Danag Darklightning
Caldari
Fifth Exiled Legion
SMASH Alliance
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Posted - 2007.12.06 13:35:00 -
[1]
Wow, 18+ pages in this thread so far, lots of reading.
Anyways, first, people should not poke at how other people use their PC.
For those you haven't experienced this problem and have chosen to comment on things such as "you should have your system partitioned like this" or "anyone who has their programs installed on their C: drive is lame", or anything else in that area, is just wrong.
90% of people you have PCs with Windows are "out-of-the-box" users. And why shouldn't they be? When you buy a car, do you instantly go home and rip things apart to customize it? Most of us? No. So why should people do that with their computers?
Most computers that come from large manufacturers such as Dell, HP, Acer, etc. are going to have your Windows directory as well as your Program Files directory on the same partition. That's just the way it is.
Also, when you install XP or Vista from CD there is no option to put Windows folder in location A and Program Files in location B. This is a lack of seeing the big picture on Microsoft's part, and should have been added _years_ ago.
In order to get a PC setup that way you either have to slipstream a custom install CD with different paths for different folders or manually enter a different drive:\path when you install things. Both of which most users will never attempt.
That being said, this problem is CCP's fault and no one else's. Not to poke fun at CCP, I love EVE, and programming is hard work. But they apparently failed to test their update client on an "out-of-the-box" setup of XP, which the bulk of Windows users are still using.
Out-of-the-box Windows environment: Everything's on the C: Drive, one account, admin-level, no password, auto-login. Sound familiar? I'll bet it does.
Also, don't be fooled, this problem can still occur on Vista. If you turn off the new layer of protection, which many people do because it's utterly annoying, your boot.ini can still be removed as you have to install the EVE premium content with an Admin-level account.
Don't blame the player, blame the author. But don't kick CCP while they're down. I'm sure they know they goofed, and I'm sure they don't feel to good about it. With a user-base of 200,000+, most of us over the age of 20, and most of us hardcore EVE lovers, I'm certain the last thing they want is us posting messages about "installing EVE will wreck your XP" to various message boards, so it's not like they did it on purpose. So you can safely assume they didn't want their new client to break their users' computers.
Luckily I did not experience this problem. I am not an out-of-the-box user A customer XPproSP2 install CD I built quite some time ago does C: for Windows and D: for everything else, and my other PC is Linux. I played on SiSi for almost two weeks, and installed the Trinity client + premium content, and didn't experience this problem. However, a non out-of-box install is the reason.
However, coming from a programming background, there are certain rules that should always be followed;
- Test your software.on "out-of-the-box" installs of various versions of the operating system(s) that your software is built for. These are real-world type PCs which the bulk of your users will be running with.
- Don't rely on your users to test things
- Test your software.
- Don't rely on the users that _do_ test your software as they are most-likely not "out-of-the-box" type users
- Test your software.
- Test your software
Keep in mind your boot.ini only handles the booting of the machine. You data is still there, and reviving from this is not that horrible.
No back to your regularly scheduled program.
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