Outdated 64-bit Visual C++ 2022 runtime...

[tidge]

First time (today), getting the following message, using HC Launcher.

 

The 64-bit Microsoft(R) Visual C++ 2022 runtime is an outdated version. An upcoming game update will require a newer version of this runtime for the 64-bit client. Do you want to download and install the runtime?

 

My primary gaming rig for CoH is 64-bit Windows 7. I don't get the same message on my Windows 10 machine.

 

I'm not even sure I *have* the 2022 runtime installed (per Programs list), the last one I see is the 2017 Redistributable. version 14.14.26429.4

 

Cancel seems to get me to the launch screen, so what do I need to know?

 

 

[Greycat]

Well, I doubt it's a scam.

 

That said, if you want to be sure, you can snag it right from Microsoft - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170#visual-studio-2015-2017-2019-and-2022  and according to that page the 2022 runtime does still support Windows 7.

 

It does say "An upcoming game update will require it." So while hitting cancel now will let you play... *shrug*

[Conviction]

It is legit

[Number Six]

This is because Microsoft did something kind of dumb. The MSVC 2015/2017/2019 runtime has long been a single consolidated download that provided the needed DLLs for anything made with those compilers, and was fully compatible across all versions.

 

At some point, they made a breaking change to the runtime. But instead of doing a new release, they quietly added it as a separate DLL, at the same time as they expanded the download to be for MSVC 2015/2017/2019/2022. They did not push out the new runtime in a Windows Update or anything, it's just a newer version of the "same" runtime that includes an extra DLL.

 

That means that a lot of people think they have the runtime installed, but attempting to run any application compiled with Visual Studio 2022 or newer releases of Visual Studio 2019 will result in a cryptic error message about a missing VCRUNTIME140_1.dll file. It's a hard dependency, too, so the application can't even check and display a friendlier message, it just fails to run.

 

Currently we use VS2022 for development, while the build server compiles using a specific VS2017 toolchain. We're planning on moving the 64-bit* builds to VS2019 and eventually 2022 in order to take advantage of some better code generation for improved performance. However, this makes the executables depend on that DLL. and until now the launcher had only been checking for the base level of the runtime, not the newer version that includes it.

 

* The 32-bit build will continue to be built using 2017's v141_xp toolchain for maximum compatibility with old systems.

[tidge]

Thanks for the clear explanation! the various Microsoft pages for MSVC strongly implied that there would be no issues moving forward, but the new DLL wasn't made explicit (to my reading of the MSVC pages anyway).