Holy God! Im pissed

Here is my problem.

I have the online version of Guild Wars (online serial key). I download the client, run the exe and it install everything, downloads maps as you discover them, etc... no problems with that.

Now, here is what keeps happening to me (and to other players also):

1) You get a lag spike, close GuildWars, open it again and you cant login. You eneter your password, hit the Login button and it sais "Connecting"... for like 5 hours or as long as you want to wait.

2) A new update comes out, you download it, play for a while, close guildwars and you get the above scenario with the "Connecting" box forever displaying.

Note: i noticed that when this bug hits you, at the main login screen you dont get the Anet news (that text-box on the right side doesn't pop up).


My configuration:
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Windows XP Home Edition
Windows Firewall
Nod32 Antivirus
Internet trough T1 Lan from local ISP


What I tried:
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Disabled windows firewall
Disabled antivirus
Uninstalled antivirus
Cleared %windir%\temp %windir%\prefetch


Nothing of the above works.

What works:
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No system change (firewall, antivirus, etc stays at it was) and just delete gw.dat from the install dir, run gw.exe and let it download everything again.


This happened to me several times during the past 3 month and it's really annoying. I know some players who had this crap happen to them. They did the same thing, reinstall the game.

I have like 5 copies of gw.dat, gw.exe on my PC (each time i get the bug, i backup all the files from the GuildWars folder). when i get the bug, i try to copy back an old version and download the updates to see if it works, but i get the same result. After updates are completed, enter password, get the "Connectig..." box showing forever, without any error showing.


I tried to send bug reports to Anet, but I always get the same reply from the "answering machine" sending me to the FAQ part. Dam it, i checked everything in that FAQ and i have no XXX router or anything else mentioned.
And it's the 5th time this sh.t happens to me. It's just annoying to download prophecies and the streamed Factions content over and over.


Anyone got a solution to this mess?

Thanks.

Last time I got "Connecting" error's that would never connect after an update (the new gui for the 1st PvP Factions Event). I had to re-install guildwars. The update corrupted my gw.dat file (where all the files are stored).

I would back up your gw.dat after every major update (and it still works after), that way you can swap the bad gw.dat file with the good one and let it re-update. I burn mine off to a dvd off and on due to this situation.

I think we should make an effort and let Anet know about this (if they dont already know) and make them release a gw_fixer.exe on their site that fixes gw.dat (i think it's not a major bug in gw.dat, so it should be a small and quick exe).

Its simple if you think about it..

You download guild wars, it places it all in gw.dat - all is fine..
they release an update, changing some of the content..
you re-download the new content, GW has to find each 'file' within gw.dat, verify it, and replace it, and then re-verify to check its (finally) the right version...

it has to do this with every updated file.. so deleting the gw.dat, and starting again usually fixes this, as it doesnt have to download, check and compare, and then over write...

I agree, they need this badly. It would save them bandwidth on downloads and be an easy to use trouble shoot by rulling out any issue with your gw.dat file.

There is a fix; a command line item you can enter into your shortcut.

Example:

Thank You Tarun, I've been looking for something like that for a while now. Going to try this when I get home to see if it pulls files from internet or it repairs from the compressed files.

(Edit) I didn't notice anything when I tried it?