DDO-ML an ultrafast lightweight DDO launcher

[Octarino]

As above, with account settings in the xml file all setup, the game itself doesn't actually launch.

DDO-ML just reports "Done... (account name)"

The Patching appears to work though.

I am on W7 x64 btw.

[Fhauvial]

I'm just going to quote a post I made elsewhere:



To add: if you care about security, why are you not ranting at chrome and safari for storing your passwords as plain text? Why are you not ranting at turbine for sending your password as plain text over the network?

Those are much larger and obvious security threats than a hacker accidentally happening on an obscure file, in an obscure game launcher for an obscure game. A casual hacker is not going to spend the effort to grep your entire hard drive. He's going to look for the obvious vectors like stored browser data.

I'm a former penetration tester, currently a C-level executive in charge of Information Systems. I am very much concerned with those things. That doesn't make storing the password in plain text not a security risk.

And wait, Turbine sends the password in plain text? Who the heck thought that was a good idea?

(Edit: I'm not ranting here at all, so I hope you didn't take it that way. I just wanted to point out to those who were unaware that your program does store the account info in plain text, and yes, it is a security risk. I would rather people make an informed decision to use a piece of software rather than go into it thinking it was 'secure', which it certainly isn't.)

[charleslecharles]

Great tool!
I don't know anything about programming but would it be too hard to add something like a server value to the xml file?
Thinking of something like:

    <shortcut label="Acc1 server1">
        <account user="Acc1">
            <pass value="password1"></pass>
            <server="server1"></server>
            <rename value="DDO_acc1"></rename>
            <character value="ToonName"></character>
        </account>
    </shortcut>

This way it would be easier to log on different servers without having to edit the ini file or have multiple copies/folders of ddo-ml.

[mikebalazs]

Thanks for this! Works like a charm.

[SiliconScout]

Exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks.

[Fhauvial]

Just thought I'd mention you can still use the preloader with this (and PyLoTRO), but it requires a couple extra steps:

1) Start the Preloader
2) Wait until it loads the files, then deny EULA/exit client.
3) Start DDO-ML/PyLoTRO

The files should now be pre-loaded into memory, resulting in a much faster login post-character screen.

[Flavilandile]

Just thought I'd mention you can still use the preloader with this (and PyLoTRO), but it requires a couple extra steps:

1) Start the Preloader
2) Wait until it loads the files, then deny EULA/exit client.
3) Start DDO-ML/PyLoTRO

The files should now be pre-loaded into memory, resulting in a much faster login post-character screen.

I have the source code for the preloader open behind my navigator right now... and looking at the code it doesn't look too difficult to modify it to accept alternate launchers as an option.

Now, my coding skill is not that great in C... I'm better at Assembler, so I can't make any promise.

[Caprice]

Hello, the game doesn't launch for me with DDO-ML... y double click on login with my account and it says "Done... Account1" but nothing happens

Ditto w/ this behavior but on Win8 x64 Pro. There is no negative feedback in the standard display, but by playing around with the menu options I managed to get an error message stating that it looked to DDO-ML like my DDO folder did not actually have DDO installed in it. I am at work but will try it again tonight and post an exact message.

[Xalthon]

Silly question, but what folder to I select exactly when it asks for the DDO folder? I see these as my optinos:

/My Documents/Dungeons and Dragons Online/
/My Documents/Dungeons and Dragons Online/DDO-ML 1.01 [where I have the zip files extracted]
c:/Program Files (x86)/DDO
c:/Program Files (x86)/DDO/DDO high res install files
c:/Program Files (x86)/Turbine/DDO Unlimited

Sorry for the dumb question, but as another posted mentioned, "It all looks like Greek to me!"

Thanks!

[Cedrica-the-Bard]

c:/Program Files (x86)/Turbine/DDO Unlimited

I chose this one and it worked.

[Cedrica-the-Bard]

And thanks a bunch for this. It really is a nice workaround and loads much faster than the main launcher. Me likey.

[Xalthon]

I chose this one and it worked.

Thank you, it looks like it was the right one, but the patching failed. I may need to completely reinstall... not sure...

[rimble]

Thank you, it looks like it was the right one, but the patching failed. I may need to completely reinstall... not sure...

Patching failed for me too, until I right-clicked on the icon and ran it using the 'Run as Administrator' option.

[Xalthon]

Patching failed for me too, until I right-clicked on the icon and ran it using the 'Run as Administrator' option.

Thanks for the tip. I just tried it, but it did not seem to have any effect. Here's the output I got:

***DONE***

Downloading client_gamelogic.dat-21547....
Failed!
Data patching failed result code: 0x81930005
Failed to download data: Unknown result code: 0x81930005
Checking for updates...
...
data patches: 4047 bytes to download: 551872102
unlock: 0 empty: 12
result code: 0x00000000
Patching data:
Applying 4066 forward iterations
...
checking 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***


P.S. Interestingly, I also can't update via Akamai either. I get a "cannot save data" message when I try.

[Full_Bleed]

As above, with account settings in the xml file all setup, the game itself doesn't actually launch.

DDO-ML just reports "Done... (account name)"

The Patching appears to work though.

I am on W7 x64 btw.

Same problem. Same OS. Recent new install of DDO.

Of note: DDO seems to have been installed into a hidden C:\ProgramData\Turbine\DDO Unlimited directory.

This was done using the post pando installation a couple weeks ago (it used Happy Cloud, since removed). This is different than from previous installs (and maybe the newest install with Akamai) where it would have gone into the C:\Program Files (x86)\Turbine\DDO Unlimited directory (on 64 bit systems) or C:\Programs Files\Turbine\DDO Unlimited on 32 bit systems. This seems pretty non-standard to me. Not sure if this is the reason for the failure to launch DDO-ML. The ddo-ml.ini file is indicating a path of directory=C:\PROGRA~3\Turbine\DDOUNL~1\.

To be clear:

After filling in ddo-ml-xml with user info I launch with DDO-ML.EXE directly from the DDO-ML 1.01 folder.
It asks for a server name (I spelled it right and used all lower case since the default of khyber was all lower case).
Then it pops a DDO-ML window to choose Acc1, Acc2, or Acc1 and Acc2, etc. If I choose the first one it indicates that it is logging in and indicates that it is Done.
But it fails to launch DDO at that point.

Suggestions?

[Teva]

I scanned this with avast antivirus upon download and after unzipping, it scanned clean both times. But then I clicked it to run... suddenly Avast hated it, hid it away in the infected chest, and wanted a clean scan upon boot-up of my computer. So it seems I get to choose between horrible software that we know tracks us and might be using our bandwidth or this which is totally unclear as to what the issue is... hmm

[Panzermeyer]

Gave this a try at lunch. The update installed just fine and ran the launcher without a hitch, looks like I am going to be continuing to play DDO.

Thanks for the launcher and the info on it.

[GreenGurgler]

Same problem. Same OS. .......

To be clear:

After filling in ddo-ml-xml with user info I launch with DDO-ML.EXE directly from the DDO-ML 1.01 folder.
It asks for a server name (I spelled it right and used all lower case since the default of khyber was all lower case).
Then it pops a DDO-ML window to choose Acc1, Acc2, or Acc1 and Acc2, etc. If I choose the first one it indicates that it is logging in and indicates that it is Done.
But it fails to launch DDO at that point.

Suggestions?

Same here, can anyone offer any suggestions?
Says Done ...ACC1 (yes I changed to my user account, just not the Acc1 heading).

Stumped.

[Mellkor]

This does not work for me.

I am sure I am putting in the info as directed here.

It opens DDO to a screen with no toons. (like a new account)

[Caprice]

Ditto w/ this behavior but on Win8 x64 Pro. There is no negative feedback in the standard display, but by playing around with the menu options I managed to get an error message stating that it looked to DDO-ML like my DDO folder did not actually have DDO installed in it. I am at work but will try it again tonight and post an exact message.

Success!

The message I was referring to was actually when I try to "(Patch Game)". I get a window popping up that churns for a little bit then states that "Your DDO game directory <path> does not appear to be right." error. However the <path> it lists is not correct and not the one I chose. I have my DDO client installed on a different drive, in a non-standard path that's nested 3 deep, but the <path> that shows up for me in the above error message is only listing the first 2 folders. I copied my DDO folder contents down a level (e.g. from X:\Games\Turbine\DDO to X:\Games\Turbine) and now the patch process runs without error.

Based on that behavior I also moved my DDO-ML directory down to the root of its drive, from X:\Games\DdoLaunchers\DDO-ML to X:\Test and now it launches the game successfully.

I am curious to see if the other people here who cannot launch see similar behavior. Are you installed in a non-default location? On a different drive? If so, try moving it into a very shallow location on your drive and you might get it to work. I'm not sure if I will continue to use it as is or move to PyLotRO, assuming that it does not have the same path depth issue.