EVE-Online Patch Makes XP Unbootable

Nobo writes "CCP's latest major patch to the EVE-Online client, Trinity, comes with an optional DX9-enhanced graphics patch that dramatically improves the visual quality of the in-game graphics through remade models, textures, and HDR. It also has an unfortunate bug: the incredibly stupid choice of boot.ini as a game configuration file, coupled with an errant extra backslash in the installer configuration. The result is that anyone who installs the enhanced graphics patch overwrites the windows XP c:\boot.ini file with the EVE client configuration file, bricking the machine on the next boot. Discussion in a couple of forums threads is becoming understandably heated."

Re:How is this possible?

[vranash]

Obviously one with a really high uptime for Windows :)

OUCH!

[Brazilian Geek]

One man's misery is another's chance to quote Nelson from The Simpsons so I'll just get this out of the way...

Ha! Ha!

I don't know EVE's demographics but repairing this by hand is beyond most users abilities.

Re:How is this possible?

[sayfawa]

Say John, there's a funny thing with our new patch; after the dialogue telling the user that the install was successful and that they should reboot the machine, the machine doesn't actually reboot, it just shuts off and then hangs. What should we do?

Don't tell them to reboot the machine. Problem solved.

Re:Idiot Moron QA

[leuk_he]

After they bricked (?!) their machines they were unable to report it. Some reported no problems without failing to tell they ran vista. The idea that a installer for a ordinary userspace application, makes your machine unbootable is not very likely.

PS, mod me funny.

Apologies

[Sockatume]

In Parlimentary Republican Iceland, game breaks Windows!

Re:Insanely sloppy... but not without precedent

[gEvil (beta)]

At one point trying to uninstall Final Fantasy XI Online would remove hal32.dll.

That wouldn't be a smart thing to do, now would it, Dave?

Re:Insanely sloppy... but not without precedent

[Fozzyuw]

I still can't figure out how this missed even basic testing where CCP should have caught this bug pretty easily.

The testers would have caught it but their computers didn't start when they tried to turn them on the next day so they could never identify it. =P

Re:How is this possible?

[Jugalator]

Bricking. That word will have became annoying to me by the end of 2008.

Re:It's not bricked!

[Anonymous Coward]

Since when did "bricking" expand it's meaning from "unbootable because it's been burnt to a crisp having been struck by lightning" to "firmware (such as the BIOS) being improperly overwritten"?
If you can't unsolder the appropriate chips, fashion a makeshift eeprom blower (using twigs and a bit of string), and put in the correct data yourself by touching wires together in the appropriate order, you've got no business using a computer.

Fact of the matter is, this is a patch to a game. When Joe Average comes home to find his PC won't boot, and all Joe Jr did was install a patch, it's as good as a brick. Just because YOU have the knowledge and ability to fix it doesn't mean the rest of the world does. It's a trip to your local PC store, and a 50 on the table to fix it (and in the process they'll steal all your porn, holiday pics, and personal banking details too).

I'm glad doctors don't have the attitude us nerds do. "Has someone got a poorly tummy? Awe diddums! Come back when you know what apendicitis is you n00b!".

Re:Bricking?

[gazbo]

Man, that's serious then. One would have thought that MS would make the Windows CD bootable so that users could gain access to some form of "recovery console".

Re:It's not bricked!

[halcyon1234]

I think we need to start subclassing the term. It's bricked, but it's recoverable. So it's just a mild inconvenience. A nerf brick? Loose grout?

Re:Ppffftt!

[Phisbut]

Isn't this something should have been found in, oh, I dunno....beta testing?

Oh, but it was found, by several beta testers. However, since none of those beta testers had a functioning computer after the test, they were all unable to send a bug report. Not having received any bug reports, the developers simply assumed that there were no bugs.

Re:How is this possible?

[jmoriarty]

WTF is with you people? Ever since the Apple made iPhones "bricks", this erroneous use of the term has seeped into our technical vocabulary.

Sheesh... way to brick the discussion...

Re:How is this possible?

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

No, thats just stupid. A computer with a missing boot.ini is much more useful than a brick. Case in point, you can buy a bare bones computer with no OS for ~ $400. More than your average masonry brick. If people do sell it a state similar to its "bricked state" for more significantly more than a brick, then I would say its not bricked. Because, obviously, its more useful than a brick.

Re:Insanely sloppy... but not without precedent

[sammy baby]

But I still have the utmost confidence in the mission.

Daisy, Daiiiiisyyyyy.

Re:bootcfg /renew

[C0rinthian]

A brick can solve many problems, depending on how broad your definition of 'solve' is...