SpellForce 2 Hardware Patch

[NeoX]

This Patch Updates all SpellForce 2 Games (Shadow Wars, Dragon Storm, Dragon Storm Stand Alone, Gold Edition, Hero Edition, Faith in Destiny and Demons of the Past) to work better with your current modern hardware and includes Widescreen support.
You can change the screenlanguage at any time in the upper right corner.

- Updates and registrated the currently used CPU + GPU in all SpellForce installations
- fixes most starting issues on modern systems
- Adds Widescreen config for SF2-SW, SF2-DS, SF2-Gold and SF2-Hero

Changelog (1.11 -> 1.2)
____________________

- Updated Game Search and detection Engine to handle empty drives and no longer stop hald way
- added config.xml creation to fix possible start up issues for Users of the "Anniversary Edition" on Steam and GoG

Changelog (1.2 -> 1.3.1)
____________________

- Updated Game Search and detection Engine to handle missing permissions
- expanded error log
- added modular patch actions to not abort the installation in case only minor issues come up

Changelog (1.3.1 -> 1.4)
____________________

- Updated and streamlined Search-Engine logs
- updated configuration patching functionality
- fixed an issue where games did not correctly apply new configuration and gpu api
- added permission detection to the patch
- increased performance thanks to api-layer improvement

!!!please start the Patch with admin permissions or in some cases it can NOT scan the folders for the installation and detect the version files !!!

If you need support, contatc me heren at this SpellForce forum.

[NeoX]

hi,

if anyone has issues with the patch, please post your installation log here and i will reply asap when i see it.

Greetings: NeoX

[KiroPika]

Hello,

I can't install the patch.. All acces is denied :/

Setup Initialize finished
Search Game Installation(s)...
Access to C:\Documents and Settings denied!
Access to C:\Program Files denied!
Game Installation found here: C:\Program Files (x86)\JoWood\SpellForce 2 Gold
Access to C:\ProgramData denied!
Game Installation found here: C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Spellforce 2 Gold Edition
Access to C:\System Volume Information denied!
Access to C:\Users denied!
Access to C:\Windows denied!
Access to D:\System Volume Information denied!

And if i click "install patch" :

Install Patch...
CPU found: AMD Ryzen 5 2500U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx
CPU maximum Speed: 2000
CPU current Speed: 2000
GPU found: AMD Radeon(TM) Vega 8 GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050
Current Resolution: 1536 x 864
ERROR: Installation of the Patch failed - System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException: Impossible de trouver une partie du chemin d'accès 'C:\Program Files (x86)\JoWood\SpellForce 2 Gold\base\data\hwdb.xml'.
à System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
à System.IO.FileStream.Init(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Int32 rights, Boolean useRights, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES secAttrs, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy)
à System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy)
à System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options)
à System.IO.StreamWriter..ctor(String path, Boolean append, Encoding encoding, Int32 bufferSize)
à System.IO.StreamWriter..ctor(String path)
à SF2_Map_Installer.app_data.text_data.WriteFile(String sFilename, String sLines)
à SF2_Map_Installer.app_data.functions.create_hw_file_for_sf2_sw_ds_gold_hero(String file_path, String cpu_name, String cpu_speed, String gpu_name)
à SF2_Map_Installer.Form_main.backgroundWorker_installer_DoWork(Object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)


How can i fix that pls ???? Thanks for your help-

[NeoX]

Hi,

Hello,

I can't install the patch.. All acces is denied :/

Setup Initialize finished
Search Game Installation(s)...
Access to C:\Documents and Settings denied!
Access to C:\Program Files denied!
Game Installation found here: C:\Program Files (x86)\JoWood\SpellForce 2 Gold
Access to C:\ProgramData denied!
Game Installation found here: C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Spellforce 2 Gold Edition
Access to C:\System Volume Information denied!
Access to C:\Users denied!
Access to C:\Windows denied!
Access to D:\System Volume Information denied!

This is a positive result code. It found 2 game installations at:
Game Installation found here: C:\Program Files (x86)\JoWood\SpellForce 2 Gold
Game Installation found here: C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Spellforce 2 Gold Edition

The rest does not matter as long it finds games to apply it to.

And if i click "install patch" :

Install Patch...
CPU found: AMD Ryzen 5 2500U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx
CPU maximum Speed: 2000
CPU current Speed: 2000
GPU found: AMD Radeon(TM) Vega 8 GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050
Current Resolution: 1536 x 864
ERROR: Installation of the Patch failed - System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException: Impossible de trouver une partie du chemin d'accès 'C:\Program Files (x86)\JoWood\SpellForce 2 Gold\base\data\hwdb.xml'.
à System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
à System.IO.FileStream.Init(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Int32 rights, Boolean useRights, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES secAttrs, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy)
à System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy)
à System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options)
à System.IO.StreamWriter..ctor(String path, Boolean append, Encoding encoding, Int32 bufferSize)
à System.IO.StreamWriter..ctor(String path)
à SF2_Map_Installer.app_data.text_data.WriteFile(String sFilename, String sLines)
à SF2_Map_Installer.app_data.functions.create_hw_file_for_sf2_sw_ds_gold_hero(String file_path, String cpu_name, String cpu_speed, String gpu_name)
à SF2_Map_Installer.Form_main.backgroundWorker_installer_DoWork(Object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)

How can i fix that pls ???? Thanks for your help-

Could it be that "C:\Program Files (x86)\JoWood\SpellForce 2 Gold\base\data\hwdb.xml'." is no valid installation? Like old remaining files it falsely detects as a modified game installtion?

If your game is only installed at "C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Spellforce 2 Gold Edition", then delete the other folder and its files off your system and try to apply the patch again.

If it still does not work for you, let me know plz.

Greetings: NeoX

[KiroPika]

Setup Initialize finished
Search Game Installation(s)...
Access to C:\Documents and Settings denied!
Access to C:\Program Files denied!
Access to C:\ProgramData denied!
Game Installation found here: C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Spellforce 2 Gold Edition
Access to C:\System Volume Information denied!
Access to C:\Users denied!
Access to C:\Windows denied!
Access to D:\System Volume Information denied!
Setup started
Install Patch...
CPU found: AMD Ryzen 5 2500U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx
CPU maximum Speed: 2000
CPU current Speed: 2000
GPU found: AMD Radeon(TM) Vega 8 GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050
Current Resolution: 1536 x 864
Spellforce 2 Dragon Storm Installation patched
Settings Updated with current Resolution
Patch successfull

I think it's good thanks ! But my game doesn't run ? Crash immediatly via steam ??

[NeoX]

Hi,

Setup Initialize finished
Search Game Installation(s)...
Access to C:\Documents and Settings denied!
Access to C:\Program Files denied!
Access to C:\ProgramData denied!
Game Installation found here: C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Spellforce 2 Gold Edition
Access to C:\System Volume Information denied!
Access to C:\Users denied!
Access to C:\Windows denied!
Access to D:\System Volume Information denied!
Setup started
Install Patch...
CPU found: AMD Ryzen 5 2500U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx
CPU maximum Speed: 2000
CPU current Speed: 2000
GPU found: AMD Radeon(TM) Vega 8 GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050
Current Resolution: 1536 x 864
Spellforce 2 Dragon Storm Installation patched
Settings Updated with current Resolution
Patch successfull

I think it's good thanks ! But my game doesn't run ? Crash immediatly via steam ??

Please make sure the game only uses the "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050" GPu and not the APU chip. The games engine is not compatible with it. You need to configure in your nvidia driver settings that only your dedicated GPu is used for the game.
Everything that runs on your notebooks internal screen always uses the internal APU as default.
just change it to use your dedicated GPU or use an external display/monitor that will also always use the dedicated GPU.

Greetings: NeoX

[norcan]

hey, i've opened the patcher as an administrator and still it seems it doesn't get access to the folders to scan for the game files, what i should do?
Search Game Installation(s)...
Access to C:\Documents and Settings denied!
Access to C:\Program Files denied!
Access to C:\Program Files (x86) denied!
Access to C:\ProgramData denied!
Access to C:\System Volume Information denied!
Access to C:\Users denied!
Access to C:\Windows denied!
Installation(s) could not be found -> Installation denied!!!

[NeoX]

Hi,

hey, i've opened the patcher as an administrator and still it seems it doesn't get access to the folders to scan for the game files, what i should do?
Search Game Installation(s)...
Access to C:\Documents and Settings denied!
Access to C:\Program Files denied!
Access to C:\Program Files (x86) denied!
Access to C:\ProgramData denied!
Access to C:\System Volume Information denied!
Access to C:\Users denied!
Access to C:\Windows denied!
Installation(s) could not be found -> Installation denied!!!

Please make sure to truly run the Patch with admin permissions. Just having an admin account does not start it with the needed permissions.

Right Click on the Patch and select "Run as Administrator".

If that does not solve it, please contact me here again with the full log.


Greetings: NeoX

[norcan]

So, NeoX managed to find a solution to the problem with the permissions if you still struggle to install the patch here how it went : after we talked on discord how to fix that, the workaround is that u move the game folder from .../steamapps/common to the C:/ directory and then run the patch, install it and it should work, after that just move it back to steam directory it was originally and and voula! it works xD when u startup the game remember to click decline on the detect hardware settings :D HF

[Unrealmaster]

The permission issue is mostly related to Antivirus and the Security Settings of windows.

Here is a Workaround:

On Win10/11, you need to allow the patch to the Controlled folder access:
> open Windows Security
> Go to "Virus & threat protection"
> click on "Manage setting" under Virus & threat protection setting
> scroll down and click on "Manage Controlled folder access"
> then either turn it off or add the patch by clicking on "Allow an app through Controlled folder access"

Have fun!