"Error: There was an error writing the story files to your documents folder. Please ensure the application has proper permissions."

[kENZ]

I've tried everything posted here to fix this issue, but it still won't find the main story. Your game was cheap right now, but not having it work is so stupid.

[erasmus]

Sorry for the delay, super busy weekend. What operating system are you using, and where is your Steam game installation directory vs. your \Documents folder? Going to need more information so we can tell if it's actually an issue we need to address. Thanks.

[Sparkbomber]

Welp, bought the game today, same issue. Running Windows 10 Pro. Steam and Documents are in the usual spots. I've tried running the game from within the local files folder as administrator, but it still gives this same problem. I'm gonna de- and re-install it now to see if that helps, check back in a bit.

[Sparkbomber]

Welp, that didn't help. Long story short, I'm hoping you can fix this bug.

[erasmus]

Originally posted by Sparkbomber:

Welp, that didn't help. Long story short, I'm hoping you can fix this bug.

Did you check your anti-virus, anti-ransomware, or any other software you might be running that exerts authority over processes being able to run or what processes have access to what folder locations? What about User Account Control settings? Can you specifically define, with file paths, what the "usual spots" are?

We haven't run into this issue on any of the 10 test systems available to us, and have yet to be given conclusive proof that it's a bug on our end.

[Sparkbomber]

Antivirus and such didn't give a beep, they usually do if they want to stop something. AVG Internet Security, Glary Utilities and Malwarehunter are quite 'vocal' as it were when something bugs them about a program. As in, they zoom to desktop and give the "stopped the program because..." message.

The usual spots are C:\Users\Gebruiker\Documents\Eek (Dutch comp) and C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\House Party. User control settings I'm not sure what you're looking for there, but basically EVERY other game and quite a few programs (that need to) make maps there from Puzzle Agent 2 to Nexus Mod Manager to Berserk: Band of the Hawk.

Now I do support a few other same engine games in development, and none of them have given this sort of issue. Its a proper puzzle, so I'm hoping you can fix it asap. I'm no technical wizard though, but if I can help further please don't hesitate to ask.

[erasmus]

Yeah you are right, they *should* notify you. Your "usual" spots look good. You should be fine with UAC (User Account Control) settings like the following: https://imgur.com/bzXS2bK

Just to rule things out, in any and all Anti-Virus/Security software(s) you are running, can you add exclusions/exceptions ("white listing") for the following folders and files?

C:\Users\Gebruiker\Documents\Eek
C:\Users\Gebruiker\AppData\LocalLow\Eek
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\House Party
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\House Party\HouseParty.exe

Let me know if this has any effect. It's important we get this resolved, sorry to put you on the spot. The more info/confirmations/denials of specific troubleshooting steps we get, the better. We've got customers who can acccess Steam all over the world but not our game server, so if this doesn't work, they can't download stories from our server OR use the pre-packaged stories we include with the Steam download...kind of important stuff .

[Sparkbomber]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that did exactly diddly squat I'm sorry to say.
And no worries, I know that. But sadly enough I'm not that great with computers, so I can only state what I see happening. I wouldn't know how to track it in the code or anything.

[erasmus]

Alright, so in the pinned thread in Bug Reports (Read First...blah blah, it's super long), there are some links to direct downloads of the story files. So, two questions:

1) What is in your C:\Users\Gebruiker\Documents\Eek right now, if anything?
2) If you take the downloaded \Mods content from the direct download link, so that you've eventually got C:\Users\Gebruiker\Documents\Eek\House Party\Mods\Stories, with all the story folders and their files in place, are you able to start the game?

[Sparkbomber]

2-Erh... Not completely awake, but what direct download link?
1-../Eek/Houseparty/Mods/Stories. Just empty folders in each other.

Just a question, on basis of no programming knowledge, but wouldn't it be better to maybe have the stories and such download to the steam folders?

[erasmus]

Originally posted by Sparkbomber:

2-Erh... Not completely awake, but what direct download link?
1-../Eek/Houseparty/Mods/Stories. Just empty folders in each other.

Just a question, on basis of no programming knowledge, but wouldn't it be better to maybe have the stories and such download to the steam folders?

The stories do technically download to the Steam folder. Every version has the story files packaged as part of a "StreamingAssets" directory. You can see that yourself:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\House Party\HouseParty_Data\StreamingAssets\LatestStory

So, if you're getting an error about the game being unable to write the stories and cannot play the game, it's because the game isn't able to unpack the stories from the StreamingAssets folder, AND cannot populate the folders in Documents\Eek. Both locations exist for redundancy and so that people can keep their custom stories in a place that's separate and "safe".

The direct download is here:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/611790/discussions/1/1458455461474913334/

and within that link: http://games.eekllc.com/Download/stories/Mods.0.8.8.zip

[Sparkbomber]

Welp, it does allow me to play the game, but I still get the same error when it tries to connect to the server for updates. I appreciate the help, but I do hope the issue can be solved soon so that this work-around isn't needed anymore.

[Sparkbomber]

So, I can play the game, but due to this bug I can't take photo's or pretty much do anything with the related quests. -_-;;