[2022] Upcoming Update of the Game Launcher

Hello everyone,

Were continuing to take steps to improve the player experience with SWTOR, so lets talk about some testing well be conducting in the next week.

In short, for non-Steam players, we're updating the game launcher with a much more efficient patching system that is closer to the performance already enjoyed by players on Steam, allowing faster delivery that ultimately translates to shorter download times for our players.

Beginning next week, we will release this update to a small subset of players before releasing it live to everyone. This update will be in the launcher itself, not the game client. The launcher update happens BEFORE the login screen is enabled, so you will still have to log in again as normal when playing the game.

Are players expected to download anything on their end?

Players who have the latest game client with our current launcher will not need to download anything again. However, if they have an older version of the launcher (anything before the 7.1a version), they will.

Further details on what this looks like for players who use the current launcher

All players with the latest version of the launcher will NOT need to download the game client. When we are ready to deploy the new launcher, it will APPEAR as a client download (as it uses the same progress bar), but it will only be scanning files to compare them to the new data structure. The download in this case refers not to re-downloading the game client but downloading small pieces of information for validating the game data already on disk. So to reiterate once more, players will not be experiencing a full download.

For now, I am locking this thread, but well reopen it when we roll out the initial subset testing. When this thread is unlocked, please only use this thread to report any issues or ask questions directly related to the new launcher. Any other type of post will be deleted, as we need to keep information here consolidated and succinct.

Players who are selected to help us test this will notice a red banner toward the top of their launcher informing them they have been selected. If you are a player that was included in the subset to test this update and you are experiencing issues, please detail your issue in a reply to this thread.

Provided that testing goes well and there are no issues, this update is intended to go live on September 22. Should this timing change, I will inform you all with an update.

Note: FR and DE translations of this post will be published at the latest, Monday, September 19th.

Thanks, everyone!
Jackie

EDIT:

Received some questions regarding the above, and will leave answers below:

How much will players have to download if they dont have their game updated to 7.1a at the time the new launcher goes live?

• Even though it will not be a full game download, players can expect up to a 1/3 of a complete client, however, the new launcher will download at a much faster speed.

Will the launcher look differently than before?

• There should not be any noticeable visual changes.

Can players opt out of the initial tests?

• Players selected will not be able to opt out of testing. If tests are successful and there are no issues during this testing phase, the update will be pushed out to all players on September 22nd.

EDIT 2:
Players who have Free or Preferred accounts can post feedback here.

Hi everyone,

I received some questions about the above announcement, so I updated the OP with the answers to them.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Testing for this update has now started. A small number of players who have been selected to test the new launcher update will notice a red banner in their launcher. If you are one of the selected players and would like to provide feedback, please use this thread.

Players who have Free or Preferred accounts may post feedback here.

Thanks all!

Hi Fabien,

I have a follow up from the team. On your runtime, do you have an equivalent of their AppData folder, usually on C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\BioWare\Star Wars - The Old Republic Launcher\ on Windows?

If you are able to get that, please send us the host.developer.log file so we can see what issue you are facing. Send an email to [email protected] and in the subject line include "New Game Launcher Issue".

Thanks!

Hi RussellRichter,

Can you follow the steps I wrote out in the post right above yours? We'll need that file to figure out what's going on with your launcher. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

We're going to pause the test run around 9:30am CT today to review all of the feedback we've received.

Thanks to everyone who's been submitting feedback and the log files. We're investigating everything and fixing those issues to push out a patch today that will get all of you in working order again. I'll be updating this thread with more info when I have it.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

The team has made some configuration changes in an effort to fix the issue that some players are having with the error messages they are seeing when using the new launcher.

For the players who were impacted by this error message, we are asking you to please open the launcher and let us know if these changes fixed your issue. Well be keeping an eye on this thread for updates.

Thank you!

Hi racknut,

It looks like when you restored from a back up, your game is now in an inconsistent state. If you do a re-install that should get you working again. Re-installing right now will unflag you from the testing pool, however, there is a very small chance that you could be selected again as a tester when we do another round of testing.

We are having discussions on compensation plans for the players who were impacted, and we'll have a better idea of what this looks like once testing is 100% concluded. Appreciate you working with us through this.

Hi everyone,

The team is finishing up testing and will be doing another release in a few hours. At this time, please do not perform a re-install. When I update this thread again, that is when the new update is pushed live and we would like you to open the launcher again and let us know what state you're in.

Thank you for patience as we investigate these issues!

Hello everyone,

A new patch was released. For players who were impacted by the previous error message, please re-open the launcher and let us know what state you are in. If you were one of the players who submitted a log file to our Support team, we would especially like to hear from you.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

The team is getting closer to completing testing for the new game launcher, however, I did want to let you all know that the testing phase will continue into next week.

That said, we know that a small handful of players are in a bad state currently. It is at this time that we are recommending that these players do a re-install to get back into a working state. I want to reiterate what I posted earlier in this thread that re-installing right now will unflag you from the testing pool, but there is a small chance you may be selected again as a tester when we do another round of testing next week. To put this in a little more perspective, around one thousand players will be selected for testing. We know this is not an ideal situation for these impacted players, so please know that we are still having conversations around compensation plans.

I also wanted to lay out how communications will be handled beginning Monday, September 26th. As weve announced earlier this week, new forums will be going live toward the end of next week and beginning Monday, these forums will be moved into a Read-Only state. We want players to still have the ability to communicate with us if they need to, so we will be opening a thread on the AHQ Forums beginning Monday morning. This will provide a path for players to report any issues and also allow us to post updates.

The game launcher banner will also be updated with a link to the AHQ Forums so players know where to navigate to get additional info. I will be posting a reminder of this plan Monday morning.

Thank you again for your patience with this project!

Jackie

Hi everyone,

The team is getting closer to completing testing for the new game launcher, however, I did want to let you all know that the testing phase will continue into next week.

That said, we know that a small handful of players are in a bad state currently. It is at this time that we are recommending that these players do a re-install to get back into a working state. I want to reiterate what I posted earlier in this thread that re-installing right now will unflag you from the testing pool, but there is a small chance you may be selected again as a tester when we do another round of testing next week. To put this in a little more perspective, around one thousand players will be selected for testing. We know this is not an ideal situation for these impacted players, so please know that we are still having conversations around compensation plans.

I also wanted to lay out how communications will be handled beginning Monday, September 26th. As weve announced earlier this week, new forums will be going live toward the end of next week and beginning Monday, these forums will be moved into a Read-Only state. We want players to still have the ability to communicate with us if they need to, so we will be opening a thread on the AHQ Forums beginning Monday morning. This will provide a path for players to report any issues and also allow us to post updates.

The game launcher banner will also be updated with a link to the AHQ Forums so players know where to navigate to get additional info. I will be posting a reminder of this plan Monday morning.

Thank you again for your patience with this project!

Jackie

Hi everyone, 

We have wrapped testing for the new launcher and are ready to go live! The new launcher will be rolling out beginning October 4th. We will be releasing the new launcher in phases throughout the week to also verify all the supporting systems are working properly. We should have it fully released by the end of the week. 

The error rate during testing was less than half a percent; however, the team has worked on implementing fixes throughout testing to ensure that players do not run into the same issues. Please understand with a larger number of players now able to download the new launcher, it is possible some players may get into a bad state. If you are someone who encounters an error, please do the following so we can troubleshoot and assist you:  

• Send an email to [email protected] and in the subject line include "New Game Launcher Issue".
• Send us the host.developer.log file so we can see what issue you are facing. C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\BioWare\Star Wars - The Old Republic Launcher\ on Windows
• Include the error message/code you see on the launcher itself
• Include the launcher version you are using (can be found under settings)
• Include your account name 

We will also be keeping an eye on this thread and the one that was posted on AHQ to communicate updates with players and also read any reports and feedback. 
 
Players who already have the new launcher will not notice any changes. 

Thank you for your continued patience with this project!
 

1 hour ago, codydmaan said:

Being serious here, Is there a direct reason why we needed a new launcher? 

I've never had a issue with the previous launcher. 

I have tested the "new launcher" but other then a scale up in fonts nothings different. 

 

I'm just curious why man hours were spent on a launcher, when the previous one works just fine for 11 years, rather then use the time to fix game bugs?

As I posted in the OP, the ultimate goal is for players who use the game launcher to have a similar experience to those who use Steam. Essentially, quicker and faster download times for players.

It is also worth noting that there are many moving parts in game development, and there are a variety of teams who have different responsibilities, and we all work synchronously together. This team in particular focuses on the services used by both players and the game itself which is a different than handling bug fixes.   

17 hours ago, supertimtaf said:

So I take it that there's a team dedicated to bugfixing ? Great  Are you hiring by any chances ?

More on topic, does this mean that we should expect to see more improvements to the user experience in general ? QoL features are something that should really be looked at when trying to get a game to last, even when it comes to diverse things like new forums, newer launcher...

And furthermore, is there any chance that we'd get a list of what was exactly improved with the new launcher ? Like a patch note ? I think that having some "substance" to read could help ease a lot of concerns regarding the necessity of this update. 

Hey there,

Typically the same teams who build the content are the ones who fix it, since they are experts in those tools and systems. Like all things, it is a balance of bug fixing vs active development. To your second question, always keep an eye on https://www.bioware.com/careers/#current-openings for roles across BioWare, including the SWTOR team!

Yup, you should continue to see UX and QoL improvements. This has been a pillar of our development since 7.0 and continues to be one going forward.

A lot of what changed about the launcher is technical stuff that isn't super forward facing but as a single patch note there is one major player benefit, download speeds. Download/install speeds on the updated launcher will be substantially faster than was possible on the old one.

I don't want to derail this thread too much further as the team is rolling out the new launcher starting today and we need this thread clear so we can keep an eye on feedback and reports of any issues players may run into as Jackie outlined in her earlier post.

Thanks!!

-eric

1 hour ago, -Ashton- said:

just been prompted to download this garbage when innocently trying to log in, performed an update and then after start nothing happens.

If you are experiencing issues, follow the steps laid out here, so we can trouble the issue for you. 

2 minutes ago, -Ashton- said:

I've followed all those steps and asked to be "patient" whilst you investigate the issues.

Thank you for following the steps. As the Support team said, please be patient while they investigate the issues you're having. And no, I do not find this funny. We are working to help out any player who is reporting issues with the new launcher. While I understand your frustration, I ask that you are respectful in the content you post here or anywhere on the forums. 

Hi folks,

Thanks for the report regarding the messaging on our launcher. Our team is looking into updating it.

 

On 10/11/2022 at 4:36 AM, Sarova said:

Thank you.  This is a really important feature that is missing from these new forums.  Devs, if you're reading, PLEASE add the ability to navigate Dev posts within a thread.

Hey Sarova, 

Just acknowledging that this is a feature we are investigating adding. I don't want to derail the thread with forum feature suggestions, but I at least wanted to let you know that is something we are discussing. 

22 hours ago, MarkovChain said:

@JackieKo a 30gb download just for file checks with a new launcher ? are you guys kidding  me ? i won't be able to play all week. get some checksums and compare with a flatfile list of checksums, for the emporers sake...

(i try to get FTTH since 2002, i am still stuck with 16k DSL and the only ISP delivering to this backwoods probably wont solve this in a long while.)

What StevetheCynic stated in the above post is what the experience should be for players. I'm quoting this from my OP as well.  "When we are ready to deploy the new launcher, it will APPEAR as a client download (as it uses the same progress bar), but it will only be scanning files to compare them to the new data structure. The “download” in this case refers not to re-downloading the game client but downloading small pieces of information for validating the game data already on disk. So to reiterate once more, players will not be experiencing a full download." I hope that is helpful! 

Hi everyone, 

We’re seeing some common issues players are reporting that can be fixed by using the Repair function. We wanted to highlight these scenarios for players, so they can get into a working state. 

• If you see these type of errors:
• Game not launching
• Launcher crashing
• Blank launcher screen
• Slow launcher

Please try:

• Open the launcher, go to settings, and run the Repair function
• Or, if your launcher crashed during upgrade, please download the new installer from this page, run it, and choose "Repair"

If you are still experiencing issues and have not submitted your log file to Support, we highly suggest you do, so we can troubleshoot the issues further. 
 

3 hours ago, -Rachel- said:

 

Hello @JackieKo,  That doesn't work cause the repair button is not active on the launcher for me.  But I have the issue that I can log in.  But the "PLAY" button does nothing and acts like a toggle (highlight on/off) so the actual game never starts up.

@-Rachel-Can you please download the installer from the download page, run it, choose repair and confirm what state you are in afterward? 

Hi all,

Update from the team on what they are currently troubleshooting. There are two main issues that they are working to resolve that covers many of the edge cases that they are seeing reported in the forums.

The first is a version issue. Thanks to the logs that players submitted, they can see a version mismatch, so they will be working to deploy a fix to correct this.

The second is players seeing a Launch_Error_Code after successfully upgrading to the new launcher. This appears to be specific to the player's computer as the launcher executable can trigger antivirus blocks as this is the first launcher update in quite some time. So currently, the team is troubleshooting further.

I'll update this thread when I know more.

Thank you
 

2 hours ago, racknut said:

I am still getting the now infamous Host_WindowLoadTimeout error. So I've done some debugging and noticed this. Here is my host.developer.log for the latest installer/launcher.
 

I'll be passing this along to the team. 

Hello everyone, 

Update from the team. 

We have been looking at the issues that players have reported. After researching and replicating these issues locally, we have the following suggestions/fixes for players:

Nothing happens when you click on play or the play button is grayed out:

• This usually means that an external application (like an antivirus) is stopping the launcher from running the SWTOR game client. This launcher was a big upgrade and sometimes antiviruses see these differences on game executables and block them. Most antiviruses offer “exclusions” or “exceptions” that you can add to allow or permit applications. Usually, these options are found on settings.
• Once you go to your antivirus settings, add the exception/exclusion and make sure you add your SWTOR install directory to this list. This will make sure that you can run the game client without an external application stopping it.
• The usual install directory is on C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\BioWare\Star Wars - The Old Republic
• If this doesn’t work, then a full uninstall and a reinstall will be needed.

Launcher upgrade fails and crashes:

• We have seen issues with some BitRaider installations. If you still have a BitRaider folder in your install location, delete it and relaunch the launcher.
• The usual install directory is on C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\BioWare\Star Wars - The Old Republic\BitRaider
• If after deleting your BitRaider folder you can’t restart the launcher, you can repair it by downloading the latest installer from our website and try again.
• If this doesn’t work, then a full uninstall and a reinstall will be needed.

Log in screen spins after trying to log in:

• This is a very similar issue to #1 as there are some files of the launcher that can’t be called because they are being blocked by an external source. Make sure that you allow or permit the installation directory on exclusions/exceptions of your antivirus but also, that you add the swtorlaunch.dll file as well. 
• This file is located inside your installation folder, C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\BioWare\Star Wars - The Old Republic\swtorlaunch.dll
• If this doesn’t work, then a full uninstall and a reinstall will be needed. Note: you can also save your app data before a full uninstall. It is typically on C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\SWTOR\swtor\settings

Launcher freezes, crashes or shows a white screen: 

• It may mean that your computer crashed during the upgrade. You can repair it by downloading the latest installer from our website and try again.
• If this doesn’t work, then a full uninstall and a reinstall will be needed. 

Launch error: Code 964:

• This is an Operating System error, so chances are that your computer crashed during upgrade. You need to repair your launcher installation by downloading the latest installer from our website and try again.
• If this doesn’t work, then a full uninstall and a reinstall will be needed.

Launch error: Code 961

• This is a timeout error and that usually means that there may be connection issues. Close the launcher and try again. You may need to repair your launcher installation by downloading the latest installer from our website and running the launcher again.
• If this doesn’t work, then a full uninstall and a reinstall will be needed.

Important note: In the event you must perform a reinstall, you can save your app data before a full uninstall. It is typically on C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\SWTOR\swtor\settings to be later restored in that same location after reinstalling the game.

If none of the above works for you, please let us know as your scenario could be a unique situation and we will work together on troubleshooting further. 

Thank you
 

On 10/21/2022 at 9:48 PM, Coirbidh said:

@JackieKo @CommunityTeam Any progress on addressing the "Host_WindowLoadTimeout" error message problem, which appears AFTER install, and when TRYING to install (or reinstall, as in my case)?

Hi Coirbidh, please send logs to the Support team, so we the team can take a look into what's happening. Thanks!

18 hours ago, Kantook said:

w

10/25/2022 2:57:30 PM
Behavior Blocker detected suspicious behavior "TrojanDownloader" of F:\Star Wars - The Old Republic\swtor\retailclient\swtor.exe (SHA1: FF256C5E6DF4908CAF03EB874EB107C44C25A91A)

elp...... it crashes my system to a reboot, AV software detects it as a trogan  and blocks swtor.exe

Please add that to your allowlist as noted here. 

On 10/26/2022 at 2:56 PM, Coirbidh said:

In case this helps anyone else here, or on the BioWare side of things (@JackieKo, @CommunityTeam, and/or @CommunitySupport), here is my host.developer.log:

It seems that there is an issue with localization. Can you set the launcher in English and see if it works? 

4 hours ago, Szob said:

I am on old, unupdated Windows 7 Pro and I do not have ANY virus software, Windows Defender is OFF, firewall down, DNS set to Google's 8.8.8.8 and the launcher is refusing to patch to correct version. 

We highly recommend that you update Windows as that can be the root cause of your current issue. 

Hi everyone, 

A new patch is being released shortly. There were some key reports that helped us identify very specific issues that players were experiencing with the play button being grayed out. This issue was tied to account names that started with a hyphen. This was a very unique scenario and we appreciative of the players who continued to send us reports that helped us identify this problem. 

The new patch should be deployed within the next hour.