Go to sleep, then work, then come home to play GSB again.
Now, after I double-click the spaceship icon on my Desktop, I turn away for a minute. When I turn back again, there is an installer window on my screen.
Here’s where I misunderstand and think “Oops, I launched the original downloaded installer by mistake!” and promptly click cancel.
After this, every attempt to launch GSB results in a crash.
Now, I read on the blog that there was a patch and an auto-updater, so I found the patch installer in the game’s download cache and installed it. That fixed the problem.
Disregarding the crash bug, I suggest marking the updates a bit clearer. Some suggestions: 1) Change the installer window so it doesn’t really look like an installer. Make it say “Update” in my face. 2) Since the patching require user interaction anyway (by means of “Next” buttons, and ultimately the UAC on Vista), an extra dialog of “An update has been automatically downloaded. You will need to install it to continue playing. Press OK to launch installer.” might be a cheaper solution.
PS: In the midst of criticisms, let me just point out that GSB, even in the unfinished state, is tremendous fun. It is now the cause of me coming late to work tomorrow because of sleep deprivation.
trying to find the patch executable though… can’t find it I’m stuck on v.1.03. I can play, do challenges, everything… but the updater won’t start again automatically.
There’s also a very minor issue with the installer where it doesn’t pick up a custom install location
e.g. if you install a new patch the install location is initially set to c:\program files\Gratuitous Space Battles even if you’ve installed to D: drive.
This was seen on Vista.
kinda belongs in support, but there’s also the issue that it complains that you’re about to install a patch into a directory that exists(!)… are you sure?
i think the installer needs the flag set to remind it it’s not an installed - but a patcher.
Hi, I just wanted to add that I had the same issue in which the auto-updater installed to the default location (c:\Program Files (x86)\Gratuitous Space Battles Beta) even though I had installed the game to a different drive. It didn’t break the game, just prevented me from enjoying all the nice updates! It was easy enough to copy all the updated files over to the correct folder, but had me scratching my head for a bit.
Otherwise performance-wise the game is running great. I’m running it on a Core 2 Duo 6600, nVidia 8800 and 4GB RAM with Windows 7 x64.
Make it say “Update” in my face. 2) Since the patching require user interaction anyway (by means of “Next” buttons, and ultimately the UAC on Vista), an extra dialog of “An update has been automatically downloaded. You will need to install it to continue playing. Press OK to launch installer.” might be a cheaper solution.
It is now the cause of me coming late to work tomorrow because of sleep deprivation. 
I’m stuck on v.1.03. I can play, do challenges, everything… but the updater won’t start again automatically.