[0.291] Cannot start game - "Failed to download data file"

from Elemental Forums

Hi, ever since the 0.291 update, I can't reliably start up Elemental. The game hangs at the pre-into splash screen for literally several minutes and then displays the following error message:

Failed to download data file. Please make sure you're connected to the internet, have signed into Impulse and that no firewall or anti-virus program is blocking Elemental.

My only option is to click okay and exit the program. 0.290 didn't have this issue. Shutting down my anti-virus (using NOD32) and running as administrator don't seem to help reliably (see below). Reinstalling doesn't change anything.

I did once manage to reach the menu when I first shut down NOD32 and ran as admin, but I have been unable to replicate it. Maybe it was something else, because those things no longer help.

One thing I should note is that I didn't update from 0.920, but uninstalled and cleaned out the remaining files from My Documents, Appdata and Program Data, before installing 0.921 directly.

debug.err

dxdiag

3,324 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

I'll just note that the situation now seems resolved, although I'm not sure how exactly it happened.

After making the original post, I remembered that I had a backup of BETA 0.264, which used to not have this problem. However, after restoring it, I found that 0.264 now had the exact same problem. So I updated back to 0.291 and gave up for a bit.

Today, I decided to give it one last shot. I completely disabled both the Windows firewall and my anti-virus and the game started with no problems. Then, I turned the firewall back and it still ran. Finally, I turned the anti-virus back on, too. And it still runs, no problems. I have no idea what happened. Does this make sense to anyone?

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Did you have Impulse open when this happened?  I seem to remember a crash if I opened Elemental then closed Impulse

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

I did not have Impulse open for any of today's (all-successful) attempts. Unless Impulse Now counts, in which case I always did, from the beginning of the issue. When I was having problems, it was sometimes open, sometimes not, to no noticeable effect.

I just tried opening it, running the game, then closing it and running the game again. Seems to make no difference.