Update without Impulse?

Unfortunately no, you can't - but you should still be able to make it work. There's no patch file, it updates the game directly by replacing changed files so you'd have to download the whole game at work, but then you can just copy the installation folder to a flash drive or something and overwrite your installation at home. You should probably also replace the settings files located in C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting in Vista or C:\Documents and Settings\user.... (same path the rest of the way) in XP.

This should update your game at home. The standard way is to create an impulse archive, but right now Impulse needs to be connected to extract (it wants to make sure it's updated and all that) so you'd have to do it manually.

shouldnt stardock pay for that flashdrive?   i mean,  it shouldnt be the problem of people without internet.. it should be stardocks's... they make some 50% o.k. distribution... thing...

I should also add that before you overwrite your current install you should back it up just in case

I sure how no one from Stardock or Ironclad see that comment. 

Never have I seen such an extreme case of entitlement attitude written so succinctly.

kinda hard to proof me wrong on my point tough,  it shouldnt be their problem  especially cuase they werent informed they would need distribution system to download later patches

Yes they were. It's right in the

It's right in the Sins user manual that you use Impulse to update it.

Moreover, users are not entitled to Sins v1.1.  It's a free update.  If companies were responsible for providing non-Internet ways to update games, there just wouldn't be updates - which is how things were in the age before the Internet.

im sorry frog,  but theres nothing inside the manual,  i predorderd the game the day after it was released, got it deliverd home in a retail box pretty fast to

but NO,  theres nothing in the manual wich states anything about a distribution system, i even have multiple people who can confirm on this,    was this added in a later manual version perhaps ???

if i did misread anything in the manual, please give me the page/chapter number 

and IF i did misread anything,  why is it stated in the manual? i didnt take the time to read stuff other then gameplay, it should atleast have been mentioned on the online-purchase method

you cant seriously be using the "1.1 is free" statment?   ofcourse its free,    but in order to play multiplayer you need 1.1,   if i was unlucky enough to be one of those guys without internet i'd want an good explenation,  or a refund

(Maxi  is soo happy i got a flashdrive with internet, there'd be a serious problem for him to play the BALANCED 1.1 lan with his bro's otherwise)

Page 74 (about 4 from the back) of the Sins training manual under Techincal Support:

"Obtaining Updates

You can use Stardock's Impulse to obtain updates. An Internet connection and your serial number are required to validate your purchase. If you don't have accesss to the Internet on your PC, you can follow the on-screen instructions on how to apply updates manually from an Internet-connected system."

Multiplayer is based on matching the version types when in online matches, it is also online so those without internet access couldn't use it anyway. Multiplayer can also still be performed using a LAN connection. Even one licence would allow two people to do this.

I'm not attempting to flame or be rude in any of these statements. I am just explaining the current situation. If you have further questions I would be glad to help. 

Erp, this thread is going places.

Frogboy and Seabass,

I thought a bit before making my initial reply to this thread because I know how things are meant to work, and that you've always intended Impulse to be used for updating the game. But at the same time, it does currently sort of suck for an unfortunate user who can't get a temporary connection for Impulse to extract the archive and I figured that since he would be using Impulse to update in the first place and it's only transferring that to the permanently-offline PC that's the problem, that it would be acceptable to post a manual way to move the files without relying on the Impulse archive.

Certainly wasn't my intention to spark the debate, I was only trying to help a legit user

I was only attempting to clarify with the facts as I have them. I'm not attacking anyone or debating. I'm just policy support, not policy writer. You are a very welcome member of the community Annatar11. I wouldn't attack you for anything.

Well perhaps cash money... but it wouldn't be personal!

Oh I didn't think you were, I just felt bad because I tried to help a guy and it started a chain that made you and Brad have to go on the defensive again

I have some what the same question as the person who started this post. But the one thing that is different is, i already downloaded the the 1.1 update on my desk top. Now im having problems with my graphics card.  I just got the game a week ago, and when i install the game i started to get problems with the game. After all that i uninstall it from the desk top and try it on my laptop, and now the game runs fine. On my laptop i have the 1.05 install and i can't update on there because my laptop is not hooked up to the internet. So is there a way to transfer the files to the laptop, and what Annatar11 posted  is that what i should do? Any help would be great, and by the way i did look at the game requirements for the game. My pc meets the requirements for the game. Because i know someone going to ask why you didn't make sure your pc could run the game lol. Every borad has a smarta****.        

You have no way to connect your laptop to the internet for a few minutes? Either plug the network cable directly into it or if there's any place nearby with free WiFi? If you can get online for a few minutes, the easiest and best way is to make an Impulse archive and then move the archive file and the Impulse installer to your laptop, install Impulse on it and log in to extract the archive. It should be pretty quick.

I would like to point out that the many people here who have not been able to get Impulse to work are also in the same boat as people who don't have an internet service.

I have internet service but have not been able to get Impulse to work, - it is dead at logon claiming, "servers not responding...".   Therefore I can also not update.

And because the update is REQUIRED to play on Ironclad Online, (you can't even log in without it), I can't even play the game anymore, period.   (The AI is too stupid anyway to really enjoy it offline).

Recommendation: provide patching through Stardock's update page again, just like for 1.05.   Those that can use Impulse won't tax your servers.   Hopefully there are not many who are having the same problems with Impulse as I am, although I have seen several similar complaints on this forum so far.    I can still use the old update page, but Stardock is not providing the new patch files there, just the old ones for 1.05.

Even instructions for a manual update process would be preferable to no update at all.  For example a 3rd party download at a patch site, with instructions no matter how complicated, for those who don't mind doing it manually.   It would be nicer if you keep the old Stardock update method for those that can't run Impulse, but a do-it-yourself workaround is also better than nothing at all.

There are not "many" people who can't get Impulse to work. There are a couple people who can't get Impusle to work who post in every thread.

Now, that said, we are working on an update to Impulse that will allow someone to archive their update, take it to a machine that is off-line where it will bring up their Impulse User ID and PW from their Impulse account and allow them to install it.  

I don't have an ETA on it other than it should be in the next week or two I hope.

It's really simple people.....

Either we have some sort of invasive DRM built into the game or we have a digital distribution system configured such as Impulse that is able to verify your registration before patching.  Since when has it become unreasonable in the eyes of the public that a company be allowed to protect it's IP in SOME WAY?

Up to and including patch 1.05 SINS was being gleefully used at lan-parties etc., shared between households/friends and in other locations by other parties most of which was probably far outside of the license agreement. 

Even with (what I deemed to be) excessively lax IP control we had people on these forums flaunting their obvious disregard for EULA's etc.  ("oh....in my country EULA's are illegal"  or  "if I can't read the EULA before I buy, then it's useless" etc.  etc.)  Kind of a slap in the face for an already overly generous developer wouldn't you say?

Impulse was supposed to have been used from the very beginning, but it wasn't ready on SINS-release so the DEVS allowed us in a very generous move to get patches for their IP with no control.  Anyone and everyone had access to these patches.  Before you complain about the Impulse-induced IP control, ask yourself with what level of protection would you be satisfied if it was your product we were discussing here?

I have no qualms about going on record saying the following:

1.  All of my machines are running licensed, healthy copies of their respective OS's with consistently up-to-date-patch levels.

2.  I haven't modified the OS's on said machines in any significant way.  (ie.  the OS on said machines is used to its fullest before anything else is ever installed)

3.  I don't use "website guides" to disable OS functions which have been deemed "unecessary" by some gamer. 

TIP: the descriptions posted for windows OS services are often not inclusive of ALL of the functions of said service.  If you've begun disabling services based on those or "some gamer's" descriptions of the service please rethink your actions until you've actually educated yourself on the functions of same.

I believe, as a result of the above the following is true:

Save the few times the Impulse servers were having issues, I personally have never had one single issue with Impulse ever!  Even when it first came out and I had to do some "work-arounds" (all of my home machines are also on an internal domain so certain things require a tad more administration )

I always have, and am still willing to keep helping people work through their issues.  Please heed my advice and keep your OS's healthy, patched-up, and as un-modified as possible if you want to guarantee working third-party software.

the Monk

Check, check, and check... My OS is healthy, patched-up, and un-modified.   If DRM control would alleviate such problems, then fine, I have no problem with it.   Just give me a method, as a legitimate buyer of this software, to use it.   Had I known the game would essentially expire within a few months because of patching problems, I never would have bought it in the first place.

I dont think that impule protect this game against piracy. Its easy to make your offline Patch1.1zipfile with folderspy-Programs. I think: Impulse is one of the better distributuinplatforms because it dont insert services and Hardcor-Autostartthings.

My problem with impulse is, that its login needs so much time on my machine...

I can live with Impluse aslong there are no services running, no autostarts necessary and aslong its not requiert for games after installation of them.

I like the feature that i can install my games everywhere i want without carring my CDs around...

When i heard about the 1.09 beta, i started up impulse.  When i heard about 1.1, i started impulse.   I've used it all for 10 minutes total and it did exactly what it's supposed to. 

u think ure really smart huh -.-   well guess what... i think u are   found it on page 74 -.-  sigh,

well should anyone read this,  just found some major bug  or perhaps even a cheat,(seriously no jok,e got it in the replay and its pretty obvious when usee it (ally giving me 2500 metal after 7 min and having a few capital ships qued up???)

its in the technical thread tough, and no idea how to post replays, but thats all in that topic.. until someone replies ofcourse:/

Wow!  Talk about opening a can of worms!

I don't have a problem with developers protecting their IP and I would be the last one to knock Stardock/Ironclad for doing so - especially as they are one of the leaders of doing these things 'the right way' by their customers.

I think I'll wait to see if the archive change Frogboy mentioned materialises, and failing that, try to do it manually, as per Annatar11.

I'll have to bring a laptop into work to do it, though, as my work machine is running XP 64-bit, and I can't imagine that will work on it.  Little else does!

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone...and play nice!

This really reminds me of the early days with steam. Anyone remember that?

https://forums.politicalmachine.com/327852

I have the same problems with Impulse as those guys. I can install the program, it starts up and even tries to log on for a moment. Then it just crashes with an error report: "Impulse has encountered an error, and must now close." The send error report option doesn't work either, it gives a LogException: blahblah error. So the deal, as you know, is: I can't connect to ICO because I can't download the patch, therefore I can't play the game.

Please host a patch file somewhere outside of Impulse please?

deadfolk

I am running Impulse on several XP x64 machines without issue.

http://vistasupport.mvps.org/disable_data_execution_prevention.htm

This worked for me also.