Warning Urgent BFG new Toolbar

WARNING URGENT I just got off live chat with BigFish Tech support after battling for 10 hours non stop along with comodo live support geekbuddy.com because when I downloaded stray souls new game it came with new update for BFG Toolbar we have no choice but to install. The Toolbar never completed the download many errors came up with choice of retry, abort, ignore.

I know there are some exceptions to people not getting corrupted Toolbar because I see some people are playing the game. However for many of us errors are so severe they remove the old Toolbar with all the games and you cannot install any BFG toolbar or get back your old one.

I don't know why this isn't happening to everyone I have vista 32 Nivida graphic card. Not only that my computer started going bonkers with a flashing black box that my comodo firewall was warning me about explorer.exe overload buffer warning and they separated it so I could terminate it. However if I restart the computer explorer.exe Comodo Firewall warns overflow buffer error again and warns to terminate explorer.exe.

My computer is a mess now and I thought comodo support didn't know how to reinstall the BFG Toolbar and wondered because they should be smarter than me technical wise.

frustrated,angry I told them they were no help because no one could figure out what to do with explorer.exe overload buffer I am not talking about internet explorer because I don't use it, or how to reinstall my BFG game Toolbar.

I got angry after 10 hours non stop wasted day of trying to fix this computer and BFG Toolbar and contacted BFG live chat. A nice tech named Anthony told me there is a problem with the BFG new Toolbar 2/10/2011 and he has many similar complaints and BFG is working on this hoping to have the solution today.

I need to calm down and just wanted to play a older game. Haven't us gamers always found a relaxing game takes our mind off stress.

I just asked for yesterdays old toolbar back and he said that is impossible right now also. I groaned in frustration.

I asked him to warn the customers before other peoples computers gets messed up like mine is now. He said he will suggest it and will email me when it is fixed.

So Word to the wise, don't waste time trying to fix what can't be fixed only BFG Tech can fix the new Toolbar if you have the same problem as me and multitudes of others in fact instead of warning people after 3 people complained BFG Forum locked the thread so we can't warn others.

I told him I didn't think that was a nice thing to do and many people will be angry when their computers get messed up,unless your one of the fortunate ones it doesn't mess your computer up. It is not a chance I would have taken if BFG had issued a warning.

I am frustrated, angry, but if I can help one person from feeling like a volcano ready to blow its top, it will be worth it.

I really wanted this game stray souls dollhouse because the demo was great and Alaware who developed it I had no problem with the game,but I have problems ordering from Alaware and the price wasn't reasonable in my opinion. Nice Tech guy at BFG Anthony says it is not the game it is the New game manager tool bar. After it is fixed feel free to remove the post when it isn't necessary any longer.

I care about my Gameboomers Family and just wanted to spare them the agony I have gone through today.

Oh Beloved BFG Guy why don't you warn your customers. I would rather have waited than be sorry like I am now.

BFG Guy we count on you to warn us when there are troubles like this with the game manager. Now I just pray my computer will be fixed and no more explorer.exe buffer overload warning the tech guy seems to think once the game manager is fixed the other problems will be fixed also.

Hi Sherryah,I have Windows7 and when I downloaded Stray Souls this morning,it said it was installing the Game Manager not the Toolbar,when it was done the game plays great.Maybe it's just an issue with Vista

Really sorry about your problems, Sherryah. I too downloaded Stray Souls this morning and the new Big Fish version of the Game Manager automatically installed beforehand, and I experienced no problems. I'm on Windows XP.

When it comes to the myriad of system configurations out there and also different operating systems, unfortunately sometimes it's a case of one day being the windshield and the next day being the bug, when new things are installed. I sure hope all is right very soon with your computer and the updated Game Manager fixes the difficulties you are having.

Thanks Marian, I loved my Windows XP never had problems with it. Now I can't say the same with vista and with windows updates it gets pretty scary sometimes to know if they are corrupted or not. Maybe the Windows XP crowd are the people not getting corrupted toolbar. Anyway I never had a problem like this before, usually something goes wrong you install old Toolbar. At least people can be warned in advance Oh I wish I was.

I really hope your Big Fish games are put to rights soon; I know how much you were looking forward to playing Stray Souls. Let us know, okay?

Sherryah,
Have you told your Comodo Firewall that BigFish is a trusted site and downloads from there are trusted?

I also run Comodo and it does not "like" BigFish files. The DRM that BigFish uses looks like a bad file to Comodo. If it blocks or sandboxes BF files or some of the files, things do not work right. I've not had your exact problem, but I have had problems with Game Manager before.

I have instructed Comodo to recognize BF files as trusted and have no problems now. I did not download Stray Souls today, but I did install the new Game Manager. It has no apparent problems, but I haven't downloaded any games yet either.

I understand how bad your day must have been and hope you are able to get things working again.
m

No problems here downloading this game. Don't see it as a BFG problem.

I am on XP and I downloaded the new Games Manager and Stray Souls yesterday, although I have not played the demo yet, but no problems so far. I dont think I received a new tool bar - at least it doesnt look any different to me.

I think Sherryah was referring to the Big Fish Games Manager when she was saying toolbar.

By the way, that's very helpful information about Comodo, lazydaisy.

Just wondering..is the problem the BFG Toolbar or the BFG GameManager? Also wondering if the game is selected and also you spring for the CD Backup Disk are either of the above things also installed anyway-even with other other games being downloaded?

Installation of the Big Fish toolbar is entirely optional and won't automatically install on your computer. The Big Fish Game Manager will install/update automatically if and when you download a game for the first time or if there is a new version of the Game Manager available.

Apparently there are some folks who were experiencing problems with the latest release of the Game Manager.

The problem isn't limited to the toolbar.
I do not have, nor ever had the Big Fish Toolbar.

I tried to download the Stray Souls demo and it installed -- or attempted to install -- a new Big Fish client -- which borked up royally and now NONE of my Big Fish games work. Uninstalling the new client (which won't even start) through Program Files and attempting to reinstall doesn't help. I get the same result as the first time.

EDIT --

I found that at least some of my Big Fish games work if I start them by going to the game folders and clicking directly on the exe instead of using the desktop shortcut. But that doesn't help with installing any new games or reinstalling any that I've uninstalled.

I much prefer the old system for Macs -- where they sent you a code that you entered in a box and you didn't have to worry about a colicky Game Manager.

Ouch, Jenny.

I'm an absolute dork at anything technical but a couple of days ago an Adobe update completely messed up the way my computer behaves.
I did a "System Restore" rolling back the computer to before the update was installed and this fixed the problems.
You've probaly already done the equivalent of this on Vista, Sherry, but I just thought I'd mention it.
Hope all is resolved shortly for you anyway.

Hi all,

I'm new as of today but have been reading here for a very long time. I would love to demo this game but totally freaked out by the warning from here and other forums. I've been with BF for 4 years and only had small problems. I'm confused as to why Paul hasn't addressed this issue especially before a weekend. I surely will wait as when I started to DL this game I saw the New Mngr install pop-up. I cancelled right away.
C'mon Pickman. Resolve this personally.
Have a great weekend all.

Seabearer. WElcome to GameBoomers. I moved your post to the thread pertaining to the issue so as not to muddy up every game thread that is made for the discussion of the game not the game manager. It is best you contact BF customer support if you have issues.

to GameBoomers, Seabearer.

I had no problems with the new Game Manager installation but I do understand your hesitation. As Ana said, contacting Customer Support is your best bet for resolution of problems and/or questions about the new Game Manager.

I haven't heard back from Big Fish yet, but there's a thread where people are reporting similar problems as mine with the new Game Manager ***here***. It isn't just one version of Windows that's affected either.

Another change with the new Game Manager is that the default location for the downloads is c:\programfiles and that is where the games will be installed. So, if you have been downloading the games to another location on your computer (or to an external drive), you need to go into options in the Game Manager and change this default.

I have to admit I am an absolute weenie when it comes to these things. I have not downloaded a game or demo since the new Game Manager problems started.

I don't share the concern about where my games are stored. My worry is that I will be unable to play any of the games already in my BF Game Manager.

I keep checking the BF forums to see if other users have found satisfaction yet.
Jeanne

For me, ignorance was bliss. I downloaded the new Game Manager before anyone had started reporting problems with it. And, thankfully, I had no problems with the installation.

You can play the games you have installed by going to the folder the game is installed in and double-clicking the game exe directly -- or you can create your own desktop shortcut that links directly to the game exe and that will work.

The desktop shortcuts that the Big Fish installer creates don't link directly to the games. They link through the Big Fish Game Manager. So if the Game Manager isn't working, those shortcuts won't work either. However the games that are installed will work if you bypass the Game Manager.

The problem comes if you want to reinstall a game or buy or try a new one. You need the Big Fish Game Manager to be working for that.

Thank you for that most useful information that I hope I never need to use! Nice to know how to bypass the manager if needed.

You are absolutely correct that the inability to reinstall or download new games/demos would be devastating. I hope BF figures out the problem ASAP.

Hope you get a "fix" soon, Jenny.
Jeanne

I never have those kind of problems. The only one I did have, was the signing in, but I got that fixed with no problems.
I haven't had any problems downloading a game yet, I too have windows xp and don't see any problems yet.

Kozykat,
I never had any problems either before this "update."
It's something only Big Fish can fix.

BFG seem to be taking their time over this "fix", which is most unusual for them.

By the way, is there any way to change the settings so that a shortcut is not added to the Desktop and so that the game is not added to the Start Menu? These are the only 2 things I find annoying with BFG games

BF got back to me and recommended using CCleaner and sfc /scannow. Neither helped.


Probably not, but you can always delete them afterward.

Any idea what happens next?

Just sharing what was told to me by Tech working with me in regards to To game manager not working. He said many people having problems with missing DLL files I have vista 32 Nivida graphic card. He sent me a fix file download through my email after Drfelix showed the missing DLL file. He said there is no way to fix this error without the patch, thats my word patch not his. You cannot play any game even old ones he said without fixing new toolbar.

Suggestion is you must get BFG Tech help and feel free to share what I said.

Tech Anthony helped me if that helps you. Its not our computers even a system restore will not help he said, it is the game manager sorry before I called it a Toolbar in last post it is game manager. I requested next time don't force us to uninstall our old game manager without having a way to get it back. Old games are better than no games. I tried to open old games and it didn't open, maybe I have a different problem since another GB said you can play your old games without manager.

I spent 10 hours with Comodo Techs Geekbuddy and felt so frustrated as they could not install new game manager either. Worse thing is this can also mess up your computer really bad mine had overflow window explorer.exe buffer. Oh what a mess I had. Tech was right once the error was fixed on BFG game manager with missing dll file all was well again. I am so sorry and hope this helps in some small way.

I think I also spoke too soon. I have been having lots of problems with the new Games Manager - I am forever having to reboot my laptop because I get error message saying Games Manager not responding.

Also I am having big problems downloading games (I had this problem about a year ago) - I get to 99% download and then it says Error Downloading and it goes back to 1% again. I wish the Games Manager had a Resume facility like other downloaders do.

So it looks as though everyone who has problems with this new Games Manager has to contact Support individually? This must be a nightmare for BFG.

And I wonder what the updated Games Manager contains, other than the annoying banner advert along the bottom

Wonder if these various Game Manager issues will have an effect on the President's Day Sale.

Getting a game for $4.99 isn't much of a bargain if the Game Manager that comes with it blows up your system.

Think I'll wait until the Game Manager conundrum is solved.

In the new Game Manager, if you go to "options", then go to "about," there is a box that is unchecked that says, "Don't show me Game Manager when I exit games I have purchased." Put a check in that box, and you will no longer see the Game Manager when you exit the game.

Assuming, of course, that you can get the Game Manager to download and display correctly.

The technical boards at Big Fish give me no confidence that this software is ready.

Thanks for that tip, Marian

I noticed that BF says they have an updated GM as of yesterday afternoon that fixes some of the problems. I read this on their Technical Forum.

I share your decision to wait for conformation of a "fix" before downloading anything. You just don't know if your computer will be affected or not. You wonder if they have isolated any variables as to what type of systems are most vulnerable.
Jeanne

No doubt that some are encountering problems with the new Game Manager, MrLipid. I just posted that information for those who were not.

But we can still buy games in the Presidents Sale which is what I will do, and download them later

Specifically, the update/fix for the new Game Manager was made available as of yesterday at 3:07 PST. It fixes:

- Error opening file for writing: Profiles\All Users\Application Data...

- MSVCP100.DLL

You can either uninstall and reinstall the Game Manager to get this update, or downloading a trial or full-version game should also initiate the update.

That's good news. And I am still waiting...

Hmmm - I have been downloading BFG demos all day, but it never gave me the option to update the Games Manager.

We all have to download this update?? Or just the people who are having problems?

I suspect everyone has to download and install it.

Trying to support different versions of the Game Manager would be a nightmare.

Tough enough supporting all the different games...

I just went to my Game Manager's "options," then went to "about", and then clicked on "check for Game Manager updates." It told me I had the latest version.

I understand your caution, MrLipid. I'm hoping that the problems will be resolved now. I'll be keeping an eye on the Big Fish technical forums.

My version of Game Manager is 2.0.0.28.

What's the most current version?

2.0.1.41 (1.1)

Thanks.

I have version 2.0.1.41

Hi Marian, Yes that is the fix I was referring too that I needed. I don't know why anyone would not be told they need the new game manager it seems it was mandatory. That stupid missing DLL really playeed havoc with my computer and it was looking really bad. Now it is fixed and instead of using comodo I am using just plain windows firewall for protection. Gosh I hope its safe enough.

Comodo would come up with all these warnings after BFG game manager missing DLL file saying win explorer.exe overflow buffer, and computer would go crazy on me. Now since its fixed I have not used comodo but the game manager works and no more overflow buffer warning on win explorer.exe

I am so grateful others can get this fix I would have sent it to GB but didn't want to do this because I am not a tech but felt bad others were suffering the frustration I was suffering.

Downloaded and installed without a hiccup. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket.

That said, I really don't like the "Games you might like:" banner.

Great news, MrLipid.

Check that box about not showing Game Manager when you exit a game you have purchased and that will eliminate the banner some of the time, anyway.

I'm glad all is well with your computer now, Sherryah; you went through quite the ordeal.

Hmm. Tried that. It doesn't even eliminate the Game Manager.

That's odd. I am going to give it a try; I haven't tried it myself but read that it worked for someone else.

Okay, I just tried it and the Game Manager still shows up upon exiting one of my purchased games. So, it would appear that this option does not work, at least for some of us. I'm going to ask Live Chat about this the next time I have occasion to speak with them.

While you are on Live Chat, Marian, ask them to take that annoying banner off the bottom of the Games Manager

Most encouraging news!
I am relieved that BF seems to have found and corrected the problem.
I am off to take advantage of the sale!
Jeanne

Now, this is interesting. I just exited out of Maestro: Music of Death and did not see the Game Manager. I then tried it with another game, Burger Bustle, and once again did not see the Game Manager. In both instances I started up the games from the game's desktop icon rather than from within the Game Manager. So, via this method, it does indeed seem to work after having checked the box about not seeing the Game Manager upon exiting a purchased game. (Unless it worked this way before and I'm just not remembering, which is also a possibility!).

So the way to keep the Game Manager from appearing when you close a game is not to open the Game Manager in the first place.

Of course, that means you don't have to look at the "Games you may like:" on the bottom.

Perfect!

It would seem that way, but maybe I'm just missing something.

I tried it a couple times on my system and that's what happens. Who knew?

I hardly ever use the game manager to open games already purchased, always use desktop icon and never see the manager.

Well, this new update is bad news for me. I am on my fourth attempt at trying to download Maestro: Music of Death (whilst 4 other games are waiting in the queue) and once it ges to 99%, it goes back to the beginning again.

And it's not my internet connection because I downloaded a whole free episode of Back to the Future yesterday, and also some games from GOG on their downloader.

But I sure am glad you folks have been sorted out

Here's something from the Big Fish forum for Maestro that might help.

susieq12: "Had the same problem downloading over and over. On game manager changed download to alternate and it downloaded fine and installed. Have not attempted to play yet. Wanted to post this it might help some one."

Lots of folks are having trouble downloading Maestro.

OK, MrLipid, I will give that a try, although in the past the alternate method has never ever worked for me - thanks for the tip

I am also just running Dr Felix to send the report to Customer Support.

It appears to be the only thing that has worked for people on the forum.

Under the Default mode, game starts to download, validates, starts downloading again, validates, rinse, repeat.

May be a glitch in the new Game Manager.

Or may be one of those mysterious bugs that affect Big Fish games that never get fixed.

Curse of the Ghost Ship was so awful Big Fish pulled it. And yet it was one of the games I downloaded and played with no problem. Odd.

Wow, I didnt realise they had pulled Curse of the Ghost Ship.

What works for one, doesnt work for the other!

The new game manager did not help me at all. It has the same problem. It appears to install, but a desktop shortcut never appears and I get an error message every time I try to start a Big Fish game using the old shortcuts that Big Fish installs created. The problem is that the Big Fish Game Manager refuses to start. If I link directly to the game exe I can start a bought-and-installed Big Fish game. However I cannot download any demos, install any new Big Fish games, or reinstall any old ones.

I did see one difference. After uninstalling the Big Fish Game Manager in Add/Remove Programs and running CCleaner, CCleaner found 5 things to fix with the new BFG Manager instead of 2.

Sorry to hear that. Game Manager installed here with no problems.

Which leads me to wonder what sort of beta testing Big Fish uses.

Or maybe this is the beta testing.

I hope you are going to continue to pursue this with Big Fish, Jenny.

They took 5 days to answer my first email about it. Their email asked me to uninstall, try CCleaner and sfc /scannow and reinstall. None of that helped. So I guess it will be another 5 days before they come up with any other ideas. I've sent them the Dr. Felix output. Their Game Manager is supposed to work with anything from Windows 2000 to Windows 7. Apparently not.

The problem is Game Manager works on "some installs" of Windows 2000 to Windows 7. Some, not all.

I have no idea why it installed with no problems on my system. Nor do I have any idea why a raft of recent games did not install on my system. Or installed, played, and then failed. Nor I am confident that the staff at Big Fish is competent enough (or experienced enough or have access to a sufficiently wide variety of systems) to tease out what is actually going haywire.

Unfortunate that the linchpin of their system (Game Manager) is apparently broken.

There have only been about 3 Big Fish games that I've tried that haven't worked on my computer. The most recent one was Haunted Halls. Both the Collector's Edition and the regular version gave me a kernel32.dll error when I tried to start the demo. With other games, other than a tendency to crash at the point when the demo would have run out if I hadn't bought the game, I haven't had any significant problems.

Now I can't even reinstall the games I already bought, let alone install new ones, because their new Game Manager apparently has some requirement that isn't compatible with everyone's computers.

I've had four Big Fish games that didn't work...three of them in January of this year.

Echoes of the Past: The Castle of Shadows took me to a black screen for which there was no fix.

Mystery of Mortlake Mansion simply didn't load.

The Stroke of Midnight loaded everything but its images, leaving asset IDs instead.

Also, Echoes, Mystery and Stroke all earned the attention of my anti-virus software.

And last spring, Eden's Quest: The Quest for Akua, loaded but played really, really slowly.

A cheap new computer solved all the problems...that and re-downloading the games from places other than Big Fish. True, they were Big Fish affiliates, but places other than Big Fish.

Am I still a fan of Big Fish? Yes, but not as much of a fan as I was before January of this year.

I've been very lucky. I've had one game in the last year that gave me trouble and that was Soap Opera Dash, which decided to give me an access violation after I had gotten to approximately level 36. I got a game credit in exchange. I have yet to encounter a game that simply refused to work at all.

Some folks, on the other hand, have been having one problem after another, and I'd love to know what if any common denominators are factoring into this.

I suspect Big Fish would like to know, too. Neither their forum presence nor their personal responses suggest they know much more than we do.

I've been following this thread with interest. I have the most recent Game Manager on both my Windows 7 computer and a computer I just built for my old XP hard drive. I haven't encountered any problems at all yet. I do not use the Game Manager to start my games - I have all the desktop icons in a file named (strangely enough) Big Fish Games. I start my games from there. I have the option checked to not show me the Game Manager when I exit a game. I would be extremely annoyed with the banner....

I "am" extremely annoyed with the banner....

Without a functional Big Fish Game Manager, you can't install either demos or new games, or reinstall any of your old games once you've uninstalled them.

I have just booted up my laptop for the first time today, and went to check the new BFG releases for today...... and my BFG toolbar has disappeared.....What is going on??

The last question on this page talks about what to try if your toolbar disappears. Hopefully this will fix things up for you.

Thank you for the link, Marian. However that did not work for me - There is no BFG toolbar listed in the Toolbars for me to check or uncheck.

Looks like I will have to reinstall it, which I am very loathe to do, after experiencing so many problems with the new Games Manager.......

I have two questions.
If I buy the boxed version of the 13th Skull does it install a Big Fish Game Manager and if it does would it be the new one?
My second question- Why does Big Fish change their Game Manager so frequently? It seems like ther's a new version every week?
Susan

I've bought boxed Big Fish games before and the Game Manager has never been installed.

I can't answer your question about why the updates to the Game Manager.

I suspect this latest version of Game Manager is a test of even more banner advertising for Big Fish. If the objections don't rise above a dull roar, that's what we can expect going forward.

Yes, I too have a very strong suspicion the update was all about that darn ads banner!!

Thanks.I really am hesitant to download anything from Big Fish right now.
Susan

Your hesitancy is understandable.

Rather than a useful improvement, the new Game Manager revealed itself to be an unfinished bit of code that needed some essential changes before it would work properly.

The real damage here appears to be to the credibility and reputation of Big Fish. The initial failure of the new Game Manager suggests a company that has grown careless with respect to its customers. That may not be the case, but that's the perception.

I have always been a great admirer of BFG in the past, and would defend them at every opportunity when someone said something bad about them.

But I think they have let themselves down badly over this. I have not been able to download anything for four days now, although I am able to play old games still. I bought some games in the sale yesterday, but of course cant play them until this is fixed. I have now been trying to download the same demo since yesterday without success - its just laughable.

And appreciate I am a BFG addict who needs her daily fix

There was an interesting post from "mrbobofet" at ***Big Fish forums*** saying that his problem turned out to be with a DCOM service.


This didn't help in my case, but it might help someone else here who is having trouble.

My settings for that says Started and Automatic, so I guess that is not the problem for me, but thanks anyway.

So DCOM is necessary, but not sufficient.

Would be useful if someone at Big Fish could be explicit about everything the new Game Manager requires.

Big Fish needs to decide whether having "the latest thing," which probably has extra features (which most customers would never make use of), is more important than keeping customers. IMO compatibility with peoples' computers is the most important feature and they've lost it. It's one thing to offer a few games that don't work on everyone's system, but your Game Manager has to work on EVERYONE's system or you'll lose business.

Just fired up my Game Manager and for a moment I thought the annoying banner was gone.

Then it popped into place.

Which suggests it is not actually part of the Game Manager but an overlay dropped in remotely by Big Fish.

And that means getting rid of it shouldn't be that big a deal.

Of course, the banner may not be the only thing that is causing problems.

At the moment, Big Fish is locking out customers whose systems don't support the new Game Manager. There's no telling how serious this is without some numbers and it is unlikely that anyone outside Big Fish will be seeing those numbers.

I have had two problems in the last few months. The first one was The Dragon Dance which I can't go beyond the first couple of scenes because I can't see the full screen, it's just greyed out. The second is with Treasure Seekers The Time Has Come. I keep getting what others have gotten, the "Access Violation." I'm beginning to feel as though I don't want to buy any more games if this is going to continue to happen. Hope they get their act together soon.

I've been reading most of this thread, maybe missed a few posts. But is it advisable NOT to download anything from BFG? Are all downloads at this point including the new game manager that's causing problems?

I installed the new Game Manager and haven't experienced any problems with either it or new games that I have downloaded with it. Other people are having problems. You just have to see for yourself.

No. The problem is that the new Game Manager isn't compatible with all computers. And since all Big Fish downloads are controlled by their Game Manager, if the Game Manager doesn't work on your computer, you can't download or install any games from Big Fish.

If you choose not to update an older version of the Game Manager it doesn't do you much good, because you still can't download or install any Big Fish games unless you're using their latest Game Manager. If you try to install a new Big Fish game or demo, the first thing it does is install the new Game Manager.

So, zookeeper, the answer is: try to install the new Game Manager. If it works, you're golden. If it doesn't, you're not golden, but that's not such a big deal. After all, it's just software.

It's really that simple.

There is no other information available that can help you decide.

I downloaded and installed with no problems. And so have most others.

Take a chance.

I have downloaded the new game manager and 2 games since and haven't had any problems.

I run WinXP and downloaded the Game Manager by itself by updating from my installed GM. I wanted to control where my games downloaded because I use an external drive. I had no problems with it or the games I have downloaded since installing.

If you are having problems, are you sure that your Firewall or Anti-Virus are not popping in and "sandboxing" it or something like that? I know mine considered BigFish as a "non-safe" download before I told it to "trust" that site. I think the new GM include some new DRM files that do look like trojans or viruses to many Firewalls/AV programs.

I'm running Win 7, 64 bit and have downloaded the new game manager and two new games using it, and have had no problems.

Ok, thanks to all. I guess from reading some of the beginning posts, especially Sherryah's, I was afraid of it messing up my whole system.

I don't think you can download the version that messed up Sherryah's system anymore. There is a newer version that doesn't have those problems.

If it matters, I'm running XP Pro SP3.

Good ol XP, I think you can throw anything at it and it will work.

I have XP and I have the problem with the Game Manager not working. The problem isn't about whether you have XP or Vista or 7.

Thanks MrLipid

You're welcome.

I am also running XP SP3

Hmmm, decided to delete Maestro, Music for Death from the download queue, and suddenly I am able to download games again. OK, the downloads are still so slow (it took the ^whole night to download Reelics of Fate) but at least I managed to download one demo today

That's good news. Progress!

How fast is your Internet connection? If you have a slow connection, downloads will always be slow.

My internet connection is not great, Jenny - but its far far better than it used to be.

I only realised quite recently that BFG games download much much slower than from other sites. I downloaded a whole episode of Back to the Future from Telltale, plus 3 full games from GOG (using their downloader) whilst BFG GM was still struggling with just one fairly small demo.

And like I said here before, I am once again getting the same problem I had about a year ago - Game gets to 99%, then goes back to 1% again... Why oh why does it not simply resume from the last point, i.e. 99%??

Rosaboobie,
That doesn't sound right at all. I don't have a great internet connection either, but Bigfish downloads are usually faster for me than other sites like GOG, for example.

Bigfish almost always resumes for me even in the later stages. I have only had a problem with this once or twice, but not recently.

Maybe you need to uninstall the Game Manager completely and redownload it. There have been problems with the new one.

Also make sure your firewall is not obstructing it in any way. BigFish has a Help page that tells you exactly what sites to OK in your Firewall.

Now, when you say there have been problems with the new one - Do you mean the updated one lazydaisy? I have already installed the updated (second) version, but I suppose I could uninstall and reinstall once again, if you think that might solve things.

I have already checked my Firewall settings...but its that 99% problem that really really bugs me.

Jenny, I just did a speed test 320 kbps - But whatever my speed, its all relative to the fact that BFG downloads are indeed so much slower than other downloads

So I guess it's ok to buy games again?
Susan

Depends on whether you're one of the folks who can successfully download and install the new Game Manager.

If you are, have at it.

If you are not, it's not OK yet.

Unfortunately, there no way to tell whether you'll be OK until you've attempted the download.

I downloaded it with no problem. (I also waited for the newer version of the Game Manager.)

Well I waited for FOUR days for a reply from BFG and all they told me was to download the new Games Manager, and if that didnt work, to send a Dr Felix report!!!

Hello, there is NO new GM, other than the one released on 17th!!!

And hello again - I have already sent the Dr Felix report with my initial communication to them!!

So I tried resending the Dr Felix report by email back to BFG and it kept saying Not enough Memory....So I checked the size of the zipped file.... 479 MB

Surely that can't be right!

Try running Dr. Felix again. The zip file should be very small -- in the KB range, not the MB range

Already done that, Jenny - the same size. I think I better download Dr Felix again!

This is weird. Every once in a while I get a Windows XP error popup telling me that Big Fish Game Manager is shutting down when I'm not even running it and don't have a game going. I'm guessing it has something to do with the tool bar. I just notified BF customer support.

The manager runs fine when I bring it up and the games seem to work so its not a big deal.

Sherryah, I feel for ya. I've been having enough trouble with my computer to make me want to throw it through the nearest window. At increasingly regular intervals, the cursor would suddenly act as if it were in glue and it was misery to try playing a game...any game except one with very low requirements. Sometimes I'd have to use Task Manager just to get out of the game.

The event log informed me that my computer was 'thrashing'. As if I knew what that meant though I knew it couldn't be good. Anyway, to make a long story short, I uninstalled the BFG game manager. I didn't really think it would do any good since the manager had been working fine. Since then, I've even installed the new one. But, knock wood, since I uninstalled the one that was there before, my cursor has stopped acting up and I have had NO trouble with my computer.

I just hope that was the reason for this miserable problem and it doesn't start again. If it does, the BFG manager is going to be the first thing to go.

Gil.

The most current Game Manager is version 2.0.1.41 (you can find out via OPTIONS=>ABOUT in the Game manager)
This version has been installed by more than 2 million customers in the past 10 days and we have had very few incidents reported.
If the new one is not working it is likely something very speccific to your machine, and BFG should be able to get it remedied.
If email support is not getting you answers, please try chat (mon-fri business hours PST) and ask for a level 2 tech support person. They have a near 100% track record of solving game manager related issues. They are very good and have some good diagnostic tools.

Hope that helps.

I found it necessary to uninstall the game manager and reinstall. It solved my problems with BFG downloading issues. I was a simple process.

A comment on the Technical Talk forum suggests that the reason there is no sharing of private communications allowed is that it might hurt the feelings of the CS staff or reveal that not every support person responds to a particular problem the same way.

Put another way, the feelings of those gamers who have come seeking answers don't count as much as the feelings of those offering suggestions.

I have no idea if this is the actual policy or not.

ooooops!

Free complimentary game codes are one thing.

A refusal to allow members of the forum to share technical information is another.

I just had a comment on the Technical forum edited because I mentioned that no one had suggested I try a particular approach to solving a problem.

The joke is that my comment referred to a comment immediately before mine and that comment wasn't [removed by moderator].

ooooooops!

The stuff that can't be shared is [removed by moderator], [removed by moderator], [removed by moderator], and [removed by moderator].

Hope that clears it up.

Hi friends,

Please - if you have any problems with the other forum - contact them privately or use their forums - which ever is applicable. Thank you.

Passing this along from Retrobabble on the Technical Talk forum:

Finally, here's my solution that ended up working. (This is after two weeks of "not enough storage, Internet Explorer script issues", etc.) I removed the current Internet Explorer on my computer and installed the latest version (IE8). Deleted cache and temp files. Rebooted. Didn't work. Second reboot did.

Thanks to Jessica at BFG who mentioned that the game manager was tied into Internet Explorer. I'd been playing in Firefox and assuming that the manager worked from it.


Edited on 02/27/2011 at 11:15:17 AM PST

I'm a bit confused here. I have used Firefox for a couple of years and the game manager has always worked for me.....even the new version. How is it that it is supposedly tied to IE?

You'll have to ask BFG. It wouldn't be the first time a third party application made use of IE services.

(I don't use IE either, but the IE code resides on Windows systems whether or not it's ever used for bringing up the IE browser.)

Now this is indeed strange because I only ever use IE for reading the news in the mornings - I always always use Firefox for everything else.

But for the last 3 days I have not checked out the news and therefore not run IE at all...... and what do you know.....the Games Manager seems to be behaving itself again.......... Coincidence or what??

Big Fish really should make their Game Manager so it does not depend on other Microsoft apps (or parts of Windows) that may be different between Windows computers. Otherwise they can't test the Game Manager properly. They'd have to test it on every one of their customers' computers to be sure it would work -- something they obviously aren't going to do.

The app under discussion here is IE 8, which installs on everything from XP to 7. (To be precise, it installs over the version of IE (6 or 7) that is already there. Microsoft has made IE part of Windows. Even if you are not using it, it is always there.)

Much as I dislike IE, having it in place as part of Game Manager doesn't seem like so much to ask.

Of course, if I were still running 98, it would be a different story.

But having a particular version of IE is different from simply having IE. Every version of Windows has IE of some sort. Why should the Big Fish Game Manager be so reliant on using a particular version of IE. Besides IE8 there have been suggestions involving reinstall/update of .NET and enabling DCOM server process launcher (which may have been disabled by antivirus as a security feature). Why should the Game Manager have to rely on so many things that may be configured differently on different computers?

I suspect because it's easier for tech support.

It looks like Big Fish is trying to establish, as much as it is possible on four different flavors of Windows (2000, XP, Vista, 7), a common platform. Same browser, same vintage .NET, same system services.

It would help if Big Fish were explicit about this rather than having customers learn for themselves that something is missing or outdated or turned off.

Of course, informing people that a certain set of software and services is necessary for the games to work properly takes away from the happy and carefree vibe of the site. ("A new game every day...and don't forget to update .NET!")

I use Firefox as my primary web browser but do have IE7 installed on my computer as well. I haven't had any problems with the new Game Manager, even though I haven't bothered to upgrade to IE8. I'll be doing that pretty soon, though.

An outlier!

Could well be one of those "Though it'll work with 7 for some folks, we would prefer that everyone upgraded to 8" situations.

I downloaded and played Curse of the Ghost Ship with no problems...only to find out Big Fish had taken it off the site because it was too broken to work for most customers.

To be clear, Game Manager works on all XP and later versions of windows and does not reqire any other products. The only time it uses IE is if you go into advanced settings and change to the "Alternate Method" under "network Connection". If you do that, it uses IE's network protocals instead of the standard ones that come within Game Manager. If you do this, it works with any version of IE 6,7, or 8 but sometimes 8 works the best.

So no other software is required for it to work and there are no outstanding issues with the current version of Game Manager. If you are having issues, Tier 2 tech support at BFG can solve your issue.

Hope that helps.

Paul

And what if we dont ever use I.E. Paul? It works the same for Firefox?

I've had no issues with the new Game Manager and I've always found BFG to be helpful when I have had problems with their games.
But I have been apalled at the lack of information on BFG site regarding the Game Manager problem which has affected so many people. Why do we have to have BFG-Guy posting this helpful information on this thread on this website (but very many thanks to you BFG-Guy for doing so)?
What about all the people who don't know about Gameboomers but buy their games from Big Fish?
In my opinion BFG made the classic error that so many organisations make when a problem arises - they clam up, first of all being in denial that there is a problem, then keeping everything so low key that no-one knows what the heck is happening and if things have been fixed or not.
Bad handling for such a (usually) smart organisation.

Please keep this in mind...



Please and thank you....

Thanks for stopping by BFG-Guy! We appreciate the info.

Ana

No. The network protocols for IE and Firefox are different.

That said, doesn't matter if you never use IE because, use it or not, IE is part of Windows.

If you go into Advanced Settings and use the "Alternative Method" under "Network Connection," you're using IE's network protocols. You won't see the IE browser come up, but you are using IE's network plumbing.

Make sense?

Not really, MrLipid

Sorry, Ana, for posting here again - I have now PM'd BFG-Guy

Sorry Boobie, it was not directed to you. It was in regards to comments complaining about BFG Forums. Complaints regarding other forums should be directed to that forum. We appreciate the same courtesy from other forums.

Ana

I do keep the BFG Manager in the same file in case I need to use it. However, I found from another of your posts, that I actually AM using the BFG manager, just not directly. Clicking on the game icon also starts the GM. I had to select the option to not show the Manager when I close a game, so that should have been a clue to me - just never picked up on it!

Whenever I download a new game or a demo, the GM and More Games icon are downloaded - again. I just delete the duplicates and keep one.

New Game Managers coming at Big Fish. Scheduled to go live at 2 PM PST.

PC: (version 2.0.1.43)

Mac: (version 2.1.0.11)

Drop over to the Technical Talk forum and look for the announcement near the end of Have Any Questions Regarding the Game Manager?

That is all.

I just updated to the newest version of the Game Manager.

This new one doesn't work with my XP computer either. Still gives the same kernel32 errors when I try to start up a game from the Big Fish shortcuts or when I try to start up the Big Fish Game Manager directly:

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1554/err2b.jpg
http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/715/erof.jpg

The games I've already installed work if I play them directly from the game exes, but I can't install any new ones.

I wish they'd go back to the old Game Manager. That one worked fine. The new one doesn't seem to work with XP SP1 or earlier versions of Windows.

What if you updated to SP2?

Gil.

I'd loose easy install of all my old Windows 2000 and XP adventure games -- stick the CD in the drive and let it do whatever it wants. I don't enjoy having to tweak 5 different things to get my old games working any any more than anyone else. Having easy install of my old adventure games is worth more to me than playing new Big Fish games.

The most annoying thing is that the Big Fish games themselves play fine. I just can't play new ones without a functional game manager. I have no idea why the kernel difference between XP SP1 and SP2 would matter to the Game Manager.

There's your answer then.

Yup. A month ago I didn't have to choose.
What's really annoying is that the games themselves worked fine on the computer. Recent hidden object games like Treasure Seekers 4, Phantasmat, Behind the Reflection, 13th Skull, Shadow Wolf, Fairing Point, Queen of Spades, Dark Priests, Stroke of Midnight, Mortlake Manor, The Void, Moonfell Wood, Nightmare on the Pacific... all worked fine. Unfortunately I didn't get around to activating all of them before the Game Manager stopped supporting my OS. It would be different if the computer had been struggling to play them, or crashing with them, but it was playing them without any problems.

Well, I'm running XP Pro SP3 and finding no difficulty running older games. And I just installed the latest revision of the Game Manager without incident.

Still can't play NOIR: A Shadowy Thriller, but that was never possible on XP Pro anyway.

Define difficulty.
If you can run any old Win 2000 or XP game from the default installation folder C:\Program Files without tweaking compatibility settings or running as an administrator, then you have the only XP SP3 computer I've ever heard of that will do that. Some people enjoy tweaking to get games to run, but I don't.

There's not much point continuing this. I've seen what happens to games on an XP computer after updating it to SP2, and it's not going to happen to this particular desktop. Nor does Big Fish seem to be interested in disassociating their Game Manager from the kernel32.dll file. Just don't anyone say it's compatible with all versions of XP when it's really only compatible with SP2 or 3.

Now I am really confused - what happened to version 2.0.1.42?? I still have version 2.0.1.41 despite downloading BFG games all day yesterday and today!

I just went back into the Games Manager and clicked on Check for Game Manager updates..... and nothing happened. So yet another uninstall and reinstall for me!

It appears that the Game Manager is throwing error messages related to the version of the OS.

It's not clear that the error messages are related to the version of the OS, but digging around tech support boards indicates this is the case.

If you get this as an error message...

The procedure entry point EncodePointer could not be located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.dll

...it's a sign that you are running XP SP1.

The cure is to apply XP SP3.

Which is another way of saying that the Game Manager does not support XP SP1.

(It appears that this is an error related to the use of Visual C++ 2010 in the building of Game Manager.)

Do you mean the Game Manager doesn't support XP SP1 because Visual C++ 2010 doesn't support XP SP1?

Game Manager doesn't support XP SP1 because XP SP1 doesn't support Visual C++ 2010. And neither does XP SP2. Visual C++ 2010 only works with SP3.

But the game manager works in XP SP2, despite that Visual C++ 2010 is only for XP SP3. Maybe they say Visual C++ 2010 only for XP SP3 but really works with XP SP 2.

The newest Game Manager (2.0.1.43) works in SP2?

Visual C++ 2010, which seems to play a role in getting Game Manager to work, can't be installed on SP2.

And it's Microsoft saying Visual C++ 2010 can't be installed on SP2.

Here's the 411 from Microsoft: "Supported Operating Systems:Windows 7;Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-Bit x86);Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2;Windows Server 2008 R2;Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2;Windows Vista Service Pack 2;Windows XP Service Pack 3"

Yup. It still works on XP SP2.
My brother put it on a computer with XP SP2 and if he would get away from his game long enough I could take a screenshot for you. Maybe later. He downloaded the latest version of the game manager yesterday when he tried a demo.

Good to know.

And, that said, there are still a lot of people struggling to get the new Game Manager to work.

It appears there are multiple issues with this latest piece of code, Visual C++ 2010 being only one of them.

Which may answer Rosaboobie's question about why they're putting out even newer versions so fast. Maybe they should go back to developing the Game Manager with the older version of Visual C++ if this one is buggy.

And just as I was able to download games again after 3 weeks "in the wilderness", once again with this new Games Manager I am totally unable to to download anything, even in Alternate mode.

I am running XP SP3 AND the only way I was able to download a demo yesterday was to turn off my Avast AV, even though I had put BFG in their white list!!

And yes, I have posted on the BFG board and once again <sigh> contacted CS.

And yet I have no problem downloading with SP3. Hmm.

There is something other than version of OS that is playing a part here.

And that is what makes debugging so difficult.

And that is also why I doubt they would go to an older version of Visual C++. We don't know why they went to a newer version, though I suspect it is for Windows 7 compatibility. Going backward would mean trying to find workarounds for things the more recent version of Visual C++ solves.

Nothing like trying to find a solution that spans a number of versions of Windows and more than a decade.

Is it possible that this has something to do with Adobe Flash?

Gil.

Could be. Can't say. Never had a problem.

Some of the error messages implicate Visual C++ 2010.

Like wrestling smoke.

To be totally fair to BFG, my laptop has been a bit "buggy" lately - kinda acting weird - so I am about to reinstall XP. Fingers crossed that it will also run the new GM

I've been watching this thread here and at BigFish. I finally decided to try out the new game manager. I have an HP Media Center Version 2002 Pavilion Service Pack 3 desktop. I am happy to say that I had no problem downloading and playing a demo.

Great news, Winfrey

how's it running for your boobie? Do your reinstall of xp yet?

I suspect the reason is for new features rather than compatibility. The older version of the Game Manager worked on Windows 7.


Good luck. Let us know how it works out.

I will do this project at the weekend, Winfrey, when I am here on my own with some peace and quiet and no distractions. Never done a format before.......