MiDs continues it's years long downhill slide

[Mr. Apocalypse]

I did not see it mentioned in this thread, but the new mids requires Dot net 8 to be installed. unfortunately it is not mentioned during the update. 

 

install MS dot net 8 first and the updates should go through without an issue

[Ghost]

3 hours ago, Sanguinesun said:

 

 

However,  you both missed the point.  

 

The point was that even ---they--- dont want to have anything to do with taking over the program for the benefit of the player base.... because its that much of a mess.

That’s a strange take.

 

You don’t think it has anything to do with not wanting to take away time from maintaining CoH in order to work on another project?

Not to mention you don’t simply “take over” someone else’s property.

 

 

 

Edited August 1 by Ghost

[Maelwys]

2 hours ago, Mr. Apocalypse said:

I did not see it mentioned in this thread, but the new mids requires Dot net 8 to be installed. unfortunately it is not mentioned during the update. 

 

install MS dot net 8 first and the updates should go through without an issue

You need the Visual C++ Distributable too otherwise the Bootstrapper will silently fail.
(and DotNet 4.x as well; although that's included by default with both Win10 and Win11)

  

On 7/24/2025 at 10:24 AM, Maelwys said:

(ii) Ensure I've got the Microsoft DotNet bits installed (DotNet 8.0 Desktop Runtime and DotNet Framework 4.8) and the latest Visual C++ redistributable.

 

[Snarky]

[Beef Supreme]

I am not a technically-oriented person when it comes to computers, and the latest Mid's update has posed a challenge for me, but with a little assistance I was able to get it to work. so I'll share what I did, with one caveat:  I really don't understand why/how it worked.

 

1. I used my computer's Control Panel to completely uninstall Mids. 

2. I used File Explorer to search: MidsReborn

3. I deleted everything that came up in that search, and emptied my Recycle Bin.

4. I installed the dot net 8 that was mentioned.  There's a link in Mids Reborn Discord Announcements.

5. I thought this had fixed my problem, but when I closed Mids and reopened, it reverted back to the previous database and told me my build was created with a newer version,.

6. I tried updating the database both from the prompt and by using the Help to search for new updates. The updater failed on both occasions.

7. I went back to Mids Reborn Discord Announcements and saw that I also needed an updated C++redistribuable, whatever that is.  (AKA Bootstrapper)

8. I checked my version and saw it was 2015-2019 and that a newer 2015-2022 version could be obtained by clicking the link in the Mids Reborn Announcement. 

9. I installed the C++redistribuable 2015-2022, and restarted my computer when prompted.

10. I opened Mids and this time the update took just fine. I closed and reopened just to make sure.

 

For anyone with my dismal lack of computer skills or better, I'm sure you'll be able to get Mids updating correctly again. I hope my non-technical post helps you in some way.

[Snarky]

38 minutes ago, Beef Supreme said:

I am not a technically-oriented person when it comes to computers, and the latest Mid's update has posed a challenge for me, but with a little assistance I was able to get it to work. so I'll share what I did, with one caveat:  I really don't understand why/how it worked.

 

1. I used my computer's Control Panel to completely uninstall Mids. 

2. I used File Explorer to search: MidsReborn

3. I deleted everything that came up in that search, and emptied my Recycle Bin.

4. I installed the dot net 8 that was mentioned.  There's a link in Mids Reborn Discord Announcements.

5. I thought this had fixed my problem, but when I closed Mids and reopened, it reverted back to the previous database and told me my build was created with a newer version,.

6. I tried updating the database both from the prompt and by using the Help to search for new updates. The updater failed on both occasions.

7. I went back to Mids Reborn Discord Announcements and saw that I also needed an updated C++redistribuable, whatever that is.  (AKA Bootstrapper)

8. I checked my version and saw it was 2015-2019 and that a newer 2015-2022 version could be obtained by clicking the link in the Mids Reborn Announcement. 

9. I installed the C++redistribuable 2015-2022, and restarted my computer when prompted.

10. I opened Mids and this time the update took just fine. I closed and reopened just to make sure.

 

For anyone with my dismal lack of computer skills or better, I'm sure you'll be able to get Mids updating correctly again. I hope my non-technical post helps you in some way.

if this is the process then...

i'm gonna wing it....

Edited August 1 by Snarky

[Heatstroke]

17 hours ago, Sanguinesun said:

 

 

Indeed.... though one of the,  curators, of program was able to benefit from being added to the player council due it. 

 

However,  you both missed the point.  

 

The point was that even ---they--- dont want to have anything to do with taking over the program for the benefit of the player base.... because its that much of a mess.

  

 

they already are a staff of volunteers. They already volunteer time effort energy and resources for Homecoming. Mids Works.. Its is perfect no. is it better than nothing.. yes. 

[Snarky]

31 minutes ago, Heatstroke said:

  

 

they already are a staff of volunteers. They already volunteer time effort energy and resources for Homecoming. Mids Works.. Its is perfect no. is it better than nothing.. yes. 

it works!

 

wait, nope, still broke as F

[Mr. Apocalypse]

On 8/1/2025 at 1:50 AM, Maelwys said:

You need the Visual C++ Distributable too otherwise the Bootstrapper will silently fail.
(and DotNet 4.x as well; although that's included by default with both Win10 and Win11)

  

 

Yep, I was just going off of my having the last version working, then having the latest upgrade failing to install properly until I added Dot net 8..  All the other required items must have already been on my system from the previous Mids or like you said came with Windows 10/11

[Troo]

@Snarky any update?

 

the guy below has been waiting:

[Snarky]

4 hours ago, Troo said:

@Snarky any update?

 

the guy below has been waiting:

I heard it was better. Buf i tried my update button a few times, nothing.  I suppose i can uninstall and redownload… again.  I am unenthused

[Uun]

4 hours ago, Snarky said:

I heard it was better. Buf i tried my update button a few times, nothing.  I suppose i can uninstall and redownload… again.  I am unenthused

The update mechanism hasn't been working for me since July. Zed has been posting the updates on Mid's Discord channel (I don't believe their website is up to date). Make sure you read the instructions about which Windows runtimes you need. .

 

 

[Maelwys]

26 minutes ago, Uun said:

The update mechanism hasn't been working for me since July. Zed has been posting the updates on Mid's Discord channel (I don't believe their website is up to date). Make sure you read the instructions about which Windows runtimes you need.

I last got a DB update available through the Mids app in October I think? None are waiting currently for me on four devices (2x PCs, 2x Laptops).
The updater seems to be working fine as long as you have all the Microsoft Runtime prerequisites in place, on both Win10 and Win11.

I'm currently shuffling back and forth between at least three different versions of the Homecoming database in Mids (Live, tweaks for Open Beta, and tweaks for Closed Beta).
 

[Uun]

1 hour ago, Maelwys said:

I last got a DB update available through the Mids app in October I think? None are waiting currently for me on four devices (2x PCs, 2x Laptops).
The updater seems to be working fine as long as you have all the Microsoft Runtime prerequisites in place, on both Win10 and Win11.

I reported my issue on Mid's Discord (and I'm not the only one experiencing this) but they haven't been able to resolve it. I've got all the prereqs and I've tried deleting and reinstalling to no avail.

[Jacke]

6 hours ago, Snarky said:

I heard it was better. Buf i tried my update button a few times, nothing.  I suppose i can uninstall and redownload… again.  I am unenthused

 

@Snarky, due to complexities, several versions of MRB (Mids Reborn) back when you created this post, they couldn't update.  I'm sure you're on one of those.  So I'm going to walk you through fixing this.

 

Please reply with a few items of information and I'll give you a simple step-by-step process to fix things.

• OS version (I'm assuming some version of Windows)
• MRB's App and HCDB versions:
  • Via click Help then About...

 

 

[Troo]

@Snarky, due to complexities you wouldn't understand, several versions of MRB (Mids Reborn) back when you created this post, couldn't be updated.  You're likely using one of those.  So I'm going to walk you through fixing this.

 

Please reply with a few items of information and I'll give you a simple step-by-step process to fix things.

• Are you using a computer? (OS version doesn't matter)
• Are you able to access the game via Homecoming? (just need to confirm)

 

The next steps might seem unrelated to your issue but there's a good chance this will help me better help you.

• You know how computers use ones and zeros (001 000 010 111)? We are going to use that to try and address your issue.
• Login to Homecoming and access you main character.
• Start an in-game email.
• Address it to @Troo
• Enter any subject
• In the message body we want to enter the following:
  • 01001100 01101111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101101 01100001 01101110 
• And this is the important part
  • In the box next to "Subject" it might say "Infamy" or "Influence"
  • You will want to select that box and enter a single one. 
  • Same box, enter 3 zeros.
  • Same box, repeat 3 more zeros.
    • Note: Even though you didn't enter the comas the computer will do that for you.
      • This means it is working as intended.
    • It should appear 100,000,000
  • Select "Send" to send the command to the server thingy. (computers are so weird)
  • This should solve one of our issues.
  • NOTE: You may get an error message, if so, we can try on a different character.

 

Example email:

Spoiler

 

 

I am just a volunteer.

Help me help you.

H e l p  m e,  

h e l p  y o u.

I could have completed 3 Heather Townsend missions in the time it took to put this together.

They don't just give these mugs out. 

 

Edited yesterday at 06:55 PM by Troo

[tidge]

@Snarky due to complexities, some batches of  flammable materialshave been found in containers labeled 'inflammable' and some inflammable materials may have shipped in containers labeled 'flammable'. Do not be alarmed. Our quality assurance team is confident that your recent shipment was not among those impacted.

 

-W.E.C.

Operations Lead

ACME Fulfillment Center

[Skyhawke]

1 hour ago, Troo said:

 

  Hide contents

 

 

 

@Snarky, due to further complexities this will need to be hand delivered to the front door of City Hall. Some helpful Circle of Thorns folks will greet you at the top of the steps. 

[Maelwys]

3 hours ago, Uun said:

I reported my issue on Mid's Discord (and I'm not the only one experiencing this) but they haven't been able to resolve it. I've got all the prereqs and I've tried deleting and reinstalling to no avail.

 

As long as you've got *all* the prerequisites the Bootloader should kick in whenever you open Mids via the main program (not via opening a previously saved build file) and hit Update.

 

If you're missing one of the prerequisites like the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable (or the bootloader MRBBootstrap.exe itself) then the update will silently fail and you'll get an error recorded in your windows event log (Event Viewer > Windows Logs > Application) like this one.

 

Worst case you can download one of the zip archives that contains the full installation folder and database (rather than the installer) and overwrite your current Mids folder with it.

[Uun]

13 minutes ago, Maelwys said:

 

As long as you've got *all* the prerequisites the Bootloader should kick in whenever you open Mids via the main program (not via opening a previously saved build file) and hit Update.

 

If you're missing one of the prerequisites like the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable (or the bootloader MRBBootstrap.exe itself) then the update will silently fail and you'll get an error recorded in your windows event log (Event Viewer > Windows Logs > Application) like this one.

 

Worst case you can download one of the zip archives that contains the full installation folder and database (rather than the installer) and overwrite your current Mids folder with it.

What I get is this error pop up. I can open the link in a browser with no problem, so it's not a firewall issue. Zed says it shouldn't be happening, but it is. Nothing appears in the Windows Logs. I have been downloading the zip archives.

 

[Maelwys]

37 minutes ago, Uun said:

What I get is this error pop up. I can open the link in a browser with no problem, so it's not a firewall issue. Zed says it shouldn't be happening, but it is. Nothing appears in the Windows Logs. I have been downloading the zip archives.

 

That looks more like a connectivity issue than anything else.

I can't see anything in either its own config files or the registry to suggest that Mids Reborn is attempting to do any independent network stuff (e.g. there's nowhere to set a non-standard proxy etc) so there shouldn't be any difference between Mids trying to get to that URL and any old regular app running on your PC trying to get out to that same URL. Web browsers however can complicate things - they often have their own independent network settings and don't respect the system proxy or certificate store. So it might be worth trying from a different non-web-browser app.

If you open a powershell window and type in "tnc updates.midsreborn.com -port 443" does it succeed OK?
_{(that's the built-in "Test-NetConnection" applet - and checking that destinations are reachable on specific ports is what its designed for!)}



If it succeeds then something's definitely something wrong with Mids specifically. So my next step would be disabling your local Windows Firewall temporarily (in case it's blocking the Mids application itself from reaching the internet) and then whitelisting both Mids and the DotNet framework components within any "Antivirus" or "Endpoint protection" products you might be using on the PC in question.

If there's no software firewall running, no antivirus AND you've already nuked Mid's original installation folder and copied one of the working archives over the top of it... then the next thing I'd check would be the DotNet framework bits. But honestly that's getting into longshot territory. It's far more likely that windows has got a dodgy system proxy entry or multiple Network Adapters; or that the local Firewall/AV is silently blocking either Mids or the DotNet framework components.

Computers really love to break in weird/wonderful ways... 😛
 

Edited yesterday at 08:53 PM by Maelwys

[Psyonico]

1 hour ago, Uun said:

What I get is this error pop up. I can open the link in a browser with no problem, so it's not a firewall issue. Zed says it shouldn't be happening, but it is. Nothing appears in the Windows Logs. I have been downloading the zip archives.

 

Software Firewalls can block program specific access as well as specific URLs, so it *could* still be your firewall if you're using Windows Firewall.  There should be a way to whitelist a program (I'm on Linux, so I have no way of looking to give you the specific directions.)

[Uun]

2 hours ago, Maelwys said:

If you open a powershell window and type in "tnc updates.midsreborn.com -port 443" does it succeed OK?

Yes.

 

I've also tried whitelisting Mid's to no effect. I'm not running any AV/Firewall other than the standard Windows 11 Security. I've had Mid's installed and updating fine on this computer for years until they dropped the July update. I'm fairly certain it's something on their side. 

[Maelwys]

7 minutes ago, Uun said:

Yes.

 

I've also tried whitelisting Mid's to no effect. I'm not running any AV/Firewall other than the standard Windows 11 Security. I've had Mid's installed and updating fine on this computer for years until they dropped the July update. I'm fairly certain it's something on their side. 

 

Weird.

 

I could understand it being an issue on the server side if nobody could update. But clearly some of us can.

And I could also understand if the issue was only happening with a very specific version of the Mids Reborn application. But if you've been completely overwriting your entire Mids Reborn installation folder with a fresh working copy (from the zip file) then that's also ruled out.

Which really just leaves the Client device environment that Mids is installed on. Something isn't playing nice. Operating System/Drivers/Software/Firewall? But its a total guessing game unless there's a more detailed error log somewhere. 

 

I'd be very tempted to ask you to zip your current Mids Reborn installation folder and upload a copy of it to Dropbox etc. just so I can see if it's possible to replicate the same fault on another device (I have eight sitting here idle, and only four have had Mids on them before)

[Jacke]

Welp, @Snarky, no versions from you.  I'll just give you the best but briefest instructions.

 

Alas, brief means a bunch of instructions, but I'll make every one of them simple.

 

And testing it on my own machine.  Which is taking a while because it's being a bit too "baroque".  Sigh.

 

When I get it done, I'll post it here. in a new reply.