Urgh DRM AGAIN

[misha1967]

Not laughing at you, mind you, it's frustrating as hell I know, I'm laughing at myself here

Looks like I picked the right night to switch from Steam Silent Hunter 5 to the DVD version. Just got the DVD in the mail today (because I really, really wanted to be able to perform the TDW hydrophone patch to the sh5.exe file and, at 5 bucks, what's not to like?).

Except, of course, that the SH5 DVD doesn't like it if you've been running the Steam version previously. Even after you delete it via Steam AND delete the "SH5" folder from your Documents folder the DVD still thinks that it's already installed and thus the "Install" feature on the autorun screen is disabled as in "grayed out". No, cleaning the registry with CCleaner and rebooting doesn't help either, you still can't choose "Install", but the fix is fairly simple: You just open the DVD with "explore" and run setup.exe and all is well. But I digress.

It installed, promptly told me that my GeForce drivers weren't "up to date" since they were only 185.62 where they needed to be 191.07 or higher and warned me that it might not run properly as a result. Except I know, and checked, that my drivers are 285.62 but, hey, why check the first digit with your clever driver detection software? Surely nVidia are never going to roll past 200, right?

Then it auto-updated to version 1.2.0 and then, then it updated the UPlay launcher and THEN it proceeded to try to start up and, apparently, the first thing it tries is to check for updates to UPlay. Which it can't find because the server is down. And then it refused to play the sim.

Yes, you can tell it to ignore the online nonsense, but apparently you have to get past the first time to change that setting, and I can't get there because it won't let me check for an update that isn't there and isn't necessary.

So no, sober, I can't even get to the screen you're showing because it won't let me until I've performed a successful first update check.

Because the geniuses at Ubi decided to refuse to let you even get to the "Play" screen unless you'd first successfully tried to update.

Talk about a classic "Catch 22."

It's a good thing (for Ubi employees) that Donald Trump doesn't own their company or he would be wearing his voice out yelling "YOU'RE FIRED" at each and every one of them.

Sorry, it's no big shakes to me, really. I can wait a day or so because, thanks to the modders, it's still the best dang sim ever made, I just find it hilarious every time Ubi demonstrates how utterly, crushingly inept they are. If I didn't already know, through years of painful experience, that it's only due to sheer, mind boggling incompetence, I'd think they were deliberately trying to make people stop buying their product.

Once again, I'm not laughing at anybody not being able to play tonight, I know how infuriating it is and I'm ticked off right there with you, I was as happy as a kid in a candy store when I found my DVD in the mailbox today and looking forward to another night of no sleep whatsoever and loving every minute of it, because that's how much I love my Silent Hunter sessions. I'm just laughing at myself for picking this night, of all nights, to "upgrade" to the DVD version.

But it'll be back, and I'll be having the time of my life again soon enough, so it's all good.

Be of good cheer, my fellow Kaleuns. Everything will be alright soon and, at the end of the day, we're still part of a select Band of Uboat Brothers with the best sim in the world and the best community that ever existed. It'll be alright.

It's just tonight is the night where we have no eels left and run into an unescorted convoy of a dozen large steamers, with high seas and heavy fog.

It's all good.

[gutted]

It's been like a year and a half since i last played. Decided to re-install it tonight, and can't even play it. First it wouldn't autopatch, so i downloaded and installed them manually. Now it gets past the update check, but it says it can't connect to the ubi servers.

f'n retarded DRM. This is why i dont buy UBI games anymore (SH5 was my last purchase from them).

[0rpheus]

Originally Posted by gutted

It's been like a year and a half since i last played. Decided to re-install it tonight, and can't even play it. First it wouldn't autopatch, so i downloaded and installed them manually. Now it gets past the update check, but it says it can't connect to the ubi servers.

f'n retarded DRM. This is why i dont buy UBI games anymore (SH5 was my last purchase from them).

Just poor timing I'm afraid - you picked the one week that Ubi are taking a large number of servers down for maintenance or whatever reason. It's a temporary thing, and I also read that it was affecting Anno 2070 & other newer Ubi games as well.

Give it a day or two and have another go; when the servers are back up, switch to offline mode and you'll never have this problem again.

[darkone999]

for those wanting a clean uninstall.Do a google search for "Revo Uninstaller".Its free and works great..I have had it for about two years and it will trace all files and reg keys the software has installed and then give the options to erase them...

Tim

[Captain_AJ]

[QUOT=[Be of good cheer, my fellow Kaleuns. Everything will be alright soon and, at the end of the day, we're still part of a select Band of Uboat Brothers with the best sim in the world and the best community that ever existed. It'll be alright./QUOTE

Has Ubi Done Anything right these days ? I am Also a fan of Il2 1946 series , Been playing it for ten years off and on .. The latest flop is UBIs Il2 Cliffs Of Dover .. I will not buy this dvd . And in this same post . Ill agree that donald trump should be saying you ARE FIRED !! .. I had to say yes and agree what Misha said .. Proud to be a sub simmer .. Sh5 rocks modded !

[LordCucumber]

I was just wondering...

I actually have the Steam version, as the DVD was hard to come by for me. I can run steamgames offline if need be, so do I have the option of going offline in the Uplay launcher as well?
If so, would it increase stability of the game considering my occassionally dodgy internet connection?

[misha1967]

Originally Posted by LordCucumber

I was just wondering...

I actually have the Steam version, as the DVD was hard to come by for me. I can run steamgames offline if need be, so do I have the option of going offline in the Uplay launcher as well?
If so, would it increase stability of the game considering my occassionally dodgy internet connection?

Yes, you do (or should have. I'm fairly certain I saw that option while I was still using my Steam version).

Click "Settings" on the Ubi Launcher and you should have an "Offline Mode" option at the bottom of the screen that pops up.

Originally Posted by gutted

It's been like a year and a half since i last played. Decided to re-install it tonight, and can't even play it. First it wouldn't autopatch, so i downloaded and installed them manually. Now it gets past the update check, but it says it can't connect to the ubi servers.

f'n retarded DRM. This is why i dont buy UBI games anymore (SH5 was my last purchase from them).

lol .. gutted, I was in the same boat as you (no pun intended). Once I realized DRM was gone, I happened to load it up on the day the servers were being moved too and didn't know it. I spent a long time trying to figure things out before I realized what they were doing.

What blows me away is that even though we play in offline mode and "enable save game synching" is unchecked, the game STILL goes through the process of appearing to sync the save games. And if you have a lot of save games, that wait before you get to the main menu seems to take an eternity. Keeping your save games to a minimum is the only thing to reduce that, but man, if we're offline, we're offline, so why the need to sync? Just ridiculous. But like kimuraijn says "Has Ubi Done Anything right these days?"

Cheers!

[danurve]

Funny thing about steam; it's a service - utility, what ever.
I was on a Spruance class destroyer, and so steam was an aux byproduct from waste heat off the dm-turbines. Cooks used it, aux systems used it, and yet if someone wasn't carefull they could still get burned.
How little some things have changed.