[0.8.3] => [0.8.5] Automatic update

[grobyc]

Hi.

I was run game today [0.8.3] and run automatic update [0.8.5]. Game was download update from server necessary files shut down and that was all. After this I was try to fun game by shortcut, system said there is no life from this short cut. I go to the bin\x64 folder and there wasn't factorio.exe. I download full installation from web and game work fine.

Bug or accident, hard to say.

[kovarex]

Hello, could you please specify what system are you running?

[SilverWarior]

@grobyc
Can you also check your Anti Virus software logs to see if Factorio.exe might not have been deleted by your Anti Virus software (false positive). Some anti Virus programs might not like the way how Factorio gets restarted and therefore recognize this as being potentionally dangerous application.

[grobyc]

Windows 7 Professional x64

Kaspersky Anti Virus reports logs are clean.

[SilverWarior]

At this point I'm not sure what happened. It is posible that conection simly got terminated or that some files are missing from update server.

@developers
I suggest you implement logging system into updater so you can see which files got downloaded or even extracted if that is necessary. Also loging file sizes and hasch checking results might provide the ability to detect posible file corruption during updating process.
This would alow easier bug tracking in the future as you would be able to see if files got damaged/deleted during update process or by some other software perhaps (Anti Virus software).

[malokin]

I've been trying to "steal" the update files without much luck for some time now, but maybe the devs could just release them so we could re-run an update if connection or installation aberrations occur?

[ssilk]

Download from factorio.com?

[malokin]

I didn't think they had the updates on the website, just the full (more than 100mb) game. I dont need to reinstall, i just need the updates.

Edit Edit: the devs consider me talking about how the updater function as piracy, so i removed the description of how the updater works. I'll post in the piracy thread when i finally get the update files so have no fear, we're on the case!

[cube]

I've been trying to "steal" the update files without much luck for some time now, but maybe the devs could just release them so we could re-run an update if connection or installation aberrations occur?

We're not gonna help you with that. In fact it would be nice if you stopped doing that. We're kind of OK with someone making torrents of the game, but for us it is inevitable evil, not something we want to encourage.
... Also if you want to continue discussing this, please move to the pirating thread: https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=5&t=1821

[malokin]

Heh, sorry, i didnt really consider it "stealing" to try and get update files, i wasnt aware of how that is piracy? When people download nearly any version of the game (legitimate or torrented) your auto updater still works. (A pirate need only download the game once (any version with the autoupdater will work), having the update files doesnt make updating easier, it is already automatic for pirates as well) I'm asking that you release the small update files TO PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT THE GAME. The same way you can download the 100+mb exe/zip, it would be nice as a person who bought the game (seriously don't know where you are getting piracy from, i own the game and have had a bad update before) if we could get the updates as separate files (exe and zip option would be nice) so we can re-try an update in case an update fails.

Do you have any plans to create an update system that allows people to reapply updates in case there are connection or installation issues that cause the game to become corrupted? Sorry if i offended you, I just wanted to fix the bugs that many of us have experienced while auto updating. Remember the botched update you guys released a version or two ago? Being able to manually (zip or exe) reapply an update would mean i don't have to download the entire game over again. Again, i was in no way asking devs to release the updates to the public, i simply think depending on the current update system is a bad idea, it is still too prone to errors. There is a good reason why most other games release their updates as exe files, I'm curious as to why your so opposed to a self contained updater in exe or zip format. Is it really piracy concerns or do you think your updater works well enough that update files are unnecessary?

edit: i think its kind of funny you jumped to the conclusion that i'm somehow trying to torrent/pirate the updates, that is not my intent. I guess my reputation precedes me.

[ssilk]

I also think this is a point, where someone should be forced to see the advantage of buying stuff.

[cube]

Yes, your reputation does preceed you and I'm sorry I jumped to a conclusion here.

Anyway, downloading the update packages won't help you with most of the failed updates, because the game is mostly damaged afterwards and it won't be able to reapply the update. There is a way to apply a package from commandline, but we consider it a debugging feature and it is a little broken most of the time. For the rare cases when the game is able to start up after failed update attempt, there will be a "update now" button in 0.9.0 https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=1909

[malokin]

Heh, your absolutely wrong I'm afraid.
"Anyway, downloading the update packages won't help you with most of the failed updates,"
I don't believe this. An update file affects some (not all) of the files in the game. If ANY of those files were corrupted, reapplying the update (from an exe or zip file) would fix those files, and those files only without affecting any other part of the game.
Having a button inside the game is useless, I've never had an update break but still be able to start the game's exe. I assume nearly every update affects the game's main exe, so if any changes to the main exe fail, you are going to need to reapply the updates to that file before it will run for you.

Let me purpose another strategy for you since your so allergic to releasing the updates like nearly every other developer since 1995. Other developers include an AutoUpdater.exe in the game's main folder, if you created a separate update application, you could include a "reapply last update button." This would mean you can fix the game without a total reinstall.

[malokin]

@ssilk just saw your cute little snarky post, it will probably upset you very much to find out the autoupdater works perfectly for pirates. releasing the update files won't help pirates in any real way. Pirates can even use the beta updates. *kiss*

@cube Yeah the more i think about it the more it doesnt make much sense to me to put the reapply update button INSIDE of the game's main exe. Your going to end up with people who are forced to reinstall the whole game when the updater fails.

moving the auto updater's code out to a separate application is kind of a cool solution because you can code the game's exe to use the autoupdater.exe with a flag like -f so your not writing anything new, just moving the functions of the updater to a separate application for stability purposes. Lets get modular up in this biatch.

Don't get me wrong, a search for updates and reapply last update button inside the exe is a good idea, but only fixes half the problems with the updater.

edit: all of this is null and void, of course, if the devs are willing to not make changes to the games main exe after 090, but that just seems silly. I'm really worried that even with MD5 checksums on the update files, your system of updating would STILL cause errors during installation. Checksums would only fix errors related to connectivity issues, it would NOT fix errors caused by installation aberrations.

edit: pss
Should i start my own bug thread to tell you the updater method your using causes errors when connection or installation problems occur, or is this the proper place to talk about those bugs? I just assumed this would be a good place to talk about updater bugs because i think this is the kind of error you dont report, you just reinstall the game. The game is still single player so it makes sense that people with little to no internet are currently playing the game, meaning as the game gets bigger and bigger, total re-installation takes longer and longer to accomplish.

[ssilk]

@ssilk just saw your cute little snarky post, it will probably upset you very much to find out the autoupdater works perfectly for pirates. releasing the update files won't help pirates in any real way. Pirates can even use the beta updates. *kiss*

Me? No... You hit in your own flesh.

[malokin]

Sorry i just meant it as a response to:
"I also think this is a point, where someone should be forced to see the advantage of buying stuff."
I HAVEN'T HAD MY COFFEE YET
FEAR ME

edit: I have to remember you people on this forum consider me a sort of hitler of the forums. The fear me thing, and other comments are meant to be light hearted, i think it takes alot of preexisting hate or resentment for a person not to see that, but ill try to use smilies to establish this more to save you all some anger. I'm not specifically talking about you ssilk, it just really opened my eyes with that "piracy" thing. The dev read the word "steal" and ignored the quotes, and i think that might be where he stopped reading my post. If i wanted to give people a tutorial on how to "steal" updates, i would have told people the directory the temporary files are in. IM AFTER YOU LUCKY CHARMS!! (and trade secrets ) It's hard not to have fun pretending to be as evil as you all seem to consider me while im actually trying to tell you how your updater is broken.

[ssilk]

I think I've understood you correctly at the first post.

What I meant was, that the pirating-theme is very, very delicate and I know many, which would misunderstood that and make more consequences.

I want you just think for some moments before you post: is that misunderstandable, how could I tell it more serious, will someone, which doesn't know me, get me right, what am I doing, is that really me? Such things.

Or in other words: coffee before post or throw the post away, think for a day and post then.
I do that. About 10-30% of my posts are never posted (in the beginning more). And someone, which does illegal things (and pirating is nothing else) should think more than me.

This is no offencement yet, just a good tip of someone, who likes your posts and ideas. And I'm not willing to continue this discussion here.

[malokin]

No, i specifically wont think about how people who dont like me can misunderstand what I say. Those people should just block me and be over it. If you really think I don't contribute here, block me, but i also close more than half of the long comments and dont post them. I AM filtering my posts, im not really as raw as you think. You read too much emotion into forum posts, I'm a pretty emotionless guy, If i caught my wife fucking the 1986 globe troters basketball team, I'd just divorce her and enjoy the rest of my life. I have to deal with all your "charming personalities" but i dont go around telling you how to communicate, I'm really jazzed to see how a person really feels about a topic without all the hand ringing and cordial internet manners that you all seem to make up on the fly.

Anyway, hopefully the same dev that caused all this "Internet Forum Drama" can just delete all these off topic posts. We can talk about this in private messages if you want but cmon man, your not gonna change me and even if something I say seems insulting to you, I hope eventually my helpful posting record will overcome that one thread that gets everyone's panties in a bunch.

One last thing for education's sake. *Sigh* The internet is international, it even covers territory that isnt part of any country (commonly referred to as "oceanic" although that definition worked better in the 1990s) Even when we are not talking about Oceanic territories, If a country does not respect american, european, or chinese copyrights, which is alot alot of countries, they are under no legal coercion not to share games, songs and movies. Some countries are not comfortable with you selling products and shipping the money back to your own home country. Even the EU insists that profits from a corporation MUST stay within the EU, they dont let you export any profits made in the UK.
"Piracy " (I call it file sharing because piracy has to do with tangible goods and import/export regulations) is legal in many many places and if you want to have a moral argument then save it. People like me think all copyrights (on things that are not inventions) break the ideals of net neutrality. Freedom of information and open sourcing is very important to me, and is quite legal in the majority of countries. The chinese are just now starting to respect copyright laws of europeans and american companies.

For the love of god some dev delete all these digressions, i'm legitimately trying to report that I'v had the same bugs as the OP more than once.

[cube]

</flame>

@grobyc, malokin: You probably don't have a console output from those failures, do you? And did it fail for the first time, or were there problems with previsous versions too?

@malokin: You are on windows as well?

It doesn't look like there is enough information to debug this. We will add a logger to 0.9, so there is a chance of solving this for 0.9.1

[malokin]

Please Delete those posts for me and ssilk, will you cube? just spare the ones where i purpose solutions. I can edit them if anything unsavory was said in the bug section.

I didnt know how to get that information at the time, but running the exe didnt do anything in both instances, not even give an error message. the third instance being that botched update with the upload error, although i think the game was able to start with that error. Also, i wasnt aware that this sort of thing could happen, so I have no idea what happened leading up to those errors, all i can say is: I started the game, the auto-update began, and then i come back to my desktop and the exe wont launch or do anything when i run it.

Sorry i told you your wrong, but i still think your wrong. I can explain to you how the bug occurred though, to the point the game's coders should be able to fix it.
If, for ANY reason, not the fault of the coders, IF your network connection turns a few rouge 1's into 0's, you are gonna get a corrupted update file or two. (fixable by checksums on the updates) IF during the update installation phase, the OS or antivirus or ANYTHING ELSE (i dont have an antivirus that runs in the background and my Win7 64x OS has UAC turned off, and i have ownership of my files, meaning: my OS is not likely the problem.) interferes with the installation, (i call things like this "aberrations") you are gonna get a useless exe OR like you have said, you get the very rare case of an exe that starts in a corrupted state (I'v never seen an update error like that though...)

"It doesn't look like there is enough information to debug this. "
Not only did i describe the bug enough for you to fix it, I explained in the two posts after your "jumping to conclusions" post HOW to fix the problem. However, I am only going by the industry standards and copying the techniques I'v seen other companies use for more than a decade. What other info do you need from me to change this update system, or is fixing these types of aberrations not important to you?

edit to be more constructive: you cant fix these problems (installation aberrations) with a logger bro, a logger just helps devs debug the instances where something from the game's host system interferes with the installation. The devs can try to make the updater work with every possible OS and antivirus combination (good luck), but that wont ever be future OS/future software proof. Releasing the update files as executable like all other games have done in the past (to owners), or at least moving the updater into a separate executable will at least give people the troubleshooting opportunity of re-applying an update if an update fails. Its nice that you want to make a re-update button, but that is kinda silly considering the exe will probably usually be the first thing to be corrupted.