I installed the game today and just opened the game created my city. Then closed the game and came back to play the game, but now it wont start. I see a error says that the Spartan Catalog File is corrupt. IS there a way to fix this. I tried going to the official site of AOE Online but again it shows me an error message. Please help.

This is what I get form the site:

Compilation Error

Description: An error occurred during the compilation of a resource required to service this request. Please review the following specific error details and modify your source code appropriately.

Compiler Error Message: CS0246: The type or namespace name 'Cosmos' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)

Source Error:

Line 1: using System;
Line 2: using Cosmos.Publishing.Client;
Line 3: using Leet.Core.Caching;
Line 4: using Leet.Core.Configuration;

Source File: c:\inetpub\SpartanSite\App_Code\Global.asax.cs Line: 2

I have a same problem.
I installed AoE online on my laptop without a problem.
But when I wanted to install the game on my desktop PC I got a message ,,Spartan Catalog File is corrupt Perform a full scan to resolve" and can't install it at all. The buttom ,,Full Scan" can't press.

There was an unexpected 12-minute outage at around the time you posted this yesterday. Please try again today. Hopefully has nothing whatsoever to do with your system.

- Servo

I figured out exactly why the error is happening, its not too hard but the developers dont give two cents about free to play-players.

If you open up your game install folder you will see a couple application( .exe) files.

AOEonline.exe
AOEOnlineReplace.exe
Spartan.exe

Right click on spartan.exe go to properties and UNCHECK read-only.

The developers are too dim witted to create the file as a NON-read only exacutable, so the patcher cannot update that file and the whole thing fails.

Let me know if this works for anyone, or doesnt work for anyone.

FACEPALM
Gas Powered Games
Games for Windows Live
FACEPALM

wow, calm down

The OPs "Cosmos" problem was related to a temporary server outage, and is no longer occurring. If we were creating EXEs as read-only, this problem would be a bit more widespread than this post would indicate. It does point to an unexpected situation when handling files that have somehow been marked as read-only.

Nothing in the installer, patcher, or file scan is capable of marking or unmarking files as read-only, although a file marked as such will preserve that state when being written. To date, none of our released EXEs have been read-only, so something on the user's system must have changed the state.

It is curious that the file needed to be overwritten at all considering that we are still operating off the original release EXE. That would only be possible if the user was updating from a pre-release version, which is unlikely given his free-to-play comment, or if the file became corrupted AND marked as read-only.

I can only think of two scenarios that might trigger that. One is a user-made installer like pirates use, which would be bizarre considering the install is a free download from MS, and the other is a security suite, such as zonealarm.

I doubt from the tone that we will get useful information out of Twamp, but if anyone else has a similar scenario of files being corrupted and marked as read-only, please let us know what you think may be triggering the problem.

- Servo

I checked, there is not a single file read only in my installation. Twamp most likely messed that up himself.

good ol' GPG, never gets frustrated at agressive forum posters.

Respect for Servo for bringing up the patience to deal with retards like this guy..

+1

I recieve the spartan catalog file is corrupt error after installation when I open the game and it is auto-downloading updates. because it recieves the file then, it stops the download and I can not even get to the point where I can play the game or do its full scan or whatever it wanted. I've re-tried at least ten times now and called tech support five times. I payed $40 for the game so I don't really consider it to be free. you'd think they'd actually have tech support for this game. like the others said, there are no read only files on the directory, and the only AOEO forum suggestion, (to copy from temp download folder), well the temp download folder doesn't exist on mine. anyone got any ideas, because appearantly the games developers don't care much about the customers.

@ CyberKnight

Sounds like you are running into the more traditional Catalog file corruption issue. I am not surprised that there are no read-only files in your install. To the best of my knowledge this has only ocurred for one user ever, and he posted in this thread. Can you clarify a few things for me?

Did you ever have a pre-release version of the game installed on your computer? (Beta or pre-release)

Are you running the game as an Administrator?

Has the game ever run for you, or are you still trying your initial run?

How quickly does the error pop up after triggering the installer? What is the longest period you have let it run?

Is there a progress bar on the installer running when the error pops up? Have you tried letting it continue downloading?

- Servo

@ CyberKnight

Sounds like you are running into the more traditional Catalog file corruption issue. I am not surprised that there are no read-only files in your install. To the best of my knowledge this has only ocurred for one user ever, and he posted in this thread. Can you clarify a few things for me?

Did you ever have a pre-release version of the game installed on your computer? (Beta or pre-release)
No
Are you running the game as an Administrator?
Yes
Has the game ever run for you, or are you still trying your initial run?
It is in the initial run. It won't start up until the updates download.
How quickly does the error pop up after triggering the installer? What is the longest period you have let it run?
The error pops up at about five minutes, and I've let it run for over a day.
Is there a progress bar on the installer running when the error pops up? Have you tried letting it continue downloading?
Yes, the progress bar is there and stops after the error. other answer covered in the last question.
- Servo
in addition, I have the egypt/greek/addon set.

I have the same issue as CyberKnight. The Logfile stops at

000015 | getFileToDisk requesting file [/content/spartan/production/5336/P0533600027.bin] to location [art\Art.bar]

After trying to shut down the client the Logfile brings up this:
000124 | Shut down requested
000124 | Updating user registry [] [de-DE] [1031]
000124 | resetFileInfo having to kill the http background task
000125 | resetFileInfo having to kill the http background task
...

The client is run in Admin mode and I am using windows 7. I downloaded the client via GFW.

Please let me know if there is a solution for this bug.

still no luck?

We have added a number of more specific messages for this general detection case in the upcoming patch, which should be very soon (crossing fingers). At this point, let's hope that your case is one of the special issues, or better yet, fixed when it comes out. Worst case, if you get the exact same message, we will know a number of things that aren't causing it.

- Servo

Let's hope. Never been a fan of $40 paperweights. lol

My girlfriend had the same problem and we managed to solve it by uninstalling the game and completely reinstalling it in another folder (not the default one). Changing the install folder works via the "Settings" tab in the GfWM client.

I myself had the game installed in a custom folder from the start and never encountered the problem.

Any update Cyber? I am curious if the new patch solved your problem or at least generated a more useful error message?

- Servo

I have the exact same problem.
It is really frustrating. Is there a descent working solution?

I have the exact same problem. Every time I try to launch the game it says "the Spartan catalog file is corrupt...". I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the game and GFWL but it doesn't change anything. Is there any way to fix this?

Hi, I downloaded the game 2 days ago. Opened it once. It asked for an activation key, so i gave up at that point as I didn't have time. Then I opened it today and got this error "Spartan Catalog File is corrupt". So i read this article, and I found that the read only on the Spartan.exe file was incorrect, but I did find that by opening the properties of the age of empires online folder and unchecking read only for folder, subfolders and files worked for me.

Hey Donnie53,

Thanks for posting, it is rare to get a response from someone who fixes their problem. I have a followup question:

Do you have any idea what might have caused the file/files to get marked as read-only? I am sure there are some cases where human error is involved, but it doesn't make sense that it happens frequently. Do you have some unusual antivirus, antispyware, or firewall programs going that might cause this?

- Servo

Hi Servo,
I can't think of any reason that it could be an issue, but I'm running my PC as a VM on my Mac. By process of elimination I doubt its a problem cause its seems I'm not the only one with the issue and I doubt others are using Macs.

I run Microsofts Free AV, no firewall at all (Switched off at services.msc).

I didn't edit any files when I installed AoEO, because being an IT Tech you learn not to screw round with things like that unless needed.

I'm logged in as Local PC Administrator so permissions won't be an issue.

To cap off, I'm really unsure of what it could be, but I'm more than happy to try help you figure it out.

One possibility though, could be something on x64 OS's (As it installs it to Program Files(x86)), this is what I'm running, and thats where I got the error. I'll run it up in my XP x86 and see if I get the same result and let you know.

-Donnie

Just to clarify, you will be trying it on another machine with XP, or you have a dual boot on your Mac?

MS definitely did alot of testing on the available OSes, although i am not certain if Macs were included in that, so although I would be surprised if that were the root of the problem, it will be interesting to see if anything turns up in your second test. Let us know if you find anything unusual.