| Post/Author/DateTime | Post |
|---|---|
| #1mctoolNov 03, 2008 8:18:50 | I can not download either issue of dragon or dungeon. I have subscribed to insider if that matters. |
| #2mudbunnyNov 03, 2008 8:29:35 | Can you provide more detail than that?? |
| #3mctoolNov 03, 2008 9:01:41 | sorry yes when I click on the link to download the pdf I get sent to a webpage with html code on it. |
| #4mudbunnyNov 03, 2008 9:12:07 | I think I know the problem. Try this: Right click on the link, and choose "Save target as..." (Or wahetever the equivalent is on your browaser). Click cancel, and then try again, and you should be able to download the .pdf with no problems. |
| #5mctoolNov 03, 2008 9:15:16 | It came back with more html code. |
| #6mudbunnyNov 03, 2008 9:28:24 | Which issues are you trying to download? Are you logged into DDI? What is the code that you are getting, when you simply click on the link? |
| #7mctoolNov 03, 2008 9:35:27 | I am attempting to download dragon 368 and Dungeon 159 Iam logged in and here is some of th code. Issue: 368%PDF-1.6 %aaio 1450 0 obj <> and the code continues in html format. |
| #8mudbunnyNov 03, 2008 9:40:23 | What link are you using?? The link that I am using is found on http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drtoc/368. Once I am logged in, clicking on "Download Complete Issue now" sends me to http://www.wizards.com/download.asp?filename=368_Dragon.pdf, which appears to be downloading to my computer as we speak. |
| #9mudbunnyNov 03, 2008 9:41:56 | It downloaded fine for me. |
| #10mctoolNov 03, 2008 9:42:48 | It must be a problem with my local machine cause I just clicked on that link you provided and i got the same html screen. The odd thing is that I was able to download the other issues like 3 mins ago. |
| #11mctoolNov 03, 2008 9:49:13 | I was using IE and was unable to get it but my firefox browerswas able to download it. |
| #12orc_taoNov 03, 2008 11:20:34 | If you have an issue like this, please contact Customer Service with as much information as you can so that we can document the problem and send it on up to the code-monkeys. Thanks! |
| #13CHeardNov 03, 2008 12:14:55 | I'm having a similar problem. I will send this info directly to customer service, but also share it here in case anyone else has similar issues. First, my system specs: I'm using Mac OS X with all the latest updates installed. Second, I am a D&D Insider subscriber, and I am having this problem while I am logged in. Now, here's the behavior. If I attempt to view subscriber-only PDFs in Safari or Firefox -- browsers that display PDFs in the browser window -- I get stuck in a loop. The new window opens, but continually loops back on itself, reloading and reloading and reloading with no end in sight. Right-clicking on the link and choosing the "download" option doesn't help at all, because the links go to an .asp page that serves up the PDF, rather than linking directly to the PDF itself. Therefore, using the "download" option from a contextual pop-up menu causes the browser to literally download the .asp file, not the PDF file that the .asp page is supposed to retrieve. Now, if try to access the same files with Camino -- which does not attempt to display PDFs in the browser window -- Camino loads the .asp page and downloads the requested PDF just fine. But of course, I don't have to tell you what a pain it is to have to switch from my preferred browser to Camino just to download D&D content. And what's the installed base of Camino compared to Safari and Firefox? This problem never occurred before the subscription service went live, so it's obviously a problem in the authentication module or something similar to that. |
| #14ArtifactNov 03, 2008 15:39:36 | Just to chime in (again) on the download problems. I also see gibberish when I try to download Insider content unless I use a work-around. Only Insider content requires a work-around; I browse other sites and download stuff without a hitch. I'm using IE 6 and Adobe Reader 6. Not the most recent releases but I shouldn't need the most up-to-date stuff just to see my subscription content My work-around in a nut-shell: I make sure I'm logged in. Then, right-click on the "See it now" link, which brings up an option to "Save As". Now, I have to right-click or left click until an option to save the file as "text" appears. If "html" appears, the work-around fails. Whether I right-click or left click appears random. Once I have saved the "text" file it usually opens as a PDF. If not, it opens in WordPad as gibberish. I have another work-around, where I open Adobe Reader, then open the saved "text" file from within the reader. Then, all I have to do is save the file as a proper PDF and erase the now useless "text" file. Whether the file opens in PDF or WordPad (as gibberish) seems random. Love the Insider articles, hate the service. If it weren't for "work-arounds", I wouldn't even be able to see the stuff I've paid for. I'm lucky in that regard, some paying customers aren't (since they may not be aware of how to "work-around" the problem). By WotC's own admission, the problem is on their end, not ours. They mention it in one of the Digital Insider news items. |
| #15skalgrimmNov 03, 2008 17:16:07 | I'm having a similar problem. I will send this info directly to customer service, but also share it here in case anyone else has similar issues. Yup, I too am having exactly this problem. However, I was able to download 368 and the Minotaur article from 369 (which was why I finally snapped and subscribed), through the expedient of trying it many, many times. I never had a problem with any of the free content and the "Download it now" links. My status is the same with OS X as well. |
| #16CHeardNov 03, 2008 21:54:09 | If you have an issue like this, please contact Customer Service with as much information as you can so that we can document the problem and send it on up to the code-monkeys. Thanks! Do we have any guarantee that such information will actually reach the programmers? I ask because when I sent my information to Customer Service, I got an inane reply. I sent: Hello there. I subscribed to D&D Insider the morning that subscriptions became available, but ever since the subscription service went live, I have had trouble downloading subscriber-only materials in PDF format. Here are the details: And Customer Disservice sent back: This seems like an issue with the browsers themselves. Are you unable to access the subscriber materials? Or simply having issues downloading them? It may just be easier to save the PDF Documents and bring them up whenever you need them from your hard drive. The CS rep then marked the problem as "solved." Sigh. |
| #17ORC_ChaosNov 03, 2008 22:46:32 | Hello. I just wanted to say, just because one is marked solved, does not mean it's been filed away to be forgotten. They asked you questions, and marked it solved, but when you reply, it will reopen. So, in a sense, "solved" means "waiting on customer's reply or comment." Please anyone who has this issue, contact Customer Service with as much info as possible, so the techs can see that many people are having issues with the downloads. |
| #18KentinalNov 03, 2008 23:31:04 | Hello. I just wanted to say, just because one is marked solved, does not mean it's been filed away to be forgotten. They asked you questions, and marked it solved, but when you reply, it will reopen. So, in a sense, "solved" means "waiting on customer's reply or comment." This is Inane as well as a few other things. While CHeard did not report all of CS reply, the idea we consider this problem "solved" by telling a user that there is a user fault because of browser and/or not using any of the work arounds users managed to find does not strike me as any form of custserv. Communication effectively, requires not insulting the customer. The customer was provided no help and told the problem was considered solved. If the reply mail said something like, "We are looking into the issue, however have you tried this? The issue remains open until your reply to us as we relay your data to the code monkeys? Clearly would have been a some what better reply then issue is "solved" with what appears to be a subtext of if you do not agree with me saying this is solved email me again. Clearly CHeard appears to believe custserv kicked the user into the dust, not something that was any longer a trouble issue as far as WotC was concerned. I am not the best person at PR and communication, however if the report is accurate of what was reported, without clear information to please reply if issue not solved for you custserv does not strike me as a problem solver. I do understand that custserv clearly handles issues most of the time (at least I hope so) for customer resolution, that when posts show up on forums are those that when custserv can not solve. It is just your reply explaining "solved" does not inspire confidence in members of the custserv team. More data from CHeard would be interesting to read, because indeed custserve might have included words to the effect you do not believe "solved" please reply. |
| #19ORC_ChaosNov 03, 2008 23:38:50 | They do not say "this item is solved", he meant the ticket was marked as solved, which as I said is simply the status that still allows the customer to write back in. If the customer does not agree with or like the answer they received, they are always welcome to to reply and ask to speak with a supervisor. In fact, I do recommend in this case that he reply and ask that it be considered a bug, so it can be escalated. |
| #20ArtifactNov 04, 2008 8:22:23 | The response I got from CS was that I should try upgrading to Adobe Reader 9. That's it. Thing is, I'm using Windows 98SE and Reader 6 is the highest version I'm given as an option. I'm no tech-head, but do I really need the most up-to-date OS, Internet Browser, and Adobe Reader before I can download Insider PDFs without a work-around? I use my computer primarily to browse these boards, shop online once in a while, and to read online Dragon. That's the extent of my internet habits. I can't justify an upgrade; for right now, my computer serves my needs (except for Insider, that is). |
| #21lprosperieNov 07, 2008 10:21:26 | I'm having the exact same problem CHeard. I emailed DDI and got no response. I've yet to try another browser on Leopard, but I too don't want to have to switch browsers just when I want to download PDFs from wizards. I was able to download the Flamebrow Commander excerpt this morning just fine. I did not have to log in to DDI to do this however. Anything I've tried to download that requires a DDI login sends me into a refresh loop. I really hope this issue gets addressed soon. |
| #22CHeardNov 07, 2008 12:20:51 | Dear everyone, For Kentinal and anyone else interested, here's the exact transcript of my exchanges with Customer Service, with the exception that I've edited out anything that might identify specific individuals on the CS end (signatures and such). For those of you who are having trouble on a Mac, but not really interested in the CS cycle, skip to the very end for some information that might help you. Basically, turn off the Adobe plug-in to solve your problem. Yet this is not the optimal solution, since you would then not be able to read any other PDFs on the web that have Adobe-specific functions enabled or embedded. Hello there. I subscribed to D&D Insider the morning that subscriptions became available, but ever since the subscription service went live, I have had trouble downloading subscriber-only materials in PDF format. Here are the details: This seems like an issue with the browsers themselves. Are you unable to access the subscriber materials? Or simply having issues downloading them? It may just be easier to save the PDF Documents and bring them up whenever you need them from your hard drive. I will say this in CS's favor: the turnaround time is much better than I expected when I left my question. However, the frustrating thing about this response is that the CS rep sounds like he hasn't really paid attention to the question, since he's asking me questions that I answered in the original ticket. Sorry, but the response from ****** does nothing to solve my problem! As I stated in the original report, I cannot see any of the subscriber PDFs at all from Safari or Firefox on the Mac. The .asp pages go into endless loops and never display the content. This problem appeared only after D&DI went to a subscriber model. I never had a problem before that. Obviously, the problem lies in the authentication module's communication with Mac browsers that display the content in the browser window. It is a programming problem! I'm going to go ahead and escalate this up to the D&DI team to look into for you. However, in the mean time, have you tried saving the pdf files to your computer and then opening them up from there, or just opening them up directly from the website? Some people who've had trouble clicking the web link can still open the files once their saved. Thank you for continuing to work on this problem, and for sending it on to the D&DI team. Can I get the following information from you if you are still having issues downloading the PDFs? Once again I get the impression that the CS rep hasn't read the original question, in which I detailed all of this. Even so … Hi, *******. I'm happy to give you the information you requested. I've also done a little more testing and I think I can narrow the problem down for you. Long story short: your .asp pages or your firewall don't play nice with Adobe's PDF reader plug-in for Safari on Mac OS X. It's obvious that CS cannot fix the problem themselves. The rep who forwarded the information to the D&DI programming team really did the best thing in this situation. I understand that the CS guys and gals are not programmers and can't magically flip a switch and make the Safari/Adobe combination work perfectly with D&DI authentication. That's got to go to the D&DI programmers, and I expect it will take a while to fix. I have no argument or complaint about that. The thing that's so frustrating is that every CS response requests information that I'd already given (sometimes multiple times) or recommends steps that require the PDF to load up in the first place--and the non-loading of the PDF was exactly the problem. I don't expect CS reps to solve programming problems. I do expect them to get the problems in front of the right people, and I think the reps in this case have done that. I also expect any CS rep, for any company, to pay careful attention to the problem they're supposed to be handling--and I don't feel like the reps have done that in this case. |
| #23ZinoviaNov 08, 2008 6:54:55 | I am also subscribed to D&DI and am having the endless loop problem when I attempt to view or download any of the Dragon magazine articles. I have not encountered this in the past. I was fairly certain I have successfully downloaded subscriber only content on this machine in the past, but it may have been only on my machine running 10.5. I will see if that one works later. I am using Mac OS 10.4.11 on this computer, with all the most recent patches and updates. Safari is my browser, and it does include the Acrobat display function. Any attempt to download the file directly by right clicking causes it to download "download.asp" not the linked PDF. Otherwise it cycles endlessly between the download app and the web page, never actually downloading anything. As I said, I have not previously encountered this issue, and it is very frustrating to see one now. I will not be satisfied with an answer that amounts to "switch browsers". It worked before with this configuration and browser. I understand there may be some issue with how your software is authenticating, but it should have already done that when I signed into D&DI, not when I try to download individual files. |
| #24ratchickenNov 08, 2008 10:19:57 | I am having the same issues as posted above regarding a continuous reloading of the pdf link for the paid content PDFs. I subscribed to DDI this morning and still do not have this problem with the free content. OSX 10.5.5 Safari 3.1.2 Adobe Reader 8.1.3 |
| #25ZinoviaNov 09, 2008 7:14:06 | While it is disappointing that there is a problem involving the interaction between D&DI, the Adobe PDF plugin, and Safari, I do have a workaround for Safari users. Since the built-in PDF viewer allows you to view the PDF's, you can disable the Adobe PDF plugin to allow your download of the Dungeon and Dragon content. 1) In the Finder, go to your root folder (whatever your hard drive is named). 2) Inside that folder will be a folder called "Library". Open that. 3) Inside you will find a folder called "Internet Plug-Ins". 4) Inside you will find a file called "AdobePDFViewer.plugin" 5) Drag that file to your desktop (or throw it away if you want to). 6) Make sure you don't have another copy of the plugin hiding in your personal directory. If you have admin level access on your account, you probably won't. To check, click on your "home" folder icon in the finder (or Users/YourAccountName). Open the Library/Internet Plug-Ins folder as above, and remove AdobePDFViewer.plugin if you find a copy there. This will cause Safari to default to its built in PDF viewer and will allow you to download D&DI files. If you use other browsers and have trouble viewing PDF's with them after removing that plugin, you'll have to put it back. Hopefully the D&DI programmers can figure out the issue so we can use the Adobe PDF viewer if we want to in the future. Getting rid of the plugin does work for now though. Good luck. P.S. I wanted to mention that if you update your Adobe PDF reader app at any point, it is quite likely to reinstall the AdobePDFViewer.plugin file automatically as part of the update process. You'll have to remove it again should that happen. This is one reason why I'd like to see this problem fixed, along with the fact that your everyday new subscriber using Safari is going to have that plugin present, and will be frustrated by the inability to view or download content they have paid for, and will likely have no idea what the problem is. |
| #26ratchickenNov 09, 2008 10:59:52 | Thanks for the advice Zinovia. I had to delete my adobe plug-in completely to make it work for now, but that is not good enough in the long term. I hope they fix this problem with all due haste. |
| #27zebastianNov 12, 2008 16:26:04 | I am having the same issues as posted above regarding a continuous reloading of the pdf link for the paid content PDFs. I subscribed to DDI this morning and still do not have this problem with the free content. My problem is nearly the exact same. I am using the same versions of OS X, Safari, and Adobe Reader, but there was no Adobe plug in my internet plug in folder. |
| #28zz-wizzardNov 14, 2008 17:06:05 | I too am having the same problem except that I am using Windows XP. When I sent a note to support they said, thanks for the bug notice. sorry about your luck. They didn't seem to indicate that they intended to help me in any further way. I just ordered a years subscription so that I could beta test the character builder and now I'd do anything to be able to even see it! Also I have noted that some articles I can download and others I can not. Don't know why it works on some and not others. The character builder is what drives me nuts... |
| #29bombyNov 15, 2008 6:17:49 | Well, i just had a similar problem, but i could resolve it by explicit allow Cookies from wizards.com and gleemax.com. There seems to be a some problem with Wizard's Cookies and Default-Browser-Settings: After you click the link to download, the page certainly thinks you are not logged in. |