can we have an official 'this is what you need' topic?

[Huggybaby]

Copying a working folder is a good idea, but hip63's CD automagically installs the compatibility fix for one thing. No other method will do that because it requires changes to the registry. The compatibility fix is more trouble than an inexperienced person should deal with too. I know there are people who have never used it and don't need it, more power to them, but there are many who do and it cuts down on service calls, which is what this is about.

Regarding the wiki, if it's current up to 12/25 then it's out of date. People who come here don't like being out of date. The wiki could be brought current by anyone, but if nobody has done so then it's not much help to new folks, and new folks don't want an install that's a month old either. If the wiki doesn't link to the "new users start here" post then that's a problem too.

blotto and others like him are enduring a needlessly painful process, and Bog Wraith's solution would be 1) current 2) correct 3) written with the new user in mind and 4) written by the most expert installer of this game in the world AFAIK.

I've informed him that when he implements his idea the "new users start here" post and the wiki need to be updated to include his new method.

[Bog Wraith]

Ok will do. I will however, leave the wiki for those much more versed in it then I.

Anyway, all this is is another option to get the game installed, specifically aimed at any new user who might be very intimidated by the complexities of installing, upgrading and getting the game up to speed. As they become more comfortable with it and themselves within our community, they will be more likely to "take off the training wheels" and proceed as the more experienced users do.

This in by no means meant to replace the wiki. I strongly agree that as long as it is maintained with the most recent links, the wiki is the way to go and still the best place for users to keep track of the progress and info for the game and it is where all the developers should continue to post to.

I just want to use Hip's great idea & implementation for the intent that it was created for in the first place.

If I failed to communicate this properly and stepped on anyone's toes, it was not my intention!

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(EDIT)

As they say in football when checking the replay, After Further Review and a night's sleep, I've decided to skip this idea for now.

I have other concerns I have to deal with now.

Please try & keep the wiki up to date and help out the new user by being patient & understanding towards their problems when you can and thank you for the back n' forth we had about this topic. The fact that we might disagree about the methods is no bearing on any way that I feel, so don't sweat it!

[jatill]

Okay, so here's how I feel this morning. Feel free to tell me that I'm overreacting You want things done one way, I want them done another way. Since you're the mod of the forum, you will win the disagreement. Therefore I will stop maintaining the wiki's installation page, and will let you address the issue of how to get users up and running, including dealing with confused users. Fair enough?

[Bog Wraith]

Nope, your not over reacting at all. I appreciate your attitude and your thoughtfulness!

As I wrote above, I have other things now that I must attend to that preclude me from spending the time I need to get this together. It will take me a fair amount of time to get all the pertinent files, info & step by step instructions created, written and uploaded to do it the way I want it offered and I just don't have the time now as I am committed to some personal matters that I have to deal with. Real life tends to muck things up at times!

So keep things as they are and update the stuff when you post any new material or info changes to the wiki asap.

I will revisit this at some time and offer it as just another alternative to anyone who might be interested. There may even be a newer version of the CD install by then and I still like the idea, but again, simply offered as an alternative, not as a replacement for the wiki method.

I do ask a favor of you and some of the other vets here. I will be less active here for the foreseeable future due to my other commitments, so keep your eye on the store for me, especially when newbies have some questions & problems that I know you guys can help them with.

In the meantime, I await any new and cool updates and the like and will get them as soon as they are posted and of course report any bugs or issues I might come across.

[blotto]

Honestly I don't think the Wiki is all that bad. I think the issue I ran into was just missing files and where to find them all. That really can be fixed with some simple house keeping. When I ran it, I was short alot of card art files and all the new ones past Christmas. With a fair amount of searching I was able to rectify most of this. If you want to keep the Wiki you should just up date it with everything available to date. All fixes and patches, cards, card art, etc. Then give them some sort of order to be downloaded and installed (like install this first, second, etc.) I don't think it could get any clearer than that really. If you give a sequence to download in and install, one giant download isn't really needed. IMO

The other thing you should consider is a developers page. There seems to be a fair amount of random people coding cards now. Instead of people just posting updates here and there, why don't we commit a page to all updates past the latest Wiki update. That way the Wiki only has to be updated every couple of months and not every time a new card set comes out. In the Wiki you can link the page to the developers updates page and people can see if any new updates "by date" have come out. Then those can just be downloaded and added.