Invisible characters due to purchasing expansion. >:-/

I'll have to dig deeper at work tomorrow, but first glance this looks like it's having difficulty establishing a network connection. Did you do any windows updates around the time that you started experiencing this? Or install any new antivirus / firewall software?

No to both, at least as far as I know, but it's a shared computer at home, so Da Spousal Unit may have done so.

But looking at the time stamp on the files, nothing more recent than the 14th; like I say, everyone was visible, no problem logging in and staying in, etc. all the way up to the 19th. :-/

Uwk

Hmm, the 14th of August, for that matter...odd. :-/

Uwk
seriously considering just reinstalling, in the hopes I can get my Week 9 stuff before it's over

Take heart. You don't have to worry about it.
https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq...un-zi-almost-over-or-extended-forever.581025/

THANK YOU, DEVS!!!

And thanks for bringing it to my attention, Dude!

Uwk

You're welcome.

Well, here I finally go...gonna check one last time, and if that doesn't work, wish me luck, everyone! :-/

Uwk

HEH! Heewack, they're back! Turned out the expansion apparently got confused with my having more than one copy of the game; once I got rid of the US version by uninstalling that (there were indeed 2 copies in my Control Panel->Programs), I was still able to get into my remaining EU version just fine, so I tried getting into Test from there. After about 20 minutes of adjusting files, yep, no problem there, either. Then came my attempt at getting the US back up... X-P

It actually worked this time! After about 1.868 Gb... :-/ Well, this I know: next time I get an expansion (probably when the new, upcoming one is 50% off...), I'll probably have to winnow down my various EQ2's again down to one version and just deal with the hundreds upon hundreds of megs of ridiculous files to download again and again and again between each version, at least until things have settled with the expansion and I can copy them into separate regions again for Frostfell. :-/

If I were smart about it, I'd've followed Sigrdrifa's advice and chopped out the ginormous directories (Music and Paks; mostly Paks [and avoided the hundreds upon hundreds of megs in the file adjustments]) and added them back again later, but things seemed to be going swimmingly for the other regions once I'd uninstalled the US version, so I didn't want to muck about with the process too much (yet. Come Frostfell, now... ;->), even with the 2 1/4 hours it took to get to the US. Plus, who knows, those directories might have been gunky, so probably best to let the game deal with "fresh" versions, or at least its own. ;->

Thanks for all your help and suggestions, all!

Uwk

Im almost frustrated you didnt try uninstall / reinstall first, but at least you got your characters back glad to hear.
Do you really need 2 seperate clients to access EU and US versions? Weird.

Nah, you don't really need that, but if you have as many toons as I have, when Frostfell rolls around, you'll have extensive Excel spreadsheets for each day, each character, etc., and things timed to a fare-thee-well so you get everyone their Daily Gifts from Santaglug. I always look up the new ones from the time it starts on Test, so I know what all to look for, and the minute each toon gets all the new stuff, I don't have to worry about them any more and can cross them off the list. Some get more than one of the same thing on a server, so there's a good chance everyone can get at least one whatever before the time runs out (7 am PST on the last day), especially on Test, which starts earlier, of course. ;->

If I have to wait up to 20 minutes to go from EU to Test, or OVER TWO HOURS to go to the US, it can really bollix up everything. So, I've learned from the veterans of the same psychic wars here how to make separate copies (first time, I did one copy for each of the three regions; this time it was only US and Test/EU), and it only takes as much time as it takes to /camp to desktop, then click on the desktop icon for the next region and log in there.

But apparently it can get in the way of the auto-installation of the expansions that the game does. :-/

Uwk

Its much easier to have a separate install for Test, Eu, and US and then for any Beta that comes out like the recent one for FG. Switching regions seems to take forever no matter how good your connection is because the client feels the need to do a download every single time on the EU side.

Cyrrena

Just went from US to EU: took two minutes. Why does it take so blasted long going the other way? >:-/

Uwk

I'm kicking myself for not doing this whenever I try to go from EU to US regions without having divided up my copies again. The grand majority of the time/space it takes to do it that way, 2+ hours and 1.8+ Gb of files, almost exclusively consist of just the stupid /paks stuff. :-/

EDIT: Speaking of which, Sigrd, any cool advice along those lines? The other advice was most helpful!

Uwk

Just thinking out loud: if I move at least the /paks somewhere else from the game folder before I try going from EU to US, then stop the install/download/upgrade/whatever the hell it thinks it needs to do and put the /paks back in again, will that help with the speed/size? :-/

Uwk

Yup. I usually make a folder, C:/EQ2Temp and store them there. The point of starting the Launcher then stopping it after a few minutes is to allow it to create its new file structure. Once that's there, you can move the /paks and /music into the newly installed directory.

When you start the Launcher again, it inventories files. It will "see" the /oaks and /music stuff and take that into account. If it has newer things for /paks or /music, it will write over the old ones, or add them into the folder with the old ones, as needed.

BRILLIANT! Thank you! I'll definitely try that when I have to go back from EU to US!

Uwk

Well, foo; I must've done something wrong, since keeping the /paks away didn't seem to help anything. I just slogged through all the time required to make copies (only two again; US/Test and EU [and now I'm actually a little glad they Consolidated the EU servers; makes it easier]); install/update/put in every single file on the planet, apparently, even though I didn't get the latest-and-greatest expansion (and I probably won't until it's on sale again around this time next year; each download for the US, EU, and Test servers still took 2-3 hours :-/); making sure all three behaved themselves properly, etc.

And they are! Behaving themselves properly. Such a joy to have my efficient, if doubled, system set up again, at least until/unless I do want the next expac; then I'll consolidate everything again so the game doesn't get confused again (and promptly split everything up again once everything settles from there). ;->

Thanks again for everyone's help here!

Uwk