Since last night the Star Trek Online launcher has swung between patching 3808 KB, and patching 3034 MB, and in the latter case, the launcher stops when reaching about 1330 KB. It all began after patching the initial ~3 GB earlier last night. Endless patch cycles such as this one, was one of the reasons I left the game 5 years ago. A workaround can be found at the end of this posting.

No, I don’t run STO through Steam, as those guys have different opinion of the integrity of the game’s files. The Steam client and the STO Launcher get in the way of each other at every opportunity, messing with the game’s files. That’s pretty bad until STO and Steam can finally agree on the checksums or whatever they use to verify the game’s integrity.

I’m attempting to download the game anew, using the bootstrap launcher, to determine if the cause of my problems is of an accumulative nature, or simply intrinsic to the current state of the game.


Update 2015-04-18
I tried downloading a fresh copy of the game, including the update released on April 16th. I can play the game, but the launcher keeps downloading the same amount of patches both before and after I play the game.

Some co-gamers have identified DirectX 11 as a possible cause. Others claimed success by forcing the launcher to use the US patching proxy.

I tried that the other day, both the EU and the US patching proxies, but all I got was nowhere, so I force no patching proxies atm. Turning off “On-demand patching” doesn’t help much either.

I’m sure PWE/Cryptic are fully aware of the issue.

Today, I created a new character and made that one a Delta Recruit. It is to some extent pleasing to (re)play the old missions I played both 5 years ago and again a ½ a year ago. This time I must make sure I also grab stuff relevant for a Delta Recruit. I wish there was some kind of continuity in STO, i.e. a way of converting or amending an already established character, e.g. a Level 60 Fleet Admiral, into a Delta Recruit and move on.


Update 2015-04-21
A workaround: When exiting the game the launcher will reappear. Exit the launcher immediately using the close button in the top right corner.