err... headstart? Beamdog Client won't even install NWN:EE?! (Mac) [RESOLVED]

Ygramul

Normally I buy all the EE games on Steam. For NWN:EE, I wanted to support the Beamdog development effort by getting it through their client. But it's not working.

The Mac Client for Beamdog seem to be all borked.

- it cannot remember my password; I have to retype every time I relauch
- it won't install NWN:EE

It says "12.90KB remaining 0B/s". Nothing happens.



Help?

Ygramul

Nevermind. I figured it. I think.

Folks, seriously. It shouldn't have taken me 20 minutes of googling and fiddling with menus.
It leaves a bad impression.
I'm sure you could figure a one-click solution.

... and client still wonky, requiring re-entering password each time.

DerpCity

Did you click on "English" and change it to "English - Headstart" or "Digital Deluxe - Head Start" when you went to install it? You also have to "buy" the Headstart off of the Beamdog website in order for the launcher to recognize you should have it, which is really awkward. I feel Beamdog could have done a better job with making that more obvious or simpler, or something.

Also, when logging in, did you click the "Log In and Remember Me" option on the User Name/Password window? Because it works fine for me.

Ygramul

DerpCity said:

Did you click on "English" and change it to "English - Headstart" or "Digital Deluxe - Head Start" when you went to install it? You also have to "buy" the Headstart off of the Beamdog website in order for the launcher to recognize you should have it, which is really awkward. I feel Beamdog could have done a better job with making that more obvious or simpler, or something.

Also, when logging in, did you click the "Log In and Remember Me" option on the User Name/Password window? Because it works fine for me.

#1: Yes, after 20 mins of googling and fiddling, as mentioned.

#2: those options don't work. (Not on the Mac)

Thanks, though.

DerpCity

Sorry to hear those aren't working. On Windows you don't have to open the Beamdog Launcher in order to actually play the game, you just need to find the appropriate game launcher in the game's bin folder and run it from there, so if it works the same way on a Mac it can hopefully help you avoid wasting time on the launcher.

Jimbobslimbob

Glad you got it sorted, although I agree that it's far from intuitive - I had to Google it too when I first started playing.

JuliusBorisov

Thanks for the feedback.

jww

@JuliusBorisov
I would also agree that getting access to the Head Start is unfriendly. The main game pages (regular and digital deluxe) don't say anything about the Head Start, they only have the "pre-order" button (I thought there used to be a message that some people who pre-ordered would get access to the Head Start, but I don't see that message now).

Even if you find your way to the Head Start pages, they never define what a "Head Start" is.

And if you pre-order and then notice that you have the game in your Beamdog client, the default choice doesn't actually download the game, it just downloads an empty placeholder file. You have to then return to the website and find a specific page and click a button to enable it, and then it still doesn't download unless you realize that there's a pull-down menu in the client that you need to change.

And as far as I can tell, the only place where the process is described is the post you added to the forum about it. So people who read the forum may see that, but people who just see the game on the website and try to order it may not. There might even be people who have pre-ordered who don't actually know they can download the game right now.

If the process itself can't be changed, I'd at least recommend adding a big message to the main game pages saying something like "If you pre-order, you get access to download the Head Start, a playable version of the game that will allow you to see our development process as we add new features and work toward a final release." And adding step-by-step directions in the confirmation e-mail (my confirmation e-mail is from November, so it's possible you've already done this).

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In response to other posts above, yes, the Mac version can be run directly from the app and doesn't have to be started from the Beamdog client each time. And my copy of the Beamdog client on the Mac does remember my username and password, so that problem may not be due to the client itself.