Empire of Sports on this PC: when something goes wrong
=======================================================

Everything lives in one folder, the one you chose at setup (normally
%LOCALAPPDATA%\EmpireOfSportsLocal). Type that into the address bar of a
folder window to open it. Inside:

  EmpireOfSports-Play.exe              starts the game (the desktop shortcut runs it)
  Go back to the previous version      shortcut: undo the last update
  Check the installed files            shortcut: look for missing or damaged files
  Move to another PC - export accounts     shortcut: see 5
  Move from another PC - import accounts   shortcut: see 5
  releases\                            the installed version and the one before it
  backups\                             copies of your save, made before every change

Your save is never overwritten by the setup. Every update and every "go back"
first puts a dated copy of it in backups\.

Your original game folder is only read. Nothing in it is changed, and you can
keep or remove it once the setup has finished (unless it is on another drive
than the install folder was at setup time: then it was copied, same result).


1. Wrong password
-----------------
The password is the one you chose on the account page, the first time, on this
PC. It is not your old Empire of Sports password from the years the game was
online: those accounts ended with the original servers.

- Check Caps Lock and the keyboard layout, and that the login name is the one
  you registered.
- Nobody can read the password back or reset it: only a scrambled form is kept.
- If it is lost, register a new account on the account page. The old account
  and its save stay where they are, untouched.
- If the password stopped working right after an update, use
  "Go back to the previous version": that version still has the save and the
  account exactly as they were.


2. A port is in use
-------------------
The message names a port: 50001, 60080 or 50002. The game talks to a small
local service through these, and another program has taken one.

- Most often it is a second copy of this game's service, left from another
  install or another Windows user who is still signed in. Sign that user out,
  or restart the PC, and start again.
- Otherwise close the program that uses it. To find it: open "Command Prompt"
  and type   netstat -ano | findstr :60080   (use the port from the message).
  The last number is a process number; Task Manager, tab "Details", column
  "PID", shows which program that is.
- The ports cannot be changed: the original game expects exactly these.


3. Game files are missing
-------------------------
The setup does not contain the game. It uses your own Empire of Sports 1.230
and checks every file of it against the original.

- During setup, "missing" or "not the original 1.230 file" means the folder you
  chose is incomplete, is another version, or was changed. Run your original
  installer EoS-Install-1.230.exe again, then run the setup and choose the
  folder it installed into. A different installer version is refused: only
  1.230 is supported.
- Later on, run "Check the installed files". If it names game files, repair
  them from your original game. Open "Command Prompt" in the install folder
  and type (with your own folder):
      EmpireOfSports-Play.exe repair --original "C:\Games\Empire of Sports"
- If it names files of the installed version instead (not game files), run the
  latest setup package again and accept the update, or go back to the previous
  version.


4. The game does not start
--------------------------
First find out which part fails.

- A message appears when you use the shortcut: it says what is wrong. For a
  port, see 2; for files, see 3. If it says the local service did not become
  ready, it names a file, setup-service.log; the last lines of that file say
  why. Restart the PC and try once more before anything else.
- The account page opens but the game window never appears: the original game
  needs DirectX 9 and the Visual C++ 2005 runtime. The original installer
  carries the Visual C++ part (vcredist.exe); running EoS-Install-1.230.exe
  once on this PC installs it. DirectX 9 comes from Microsoft ("DirectX
  End-User Runtime").
- It worked before the last update: use "Go back to the previous version".
- After the folder was copied to another PC or another Windows user: see 5.
  A copied folder cannot work, the accounts have to be moved.

If the game is open, the setup refuses to update or go back. Use
"Save and close game" on the account page first.


5. Moving to another PC or another Windows user
-----------------------------------------------
The login key is locked to the Windows user that ran the setup. Copying the
install folder does not move it. Move the accounts like this:

- On the old PC, signed in to Windows as the user who installed: close the
  game, open the install folder and use "Move to another PC - export
  accounts". Choose where to write the file and a password of 16 characters
  or more. Nothing on the old PC is changed.
- Carry that one file to the new PC (a USB stick will do; without the
  password the file is useless to anyone).
- On the new PC, run the setup into a new folder. Do not create an account.
- In the new install folder use "Move from another PC - import accounts",
  choose the file and type the same password. Then start the game and sign in
  with the same login and password as before.

The import only goes into an installation that has no account yet; it does
not mix two saves. If it says "Wrong transfer password", nothing was changed:
try again. If Windows was reinstalled and the old user is gone, the old key
cannot be read any more and there is nothing to export: install again and
create a new account.


6. Playing on a server
----------------------
If your setup package came from the operator of a server, the desktop has a
second shortcut, "Empire of Sports Online". Otherwise ask the operator for
the server's connection file (client-server.json), open "Command Prompt" in
the install folder and type (with your own file):
    EmpireOfSports-Play.exe server --file "C:\Users\you\Downloads\client-server.json"

- "is not a server connection file": the file is damaged or is something
  else. Ask the operator for it again.
- "does not answer": the server is off or your connection is down. Your solo
  game is not affected; use the normal shortcut.
- "did not prove the identity recorded in your connection file" or "login key
  is not the one in your connection file": the server was reinstalled. Ask
  the operator for the current file and give it with the command above.
- "This game is version ... and the server is version ...": one of the two
  has to be updated; the message says which.

Your account on a server is separate from your solo account, and the solo
save is never sent anywhere. The solo game and online play do not run at the
same time: starting one stops the other, and neither starts while the game
window of the other is open.
