UAC prompt on Steam when starting A-10C

[dburne]

Hey gang,

 

I purchased DCS A10C from Steam yesterday, when I saw they had a big sale on it. I have been wanting this sim, figured now is good time as any.

Anyway it downloaded and installed via Steam, which is fine.

 

However when I start A-10, I get a UAC prompt to give permission for the Steam service to make changes to this computer. Not a big deal, but a minor annoyance.

Now I have another sim, that I purchased and installed through Steam - and when I launch it, I do not get this UAC prompt.

Both sims installed through Steam, to the same hard drive - my E drive - yet A10 gives me the prompt when launching, and the other does not.

 

Any way around this? Like I said not a real big deal, but is a minor annoyance. And I do not want to disable UAC either, just strange how one does and the other does not?

 

Any tips greatly appreciated!

[GregP]

DCS probably writes to some config files in your Documents folder, which is probably on your C drive, and Windows may flag such a write operation as something requiring UAC approval -- that's my guess, at least. And maybe your other sim doesn't write anything to the Documents folder, thus avoiding UAC.

[dburne]

Ah well that probably makes sense, thanks.

Just a minor thing so i can live with it -was just curious why one would do it and another not.

 

Thanks,

[Snaut]

DCS probably writes to some config files in your Documents folder, which is probably on your C drive, and Windows may flag such a write operation as something requiring UAC approval -- that's my guess, at least. And maybe your other sim doesn't write anything to the Documents folder, thus avoiding UAC.

 

Documents folder is not UAC protected. My guess is it tries to write into "program files" folder or some protected part of the registry.

 

Certainly something is botched in the Steam version. I'd let Steam support know about it.

[112th_Rossi]

I always get this when I start the regular version.

[dburne]

Yes come to think of it, my documents folder is on another hard drive entirely anway.

Does not make a lot of sense, I can deal with it but just puzzled I guess.

[112th_Rossi]

On the retail version you can edit the shortcut to run as administrator then the message doesn't appear.

[Snaut]

On the retail version you can edit the shortcut to run as administrator then the message doesn't appear.

 

Not exactly, shortcut with 'run as admin' ticked will simply prompt for UAC every time (if UAC is on).

[ALDEGA]

Selecting "Run this program as an administrator" will generate a UAC consent prompt when you are logged on with an administrator account (with default UAC settings).

 

Why would you want to run an application like DCS A-10C with administrator priviliges anyway? It works fine without them. (BS1 is another story)

 

edit: sniped

[dburne]

It does the same if I launch the sims from within the Steam interface as well, one does not give me the prompt, the other does. Strange, got to be an explanation in there somewhere...

 

Thanks for all the feedback,

[ALDEGA]

Why not install the non-Steam version of DCS with your Steam key?

[dburne]

That certainly sounds like a viable option.

Now that it is installed through Steam, how would I go about doing this?

 

Thanks,

[ALDEGA]

First get your DCS-A10C license key:

Right-click the application in your Steam Library. You should then get something similar to "View game CD key".

 

Next, download and install the full version (currently 1.1.1.1):

http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/index.php?scr=product&ProductId=8&end_pos=135&lang=en

 

According to some, it's possible that you won't need to enter the license key again if it was already activated by the Steam version, but it's always handy to have.

[dburne]

I will give that a try, thanks!

[cichlidfan]

Another upside is that Steam has been historically slow getting patches out for DCS, this way you can patch from ED as soon as it comes out.

[dburne]

Great point thanks!

[dburne]

No I really do prefer having it on, and up until I installed A-10 from Steam it has never caused me any issue on launching games.

My games are always installed on a seperate partition from my system drive, and my documents folder is on a seperate drive as well.

I currently have 6 flight sims installed, and this is the first time UAC has prompted me when launching one - and only with A-10 through Steam.

[ALDEGA]

Have you tried to turn off that UAC #%@?

While you're at it, disable the airbags in your car, disable ESP and remove the brakes ... Seriously, there's no need to disable UAC to run an application like DCS.

DCS:BS1 required privilege elevation (in Vista and newer) because it required write access to files in the Program Files directory (not a best practice). This was addressed with DCS-A10C (and hence with DCS:BS2) where these files are stored in the user's profile and are thus writable without privilege elevation.

[dburne]

First get your DCS-A10C license key:

 

 

Next, download and install the full version (currently 1.1.1.1):

http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/index.php?scr=product&ProductId=8&end_pos=135&lang=en

 

According to some, it's possible that you won't need to enter the license key again if it was already activated by the Steam version, but it's always handy to have.

 

Fyi - worked like a champ, and yes I did not even have to enter the license key again. What is really strange was it even managed to keep the couple of changes I had made in the graphics options - and I had uninstalled the Steam version , after recording the product key, prior to installing the one I downloaded from above.

And no more UAC prompt, mission accomplished!

 

Thanks again ,

[ALDEGA]

The graphics settings are stored in your Windows profile (C:\Users\your-user-name\Saved Games\DCS Warthog). Apparently they were not deleted.

[dburne]

The graphics settings are stored in your Windows profile (C:\Users\your-user-name\Saved Games\DCS Warthog). Apparently they were not deleted.

 

Ah yes you are exactly right - good to know, thanks.