Steam - Missing App Configuration

Today I was trying to install a backup into Steam, and I got this error message:

An error occurred while installing Grand Theft Auto IV (missing app configuration)

This got me scratching my head until I went onto Bing and did a search.  I found this helpful post:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=33797294

Turns out all I had to do was delete the "Steam/appcache/appinfo.vdf" file.  I did so, and the backup rolled right into place.

If you're having trouble finding the file, the follow these steps:

1. Right-click your Steam icon (on your desktop or whereever it may be).
2. Click on Properties.
3. Click on the "Open File Location" button.
4. An Explorer window should open.  Double-click on the "appcache" folder.
5. Find the "appinfo.vdf" file (probably at the bottom of the list)
6. Right-click the file, click "rename", and name it something else (like "appinfo.vdf.old")

I hope that helps.

#SaveCOH

It's been a short while since the City of Heroes servers were taken offline by NCSoft.  Usually when such a thing happens I feel a moment of regret, but it passes.

I felt bad when The Matrix Online (run by Sony Online Entertainment/SOE) went offline, but I didn't dwell on it.  I was annoyed when Star Wars Galaxies (run by SOE again) collapsed, but it passed.  And I always felt a pang of frustration that I never got the chance to play Tabula Rasa (a game by NCSoft that I've been told was really pushed out too fast and never got the chance to mature).

But this time it's different.  City of Heroes has been wrapped up in a tatty superhero cape and stowed in an underground tomb somewhere.  I feel like something really special has been lost.

I was never a huge player of City of Heroes.  But, it was a great game, with a huge following.  Between dabbling in other MMOs and saving up a little money, I'd put down the cash to play a month of City of Heroes here and there. It was always a fun and familiar environment that I could come back to, to relax and enjoy.

I'll admit that I was something of an alt-aholic.  I never got a character levelled up very high, but I always had fun in those start zones, and then got around to beating up the villains around Atlas park, or having a bit of a dabble in the mission architect.  You know, before things got too complicated for my little brain, or before I got bored of my superhero's sweet costume.

Putting it bluntly, now the game is gone, I feel sad.  I feel sad that I'll never slay another snake on Mercy Island, I'll never again rescue Flower Knight from those street thugs in the Paragon City Outbreak, and I'll never stand at the foot of the Atlas Park statue and enviously admire all the other superheroes and their awesome and revealing costumes.

I've been told that NCSoft said that their game was still making money, but they shut it down anyway.  It seems like such a waste.  Not only has a great game gone, with all of its epic environments to explore and fiendish foes to fight, but gone too are the social groups, the community and the camaraderie.

The loss of City of Heroes is nothing but a waste. A monumental waste.

There has been a massive movement within the City of Heroes community to coax Disney into buying or licensing the rights and the game itself. I doubt that Disney will pay for City of Heroes; their recent acquisition of Lucasarts gives them a vested interest in seeing Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures and Star Wars: the Old Republic both succeed (in the preteen and adult markets respectively).

I'm not one for vigilantism, and I would never condone illegal behaviour, but I could almost wish that someone had leaked the server code. At least we might see a few community servers then.

Somehow it seems wrong that a company can claim ownership of something that so many people want, but refuse to share it. It's like if a company designed an awesome new technology, patented it, announced it, paraded it to the world, and then hid it in a vault and refused to let anyone buy or license it. It's selfish. Sure, you could say 'that's business', and it's their right to do that. Maybe so, but that doesn't make it any less heartbreaking to the players that lost their characters and their world.

John Carmack and the team at id Software can consistently open source the latest-but-one game engine for each game they release, even though these games are still on the market and for sale. You can download the code for Doom 3 right now, if you want. It would be wonderful if NCSoft could offer their fans the same gesture.

(Please bear in mind that City of Heroes isn't new and top-secret technology either; this game was released in 2004. I doubt that there is much in there that NCSoft's competitors can plagiarise. Maybe there is a patent issue that would prevent the release of the server as free software or open-source software, but that didn't stop Carmack from releasing the Doom 3 engine/IDTech 4.  And, if it's that big of a problem, then leave it all closed-source, but at least let us copy the binaries as freeware.)

I just wish that the team at NCSoft could make one final, genuine gesture to the City of Heroes community, as a thank you and a farewell.

NCSoft representatives, if you're reading this, think of applying an open-source or closed-source-but-freeware license to the software as an investment in public relations. I'm sure it'll help 'un-sour' some of the loyal customers that now feel abandoned.

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (Co-op edition)

Starting Dead Rising 2: Off the Record in co-op mode is an episode in confusion.  Kinda.

Firstly, you're going to need to make sure that you're 'friends' with the person who you want to play with, within the Games for Windows Live system (http://www.microsoft.com/games/en-US/Support/Pages/friends.aspx).

The person who wishes to be the host (or server) has to start their game normally.  It can be sandbox or storyline mode, either works.  Then, the person who wishes to be the guest (or client) can open the Games for Windows Live dashboard (press the Home key on the keyboard), open their friends list, open the profile of the friend, and click the "Join" option.

(I understand that the same process works for those playing in the original Dead Rising 2.)

If you're in storyline mode, the guest won't be able to join the host until the host reaches the point of the story where Frank West gets to the first 'safe house' or save point area.  (If you're okay with mini-spoilers coming from within the first twenty minutes of play, it's an evacuation centre, presided over by a cranky moustachioed security guard.  You'll know it when you see it.)

After all the difficulties we had getting the game started, I'm thoroughly enjoying it thus far.  It's good to see Frank West again.  I missed him from Dead Rising 1, back in the good old days of '06, when the Xbox 360 was still new on the scene.

DCS: World

The minds behind the DCS series of games (http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/) have brilliantly unified all their recent games into a single unit, called DCS: World.  It's a fine simulator, with support for TrackIR headsets and those funky joysticks with about a billion buttons and toggles on them.

Anyways, if you're going to give the Sukhoi SU-25T module a try in multiplayer, as my boyfriend and I wanted to do, you might find yourself in deep...

Firstly, we couldn't find a simple team-versus-team multiplayer mission in which to partake.  So, a little searching on the developer's website, and I found a nice little mission called Frontline Kareli.  It's available at http://files.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/232509/.  That might be fun.  Otherwise, have a search in their database (http://files.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/).  You'll end up downloading a MIZ file, which you can save into your Missions folder (...\DCS World\Mods\aircrafts\Su-25T\Missions\EN).  Then, it should show up in the game.

Secondly, the start up procedure is long and arduous.  I could not find the quick start cheat key combo that DCS: Warthog had, but one kind fellow going by the handle 159th Falcon posted his 'cheat sheet' on the DCS forums, at http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1557538&postcount=2.  I'll repost it here, for simplicity:

Originally Posted by 159th_Falcon

Needed for Start Up;
RSHIFT+L = Start APU (put electrical power on, whatever)
L = cockpit instrument lights (for when its dark obviously)
Ctrl + C = close/open canopy
Right Alt + Home = Start ENG #1
Right Ctrl + Home = Start ENG #2
Right Alt + L = taxi/landing lights (take's a while to move down from stowed position under the wingtip speed brakes
W = Wheel Brake
Right Ctrl + L = Navigation lights (steady, alternating Left/Right, off)

Needed for Take-off;
1 = select navigation mode
F = Flaps (cycles between fully retracted and down one "notch" is for take-off)
G = Landing Gear (retract/extent)
Ctrl + ` = cycle waypoints, or cycle airfields when in Return/ILS mode nav mode

Needed for Flying
Assign your axis!!!
` = AP override (is the key left of the 1 on your keyboard)
Alt + 1 = AP Attitude Hold (maintains bank and pitch angle)
Alt + 2 = AP Altitude and Roll Hold (maintains altitude and bank angle)
Alt + 3 = AP Transit Level Flight (panic button, returns aircraft to straight and level flight)

Alt + 4 = AP Barometric Altitude Hold (can still roll the aircraft)
Alt + 5 = AP Radio Altitude hold (can still roll the aircraft, follows terrain, Alt THERE ARE SLOPE LIMITS believe max 5 degrees up)

Alt + 9 = AP Disengage (disengage whatever autopilot mode was selected)

A = Auto Pilot on in selected NAV mode (meaning fly's to next waypoint, fly's to return point, fly's ILS approach, or when in Air to Ground mode and any targeting device lock it will fly to the locked target at the present altitude)

Rctrl + . = Trim UP
Rctrl + / = Trim Right Roll (right wingtip down)
Rctrl + ; = Trimp Down
Rctrl + , = Trim Left Roll (left wingtip down)

Needed for Air to Ground
7 = select Air to ground mode
Shift + E = activate rear hemisphere IR jammer (should help against heat seaking missiles, don't expect magic though)

Space = Launch/fire selected weapon (gun/rockets/bombs/missiles)
Ctrl + V = Salvo Mode (launches selected weapon in salvo, for example 4 rocket pods at same time)
D = Cycle weapon stations
Right Ctrl + O = Mercury LLTV (low light version of Skhval, only if fitted)
C = Select Canon
i = Select Fantasmagoria (needed to lock and launch KH-25MPU and KH-58 Anti Radiation Missiles)

Insert = deploy chaff (only good against radar guided missiles)
Delete = deploy flares (only good against Heat Seaking missiles)
for both, DONT EXPECT MAGIC!

O = Uncage/Cage skhval
; = Skhval UP
/ = Skhval Right
. = Skhval Down
, = Skhval Left
(these also work for the ELINT and LLTV target designators)

Ctrl + W = Jettison Weapons (start whit A-G weapons, outter pylons first working inwards, then continues whit A-A weapons outter pylons first working inwards, pods/jammers can NOT BE JETTISONED)

Enter = Lock Target
Alt + R = Jettison External tanks (also in pairs, outboard stations first then inboard)

V = cycle ripple interval
Ctrl + Space = Ripple quantity



That's just about it i guess, you can download my profile here;
http://forums.eagle.ru/attachment.ph...9&d=1270665727
(both for SU33 and SU25T profile is bit dated so some things may not work anymore)

~S~


***EDIT***
Forgot the following
In options, controls, axis assignments look for I 251 zoom this is zoom of the Skhval and can be bound to a rotary/slider or other axis
Also look for "target box size, gun funnel size, gunpod elevation" this can also be bound to an axis.

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record

After three hours of troubleshooting Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, I came to a conclusion.  Capcom doesn't test their games enough.  I'm not talking about just play-testing here, I'm talking about just testing the installing and running of their games.  Okay, maybe it's not Capcom per se, and maybe it's one of their studios or a contractor thereof, but either way, I'm feeling pretty gonked off right now.

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record is a game with a near-record number of bugs that will attempt to hinder and stop people from playing at all points.  If you're having trouble playing the game, try a couple of these steps.  Who knows, maybe something here will help.  (Most of this only applies to Windows Vista, 7 or 8.)  I got most of these tips from the Steam forums, so thanks to all the folk that posted there.

1. Restart your PC.  Something somewhere might be gumming up the works.
2. Verify your game cache.  Go into Steam, and right-click your game.  Click Properties, then click the Local Files tab, then click Verify Integrity of Game Cache.  It'll take a while, but if there are bad files lurking in there, this should find, excise and replace them.
3. Go into the Control Panel, into Sounds, right-click your device (with the green tick) and click Properties, go into the Advanced tab.  You'll see a drop-down list showing various bit-rates and frequencies.  Try "24-bit, 48000 Hz (studio quality)" or "16-bit 14400 Hz (CD quality)".  Click Apply, then try to run the game.
4. Re-download and install the Games for Windows Live client.
5. Back up the game (Right-click the game, then click Backup Game Files), uninstall the game, and then re-install it on your C: drive (use the Backup and Restore option from the Steam menu in the main Steam window... it will ask you for the installation location during install).  Yes, this is dumb, and yes, this is what I spent three hours trying to work out, but this solved my issue.  I don't know why the game has to be installed on the C: drive, but in some cases, it does.

I hope this helps someone.