Beamdog Client soft launch

JuliusBorisov

Introducing the brand-new Beamdog Client 2.0!

As our favourite fans, we're giving you the chance to try it before it goes live to the world. But before we get started, please note that this is not our "next big thing” we’ve been working on for so long, only part of it. Watch out for more news on that soon!

The new Beamdog Client will run any product made by Beamdog, and we encourage you to try it out with your Enhanced Edition games. Just download, install, log-in, and point the new client at your existing games using the Find Existing Game button. Any titles you have through the old client made by studios other than Beamdog will continue to be run through the old client.

The old client was built around being a Steam-like store to sell thousands of games from various developers. It was built to manage a large number of products, and its design reflects that. Since then, we’ve moved away from the distributor part of our business and instead focused on making Beamdog titles like the Enhanced Editions. The new Beamdog Client is all about providing a solid and focused experience to showcase these games. We've trimmed out features that don't make sense anymore, such as a store within the client, and made a more streamlined experience where it's easy to download, update, and enjoy our games.

In addition to easy updates, the new Beamdog Client will feature easy-to-access forum links, quick links to the latest versions of online game manuals, and better connections to support.

Sharp eyed users will notice the new Beamdog Client supports products on Mac (specifically designed to work well with Sierra) and Linux. Though Linux users will see an empty list where games should be, perhaps that’s a sign of things to come in the future.

The Language Settings area is another part of the Beamdog Client that will be filled in future updates. We’d like for our fans to use the Beamdog Client in the language of their choice. French and German will just be the start of the options we’ll add in the future.

We also have plans to use the Beamdog Client to support and patch the physical copies of our Enhanced Editions. More news about that in the future.

For those of you asking what will happen to the old Beamdog Client, the answer is nothing. The client and launchers you’re used to using will remain as it is, but will not receive any future updates. We’ll be channeling our efforts into finding solutions for issues within the new Beamdog Client.

Windows XP users will not be able to use the new Beamdog Client. We’re sad to let that operating system go, however time, and technology, marches on.

We’d love to hear your feedback here on the forums and if you encounter any issues, please enter them in the Beamdog Client project on the Beamdog public bug tracker, found here: http://support.baldursgate.com/

Get the new Beamdog Client here: http://client.beamdog.com/releases/stable

kjeron

JuliusBorisov said:

The new Beamdog Client will run any product made by Beamdog, and we encourage you to try it out with your Enhanced Edition games. Just download, install, log-in, and point the new client at your existing games using the Find Existing Game button.

Is this going to be mandatory in order to play the next game, or will it be offline single-player capable as the current games are?

Among the notes: Fix the play button not being disabled while playing a game in offline mode
That just doesn't look promising.

JuliusBorisov

@kjeron

Our new Client supports offline single-player capability. You can log in once and then can use this client offline. Also, your installed games can be run directly like normal.

As for the issue - that note pertains to an issue where multiple instances of a game could be started. It does not mean that the play button is disabled in an offline mode.

kjeron

@JuliusBorisov Thanks for the reply. Just poor choice of words in that note.

AstroBryGuy

Will we need to avoid launching the client if we have a modded setup? (i.e., will it auto-update like Steam does and overwrite modded installs?)

kjeron

Well, so far it cannot detect my games. I have added every folder from C:\ down to the folder containing Chitin.key and it still only lists "Install", and none of the options work (Open Location, Uninstall, Verify). Have restarted the client, still nothing.

JuliusBorisov

@AstroBryGuy

Our new Client should not ever alter modded files without asking for permission. If you download a game and then mod it, those files will be left alone. You will see an icon in the new Client indicating that your files have changed, and clicking that icon or verifying your game lets you restore it to a default state, but otherwise your files will be unchanged.

However, if an update for a game comes out and you choose to apply the update, then it will remove mods. It will warn you about this in the update popup. But it won't automatically update, though.

argent77

@kjeron Try clicking on "Install". It should open a dialog where you can either download the game or specify the location of an existing game. (I think this option should be revised as there is no indication that you can do more than just install the game by clicking on that button.)

AstroBryGuy

JuliusBorisov said:

@AstroBryGuy

Our new Client should not ever alter modded files without asking for permission. If you download a game and then mod it, those files will be left alone. You will see an icon in the new Client indicating that your files have changed, and clicking that icon or verifying your game lets you restore it to a default state, but otherwise your files will be unchanged.

However, if an update for a game comes out and you choose to apply the update, then it will remove mods. It will warn you about this in the update popup. But it won't automatically update, though.

Glad to hear that, @JuliusBorisov!

One more question - where are the window controls to minimize the window while downloading? There's no controls in the upper left and only a "close window" control in the upper right.

kjeron

@argent77 Thanks, that did it, but also caused it to automatically verify the game and re-download some files. Fortunately/Unfortunately, I had already moved all my mod content out of the game folder out of caution.
edit: It was other files in the lang folder were added/replaced, not dialog.tlk.

AlexeiPepers

@argent77 is correct, if you click 'Install' you can choose to specify the location of your existing game. Thanks for the feedback about the option being revised, we'll take that into consideration.

Also, while the client will respect your modded files like Julius said above, we do want to ask people at this point that when they're adding a game to the new client they do so with a clean install, and then apply whatever mods they want over top of it.

AstroBryGuy

Where should I send crash reports for the OSX client? Is there a redmine section for it?

...and I'm seeing a beta for IWDEE... Is that new?

AlexeiPepers

@kjeron I would recommend since you did back up your mod content anyway that you use the 'Verify Game' command under options to let the client get your game back into a known clean state, and then reapply your mods on top of that, to make sure the files do get changed cleanly.

@AstroBryGuy yes there is a redmine located here.

deltago

AstroBryGuy said:

Where should I send crash reports for the OSX client? Is there a redmine section for it?

...and I'm seeing a beta for IWDEE... Is that new?

Probably the support option under the gear.

AlexeiPepers

@AstroBryGuy unfortunately the IWDEE beta is not new, but fortunately you have always been in it! Perhaps you had forgotten you signed up.

AstroBryGuy

AlexeiPepers said:

@AstroBryGuy unfortunately the IWDEE beta is not new, but fortunately you have always been in it! Perhaps you had forgotten you signed up.

Drat! I was hoping there was a 2.x beta available to test. I'd love to try a party with a Shaman in IWD.

AstroBryGuy

AlexeiPepers said:

@AstroBryGuy yes there is a redmine located here.

Thanks! I've uploaded the crash log. I also created a feature request for window controls.

kjeron

AlexeiPepers said:

@kjeron I would recommend since you did back up your mod content anyway that you use the 'Verify Game' command under options to let the client get your game back into a known clean state, and then reapply your mods on top of that, to make sure the files do get changed cleanly.

I did, and this verify only replaced Dialog.tlk, so the "find game location" verify didn't break anything, but didn't fix anything either. I'm now thinking it only replaced files that were missing entirely.

Doodleroo

kjeron said:

@argent77 Thanks, that did it, but also caused it to automatically verify the game and re-download some files. Fortunately/Unfortunately, I had already moved all my mod content out of the game folder out of caution.
edit: It was other files in the lang folder were added/replaced, not dialog.tlk.

Actually in my case, I got broken stringrefs after loading a saved game... luckily I made a copy of the game folder beforehand.

Also: As other's mentioned, the way you link to existing game folders is non-intuitive and should be reworked. Why not simply add a separate button next to install?

StefanO

From a MAC user perspective:

I reinstalled all 4 EE games. It's very nice to have them installed in one folder, the Bemadog Library. Finding the proper game directory for mod installation is now easy enough.

The save, character, and portraits folders location hasn't changed at all.

Go for it.

JuliusBorisov

A small addition:

If you're just adding the folders, it won't associate with your game. You have to click "Install", then "Find existing game", and point it at the folder for said game.

Also, I ask everyone to use http://support.baldursgate.com/projects/beamdog-client-public-bugs/issues only for reporting Client-related problems, not all problems/crashes/bugs related to games bought from Beamdog.

JuliusBorisov

Doodleroo said:

Also: As other's mentioned, the way you link to existing game folders is non-intuitive and should be reworked. Why not simply add a separate button next to install?

We welcome feedback, and if you, while using the new Client, feel the need and want to create a specific Feature request (like "The client should have a minimize button", or similar - BTW, we already have a ticket for this feature request), we welcome Feature requests in Redmine.

Doodleroo

Doodleroo said:

kjeron said:

@argent77 Thanks, that did it, but also caused it to automatically verify the game and re-download some files. Fortunately/Unfortunately, I had already moved all my mod content out of the game folder out of caution.
edit: It was other files in the lang folder were added/replaced, not dialog.tlk.

Actually in my case, I got broken stringrefs after loading a saved game... luckily I made a copy of the game folder beforehand.

Also: As other's mentioned, the way you link to existing game folders is non-intuitive and should be reworked. Why not simply add a separate button next to install?

Launched the updated app today and again, it updated files and I ended up with broken stringrefs...

Sorry to say, but as long as you do not leave modded games as they are, this app will be pretty useless to me.

StefanO

Doodleroo said:

Launched the updated app today and again, it updated files and I ended up with broken stringrefs...

Sorry to say, but as long as you do not leave modded games as they are, this app will be pretty useless to me.

How could they?

But you can help yourself: Install @Argent77 DLCbuilder mod and save mod state of your installation in a DLC container. Save this container elsewhere. Reinstall the game. Do not install any mods but restore the DLC container und you're done.

Doodleroo

StefanO said:

Doodleroo said:

Launched the updated app today and again, it updated files and I ended up with broken stringrefs...

Sorry to say, but as long as you do not leave modded games as they are, this app will be pretty useless to me.

How could they?

But you can help yourself: Install @Argent77 DLCbuilder mod and save mod state of your installation in a DLC container. Save this container elsewhere. Reinstall the game. Do not install any mods but restore the DLC container und you're done.

Thanks for the advice. Actually you don't need any such tool, a simple old-fashioned backup will do.

What should NOT happen however: When launching the Beamdog client it should NEVER start downloading stuff automatically when it detects a modded install. As far as I understand that was actually one of the design goals of this app. Still exactly this happened twice to my install with different versions of the client forcing me to roll-back to my backup copy each time. (using macOS btw)

JuliusBorisov

@Doodleroo Did your stringrefs get changed when you were reinstalling a game or bringing it in with "find existing game"?

Doodleroo

JuliusBorisov said:

@Doodleroo Did your stringrefs get changed when you were reinstalling a game or bringing it in with "find existing game"?

First time when I brought it in using 'find existing game'; second time I did nothing myself, I only launched the Beamdog app and it updated by itself. Especially the last case shouldn't happen, should it?

Just double-checked the version: Mine is 2.0.1-beta1 dated Dec-20-2016. Is that actually the most recent version?

Edit: Answered this myself, the version on the download page is 2.0.0 dated Dec-20-2016 - guess I got that beta version while I temporarily activated 'beta' in settings.

AstroBryGuy

The Beamdog Client updates *itself* automatically, but that doesn't affect my installed games.

When I do a "Find Existing Game" on a modded install, I get the following dialog:



Clicking "Cancel" adds the game to my list of installed games, but does not touch the installed mods. Perhaps there should be a better labeled option to add the game to the list without restoring to default, since "cancel" might be interpreted as backing out of the whole "find existing install" process.

So, "Cancel" -> cancels adding game to list of installed games
"Add and Restore" -> adds game, restores to default install
"Add without Restore" -> adds game as is

I also haven't seen a game auto-update upon launch of the Beamdog Client. Modded games get the "tool icon" next to them that, if clicked, will offer to restore the install to default, but again, I get the warning dialog above.

kjeron

AstroBryGuy said:

When I do a "Find Existing Game" on a modded install, I get the following dialog:

I get that as well, but after clicking "Cancel" it starts downloading and replacing dialog.tlk anyway. It does not touch the override folder though, it remains intact.

JuliusBorisov

We're currently working on the bugs as the top priority, because we do consider it very important that the client never change modded files without permission.

@AstroBryGuy What you're seeing is the intended functionality.

@kjeron You have possibly found a bug, we're still in the process of testing out this beta.

@Doodleroo You're right that launching the client should not make your games update. At this point it might be helpful to get your log files. Create a Redmine ticket and attach your logs there, please.

AlexeiPepers

A ticket has been created in the Redmine for reporting issues with modded files being overwritten, and it details how to provide us with log files and other information we can use to get a better idea of what problems people are encountering. So @Doodleroo and @kjeron, you can put your information in there instead of having to make a ticket yourself.

Like Julius said, we're looking into this right now, so if you can please provide the additional information in that Redmine ticket it would be appreciated.