DDO-ML an ultrafast lightweight DDO launcher

[AtomicMew]

Today for some reason I clicked on the shortcut to DDO.ML and the shortcut dissapeared...

looked in the folder, and the ddo_ML.exe is gone...

redownloaded it from your drop box.. can see the .exe in the ZIP file, but it WILL NOT EXTRACT. all other files extract fine, but the .exe file will not extract. no matter what kinda sledgehammer route I take.

Anyone else having some kind of issue like this?

I used the pre-loader early this morning (6AM EST approx) and it worked fine.

no changes to laptop since. after I was done playing, I put it to sleep. turned it on, clicked shortcut... watched it dissapear.

tried redownloading ZIP. no change. can see executable, cant extract it to anywhere. as part of a folder, individually, I renamed the .exe to DDO_ASDFGH_ML.exe4 still couldnt extract it.

Look forward to hearing about this. GOD I hate turbines launcher now that I've been using this baby for months

thanks again for a wicked project. hope its not a crazy issue!

Me

It's your antivirus.

[Im_Rob]

well my stars and garters.

I've never had that issue before, but it wored like a charm. disable antivirus, take the exe outa the archive, and bingo.
and thankfully I saved my ini files so I didnt have to go through the setup again.

cheers mate

Me

[Im_Rob]

It's your antivirus.

And the idiot that I am, I had to do this today again because I didnt put any exceptions into my antivirus to ignore DDO-ML.

Well I think this problem is solved now with exceptions in place for the whole DDO-ML folder, for active screen, and virus-scan

[Aletys]

Can I create a copy of DDO-ML (separate folder) to use for running the Lamannia client? Or will this mess up my using it with live DDO? Contrary to what was in the initial U23 release notes, it does not appear to be possible to install/use the Lamannia client without Akamai (and that note is gone from the latest release notes).

[AtomicMew]

Can I create a copy of DDO-ML (separate folder) to use for running the Lamannia client? Or will this mess up my using it with live DDO? Contrary to what was in the initial U23 release notes, it does not appear to be possible to install/use the Lamannia client without Akamai (and that note is gone from the latest release notes).

You can create a separate folder and each folder will retain its own settings. However, i have not tested DDO-ML for lammania.

[AdamSmith]

Does this tool bypass the built-in preloader in the official launcher that was updated today?

[Phoenix-daBard]

Does this tool bypass the built-in preloader in the official launcher that was updated today?

I believe it would since this bypasses the official launcher.

[EllisDee37]

Does this tool bypass the built-in preloader in the official launcher that was updated today?

Yes, you need your own preloader to work with DDO-ML.

I wrote my own quickie version using VB6 when I switched to DDO-ML. There's not much to it, but it works great. Here's a stripped down version of it:

Private Declare Function GetDesktopWindow Lib "user32" () As Long
Private Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "ShellExecuteA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpszOp As String, ByVal lpszFile As String, ByVal lpszParams As String, ByVal lpszDir As String, ByVal FsShowCmd As Long) As Long

Sub Main()
    Dim strFile As String
    Dim strFolder As String
    Dim bytArray() As Byte

    ' Cache gamelogic.dat
    strFile = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Turbine\Dungeons & Dragons Online\client_gamelogic.dat"
    Open strFile For Binary Access Read As #1
    ReDim bytArray(LOF(1))
    Get #1, , bytArray
    Close #1
    Erase bytArray
    ' Run DDO-ML
    strFolder = "C:\Users\Ellis\Documents\Games\DDO\DOO-ML 1.0"
    strFile = strFolder & "\DDO-ML.exe"
    ShellExecute GetDesktopWindow(), "Open", strFile, "", strFolder, wsNormal
End Sub

Wanesa's is a bit more involved but they essentially do the same thing. You can make your own version as a .bat file in a pinch:

@echo off
cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Turbine\Dungeons & Dragons Online"
copy client_gamelogic.dat cache.dat
del cache.dat
cd "C:\Users\Ellis\Documents\Games\DDO\DOO-ML 1.0"
DDO-ML
exit

That should do the same thing, only slightly less elegantly. Just change the folders to match your setup and you should be good to go.

[whereispowderedsilve]

Yes, you need your own preloader to work with DDO-ML.

I wrote my own quickie version using VB6 when I switched to DDO-ML. There's not much to it, but it works great. Here's a stripped down version of it:

Private Declare Function GetDesktopWindow Lib "user32" () As Long
Private Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "ShellExecuteA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpszOp As String, ByVal lpszFile As String, ByVal lpszParams As String, ByVal lpszDir As String, ByVal FsShowCmd As Long) As Long

Sub Main()
    Dim strFile As String
    Dim strFolder As String
    Dim bytArray() As Byte

    ' Cache gamelogic.dat
    strFile = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Turbine\Dungeons & Dragons Online\client_gamelogic.dat"
    Open strFile For Binary Access Read As #1
    ReDim bytArray(LOF(1))
    Get #1, , bytArray
    Close #1
    Erase bytArray
    ' Run DDO-ML
    strFolder = "C:\Users\Ellis\Documents\Games\DDO\DOO-ML 1.0"
    strFile = strFolder & "\DDO-ML.exe"
    ShellExecute GetDesktopWindow(), "Open", strFile, "", strFolder, wsNormal)
End Sub

Wanesa's is a bit more involved but they essentially do the same thing. You can make your own version as a .bat file in a pinch:

@echo off
cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Turbine\Dungeons & Dragons Online"
copy client_gamelogic.dat cache.dat
del cache.dat
cd "C:\Users\Ellis\Documents\Games\DDO\DOO-ML 1.0"
DDO-ML
exit

That should do the same thing, only slightly less elegantly. Just change the folders to match your setup and you should be good to go.

OMG!!?!?!?! Can I use this with Pylotro??? I've been using it for the past year or so. No rush I am not currently playing DDO so.

Thanks Ellis!!!

[EllisDee37]

OMG!!?!?!?! Can I use this with Pylotro??? I've been using it for the past year or so. No rush I am not currently playing DDO so.

Thanks Ellis!!!

Yep. The .bat file solution is a little clunky but will work with any launcher, and for any version. (Live or Lama.)

[Nodoze]

Yep. The .bat file solution is a little clunky but will work with any launcher, and for any version. (Live or Lama.)

Good to know & thanks for sharing!

[grabelotto]

Well, I'm trying to use this lite version, but I don't know anything about programming.
That's my code:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
<shortcut label="Acc1">
<account user="grabelotto">
<pass value=" " encrypted_value="41FDE2FF0C4B8E37A76821F1DE3D7EE2A EABD266C1D2E424DC3708D675297414"></pass>
<rename value="DDO_acc1"></rename>
<character value="Ivalaine"></character>
<subscription value="SubName"></subscription>
</account>
</shortcut>
<shortcut label="Acc2">
<account user="Acc2">
<pass value="" encrypted_value="12FBAE1DA9BE44CF7C47A9B8522D8F12" ></pass>
<rename value="DDO_acc2"></rename>
<character value=""></character>
</account>
</shortcut>
<shortcut label="Acc1 and Acc2">
<account user="Acc1">
<pass value="" encrypted_value="B583887174CA4124FD06BD2917596B87" ></pass>
<rename value="DDO_acc1"></rename>
<character value=""></character>
</account>
<account user="Acc2">
<pass value="" encrypted_value="45AB4261FC807720517637B1796B666C" ></pass>
<rename value="DDO_acc2"></rename>
<character value=""></character>
</account>
</shortcut>
</root>


And after cliclink Acc1 and (Patch Game) that's what happens:

***DONE***

Data patching complete.
All patching complete.
Checking for updates...
...
...
checking data...data patches: 0 bytes to download: 0
unlock: 0 empty: 0
result code: 0x00000000
Patching data:

...
Connecting to patch.ddo.com:80
...
files to patch: 0 bytes to download: 0
Patching files:
File patching complete
...
Connecting to patch.ddo.com:80
Checking files......
...
...
...
...
...
***Starting Patch Process***

What should i do next??

[Bob_of_QF]

Sadly, after more than a year of happy usage, DDO-ML.EXE no longer functions with DDO. Their very latest patch (last night?) has finally killed this most excellent resource.

I tried all sorts of things, but gave up and dug out my old DDO launcher-- it said I needed a patch, which I did.

(I had been using the "patch game" feature of DDO-ML, but that also does not work any more.)

About the only positive note in all this? I hit "decline" for Akami, but was still able to get into DDO. I have yet to see if they were lying (as before), and installed it anyway...

I really miss being able to jump directly to my toons-- I haven't seen that "choose your toon" page in over a year... and I had not missed it at all. I'm sorry to see it now, even...

[EllisDee37]

There was no update last night.

DDO-ML still works fine for me, no issues. I successfully logged in using DDO-ML at the same time I'm writing this post.

I did run into some weirdness with DDO-ML simply not doing anything after the most recent update a few days ago or last week. A simple reboot of my computer (which I rarely do) fixed it.

[UurlockYgmeov]

I've had not issues with DDO-ML or PyDDO either.

[Aintryg]

I have edited the ini file, everything is pointing to the correct paths. When I launch the DDO-ML exe I get the pop up box, click on my account, login displays the correct name, it then says done. And thats it, nothing else happens, game does not launch. Does anyone have an suggestions for what to check?

[AtomicMew]

I have edited the ini file, everything is pointing to the correct paths. When I launch the DDO-ML exe I get the pop up box, click on my account, login displays the correct name, it then says done. And thats it, nothing else happens, game does not launch. Does anyone have an suggestions for what to check?

Hi, if you're having problems, turn on debug=1 in the ini file and check the log files, which could give you more info.

[UurlockYgmeov]

Hi, if you're having problems, turn on debug=1 in the ini file and check the log files, which could give you more info.

Hey AtomicMew - love DDO-ML. Would you update it so to work on the new awesome process (they changed the name)?

Thank you in advance!

[Aintryg]

Hi, if you're having problems, turn on debug=1 in the ini file and check the log files, which could give you more info.

Unable to find a subscription on your account for DDO. Your LotrO account? I am not sure if this is looking for something other than my account, or if this is something I should have edited myself.

[AtomicMew]

Unable to find a subscription on your account for DDO. Your LotrO account? I am not sure if this is looking for something other than my account, or if this is something I should have edited myself.

Yep, looks like you need to add your subscription name (some accounts have more than one subscription, e.g., if you're using the same account for LOTRO, or CS added a new account to fix an error).

Ver 1.2 - NOTE: You will need to re-encrypt your passwords if moving the XML file from 1.11 to 1.2.
Fixed issue with reserved characters (e.g. hypens) in account/passwords (probably)
Added option to choose subscription. See the example XML file.
Switched usage to long path folder names, should fix issue with deep folder names