So I finally received a code and installed the game. Which was a pain to find out where I could download it from by the way. I was rather annoyed that you can’t choose the install location. I have two drives, the OS drive is small and can’t store large games permanently. I don’t want to uninstall and reinstall all the time either, hence more than one drive.
That being said, I found in Windows 10 settings that you can move the app, so I did that. However I look on that drive and I can’t find the Halo Wars installed files. Looking at used space it did free up space on my OS drive and moved it to my software drive.
I’m rather distrusting of software that doesn’t let me choose where it is or see where it is. I did a search of all drives for both Halo Wars and 343 and nothing came up. I did find a folder called “Windows Apps” with some strangely named folders, to the effect of “Microsoft.BulldogThreshold_1.11088.1.2_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe”
Nothing in these folders indicates it’s Halo Wars not even an .exe file. Except for one folder that contains a locked Halo Wars 2 logo jpg. One of the folders contains a readme file but I’m denied access to it, it’s restricted.
How am I supposed to know what Microsoft just installed on my machine? I most certainly do NOT trust these new folders. No other game I’ve ever installed is locked down like this or hides itself this much. Why is this a thing? Where are the files for Halo Wars, the .exe? I don’t want to be forced to use the xbox app or have to go to the xbox store and search the game just to play it either. Why is everything locked down? I can’t even read the damn readme files.
Windows 10 has already caused a lot of issues with people, myself included, Microsoft even making a statement that they went too far with it. Now this? Doesn’t seem like they’ve learned their lesson. Where are the Halo Wars files and how do I unlock them so I can see what the hell was put on my machine.
Edit: If I uninstall this, how do I know all your files will be removed and you won’t leave something behind. This happens a lot and we’re forced to manually remove files after an uninstallation. If I can’t tell what these folders/files are then I could end up causing trouble for my machine. Not only that, you then end up wasting space on my drives.
Edit2: 4 hours and 4 microsoft support techs later… I’ve found the install folder. Great lengths were taken to HIDE the folder. It’s not even named after 343 or the game itself, the files are all locked down including the readme. You can’t access anything. You can’t move it either, it has to stay where it is or it will not function. I’ve never seen a game lock down things this much before. I don’t like it one bit, it’s sneaky and underhanded. I would prefer a setup more similar to what Steam does. Allows the download of the games, but you get to pick where it installs, specifically, at time of install. You also have full access to the files of the games downloaded. At this rate, I doubt I can even make a backup of my saved games, screenshots, or config files.
But to answer it in a quick wrapup, this have all to do with how the app is build. for example Tomp is the Halo Hub app folder which means that certain apps and games can only run in the app container, Halo Wars in this case is the Halo Hub app every exe file is linked to a certain xml coding which is directed if i’m not mistaking by looking at the code http://schemas.microsoft.com/appx/XXXX my xml is a bit rusty since I stopped coding xml since 4 years ago. To answer why its locked is what I’m thinking is so no body can screw around with the code and -!BLAM- it up on the users end, However with some configuration of user settings I was able to open .bik files of the 4k cinematic videos which are pretty awesome if I say my self. Plus to prevent online modding which didn’t stopped one person because he made a offline modding tool to build scarabs as the UNSC.
Its got nothing to do with the game itself, and everything to do with the platform its built on…
Its effectively a Windows 10 app, which means its designed to run fully within its own sandbox. Any user interactions are meant to be handled via the windows system, specifically to reduce installation problems, and reduce the chance of damage due to ineptitude/malware etc. This is common to nearly all applications downloaded from the windows 10 store.
However, there are some positives to this. As far as I’m aware, Windows 10 apps uninstall very cleanly, since all of the install files have to be in one place, and a common installer/uninstaller is used. Also, most Windows 10 apps save their data into a roaming storage pool - as long as you’ve connected to the internet, all of the save files will have been backed up.
Also note - your screenshots should be saved to the pictures folder of your OS, so you can back those up manually.
Xbox One has no file access features - yet people use that as a gaming platform now with little complaint.
> 2533274839388732;3:
> Xbox One has no file access features - yet people use that as a gaming platform now with little complaint.
Oh, cool, so let’s turn PCs into consoles and turn consoles into PCs. We get closed off systems with no way of fixing even simple issues for “safety”, and the console kids get our error codes and buggy, unoptimized games. Everyone gets the worst of both worlds! Why would anyone want to complain about that?
> 2747731915524014;5:
> > 2533274803424509;1:
> > Edit2: 4 hours and 4 microsoft support techs later… I’ve found the install folder. .
>
> So where is it??? All I want to do is add it to my steam library for easy access… Sheesh, what a crappy move by Microsoft/343.
Under " Windows Apps " and the two folders that look like “Microsoft.BulldogThreshold_1.11088.1.2_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe”, Bulldog is HW:DE and Hogan is HW2 from the looks of it. Probably won’t help you though, every file is locked down even the exe. It’s stupid.
> 2533274803424509;1:
> So I finally received a code and installed the game. Which was a pain to find out where I could download it from by the way. I was rather annoyed that you can’t choose the install location. I have two drives, the OS drive is small and can’t store large games permanently. I don’t want to uninstall and reinstall all the time either, hence more than one drive.
> That being said, I found in Windows 10 settings that you can move the app, so I did that. However I look on that drive and I can’t find the Halo Wars installed files. Looking at used space it did free up space on my OS drive and moved it to my software drive.
> I’m rather distrusting of software that doesn’t let me choose where it is or see where it is. I did a search of all drives for both Halo Wars and 343 and nothing came up. I did find a folder called “Windows Apps” with some strangely named folders, to the effect of “Microsoft.BulldogThreshold_1.11088.1.2_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe”
> Nothing in these folders indicates it’s Halo Wars not even an .exe file. Except for one folder that contains a locked Halo Wars 2 logo jpg. One of the folders contains a readme file but I’m denied access to it, it’s restricted.
> How am I supposed to know what Microsoft just installed on my machine? I most certainly do NOT trust these new folders. No other game I’ve ever installed is locked down like this or hides itself this much. Why is this a thing? Where are the files for Halo Wars, the .exe? I don’t want to be forced to use the xbox app or have to go to the xbox store and search the game just to play it either. Why is everything locked down? I can’t even read the damn readme files.
> Windows 10 has already caused a lot of issues with people, myself included, Microsoft even making a statement that they went too far with it. Now this? Doesn’t seem like they’ve learned their lesson. Where are the Halo Wars files and how do I unlock them so I can see what the hell was put on my machine.
> Edit: If I uninstall this, how do I know all your files will be removed and you won’t leave something behind. This happens a lot and we’re forced to manually remove files after an uninstallation. If I can’t tell what these folders/files are then I could end up causing trouble for my machine. Not only that, you then end up wasting space on my drives.
>
> Edit2: 4 hours and 4 microsoft support techs later… I’ve found the install folder. Great lengths were taken to HIDE the folder. It’s not even named after 343 or the game itself, the files are all locked down including the readme. You can’t access anything. You can’t move it either, it has to stay where it is or it will not function. I’ve never seen a game lock down things this much before. I don’t like it one bit, it’s sneaky and underhanded. I would prefer a setup more similar to what Steam does. Allows the download of the games, but you get to pick where it installs, specifically, at time of install. You also have full access to the files of the games downloaded. At this rate, I doubt I can even make a backup of my saved games, screenshots, or config files.
Greetings my fellow frustrated Windows 10 gamers!
So basically I installed the new Windows 10 Creators Update which screwed everything up so bad and I had GPU crashes all day, but Halo Wars Definitive Edition worked fine. So in order to get my HDR to work right and stop the constant crashes, I reverted back to my edition of W10 just before installing the Creators Update. Now all is well in the land of DX12 and HDR (when I want it, not 24/7 like Microsoft wanted to push on us), except every time I try to start HW Definitive Edition it fails to launch, then gives me an error code of ********** , so I try to update it and that fails, tried to manually uninstall it but the game wont uninstall. Like literally I uninstalled HW2, Spartan Assault and H5: Forge and it only took like 20 sec, but not HWDE. And I don’t even know where the folder is so I can manually delete it. And no, it does NOT show up in the list of installed games, apps or features under CP. But the game is STILL installed bc the start menu shortcut is still there and on the MS Store is doesn’t give me the option of installing it like the other Halo games I have in my library…
A little help here Microsoft?
> 2533274803424509;6:
> > 2747731915524014;5:
> > > 2533274803424509;1:
> > > Edit2: 4 hours and 4 microsoft support techs later… I’ve found the install folder. .
> >
> > So where is it??? All I want to do is add it to my steam library for easy access… Sheesh, what a crappy move by Microsoft/343.
>
> Under " Windows Apps " and the two folders that look like “Microsoft.BulldogThreshold_1.11088.1.2_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe”, Bulldog is HW:DE and Hogan is HW2 from the looks of it. Probably won’t help you though, every file is locked down even the exe. It’s stupid.
Hey Saber,
I cant find Windows Apps, is it in Program Files or Program Files (x86)?
UPDATE:
So, after reverting back to my previous bild of W10 before the failed Creators Update I found that my Windows Store cache was corrupt. And that was the reason I couldn’t launch or update HWDE. I had to RESET my PC, but kept all my files and settings. It took about 2 hours total, and I had to reinstall Origin and Steam, as well as their respective apps (game downloads, etc.) but good news is that it worked. I can now play everything I once did.
Found a way to find file folders easier for games like Halo Wars. If you open up a game it pops up on task manager too. If you right click the game you can “Open File location” and get to it easier than looking through all the folders in windowsapps.