Extremely disappointed in patching process

hmm i have not yet had any issues with activation i just registered my sieral number and download the patchs via stardock central..

of course i bought a ot of a box copy... so ...

I downloaded the game and I didn't have to activate anything via email. Are you sure you aren't on the wrong game forum? Maybe you want the Halflife 2 boards ?

activated ones, have not heard one thing ever sence why is it so big deal? you only activate and then you get the patches and how many games can yoyu play with no cd in the pc?
stardock must have something as there "copyprotection" and this is there anwser. Personly i think it is a great idea.

but this even if it sound like it is not to be taken as a rant for you i just want to now more about why you do not want to register

im having a small problem with stardock as well.. for some reason my game just disappeared from thier menu so i cant download the patch there. so what im doing now is downloading it directly. but still..

i put in my serial the day i bought the game and have never touched it again, ive never been asked for it since then and im on 1.1 now. definately never had to do anything over emails

Hello OP,

... How does this work? I've sent off my request to the activation wizard, I'm assuming I'll be sent some sort of key. ...

I am not sure what your problem seems to be as you have titled your post "Extremely disappointed in patching process" but its not clear from your post whether you have actually been through the patching process !!!!!!!

I think you are confusing Windows Activation with registering a product, not your fault as Stardock use the terms interchangeably. Certain companies use activation by storing a hash value of certain computer hardware components to ensure that they are installed on the same computer system that they were activated against. As far as I know but I haven't investigated in any detail about this but I don't think Stardock does this (someone please correct me if I am wrong). My understanding is that the 'activation' process is simply linking your key to your product. Effectively saying that this key belongs to Mr X for GameY, hence preventing your key then being associated with another Mr Y.

Once you get your key you register the product with Stardock Central and then allow it to check for updates that you are entitled to, and it downloads. There is no jumping through hoops or sending emails back and forth to get a patch. Once SDC is set up downloading is very simple. If you install to a computer without any form of net connection, the process is admittedly more complex but it is not impossible, as posts on the forums generally indicate.

... If that is the case then this game is only a viable product as long as stardock has not been sold, gone broke, goes out of the game business. ...

There is an auto-archive on update which creates an archived version of the app, which you can back up and have SDC restore for you at a later date, so it seems that you have a method of accessing patches after you have downloaded them, via a fully archived patched app which you can burn to CD/DVD. I have used this and it works well, allowing you to regress to previous versions.

My understanding is not as detailed as Stardocks but this is my experience, regarding your concerns. And yes like others I put in my key once and so far have never had to deal with it again.

I hope this puts your mind a little at ease and encourages you to keep an open mind until you have tried the process for yourself.

Have a good day.

AR

I agree with the OP.
There's another thread on the subject here, by the way: Link

It would seem that 1.1 update is causing problems because of offline activation. This is a tricky situation as Stardock need to balance protecting their profits with user convenience, as they are one of the few companies that provide substantial content for an SP only game after it has shipped, so effectively you get more and more game as they improve it . The fact is that I haven't had to do offline activation so I cannot factually comment further on this.

Me personally I can see this being an minor inconvenience but realistically its part of the price I would have to accept if I ilke the game. If I don't like the game enough then I simply wouldn't buy or avoid. People with non internet computers are going to see this problem more and more as things like Steam and SDC gain in popularity. Me? I balance that inconvenience against no intrusive potentially computer damaging copyright protection, no carrying a cd around when I want to play the game and having game content improve not just bug patching for free after I bought it.

My two pennies.

Have a good day.

AR

The first time you patch the game requires you to enter your serial code. You only have to do it the first time you patch, and if you don't want to do it then you aren't forced to patch. I believe it's possible to do it on an offline machine as well, e-mailing for a key or something...

This may cause problems or come as a surprise to some because:

1) 1.0X wasn't protected by this method because the authentication server was down, so they simply disabled the method for that patch.

2) European collectors' editions didn't ship with serial keys, and a lot of people have missed the part of the downloads page where you need to generate one.

I agree, even though it really only effects us Non Internet users its a pain. If I had internet I wouldnt care. What ticks me off the most is that I can understand the need to do this when I downloaded the GAME from them. But to have to do the same thing when I have a the Retail Disk Version now is wrong. I would certainly rather have Regular Pirate sofware then this, since this is now the second time since I had This game that I missed a night of playing. Now I only play an hour or so, but thats all I have time for.

Oh PS if my Reactivation is not ready by tonight (sent it this morning) It won't be pretty.

Would you like tissue?

If that is the case then this game is only a viable product as long as stardock has not been sold, gone broke, goes out of the game business. Quick, how many classic computer games can you name from the past ten years whose publishers are gone? Most of them?

Stardock is both the developer and the publisher thanks to stardock central, and while they do have a publisher which sorts out physical sales. If Stardock do go under it wont matter because theyll be no one around to write the game.

The same can be said for any company providing updates (and there are thousands of them) off the net which require some sort of validation that you actualy bought the software. Go and complain to Valve software that because they might go broke at any time and therefore cant patch your games that your really miffed off at them.

Why dont you become a bit more computer savvy and find out how things work and why they work like they do.

im having a small problem with stardock as well.. for some reason my game just disappeared from thier menu so i cant download the patch there. so what im doing now is downloading it directly. but still..

You probably didnt install the game correclty, or something has happened to the game which menas SD Central cant find it when it does its games subfolder>startup search. If you just copied and pasted the entire GCII folder from somewhere else for whatever reason and didnt install it properly this will do it aswell. From the abscence of specific information in your registry probably.

If you want to play computer games you have to know a little about computers, even if im completely wrong im still following the right kind of thought process. Buy an idiot box (aka console) if you dont want to do anything.

With Valve, it's unfortunately worse because you can't even play Half-Life 2 without first activating it. So yes, even if you bought the CDs in a box at the store, you need to have Internet in order to start it up the first time (after that, it's possible to put it in "off-line mode").

At least Stardock will allow you to play GalCiv2 the first time out without activating it. It's only when you want to patch it that you need some sort of connectivity.

Valve also won't let you download the patches as separate files, which Stardock does. So even if Stardock goes out of business, I'll have the official patches archived on a disc somewhere, ready to be applied.

Activation and authentication isn't perfect, but Stardock has implemented it fairly well, especially when compared to others.

-HM

I agree the patching process (i.e. registering) is a pain compared to the original install. But such a thing is only required for enhanced content as stated somewhere on this site.

If you want to play the game in 10 years time and just happen to have formatted your drive by then you can get the game you payed for installed no hassle exactly like the first time you installed it. Neat eh!!

I actually dont mind this part of it. The bit that rubs me up the wrong way is the serial number on the back of the manual for collectors edition is not the serial number they mean to use in activation but it is still called "serial number" in cold print. They should call one a Product Code or something different to ease the confusion when a box appears and says enter serial number.

I dislike the patch-activiation mess on principal. One of the things that made me actually purchase this game was the fact that I didn't need to use the serial (unless I wanted to play in the metaverse.) It was, for me, a major selling point -- serials and activation rub me the wrong way, and always have.

Now I need the serial .

If that is the case then this game is only a viable product as long as stardock has not been sold, gone broke, goes out of the game business. Quick, how many classic computer games can you name from the past ten years whose publishers are gone? Most of them?

Quoted for great truth.

Edit: Oh, and just so I cover the good side too:

Me? I balance that inconvenience against no intrusive potentially computer damaging copyright protection, no carrying a cd around when I want to play the game and having game content improve not just bug patching for free after I bought it.

This is true, and I do still appreciate that aspect. And it's a whole lot better than what I've heard about Valve's Steam.

TheFeshy,

Unfortunately, you erred when you assumed you only needed the serial for using the Metaverse. Stardock has explained in their literature that you would need a registered game to use the patches. Granted they weren't explicit as to the fact that you'd need to enter it at initial install, plus again when patching, but they did make it clear that a serial is needed to use the updates.

-HM

Me again, allow me to provide a little more information. My game computer NEVER connects to the internet. 'Internet Security' is an oxymoron. I do not shoot craps with my computer. I have a dedicated computer just for the internet.

I have a retail, boxed version of the game. Installed it, installed other patches, no problem. But now, I installed the 1.1 patch and I have to send an email to stardock to get that patch to work. So I get the info from the game computer, move it to my internet pc and email stardock. They email back, quite promptly. Kudos for that.

I do not play Half-life. I do not buy products from Steam. They have their business model, and they are welcome to try whatever they want, hey, it's their company. I'm free to not buy their products or not, and I don't. Everything is not for everyone. I am a single-player computer gamer. I do not play or buy games that require internet connections to play or install.

The real question that I want to know is this: In a year or less, when I re-image my game machine, can I reinstall GC2, put on the patches, and use the file or info I've been emailed to make it work again? Or, at that time, will I be required to 'email to stardock' for activation. I certainly hope the first case is true. And don't give me that, 'well you can run the retail game'. The difference between a patched game and the retail version is that one is worth your time, and the other isn't.

Thanks to all for your comments. PS: To Stardock - if I need to 'email home' every time I reinstall, I would rather put the cd in the drive. Heck, I do that for everything else. I know Stardock is trying different things to see what works for them and their customers, and I wish them luck. I certainly wouldn't mind punching in my serial-number and being a registered user to download patches. But then I guess they are eager to restrict patch availability to legal owners. An illegal copy of the release version of a game isn't worth much. But if people could access the 1.1 version of the game for free, that would be a serious problem, and I can't blame Stardock for trying to avoid seeing that happen.

-M

Actually. I originally downloaded 1.0x directly from Stardock. While I did receive 1 email verification, I have never had to type in the serial number. Never. Last week , while waiting for beta 4b to install, I noticed a small "register serial number" box in the lower right corner of SDC. I went ahead and registered my serial number...but nothing forced me to do so. Maybe I've just had a more positive experience...or been lucky. Who knows?

Good wrap up of the situation MBJODET. I'm in the same shoe. Being a network security engineer, I KNOW Internet security IS an oxymoron. For anyone to believe otherwise is playing Russian roulette with their identity and financial future. Security issues aside, as a legal owner of a licensed product, I should have the right to install the game on any one box I chose without all this damn annoying hassle. And if I chose to play the game again in three years time on another box, will Stardock be around to email me a sig.bin file for my new box? I hope so, but I won't hold my breath.

I never had to enter the ##s since install...box copy, though.

My gawd.

Sounds like some folks here are really pushing to have us put in CD's...well, if that's what you want, go buy a game with Starforce. And then you'll really have security issues ...of coarse, all you self proclaimed Internet sucurity experts already know about the issue with Stardock altering the NT 0 ring security acces and all that...right????

Sheesh. Tyope the password into notepad, put in on a floppy or USB Stick, lock it up in a safe deposit box if you are that worried; , and cut and paste when neded. What's hard about that?????

The retail boxed version of the game requires nothing at all. No serial number, no CD in the drive, no CD check, nothing.

But for users who have downloaded the free updates of the game from us (at which point you obviously have some Internet access) those updates require the serial #.

You do NOT have to have an Internet connection to play the game. IF you do have an internet connection, then the game will talk to the server ONE TIME and create a sig.bin file.  If you're using Stardock Central, this is all automated and users don't even notice this.

If you're not on the net, a dialog pops up with instructions on getting a key to type in which involves emailing us and getting it back. Usually takes an hour if it's during a weekday, a day if it's at night.

But you don't have to get 1.1.  It's not a required update. You could stay with 1.0X indefinitely or the retail boxed version. 

Moreover, our system is NOT like Windows activation or whatever. You can install the game to your laptop, your desktop, your work machine, etc.  It only brings up a flag if it's being installed say 1000 times a week from different parts of the world.

Our system has been in place for years and we've always been very vocal about it -- we do not like CD copy protection. We protect our games by giving users a reason to buy it in the first place -- by providing free, real updates.  One look at the 1.1 update log and I think people will agree that it's not an ordinary "patch".  All we ask in return is to type in the serial # that came with the game.

And in return for typing in that serial #, you can redownload THE ENTIRE GAME even years from now when you've lost that CD.  If we didn't have this system, we wouldn't be able to do that. 

I am willing to make the case that more users benefit from being able to redownload the game in its entirety indefinitely afterwards than the number of people who are inconvenienced from having to type in a serial #.

As for Stardock orphaning it's stuff, we've been in business 13 years. We're not going anywhere.

"As for Stardock orphaning it's stuff, we've been in business 13 years. We're not going anywhere".

That's good news, but...the past is not always a good indicator of the future.

I'd be happy if I could do a reinstall with the same sig-file, or whatever it is. I wish Stardock would consider moving in that direction.

What if you came home and put a dvd in your dvd player, but it wouldn't play. Not until you called or emailed the company you bought it from, and they gave you a code to 'turn on' the disc in your player. Then, six months later, you buy another dvd player and the disc won't work. You have to call or email the company again.

Now, just because most people are connected to the internet doesn't mean all this 'calling or emailing' isn't going on. It's just not visible to them. But that's what's happening. Repeated Product authentication is not something I'm eager to accept in an entertainment product. I have to put up with it from Microsloth (the whole 'monopoly' thing). But I don't accept it from Valve. Or Stardock. So I wish you the best of luck and I'm glad it works out for most people, but I'll look very carefully before I leap on any future purchase from Stardock (or any other company, for that matter).

Oh, and one more thing - any game, and I mean ANY game that I have to buy and play only the 'unpatched' version - forget it. I would never buy such a thing. Everyone knows the game is not finished until the patches are done. 1.0 is a demo you pay for, with the promise you'll get the real thing when it's done. That's not my idea, that's just the way it is.

Best wishes,

-MB

h, and one more thing - any game, and I mean ANY game that I have to buy and play only the 'unpatched' version - forget it. I would never buy such a thing. Everyone knows the game is not finished until the patches are done. 1.0 is a demo you pay for, with the promise you'll get the real thing when it's done. That's not my idea, that's just the way it is.

As blatantly obtuse as this statement is, instead of saying anything myself I merely point you twoards the list of good reviews and awards to the left of the screen, which were got for 1.0, the original, boxed version.

I'd be happy if I could do a reinstall with the same sig-file, or whatever it is. I wish Stardock would consider moving in that direction.

You can. When you archive GC2 with SDC, it includes the sig.bin file. Provided you haven't changed your system configuration significantly (I don't know exactly what hardware is included in the signature hash or how sensitive it is), you should be able to simply unpack that archive in SDC again and play without needing to reactivate. And if you've got the retail disk, just keep the 1.1 installer and a copy of your 1.1 sig.bin file, no SDC needed.