I'm trying to play Starcraft II, and something seems amiss....


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Scarab Sages

After the box languished on my desk for a few years now, I finally installed Starcraft II and tried to play - but something's wrong:

Do I REALLY need to "upgrade" (which presumably means paying even more money) just to play the single-player game??? That's all I want to do. It was simple enough for Starcraft II: Just install and play. I've had my fill of the Blizzard Entertainment online gaming experience, and it would be a real sleazy move if they decided to force the sequel to a wonderful single-player game to be another MMO by default.

Liberty's Edge

I assume you have Wings of Liberty?

I can't say for certain without seeing what you're seeing but that upgrade that's being advertised is likely just the Heart of the Swarm.

Scarab Sages

I do indeed have Wings of Liberty.

I have Heart of the Swarm, too, but haven't installed it yet.

Is that all it is? Might there be any reason I don't want to install the sequel until I'm finished with the first? What about what it said about "full level cap for all three races" or whatever?

Liberty's Edge

I have no idea what the advertisements are offering. It's possible it was pitching multiplayer functionality. There's no 'level' function within Starcraft II.

Installing the sequel now might change the menu screen but that's about it. It won't affect the single player experience either way.

Scarab Sages

Thanks.

Scarab Sages

Um...okay, this isn't working out.

I just played the first three scenarios in Wings of Liberty...and now it's telling me I have to "upgrade to the full version" if I want to play the full game. This is what I was afraid of. WTF, Blizzard?

Also, when I opt to upgrade from the in-game option that pops up, the site it directs me to doesn't work.


It seems that what you have installed is only the SC II Wings Of Liberty Demo (which ends after third mission) instead of a full version. It seems that the full version requires creating a BattleNet account...

Scarab Sages

I have a BattleNet account (much as I didn't want one). What do I do with it? I ought to HAVE the full version. There's nothing on the box that says it's a demo.


Have you registered the game to your BattleNet account? if you did and it still thinks you have a demo you might want to contact the blizzard support with the issue.


A possibly reason for the behavior.


And another possible solution for the problem. If you have the full game then "upgrade" is really just entering the CD key from the box to your BattleNet account.

Scarab Sages

I barely even know what they're saying there. I'm pretty sure I installed it correctly - though I don't mind saying I hate Blizzard's new policy of "BattleNet is mandatory, Citizen!"

AHA! THAT! YES! I couldn't figure out quite how to do it, however. It didn't seem cooperative....

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Once you buy Starcraft 2, the only ting left to do is link the CD code to the account. Doesn't even matter if it is installed or not as once its linked to the account it is freely downloadable.


I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
I barely even know what they're saying there. I'm pretty sure I installed it correctly - though I don't mind saying I hate Blizzard's new policy of "BattleNet is mandatory, Citizen!"

Yeah, the reading of this and the thread about the need for having a battlenet* just to play the damn single-player campaign makes me reluctant to consider getting SC II...

*I had enough phishing mail trying to get my battlenet account** login by claiming that my Warcraft account** is under investigation for account trading/sharing...

**Which I don't have.

Quote:
AHA! THAT! YES! I couldn't figure out quite how to do it, however. It didn't seem cooperative....

*duh* UPGRADE is rather misleading way to say "here you can enter the CD key for the product"...

Scarab Sages

Something seems to be wrong with the site where you do all that at the moment - and it was a couple days ago when I started installing it, too. How long should they take to fix that?

I do feel better knowing that they're just asking for the CD key. I was seriously worried that they no longer considered it enough to pay for the game once....

Also, is there any way to change my character's portrait? I don't like the default picture of the guy with the cap.

Sovereign Court

Btw, once your done installing the game -- which requires internet connection -- you can then play the single player game offline - you just can't earn the achievements from the single player game offline -- the single player game is also the only thing you have to buy the game for nowadays - the arcade (custom maps) is completely free and you can join vs. if you group with someone that owns the game.


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I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:

I barely even know what they're saying there. I'm pretty sure I installed it correctly - though I don't mind saying I hate Blizzard's new policy of "BattleNet is mandatory, Citizen!"

AHA! THAT! YES! I couldn't figure out quite how to do it, however. It didn't seem cooperative....

YES, you DO have to upgrade to play.

YES, it is mandatory I believe.

YES, this is the norm for MANY PC games these days (unless you go paradox or some other publisher route).

I don't know WHY they make you upgrade, but the version right out of the box, after validation, will need to be upgraded due to an extra parameter they put in.

Currently, you probably are running the demo without the further download.

The ONLY way I know past this is to go to the shady world of pirates and crack it.

That probably will be more hazardous to your computer than simply upgrading.

If you dislike this business model (which was actually somewhat started by DRM and STEAM when it came around, which so many claim they love these days)...

Well, there's always the consoles such as the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 or Xbox One. Even then, there are a few games on them that also follow this business model.

Good Luck.


I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:

Something seems to be wrong with the site where you do all that at the moment - and it was a couple days ago when I started installing it, too. How long should they take to fix that?

I do feel better knowing that they're just asking for the CD key. I was seriously worried that they no longer considered it enough to pay for the game once....

Also, is there any way to change my character's portrait? I don't like the default picture of the guy with the cap.

yes there is, but as I haven't changed it ever, I'm not quite certain how you would do it.

In addition, they have multiple mods out there which you can d/l, some which actually have additional content.


Last time I checked, when you start out, you can select 1 of 4 generic Terran portraits. You unlock more portraits (and decals that go on your base in multiplayer) by getting Achievements (some of which are single-player and some of which are multiplayer), although I think that not all Achievements are connected to portraits or decals.

Also, with respect to your original problem, I remember that when I was trying to install the Heart of the Swarm upgrade, something weird happened and it wouldn't let me do it, but I can't remember what I did to fix it, other than that it involved entering the new CD key on the battle.net web site and letting it install some additional patch (in addition to the monster patch it had already installed that took FOREVER to download). I wonder if you have an inverted version of whatever this problem was.

I may have to figure out the above again, because in order to play StarCraft II of any chapter, I will need to get a new computer (the one that could run it fried, and I had to pull a 2003-vintage computer back into service to use for everything else).

Scarab Sages

GreyWolfLord wrote:


YES, you DO have to upgrade to play.

YES, it is mandatory I believe.

YES, this is the norm for MANY PC games these days (unless you go paradox or some other publisher route).

Don't tell me I have to upgrade the game twice?!?

Also, Playstation and Xbox are video game consoles, and we're talking about computer games - and Xbox One is Big Brother's Trojan Pony, so f#~& that under any circumstances.

Liberty's Edge

You have to update the game for bug fixes, balance changes and the necessary assets to let you play against people with the expansion pack.

This is pretty much par for the course for all games these days.

Scarab Sages

Krensky wrote:

You have to update the game for bug fixes, balance changes and the necessary assets to let you play against people with the expansion pack.

This is pretty much par for the course for all games these days.

THAT I understand (though I quite frankly hope, and even believe, you're overgeneralizing about "all games").

Scarab Sages

So, gee...the site that you go to to "upgrade" the game doesn't work. I keep getting Google's "He's Dead, Jim!" webpage. It's been like this for a couple days, too. Anyone know anything about this? I can't even navigate their technical support page because it's a traffic accident (and the technical support phone number on the box is just the message "go to this website for technical support" in a whole bunch of languages).


I don't know about the messages you saw on the web sites, but in some cases multiple patches are indeed required. If you have a bad internet connection like I do, they might even fail (although they actually went through for me . . . eventually). Unfortunately can't try this out now because they don't support Windows 2000 (as I said above, the Windows Vista machine fried, as in major hardware failure).

Liberty's Edge

I've never had any trouble installing a game or patching SC2 but I'll see if I can walk you through it.

Have you added the keys to your account already?

Scarab Sages

I tried, and must have failed. That was a few days ago, and since then, every time I try to upgrade via the in-game ad to do so I get sent to a webpage that doesn't work. I can't access customer support, either, and their technical support website is so surprisingly badly designed that I have no idea what I'm asking for where.

I think I'll be getting Legacy of the Void, maybe Diablo III, and finally shutting the door to keep out the Blizzard afterwards.

Liberty's Edge

When you go to your battle.net account page what do you see under the Starcraft II section?

Scarab Sages

Feral wrote:
When you go to your battle.net account page what do you see under the Starcraft II section?

THAT. THAT was what I needed. THANK YOU, I couldn't find the right thing, but I think I've got it now!

I would still like to be able to change the picture of my official character, if at all possible.

Liberty's Edge

For the record: You can get there from the battle.net home page by clicking the Account link on the top right.

I believe you change your profile picture from within SC2.

Scarab Sages

Incidentally, what the devil's up with Kerrigan's sudden change in ethnicity? If it were just a byproduct of Zerg infestation, I'd understand, but Raynor has a photo of her from when she was human, and it shows her skin as lighter than his!

Liberty's Edge

I believe that's zerg pigment. There's a flashback cutscene midway through Wings of Liberty that shows the previously pale Kerrigan.

Scarab Sages

That's what I'm talking about. She wasn't pale when she was human. Don't you remember the first game? Kerrigan was swarthy before her assimilation - in the African or Middle Eastern or Southeast Asian range.

Anyways, it works now. Thanks for the help! En Taro Tassadar!

Sovereign Court

The 1999 character portraits were terribly rendered, good for that time, but still oh god. Her face was kinda horse-ey though.

Scarab Sages

I liked how a lot of them (certainly Raynor) looked then better than now - and I thought Kerrigan looked fine.

Sovereign Court

Raynor got like 15 years older. Or 20.

Scarab Sages

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To be fair, 4 years on the run from the law fighting a threadbare revolution with only liquor, bitterness, and repulsive music to keep you going would age anyone beyond their years.


^And don't forget that he seems to have taken up (or at least increased) smoking.


Couldn't Kerrigan at least have gotten a sexier zerg body? :-)


^Uhhh . . . from whose point of view? :-)


Duhhh, mine, of course. I dunno about anyone else, but corpse flesh is sort of icky.


Sissyl wrote:
Duhhh, mine, of course. I dunno about anyone else, but corpse flesh is sort of icky.

Zergs find it yummy sexy it's the same for them?


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I must admit, the fact that Korhal somehow transformed from a burned-out radioactive desert to a Coruscant/Trantor-style world-girdling megalopolis in four years was rather more concerning to me lore-wise than the character portraits being updated.


^I thought of that, but then again, being able to lift buildings can do wonders. I wouldn't want to be one of the people who moved there, though -- even with supposed sealing of buildings from radioactive contamination, I'm sure that sloppiness in enforcement of building codes would let some in.

Scarab Sages

I swear Kerrigan was NOT Caucasian, though - and Raynor was blonde.


Raynor had very little hair... :-)

Scarab Sages

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I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
I swear Kerrigan was NOT Caucasian, though - and Raynor was blonde.

Early description mention her bright red hair and her jade green eyes, both her voiceactors and the athlete that, according to her creators inspired her name are caucasian...while some of the pixelated videos in SC 1 could be seen as a dark skinned, most descriptions and illustratios (from SC1 era) really couldn't.

Scarab Sages

feytharn wrote:
I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
I swear Kerrigan was NOT Caucasian, though - and Raynor was blonde.
Early description mention her bright red hair and her jade green eyes, both her voiceactors and the athlete that, according to her creators inspired her name are caucasian...while some of the pixelated videos in SC 1 could be seen as a dark skinned, most descriptions and illustratios (from SC1 era) really couldn't.

I see. Well, it was her in-game appearance I was basing this on.

Wait...are you saying she was named after the skater who got her knee clubbed?


Kadasbrass Loreweaver wrote:
Once you buy Starcraft 2, the only ting left to do is link the CD code to the account. Doesn't even matter if it is installed or not as once its linked to the account it is freely downloadable.

Yeah, seems like that's "normal" for software these days: you're really just buying the CD key in brick-and-mortar stores, so that you can download the content from a website with it. The disk included with the package may or may not contain much of the game installation files, but, either way, the code must connect to a website to "activate" the installation.

Pretty much everything, even single-player games, seems be working like that anymore.

It's the modern update to those old password-wheels they used to include with floppy disks as copy-protection :P


Oh man, it was horrible downloading Wolfenstein:The New Order after buying a physical copy.

Scarab Sages

I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
feytharn wrote:
I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
I swear Kerrigan was NOT Caucasian, though - and Raynor was blonde.
Early description mention her bright red hair and her jade green eyes, both her voiceactors and the athlete that, according to her creators inspired her name are caucasian...while some of the pixelated videos in SC 1 could be seen as a dark skinned, most descriptions and illustratios (from SC1 era) really couldn't.

I see. Well, it was her in-game appearance I was basing this on.

Wait...are you saying she was named after the skater who got her knee clubbed?

Yup, according to the writers, the queen of blades was inspired by...a different kind of blades :-D

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