Moving your account from Steam to ED Standalone

[jalsina]

Many threads have discussed this subject along the time.
Last night I decided to lift the plug and go for the standalone, before buying one or two DLC I have planned.

My resistance to do it before, had to do with downloading my 183 GB of DLCs. Not sure if Steam files could be used for that download and in fact they are. Here is how the full event happened:

1- I started downloading the main standalone (free) game. No OB for now. The standalone in my case, required around 103 GB.

2- The 103 GB worth of game files were not in fact downloaded. They were copied from my Steam files in a SSD (so that was fast).

3- Once the copy from Steam was completed, the system downloaded some 300 MB more files of update files.

4- Then it came the licensing transfer from Steam to ED. It´s confusing but at the end it´s easy. Just follow the rules here:
https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/500/#3303126

5- Once licenses were transferred, I started up my new installed game. There, in the first icon in the upper intro screen, the game invited me to download the transferred DLC to the new game folder. So I pushed the button.

6- Again the transferred DLC files were copied from my Steam files (93 GB). And immediately after that, the system downloaded an update of about 100 mb, related with the DLCs.

So we are talking about five steps to get it done and it´s not necessary at all to download every DLC, not even the core (free) game. Everything will be copied from your Steam files except some updates (points 3 and 6).

Something happened around the end of the process. A very good offer was made available to buy new DLCs, even before the final transfer of my existing DLCs, but I cancelled it because I wanted to end the process. Afterwards, I could not access that offer again. So if you do that, be sure to be ready for a purchase at good prices (better in some cases to the sales discounts) as soon as you start up the new standalone.

Finally, again to my surprise, the Steam game is still working with all already transferred DLCs. Of course I will at some time delete these old DLCs, in order to make space in the SSD. So I have two DCS complete games in my PC.

[Sizigmund]

This is not what happend to me when I was installing the standalone. The standalone game was fully downloaded from DCS site. I guess its because my DCS steam version was installed on a different drive.

[jalsina]

Originally posted by Sizigmund:

This is not what happend to me when I was installing the standalone. The standalone game was fully downloaded from DCS site. I guess its because my DCS steam version was installed on a different drive.

In my case Steam for DCS was in the same disk.
But may be they have now an stronger installer that searches for Steam DCS in the W10 registry before downloading.
See that in fact I installed in the same disk, but in a totally different main folder.

[Sizigmund]

Originally posted by jalsina:

In my case Steam for DCS was in the same disk.
But may be they have now an stronger installer that searches for Steam DCS in the W10 registry before downloading.
See that in fact I installed in the same disk, but in a totally different main folder.

I moved to standalone when there was a problem with steam API and DCS wasn't able to contact the licenses checkup server. So it wasn't a long time ago. I believe that the "DCS_Updater.exe" just doesn't check how many drives you PC have and it doesn't check every drive for a steam folder, but just checks the same drive where you are installing the standalone.

There could be another explanation as well. I have some steam games installed on the same drive where I installed the standalone version. So it might be that "DCS_Updater.exe" checked the steam folder in this drive, haven't found DCS and downloaded it from DCS server. If it was checking all the drives for DCS folder it was finding that there is also another steam folder on another drive.

By the way. If automatic updates get you angry, because sometimes you just want to play the game and it starts updating. Then right click on DCS shortcut on the desktop, click "Properties" and change the end of the path from "DCS_Updater.exe" to "DCS.exe". But pay attention that you'll need to open the DCS installation folder and run "DCS_Updater.exe" manually when you would like to update the game.

[jalsina]

Good tip with updates. I suppose that I can pause a download as I do in Steam. In my case, yes, they can annoy me, because currently I have only 10 mbps of download speed.
If I get to keep both, Steam and ED Standalone, it means I will have double downloads. And I need to have at least the core in Steam, in case I want to buy from there.
I have to organize myself.

[Sizigmund]

Originally posted by jalsina:

Good tip with updates. I suppose that I can pause a download as I do in Steam. In my case, yes, they can annoy me, because currently I have only 10 mbps of download speed.
If I get to keep both, Steam and ED Standalone, it means I will have double downloads. And I need to have at least the core in Steam, in case I want to buy from there.
I have to organize myself.

You don't have to keep the core game installed on your drive, in order to buy new modules from steam. You can completely uninstall the game but keep buying the modules from steam. When you buy a new module, your steam account acquires a license for this module, so you don't even have to install this module, the license is already there after you bought the module. All you need to do, is to transfer this license to your standalone account, so you have to open your standalone account setting and check for the steam licenses again. A new license will be added to you account and you can install the module from the module manager of standalone version.

[[GCA] King Apo]

You can simply install the Standalone into the Steam-version folder. That way Standalone will see 'oh there is files here already! neat'.

You can even start your DCS via steam, and use all the Steam features like tracking ingame playtime & uploading media.

One issue: If Steam version updates, it will create a file (retail.cfg) which makes your DCS believe it's a dirty Steam version instead of the chad Standalone it is. Simply delete that file. (You can recognize this happening when your module manager is gone)

I have written a guide how to do this in the past, but have put it to private since I have not kept up with DCS that much. But this method still works.


TL:DR; Install Standalone into your Steam-DCS path. Delete retail.cfg

[jalsina]

My first download from ED has not gone totally well. A "curl error (6): Couldn't resolve host name" has occurred. I will post a thread explaining about it later.

[Sizigmund]

Originally posted by jalsina:

My first download from ED has not gone totally well. A "curl error (6): Couldn't resolve host name" has occurred. I will post a thread explaining about it later.

I also had a lot of download failures, but it doesn't matter, the next time you run DCS_Updater.exe, it checks for already downloaded data and start downloading the rest of the files. So its not that bad, the files you already downloaded are not requires re-downloading.

[jalsina]

Originally posted by Sizigmund:

Originally posted by jalsina:

My first download from ED has not gone totally well. A "curl error (6): Couldn't resolve host name" has occurred. I will post a thread explaining about it later.

I also had a lot of download failures, but it doesn't matter, the next time you run DCS_Updater.exe, it checks for already downloaded data and start downloading the rest of the files. So its not that bad, the files you already downloaded are not requires re-downloading.

Allow me to understand what you are saying.
The way to repair you mention, is it similar to the Steam File Verify at a DLC level only (not the full game)?

I took a look into the ED forums and there were some complaints related with the "curl error (6): Couldn't resolve host name" but for just updates. Not my case. In my case what I downloaded was the "to try" Syria map. I want to take a look to the performance and fps, before buying prior to this sale closing.

So Syria took the full night to download (my speed is slightly more than 10 mbps or 1.3 Mb/s). In the morning I found the process stopped with the error, I saved the log but it took a next step that continued to download a final "update".
So I am not sure if during this last update process, the system did a verify of Syria files.
Why I say that? Because I have tested Syria by flying for about 20 minutes and it´s working well. The fps are acceptable given my graphics card. The major hits happen over the cities.

So do you recommend me to do a verify of Syria by using the DCS_Updater.exe again?

[Sizigmund]

Originally posted by jalsina:

Allow me to understand what you are saying.
The way to repair you mention, is it similar to the Steam File Verify at a DLC level only (not the full game)?

I took a look into the ED forums and there were some complaints related with the "curl error (6): Couldn't resolve host name" but for just updates. Not my case. In my case what I downloaded was the "to try" Syria map. I want to take a look to the performance and fps, before buying prior to this sale closing.

So Syria took the full night to download (my speed is slightly more than 10 mbps or 1.3 Mb/s). In the morning I found the process stopped with the error, I saved the log but it took a next step that continued to download a final "update".
So I am not sure if during this last update process, the system did a verify of Syria files.
Why I say that? Because I have tested Syria by flying for about 20 minutes and it´s working well. The fps are acceptable given my graphics card. The major hits happen over the cities.

So do you recommend me to do a verify of Syria by using the DCS_Updater.exe again?

What I did is, if module download fails, I just reoppened the game, went to a module manager and clicked the button "Install module" one more time. So the game was minimized or closed and "DCS_Updater.exe" was start working. It checks the already downloaded files of module and start downloading the non-downloaded files. But I guess that it also possible to check files integrity with the same result. To check files integrity, click the "Windows start" button, find "Eagle Dynamics" entry and click "Restore the game".

[jalsina]

Originally posted by Sizigmund:

What I did is, if module download fails, I just reoppened the game, went to a module manager and clicked the button "Install module" one more time. So the game was minimized or closed and "DCS_Updater.exe" was start working. It checks the already downloaded files of module and start downloading the non-downloaded files. But I guess that it also possible to check files integrity with the same result. To check files integrity, click the "Windows start" button, find "Eagle Dynamics" entry and click "Restore the game".

Both methods you describe, either your first four lines or the final part of your paragraph, sound to me as two different ways to verify all files of the game.

But in Steam there is a way to verify the files for "only one DLC" if you wish. Basically in Settings look for the games listing, you right click your game you want to verify (DCS) and go to the DLC menu, you uncheck the one you wish to verify files and immediately you check that DLC back again.

Is there something like that in the ED DCS "updater" system?

[Sizigmund]

Originally posted by jalsina:

Both methods you describe, either your first four lines or the final part of your paragraph, sound to me as two different ways to verify all files of the game.

But in Steam there is a way to verify the files for "only one DLC" if you wish. Basically in Settings look for the games listing, you right click your game you want to verify (DCS) and go to the DLC menu, you uncheck the one you wish to verify files and immediately you check that DLC back again.

Is there something like that in the ED DCS "updater" system?

The method you described for DLC files integrity checkup, is not performing an integrity checkup.

When you uncheck the DLC checkbox in your DLCs library, steam uninstalls the unchecked DLC. When you check the checkbox again, steam downloads this DLC from a server and then install it. So you are not checking the files integrity, you are just removing the whole DLC from your PC and then downloading the whole DLC again, in other words, you are reinstalling the DLC. Don't do this thing to maps DLC, or you will download ~50 GB again.

The meaning of checking a files integrity is something else. When you check the files integrity, steam start checking the checksums* of each file of a game, if the checksum is incorrect, steam redownloads just this single file. So even if you have a problem with one of the DLC maps that are take ~50 GB, but there is a problem in just a several files which take in a sum 100 MB, then only these files will be redownloaded (only 100 MB will be redownloaded).

Now in standalone version, if you have a download failure while downloading a module, then when you will click "Install module" in module manager again, the module manager will download only the remaining part of this module. For example, if you already download a 45 GB of map module which is take 50 GB, then DCS_Updater will download only the remaining 5 GB instead of downloading the whole module again.

When you are checking files integrity, it works exactly the same as in Steam.

There is no option in Steam to check the DLC files integrity, only uninstall and install DLC.

---

*checksum, is a control sum of a file, that is created out of a file's bits by using a special, complex criptographic algorythm. The checksum algorithm usually generates a unique value for each file, because even a small change in file's bits generates a totally different checksum. This way it is possible to check if file is corrupted or not. Steam can take an original checksum of a file from server, generate a checksum of a file on your PC and check if they are equals.

[jalsina]

I have been using DLC files integrity for years now in Train Simulator and it works like a charm.
Once unchecked, you don´t have to wait an hour to re-check the DLC. You uncheck and re-check immediately. I am aware that if I leave the DLC permanently unchecked it will uninstall.

Here you have one of my TS messages in 2018 that fixed the problem for someone:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/24010/discussions/3/1742225999457776089/#c1742225999458388702

There is a lot of people that are not aware of this trick and they go for a full file verification.

[jalsina]

Originally posted by Sizigmund:

Now in standalone version, if you have a download failure while downloading a module, then when you will click "Install module" in module manager again, the module manager will download only the remaining part of this module. For example, if you already download a 45 GB of map module which is take 50 GB, then DCS_Updater will download only the remaining 5 GB instead of downloading the whole module again.

It´s not working for me. Allow me to explain what I am doing:
I start up DCS. In the upper part of the intro screen, I click the left icon and open the MODULE MANAGER.
In the upper menu I click "Installed" and then "Terrains". I get a list of my five terrains. I can enable or disable the module or I can tick each one.,
I can select Syria which will activate a button (usually greyed off) below "Delete selected". But there is not a button or link called "Installed Module" (not even greyed).
So, I must be doing something wrong or maybe I don´t see it because the system thinks my files are ok?

[Sizigmund]

Originally posted by jalsina:

I have been using DLC files integrity for years now in Train Simulator and it works like a charm.
Once unchecked, you don´t have to wait an hour to re-check the DLC. You uncheck and re-check immediately. I am aware that if I leave the DLC permanently unchecked it will uninstall.

Here you have one of my TS messages in 2018 that fixed the problem for someone:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/24010/discussions/3/1742225999457776089/#c1742225999458388702

There is a lot of people that are not aware of this trick and they go for a full file verification.

Oh, I understand. But anyway, it is not an official DLC integrity checkup. What you have done is you just found a bug in steam. So when you uncheck the checkbox it takes some time for steam to uninstall the DLC, and if you immediatelly check the check box, steam starts the installation procedure.

But it looks like, before starting the installation procedure, steam always checks if the files of a game / DLC are already available on the drive and it actually checks each single file and if some of the files are corrupted it redownloads them. Its a nice workaround, and yes, you can't do the same in standalone version. But on the other hand, standalone version is not forcing you to update like steam do. So there is some advatages and disadvantages in both versions.

Anyway, even that this bug is nice, I prefer to make a full file integrity checkup, because you never know what causing the problem. It can be not only a single DLC but something in a core game as well. But I understand why you do this for a "Train simulator 2XXX". You probably have a lot of additional content for it and checking the integrity for all this content can take a really long time.