HELP! with updates

1) Get Stardock Central (our download manager, used to get patches or even the entire game should you not have your discs handy to install from).

2) Install it and log in with the same account you made for the forum.

3) Go to the Tools menu in SDC, and choose Register Products.

4) Pick Games on the left in the Register Products window, then find GalCiv2 in the Product pull-down menu. Enter your email address (same as forum account, again) and serial number, then click Register. If you have GC2 Gold, repeat for Dark Avatar (use the same serial).

5) Back at the main screen of SDC, pick Games on the left. You should see GalCiv2 under a Purchased Products heading on the right side. Select it and click the Update button that appears.

6) Click the + next to GalCiv2 and update Dark Avatar as well if you have it.

That should do the trick. If you encounter an error message while trying to register the serial in (4), please contact [email protected].

If I might add....Stardock Central is the only way to update your game...If you play on a computer that is not hooked to the internet YOU ARE OUT OF LUCK....stand alone downloads seem to be no longer available...don't understand why...guess it's too much trouble to support those of us who have different arrangements...I have not purchased anything since Dread Lords due to this........KONK

Actually you can update an offline machine just fine, so long as you can install SDC somewhere to download the updates (just archive them to a CDR or USB drive).

There will probably be a standalone update when we reach v2.0.

My online computer is networked (file share only)with my gaming computer. Could I download the updates to my online computer as an executable file and then ship it to my gaming computer?....Konk

To get the download version of the game (or the patch for a retail copy) up and running on an offline machine:

1) Install SDC on an online machine (keep a copy of the SDC installer handy).

2) Log in on SDC, head to the Games section, right click on the game, and choose Archive Application->Download and Archive. If the game is already installed and updated on this machine you can choose Archive Application->Selected Application to pack it up without redownloading.

3) If the game has modules (GalCiv2 does, for example), you'll be prompted to archive them as well. If the media you'll use to transfer the game isn't large enough, you may need to decline and archive each module sparately; otherwise just say yes.

4) When the archive process finishes, you'll find the .sdc file(s) in C:\Program Files\Stardock\Stardock Central\BACKUP (this path is customizable in SDC's settings so it may vary). Copy the .sdc files along with the SDC installer to the portable media of your choice (CDR, DVDR, USB drive, etc).

5) On the offline computer, install SDC, then double-click the .sdc archive files in explorer to unpack them.

6) Run the game; you'll be prompted to activate. Enter the appropriate information and attempt to proceed; it will fail and offer you an option to activate by email. Copy the subject line and mail body it provides and get them back to the connected machine; email them off as directed, and follow the instructions in the reply to complete the activation process.

Thanks for taking the time to explain all this.....I assume in step #4 I can just transfer the files to my offline computer over my network? You see my online computer has no USB or CD burner..........Konk

Yep, that'll work as well (it's a prefab reply for people who ask how to do offline installs).