Ares Draxus
Game Owner
 Jade Empire
Jade Empire:SE
Mass Effect
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 26 Feb 2008 |
 Posted: Monday, 16 June 2008 01:53PM |
Well, I finally got an official answer about getting or not getting an activation back when uninstalling. This is an official answer to that question that was so hard for EA to give. Thank you, Marlon V.:
Quote: Unfortunately, you will not gain an activation by uninstalling the game.
|
|
casadechrisso
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
Jade Empire:SE
NWN 2
NWN 2: MotB
NWN 2: SoZ
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 01 Jun 2005 |
Posted: Monday, 16 June 2008 02:15PM |
If that's official and true, this is the greatest bull*** ever.
So basically in a few months my ME is worthlesss, unless I pay again (at least for the phone call, and I bet the 20 minutes I'll spend in the hotline explaining my case would be as expensive as buying the game again.
_________________
Mists over Middleforest |
|
|
riftguy
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
SW: KotOR PC
Jade Empire:SE
NWN 2
Mass Effect
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 03 Nov 2006 |
Posted: Monday, 16 June 2008 02:28PM |
Quote: Posted 06/16/08 14:15 (GMT) by casadechrisso
If that's official and true, this is the greatest bull*** ever.
So basically in a few months my ME is worthlesss, unless I pay again (at least for the phone call, and I bet the 20 minutes I'll spend in the hotline explaining my case would be as expensive as buying the game again.
I got two days before my ME turned worthless. |
|
|
casadechrisso
Game Owner
NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
Jade Empire:SE
NWN 2
NWN 2: MotB
NWN 2: SoZ
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 01 Jun 2005 |
Posted: Monday, 16 June 2008 02:34PM |
Yes, read about it, but you didn't uninstall the game before making your hardware/OS changes, or did you?
I had the slight hope that, if I'm really careful and don't forget to uninstall ME before making changes to my system, I'd be on the safe side. Apparently not. Great, the next HD is already around the corner... 
_________________
Mists over Middleforest |
|
|
riftguy
Game Owner
NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
SW: KotOR PC
Jade Empire:SE
NWN 2
Mass Effect
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 03 Nov 2006 |
Posted: Monday, 16 June 2008 02:45PM |
No, I didn't uninstall first.
I'd be very surprised if that works for you though. I've done some research with this (since I can't play in the actual game). The SecuRom data is actually stored in the registry under the user currently logged in. When you uninstall Mass Effect, these keys stay there. That's why they say that you can uninstall/reinstall as often as you want on the same machine without having to re-activate.
But if those keys go missing or become invalid (ex. your hardware changes), then you need to reactivate.
When they state that activations are tied to the machine and not the user, they are being disingenuous. Test it for yourself. Disconnect yourself from the Internet, create a new XP user, then log into that user and try to start the game. You'll get the "Can not connect to the Internet to authenticate your game" error.
What has been stated around here and in the FAQ is provably false. |
|
|
SheepDip82
Game Owner
 Mass Effect PC
Joined: 08 Jun 2008 |
Posted: Monday, 16 June 2008 03:11PM |
Eh?
So how does one get their activation back? |
|
|
riftguy
Game Owner
NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
SW: KotOR PC
Jade Empire:SE
NWN 2
Mass Effect
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 03 Nov 2006 |
Posted: Monday, 16 June 2008 03:17PM |
Quote: Posted 06/16/08 15:11 (GMT) by SheepDip82
Eh?
So how does one get their activation back?
You're supposed to be able to just contact EA. It seems to work ok for the Europeans who call their local tech support.
Hasn't worked for me yet. |
|
|
Ares Draxus
Game Owner
Jade Empire
Jade Empire:SE
Mass Effect
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 26 Feb 2008 |
Posted: Monday, 16 June 2008 03:19PM |
Quote: Posted 06/16/08 15:11 (GMT) by SheepDip82
Eh?
So how does one get their activation back?
You don't. Once the three is up, you are screwed. Just ask Riftguy. |
|
|
Stevedroid
Game Owner
 SW: KotOR PC
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 21 Nov 2003
From: Business software land |
Posted: Monday, 16 June 2008 06:47PM |
Unfortunately this is how support works in a lot of computer related companies.
Support reps are low paid individuals with only rudimentary general PC skills that are following support manuals. Their job is pretty much to issue standard responses, and determine when it's necessary to forward a case to a person with actual technical knowledge.
The time of people who actually have technical understanding is far too useful to be spent funneling through support cases.
The one big difference is that game support reps, as opposed to those working for more expensive commercial software, are trained to return 100% of cases with a standard response the first time. Cases only get a real technical response on the second or third send back - if they do at all. This is pretty much a factor of volume and cost. Games are sold for far cheaper and in far greater quantity than other types of software.
I'm not defending the practice, but I'm saying EA is hardly unique in this matter.
The best thing you can do is add a lot of technical info to your case (provided you yourself have technical understanding), link screenshots, link hardware scans, etc. The more educated you are (or seem at least), and the more info you provide, the better the chance your case will be forwarded to someone that's in a position to actually do something about it.
-------
PS This info comes from working as a programmer at a software company. Not games though, commercial business software.Edited By Stevedroid on 06/16/08 18:48 |
|
|
JPFrostfox
Game Owner
 Mass Effect PC
Joined: 02 Jun 2008 |
Posted: Monday, 16 June 2008 08:08PM |
I'm not surprised at all, already knew that the uninstall revoke was a hoax.
_________________
SecuROM means an automatic no sale! |
|
|
TJX2045
Game Owner
 Mass Effect PC
Joined: 03 Jun 2008 |
Posted: Monday, 16 June 2008 10:35PM |
Well if I ever lose all my Mass Effect activations somehow, I'm going to shred my game CD.  I won't pay $20 for another activation, and I won't buy another EA PC game that utilizes this kind of "protection." If they do this to console games, I'll never buy another EA game again. |
|
|
bes12000
Game Owner
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 08 Apr 2008 |
Posted: Monday, 16 June 2008 11:48PM |
Yeah I think we should all riot in front of an EA building as angry customers about this stupid BS securom crap thats on the disk and demand that they stop the BS and use something that isnt limting the customer from using the program or else we boycott all EA games...
I have had enough with this BS.... I want to play ME2 but if they dont remove the securom in ME1 in a patch before ME2 is out im not going to get ME2 no matter how much I want it...the rest of you should do the same...Edited By bes12000 on 06/16/08 23:49 |
|
|
JPFrostfox
Game Owner
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 02 Jun 2008 |
Posted: Tuesday, 17 June 2008 12:59AM |
I won't be buying any Bio/EA games without first investigating and verifying for certain what DRM is used. If it uses anything like this, they don't get my support - I refuse to pay a company to abuse and exploit my support.
I'll suffer a disk check or a single online activation (maybe, depending) - but this was just absolutely the worst treatment of consumers I've ever seen to date.
_________________
SecuROM means an automatic no sale! |
|
|
skruffyguy
Game Owner
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 28 May 2008 |
Posted: Tuesday, 17 June 2008 03:55AM |
|
Man this sucks... So then we basically only really bought a 3 time oem license of the game then huh? Lol thats like buying a windows system builders 3 pack lol only its a game!!!!!!! |
|
|
Blade of the Empire
Game Owner
 Mass Effect PC
Joined: 18 Apr 2008 |
Posted: Tuesday, 17 June 2008 03:58AM |
Quote: Posted 06/17/08 03:55 (GMT) by skruffyguy
Man this sucks... So then we basically only really bought a 3 time oem license of the game then huh? Lol thats like buying a windows system builders 3 pack lol only its a game!!!!!!!
Speaking of the three activations, does an uninstall/reinstall on the same machine count as an activation? |
|
|
