So, like all current Eve Online subscribers, I updated and installed the new Trinity patch that was released today. it installed without a hitch and the liquid smooth new client worked swimmingly. Eve looks bette rthan ever , and plays better to boot.

Unbeknownst to me, CCP let a huge bug in their installer go through int heir rush to get out the patch. It didn’t affect me (and honestly if it did, I would have just booted into Linux and fixed it) but it affected quite a few subscribers as evidenced by a lot of shocked threads by people who could no longer boot into windows. Apparently, the patcher changes to you root directory and deletes the boot.ini file. In their wisdom, CCP also has a boot.ini in the Eve folder, which is the one they were intending to delete/replace. See, if they had named it something else, anything else, this wouldn’t have even caused a problem.

Anyways, if you have already run the patcher but have not rebooted, yet, try to right-click on My Computer and go to Properties. Click the Advanced tab and click Settings under the Startup and Recovery section. Click the button saying “Edit”. This will bring up your boot.ini and you can save a backup of it, just in case. But if you already ran the updater, and you didn’t get an error, you’re probably in the clear (as I was).

If you got an error or need to fix your boot.ini:

Open notepad.

copy in:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /fastdetect

with whatever os you have.

go to “save as” and make sure you change it to all files (otherwise you end up with boot.ini.txt) and save as c:\boot.ini.

go to start->run->cmd

enter “attrib +s +h +a boot.ini” when at the c:\ prompt

to verify, go to start->run->msconfig and there should be a tab for boot.ini

If you can’t boot at all after the patch:

Boot from your OS cd. and follow the directions to start Recovery Console. Choose the corresponding number asked of you for your OS is on, normally its #1 Then type:

Attrib -H -R -S C:\Boot.ini
DEL C:\Boot.ini
BootCfg /Rebuild
Fixboot

Godspeed!

The new version of Eve Online, Trinity, which will basically be a free patch, will improve the graphics engine greatly on the venerable game.

No word on when the “walking in stations” patch is due out, though.

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Here’s a preview of some things up and coming for Eve Online. Namely: being able to see avatars in a bit more lively form than just a portrait. Magnus Bergsson, the CMO for CCP who develop Eve Online, states that these are all in-game shots. They seem to be cutscene fillers, but maybe there will be some interactivity. There’s also a good shot of the new hi-res station design at the end. As if the game didn’t lag enough as it is!