Blizzard Downloader : Getting this misbegotten smear of code to work

The Ender

...Or, if that's not feasible, perhaps someone could refer me to some third-party software that will let me strangle this Goddamn thing to death?


So, I bought Starcraft 2. In fact, I bought it more or less on the day it was released. I haven't actually played it that often, but recently I've had a bit of an RTS craving, so I went to grab to DVD.

Oops. DVD, being 'protected' by nothing more than the cheap little cardboard sleeve it shipped with, got cracked (presumably during moving).

"Oh well. Surely Blizzard offers some kind of digital download service?"

Yup. Login to my B.Net account, click on the 'ACCOUNT' button, and click on Starcraft II. The game's listed with a green 'ACTIVE' icon, and I'm offered a download link for installation/re-installation.


...The link isn't a direct download for the installer. It's a download for the 'Blizzard Downloader', which is an incredibly bad torrent client. The P2P is essentially a joke (If I had to guess, I'd say the ratio of leeching to seeding is 10:1; I get about 36k/sec. That's what happens when you don't have P2P seed quotas, of course), so whatever, I uncheck the P2P option and the client starts grabbing the installer directly from a dedicated server.

Halfway through, I get, "There is a problem authenticating your download. Please go to http://www.blizzard.com/account/ to start a new download."

-.-

Okay, fine. I go and re-download the torrent client, boot it back it, it scans the downloaded files and resumes where it left off. 3-5 minutes later,

"There is a problem authenticating your download. Please go to http://www.blizzard.com/account/ to start a new download."

I try again. This time the client only scans through about 500 MB of the 6 gig file (after I'd already downloaded 3 gigs), and then starts downloading from there, overwriting the existing download. Whatever, I let it run.

"There is a problem authenticating your download. Please go to http://www.blizzard.com/account/ to start a new download"

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff


I AM VERY GLAD THAT I AM YOUR PAYING CUSTOMER BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT BECAUSE YOU SURE TREAT ME LIKE ONE

So,

1) Is there some way to make this Goddamn thing work? No, I'm not going to disable all of my (already pretty limited) internet security for the sake of a finnicky torrent client, so any solution must meet that standard.

2) If there is not a way to make it work, is there a legitimate mirror somewhere that I can just directly download the installer from, rather than relying on this shitty torrent client?

Essee

Have you tried opening up the correct ports for the downloader? This should be helpful with that. You almost certainly need to at least open the ports through your router via port forwarding (can't link you to fully accurate info on doing that without knowing your router), but I've found that allowing ports directly through Windows Firewall even if you think you have stuff allowed and think that Windows Firewall isn't actually doing anything can sometimes help performance, too. For no goddamn reason. (For that problem I blame Windows Firewall in general because it's not a specific game's fault.) Here's Blizzard's guide on how to do that in Windows 7.

Have you tried deleting the files wherever it's been saving them, also? You should try to start from scratch, I think, since this keeps being a problem.

Calixtus

I second the above recommendation. The only time the Blizzard downloader gave me speeds that bad when I played WoW was when the ports were misaligned.

Hahnsoo1

For both Diablo 2 and Diablo 3, there is an option somewhere to disable P2P. This allows you to download directly, sometimes with more reliable results. Not sure if the Blizzard Downloader for Starcraft 2 allows this.

godmode

If all else fails, I believe Blizzard has hired a team that spends their time supporting people.

I believe they named the team "Blizzard Support".

Essee

Hahnsoo1 wrote: »

For both Diablo 2 and Diablo 3, there is an option somewhere to disable P2P. This allows you to download directly, sometimes with more reliable results. Not sure if the Blizzard Downloader for Starcraft 2 allows this.

I would have mentioned that in my post, but he said this:

The Ender wrote:

The P2P is essentially a joke (If I had to guess, I'd say the ratio of leeching to seeding is 10:1; I get about 36k/sec. That's what happens when you don't have P2P seed quotas, of course), so whatever, I uncheck the P2P option and the client starts grabbing the installer directly from a dedicated server.

Sooo I'm pretty sure that option is already out. Opening up the ports may allow him to actually use P2P effectively though. I know I do get somewhat better speeds with it turned on vs. Blizzard's servers alone, depending on how many people are seeding. (No matter what, I've never gotten speeds that low from either of Blizzard's downloaders I've used, though!) But opening the ports should help with the direct download as well. Potentially.

The Ender

godmode wrote: »

If all else fails, I believe Blizzard has hired a team that spends their time supporting people.

I believe they named the team "Blizzard Support".

Blizzard 'support' offers such useful tips as :

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/5638006458

(Not my topic, just FYI)

"Oh, the downloader isn't working? Must be malware on your end! Restart in Safe Mode, euhuhuhuhuhu!"

I did humour the advice and try it anyway. Same result, of course.


My ports are already forwarded (my PC is set in the DMZ), so that's not likely to be the problem.

punk

The Ender wrote: »

godmode wrote: »

If all else fails, I believe Blizzard has hired a team that spends their time supporting people.

I believe they named the team "Blizzard Support".

Blizzard 'support' offers such useful tips as :

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/5638006458

(Not my topic, just FYI)

"Oh, the downloader isn't working? Must be malware on your end! Restart in Safe Mode, euhuhuhuhuhu!"

I did humour the advice and try it anyway. Same result, of course.


My ports are already forwarded (my PC is set in the DMZ), so that's not likely to be the problem.

Since you initiate the connection (and not the other way around), port-forwarding should be a moot subject. However, you would need to ensure that the tool is allowed through any firewalls, i.e. Windows Firewall, on an application basis. Since you're actually connecting to the service, we can assume that it's not a firewall issue for the time being.

In terms of speed, see if this works: go to Control Panel -> Internet Options -> Connections tab -> LAN Settings button (toward the bottom) -> un-check "Automatically detect settings" - see if your download speeds increase.

As for the other issues, it sounds like a problem on Blizzard's end. The unfortunate part is, 99% of the time it isn't, so they craft all of these seemingly basic/ridiculous steps to help those 99%. To get Tier 1 technical support to do anything beyond send you a link to a KB article about how to check your PC for malware, you may be in for a fight.

What I would do is first remove the router/firewall equation, connect direct to your cable/DSL/fiber modem. Make sure to run at least Windows Firewall for the duration. If that doesn't work, boot into Safe Mode with Networking and try the download again. If neither work, you can tell Blizzard that you've ruled out your home network and your PC, so unless they want to fight with your ISP, they need to provide some support.

Barrakketh

The Ender wrote:

1) Is there some way to make this Goddamn thing work? No, I'm not going to disable all of my (already pretty limited) internet security for the sake of a finnicky torrent client, so any solution must meet that standard.

2) If there is not a way to make it work, is there a legitimate mirror somewhere that I can just directly download the installer from, rather than relying on this shitty torrent client?

Can you use a standard torrent client? It's possible to extract the torrent from the Blizzard Downloader and use that.

The Ender

Can you use a standard torrent client? It's possible to extract the torrent from the Blizzard Downloader and use that.

Yeah, that was one of the first things I tried. Unfortunately, the torrent's health is a joke (like I said earlier, it's maybe a 10:1 ratio of seeders vs leeches).

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Casual

On a side note, make sure the downloader is set to the right laungage. For some reason Blizzard thought it would be a great idea to make the default set to German for all European downloads, I only discovered this after dowloading the whole game. I thought I could just change it to English in game and nope, gotta dl the whole thing again.

Just saying since you're in Canada check they didn't set the default to French for shits and giggles.

Caedwyr

Ender, what ISP are you using. There's been an issue in the past where a number of the major ISPs in Canada have been heavily throttling connections with Blizzard and other games, such that you get constant disconnects, or unplayable/unusuable speeds.

See http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6351/159/ or
http://openmedia.ca/gamers

for some background. I wouldn't be surprised if the service providers were up to their past hijinks.