SaddletrampNC said:
Absolutely not.
The first reports of this came from non-Steam users, who had downloaded the updates from here. The only reason that Steam users are affected more than non-Steam is that we can't use the work-round of running from /bin/witcher2.exe.
Steam does plenty of things that piss people off, but this isn't one of them. This one is entirely down to CDPR (or whoever they subcontracted the launcher mods to).
So today it happened. Site went down, game wouldn't launch. Luckily, there probably weren't that many people trying, but it was picked at both Gog and at Steam.
This is totally unacceptable. I never, ever want to hear "CDPR were good to us. They removed DRM" again.
This is totally unacceptable. I never, ever want to hear "CDPR were good to us. They removed DRM" again.
I definitely remember seeing the skull and crossbones offline thing from the original release of the game so I don't think it's something new for patch 2.0.
Not sure if it helps diagnose the problem, but I have the retail version of the game. I just unplugged my internet and ran the launcher. It says offline, but I am still able to click "Launch." The firewall message came up, but before I could click anything the game started and definitely wasn't frozen, so it seems to work offline for me.
My guess is that this is a bug related to uploading the arena scores to the forum. That's one of the major new things in 2.0 and it involves using the internet, so I think it seems most likely to be the cause of the issue.
Not sure if it helps diagnose the problem, but I have the retail version of the game. I just unplugged my internet and ran the launcher. It says offline, but I am still able to click "Launch." The firewall message came up, but before I could click anything the game started and definitely wasn't frozen, so it seems to work offline for me.
My guess is that this is a bug related to uploading the arena scores to the forum. That's one of the major new things in 2.0 and it involves using the internet, so I think it seems most likely to be the cause of the issue.
Definitely due to the introduction of Arena, and definitely bugged. I suspect they used a modified version of the original DRM code and screwed it up.WardDragon said:
I tested when this first happened, and managed to get it to run offline a few times, but it wasn't repeatable, and it was more likely than not to hang on the launcher screen.
When the Witcher site went down for an hour or so last week, running the game gave a MS error message (runtime terminated in an unexpected way), and the game was totally unusable. It wasn't peak time for the US and Europe, so there probably weren't that many people affected, but there were a couple of posts at Steam and Gog about it.
A couple of days ago, my internet connection went down briefly, but it still launched.
It probably depends on the exact error code returned.
Workround for Steam users:
http://en.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?/topic/24684-steam-version-doesnt-start-in-offline-mode/page__p__729341#entry729341
Steam response to my support request:
The "it has nothing to do with our servers" is incorrect. Clearly, if you have a working internet connection but there's nothing at the other end there's still a problem.
Workround is the one we all knew about anyway, and doesn't mention the fact that this doesn't work with Steam unless you use the bypass from my previous post. In fairness to CDPR, I didn't mention Steam in the support request.
The "currently" and "in the meantime" is hopeful, as it does imply they intend to fix this.
The "it has nothing to do with our servers" is incorrect. Clearly, if you have a working internet connection but there's nothing at the other end there's still a problem.
Workround is the one we all knew about anyway, and doesn't mention the fact that this doesn't work with Steam unless you use the bypass from my previous post. In fairness to CDPR, I didn't mention Steam in the support request.
'hi!
Just wanted to check - has this issue been solved yet (other than by the bin/witcher.exe workaround) Do we even know what's causing it?
Just wanted to check - has this issue been solved yet (other than by the bin/witcher.exe workaround) Do we even know what's causing it?
We know what's causing it - a coding error in the Launcher.
It *might* have been fixed for Steam users. We had another update last week, which included some patching, according to a Valve rep, but there was no changelog. The launcher was replaced during the update though. I had one "no internet connection" after that and the launcher didn't hang.
There hasn't been an update for non-Steam since then, so no. But for non-Steam, the workround is straightforward so there's less urgency. They're probably waiting for the next patch.
It *might* have been fixed for Steam users. We had another update last week, which included some patching, according to a Valve rep, but there was no changelog. The launcher was replaced during the update though. I had one "no internet connection" after that and the launcher didn't hang.
There hasn't been an update for non-Steam since then, so no. But for non-Steam, the workround is straightforward so there's less urgency. They're probably waiting for the next patch.
Fair enough.
I'm non-steam, so I'll just wait patiently for the next patch )
I'm non-steam, so I'll just wait patiently for the next patch )
Okay, I have found a way to fix it, although be warned it is a bit of a hassle and imo, not really worth it unless you really REALLY want the launcher.
What I did was a clean reinstall of TW2, completely erasing any sign that the program had ever been installed (I did this by completely reinstalling Windows, but I am assured that there are ways to do that without going quite that far)
I applied the patches and voila! the launcher was fine.
Right up until I opened it while I was connected to the interwebs again, when it stopped started doing the same thing again.
So:
Step 1: Uninstall TW2 thoroughly
Step 2: Reinstall TW2
Step 3: Apply patches offline
Step 3: Do not open the launcher while connected to the internet.
What I did was a clean reinstall of TW2, completely erasing any sign that the program had ever been installed (I did this by completely reinstalling Windows, but I am assured that there are ways to do that without going quite that far)
I applied the patches and voila! the launcher was fine.
Right up until I opened it while I was connected to the interwebs again, when it stopped started doing the same thing again.
So:
Step 1: Uninstall TW2 thoroughly
Step 2: Reinstall TW2
Step 3: Apply patches offline
Step 3: Do not open the launcher while connected to the internet.