If anything they probably were trying to hack the game to be able to register it without having a valid registration number. They probably tried to make a registration key generator or something and the silly keys you say them talking about were probably some of the fake ones they generated. Honestly, I would mention that chat room to support so that if it is logged they can take a look at it. For legal reasons, you probably don't want to try any of the steps they listed in that chat room.

They're yanking your chain. If Stardock's programmers are worth anything, they're using a scheme that cannot be easily cracked, and the chances of randomly, or hitting upon a serial with a brute force attack, that will work on Ironclad Online is impossibly slim. The chances of hitting a number that someone else has registered would also be impossibly slim.

-HM

Who knows with that stuff. I've heard of those types of programs but I don't think any of them work either. Personally I still believe that EB Games and Gamestop repackaged some games and put them out there since the majority of us with problems got our games from there.

I'm happy to say that a proper key generator is NOT out there.

I and several others go on looking for them nearly everyday. Should someone make one we will simply adjust the encryption to maintain serials already registered and invalidate the crack software.

Like I said before we are handling the serials on a case by case basis. Thankfully we are now caught up to the delay moving the servers caused. If something still isn't addressed for you PM me and I will see to it.

Ok so, I just read through this forumn as I'm having the same problem. Why have you people not resolved this problem? What are we not being told? Are there people actually with these CD keys registered?

I got mine at Wal-Mart and I can't register. Of course I followed the instructions sent an email. Did I send pics? No, because "You didn't say to do that where you say to email you." Would it be so hard to say something like "For a faster response please include your first and last born if you have the DVD version. If you have the downloaded... ect ect" Instead, I come here find out this is an ongoing problem and it's a saturday night and oh well tough for me.

Somewhere along the way, someone has screwed up big time.

If you think they're being repackaged then you need to look at the source. Where they're made and labeled, or the warehouse before they are sent out.

I'm upset because I bought the game today... from a store and now I have to come home and jump through hoops to get it registered so I can download a patch.

I'm not going to do it, I'm not going to send in a pic of anything. It's not fair to me as a person who has bought this game off the shelf of a store.

You know there's a problem with registration, fix it or make the patches free. Because, frankly you're hurting yourself with this problem. The people who have registered stolen (yes I said stolen, because you have never led us to believe that maybe you accidentally sent out the same numbers for online and retail) serials are able to download the patch. Yet the guy who goes out and purchases it gets the shaft.

You have had enough time to track down this problem and know what was causing it. It's very simple to see an email saying "I have this serial it's not working I got it from Wal Mart" and seeing that joe blow ordered it online and has the same serial. If that's not the case, then someone BEFORE the stores get them, is stealing your codes. I only say this because, you have them from GS, Best Buy, Wal mart ect ect.

Sorry, I wasted your time with my email. But I absolutely refuse to send you a scan of my box and stuff. Why should you believe that? I can doctor that before I scan. I could just make a new sticker with the serial on it and slap it on the inside of the box I barrowed from my Friend's Uncle's Cousin's Newphew's Great Grandpa... same with reciept.

I'll make the game a coaster to set my tea on before I send you a pic.

One upset customer,
Michael

Well, even if Stardock does track down the source and stop these games from being repackaged (if that is the situation), that does not help you as a customer, it only helps future customers. That is why they are addressing people individually using e-mails. The reason they ask for a serial number picture is so that people do not download the game from a torrent and then send an e-mail to support to get a free serial number besides. As such, you at least have to buy a copy of the game legitimately before you contact support. If you think you wasted your time with an e-mail you should be a little more patient if you sent it on Saturday since today is only Monday. If you ignore supports e-mails then you definitely will never get your problem fixed. Just calm down and send in the picture if that is what they want. They just want to make sure you got the game legally.

We are gamers as much as we are a company. Hence this is one reason we do things so much differently than other companies. Like no copyright protection, and no need to keep the disk in the tray each time you want to play the game for instance. However we do have to protect ourselves. There is no way I can police the WalMarts or EBGames to make sure people are not ripping open the box and stealing your number. The very best I can do is take these on case by case and figure them out for you.

If there are registration problems there are a great number of reasons why that could be happening with a serial number that is not attached to another account. Email troubles, security software interfering, your ISP has packet handling trouble... and so on. We can handle those quickly for our customers.

We ask that people assist us so that we can assist them. If you have the physical copy in your hand then that allows me to track down the trouble and protect the assets of the game as well. I can assure you that I have done a handful of serial transfers and never have I gotten a reply from the person who had stolen the game in the first place suggesting that I had done wrong. I find that to be a confirmation of facts. We have some very good ways of verifying the purchase but the pictures are required. This is also not happening to everyone. We have hundreds of thousands of copies sold and I would say we have had to adjust or fix less that one hundred copies (or 0.001%) of them.

It is not the fault of Stardock that retailers are allowing theft of the product we provided to them. It is their responsibility to handle situations of broken or unusable product. Most companies I have dealt with as a gamer will often tell me to go back to the store and exchange the product, or just “nothing we can do, sorry”. We prefer to take extra steps to correct the situation for you, or even save you a trip. We want you to know that we back our products.

If you choose not to seek out support for the product and thus not activate your software that is your choice. The game will play right out of the box without any serial number needed. You have my sympathies for the trouble you have endured but as of yet you have not taken full advantage of our services. If you should choose to I will be here to help.

Just FYI, the person that posted this has been responded to (they e-mailed in to Support) and the issue was resolved.

So, I got my copy of the game today from Amazon.com...the cd key seems to be invalaid. Since I am just an old computard hippee, I tried switching o's and zeros but that didn't help. So after reading this thread I think I am gonna have more problems. I have no camera, digital or otherwise...I have no scanner or printer either (yes, my puter covers the system reqs listed in the box)....should I even bother trying to send the email for help or should I just try to get a refund from Amazon?

Nope, first things first.

Try manually updating the serial number. Do this by going to Stardock Central,  Tools > Register Products. In that menu use the tabs on the left side to select the category then in the main window please set the software name. Copy and paste the serial number in the box and hit update to update your serial number in the Stardock Central records. After that you should be all set.

If you still get into a jam send me the serial number and the email address you are trying to use. Obviously don't post them here.

Ok, I admit, I was being hotheaded. Yes I was upset something I just purchased didn't work like it was supposed to.

Well I tried to send an email in and got this response:

Hi,

Thank you for your email.

Your email has been filtered and has -NOT- been read due to the following reasons...

1) It matched or contained key items which caused it to be flagged as spam
2) It did not have a subject
3) The body of your email was blank
4) The attachment was a BMP file. To conserve size, please convert it to a JPG or GIF.
5) It contained profanity or abusive language
6) You use a mail filtering/certification system, which requires us to validate our email address

Please restructure your email and resend it so that we may assist you.

Please do not reply to this email.

DOuble checked 1 - 5 and everything was there and no cussing was in email at all.

It said exactally what it said to say here and a copy of the serial number/error message.

Pretty sure it's number 6...

So how do I correct this problem?

Can you send the info through another channel? Like make a fast gmail account so we can use the proper channel? If not we can set something up outside of that. The reason for this is to keep all account info private. If you are the only one that has access to that gmail account we can get things working and will not have to change anything on the service account for you.

If you want PM me and I can give you further details.

If you like try setting up an alternate free email service like with Gmail or something. We can comunicate and solve this through thoes means. The main effort here is to never leak any sort of account info. If you would like further details just PM me and I will help you out as best I can.

You guys have it EASY !!! I tried to send an e-mail to report that I was having the "invalid code" problem and they wanted information about my server's protocols that i have never even heard of. Why is that necessary? I can't send an e-mail without explaining how to do it? Come on, get real  

Ciassa I don't find a support ticket for your email address. Was is sent by an email address other than your account address? Do you have a ticket number I can look up to do a follow up with you?

I would like to add my name to this fine/outstanding list

As I have said before if you have a serial number registration problem let us know at support. With the exception of the weekends (and sometimes even then) they are handled in less that 24hrs now that we have our new system working. We would handle it here but account info cannot be posted in the forums for the most obvious reasons.

Please email us at support@stardock.com.

I PMed you, as asked, with a question and here it is a week later and you haven't responded...

I realize I was a jerk at first. But, understandably so. I bought a game off the shelf and have nothing but problems. So yeah I blew up.

Then you seemed to want to help. But, you don't respond to the PM you said to send you if I had questions.

If you don't want to help just say so. Don't leave people hanging in the wind.

I will probably never buy another game from this company after all this trouble. I have even turned several friends on to SoSE.

Thanks for nothing.

I was able to register my DVD copy (bought at Best Buy) and create this account. When I try to use ICO form inside the game it tells me the user does not exist. When I try to create a new account it tells me my key is in use.

Ticket was submitted yesterday (Sunday 4/13). I am just adding my name to this list of people with reg issues.

Add me to the list. Bought mine @ BB a month or so back and just went to try online. Says my key is no good. Sent email and now waiting for reply. Fortunately I do have the packaging but have tossed receipt. Am I screwed because I'm not anal and foolishly assumed a store bought copy would function as promised? Will I need to send a copy of my CC bill which has the purchase on it? I for one think the issue is it is impossible to differentiate between zero's and "o"s in the key. I have 6 of them and don't have the time to try all the combinations. This is a nightmare.

Siath1970- I sent a reply last week, I had it in my history. I resent it again just now. Please check your PM and let me know here if you still didn't get it.

I'm digging through the account email from the weekend Pol I hope to get to everyone today. Chances are only the ones from today will be left due to the volume of email over the weekend.

im having a similar problem and have sent a ticket in no reply so far

I am also having this problem, I sent an email on April 13th and haven't received anything back yet.

Let me know if there is anything special I should.

If there was a server burp or something happened, sorry. I just never got anything from you.

I have returned a message back to you. If you don't get it please let me know and I'll resubmit it.

Oh and sorry I was wrong, it wasn't a week it was four days. Just seemed longer, I guess time drags when you're waiting.

So I apologize for the time mix up and the mean post. I just want this resolved or to be told it can't be so I can either become a productive part of the community (modder/modeler) or go on my merry way.

Anyone who has played X3 might know my work on scripts there.

Siath

After contacting support, I was told to send some pictures of the serial directly to Travis G instead of the support e-mail using a subject line Authorized E-mail ####### (blocked because you said you did not want any account info on this posting) but I haven't heard anything back. This was on April 3, so I was thinking about resending the message because its been about 2 weeks but I wasn't sure if I should do that or not? Figured I would ask here since support has been monitoring the thread.