[coastie65]

Hi All, The other day, I decided to install Gothic II. First, I have had this game installed in the past. I put the CD in the drive and the light came on and eventually I noticed activeity on the HDD ( The busy light was doing it's thing ). After a period of time everything just stopped. I then remembered that I hadn't turned off my security apps. I turned them off and tried again with the same results. This thing also has the " Night of the Raven" Expansion which did infact load when I tried it although I canceled the installation. I kept noticing some activity on my router, so said the heck with it and unplugged the ethernet cable from the computer. When I tried again to install the game, it went without a hitch. I could only come up with one possible explanation. I have an app in here called X-Fire. It is essentially a gaming site and the app will track what you are playing and the amount of time you play a certain game. Anyone in the community can see what you have been playing and how much time you spent playing a certain game. Initially, it was somewhat intrusive and created a lot of problems as it didn't play well with the system. I uninstalled the thing. I reinstalled it a t a later time and there was a new version that was some what better, but still caused problems so I uninstalled it again. This version is seems to do well, but I think it may well be causing a problem with game installation if you are connected to the internet for some reason. I'll continue my investigation as time warrants as I find this somewhat puzzling. coastie65

[piyushsingh]

hi coastie

Most probably what you are saying may be the cause of your problem. Since X-fire may be updating your game info on their server which may also include saved game profile and cd-key check . (I m not sure about this as i haven't used this thing). You say that gothic was installed and played in past also . Did you uninstalled it completely and then did a reinstall ? Maybe being in a different directory than the last time and using the same old saved profile and reg-keys is giving you the problems.

Another thing that can be checked is by using a software firewall. Install the game concerned with x-fire ON and monitor which processes are taking the bandwidth at that time. If there is an X-fire peak for a considerable amount of time during the installation, then definitely it is the problem.

One more thing that might be the cause is the game itself checking for updates. Since you were fine with installation with router OFF, that didnt confirmed whether it was X-fire or the game itself updating some files. Try to temporary block game's access to net and allowing X-fire and then doing vice versa to see if results are different or not.

[coastie65]

Hi piyush, Actually, the game update ( patches) don't come into play until after the game is installed. As for the previous installation, the HDD has been fully reformatted since it was last installed, so there wouldn't be any traces of it on there. I find it to be a curiousity more than anything, as I have the game installed. coastie

[piyushsingh]

then its an X-fire issue. You can monitor it with the software firewall.

off topic - gothic is another rpg ??

[coastie65]

Hey piyush, Yep, Gothic is indeed another RPG. Actually it is Gothic II. I haven't been able to find Gothic, and haven't gotten Gothic III. coastie

[mcbarker]

Hi Coastie... So you're finally getting around to playing Gothic 2 :)



Here's a couple of tips... Combat in the game takes a little getting used to, but it's easy once you get the hang of it. Also, you really don't have to play Gothic 1 to get the gist of what's going on in Gothic 2. The in-game dialog will explain anything you need to know.

Save often... You WILL get killed... a LOT, especially early in the game.

You'll eventually have to choose which type of character you want to play as (Mage, Paladin, or Mercenary). I tried all three at different points, and found mercenary to be the most entertaining.

Explore everything.

Have fun.

[coastie65]

Hi mcb, I had had begun playing it once before and had made it to the first town. I had a major computer problem that ended up necessitating a full reformat of the HDD and reinstallation of the OS & drivers. I just never got back to Gothic II as I got caught up in something else. Incidentally, I have finished The Witcher although I missed a lot of stuff. There apparantly was some really spiffy armor that I missed ( I didn't complete the side quest ). You are right, the save early and save often adage definitely applies to Gothic II. I have never been real big on the keyboard movement aspect ( WASD; same as Oblivion ). In Neverwinter Nights and NWN 2, I tend to play as a Palladin. Mercenary does sound interesting though. When my nephew and I were playing Morrowind ( Elder Scrolls III ), he would go in and wipe out every character in a town. I asked him why he did that , and he said he was trying to get some XP. All he got was a big price on his head. :^0 I am currently playing Neverwinter Nights 2 that I had previously started but eventually uninstalled for some reason before completing it. coastie