I have just booted up my laptop for the first time today, and went to check the new BFG releases for today...... and my BFG toolbar has disappeared.....What is going on??

The last question on this page talks about what to try if your toolbar disappears. Hopefully this will fix things up for you.

Thank you for the link, Marian. However that did not work for me - There is no BFG toolbar listed in the Toolbars for me to check or uncheck.

Looks like I will have to reinstall it, which I am very loathe to do, after experiencing so many problems with the new Games Manager.......

I have two questions.
If I buy the boxed version of the 13th Skull does it install a Big Fish Game Manager and if it does would it be the new one?
My second question- Why does Big Fish change their Game Manager so frequently? It seems like ther's a new version every week?
Susan

I've bought boxed Big Fish games before and the Game Manager has never been installed.

I can't answer your question about why the updates to the Game Manager.

I suspect this latest version of Game Manager is a test of even more banner advertising for Big Fish. If the objections don't rise above a dull roar, that's what we can expect going forward.

Yes, I too have a very strong suspicion the update was all about that darn ads banner!!

Thanks.I really am hesitant to download anything from Big Fish right now.
Susan

Your hesitancy is understandable.

Rather than a useful improvement, the new Game Manager revealed itself to be an unfinished bit of code that needed some essential changes before it would work properly.

The real damage here appears to be to the credibility and reputation of Big Fish. The initial failure of the new Game Manager suggests a company that has grown careless with respect to its customers. That may not be the case, but that's the perception.

I have always been a great admirer of BFG in the past, and would defend them at every opportunity when someone said something bad about them.

But I think they have let themselves down badly over this. I have not been able to download anything for four days now, although I am able to play old games still. I bought some games in the sale yesterday, but of course cant play them until this is fixed. I have now been trying to download the same demo since yesterday without success - its just laughable.

And appreciate I am a BFG addict who needs her daily fix

There was an interesting post from "mrbobofet" at ***Big Fish forums*** saying that his problem turned out to be with a DCOM service.


This didn't help in my case, but it might help someone else here who is having trouble.

My settings for that says Started and Automatic, so I guess that is not the problem for me, but thanks anyway.

So DCOM is necessary, but not sufficient.

Would be useful if someone at Big Fish could be explicit about everything the new Game Manager requires.

Big Fish needs to decide whether having "the latest thing," which probably has extra features (which most customers would never make use of), is more important than keeping customers. IMO compatibility with peoples' computers is the most important feature and they've lost it. It's one thing to offer a few games that don't work on everyone's system, but your Game Manager has to work on EVERYONE's system or you'll lose business.

Just fired up my Game Manager and for a moment I thought the annoying banner was gone.

Then it popped into place.

Which suggests it is not actually part of the Game Manager but an overlay dropped in remotely by Big Fish.

And that means getting rid of it shouldn't be that big a deal.

Of course, the banner may not be the only thing that is causing problems.

At the moment, Big Fish is locking out customers whose systems don't support the new Game Manager. There's no telling how serious this is without some numbers and it is unlikely that anyone outside Big Fish will be seeing those numbers.

I have had two problems in the last few months. The first one was The Dragon Dance which I can't go beyond the first couple of scenes because I can't see the full screen, it's just greyed out. The second is with Treasure Seekers The Time Has Come. I keep getting what others have gotten, the "Access Violation." I'm beginning to feel as though I don't want to buy any more games if this is going to continue to happen. Hope they get their act together soon.

I've been reading most of this thread, maybe missed a few posts. But is it advisable NOT to download anything from BFG? Are all downloads at this point including the new game manager that's causing problems?

I installed the new Game Manager and haven't experienced any problems with either it or new games that I have downloaded with it. Other people are having problems. You just have to see for yourself.

No. The problem is that the new Game Manager isn't compatible with all computers. And since all Big Fish downloads are controlled by their Game Manager, if the Game Manager doesn't work on your computer, you can't download or install any games from Big Fish.

If you choose not to update an older version of the Game Manager it doesn't do you much good, because you still can't download or install any Big Fish games unless you're using their latest Game Manager. If you try to install a new Big Fish game or demo, the first thing it does is install the new Game Manager.

So, zookeeper, the answer is: try to install the new Game Manager. If it works, you're golden. If it doesn't, you're not golden, but that's not such a big deal. After all, it's just software.

It's really that simple.

There is no other information available that can help you decide.

I downloaded and installed with no problems. And so have most others.

Take a chance.

I have downloaded the new game manager and 2 games since and haven't had any problems.

I run WinXP and downloaded the Game Manager by itself by updating from my installed GM. I wanted to control where my games downloaded because I use an external drive. I had no problems with it or the games I have downloaded since installing.

If you are having problems, are you sure that your Firewall or Anti-Virus are not popping in and "sandboxing" it or something like that? I know mine considered BigFish as a "non-safe" download before I told it to "trust" that site. I think the new GM include some new DRM files that do look like trojans or viruses to many Firewalls/AV programs.

I'm running Win 7, 64 bit and have downloaded the new game manager and two new games using it, and have had no problems.

Ok, thanks to all. I guess from reading some of the beginning posts, especially Sherryah's, I was afraid of it messing up my whole system.

I don't think you can download the version that messed up Sherryah's system anymore. There is a newer version that doesn't have those problems.

If it matters, I'm running XP Pro SP3.