Hi folks, posting this in case somebody finds something useful to get this client working.
Two of my worlds are tied to very ancient UPlay accounts and I was expecting trouble from 1 in particular as it's always been stuck in a kind of limbo between a Legacy account and normal UPlay account.
It's never let me log into the test server while the others did.
When I lost a string of email accounts, it seemed to accept the change to a new one, but login was always hit and miss, so got in the habit of using the Legacy login which always worked and usually kept me logged in the next time I opened nrowser.
So, was not surprised when trying to use the new client failed last night.
I tried switching back to the UPlay login, which had worked before, certainly when the login procedure was changed in February, it still worked then.
However, now it doesn't recognise the email/password method at all, just the legacy option.
TTried using client with legacy and it failed repeatedly. Also tried "lost password" but that didn't work either.
I then tried the former email address in case UPlay hadn't accepted, or had rolled back to, the old deleted one. No luck there either.
So, tried following the instructions to link the Legacy account with UPlay, that failed on both the current address and the former one, but bizarrely stated that my UPlay name was unavailable, ie: already in use.
Out of options, I decided to login to UPlay directly on UBI's site and see what details it held.
(Just google UPlay and 1 of the suggested links is the login page)
It wouldn't let me login there either, with old or new email address.
Then had a bit of a brainwave, as it had denied knowing of either email address, I created a new UPlay account with the current email address, that worked apart from having to choose a new UPlay name as mine was already in use (Yes, by me you muppets!) Created one very similar to old one that would be easy to remember.
After this, I reloaded The Settlers, and logged in via my Legacy login, then went to My Profile and started the "Link Legacy account to UPlay" procedure again.
This time, linked it to the account I just made, and it worked!
Even happier that I still show as logged in under my original name, not the new one and can continue posting in forum as myself.
I then logged out, then went back in using the UPlay login instead, and launched client.
As usual, first time failed, so cleared error message that was hidden behind the browser window and tried again. Each time, the client came up with "not responding" and heart sank. Tried a few times as it usually fails 1st time, but still stuck on loading, so instead of closing it, I left it for 5-10 mins and made a cup of tea. That did the trick, the client unstuck itself and I had a nice cuppa as well
Don't know if any of this will help anyone else but it worked for me, I never fell for the lures of Fakebook so can't check anything on that score, but it may help that the key to this was to create a UPlay account directly on Ubi's site, not through Settlers, then try linking to that.
Rather ironically, I got an in game message with a rather tasty reward for migrating, the irony being I couldn't get at it until I'd solved the login issues.
Just hope something from this helps others to get back into the game, honestly BB you made a pig's ear of this and just before the main event of the year.
Good Luck,
Nog