Downloading Without Using Impulse

New Crossover User Here!

Hi all,

I purchased Crossover for the Mac which should allow me to use GCII without having to use the Windows OS. But, it turns out that the Impulse program does not run under Crossover. There are instructions on the Codeweavers' site on how to download GCII (I purchased the ultimate bundle pack) but I am a bit confused by them:

"Don't worry, as you can still use Stardock Central to download the games and all patches.  You will need to login or register a Stardock account.  Once in the program, go to Tools then select Register Product, then My Games.  Select the game from the drop down menu, enter your email address, and your serial number.  Hit Update, and you should be all set to start downloading your game and updates."

I registered for an account but I don't know what to do after the "Once in the program part" since I can seem to find the Tools link that they're talking about on the Stardock website. Any suggestions would be really appreciated. Thanks!

IronMac

6,970 views 7 replies
Reply #1 Top

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Reply #2 Top

Thanks, you made me realize that the program to be downloaded there at Stardock Central is NOT Impulse.

Reply #3 Top

Quoting IronMac, reply 2
Thanks, you made me realize that the program to be downloaded there at Stardock Central is NOT Impulse.
End of IronMac's quote

^_^

well I'm happy to have helped you

the program you're searching for is StarDock Central (SDC) which (in case you still did not find it) is around here : https://www.stardock.com/products/sdcentral/

Reply #4 Top

I'm afraid you're out of luck when it comes to running GalCiv2 in Crossover.  I used to be able to run it just fine, but it seems that whatever changes Stardock has made to their product activation system are completely incompatible with Crossover.  I'm no longer able to activate GalCiv 2, either manually or via Stardock Central.  Every time I try, I get an error claiming that the SID cannot be read.  From what I understand, that has something to do with your hardware and your operating system, essentially a code that pairs your game with your computer.  If you reinstall Windows or move your game to a different machine, you have to reactivate it.  I never had this problem activating from within Crossover before GalCiv2 v2.0. The only way I've been able to get the game to run at all anymore is to restore my previous install of GalCiv2 from my Time Machine backup drive.  However, I also discovered that I have to restore the version of Crossover Games that I was running when I first installed it as well, as upgrading to a new version causes an SID mismatch error, requiring an activation, which I obviously cannot do.  This was never the case before v2.0 was released, so the only logical eplanation is that they have altered to activation system to require something that Crossover can not provide.  I've already made a note of this on the Crossover website, so hopefully they will find a way around this, as everyone knows that Stardock has absolutely no desire to support anything other than straight up Windows with their games.

I am now able to play GalCiv2 v2.0, but only because I was fortunate to have archived copies of my original sig.bin files and the older version of Crossover Games.  I suppose this means that if I want to upgrade to a newer version of Crossover, I'll lose the ability to play GC2 at all.

This is all a real shame since I know first hand that the game runs almost perfectly in Crossover, and it's the DRM activation that is preventing it from working now.  Despite the fact that I know I can run this game just fine with Bootcamp, I find it ironic that the DRM on a STARDOCK game is forcing me to consider looking for a pirated copy (if I can find one of v2.0).  I don't want to reboot to play this game.

 

EDIT: Scratch my previous relief at getting the game to work.  Not only do I get a mysterious message upon launching Twilight of the Arnor, telling me that Dark Avater needs to be updated to 2.0 (despite the fact that it has been) the game consistently crashes to desktop at the same place, part way through the game setup process.  So no playing GalCiv 2 in OS X anymore, at least for now.

Reply #5 Top

you should still be able to get non 2.0 galciv2 versions with SDC since 2.0 isn't there. |-)

having said that, I don't know a single thing about crossover...

Reply #6 Top

We do nothing to specifically block Crossover, Mac or Linux installs of our games.  But we also do nothing to specifically allow for them.  Impulse and GalCiv II are developed for Windows systems.  They both rely on technology that is Windows-only to function.  Impulse, which is the only way to get GalCiv II 2.0, requires .NET to be installed to work properly.

This isn't an issue of DRM, it's an issue of software compatibility.