On demand patching sucks! Plain and simple. I'm convinced that with the addition of on demand patching (it means that whenever you want to load into a map for example, you start the load process then the game forces the map download), that's when things could and most likely go wrong. You see, when we install this version of the game, it doesn't install all the files like it used to when the game was first released. I suppose this is to save everyone download time so that we're only downloading like 3 gigs instead of 8? Frankly I'd much rather just have all the files on my computer so that A) it's quicker to load anything in the game and so that we don't have to experience this TRIBBLE everytime we want to head somewhere to do something.
Like it's been mentioned in this post, if you have AV software running while you're playing (on demand patching, remember?) then those files when downloaded could indeed become corrupted which would indeed result in this very error. Also it's been mentioned that AV software flags specific files, this is called Heuristics, and when those flagged files try to d/l again, guess what happens? Yup, that's right, you get this error.
Ya'll need to add STO to your exclusions list in your firewall annnnnd... you also need to make sure that your AV software isn't scanning your STO folder so that you can be absolutely sure that either of those software's are interfering with this process, like ever.
Good luck guys, you've been given what you need in order to fix this issue, I hope to see ya in game
If there is a error in the data when its written, that would cause a decompression failure. And write errors won't be detected unless you have write with verify (which slows down writes) enabled in your OS and BIOS...
Most Hard-disks these days only have a 3 year warrenty (or less), and I've had experiences where a HD would start going bad only weeks after the warrenty has expired...
Since this computer is literally only a couple weeks old, I'm thinking it ain't that in this case. Brand new setup should have no disk errors & chkdsk didn't turn anything up. Nothing found, nothing fixed. Though it didn't, I think, do a surface scan. Not that I expect that would turn up anything either.
This has only been happening over the last week or so. There was an issue with a skin on Tribble server the night before Odyssey mission released where friend was trying out the odyssey, got some error and the skin didn't work, just showed the galaxy class skin. May or may not be related. Probably not, since the program has been reinstalled at least twice since then, including deleting entire Cryptic folder from Programs x86 (which one assumes would nuke any/all residual files, unless they're stored elsewhere?).
This really needs to get addressed, 'cause it's a literal game-stopper...
On demand patching sucks! Plain and simple. I'm convinced that with the addition of on demand patching (it means that whenever you want to load into a map for example, you start the load process then the game forces the map download), that's when things could and most likely go wrong. You see, when we install this version of the game, it doesn't install all the files like it used to when the game was first released. I suppose this is to save everyone download time so that we're only downloading like 3 gigs instead of 8? Frankly I'd much rather just have all the files on my computer so that A) it's quicker to load anything in the game and so that we don't have to experience this TRIBBLE everytime we want to head somewhere to do something.
Like it's been mentioned in this post, if you have AV software running while you're playing (on demand patching, remember?) then those files when downloaded could indeed become corrupted which would indeed result in this very error. Also it's been mentioned that AV software flags specific files, this is called Heuristics, and when those flagged files try to d/l again, guess what happens? Yup, that's right, you get this error.
Ya'll need to add STO to your exclusions list in your firewall annnnnd... you also need to make sure that your AV software isn't scanning your STO folder so that you can be absolutely sure that either of those software's are interfering with this process, like ever.
Good luck guys, you've been given what you need in order to fix this issue, I hope to see ya in game
Didn't read my posts, did ya'?
Prevented AV from loading via selective startup. Turned off Windows Firewall. Uninstalled. Completely reinstalled, turned off on-demand patching via options in launcher and had it force verify then download the ENTIRE patch (~5.5Gb d/l, so I get why they have on-demand patching to avoid several GB download EVERY time they issue a patch)... Still crashing with the same "decompressing texture" error.
So, sadly, that's not quite "everything we need" to fix the issue, since the issue still isn't fixed...
Not entirely sure what to do next.
Willing to try copying files from one computer over to the other, just not sure which files and where to put them. Is there somewhere other than Cryptic folder where things ever get stored? (Under Windows 7?)
As a matter of fact I did read your post. If you truly knew what you're talking about, you'd know that using msconfig to manipulate selective startup doesn't affect an AV program as they launch long before the Kernal for the GUI does, thus what you're saying makes no difference. The only way to "disable" your AV is to either A. uninstall it or B. right-click on it and choose disable. Then go about your business testing and whatnot.
Try that, then come back and let us know if it worked or didn't. Sorry, I'm not trying to sound like a ***** here I'm just trying to ensure you fully understand what it is that I'm trying to help you with.
As a matter of fact I did read your post. If you truly knew what you're talking about, you'd know that using msconfig to manipulate selective startup doesn't affect an AV program as they launch long before the Kernal for the GUI does, thus what you're saying makes no difference. The only way to "disable" your AV is to either A. uninstall it or B. right-click on it and choose disable. Then go about your business testing and whatnot.
Try that, then come back and let us know if it worked or didn't. Sorry, I'm not trying to sound like a ***** here I'm just trying to ensure you fully understand what it is that I'm trying to help you with.
Appreciate the advice, though not the tone. And yes, I fully 'understand' what you're condescending to me about... We're trying to make sure all remnants of the antivirus are sufficiently thwapped that they're ABSOLUTELY NOT interfering with the download IN ANY WAY... Fair enough?
Still figuring out Win7, so if there's a better place than selective start to disable something, I'm all ears. What exactly are you suggesting I right click to disable and where? Tray icon? Services? If you can be slightly more specific I'm happy to try it. If you're just saying to try telling trend to 'disable virus protection,' as an option on the contextual right-click menu from the tray icon, that was the FIRST thing I tried way back to eliminate Trend interference. But, I'm assuming you're not suggesting something so facile... So, just let me know exactly where I need to disable it to do so COMPLETELY.
Looks like there's one service still identified as Trend in the Task Manager after disabling stuff in selective start... Though it lists as 'Stopped' and none of the other Trend processes/services that were there previously are showing in the task manager after disabling startup items and services associated with Trend. So, what else would still be running and how would I find out, assuming we're not already chasing a ghost?
I'm entirely tempted to take Trend off completely, just to be sure (as I've already been tempted and you've suggested as the worst case scenario), but for the fact I'm not sure where the install file is located, in case it's not the issue and we need to reinstall it... Suppose I could always use system restore to revert the uninstall, though I've had issues with SR before and tend not to trust it much if there's a better option...
Well, the FIRST thing I did was to go to the tray icon and right-click it and A) uncheck 'virus protection' then when that didn't work, b) click 'exit' to totally close the tray icon. Though, honestly that often leaves AV bits & pieces running in the task manager in many programs (it's always been that way; mfgs are just bad about really and truly closing EVERYthing just by disabling or exiting from tray icon). So, tried disabling things with selective startup. Obviously I'm still here with issues... So, what's next? *Sigh*
Anywho... Just getting frustrated with all this. Especially since it works on one older machine that's basically right next to the other one. *Sigh*
Comp is NEW as of a couple weeks ago, so no reason to suspect anything "on its way out." And would GPU going out cause "decompression error"? That sounds like a software / file corruption issue. Just wondering.
More & more software is designed to use the GPU over the CPU so it could be a GPU error (however unlikely)
Chkdsk didn't turn up anything & didn't expect it to.
You're better off using a check utility from whoever made the HDD - Majority of manufacturers supply free versions - just check out their websites. The utilities they supply with windows are mediocre at best so don't rely too much on what they.
I suggest using either using the first or second one for the memory test.
For the CPU, go to either AMD or Intel as they have utils for checking these.
The GPU is a bit harder - Stress testing is about the only way (look for tearing, etc)
Also, if we copied the working version to a flash drive (not sure whether we have a large enough flash drive) could we even run it on the other machine, or would the program need to be re-registered in the registry, etc. Would we still have to patch files? What exactly are we copying where? Are we literally copying over the top of the bad version with the "good" one? Or putting it somewhere else? Could we do a more limited copy of files like just the texture files, which seem to be what are erroring out duing decompression? What files would we have to copy over and where?
You're literally copying the whole Install so example would be "C:\Cryptic Studios" - just copy & paste the whole folder. Should be around 5gig in total.
You don't need registry entries or anything like that. And yes, you can run the whole game from the flash device or paste it directly over the current install.
If it were a line issue corrupting downloads wouldn't that affect BOTH machines, since they're both connected to the same hard-wired Frontier FiOS router? I mean, why would only ONE computer manifest download errors if it's a line error, shouldn't they both be crashing? But it's only the new machine showing issues... The old one works perfectly fine. I'm still suspecting an anti-virus / firewall issue. But, it's hard to say. I might disable firewall / Trend & do a complete uninstall and fresh reinstall & patch. Pain in the TRIBBLE$, but might do something if there really is some residual corrupted file or other (though after a fresh total patch with on-demand disabled, one wouldn't think so?)...
Didn't realise that two machines were running off the same line so in that case I'd rule out the ISP.
Make sure only one firewall in enabled (either from the router or the pc - two will just cause all sorts of problems)
DON'T Disable the AV - just go into the anti-virus rules & make sure STO is set to the safe list
Just because it's a new machine doesn't mean that you have faulty hardware - happens all the time. I actually read the thread a bit more thoroughly this time & personally, it sounds like either a faulty memory module or you've been given a duff HDD though i'm more inclined to go with the memory.
However, run as many checks as possible as this rules out each bit of hardware that may be causing the problem. Once a piece is ruled out, makes it alot easier to narrow down the culprit.
Give that little lot a bash & let us know what the results were.
For taking an epic hour and a half to complete and then restart, it gave a pretty minimalist pop-up "no problems detected." Didn't even give an option to save a log file, else I'd upload the results. Weee, what fun!
Is there a generic surface scan utility that works within Windows or that can be temporarily installed within windows to run on startup? In lieu of having to burn a bootable CD? If not, will just have to pick up some CDs then next time I'm at the store and swing 'em by my friend's place...
If / when we pick up some CDs, I'll see about running a couple of the other mem tests & the Hitachi HDD disk check utility. Personally, I'm not expecting any grandiose hardware issues on a machine less than a ~month old. Insofar as I can tell, nothing else is erroring out, or otherwise crashing. Not that He uses it for a ton other than surfing the 'net & STO. & right now STO is failing, despite the fact it ran great for a while and when it *is* running (not crashing with random "decompression" errors) will run for hours on end without a hiccup.
Uninstalled. Re-downloaded the entire installer & install files just in case something in *there* was corrupted. Deleted all the old directories I could find. Will reinstall fresh, again, with Trend disabled, firewall off and most startup programs disabled (really just the Catalyst control center enabled for graphics) & see how it goes.
Though often after such steps it works for a while and then randomly seems to run across a texture it doesn't like decompressing. So, it's tough to say whether or not the issue is 'fixed' until / unless it crashes again. And given the number of patches that seem to be coming out lately, the problem is compounded since if a new patch is needed who knows if something will get corrupted in that. *Sigh*
Well, off to reinstall & re-patch. AGAIN. Then see if it plays for a while or what.
Burn in Test Pro -- basic test. 15 minutes testing CPU, memory, etc.
No errors. Ignore the "test failed" message; the optical drive was the only 'failure' & pretty irrelevant (no disc in the drive)... Other than that no *immediately apparent* problems.
Will run other specific tests as time permits. Okay, did 15 min memory & video tests. No overt errors.
I'm going to cut you off there, in a good way and offer an apology. I can admit when I'm in the wrong...
-10 to me for that one. Sorry... *"Reading for comprehension" irony duly noted...* D'oh! *facepalm*
My bad, as they say... Didn't mean to level any vituperations at you, Rising. & sorry for not noticing the confusion earlier. *sigh* Will be more diligent in the future...
Anywho, hopefully we can all get along long enough to figure out what the issue is.
No problem
So I did this, completed a fresh install of the OS again, reinstalled STO this time via DISK, made sure AV was turned off, verified all hardware was good and no infections, and was working great, at least untill I got on that Ferengi Station and the second I zoned in, poof. Then I thought, hmm could it have anything to do that I have it running in the highest quality. So I rebooted, turned off AV, verified files, and turned the visuals ALL the way to performance, minimal quality. And the second I beamed aboard the station poof down again. Obviously something isnt right. I have done my due dilligence and checked everything, sent the Devs the documentation that they requested and we have yet to hear from them. I am guessing since they didnt immediately go, oh your computer is messed up here, that there is something wrong, and they are working on a patch. Thats just a guess. But frustrated that I cant play now.
Come on Devs! PLEASE FIX THIS!!!! Or help us some way
Now out of previous 'bad' experiences with computer systems, I have had the misfortune of having a hard-disk fail within the first month of purchase... (rare, but it happens, so don't assume that since your system is new, it can't be the hardware.... I made that mistake once...) And the initial errors were intermittent and unreproducible (at first...)
I've also had the misfortune of the same kind of symptoms occurring on another system... The eventual cause was found to be a drive cable that had worked itself loose (probably from the constant thermal expansion/contraction from system cycling)... And another system had the same symptoms caused by PCI card that wasn't properly seated in its socket... (as you can tell, I've gotten into the bad habit of building my own system, and you can only learn these things through experience...)
So tell me, have you really really checked everything??? (And the fact that STO is played by thousands of people every day without issue seems to imply something...)
So tell me, have you really really checked everything??? (And the fact that STO is played by thousands of people every day without issue seems to imply something...)
If you look at my before mentioned posts you will see that I have checked for hard drive issues and confirmed that none exist. Done both a smartCTL scan, Chkdsk -f, and reviewed event logs. No disk or NTFS errors, no surface or disk failure detected, SMART report indicated healthy drive. Do not take this as being rude or anything, just repeating it for you. I have mentioned I have done this check in an earlier post though. I understand the reason for the question as I too have gotten faulty drives out of the box. But I did check for that. I cant seem to find a cause that could be my system that is causing this. I did have a bad RAM DIMM but I removed the offending DIMM and tried again after doing a follow up MEMTEST (took for ever on 12GB RAM) and I still got the same error.
I do, the problem is not the Hard Disk Drive as I confirmed with both SmartCTL and did a ChkDsk and reviewed all event logs in the past 5 months. The hard drive is fine. I have done everything to attempt to resolve this issue with the Decompression error (by the way means the file failed to unpack and load). I have even did a clean install of Window7 Ultimate x64. Oddly this error didnt occur until the last patch. I also uninstalled and reinstalled STO 4 times with no resolution. I also checked all my drivers and confirmed system is infection free ( I work as a virus removal specialist).
This error seems to be random in nature as it doesnt matter where I am or what I am doing, the error can happen either in loading the game, or in the middle. The first times it happened occured when I was customizing either a characters uniform, or customizing my new ship. Before you keep spouting it must be your hard drive look to what I said, SmartCTL and Chkdsk as well as Windows Event Logs all discredit that opinion as no issues are found with the disk drive, no corruption, no disk errors, no bad sectors, no disk surface issues.
Now since hardware has been ruled out and virus issue is not the cause, and the fact that the game worked perfectly before the most recent update on the 16th of Febuary, can we please find a way to resolve this?
Current hardware specs: ALL NEW COMPONENTS: Asus 990FX Crosshair V mobo, 16GB GSkill DDR3 1600 RAM, AMD FX 8150 x8 3.6GHz CPU, TWO HIS 6950 2GB GDDR5 each card Crossfired, WD Caviar Green 1TB 7200RPM SATA6 HDD, WD Caviar Black 500GB 7200RPM SATA6 HDD, HAF X Case.
Here is that quote from Page 2 of this forum link.. I am so bummed that I cant play STO to the fullest extent. Its completely random when this error occurs
If you look at my before mentioned posts you will see that I have checked for hard drive issues and confirmed that none exist. Done both a smartCTL scan, Chkdsk -f, and reviewed event logs. No disk or NTFS errors, no surface or disk failure detected, SMART report indicated healthy drive. Do not take this as being rude or anything, just repeating it for you. I have mentioned I have done this check in an earlier post though. I understand the reason for the question as I too have gotten faulty drives out of the box. But I did check for that. I cant seem to find a cause that could be my system that is causing this. I did have a bad RAM DIMM but I removed the offending DIMM and tried again after doing a follow up MEMTEST (took for ever on 12GB RAM) and I still got the same error.
And did you check to see if all the cards and connections are firmly seated??? (And its best to unplug the machine and wait at least 10 seconds for the power to dissipate before doing this...) I've seen cards work loose during shipment to the home...
Since yesterday I can not launch the game. I get to the launcher and then press launch, and it gets stuck on the cryptic part and then crashes and says fatal error: unable to initialize on-demand patching and connect to patch server: the connection was idle for to long. any ideas??? Game has run fine since launch and I have not changed any thing on my pc. :mad:
Since yesterday I can not launch the game. I get to the launcher and then press launch, and it gets stuck on the cryptic part and then crashes and says fatal error: unable to initialize on-demand patching and connect to patch server: the connection was idle for to long. any ideas??? Game has run fine since launch and I have not changed any thing on my pc. :mad:
Sounds like you're having network issues, either the router has something set that is causing the problem, it could also be caused by Windows Firewall, your AV could have been updated and is now blocking STO, or you need to call your ISP.
Then make sure your AV is either disabled or you have set an exception for STO in it and set STO Launcher to force verify and then patch.
Fixed the issue right away for me!!!
I finally proved it was nothing to do with hardware or AV. Seems that at some point the files get corrupted or due to a patch the file doesnt unpack correctly. This seems to be re-occuring based on what I read in other stickys. Seems to have been an issue since STO launched the game. My guess is when the patch upgrades one of the texture.hogg files, the file is no longer stable as old data and new data are not combining correctly. In removing the file completely and forcing the patcher to force verfiy, you get the whole new file instead of a upgraded one.
I have a similar issue. It is random texture filles. One day it is planet texture, another day it is uniform texture. I ran the force verify and didnt seem to help. The problem started whenl they had that patch that updated the graphics. Fortunately my issue only pops up occasionally and I havent resorted to deleting the texture files yet.
Well I tried to delete hogg files and re patch to get new files but when I did this the server crashed last night I think my hogg files where currupted by that so I deleted them again and doing another force verify and patch this time the patch is not taking three hours to complete. I started the patch just as cryptic crashed last night I am hoping Risingmyst solution works for me as well. I will update you all when I have some results.
This is so annoying debating on taking a road trip with my desktop and going to cryptic and have them fix my desktop on the spot!.....LOL, sorry but I am annoyed if this does not work not sure what I am suppose to do. I want to play STO on this computer!
So tell me, have you really really checked everything???
Obviously not, since we're still experiencing technical difficulties... But, nobody can check EVERYthing the first time around. That's just a truism...
Troubleshooting is a step-by-step, iterative process. We're trying to eliminate as many possibilities as... possible.
Riddle me this, if it's a hardware issue, such as a bad HD, why would it ONLY manifest as texture decompression errors and not as more general errors? This seems strangely specific... Not saying it couldn't happen that a bad drive could manifest with a single file or specific type of file getting repeatedly corrupted. I'd just find it strangely suspicious that nothing else would be affected. No other programs crashing or developing glitches, etc. I know that's not a particularly scientific argument. Just saying, it seems strange that such a general type of error would manifest in such a specific way...
Anyway, I'm back over at my friend's, and I think we've actually got some writable CDs, so we can waste a couple on bootable diagnostic discs for memory / HD.
And did you check to see if all the cards and connections are firmly seated??? (And its best to unplug the machine and wait at least 10 seconds for the power to dissipate before doing this...) I've seen cards work loose during shipment to the home...
Are you asking whether those of us with new/warrantied potentially voided our warranties by opening the cases ourselves and mucking about on the insides?
Answer == no. For us anyway...
Though, if things weren't under warranty, I'd have no problem disassembling the whole bloody thing and reassembling it 'just to be sure.'
Since yesterday I can not launch the game. I get to the launcher and then press launch, and it gets stuck on the cryptic part and then crashes and says fatal error: unable to initialize on-demand patching and connect to patch server: the connection was idle for to long. any ideas??? Game has run fine since launch and I have not changed any thing on my pc. :mad:
Other threads deal with this issue... Don't know if it's been fixed or not. But, let's not hijack THIS thread, which is a different issue. Sorry.
Okay, well, I've posted it over to the showstoppers & critical issues thread. It was mention twice, but doesn't appear to have been resolved. At least by searching on the error message, unless I somehow missed a fix 'cause I used the wrong keywords. Didn't look like it had been addressed...
So, stupid question: if it *is* a corrupted .hogg file, can .hogg files be corrupted AFTER they've been downloaded, that is are they modified in any way during gameplay? Or would they be corrupted only during download and/or patching, but not during play; thus, erroring out is simply a matter of encountering the random texture(s) that have been corrupted at some random point or another? Or is it a problem with the decompression itself and NOT the .hogg file(s), in which case we'd have to look somewhere else for a solution than fixing .hogg files?
As for your decompression issue, there's already an open issue internally for it. We know about it, but the patching system guys aren't big on forums. Try not to equate the lack of response with lack of work being done. Programmers are not community representatives or technical support people.
So, it sounds like they're aware of the issue and possibly working on it, despite not having responded to this thread...
A little response would be nice from someone @ Cryptic letting us know where things are at with fixing whatever the issue is... And merging the threads so far posted previously in this other post wouldn't hurt either:
So, stupid question: if it *is* a corrupted .hogg file, can .hogg files be corrupted AFTER they've been downloaded, that is are they modified in any way during gameplay? Or would they be corrupted only during download and/or patching, but not during play; thus, erroring out is simply a matter of encountering the random texture(s) that have been corrupted at some random point or another? Or is it a problem with the decompression itself and NOT the .hogg file(s), in which case we'd have to look somewhere else for a solution than fixing .hogg files?
Just thinking vaguely outloud...
~MG
Compression/Decompression algorithms, are simply Garbage in/Garbage out algorithms... If the Input is correct, the output is correct. But if you pass it corrupt data...
Its unlikely to be issue with the decompression itself, as the algorithm is hard-coded in the program. For this to change implies a corrupt program file, (which would probably cause much more serious issues then a decompression failure) And if it was a program error, you would see this happening with all compressed files, not just one..
There is the 'Pie in the Sky' chance of Cosmic Radiation causing a change in your Computer System Memory (which is said to average 1 to 2 Bit Flips a year if you live in a high altitude location such a Colorado. This is the reason why memory with checksum bits exist, to detect and possible correct these kinds of issues) But the odds of this hitting the decompression program in memory is too small to consider possible, plus a system reboot, or simply reloading the program would clear this condition.
Now the conditions that can lead to a file failure are...
Read Failure (hard-disk error)
Write Failure (hard-disk error, or conflicts with other running programs e.g. Anti-Virus, background disk-scans)
Network error (there is a very small chance of a network induced error getting past the network TCP/IP checksum value during a patch download, but this becomes astronomically small if the STO Client is using a crypto-hash integrity check on the file after the download)
Comments
Like it's been mentioned in this post, if you have AV software running while you're playing (on demand patching, remember?) then those files when downloaded could indeed become corrupted which would indeed result in this very error. Also it's been mentioned that AV software flags specific files, this is called Heuristics, and when those flagged files try to d/l again, guess what happens? Yup, that's right, you get this error.
Ya'll need to add STO to your exclusions list in your firewall annnnnd... you also need to make sure that your AV software isn't scanning your STO folder so that you can be absolutely sure that either of those software's are interfering with this process, like ever.
Good luck guys, you've been given what you need in order to fix this issue, I hope to see ya in game
Since this computer is literally only a couple weeks old, I'm thinking it ain't that in this case. Brand new setup should have no disk errors & chkdsk didn't turn anything up. Nothing found, nothing fixed. Though it didn't, I think, do a surface scan. Not that I expect that would turn up anything either.
This has only been happening over the last week or so. There was an issue with a skin on Tribble server the night before Odyssey mission released where friend was trying out the odyssey, got some error and the skin didn't work, just showed the galaxy class skin. May or may not be related. Probably not, since the program has been reinstalled at least twice since then, including deleting entire Cryptic folder from Programs x86 (which one assumes would nuke any/all residual files, unless they're stored elsewhere?).
This really needs to get addressed, 'cause it's a literal game-stopper...
So, what's the next step?
Didn't read my posts, did ya'?
Prevented AV from loading via selective startup. Turned off Windows Firewall. Uninstalled. Completely reinstalled, turned off on-demand patching via options in launcher and had it force verify then download the ENTIRE patch (~5.5Gb d/l, so I get why they have on-demand patching to avoid several GB download EVERY time they issue a patch)... Still crashing with the same "decompressing texture" error.
So, sadly, that's not quite "everything we need" to fix the issue, since the issue still isn't fixed...
Not entirely sure what to do next.
Willing to try copying files from one computer over to the other, just not sure which files and where to put them. Is there somewhere other than Cryptic folder where things ever get stored? (Under Windows 7?)
As a matter of fact I did read your post. If you truly knew what you're talking about, you'd know that using msconfig to manipulate selective startup doesn't affect an AV program as they launch long before the Kernal for the GUI does, thus what you're saying makes no difference. The only way to "disable" your AV is to either A. uninstall it or B. right-click on it and choose disable. Then go about your business testing and whatnot.
Try that, then come back and let us know if it worked or didn't. Sorry, I'm not trying to sound like a ***** here I'm just trying to ensure you fully understand what it is that I'm trying to help you with.
Appreciate the advice, though not the tone. And yes, I fully 'understand' what you're condescending to me about... We're trying to make sure all remnants of the antivirus are sufficiently thwapped that they're ABSOLUTELY NOT interfering with the download IN ANY WAY... Fair enough?
Still figuring out Win7, so if there's a better place than selective start to disable something, I'm all ears. What exactly are you suggesting I right click to disable and where? Tray icon? Services? If you can be slightly more specific I'm happy to try it.
Looks like there's one service still identified as Trend in the Task Manager after disabling stuff in selective start... Though it lists as 'Stopped' and none of the other Trend processes/services that were there previously are showing in the task manager after disabling startup items and services associated with Trend. So, what else would still be running and how would I find out, assuming we're not already chasing a ghost?
I'm entirely tempted to take Trend off completely, just to be sure (as I've already been tempted and you've suggested as the worst case scenario), but for the fact I'm not sure where the install file is located, in case it's not the issue and we need to reinstall it... Suppose I could always use system restore to revert the uninstall, though I've had issues with SR before and tend not to trust it much if there's a better option...
Best,
~MG
Anywho... Just getting frustrated with all this. Especially since it works on one older machine that's basically right next to the other one. *Sigh*
More & more software is designed to use the GPU over the CPU so it could be a GPU error (however unlikely)
You're better off using a check utility from whoever made the HDD - Majority of manufacturers supply free versions - just check out their websites.
The utilities they supply with windows are mediocre at best so don't rely too much on what they.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/memorytest.htm
I suggest using either using the first or second one for the memory test.
For the CPU, go to either AMD or Intel as they have utils for checking these.
The GPU is a bit harder - Stress testing is about the only way (look for tearing, etc)
You're literally copying the whole Install so example would be "C:\Cryptic Studios" - just copy & paste the whole folder. Should be around 5gig in total.
You don't need registry entries or anything like that. And yes, you can run the whole game from the flash device or paste it directly over the current install.
Didn't realise that two machines were running off the same line so in that case I'd rule out the ISP.
Make sure only one firewall in enabled (either from the router or the pc - two will just cause all sorts of problems)
DON'T Disable the AV - just go into the anti-virus rules & make sure STO is set to the safe list
Just because it's a new machine doesn't mean that you have faulty hardware - happens all the time. I actually read the thread a bit more thoroughly this time & personally, it sounds like either a faulty memory module or you've been given a duff HDD though i'm more inclined to go with the memory.
However, run as many checks as possible as this rules out each bit of hardware that may be causing the problem. Once a piece is ruled out, makes it alot easier to narrow down the culprit.
Give that little lot a bash & let us know what the results were.
For the moment ran the built-in M$ mem-checker on "Extended" setting.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Diagnosing-memory-problems-on-your-computer
For taking an epic hour and a half to complete and then restart, it gave a pretty minimalist pop-up "no problems detected." Didn't even give an option to save a log file, else I'd upload the results. Weee, what fun!
Is there a generic surface scan utility that works within Windows or that can be temporarily installed within windows to run on startup? In lieu of having to burn a bootable CD? If not, will just have to pick up some CDs then next time I'm at the store and swing 'em by my friend's place...
If / when we pick up some CDs, I'll see about running a couple of the other mem tests & the Hitachi HDD disk check utility. Personally, I'm not expecting any grandiose hardware issues on a machine less than a ~month old. Insofar as I can tell, nothing else is erroring out, or otherwise crashing. Not that He uses it for a ton other than surfing the 'net & STO. & right now STO is failing, despite the fact it ran great for a while and when it *is* running (not crashing with random "decompression" errors) will run for hours on end without a hiccup.
Uninstalled. Re-downloaded the entire installer & install files just in case something in *there* was corrupted. Deleted all the old directories I could find. Will reinstall fresh, again, with Trend disabled, firewall off and most startup programs disabled (really just the Catalyst control center enabled for graphics) & see how it goes.
Though often after such steps it works for a while and then randomly seems to run across a texture it doesn't like decompressing. So, it's tough to say whether or not the issue is 'fixed' until / unless it crashes again. And given the number of patches that seem to be coming out lately, the problem is compounded since if a new patch is needed who knows if something will get corrupted in that. *Sigh*
Well, off to reinstall & re-patch. AGAIN. Then see if it plays for a while or what.
No errors. Ignore the "test failed" message; the optical drive was the only 'failure' & pretty irrelevant (no disc in the drive)... Other than that no *immediately apparent* problems.
Will run other specific tests as time permits. Okay, did 15 min memory & video tests. No overt errors.
~MG
No problem
So I did this, completed a fresh install of the OS again, reinstalled STO this time via DISK, made sure AV was turned off, verified all hardware was good and no infections, and was working great, at least untill I got on that Ferengi Station and the second I zoned in, poof. Then I thought, hmm could it have anything to do that I have it running in the highest quality. So I rebooted, turned off AV, verified files, and turned the visuals ALL the way to performance, minimal quality. And the second I beamed aboard the station poof down again. Obviously something isnt right. I have done my due dilligence and checked everything, sent the Devs the documentation that they requested and we have yet to hear from them. I am guessing since they didnt immediately go, oh your computer is messed up here, that there is something wrong, and they are working on a patch. Thats just a guess. But frustrated that I cant play now.
Come on Devs! PLEASE FIX THIS!!!! Or help us some way
I've also had the misfortune of the same kind of symptoms occurring on another system... The eventual cause was found to be a drive cable that had worked itself loose (probably from the constant thermal expansion/contraction from system cycling)... And another system had the same symptoms caused by PCI card that wasn't properly seated in its socket... (as you can tell, I've gotten into the bad habit of building my own system, and you can only learn these things through experience...)
So tell me, have you really really checked everything??? (And the fact that STO is played by thousands of people every day without issue seems to imply something...)
If you look at my before mentioned posts you will see that I have checked for hard drive issues and confirmed that none exist. Done both a smartCTL scan, Chkdsk -f, and reviewed event logs. No disk or NTFS errors, no surface or disk failure detected, SMART report indicated healthy drive. Do not take this as being rude or anything, just repeating it for you. I have mentioned I have done this check in an earlier post though. I understand the reason for the question as I too have gotten faulty drives out of the box. But I did check for that. I cant seem to find a cause that could be my system that is causing this. I did have a bad RAM DIMM but I removed the offending DIMM and tried again after doing a follow up MEMTEST (took for ever on 12GB RAM) and I still got the same error.
Here is that quote from Page 2 of this forum link.. I am so bummed that I cant play STO to the fullest extent. Its completely random when this error occurs
What you have to do is this. Open your STO folder location, open the live folder. For win7 is this
c:\users\public\games\Cryptic Studios\Star Trek Online\Live\piggs
Delete all the Texture.hogg files
Then make sure your AV is either disabled or you have set an exception for STO in it and set STO Launcher to force verify and then patch.
Fixed the issue right away for me!!!
Sounds like you're having network issues, either the router has something set that is causing the problem, it could also be caused by Windows Firewall, your AV could have been updated and is now blocking STO, or you need to call your ISP.
I finally proved it was nothing to do with hardware or AV. Seems that at some point the files get corrupted or due to a patch the file doesnt unpack correctly. This seems to be re-occuring based on what I read in other stickys. Seems to have been an issue since STO launched the game. My guess is when the patch upgrades one of the texture.hogg files, the file is no longer stable as old data and new data are not combining correctly. In removing the file completely and forcing the patcher to force verfiy, you get the whole new file instead of a upgraded one.
Once I patch the 6371MB patch do I need to reboot the computer prior to playing? I am patching now man I hope this works. (Cross Fingers)
This is so annoying debating on taking a road trip with my desktop and going to cryptic and have them fix my desktop on the spot!.....LOL, sorry but I am annoyed if this does not work not sure what I am suppose to do. I want to play STO on this computer!
Troubleshooting is a step-by-step, iterative process. We're trying to eliminate as many possibilities as... possible.
Riddle me this, if it's a hardware issue, such as a bad HD, why would it ONLY manifest as texture decompression errors and not as more general errors? This seems strangely specific... Not saying it couldn't happen that a bad drive could manifest with a single file or specific type of file getting repeatedly corrupted. I'd just find it strangely suspicious that nothing else would be affected. No other programs crashing or developing glitches, etc. I know that's not a particularly scientific argument. Just saying, it seems strange that such a general type of error would manifest in such a specific way...
Anyway, I'm back over at my friend's, and I think we've actually got some writable CDs, so we can waste a couple on bootable diagnostic discs for memory / HD.
Best,
~MG
Are you asking whether those of us with new/warrantied potentially voided our warranties by opening the cases ourselves and mucking about on the insides?
Answer == no. For us anyway...
Though, if things weren't under warranty, I'd have no problem disassembling the whole bloody thing and reassembling it 'just to be sure.'
Best,
~MG
Other threads deal with this issue... Don't know if it's been fixed or not. But, let's not hijack THIS thread, which is a different issue. Sorry.
~MG
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showpost.php?p=4045226&postcount=854
~MG
~MG
Just thinking vaguely outloud...
~MG
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showpost.php?p=4039099&postcount=7
So, it sounds like they're aware of the issue and possibly working on it, despite not having responded to this thread...
A little response would be nice from someone @ Cryptic letting us know where things are at with fixing whatever the issue is... And merging the threads so far posted previously in this other post wouldn't hurt either:
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showpost.php?p=4032574&postcount=24
Best,
~MG
Its unlikely to be issue with the decompression itself, as the algorithm is hard-coded in the program. For this to change implies a corrupt program file, (which would probably cause much more serious issues then a decompression failure) And if it was a program error, you would see this happening with all compressed files, not just one..
There is the 'Pie in the Sky' chance of Cosmic Radiation causing a change in your Computer System Memory (which is said to average 1 to 2 Bit Flips a year if you live in a high altitude location such a Colorado. This is the reason why memory with checksum bits exist, to detect and possible correct these kinds of issues) But the odds of this hitting the decompression program in memory is too small to consider possible, plus a system reboot, or simply reloading the program would clear this condition.
Now the conditions that can lead to a file failure are...