Got it, but can't install it!

[Static UK]

I have finally bought HD but I can't seem to get it to setup. I have the 'setup' file on my hard disc, when I hit it it asks 'Open with what?' So I checked its properties, and it tells me it is a Self extracting file! So, why isn't it 'self'-extracting then? :confused: :( Help!

[Simon]

Sounds like you used IE to download the installer.

IE "helpfully" renames the file "setup.exe" to "setup" (no .exe extension). It's their idea of security.

Just rename the file to "setup.exe" and you should be good to go.

[Static UK]

Grrrrr, I hate computers!

Used IE, Yup

Named it 'setup', Yup.

Rename it 'setup.exe', NOPE! It won't let me! It says "Cannot rename setup: Access is denied. The source file may be in use." ????????????????:confused: :( :confused:

[Simon]

Sounds like you're still sitting on one of the "Open with..." dialogs.

The easiest thing to do is reboot to clear out any file locks. You can do it without a reboot, but it requires messing around with the task manager, which may not be the best idea for you.

[Static UK]

Thanks for the quick responces.

I'm going to reboot and try again, I'll be back soon to let you know if I've taken an axe to my computer. :D

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by dsimon
But it requires messing around with the task manager, which may not be the best idea for you.
;)

Tactful and polite. Gotta love it.

[Static UK]

Okay then, now I'm really confused! :confused:

I succesfully renamed the file, it (apparently) succesfully extracted itself, I followed the on screen instruction, asked it to put the shortcut on the desktop, and was told everything was done successfully...

However, there is no shortcut on the desktop, and when I check the 'Program Files' folder there is a Hero Designer folder, unfortunately it appears to be empty, apart from 1 hidden file. Do I need to reboot the computer for it to register or is there something else happening here?

p.s. I'm sharpening that axe!

Thanks for your patience!

[Simon]

I have no idea what's going on with your system. If you installed it successfully, then the HeroDesigner directory will contain quite a bit more than 1 file.

Make sure you're checking the directory that you installed it to and make sure that you're not clicking "cancel" on the final verification screen of the installer.

[Static UK]

:confused: Okay, I've rebooted, I've reinstalled, still nothing! SorryI didn't hit the cancel button, it's not even lit up.

What now?

Should I start swingin' the axe now? ;)

[Simon]

Without seeing your system, there's not much more help that I can give.

It's probably something simple, but I really can't say exactly what's going wrong. It sounds like the installer is working fine, which really takes it down to either user error or a system problem.

[Static UK]

I can't see it being user error, I just press the buttons that say 'next' or 'okay'. However, I do think computers are ganging up on me! :(

What system info should I be looking at?

[Killer Shrike]

Whats your Operating System?

Does the system meet the minimum requirements of HD?

Do you have local admin rights to the computer you are installing on?

Does the install run completely or does it terminate before completion?

Do you experience problems installing software normally or is this a special case?

Could you break down what you have done to install the application starting from how you got the installer, where you put it on your system, and any other relevant details?

[Static UK]

Originally posted by Killer Shrike
Whats your Operating System?

I'm using an AMD Athlon processor, w/ 256.0Mb RAM, and Windows Me


Does the system meet the minimum requirements of HD?

I believe so.


Do you have local admin rights to the computer you are installing on?

It is my home computer.


Does the install run completely or does it terminate before completion?

The self extraction takes about 35 seconds, the install takes a couple of seconds.


Do you experience problems installing software normally or is this a special case?

Nope, no previous problems.


Could you break down what you have done to install the application starting from how you got the installer, where you put it on your system, and any other relevant details?

Downloaded the 19Mb setup file at work over a broadband connection, put it onto a rewritable CD, copied it to my home computer, renamed it so that the computer recognised it as a self extracting file, double clicked and followed the onscreen instructions!

The only thing that appears in the 'HeroDesigner' folder in the Programs folder is a hidden folder 'Uninstaller Data', in that folder is a file labelled '.com.zerog.registry'.

Anything useful there?

I'm beginning to feel a little unhappy now, I cannot figure it out! :(

[Killer Shrike]

Whats the final message when the installer is finished?

[Simon]

What do you mean "the install takes a couple of seconds"?

Do you get the main installer screens (Welcome, select install directory, etc.)?

[Static UK]

Yup, I get the screen, I press the 'okay/ next' button where necessary, the screen which does the install flickers through some words in about two seconds, then says 'congratulations, etc, it's loaded'.

Sorry for being a pain. I would really like toget this to work.

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by Static UK
Yup, I get the screen, I press the 'okay/ next' button where necessary, the screen which does the install flickers through some words in about two seconds, then says 'congratulations, etc, it's loaded'.

Sorry for being a pain. I would really like toget this to work.

OK, I just reinstalled the app and it takes about 3 secs to install on a 2.2Ghz 512 MB RAM machine, so the time sounds about right.

My Start Bar options has only 1 selection for HD, which is a shortcut to HD at the default install of "C:\Program Files\HeroDesigner\HeroDesigner.exe"



Did you install to the default directory on your C drive? If so, go to Run and paste "C:\Program Files\HeroDesigner\HeroDesigner.exe" on the run line and hit enter. See if that opens the app.

Otherwise, try going to Search/Find on your start bar and searching for Files -> "HeroDesigner.exe" and see if that locates the file.

If the file isnt found, I dont know what to tell you other than go back and carefully eyeball the install options and see if something is out of whack.

Does the Preinstallation summary look something like this (Space available will be different, and your Shortcut folder will be personalized):


Product Name: ____Hero Designer
Install Folder: ____C:\Program Files\HeroDesigner
Shortcut Folder: ____C:\Documents and Settings\Ed\Start Menu\Programs\Hero Designer
Disk Space Information (for Installation Target): ____Required: 72,327,685 bytes ____Available: 49,358,323,712 bytes

[Static UK]

Right, I've tried uninstalling, and wiping off my hard drive, then re-installing. I still get the same thing. There is no program in the Hero Designer folder under Program Files. There is just the one 'Hidden Folder' which contains the file I mentioned in an earlier post. I have done a search on my hard drive for the HeroDesigner.exe file, or any files with hero designer invovolved, to no avail. I have followed the instructions to the letter during the installation pages, I have not customised any of the options, and yet there are still no files in the HD folder! :(

What next Dan? :confused:

I have to admit to being a little disillusioned now.

How big should the setup.exe file be? The one I have is 19Mb, is this correct?

[Killer Shrike]

Mine is 19 MB, created Dec 14 2002 1:48 PM

This sounds really odd. The install works flawlessly for me.

Did you turn off your virus checker (if any)?

[Static UK]

Why would the virus checker matter? Like I said, I've not had any trouble installing other software. What could the virus checker do to the installation of HD? :confused:

[Simon]

Well, the issue is that you're having a problem that no one else has had, therefore the question on the virus checker is a very good one.

My recommendation at this point would be to try downloading the installer again. One of the only things that I can think of is that you've got a bad download which is breaking the installer in a way that ZeroG hasn't seen yet (I haven't found any trouble reports on ZeroG's site about something like this).

Turn off your virus scanner during the download, just to be safe.

[Static UK]

How do I download it again? I actually thought of that this morning in work, but when I went to the page indicated in my notification e-mail it indicated, correctly, that I had already downloaded it, and wouldn't let me do it again (fair enough!)

Can you refresh my ability to download the file via an e-mail, or something?

It would be best for me to download it at work in the morning on the broadband connection, if I try it on my dial-up connection it is likely to take an hour, possibly more!

[Simon]

Contact Ben and explain the situation to him and he'll reactivate the download for you.

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by Static UK
Why would the virus checker matter? Like I said, I've not had any trouble installing other software. What could the virus checker do to the installation of HD? :confused:
If it doesnt have HD on its list of 'safe apps' your virus checker may squelch the install.

You have to understand how most virus checkers work; to break it down real simple most of them recognize Known Apps, Known Viruses, and Unknown. Different apps use different terminology to describe this, or hide if from the user completely, but at their root this is what they are doing.

Anything Unknown is generally considered to be a potential virus, just to be on the safe side.

Some Virus checkers have options to set different thresholds of paranoia, but none of them are ever going to be completely happy with an Unknown application.

[Static UK]

Thanks. Sorry for giving you a headache! I appreciate the help. Keep up the good work.

You have no idea how disappointed I was when I couldn't get it to work! I was looking forward to spending Sunday updating a slew of characters! Oh well...

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by Static UK
Thanks. Sorry for giving you a headache! I appreciate the help. Keep up the good work.

You have no idea how disappointed I was when I couldn't get it to work! I was looking forward to spending Sunday updating a slew of characters! Oh well...
Before you give up and go back to work to redownload, try turning off your virus checker and go through the install process again, then turn the checker back on when the process is finished.

Also while you are at it, check your virus checkers logs. It may have entries for your various install attempts and if so they might be enlightening......

[Static UK]

Okay, I have been busy at work and haven't had a chance to download the file.

However... I tried loading the setup file I have got onto my work computer (it isn't capable of actually running the program) and it loaded correctly!!!!!!! :mad:

So obviously my system has a problem with the set up! Any suggestions? Having seen it install occur correctly now, I now know what isn't happening:- The Preinstall checking screen (the one that tells you where all the bits are being installed, where the shortcut icon is, etc, and how much space is on your computer) doesn't come up on my system, it just skips it. :confused: :confused:

[Simon]

Have you tried the suggestions above, especially turning off your virus checker?

[Static UK]

Well, I've turned off the virus checker - still wouldn't install. It seems to completely miss out the screen I mentioned in my last post, everytime!! :confused:

So, I've cheated! :D I loaded it onto the computer at work, then copied the 'HeroDesigner' and 'ZeroG' folders onto a rewritable CD and copied them onto my computer in the Program Files folder. Well, its now running on my computer (with update 1.37 at the moment) without any problems that I've detected. I've only built one character so far (it was 2am by this point!).

So, my computer has a 'weirdness' about it! I cannot figure out why it won't install from the setup file, but I've got it working now. I've never had problems installing anything before...

Oh, and by the way, from what little I've seen of it so far, it looks good. I can't wait to get character building. :D

Again, thank you for all your help, suggestions, and patience (you too Killer Shrike), now I can get to bug you about the actual application. ;) :D

[Killer Shrike]

No problem. I like HD overall, even though there are elements of it that annoy the hell out of me (like no right click drop down menus -- that really really irks me, and the general modifiers listed for powers by thier types could be better filtered), and I would like to see all HERO players using it. Dan did a great job with the design of a very complex piece of software in a very short timeline.

I used HERO Maker, then HERO Creator and now HERO Designer. HERO Designer has to be last one because they are running out of pejoratives. All thats left is HERO Builder, HERO Crafter, HERO Architect, HERO Engineer, or HERO Sculptor. :rolleyes:


My favorite thing about HD is that it makes character sharing very easy and I have little wet dreams about people eventually posting here on the web site cleanly formatted characters which have a high degree of rules enforcement by default that are usable by all the rest of us as a matter of course. A few people do (I try to plaster characters and power write ups out of HD everywhere I reasonably can in my posts ;) ) but not enough do it routinely. Hopefully that will change....

The suggested online repository for v2 has me positively giddy. In my opinion that feature will make HD not only the most useful creation software EVER, but it will also be the COOLEST. :D

Good luck using it, and dont forget to post lots of characters ;)

[Static UK]

I am currently working on a group of heroes called the Visionaries. They were the first characters I ever made for superhero RPGing, using the Marvel Super Hero system (about, I dunno, 15+ years ago?). They were revised, and considerable fleshed out when I converted my campaign to Champions, and now they are getting another revision for 5th Ed. I've still got the original character sheets from MSH, boy have they evolved! :eek:

It's taking me a little over 75 minutes to do a character at the moment as I work my way around the application. The only thing I haven't worked out is how to make two Linked powers fit into one slot on an Elemental Control... need to check that handbook in the morning. :D

Oh, I may post some characters eventually, I'd love to set up my own website one day too... :rolleyes:

[Simon]

Originally posted by Static UK
The only thing I haven't worked out is how to make two Linked powers fit into one slot on an Elemental Control... need to check that handbook in the morning. :D

I can help here...

Use a Compound Power to "join" the Linked Powers into a single entity. You can then add the Compound Power into the EC or MP as a single slot.