Guild Wars 2 Forum

I am having an issue where when i start the install using the guild wars 2 file it starts out fine installing a bunch of stuff, direct x 9, and then it starts installing guildwars 2. It starts with a normal looking screen and it gets up to a couple thousand kb then it flickers and the install screen goes black. I can hover my mouse over and it seems there are things there but i cant see what to do in order to install it .. any ideas?

Same problem here. I just upgraded to Mountain Lion. Not sure if this is affecting it at all.

I have snow lep but it does not work for me either. If anyone has any suggestions pls let me know.

I think there is either an issue with Anet's servers or else they've done something which bricks GW2 on Crossover.

I can confirm that it's not an installation issue (I've played in the last few betas just fine) and it isn't a Mountain Lion issue (as in, it was working a few days ago).
All we can do at this stage is wait a few days and hope that the problem goes away, or wait for someone on this end to figure out a fix.

FWIW, it appears that passing -useoldlauncher will give an all-white screen, instead of an all-black one. The downloader window with the 'old launcher' is in a separate, decorated window, which appears behind the all-white screen. You can reveal that window with the CrossOver 'Window' menu to see the Downloader's progress.

When I last tried, even after the game downloaded, the regular launcher window was all-black (this was on my Mac). However, the 'old' launcher (with -useoldlauncher) drew correctly after the download was complete, giving a login screen.

At this point, though, and for right now, it looks like ymmv.

Exactly the same problem here. Any workaround would be highly appreciated

Edit: Confirm that after the full download finishes, -useoldlauncher displays the login screen correctly

If i could just ever get it installed to begin with it would be great.

Just hop on a good fiber connection and restart the downloader every time it crashes (must have been at least a dozen times in my case).
Also, for fun and shizzle, you can keep checking th Gw2.dat filesize until it reaches 14G. Either via finder or by running du -csh Gw2.dat in terminal.

same issue here running Fedora 17 64bit XFCE

Seemed to start happening to me after gw2 was patched a few days ago.

This is all i see when i launch GW2 https://www.dropbox.com/s/68lrslem42yli80/gw2_blackscreen.png

Using the -oldlauncher switch does indeed temporarily fix the issue https://www.dropbox.com/s/ldsj7apr7fqxeya/gw2_oldlauncher.png

If any of you are running a Linux flavor and dont know how to apply the -useoldlauncher, just right click your gw2desktop icon and select properties then go to the Launcher tab. In the command textbox after the current string just add -useoldlauncher

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bdp4dxt9hvxy2xs/useoldlauncher.png

Not sure how to do it on a Mac.

Looking forwards to tomorrows stress test.

Even though the screen is black is it still downloading the update?

Yes, even though the window is black, it will download.

Mr. Dubois,

   Could you please describe how to install this using -useoldlauncher on a Macintosh.  What is that function and how and where do you type it in, please?  Thank you very much. Btw, I have 10.7.4

Of course.

One way is to use the 'Run command' menu to run the guild wars launcher.

On the Mac, navigate to CrossOver's 'Programs' menu and choose 'Run Command.' Select your Guild Wars 2 bottle as the bottle in which to run the command. As the program to run, select gw2.exe, the Guild Wars 2 launcher. This will be whereever you put it when you downloaded it from the Arena servers. (Caron posted instructions to get around the patcher issues, which I think are pinned in the 'Tips & Tricks' section of this Guild Wars 2 entry in the CodeWeavers app db ... either that, or pinned to the top of this forum. Anyhow, it's best to use those and put the gw2.exe in the Guild Wars 2 bottle.)

On linux, you get to the 'Run Command' menu from the bottle manager.

On either Mac or Linux, after you have chosen the gw2.exe file as the command to run in the 'Run Command' dialog, add the parameter '-useoldlauncher' to the text box that shows the path to the gw2.exe executable. Then click 'run'.

While you are downloading the game's patches, running gw2.exe with the -useoldlauncher parameter under CrossOver will result in a big white window (on a Mac, anyway). However, behind that big white window is a download window which will show you the download progress. You can make that download window visible by using CrossOver's 'Window' menu and selecting the 'other' Guild Wars 2 window, which will bring the download window in front of the big white window.

If you are on linux, you can also probably simply add the '-useoldlauncher' parameter to the .desktop file you use to launch gw2.exe, if you have one. But the 'Run Command' feature is the easiest way.

I'm still hoping, BTW (for anyone following the forum), to have a special CrossOver build up tomorrow to use for GW2 testing.

I'm also hoping we may be able to do something to get CrossOver working with GW2 at launch. On that score, I'm hoping against hope, to some degree. The need for rawinput was a pretty major change late in the game for GW2. That and the latest patcher issues, along with other various other longstanding glitches ("white rain" on nvidia, etc.) will be challenging ... but we're still trying ;).

Cheers,

   Josh.

Thank you for all the explanations. Now, at the moment, I'm reinstalling GW2 and the window is still black. Do I need to close it every now and then (assuming a crash like what happened periodically during the last install) or should I just let it stay black until it disappears? Once it is fully reinstalled, I assume that it will turn white again, or does it? Also, in addition to it still being black, there isn't yet a second window. Is there a difference between how it works on install and how it works on patching?

As you advised, I am installing from the following path: /Users/ianiawitter/Library/Application Support/CrossOver/Bottles/GuildWars2/drive_c/Program Files/Guild Wars 2 . The slot inside the Run Command window had the path in quotes: "/users/ianiawitter/Library/...etc." after which I left one space and typed -useoldlauncher . If I put the '-useoldlauncher' bit in before the path or directly after without a space the error came up that said something like "windows has no program to open this file", so I left that space and it ran, but black window and no second or "other" name showing in the window tab of Crossover.

One other consideration that occurred to me was whether these instructions only apply to patching and if the installation process needs to be handled differently. Let me know what you think; I can always send you screens of anything that isn't clear.

Regards,

Iohannes

Unless you pass '-useoldlauncher' to the gw2.exe program:

1.) the window will remain all-black.

2.) There will be no second download window.

and

3.) I do not believe it will change to start functioning when the game has finished installing, i.e., I don't think you can launch the game, b/c I think the window remains black even when the game is done patching. (not certain of that).

If you pass -useoldlauncher, you will get a second window which you can see as described above. You will know to restart because the game will put up an error window. After the game is done patching, the '-useoldlauncher' option will definitely give you a usable launcher screen.

What does "passing" mean in this context?

Ok, I tried putting -useoldlauncher inside the quotes when I realized that the quotes must surround the whole command. I still had to leave a space between ".exe" and "-useoldlauncher". So far, still a black square appears after the initial 10 mb of download with that rectangular Guild Wars graphic.

Ok after letting it run black a little, the gw2.exe file appeared in my guild wars 2 vista bottle. I ran the command with gw2.exe instead of the setup file. Now, hurray!, I have a white window. So that's a good step, I suppose. Ah, and I can finally see the downloading. Thank you so much. Ok so, if anyone else is reinstalling, they might want to let the black run until they see the gw2.exe file in their bottle. Then use the command with gw2.exe. Either way, thank you again.

With grateful regards,

Iohannes

Ok I am more than a bit pissed at this....

The black screen is death to the crosstie load, on a new load. If and I mean if you have the game already loaded and are just patching, you have a chance (with -useoldlauncher), but you can not load it if you are a new load with crosstie....

This really sucks for me, because I paid for this program for one reason and this was to use it to load GW2 .... now the whole reason I bought it is down the drain...and with no fix in sight.

I am aware that Codeweavers does not support this game at this time, but the crosstie was the reason for me buying crossover in the first place. Games is what I spent my money for, for Codeweavers to make them work in linux. Lets face it 80% of all here want the games load and about only 20% want the window app load. I just lost the whole reason I am here, without the game support I am back to windows.

I guess I will have to dump linux in favor of windows now....which really sucks, because I was just thinking linux was going to give windows a push out the door for me with wine and codeweavers to support it...I wanted out from under windows...but it would seem, windows is the only way to run this game at this time.

BTW> the waiting on the black screen does not work (waited 10 hours to see a GW2.exe file), not for me, I have loaded net mon to see activity, there is no activity on the download after the black screen of death.

Ron Eimiller wrote:

Ok I am more than a bit pissed at this....

The black screen is death to the crosstie load, on a new load. If
and I mean if you have the game already loaded and are just
patching, you have a chance (with -useoldlauncher), but you can not
load it if you are a new load with crosstie....

This really sucks for me, because I paid for this program for one
reason and this was to use it to load GW2 .... now the whole reason
I bought it is down the drain...and with no fix in sight.

I am aware that Codeweavers does not support this game at this time,
but the crosstie was the reason for me buying crossover in the first
place. Games is what I spent my money for, for Codeweavers to make
them work in linux. Lets face it 80% of all here want the games load
and about only 20% want the window app load. I just lost the whole
reason I am here, without the game support I am back to windows.

I guess I will have to dump linux in favor of windows now....which
really sucks, because I was just thinking linux was going to give
windows a push out the door for me with wine and codeweavers to
support it...I wanted out from under windows...but it would seem,
windows is the only way to run this game at this time.

BTW> the waiting on the black screen does not work (waited 10 hours
to see a GW2.exe file), not for me, I have loaded net mon to see
activity, there is no activity on the download after the black
screen of death.

To point that the -useoldlauncher does not work with a new installation: without the game being released, the precise method one will use to obtain the launcher may change after release, so the current CrossTie might not be perfect. Regardless, at some point, given the present launcher scheme, the gw2.exe file has to get onto your computer. Once that has happened, passing '-useoldlauncher' may be a way to get things to work slightly better. We may be able to help you pursue that.

However, the bigger and more important points are that GW2 remains unreleased, and we at CodeWeavers can't say yet whether or how well it will run on CrossOver when it comes out. Guild Wars 2 has had various problems during the months its been in beta, and the issues it has change over time. Part of our goal during yesterdays test was to see whether there was a feasible path to getting camera movement working. That seemed to work to a fair degree, but according to both our own testing and reports here, there were many issues with framerates and graphical glitches. Some of those appear to have gotten worse, even since the last stress test, and certainly in some cases since the last beta event. The speed with which the target is moving means that, firstly, it's hard to get things working. Secondly, it makes it hard for us to predict how well it will run when it launches, or whether we will be able to call it "supported" or not.

I strongly sympathize with your frustration at things not working. Ten hours of black screen is a long time waiting for a download that, it sounds like, didn't work. Particularly at this stage, when a product is pre-release and we are still figuring out how and whether we can run it, things are obscure and frustrating.

These sorts of problems, while frustrating, are not a surprise at this stage. Guild Wars 2 itself is unreleased and still having 'testing' events of various sorts. CrossOver has not declared support for the program. Particularly the 'special builds' which were up yesterday (I'm unclear on whether you used those or not) were our "bleeding edge" - our attempts to get things working, but not our final product.

Lastly, the difficult truth is that MMO games distributed online change frequently even after release, and there are instances in which they break even after a long period of stability. Sometimes the process of getting them running again is smooth, sometimes less so. Frequently our own developers are right out in front of getting things going again, sometimes others in the wine community manage to get a particular game going faster. The bottom line, though, is that this type of pain happens when trying to get things running with wine. It happens more with 'bleeding edge' things like major games that are yet unreleased, but it happens in other instances, also, and it happens with CrossOver as well as regular wine.

Given the many problems with GW2, especially the graphics glitches in yesterday's event, we don't know yet whether or how well the game will run in CrossOver. We will continue to try.

(I will also say that both games and other windows apps are priorities for us. In terms of percentage breakdown, frankly, exact numbers are hard for us to come by. We have customers who use both, so we strive to support both.)

Josh,

I for one really appreciate your replying on this forum, and all the work that the CodeWeavers staff are putting in to try to ensure a good GW2 experience right from launch day. I can confirm that the -useoldlauncher parameter fixes the all-black launcher issue for me too (Mac Powerbook with OS X 10.7.4, AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 1024MB).

ok, a few tips for the raging nerds in here

1) -useoldlauncher. So far there is no other way. If you don't know how to add parameters for the exe, then read this entire thread again. If you're lazy, here's a quick way to do it:

2) OMG Panic, I don't see anything!!! While downloading.. it's very likely that this will happen (with both black and white screens). The best way to check out what the downloader is doing is to check out your network traffic. I use tcpdump for that. You can also use wireshark but I would guess that looking at things in tcpdump is easier. Just do $ sudo tcpdump -ni en0 (or whatever your interface is). If you see a fuckton of shit scrolling by with the same ip addresses and it looks like a massive download (port 80), then the installer is downloading shit ;)

3) "It does not work". The answer to this is simply "I have no idea". There are people who played a few beta sessions but we well know that things can or may change from one patch to the next. We will see what will work (though I have a good feeling that it will)

Must be a Mac thing. I can see the download progress on my linux box.

Not limited to the Mac, i have the same problem in ubuntu 12.04 this began when they started running the new stress tests and since then i havent been able to run the game, thank you for the workaround.

Just a little FYI for anyone using the old launcher on OSX. If you activate Mission Control/Expose you'll find that the download box is actually behind the white box and you can bring it to the front :)

I have purchased the game and Im getting the same black screen and when i try to patch -useoldlauncher for a white screen it gives me a message saying that windows doesn't know of the file gw2.exe now i think its because its the temp file 'gw2.exe' and its because the installation did not complete. but the gw2 exe file i have from purchasing the game is a setup file. i tried on that too using the run command and still it didnt work giving me the same message. you mentioned in one of your messages that it will be fixed in 2 weeks or so. can you please send a notification by email when it is ready? also, can you explain how i can fix this problem for the time being? Thank you

Alaa Abi Ali wrote:

I have purchased the game and Im getting the same black screen and
when i try to patch -useoldlauncher for a white screen it gives me a
message saying that windows doesn't know of the file gw2.exe now i
think its because its the temp file 'gw2.exe' and its because the
installation did not complete. but the gw2 exe file i have from
purchasing the game is a setup file. i tried on that too using the
run command and still it didnt work giving me the same message. you
mentioned in one of your messages that it will be fixed in 2 weeks
or so. can you please send a notification by email when it is ready?
also, can you explain how i can fix this problem for the time being?
Thank you

You should attempt to use the installer mentioned in the 'read me first' forum posting at the top of the guild wars 2 forum. I am hopeful it will address some of these issues (e.g., the idea is that you can just point it at the setup file you mention) (However, your mileage may vary.).

hey josh,
i tried downloading the special version of crossover but they ask for a code i do not have. Thank you for the reply will be waiting for more anxiously.
Regards

The thread named "Read Me First" has the download code under the link to the special build.

To Bert and Josh,
I downloaded the new update but im still experiencing the same problem through Run Command -useoldlauncher, it just says that windows does not know of this application/file and it sends an error log, i.e. not even a white screen. Any rough estimate on when this bug would be fixed? please keep us updated. I appreciate the help.
Regards