This is a good example of what I mean.
View attachment 44705
You just had four posts in the same thread in the span of 12 minutes without anyone replying between those posts. Making multiple posts like this is considered bad etiquette in forums in general. There aren't any firm guidelines, but for posts just minutes apart like these four, they certainly should be in one and the same post. Therefore, if you want to add more in such a short time, please edit your post instead of making several after it. Perhaps even better, try to make sure you have included everything you want to say before making the post.
About the ModDB and Bowen Games thing:
CoastGuard71's
screenshots show files named "post_1Jan_updates_190924ZIP.zip" (extra "ZIP") and "ates_190924(1).zip" (full name isn't shown and extra "(1)"). They do not show anything about where the files were downloaded from.
The post history for Grey Roger's
post shows that only the formatting of the link was changed. The URL itself was not changed.
View attachment 44706
The only link to ModDB is for the contents archive.
The
post_1Jan_updates_190924.zip file is not available on ModDB.
View attachment 44707
There is, however, a
post_25May_updates_021221.zip file, but that is a different file and is not shown as being uploaded by Grey Roger.
I myself do not have access to change files on ModDB.
So, unless someone else is doing some trickery, which I find unlikely, then
post_1Jan_updates_190924.zip has never been on ModDB, and CoastGuard71 must have somehow ended up on that site and mistakenly believed that he downloaded the file from there. There is no evidence or reasonable cause for the file ever being on there.
Also this:
Only the text for the first link to the installer shows HTTPS. The link itself still uses HTTP.
And finally, this:
Yes, same as I've already said: A faulty system environment combined with whatever changes that have been made in later versions of Build 14. Adding files from older versions only makes the problem worse.
All this together is very likely the reason for why older versions seemingly work, newer versions don't work, and your computer having various kinds of problems such as extracting a ZIP file being unreasonably slow. There could also be a hardware problem involved. I say this as a computer technician with years of experience.
A clean - not clone - and proper install of Windows, drivers, and updates is well worth a try and could very well solve the problems.
You are free to keep disregarding my suggestion and keep on trying to solve the problems in your own way, but the problems with the game and the computer will continue, and no one will be able to give you any answer that will solve the problems in your preferred way. You can keep saying how a clean install does not make sense to you and keep claiming faulty game code or possible malware and how other software appears to help you, and you can keep making posts about problems with the game and your computer but there is nothing anyone here can say or do that will solve any of it. Several have given suggestions but they have either not worked or not been followed, and as such there is no point in continuing to think about other suggestions when the root cause is not being addressed. Other than that, none of the actual Build 14 developers are active anymore, so there is no one here who could give answers about deeper technicalities about anything in the Build 14 code.
