What is up with Uplay?

[ChillaxedUpgrader]

Sorry about the annoyed subject line <Mod Edit: There, fixed it for you>. But this is just so frustrating. How on Earth does someone introduce a competitor to Steam yet make the service so terrible? I've only got Uplay in order to redeem voucher codes that came with my GPU.

Presumably Uplay does these offers to introduce their service so that in the future people will spend money with them. Ha!

Anyway, has anyone managed to overcome download failures with Uplay a few seconds after starting? I've started a support query but who knows when that will be dealt with.

So far I've added rules to my firewall, disabled firewall, uninstalled and reinstalled Uplay... none of it works. My internet connection is otherwise fine.

Is it just their servers? Could they really be THAT rubbish?

Any thoughts much appreciated.
Cheers, Chillx

 

[HEXiT]

yes its really that rubbish, better to download the game via steam than from uplay if you can. then when your asked enter the key. it should work regardless of where you get it...

other things to be aware of.
at xmas uplay is well known for shutting down the servers for the holidays.
uplay has a lot of games that require a phone home to play or an always on connection.
uplay points are pretty much worthless unless you like spending them on wallpapers.

 

[ChillaxedUpgrader]

Hi Hexit, thanks for the response.

Am I getting this right: Although my activation code came from Uplay, I can download it via Steam? Can this be true? There's a chance I may actually kiss the monitor if this is right!

 

[HEXiT]

you should be able to if the game is on steam also. if its not then try a download manager, it will resume the download automatically if the connection gets dropped.

 

[teddymines]

IIRC, the Far Cry 3 I got was through Uplay. I don't recall it being a very positive experience: application lock-ups and redundant achievements.

 

[ChillaxedUpgrader]

Just an update on this: Uplay support got back to me and suggested the following:

1) Ensure Uplay is installed on C:\ and that games are downloaded to C:\ - this was already the case
2) Go to Environment Variables under Control Panel properties and remove any variable containing the word 'PROXY'. - There were no variables like this.

So I got back to them to let them know.

Something else I noticed which seems really weird to me, is that as soon as the download starts, 25GB vanishes off my C:\ drive free space, and in the Uplay game folder an 'Assassins Creed IV' folder appears, containing loads of games files and sized at about 25GB. Instantly! That's weird isn't it? Or is it sort of allocating space and making it look used already?

My other wondering was whether the Uplay client has found the old installation from before I re-installed Windows. Could it be trying to work with this but somehow failing?

Whoo, so many questions. Any thoughts, as always, much appreciated!

 

[numanator]

The thing that really sucks is that even if you get Far Cry 3 or any other Uplay game on steam, you still have to play it through Uplay. Then you have to have both steam and Uplay open to play your game. I had a ton of headaches with this not working properly with Far Cry 3.

Also, I'm assuming that the instant 25GB files are placeholders.

 

[ChillaxedUpgrader]

The thing that really sucks is that even if you get Far Cry 3 or any other Uplay game on steam, you still have to play it through Uplay. Then you have to have both steam and Uplay open to play your game. I had a ton of headaches with this not working properly with Far Cry 3.

Also, I'm assuming that the instant 25GB files are placeholders.

I know. It's so ironic because they must have done the giveaway to promote their service. But all they're showing us is a bad service. I actually think the support team are pretty helpful overall. If the rest of Uplay was as good as the support side, I would consider spending money there!

Ah well, we could moan all night! I'll report back when there's more to tell.

 

[screwubisoft]

Uplay is by far the worst game distribution system I have ever used, having been an avid game for years. I spend more time attempting to resolve technical and login issues than I do playing the games I payed for. Never buying a ubisoft game again. My solution? Request a refund, and if they won't do that, cut your losses and deal with a company which actually respects their customers.

 

[HEXiT]

Just an update on this: Uplay support got back to me and suggested the following:

1) Ensure Uplay is installed on C:\ and that games are downloaded to C:\ - this was already the case
2) Go to Environment Variables under Control Panel properties and remove any variable containing the word 'PROXY'. - There were no variables like this.

So I got back to them to let them know.

Something else I noticed which seems really weird to me, is that as soon as the download starts, 25GB vanishes off my C:\ drive free space, and in the Uplay game folder an 'Assassins Creed IV' folder appears, containing loads of games files and sized at about 25GB. Instantly! That's weird isn't it? Or is it sort of allocating space and making it look used already?

My other wondering was whether the Uplay client has found the old installation from before I re-installed Windows. Could it be trying to work with this but somehow failing?

Whoo, so many questions. Any thoughts, as always, much appreciated!

yes its preallocating files this helps minimize fragmentation of the download and is actually a good thing.

 

[ChillaxedUpgrader]

Uplay is by far the worst game distribution system I have ever used, having been an avid game for years. I spend more time attempting to resolve technical and login issues than I do playing the games I payed for. Never buying a ubisoft game again. My solution? Request a refund, and if they won't do that, cut your losses and deal with a company which actually respects their customers.

This seems to be the feeling for many users. There is potential for a fantastic service, which makes it even more frustrating because it really isn't. I'm currently hovering somewhere around junior management with my issue. I am really dubious about the legality of selling games to people, who then find themselves unable to access them for prolonged periods, despite there being absolutely nothing wrong with their pc or internet connection. Those games are people's property. Now take Steam - you only ever need to download your game once. Then you can write it to DVD, back it up on a hard disk or USB - then re-install from the backup if needed. That's the model for how this should work. Uplay provides the model for how not to do it.

If my issue isn't sorted out very soon, I am quite certain that someone has breached the Trade Descriptions Act. Then I will refer this to the Trading Standards Authority. I don't want to do it, but there comes a point at which there are no other options.

UPDATE 06/03/2014
So they're now letting me download one of my games. But I still do not consider myself in possession of them. When you own media entertainment, you freely install, uninstall, ignore for five years or play it every day. The only restrictions are local ones, like having to go to work, spend time with loved ones, if your PC is faulty - and so on.

Uplay currently provides no functionality for backing up and restoring games, therefore access to my games is restricted by technical faults, outages and errors at Uplay's end. This is not consistent with the concept of ownership.

Come on Uplay! It can't be THAT difficult. If it wasn't for this problem, your credibility would be way higher than it is. Obviously you train your support staff to respond like robots and fail to read peoples' messages properly because one day you will try to replace them with AI. You're just trying to get us used to it. Alright, whatever. But you can't withhold peoples' games from them and expect all of them to just wear it. We're not all spoiled teenagers who are surrounded by other games and don't know how to complain anyway.

...and so on. I'm sure there are plenty of others who could chip in with their experiences. Please feel free! Keep smiling

 

[garryash]

ubisoft and uplay are both having problems at the moment (well for the last 3-4 weeks). It would seem that it only affects users on BT Infinity - spo they say. But on the forums it is broken for most parts of the world. But that may be a coincidence as Bt is admitting a problem as well !!