version update files are corrupted?

[Skylarias]

So. I stopped playing FF in the fall/early winter of last year as I got bogged down in school stuff. After I graduated I started to try playing Realm Reborn again. Much to my dismay it wouldn't work, even though I had literally changed ABSOLUTELY nothing on my computer since the last time playing it (I went weeks without even turning on my pc, using my laptop only)

When doing the update, at first it would give me several error codes. Then for weeks it consistently gave me the "One or more version files are corrupted" spiel. I've tried everything on the web I could find- as well as everything the support tech suggested.
The only thing I haven't done yet is wiping my hard drive and reinstalling windows 7. He did suggest a system restore... but I don't see how that would help.
Which logically, shouldn't be necessary in order to play a game that used to work just fine on my pc.

I've uninstalled the game, deleted all files associated with it, and attempted to reinstall several times. This is what I get from the client:




Meanwhile, I'm kinda pissed from paying for two months' of subscriptions just wasting them trying to troubleshoot the issues arising from the SE updates.

And the help from "support" only refers me to someone else:

Agent Alfred P: If this is a bug with your particular computer, then we definitely need to report this as a glitch to the development team by posting this in the support forums to have them look into the issue.
Agent Alfred P: You can post this on the technical support forums and reporting as a bug or glitch.

[Skylarias]

Tried one last thing... after uninstalling, running CCleaner, cleaning the registry and deleting all associated files, I shutoff my pc. Turned it on again, ran CCleaner and cleaned the registry again. Downloaded the client from the website again to install...

1.) I download the client from http://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/playersdownload/na/
2.) I double click to open.
3.) I hit "run"
4.) I select the language of NA English
5.) It disappears. No processes related to it are running in task manager either.

I think I'm done with this game...

[Raist]

Sometimes a mismatch in the version check files throws things out of whack.

Browse to the game folder in your installation folder. By default it should be on a path like this:

C:\Program Files (x86)\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\game

There should be two files there for ffxivgame, one ends with .ver and the other with .bck. They need to have the same version number in them (can open it in Notepad). Since you haven't patched up yet, it should be an older number. It's basically a date followed by a number string signifying the release number for that day ( 2014.06.12.0000.0001 ). Make sure they both show the older one of the two if they are different.

Now, you need to go up one folder level and into the Boot folder to do the same thing for ffxivboot.ver and ffxivboot.bck.

C:\Program Files (x86)\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\boot

These may have a different date stamp, but again... want them both to show the older of the two if they are different.

Now you are ready to delete your patch downloads. They are under your documents folder, nested in a My Games folder. You want to leave the folder structure intact--you just want to delete the files under the final "patch" folders. There will be two of them buried in a downloads/ffxivpatch/<hexadecimal code>/patch path, sort of like this:

C:\Users\UserName\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\downloads\ffxivpatch\2b5cbc63\patch
C:\Users\UserName\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\downloads\ffxivpatch\4e9a232b\patch

Ideally after a good patching, these will be basically empty except for an info file, named something like this:

D2014.06.12.0000.0001.patch.info

Anything else in these folders should be deleted, but leave the folders there (don't just delete the patch folders, only the files inside them).


Now everything from the last patch attempt should be pretty much reset so you can try again.

[Skylarias]

I'm re-installing the game... which might be the reason for this... but inside of the game subfolder, there is only a .ver and not .bck. The version is 2012.01.01.0000.0000
Inside of the boot folder I have both .ver and .bck (version 2014.06.02.0000.0001)