How do I download the EQ2 full client and not the streaming version?

[Finality]

<p>I bought the digital download of Shadow Odyssey All-In-One at Sony Station's Online store.</p><p>Trying to find the link to re-download the full client I went to EQ2's official page <a href="http://everquest2.station.sony.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://everquest2.station.sony.com</a></p><p>I hovered my mouse over Get The Game. I clicked on the Reinstall EQ II link, downloaded the file, and allowed it to install but, I keep getting the streaming version only.</p><p>Does anyone have the correct method to get the full version?</p>

[Shareana]

<p>You should be able to find the Station Launcher in the link below.  It may take a few hours to download the whole game though....</p><p><a class="plain" href="http://help.station.sony.com/cgi-bin/soe.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1812&p_created=1087929702&p_sid=ac8ZMxUj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=1&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX 3Jvd19jbnQ9MTQwNywxNDA3JnBfcHJvZHM9JnBfY2F0cz0mcF9 wdj0mcF9jdj0mcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT1zZWFyY2hfbmwmcF9wY WdlPTEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1zdGF0aW9uIGxhdW5jaGVy&p_li=&p_topview=1">[TECH] Download and Installation Instructions for SOE Games</a></p>

[Bridgeplay]

<p>Be sure you uninstall the streaming version and delete the remnants that don't uninstall. Then install the Station Launcher (it should be completely gone from your machine, also make sure you're getting the real Station Launcher and not the streaming client). Then open the Station Launcher and make sure the buttons are checked to download all content. Then also set the Station Launcher so that it will do a Full Scan the next time you log in.  Then reboot, bring up the Station Launcher and log in. When the Launcher does the Full Scan it will do the full download.  Took about three hours when I did the full download a few weeks ago.</p>

[Payneal The Great]

<p>SOE Please put this back into the EQ2 homepage links!!!!</p><p><a href="http://launcher.station.sony.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://launcher.station.sony.com/</a></p>

[Shareana]

<p>Lol...  When they had the launcher, people hated the length it took to download it all... </p><p>So now everyone has a choice <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Bridgeplay]

<p>The dedicated EQII button worked well for years. The Station Launcher is unneeded bloatware, but it's a better option than the steaming client.</p><p><cite>Shareana wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Lol...  When they had the launcher, people hated the length it took to download it all... </p><p>So now everyone has a choice <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote>

[Payneal The Great]

<p>There is no choice unless people already know about the launcher and where to get it because they provide no links, bad for new players.</p>

[Autenil]

<p><cite>Bridgeplay wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The dedicated EQII button worked well for years. The Station Launcher is unneeded bloatware, but it's a better option than the steaming client.</p></blockquote><p>I for one am curious about your complaints with the streaming system.  Is your aversion from the launcher itself or from the in-game experience?  Could you elaborate?</p><p>Anyone else feel free to chime in too.</p>

[Wullail]

<p><cite>Autenil wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Bridgeplay wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The dedicated EQII button worked well for years. The Station Launcher is unneeded bloatware, but it's a better option than the steaming client.</p></blockquote><p>I for one am curious about your complaints with the streaming system.  Is your aversion from the launcher itself or from the in-game experience?  Could you elaborate?</p><p>Anyone else feel free to chime in too.</p></blockquote><p>Our problem initially is the large pause when someone goes into a new zone , especially during raids , that long wait while the MT and some of the priests are waiting to zone in because their system hasn't downloaded the files and 19 of the raid have to sit and twiddle their thumbs before starting.</p><p>Some of the people using the streaming client are not on the fastest connections , it takes a Long time.</p><p>I prefare the download all at once and zone in straight away of the launchpad , especially with my 50mb connection , I can live with patches where I just walk away from the game for 5 minutes and grab a cuppa.</p>

[Qwilla]

<p>I used the streaming client for the free trial.  I must say I agree with Wullail.  On my first trip to BB it took so long for the zone to load by the time it did the boat was on it's way back to where I'd started....</p><p>I dl-ed the full version as soon as I could lol.</p>

[zhiDarkivel]

<p>I just upgraded to Win 7 a couple nights ago, and started out with the streaming client.  Yes, it was quick to get me into the game, but by that point in the evening, I wasn't trying to play the game -- I was trying to get software loaded.  I couldn't figure out, from information on the boards or in the launcher itself whether just letting it sit on the login screen would keep downloading the game in the background.</p><p>I did log in to a couple zones -- the guildhall, Kylong, Jarsath (guild group going to Chelsith the next day, so I didn't want them to have to wait on the extra zone time).  Guildhall was the slowest, which didn't surprise me.  The other two weren't unreasonable, although I dreaded having to wait like that for every single zone in the game if there wasn't any way to make the game finish installing when I wasn't actively playing.</p><p>I wasn't thrilled by the fact there seemed no way to launch directly to a character.  It's a small thing, but cutting out the extra "zone" of character select is such a win from day to day, I mourned its loss.</p><p>Then I read that if you run two instances on the same computer, the streaming client can't share the resources.  Since I do, I immediately uninstalled.  Downloaded the station launcher, left it running overnight, and the next morning I had EQ2 ready to play, no fuss; no muss.</p><p>I still can't launch directly to a character, which makes me very sad.  But I can't find any way to install the old launcher, short of dragging out my ancient EQ2 original install discs and going through this process a third time.</p>

[Rijacki]

<p><cite>Autenil wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Bridgeplay wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The dedicated EQII button worked well for years. The Station Launcher is unneeded bloatware, but it's a better option than the steaming client.</p></blockquote><p>I for one am curious about your complaints with the streaming system.  Is your aversion from the launcher itself or from the in-game experience?  Could you elaborate?</p><p>Anyone else feel free to chime in too.</p></blockquote><p>I prefer the Station Launcher because it will automagically download for me when there is a patch or GU or whatnot without me needing to start it up. It also keeps my logins so I can be lazy *chuckle*. I also like the links to the other game for the account that IS a Station Access account.</p><p>I prefer the original launcher to the streaming because I could start it up in the morning before leaving for work (or kick it off to download Test or Beta right before going to bed) and it would be done when I get back.</p><p>I prefer downloading everything to my laptop (i.e. setting it up for a download a night or two before a trip) because I never know what kind of connectivity I will have away from home.</p><p>I hate waiting on the short zonings with everything downloaded. If I had to wait 5 mins or more to zone while the client got the next area, that would drive me nuts!</p><p>I would love to have a single patcher that gave options: Streaming, download on its own, and a triggered download.. and that also give the OPTION of making the other games available (but not have them, i.e. be leaner, if that wasn't desired).</p><p>Oh.. and I have used the voice chat option from the Station Launcher a couple times.. a friend was playing a non-SOE game at the time but normally plays EQ2 and so had the Station Launcher.</p>

[redlance68]

<p><cite>Shareana wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Lol...  When they had the launcher, people hated the length it took to download it all... </p><p>So now everyone has a choice <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>some choice.. it doesn't even give you the option! I did not see it give me a choice at all. I was like where is the traditional-painful-huge-slow-we-don't-have-no-megabits-here But instead i got  "slow-as-molasses-hope-ya-ain't-grouped-but-if-you-are-this-will-fix-it" version instead.</p><p>This Kinda reminds me of the same misstep as the NGU... But I degress.. why don't you just develop a client that downloads when they are crafting XD.</p><p>But seriously I tried the streaming client and i don't like it much... I prefer the get it out of the way now approach even though it takes a while with new stuff since everyone and thier uncle is trying to download at once. Rather than dealing with the pauses.</p>

[Powers]

<p><cite>Autenil wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Bridgeplay wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The dedicated EQII button worked well for years. The Station Launcher is unneeded bloatware, but it's a better option than the steaming client.</p></blockquote><p>I for one am curious about your complaints with the streaming system.  Is your aversion from the launcher itself or from the in-game experience?  Could you elaborate?</p><p>Anyone else feel free to chime in too.</p></blockquote><p>I had been using the streaming launcher but then I started getting a script error when I was trying to run the launcher and had to go back to the regular launcher.  (Fortunately, I'd kept my game files just in case!)</p><p>Powers  &8^]</p>

[feldon30]

<p><cite>Autenil wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Bridgeplay wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The dedicated EQII button worked well for years. The Station Launcher is unneeded bloatware, but it's a better option than the steaming client.</p></blockquote><p>I for one am curious about your complaints with the streaming system.  Is your aversion from the launcher itself or from the in-game experience?  Could you elaborate?</p><p>Anyone else feel free to chime in too.</p></blockquote><p>The streaming launcher is great for new players. But why would an established player use it?</p>

[Bridgeplay]

<p>Hi, Autenil. I bought a new computer and tried the Streaming Client. There was no prior version of EQ2 installed on the machine. What I experienced were delays of 5 to 15 minutes crossing most zonelines. I gave up and installed the launcher.</p><p>While I have broadband coverage, my ISP (a major provider in the U.S.) has been caught giving preference to its own net traffic over downloads from outside its partnered content providers. Then again, maybe it was just some problem with net traffic that neither SOE or my ISP had any control over. The Streaming Client is always going to be vulnerable to slowdowns, even if it's unintentional ones.</p><p>Once I found the link to the launcher, it took about three hours to download the full game, so maybe it wasn't the fault of my ISP that the Streaming Client download was so slow.  Three hours is certainly reasonable to download the full EQ2 game. (By comparison, my download of the full Aion game took over 24 hours.)</p><p>The Streaming Client may work well for new players starting in one-zone newbie areas like Timourous Deep. A lot of my experience with the streaming client was around Antonica/Qeynos, where frequent zone-line crossings are common.</p><p><cite>Autenil wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Bridgeplay wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The dedicated EQII button worked well for years. The Station Launcher is unneeded bloatware, but it's a better option than the steaming client.</p></blockquote><p>I for one am curious about your complaints with the streaming system.  Is your aversion from the launcher itself or from the in-game experience?  Could you elaborate?</p><p>Anyone else feel free to chime in too.</p></blockquote>

[Gladiolus]

<p>If I were looking around for a new game and only saw a streaming client, I'd dismiss it and move along. I'd rather have a proper download going while I sleep, go out or read a book, than try to play and be completely lagged by the background download.</p>

[Drakkor]

<p><cite>Gladiolus wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>If I were looking around for a new game and only saw a streaming client, I'd dismiss it and move along. I'd rather have a proper download going while I sleep, go out or read a book, than try to play and be completely lagged by the background download.</p></blockquote><p>Completely agree.  I'm currently attempting the trial for EQ2, but the streaming client makes me far less likely to subscribe.  I don't want to have to wait for zones to download when I'm playing - I just want to set it to download overnight and come back in the morning to a complete game.  Also not a fan of the Station Launcher - I don't need all those buttons for other SOE games, I'm just interested in EQ2.</p><p>EDIT: It's not helping that my Station Launcher seems to be stuck at "Scanning: Preparing."</p>

[metacell]

<p>I don't understand the need for two launchers. The old launcher has radio buttons under "Preferences" where you can choose "Download immediately" or "Download while I play". Isn't the "Download while I play" option identical to the streaming launcher?</p>

[Freyar]

<p>What the streaming client needs is a command line option to force it to download the entire content. Similar to Guild War's client, having an option like "-image" would prevent this kind of confusion, especially since the Steam release (as well as others) are now moving to a "streaming client only" setup.  There needs to be <strong>one</strong> and only one launcher. Otherwise you'll end up providing support for two different avenues of entering the game which will slow down remedying problems significantly.</p><p>Other problems with this streaming client can crop up, especially for people that have limited amounts of disk space. Say you download the client as-is, and it's roughly 2.5GB. You have 11GB free, but over time end up with various other things added. What happens when you can't download the rest of the client for wherever you are going (discounting the long waits between zoning).</p>

[Nathanyl]

<p>I just came back after year off and I actually like it.  At first I was a little disconcerted by it, but I have a fast enough connection and system that my zone times have been fairly minimal and not really at all disruptive.  The one thing I'd recommend is giving a description of the streaming process that really stands out, as at first I was a little clueless about it.</p>

[Gungo]

<p>The streaming client needs to be able to download the full game like the old patcher.I reformatted and took the streaming download client the load times was more then I preferred. So I had to search for the old patcher. The streaming client should be like this.You download the intial streaming client.The new person then by default downloads the initial tutorial as they play. When the new person is on the character select screen and designing thier new toon. The game is downloading in the back ground as the play. In example all the new halas files needed to play. The person then should have the option to download the ENTIRE game when they log off or continue to use the streeaming client.</p><p>Right now this will be to much load times for the new subscribers leaving a bad experience because they do not know thier is a full download which will reduce loading times.</p><p>The priority of the game right now should be faster zoning, less casting(server lag), and better zonign broker speed (database lag).</p>

[Powers]

<p><cite>Aquarius@Runnyeye wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I don't understand the need for two launchers. The old launcher has radio buttons under "Preferences" where you can choose "Download immediately" or "Download while I play". Isn't the "Download while I play" option identical to the streaming launcher?</p></blockquote><p>No.  The streaming client pulls files only when they're needed; "Download while I play" just means that optional parts of the normal patching process (like voiceovers) can continue after you've gone ahead and gotten in-game.</p><p>Powers  &8^]</p>

[Dillin]

<p>I heard rumor that this was going to be put on the streaming client and would solve the problem folks don't like about it.  Being able to download everything like the old client did.  So then people could download everything overnight if they wanted.</p>

[redlance68]

<p>Obviously it looks like from the responses that some people thinks this "streaming version" stinks mightily. However if they do put in an option to download it all at once, They should let the User make the choice upfront. Rather than hide it in some obscure switch or command line toggle. That would appease all types and noone could really complain now could they? Then again SOE does what it wants. We all know its track record well enough to know it can do some really braindead decisions sometimes.</p>

[Wingrider01]

<p><cite>Karthes@The Bazaar wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I heard rumor that this was going to be put on the streaming client and would solve the problem folks don't like about it.  Being able to download everything like the old client did.  So then people could download everything overnight if they wanted.</p></blockquote><p>there already is a full install client like the old one. Why duplicate effort?</p>

[metacell]

<p><cite>Wingrider01 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>there already is a full install client like the old one. Why duplicate effort?</p></blockquote><p>So one client can be used for everything, and future development efforts can be halved.</p>

[Wingrider01]

<p><cite>Aquarius@Runnyeye wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Wingrider01 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>there already is a full install client like the old one. Why duplicate effort?</p></blockquote><p>So one client can be used for everything, and future development efforts can be halved.</p></blockquote><p>Prefer having a client that does not have additional bloat code for a function that a large portion of the users will never use.</p>

[metacell]

<p><cite>Wingrider01 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite></cite></p><p>Prefer having a client that does not have additional bloat code for a function that a large portion of the users will never use.</p></blockquote><p>The installer is only a couple of megabytes, so I wouldn't mind.</p>

[Wingrider01]

<p><cite>Aquarius@Runnyeye wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Wingrider01 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite></cite></p><p>Prefer having a client that does not have additional bloat code for a function that a large portion of the users will never use.</p></blockquote><p>The installer is only a couple of megabytes, so I wouldn't mind.</p></blockquote><p>Another possible injection point for a programming or connection error, additional questions required for support if the patcher fails, more complexity in the code - been in the business for over 38 years, the KISS principle is still the best rule to follow in coding. Creeping featurism is not a good idea when all your users tend to be remote and there is not always a technically savy person available on site</p>

[Heinzrick]

<p>Can anyone give me a rough est. on how large eq2 with all expansion is now.13gigs, 16...</p><p>I just bought SF, and was confused (untill I read the this post) as to why it nearly did not download anything.</p><p>I want to ensure I have the full install.</p><p>My ISP is Robers and they charge up to double your monthly bill if you exceed certain download amounts, I would rather like to avoid this and if eq2 is now bassicaly a browser game - well not exactly but I'd like to stop it =)</p>

[Wingrider01]

<p><cite>Heinrake@Blackburrow wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Can anyone give me a rough est. on how large eq2 with all expansion is now.13gigs, 16...</p><p>I just bought SF, and was confused (untill I read the this post) as to why it nearly did not download anything.</p><p>I want to ensure I have the full install.</p><p>My ISP is Robers and they charge up to double your monthly bill if you exceed certain download amounts, I would rather like to avoid this and if eq2 is now bassicaly a browser game - well not exactly but I'd like to stop it =)</p></blockquote><p>Currently at 15GB on the install after subtracting logfiles, screen shots and cache.</p>

[metacell]

<p><cite>Wingrider01 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>Another possible injection point for a programming or connection error, additional questions required for support if the patcher fails, more complexity in the code - been in the business for over 38 years, the KISS principle is still the best rule to follow in coding. Creeping featurism is not a good idea when all your users tend to be remote and there is not always a technically savy person available on site</blockquote><p>I agree about keeping it simple, but to me it sounds more complex to have two different clients.</p><p>For example, if the user decides to download everything at once, it's not at all obvious that he/she has to find and downlod a new client on SoE's web site. On the other hand, a checkbox in the client labelled "Download all content immediately" would be obvious to almost everyone.</p>

[Wingrider01]

<p><cite>Aquarius@Runnyeye wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Wingrider01 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>Another possible injection point for a programming or connection error, additional questions required for support if the patcher fails, more complexity in the code - been in the business for over 38 years, the KISS principle is still the best rule to follow in coding. Creeping featurism is not a good idea when all your users tend to be remote and there is not always a technically savy person available on site</blockquote><p>I agree about keeping it simple, but to me it sounds more complex to have two different clients.</p><p>For example, if the user decides to download everything at once, it's not at all obvious that he/she has to find and downlod a new client on SoE's web site. On the other hand, a checkbox in the client labelled "Download all content immediately" would be obvious to almost everyone.</p></blockquote><p>that is a problem with communications and documentation. Out of curiousity I asked the members of the guild what patcher they where using, most of them responded they where using the original because they where not aware of the other ones.</p><p>From the reported issues with the streaming patcher that are resolved by utilizing the full patcher it appears that each patcher utilizes different types of coding. If this is true, then that has another major point in favor of not combining them. The original patcher actually has the ability to download files in the background, it utilized the MS BITS transport (same one that MS Update uses), a windows subsystem, it worked as advertised. Problem was people where complaing about bandwidth utilization when they where not playing. This was a function of BITS, not of SOE. This would be a elegant method of  doing what you consider. From the number of tech entries, the streaming patcher has some issues.  Going to have to start frequenting the launcher forums more often to see what is on the plate. Personally, would not use a combined patcher.</p>

[metacell]

<p><cite>Wingrider01 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>that is a problem with communications and documentation.</blockquote><p>Yes, it is. Communication and documentation becomes more difficult with two different clients.</p><blockquote>From the reported issues with the streaming patcher that are resolved by utilizing the full patcher it appears that each patcher utilizes different types of coding. If this is true, then that has another major point in favor of not combining them. The original patcher actually has the ability to download files in the background, it utilized the MS BITS transport (same one that MS Update uses), a windows subsystem, it worked as advertised. Problem was people where complaing about bandwidth utilization when they where not playing. This was a function of BITS, not of SOE. This would be a elegant method of  doing what you consider. From the number of tech entries, the streaming patcher has some issues.  Going to have to start frequenting the launcher forums more often to see what is on the plate. Personally, would not use a combined patcher.</blockquote><p>That is a valid reason to keep the old (relatively bug-free) client for now. But once the bugs and quirks are fixed in the streaming client, why not add an option to continue downloading the game in the background?</p><p>To me, it doesn't seem more complex than having to make two versions of every client update (one for the downloading version and one for the streaming one).</p>

[Braz]

<p>Just want to chime in here briefly and tell the developer why I personally view the streaming launcher as a proverbial pile of steaming *CENSORED*.</p><p>I came back to Everquest two weeks ago, had no game files anywhere as I had used a digital download which by now has expired. So I opted to download the game from the SOE website - you know, the one where the streaming launcher is  advertised all over the place and alternative client versions aren't mentioned and only accessible to the enlightened few. The new player is not informed anywhere about the alternatives, so I basically didn't know that there even WAS another client - and I judge myself to be a fair cut above the average when it comes to internet savvyness.</p><p>I at first liked the streaming thing because in no way did I guess there was no downloading all the stuff in small chunks whenever possible thing going on. When I realized that and  still didn't know about the full download possibility I just grit my teeth and bore with the 5-10 minutes on every new zone. As there are a couple, I spent several hours staring at the loading screen. On a sidenote, the skeletal dragonchicken is funny the first time. On the twentieth enforced break, it stops being funny. At all.</p><p>Anyways, over the last two weeks, I had downloaded nearly every zone and instance (since I made it a habit of entering instances alone whenever I walked past their vincinity so not to have to let any groups I might find myself in having to wait). Yesterday, the client crashed, and apparently, the downloaded data has become corrupted. What do I know, the game tells you nothing about any encountered problems anyways (none of your business). What it does now is to check for 2-3 minutes on zoning and then re-dpwnloading the entire thing (which takes about 20 minutes per zone) with some huge glitches as missing floor tiles (bottomless pits everywhere), objects being not or not properly displayed and mobs being untargettable, invisible and still kicking my butt.</p><p>I hope uninstalling all that craptastic stream client and reinstalling with a full download from scratch through the link provided earlier in the thread works. If not - thanks, but the streaming client is so detrimental to gameplay that I don't consider it an option.</p><p>I honestly do not see how a developer can in good faith raise the question of how it might be possible to have gripes with the streaming client. The flaws are so painfully obvious that such a question leads me to interesting questions as well.</p><p>It might be a good idea to just admit that the streaming client saves money for SOE. If you guys just said "Hey, we have to pay for our traffic like anyone else, and if game data a player never needs isn't downloaded, that's reduced costs for us" people I am sure would understand that and noone would think the less of you - quite the contrary, in fact.</p><p>For some reason though, secrecy has been given the go. Fine with me, hide the links to alternative clients. But please, do not throw smoke grenades on the forum and actually hope any sentient being will accept the credibility of a developer asking what one could possibly dislike about the streaming client - because that's just a shame <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /></p><p>Edit: I understand this post comes across rather strong and unfriendly. That is because right now, I am in some state of annoyance, truth be told. I took every precaution not to insult anybody - it is my wish to properly express my dissatisfaction with</p><p>  - the streaming client</p><p>  - the way alternatives are being advertised</p><p>It is not my intent to make SOE look bad or directly cuss at you guys - my interest as an avid EQ player is just to help improving the game - and in that case, this includes making some very clear statements <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Laiina]

<p>Just for info, even if you have the streaming client already installed, you can still use the station launcher to get all the files to zones you have not been to yet. Just install the launcher and tell it to install in the same place, and it will get all the missing files.</p>

[jagermonsta]

<p>Woah... just tried the streaming version (returning to the game)... yikes that's a headache to wait for each and every zone. I'll take the intial 10 gb d/l.</p><p>Thanks for the launcher link! Should link it on the Everquest 2 website as I thought the streaming version was the only option!</p>

[Aera]

I'm a returning player and I wanted to give the streaming client a chance but after waiting ten minutes just to get to the character selection screen I decided to just use the launcher and have the whole game download overnight. The streaming client is a good idea but in practice, at least with the one that's available now, it's just really annoying.

[Skywarrior]

<p>I've not installed or used the streaming version of the Launcher myself so I'm just curious.  Does it not provide an option for a full file scan?  If it does I would think that would be one way to get the whole game at once, although it is true that novice players would not likely be aware of that option, if it exists.  Can someone who has the streaming Launcher (or a dev) comment on this?</p>

[Umarth]

<p>TBH i like the idea of the streaming client for people with seriously fast connections or those who cant wait, but i'd like the choice.</p><p>That and i still use the original client over the station launcher because it seems more reliable and less annoying.</p><p>But either way at least have a link to both the streaming client and the Full DL client, or make it an option at least!</p>

[Properman]

<p><cite>Autenil wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Bridgeplay wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The dedicated EQII button worked well for years. The Station Launcher is unneeded bloatware, but it's a better option than the steaming client.</p></blockquote><p>I for one am curious about your complaints with the streaming system.  Is your aversion from the launcher itself or from the in-game experience?  Could you elaborate?</p><p>Anyone else feel free to chime in too.</p></blockquote><p>I had nothing but problems with it, for unknown reasons (plus some known bugs)  I had to constantly reinstall it and start all over with my downloads.  Im afraid my memory is a bit fuzzy on the problems as I stoped using it a few months ago just for this reason.</p>

[Properman]

<p><cite>Skywarrior wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I've not installed or used the streaming version of the Launcher myself so I'm just curious.  Does it not provide an option for a full file scan?  If it does I would think that would be one way to get the whole game at once, although it is true that novice players would not likely be aware of that option, if it exists.  Can someone who has the streaming Launcher (or a dev) comment on this?</p></blockquote><p>No such option available, even if there was the crashes and corrupt files problem need to be fixed before this client can be a viable option.</p>

[Faithlight]

<p>Again some major issues to log on linked to the use of that stupid streaming client, don't feel nice to be the only unable to because it seems I'm stupid enough to use this...</p>

[Faithlight]

<p>"Unable to retrieve assets from the server. Please retry in a few minutes."</p><p>with the launcher</p><p><verify> E:liveeq2frameworkrendersrcVeShader.cpp (9832):</p><p>m_pPixelShader</p><p>0098c2b8</p><p>when using EverQuest2.exe directly</p><p>No it isn't on my side, didn't change anything didn't try anything didn't do anything like putting them in my unallowed list for firewall even checked they were still NOT there.</p>

[TSR-DennisG]

<p>You shouldn't be using the EverQuest2.exe directly to get into the game.  Some have used that executable as a workaround for some issues but will end up having to use the game launcher when a patch/update comes around.  </p>

[zukem]

<p>This is why new people aren't staying in this game.  It's a great game.  But as a small sample size, my experiences the last two days, which repeats every single day.</p><p>Yesterday.  Log into my guild hall.  Use the guild portal to go to my house.  Craft 4 items.  Zone back to guild hall.  Open bank, and put 4 items in bank.  Camp to alt.  From Eastern Waste call to guild hall.  Open bank.  Adorn 4 items.  Time it took to do all this.  4 minutes.  Time I spent waiting for things to download and bad programming to not clean itself up.  56 minutes.  Yes something that should only take me 4 minutes, took me an hour to accompllish.</p><p>This morning.  From login screen to character select.  Took one hour.  One most days, the first time I log in, it takes between 5-15 minutes. </p><p>This is the only game in which the wait time every single time is so long. </p><p>I won't even go into how slow it gets in the PQ's,  or any other zone, especially if you have been in the game for over 2 hours.  Because once you zone to different places, or you see too many people, lag goes from 20 fps to 1-5 fps.</p>

[TSR-JoshuaM]

<p>I do apologize about the delays you have zoning/logging in, but I can assure you this is not how the LaunchPad operates for myself or a majority of users.  There is an issue that we need to identify and repair within your installation or system itself that is causing this for you.</p><p>Takes me much less than 30 seconds at the longest to zone or log in across my work PC, test PCs, home PC, and laptops.  I don't get special treatment from the software because I work here.  So let's find out what's affecting you and fix it.  I would suggest posting your DXDIAG/MSINFO/NETINFO information in a ticket and PMing me the incident number so we can work through these problems.</p><p>In any case, you do not need to resurrect 3 month old thread to ask for support.  I am the only tech here at this time and any previous correspondence will need to be re-initiated with me, or at least provided with the information I would need to catch up with where you are with your issue.</p><p><p><a href="https://help.station.sony.com/cgi-bin/soe.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=25765" target="_blank">[EQII] Video walkthrough: Generating dxdiag, msinfo32 and netinfo files</a></p></p>

[Shruen]

<p>I found this post looking for the full client myself as I have issues with the streaming.  One of the issues I have had with it is the long zoning times where it is patching, another is the skip of your char when your walking due to it trying to update something, but the most fun is when you check the enable background downloading let it fully download log out and come on later and it immediately starts to redownload, causing even more increased lag.  It treats it as though the game is not even there.  I just prefer the full client over the streaming.  I think the streaming is a nice touch, but it is not for me.  I do believe there should be a link or something on the website to let people choose between one or the other.  Especially for us returning players who so loved the game, and want to reinstall the full version, and not the streaming.</p>

[MMORefugee]

<p>Steam downloads and installs the full client, it takes a bit after first start (client checks files, blah blah) but it IS the full client, Steam itself is free as is the account and game download, so...personally I'd suggest using it and avoid anything with "Streaming" in the name regardless.</p>

[Zuklaak]

<p><cite>Habaloo@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>SOE Please put this back into the EQ2 homepage links!!!!</p><p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://launcher.station.sony.com/" target="_blank">http://launcher.station.sony.com/</a></p></blockquote><p>This link is now redirected to <a href="http://www.soe.com/getthegame/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.soe.com/getthegame/</a> and the only option there is the streaming client. Does anyone have a link to the full client install?</p>

[Laenai]

<p><span ><a href="http://launch.soe.com/installer/EQ2_setup.exe">http://launch.soe.com/installer/EQ2_setup.exe</a></span></p>