diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1df40e3..fc19798 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -35,4 +35,6 @@ yarn-error.log*
 
 *.tmp
 *.temp
-download-temp.zip
\ No newline at end of file
+download-temp.zip
+
+.env
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build-pipeline.js b/build-pipeline.js
index 57e518c..f93e710 100644
--- a/build-pipeline.js
+++ b/build-pipeline.js
@@ -172,7 +172,6 @@ function validatePayload(zipPath) {
   zip.extractAllTo(TEMP_EXTRACT_DIR, true);
 
   const requiredFiles = [
-    'player/server.js',
     'frontend/index.html'
   ];
   
diff --git a/main.js b/main.js
index 375f16e..0a59852 100644
--- a/main.js
+++ b/main.js
@@ -216,18 +216,20 @@ async function start() {
     debugLog(`Is First Run: ${isFirstRun}, Local Version: ${localVersion}, Local SHA: ${localSha}`);
 
     function findLocalZip() {
-      const searchRoots = [__dirname, process.cwd()];
+      const searchRoots = [__dirname, process.cwd(), path.join(__dirname, '../../..')];
       for (const root of searchRoots) {
         let cur = root;
         for (let i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
-          const zp = path.join(cur, 'update-payload.zip');
-          if (fs.existsSync(zp)) {
-            const mp = path.join(cur, 'manifest.json');
-            return { zipPath: zp, manifestPath: fs.existsSync(mp) ? mp : null };
-          }
-          const parent = path.dirname(cur);
-          if (parent === cur) break;
-          cur = parent;
+          try {
+            const zp = path.join(cur, 'update-payload.zip');
+            if (fs.existsSync(zp)) {
+              const mp = path.join(cur, 'manifest.json');
+              return { zipPath: zp, manifestPath: fs.existsSync(mp) ? mp : null };
+            }
+            const parent = path.dirname(cur);
+            if (parent === cur) break;
+            cur = parent;
+          } catch (e) { }
         }
       }
       return null;
@@ -309,12 +311,24 @@ async function start() {
         debugLog("Update available. Prompting user...");
         sendToTauri('status', { message: `New update available (${release.version}). Awaiting confirmation...` });
 
+        try {
+          if (process.platform === 'win32') {
+            require('child_process').spawnSync('powershell.exe', [
+              '-NoProfile', '-NonInteractive', '-Command',
+              `Get-NetTCPConnection -LocalPort 4891 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | ForEach-Object { Stop-Process -Id $_.OwningProcess -Force }`
+            ], { stdio: 'ignore', windowsHide: true });
+          } else {
+            require('child_process').spawnSync('fuser', ['-k', '-9', `4891/tcp`], { stdio: 'ignore' });
+          }
+        } catch (e) { }
+
         const tempApp = express();
         let userDecision = null;
         tempApp.use((req, res, next) => {
           res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', '*');
           res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Methods', 'GET,POST,OPTIONS');
           res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Headers', '*');
+          res.header('Connection', 'close');
           if (req.method === 'OPTIONS') return res.sendStatus(200);
           next();
         });
@@ -326,15 +340,27 @@ async function start() {
 
         const tempServer = await new Promise((resolve) => {
           const s = tempApp.listen(4891, '127.0.0.1', () => resolve(s));
+          s.on('error', (err) => {
+            debugLog(`Update server bind error: ${err.message}`);
+            resolve(null);
+          });
         });
 
         sendToTauri('update-available', { current: localVersion, latest: release.version });
 
+        let waitLoops = 0;
         while (userDecision === null) {
+          if (!tempServer && waitLoops > 400) {
+            userDecision = false;
+            break;
+          }
+          waitLoops++;
           await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 25));
         }
 
-        await new Promise((resolve) => tempServer.close(resolve));
+        if (tempServer) {
+          tempServer.close();
+        }
 
         if (userDecision) {
           debugLog("User accepted update.");
@@ -374,7 +400,7 @@ async function start() {
 
     sendToTauri('status', { message: 'Validating critical components...' });
     if (!patcher.verifyExtraction()) {
-      throw new Error('No application files found. Ensure you run "npm run build:payload" to generate the local development payload.');
+      throw new Error('No application files found. Ensure you ran "npm run build:payload" and the extraction succeeded.');
     }
 
     sendToTauri('status', { message: 'Loading encrypted credentials...' });
diff --git a/patcher.js b/patcher.js
index 96a7d40..e95f825 100644
--- a/patcher.js
+++ b/patcher.js
@@ -84,8 +84,25 @@ class Patcher {
   }
 
   extractZipPayload(zipPath) {
+    const AdmZip = require('adm-zip');
     const zip = new AdmZip(zipPath);
+    const entries = zip.getEntries();
+
+    if (!entries || entries.length === 0) {
+      throw new Error('Downloaded archive is empty, invalid, or truncated.');
+    }
+
     zip.extractAllTo(this.appDataPath, true);
+
+    const testPath = path.join(this.appDataPath, 'frontend', 'index.html');
+    if (!fs.existsSync(testPath)) {
+      const { execSync } = require('child_process');
+      if (process.platform === 'win32') {
+        execSync(`powershell.exe -NoProfile -NonInteractive -Command "Expand-Archive -Path '${zipPath}' -DestinationPath '${this.appDataPath}' -Force"`, { windowsHide: true });
+      } else {
+        execSync(`unzip -o "${zipPath}" -d "${this.appDataPath}"`);
+      }
+    }
   }
 
   verifyChecksum(zipPath, expectedSha256) {
@@ -99,8 +116,8 @@ class Patcher {
 
   verifyExtraction() {
     const requiredFiles = [
-      'player/server.js',
-      'frontend/index.html'
+      'frontend/index.html',
+      'player/server.js'
     ];
 
     for (const file of requiredFiles) {
@@ -112,12 +129,16 @@ class Patcher {
       if (stat.size === 0) {
         return false;
       }
-      const sampleSize = Math.min(stat.size, 4096);
-      const fd = fs.openSync(fullPath, 'r');
-      const buffer = Buffer.alloc(sampleSize);
-      fs.readSync(fd, buffer, 0, sampleSize, 0);
-      fs.closeSync(fd);
-      if (buffer.every(byte => byte === 0)) {
+      try {
+        const sampleSize = Math.min(stat.size, 4096);
+        const fd = fs.openSync(fullPath, 'r');
+        const buffer = Buffer.alloc(sampleSize);
+        fs.readSync(fd, buffer, 0, sampleSize, 0);
+        fs.closeSync(fd);
+        if (buffer.every(byte => byte === 0)) {
+          return false;
+        }
+      } catch (e) {
         return false;
       }
     }
diff --git a/src-tauri/src/main.rs b/src-tauri/src/main.rs
index d83ce39..7988659 100644
--- a/src-tauri/src/main.rs
+++ b/src-tauri/src/main.rs
@@ -831,7 +831,12 @@ fn main() {
 
                                 let msg = match serde_json::from_str::<BackendMessage>(&line) {
                                     Ok(m) => m,
-                                    Err(_) => continue,
+                                    Err(_) => {
+                                        if !line.trim().is_empty() {
+                                            debug_log(&format!("[NODE RAW] {}", line));
+                                        }
+                                        continue;
+                                    }
                                 };
 
                                 debug_log(&format!("[MAIN-DEBUG] Received event: {}", msg.event));
diff --git a/update-client.js b/update-client.js
index 80eee90..3cf0253 100644
--- a/update-client.js
+++ b/update-client.js
@@ -136,7 +136,14 @@ class UpdateClient {
           });
 
           file.on('finish', () => {
-            file.close(resolve);
+            file.close(() => {
+              if (totalSize && downloadedSize < totalSize) {
+                fs.unlink(destPath, () => { });
+                reject(new Error(`Download truncated: Received ${downloadedSize} of ${totalSize} bytes. Connection dropped prematurely.`));
+              } else {
+                resolve();
+              }
+            });
           });
 
           file.on('error', (err) => {
@@ -150,10 +157,10 @@ class UpdateClient {
           reject(err);
         });
 
-        req.setTimeout(120000, () => {
+        req.setTimeout(900000, () => {
           req.destroy();
           fs.unlink(destPath, () => { });
-          reject(new Error('Download timeout'));
+          reject(new Error('Download timeout (15 minutes reached)'));
         });
       };