Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   AmieCoff
   Member

   Hi first time using forum so plz bare with me. I've been a Game Giveaway of the Day for many years. Ever since they changed their site with this ticker, I've never been able to install games. I download. I unzip. I click on install. Box comes up stating "Successfully Activated" but I cannot find ANY folder with game name on it let alone exe file to actually install the game. What am I doing wrong? Please help! I only have 6 hours before I can no longer install Nostradamus for free. :(

   Posted 8 years ago #
2. 

   Dragonlair
   Member

   Amiecoff,

   Even if you cannot get the GOTD game version of this game, you can still get it from MyPlayCity but you have to be careful to avoid some hijacking (just uncheck the 3 boxes).

   Posted 8 years ago #
3. 

   Terri218
   Member

   Are you checking the box that says create desktop icon? And the box that says launch game?

   I always create a new folder for the game and have them all in a master Game Giveaway of the Day folder. That way you know where to find the exe file. It gives you the option of where you want to install the game at the first step of the installation process.

   Hope this helps and you get the game.

   Posted 8 years ago #
4. 

   ChrisS
   Administrator

   Your security software might be preventing the installation. Temporarily disable it and try the installation again.

   There's generally a bit of a grace period on the installation cut-off time so you might get Nostradamus to install since you've downloaded it already (probably won't work but I'd give it a shot). If it doesn't, try today's game and see if it will install.

   Posted 8 years ago #
5. 

   AmieCoff
   Member

   Okay so I've done step by step so you can see what I did. I downloaded the free game for today Rolling Idols.
   Once it downloaded I made a new folder named "Rolling Idol" & put the zipped game into that.
   Then opened it.

   I clicked set up.
   Computer asks if I want to allow software to be installed:

   Program name: Giveawayoftheday.com installer
   Verified Publisher: Softdeluxe Ltd
   File Origin: Hard drive on this computer

   I clicked YES

   Then a box pops up with "Successfully activated" with info like Add their site to favourites etc.

   I click OK & it then opens their homepage.

   I then go to C: drive to find the folder (which in the past is where I always found the downloaded games) & no folder. Not under Publisher or game names. No .exe files. Nothing.
   I do a search & nothing comes up except for what's in the Rolling Idol folder I named that's in my downloads folder.

   The files are: game zip file, setup, setup.gcd & Readme file.

   So where did the game go?

   I've had this same problem since the site changed to the ticker version. So if I'm doing something wrong, I really wanna know what it is so I don't miss out on any other awesome games etc.

   Thank you for replying.

   Posted 8 years ago #
6. 

   ChrisS
   Administrator

   I don't think your game installed at all.

   The GOTD installer does several things:
   1) it checks the date/time to verify that the install period is still active
   2) if (1) is true, it unpacks the setup.gcd file into memory
   3) it then checks the unpacked files against the file manifest to verify the integrity of the download.
   4) if the download is OK, the program installation routine is called
   5) the "successful activation" page opens.

   Your security software has two opportunities to cause you a problem. In (3) it can quarantine files and cause the "setup files are corrupted" error and in (4) it can stop the installation because it doesn't like something in the program's installation routine. However, if the installation routine is called (4) you will always see (5) "successful activation" unless the program crashes your PC because the installation is not monitored.

   So, you're getting to (4) which means there's something that your PC doesn't like about the installation routine. You can check event viewer for errors, you can also check your security logs to see if something is reported, or you can temporarily disable your security for the time it takes to install the program (there's no need to re-download, just disable the security and rerun the unzipped setup.exe and see if it works) and enable your security afterwards. Your problem is most often caused by the security software, particularly since it's been repeated multiple times with different programs.

   Posted 8 years ago #
7. 

   ChrisS
   Administrator

   I re-read your last message. When you say

   Once it downloaded I made a new folder named "Rolling Idol" & put the zipped game into that.
   Then opened it.

   
   do you mean you opened the zip file and ran the program from there? If so, that's not the correct procedure. You need to unzip the download and run the unzipped Setup.exe, you shouldn't run it from inside the archive because it can cause system problems because you unzip to memory, then unpack the unzipped files to memory, and then run the installation from memory.

   Posted 8 years ago #
8. 

   AmieCoff
   Member

   TO ChrisS: Yeah I realized after I posted that the wording may just be a bit off center.

   I have a lot of items in my "downloaded" file so I added an empty folder with the game name on it. Then I transfered the zipped file into the folder I made titled Rolling Idol. Then once the zipped file was in there, I unzipped it so it didn't get lost in all the other files in my download folder. *phew* Maybe I should just learn to empty my download folder.

   Okay so I transfered everything BUT the zipped game out of downloads folder & unzipped the game. Went thru the whole setup again. It shows "Activating" window then "Successfully activated" window & then nothing.

   I don't receive any pop ups from my virus checker or laptop to say there's something sneaky in the file. Just nothing. I only bought the laptop a couple months ago & was on PC which had the same problem.

   Sorry to be such a pain. :(

   Posted 8 years ago #
9. 

   AmieCoff
   Member

   oooh & all boxes are greyed out on the "ADD games to" section under Successfully activated.

   Posted 8 years ago #
10. 

    ChrisS
    Administrator

    The GOTD wrapper is designed to prevent monitoring of the installation so you don't normally see any error messages. When an error is encountered the installation simply aborts and you get the "successful activation" message.

    Find the icon for your security software in the status window (lower right of your screen). You should be able to right-click it and find an option to disable the security. Disable it, run the setup.exe that you previously extracted, and then enable the security when the installation completes (or if it fails).

    Posted 8 years ago #
11. 

    Philipgreenwood
    Member

    .....I say its something to do with Extract. Yu click Extract all, after that yu do it again with the option of extracting to another folder. From that folder when open there are 2 or 3 items- one is the orange key of GGOTD to click Double.. Wait for MPCity install to come up, then go to town (Proceede). I install it all first before I press the Close Button on GGOTD, when yu press close it takes Yu then to the Activate page, close it out. Game should already be there fully so now can delete the setup files 1. before extract, 2. after decompressed..

    Posted 8 years ago #
12. 

    mikiem2
    Moderator

    It occurs to me that another way to think of it might be to think of nesting dolls, one inside another. The actual game is in the smallest, or innermost doll. That smallest doll fits into the medium sized one, which would be the MPC installer. The largest doll would be the GOTD setup.exe & .gcd files, with both smaller dolls inside of that.

    When you run the GOTD setup you're opening the largest doll, pulling out the medium sized one. If nothing interferes -- if security software allows it -- you now open the middle doll, running the game's actual setup routine. Assuming that's successful, you now have the smallest doll in hand, the game.

    Now the large & medium sized dolls are still there -- just opened. If the game's installer ran successfully it goes away on its own. When the GOTD setup app sees that the game's installer is no longer present -- which can happen if the game's installer went away on it's own, or was murdered by nasty security software -- it shows you the message, waiting for you to hit the button so that it can go back to sitting there dormant, waiting for someone to open it again.

    Posted 8 years ago #
13. 

    Philipgreenwood
    Member

    ...A New One Just Hit me. GameGOTD called the Fool. My 10 pro 64 says corrupted file after an 24 min Download (18mins next time). I thought because I had GGOTD in Exclusions wouldn't happen to me, I even gave people on the site advise on how to work around this in past Giveaways (Because it happens to people so often w/AntiVirsus). To work around it, I cleared the browzers etc. for cookies as Whiterabit I think said. Also put new exclusion (As old one maybe disappeared after windows 10 updates-Never saw this coming), and tempor/ turned off Realtime Protection. I tried Task Manager for background programs running, but that didn't really work for me (Too stupid to know what/how to use it). I did lots so that I didn't have to waste the Download times. AANNDD walayh it worked fine on Downl #2. Glad I did it all because I don't normally go for a HOG but this Fool likes The Fool. Have a Nice Day all...ps I like the NestingDoll theary of thought..

    Posted 8 years ago #
14. 

    mikiem2
    Moderator

    Also put new exclusion (As old one maybe disappeared after windows 10 updates-Never saw this coming)...

    MS says they're working on this sort of issue, so it's likely pretty common. Probably safest to assume that after any [especially bigger] update to 10, stuff might have reverted to fresh install settings.

    *Maybe* related in a way, if you use any of the games from the store, there's another reason to backup your hard drive(s) often. My wife likes Candy Crush, & has I guess progressed a fair way in the game in Windows 10. The last big update broke the Store -- the fix was a reset [in Settings], but the warning that *everything* may be reset to day 1 scared me. With the store not working she wouldn't get any future updates to the game, & they'd just added levels. But if it happened to reset the parts that recorded her progress, she'd want to hurt me.

    I was both lucky & not -- I was lucky that the reset didn't hurt anything & fixed the problem -- I was unlucky that the store broke in the 1st place, as the update went fine on several other copies of 10.

    I tried Task Manager for background programs running, but that didn't really work for me (Too stupid to know what/how to use it).

    The biggest use I've found is to see what's working & what's not... If you're trying to do something, say install an app or update, if your security software is active, that's why it's taking so long, so maybe turn off the security stuff, or add an exception etc. OTOH I've had situations where it *looks* like nothing at all is happening, & a look at Task Mgr. can tell me if in fact the system is doing Anything, or if a re-start [of either Windows or whatever it is I'm doing] is in order.

    That said, you might want to check out Process Explorer [from Sysinternals at Microsoft]. *To me* it's both easier & harder than 10's Task Mgr... It can show an awful lot more data, which can make it harder at 1st to find the more useful stuff you're looking for, but the way it's laid out makes it easier for me to see what's doing what, since 10's Task Mgr. likes to sometimes collapse a whole tree of processes into one listing.

    technet[.]microsoft[.]com/en-us/sysinternals/processexplorer.aspx

    Posted 8 years ago #

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