Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 chopblock Jul 15, 2009 16:38:03	I'm on a slow connection, so last night before going to bed, I set the Character Builder demo to install. When I got up this morning, these four EXE's were running when I hit CTRL+ALT+DEL and hadn't seen them before. dotnetfx35setup ddisetup2009april.exe mscorsvw.exe msiexec.exe And Microsoft Net Framework 3.5 SP1 was trying to download, or perhaps should have been downloaded already, since the green bar was full, wasn't moving anywhere but the button 'Cancel' was still at the bottom. I cancel out, run it again and it gives me the option of where I want to install the Character Builder demo. I install it normally, and every time I try to run it, this pops up before I can do anything: CharacterBuilderUpdater has encountered a problem. Since I can't exactly get a bug report readout as it won't run at all, I don't have many details beyond that to offer upfront, just a few questions. 1. Does anyone have any idea how I might fix this, or what I did wrong? 2. Is there somewhere where I can just download the entirety of the files without bothering with the installer or updater? And 3. Why is what should be a simple text-based program that helps you create character sheets, something done primarily in the past with a pencil and a sheet of paper, 55 MB? Why does it require a microsoft net framework update just to run? Does it really need all those bells and whistles tacked on, honestly? If anyone has a link to a 4e character builder with all this unnecessary stuff removed, please, share it.
#2 dalzig Jul 15, 2009 17:07:41	The CB requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 to run. This is the cause of your crashing. If you want to use the CB, you will have to install this. You can download it from Microsoft. If you wish to just download it all at once, look further down the page for the Full Package. Just a warning, the .NET Framework installer will appear to stall (for up to a couple of hours depending on your machine), but it IS working. Just leave it alone until it is finished or crashes by itself. The reason for using the .NET Framework is because it makes it a lot easier to code programs. Not only does .NET provide easy GUI access, it provides a parser for XML-like files, which is how the characters and rules information are stored. Also, the CB is much more than a "simple text-based program that helps you create character sheets". It IS a character sheet. You can use the program to play D&D without the need to print anything off. It also contains all the official player rules for D&D (classes, items, powers, feats, paragon paths, epic destinies....) and will mostly calculate everything you need to be able to roll a dice. It's a very nice program and you'll be hooked if you ever get it running. Edit: Seeing as how you clicked Cancel on an install... you might have to reinstall the .NET Framework and/or the Character Builder.
#3 chopblock Jul 15, 2009 17:26:10	http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa569263.aspx I'll try downloading this overnight tonight, then reinstalling the Character Builder. Thanks for the speedy response, if it still doesn't work, I'll be back. ^^