of w@&k if you do this, you impetuous idiot - think this decision over really, really carefully before you push any buttons" instead of simply "Are you sure?" I might have spared myself a good forehead-slapping. But I can't blame the software for my own mental flatulence.

It was in the wee small hours and I was a tad sleep deprived. If I'd been physically able to kick my own arse I would have ::)

[mandru]

I was just getting ready to go in fragger.  :)  :-X

It's weird yesterday I'd typed up a post to let Art know that I was playing up the angsty frustration to play along with the ribbing he'd given me and it is completely missing.  I was sure I'd posted it but it nowhere in my history not even on another thread.  Very odd, it should have been logged between Art's and nexor's posts just above.

Some of the missing content of that post was a mention that I'd gone to bed early (about 12:00 am) the night of the lost down load.  Mrs. mandru noticed that I was coming in way ahead of the time I'd projected the game set up would take and she commented on it.  Telling her what had happened also about PZ's comment on me being handcuffed and having her handle the disc swaps gave us both a good laugh.


Doing some minor prep before jumping in I've watched three different walk throughs for the opening and tutorial sprint to the first tower.  All three were like they were a involved in a race to see who could throw up the first posting on Youtube no matter how craptastic their playing ability was.  Instead of figuring out how to handle the controls and learning the subtle elements of things like using stealth and that the rocks were not intended to be bounced off the enemies heads.

It was painful.  One of the dolts standing bolt upright in the open threw a rock to a point between himself and an otherwise occupied enemy who had his back to the player.  ???

I mean WTH?  He may as well have thrown bait and then stood over it.  :D

Well, I know that at least the tutorial portion of the game is so forgiving that you can do everything completely wrong and still bumble though to the avalanche scene.  ::)

[PZ]

Hope you have a successful start to the game, mandru - the open world parts are really very much fun, and I think even more so than FC3.

I'm working the main mission lines, and have yet to reach any of the ghost warrior missions, so I'm happy.

Funny thing about confirmation buttons in software - they really accomplish nothing more than annoyance to the user.  Sure, it might be of benefit to the complete computer/software novice, but even for them, they will become annoyed at the constant pointless confirmation clicking. The worst software offenders are the ones that require two confirmations, and even more lame, the ones that force you to click a button to exit a dialog that informed you that you just saved the file (like I didn't already know I saved it). A much better solution would be for the software developers to add only one more option - "Omit confirmation dialogs"

I use SharePoint at w@&k, and when you click a button, you'd better be sure you really want to do what you're indicating because there are no "Are you sure?" lame dialogs - the software simply executes what you wanted.  What a breath of fresh air, and I have not made any more mistakes than I otherwise would have with the stupid confirmation dialogs.