ZKL unable to launch with Windows 8.1

I've got a new laptop with win8.1 on it but unable to get ZKL to work on it. Any attempts at launching result in this error popping up over and over again until the task is force closed.

This error has been reported by me before but has been brushed away because zkl typically launched anyways after a few minutes of this, then never appeared again. This is not the case anymore and is this bug is now completely blocking me from playing ZK.

I've attempted to force writable permissions for the directory in question, no change.

That's my usual approach and what worked on windows 7. Days of waiting and trying again and again and I'm still at the same spot.

Attempted to create my own shortcut before. Same result.

Directly running .exe as administrator also same.

I can't use any other lobbies now because of server split, correct?
EDIT: Incorrect, reactSWL works but you need to input custom server lobby.zero-k.info

True, just manually copy portable ZKL ( http://zero-k.info/lobby/Zero-K.exe )into "Documents/My Games/Spring" to skip the issue.

Please merge with:

http://zero-k.info/Forum/Thread/5088 (read this one!)
http://zero-k.info/Forum/Thread/7273
http://zero-k.info/Forum/Thread/11639

Its good to see that this community is always here... tirelessly repeating the same things again and again. Well... with some variation regarding the versions of windows being at fault...

http://zero-k.info/Forum/Thread/9115?page=1#98543

Look at this other report:

https://code.google.com/p/zero-k/issues/detail?id=2114

I have the impression that the bug was there before win 8.1 ... and that the handling of this issue has been a total failure for years... wasting the time of a lot of people, and potentially causing loss of players.

So, can we make some progress and admit that maybe, there is a bug in the installer, and NOT with ""insert current version of windows here"" ?

I'd love to find where the bugs are... but how the setup.exe is generated is a mystery. I can't find any indication on how to build it from the repository.

I can even find 2 different versions of the installer...

http://zero-k.info/lobby/setup.exe
http://zero-k.info/lobby/Zero-K.setup.exe

I'm sure "someone" will quickly point out that one of these 2 is not being used by players... but I'd prefer to focus on how those are generated and deployed. Maybe we can find some script of source code in there... and maybe we can fix it?

Anyway, the error is not issued by the installer, but by ZKL itself:

https://github.com/ZeroK-RTS/Zero-K-Infrastructure/blob/master/ZeroKLobby/Program.cs#L161

An interesting condition:

StartupPath.Contains("Local\\Apps")

look again at OP's screenshot...

Then here:

https://github.com/ZeroK-RTS/Zero-K-Infrastructure/blob/master/ZeroKLobby/Program.cs#L171

So, zero-k.exe is moved to ...local\apps\... then started again, then of course, when its checking whether it is in local\apps, it complains again...

Note: a similar problem exist on my machine... running the installer again result in a superfluous zero-k.exe download, which, when launched, will make the same complains. But its not happening further.

Details & source to build installer are now required to debug any further... without the feeling that I'm reverse engineering something designed to be obfuscated.
What I found: installer is MS clickonce... and installer creates a log. At the end of the log:

quote: Launching Application. Application appears to be an application manifest Launching application manifest via dfshim

So I check how it is run using https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

And obviously, the installer starts zero-k.exe from the apps\local folder... which again triggers this:

https://github.com/ZeroK-RTS/Zero-K-Infrastructure/blob/master/ZeroKLobby/Program.cs#L161

So... none of this appears related to windows. All the behavior is coded right into ZKL.

My guess is that someone wants to use ClickOnce just for the initial setup, but can't/don't know how to control where the lobby exe is installed, or something similar. So a "workaround" was coded to then copy the exe to spring folder, where it will feel more at home.

I thought you left, [V]sheep. Still drama whoring and sarcastically flaming devs, I see.

For the record, I still think you might have a point technically... and I still think that whether that's true or not is irrelevant to whether your attitude is justified.

EDIT: A far more diplomatic rendering of the above:
http://pastebin.com/NeAnW8hq

TheMooseIsLoose - the problem is that ZK uses Microsoft ClickOnce, which is an extremely restrictive installer.

Microsoft offers several installation channels, all of them bad:

MSI, which is a zillion years old and hairy as heck

Executable non-standard installers that half the MS infrastructure will fight with

ClickOnce, which is designed to allow you to install stuff directly into your appdata provided you do all the right incantations and follow the security model perfectly and the dice roll just right

And Windows Store, the less said the better on that one.

MSI is the best option, but it's a tremendous pain.

[V]sheep - so have you made a pull-request to fix it?

There were many forum threads but no bugtracker ticket, as reference for the inevitable next few threads:
https://github.com/ZeroK-RTS/Zero-K-Infrastructure/issues/608