Station Launcher broken?

[Lory]

Painya and I are both having issues with station launcher. No matter whether we click the icon normally, right click and open, or click as administrator nothing at all happens, and I mean nothing. Any ideas?
This just started today, btw.

[Lluke]

Worked for me just now...

Having any trouble getting to any other websites? Restart your router? Getting any errors at all? How long has this been going on today?

[Frydra]

Having problems with it myself today. Nee didn't have issues..but she uses an older version..prolly some new file with the latest edition that is glitchy....

[Lory]

we managed to login by using the everquest.exe in the eq folder. When I got to work I tried Launch Pad and it worked, so I do not know, will reset the router when I get home and see what happens. No problems surfing the net and no error screen popups.

[Zonoz]

Have noticed that launcher seems to glitch in various ways if it is not closed when you turn off your computer. Normally wind up just removing and re installing to correct.

[Rabies]

Where is station launcher download, I'm having trouble finding it again. Also, downloaded maps from mapfiend but I can't find Map folder in my EQ files. Just downloaded EQ on my new hard drive. I also couldn't find my character(s) in the EQ file. I only logged in Rabies once so far but figured it would have set it up.

[Fanra]

Other than the LaunchPad not remembering my password, I don't have any problems with it.

These days, the LaunchPad files go right in your EverQuest folder. They used to go elsewhere but nowadays they go there.

To find your Map folder or any other EverQuest folder there are basically two main ways to do it.

One is to right click on your EverQuest icon (that you use to launch the game) and choose (depending on your OS) either "Open file location" or if that option is not avalable, choose "Properties" and then click the "Open File Location" button.

Two, you can launch the LaunchPad and click the gear in the lower left side of the screen (Advanced tools). Once that opens, choose, "Open Game Directory".

Just for your info, the maps are in the "maps" folder (plural and all lower case) in your EverQuest folder.

They have also added the ability to make sub-folders in your maps folder so you can have custom map sets, like a custom ui. Although I just put my Mapfiend and Rasper's maps in the main maps folder.

[Rabies]

I know all that Fanra but thank you for trying to help. Downloaded maps numerous times. Problem I'm having is there is no map folder. I just installed EQ on new hard drive, logged into EQ and played a bit. Then today before I logged in again I checked the EQ file and nothing there.

I need the station launcher program, the one you can use to launch Legends of Norrath. I can't find a proper download.

[Zonoz]

Happened to nor=tice that my player files and maps where suddenly moved to a new folder under the public users. Not sure how or why this happened but I did notice it when I went to update my maps.

[Fanra]

Problem I'm having is there is no map folder. I just installed EQ on new hard drive, logged into EQ and played a bit. Then today before I logged in again I checked the EQ file and nothing there.
I'm not sure I can help you with this. However, as per Zonoz and the "public users" folder issues, my advice is always install EQ in a hand-picked folder, do not let it use the default folder. For example, "C:\Games\EverQuest" is a good choice. "C:\EverQuest" however, is not a good choice, as it should not be in the "root" (that is don't put it right off the drive letter).

With Vista and Windows 7, using any kind of "Users" or "Program Data" or "Program Files" folder to put your EverQuest folder in, is just asking for trouble. Basically, if there are ten ways to do something, Microsoft will pick the most complicated and convoluted way to do it, and SOE plays along.

The only reason to ever use "Users" is if several people use your computer and you check the "save password" on EverQuest (and it is actually working) and you don't trust the other people using your computer. That is the reason why "Users" is used, to allow only the logged in user to access it. But it causes more trouble than it is worth, unless you have untrustworthy people using your computer and you have the save password checked.



I need the station launcher program, the one you can use to launch Legends of Norrath. I can't find a proper download.
Here is a quote for you from http://forums.station.sony.com/station/posts/list.m?topic_id=11500038354:


Station Launcher is not distributed anymore. Clients that are currently installed will only patch down the individual LaunchPads for each game and run those instead of patching down the actual game assets.

However, a replacement "Multi-launcher" is in the works. Just don't ask for an ETA.

[Rabies]

Dang that was only way I could play LoN b4. Guess I try it in game and see if I crash like b4.

[Fanra]

Dang that was only way I could play LoN b4. Guess I try it in game and see if I crash like b4.
Last time I was able to play LoN inside EQ without crashing, so they fixed something, although your mileage may vary.

If you want to download the stand alone LoN, this link should work: http://download.station.sony.com/patch/download/ccg/LegendsOfNorrath.exe

[Rabies]

I instantly crash when I try the in game LoN link.

[Fasz]

I now have to put in my log in info everytime i launch EQ and it doesn't remember my password even though i check off that box to remember it. This isn't the worst thing in the world because i can still log in when i put my info in but was nice to just click "Play" and it launched.

[Fanra]

I now have to put in my log in info everytime i launch EQ and it doesn't remember my password even though i check off that box to remember it. This isn't the worst thing in the world because i can still log in when i put my info in but was nice to just click "Play" and it launched.
The LaunchPad no longer remembers the password ever since they "improved" it last week. They know about it and it will be fixed Soon(tm).

[shea]

"C:\EverQuest" however, is not a good choice, as it should not be in the "root" (that is don't put it right off the drive letter).

Putting your everquest directory at the root was actually suggested by EQ tech support as a 'fix' for vista/win7. This is how I got EQ to work when I first started messing around with win7. I had to move me EQ directory out of program files and to the root, and it solved most of my issues... wasn't a elegant fix but it worked.

The biggest problem with EQ and Vista/Win7 is UAC (user account control). What happens, in a nutshell, is that with this ON, windows controlls all user access to anything installed under "Program Files" (and maybe other places) so that when you run something there, any file changes/updates/access are not made to their actual location but to an image of those files that are in your user folder.

This can cause all kinds of issues with running EQ in general, but it also means that the map files EQ uses are basically cached copies of the ones in the EQ directory so if you make changes to them there (in the main EQ directory), they don't necessarily show up in the copies.

The easiest thing to do is turn off UAC which you can do somewhere under Control Panel -> User Accounts

It varies slightly between versions of Vista/7

[shea]

I was also going to mention, everquest.exe runs the patcher etc.

If you want to bypass the whole patcher and just run EQ you can set up a shortcut to eqgame with the patchme switch... as so:

"C:\Program Files\Everquest\eqgame.exe" patchme

This will break (most likely) after any major patch at which time you will need to run the patcher to update the game/files etc. but can thereafter go back to using your shortcut. This lets you avoid messing around with the patcher all the time and frees up a few resources.

[Fanra]

Putting your everquest directory at the root was actually suggested by EQ tech support as a 'fix' for vista/win7. This is how I got EQ to work when I first started messing around with win7. I had to move me EQ directory out of program files and to the root, and it solved most of my issues... wasn't a elegant fix but it worked.
It might work but I've heard bad things about doing it that way. Your mileage may vary.

In general, I don't like putting things in the root. It might work fine. But it is not needed if you just use \Games\EverQuest or similar. Just don't put it in Users or Program Files or Program Files (x86) or ProgramData or My Documents or Documents.


The biggest problem with EQ and Vista/Win7 is UAC (user account control). What happens, in a nutshell, is that with this ON, windows controlls all user access to anything installed under "Program Files" (and maybe other places) so that when you run something there, any file changes/updates/access are not made to their actual location but to an image of those files that are in your user folder.

This can cause all kinds of issues with running EQ in general, but it also means that the map files EQ uses are basically cached copies of the ones in the EQ directory so if you make changes to them there (in the main EQ directory), they don't necessarily show up in the copies.

The easiest thing to do is turn off UAC which you can do somewhere under Control Panel -> User Accounts

It varies slightly between versions of Vista/7
I believe what you are referring to is "VirtualStore" and not UAC. Disabling UAC is NOT recommended. VirtualStore, however, is a PITA and I agree it causes all kinds of issues. The way to deal with VirtualStore, is to just do what I suggested, not have your EQ folder in the Users folder.

Googling "windows 7 virtualstore" gives more information on it. Note that both Vista and Windows 7 have the VirtualStore "feature".

While it is true that UAC does use VirtualStore to handle requests that require privileges that are not normally permitted:


Applications written with the assumption that the user will be running with administrator privileges experienced problems in earlier versions of Windows when run from limited user accounts, often because they attempted to write to machine-wide or system directories (such as Program Files) or registry keys (notably HKLM (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE)).

UAC attempts to alleviate this using File and Registry Virtualization, which redirects writes (and subsequent reads) to a per-user location within the user’s profile.

For example, if an application attempts to write to “C:\program files\appname\settings.ini” and the user doesn’t have permissions to write to that directory, the write will get redirected to “C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Pr ogram Files\appname\.”
the idea of disabling UAC to prevent this is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. UAC does more than this and is useful for protecting your system.

Note the above, "attempted to write to machine-wide or system directories (such as Program Files)", therefore, if EQ is not in a Users or Program Files (or Program Files (x86)) folder, but instead in a \Games\EverQuest folder, this is not a problem.

Note that all of the above is just my take on the issue(s). I could be wrong. But I've had good success with both my own system and helping others.

[Neenia]

I didn't put mine in the root directory, instead I went through the steps to give me ownership of my files. When I left click and "run as administrator" I do not go to the Virtualstore folder anymore, but to my normal Sony EQ directory. If I don't click "run as administrator" then it does take me to the Virtualstore files.

The site that walked me through setting up ownership cautioned against totally disabling the Virtualstore because it is apparently one of the defining characteristics of the upgraded Windows versions, and would make Windows 7 no better than the previous version.