Horizons Elite Dangerous 64-bit vs 32-bit Client Files - Two commander accounts

Because of reasons, I have ended up with two different commander accounts. My main one has the expansion pass, and thereby Horizons and the other one doesn't.

When I first logged in with my main commander, I got a blue Install button and was able to download Horizons [64-bit], which also made Elite Dangerous [64-Bit] available.
Now the button says Play and I can play the game ok with either option selected.


When I first logged in with my other commander, I got an orange Play button (not install) and when clicking on it, the button disappears for a couple of seconds, and then re-appears without the game starting.
I tried the "Validate Game files" option, which then did it's stuff for a while, and I was subsequently able to play the game.

However, looking in the folder :- C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Frontier_Developments\Products\elite-dangerous-64, I see that a the program file has been changed from EliteDangerous64.exe to EliteDangerous32.exe, a new Win32 folder has been added with the game files, and all files have been deleted from the Win64 folder.

Can anyone offer an explanation as to what is going on here?
 
I am unable to edit the original post so I'll add :-

I obviously can no longer play Horizons using my main commander, without re-validating to bring back the Win64 files - which will remove the Win32 files.

I guess the main questions are :-
- why does the "Elite Dangerous [64-bit]" actually use 32-bit files for this account whereas it uses 64-bit files on the other account?
- why do the 32bit files get installed in the "elite-dangerous-64" folder and not a separate "elite-dangerous-32" folder.

There is also an "Elite Dangerous [32-bit]" option in the launcher - just out of interest I installed that and it installed a new set of games files into a different folder, which begs the question - why do I have an option to install two separate 32-bit clients?

Does anyone have any idea whether I can get around this issue, so I can play with either commander under a single windows login without having to re-validate files between sessions?
 
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I am encountering the same thing.
Seems like maybe the 64-bit version of 1.5 isn't actually available yet, so I just uses the 32 exe in it's place?
Strange that an option for the base Elite Dangerous game with 64 bit is even an option in the launcher then.
 
I am encountering the same thing.
Seems like maybe the 64-bit version of 1.5 isn't actually available yet, so I just uses the 32 exe in it's place?
Strange that an option for the base Elite Dangerous game with 64 bit is even an option in the launcher then.

The thing is, the 1.5 client must be available in 64-bit, as I can play it fine with my main account.
But my secondary account, which has no Horizons acces, seems restricted to a 32-bit client, whether I select the 64-bit or 32-bit option.

I'm guessing this must be an oversight by FD, but I've yet to get any response.
 
I'm guessing this must be an oversight by FD, but I've yet to get any response.

I had a response from ED Support. They are obviously very busy, so provided a workaround rather than an official explanation / resolution, which is understandable to a degree.
Whilst they suggested that I should create a new Windows user for my second ED account, a better workaround is just to play the "Elite Dangerous [32-BIT]" option from the launcher when logged in to my second ED account and "Elite Dangerous [64-BIT]" when logged in to my main ED account.

I have asked them for a "proper" response to this issue when they can, as the current behaviour is obviously not working as it should be.
 
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Not sure if this will help, but I was having problems with all versions of ED (Horizons, ED 64 bit & ED 32 bit) after Horizons beta became available. I kept crashing to desktop with a "...direct3d cannot lock a buffer..." error. I also noticed that when I tried to play the 32 bit version (i.e. 1.5), it just launched Horizons.
I used the ED Launcher to uninstall ALL versions of the game (highlight each version in turn and select "Uninstall Game" from the "Options" menu). I even removed the Launcher through control panel. Then I reinstalled the Launcher before using it to re-install Horizons and ED (1.5) 64 bit.
It seems to have fixed my problem and I haven't crashed since. :)
 
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Good suggestion, thanks Steve_T - I did do this after Horizons first released, so I'm not sure whether this could be the root cause.
Hopefully ED Support will come back with an update soon(tm) ;-)
 
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CMDR Atom from The ED Support team was kind enough to provide a much more comprehensive response to this issue, confirming that it is a bug that will be further investigated after the holiday period.

So, here is a heartfelt thanks to CMDR Atom and all in the Support team, and wishes for a very Happy New Year!

Here is the text in full :-

We're aware of the 32bit files in the 64bit launcher issue, but it just looks like a bug we need to iron out of the launcher. It's not by design, we can say that for sure. Unfortunately the devs that can help with this are spending time with their families, so it might have to wait until the new year.

As far as current alternatives go, Steam should provide the correct files without issue. You have access to a Steam key for either account by using the following steps:

Log into the Elite: Dangerous store and go to your account dashboard.
Click on ‘Partner Keys’ and then click ‘Claim an Elite: Dangerous’ key.
Login to Steam and allow access to your Steam account
Click "Claim a key for Elite: Dangerous"
You can now add this key to your Steam account using the following guide.
You should now have access to Elite: Dangerous on Steam and you will be able to login with your existing account.

Note: the key you generate will add Elite: Dangerous to any Steam library but WILL NOT grant access to the game without an existing registered Frontier account and copy of the game. For this reason, please don’t give your keys away to friends! They won’t be able to play without having already bought the game from Steam or the EliteDangerous.com store!

Alternatively, you can download either launcher from https://www.elitedangerous.com/ and they should be correct. This issue only seems to appear at present when validating game files on the 64bit launcher, and then, not to everyone. Possibly the result of a distribution node not being properly updated by amazon.

The two Windows profiles for two accounts suggestion is what we advise, because if you're able to use the 64bit version, you should. It's the best performing version. By doing things your current way, you're somewhat limiting one of your accounts.

I'm sorry if this isn't the complete explanation or workaround you're currently looking for, but it's the best we can offer at this precise moment!
 
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CMDR Atom

Customer Support
Frontier
Hi Chaps,

So this issue seems to be more widespread than at first we thought. After our little team over the holiday season did some testing we were able to replicate the problem here pretty consistently. Quite a can of worms, but it seems even fresh downloads would not work due to a problem with watchdog.exe.

However now that all the team are back, you can expect this to be fixed fairly quickly. We're very sorry for any inconvenience this caused over the Holiday season.

By the way Steve_T: You're describing two issues there. The second part seems to be this problem, but the first,
direct3d cannot lock a buffer
is a display driver timeout. We have a few fixes for that, so if you do experience it again, be sure to send us in a ticket, or search for it in the support forum! :)

All the best guys!
 
Hello CMDR Atom - I can confirm that today's updated launcher has resolved the issue I was having.
Thanks to you and the team!
 
Damn I was hoping this could be a way to get two separate versions of the game working, so my son could play the ED game on my computer under another profile. This is possible with practically any other computer game ever made, and still is NOT possible in this game. I can have both of us play a completely free game like World of Warships with separate profiles, without spending a single penny, same for many other Steam and non Steam games - and yet he cant create a separate profile in this game. A game that has to date cost me over £100. Something wrong there somewhere. They have had longer than a whole year to address things like this and still nothing some, despite a large team working on the project. The morale of the story seems to be to stop rewarding Frontier with any more of my hard earned money as they aren't producing the sort of game I can get any more value out of.
 
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Hi nats - I am able to run ED from two different ED commander accounts, using the same set of game files.
The way I acheived this was to install the ED launcher twice, each into its _own_ install folder. i.e. ..\EDLaunch1 and ..\EDLaunch2
Use a different ED commander account with each launcher - it works a treat for me.
I put a shortcut for each launcher on my desktop, named to indicate which account they run as.
 
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Hi nats - I am able to run ED from two different ED commander accounts, using the same set of game files.
The way I acheived this was to install the ED launcher twice, each into its _own_ install folder. i.e. ..\EDLaunch1 and ..\EDLaunch2
Use a different ED commander account with each launcher - it works a treat for me.
I put a shortcut for each launcher on my desktop, named to indicate which account they run as.

This is pretty much how I do it although I have the 'products' folder in the launcher directories so I have 2 complete installs. You can even run both copies at the same time but of course you can only control the copy that has focus so it's no good for 2 players but 1 payer with 2 accounts wanting to transfer goods between them is fine.
 
Hi nats - I think I misunderstood your point. You want to be able to create multiple profiles using a single purchased copy of the game.
I remember reading about this in the forums at the beginning of last year, and I'm pretty sure the devs indicated that they were considering it.
If you haven't already, how about starting a separate thread to query the status of this feature?
 
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