I can't beleive this crap

CypherPack,

Had a similar problem - doubt that it's a ripped copy. As I recall, I had to register using the Start Menu icon, again at wincustomize.com, and again at Stardock before everything worked right. Then, one of the sites wouldn't take my original nickname (too long) and I needed to start over...

If you can't get anywhere with this, I'd suggest sending a tech support email to Stardock - they got me going and should be able to do the same for you. Although with the weekend here you may have to wait a bit for a response.

Thanks for the info. I went to the start menue register page and did that and then went to stardocks page. I then tried to download from the galciv web site but it is still saying invalid serial number.

I hate to sound stupid but can someone post a link or email to contact support?

Also if you have any other info on how to get this to work please let me know. Thanks.

As I recall, you will get a confirmation email after you register the game using the Start Menu icon. Clicking on a hyperlink in the email lets you finish the process. Until then, it still isn't considered "registered" and Stardock won't take the SN.

My problem was that the confirmation email wasn't being generated because of a problem with the nickname. There are undoubtedly other reasons why it wouldn't show up.

Though I don't KNOW if it will help, you might want to check out wincustomize.com as well. If you still can't get it to work, try emailing for help to [email protected]. With the weekend here, I don't know if they'll be able to respond immediately, but they WILL address the problem in time - they have people over there who believe in satisfying paying customers.

Ah, I will check the confirmation email again, I think I may have missed something there.

If that doesn't I will try to email support.

How do you register at wincustomize.com ? I looked at the site but didn't see anything related to the game. Thanks for the help.

Okay, I signed up at wincustomize.com to. I am at work now so I will have to try the download once I get home.

I did notice in the confirmation email for stardock.net I didn't see a confirmation link just my name and accounts. One thing to note I didn't buy the game online from the galciv site I got it off of Ebay.

Shouldn't make a difference where you bought the game - I picked it up through Amazon.

One note, though - if you bought the game from Ebay instead of downloading it, you probably don't have a subscription to Drengin.net. You don't need it, but it gives you yet more "extras." The released GalCiv 1.05 with bonus pack is a free upgrade, while 1.09 is the beta test of the expansion pack and is currently available only to Drengin.net subscribers (and thus costs extra). It's going to be released free of charge to everybody when the beta is finished, probably at the end of summer or so. If you don't feel like shelling out the extra bucks, go ahead and have a blast with 1.05 while you wait for the final release - many (perhaps most) of us are doing the same.

After you're up and going with v 1.05, don't forget to get set up here at the Metaverse if you plan to submit finished games.

Amazon had a package going where they'd knock a few dollars off the GalCiv price if you'd TAKE a free copy of MOO3 off their hands. (All these prices after rebates, of course.) Even though I already paid full price for MOO3 a few months back (AARGH!), I saved the $5 and am now using the spare copy of MOO3 to level out my PC desk. Best use for the game I've found so far.

This might apply to your situation, I recall reading similar problems on this forum. If the CD you bought off E-Bay has already been registered under the previous owner's name and e-mali address, then you would not be able to register it under your name.

If I recall, the way this has been remedied is by having the previous owner change thier registration info to your e-mali address. I can not recall though, hopefully Stardock tech support can help you further.

This may certainly be a pain, especially to the used PC game market, but the game can be played without the CD using this method of registration.

--Mike

That could be the problem, maybe someone else had it registered. If I contact the person I bought it from and they don't know who would have registered it is there anything support can do to help me out? Is there any method (hint, hint) to download in this situation without registering with cd key? Like another download sorce possibly.

Preferably I would like it if support can fix the problem, but I just want to enjoy the game. It will still be fun even if I don't have the patch but the patch sounds like it adds some pretty cool things to the game.

I'm afraid that people are selling warez copies on eBay. We've gotten a lot of reports of this.

Did the person who sold this to you have the original box and manual or was it just a CD?

It was just the CD

I am going to email that person back and ask them what is going on. Do I have any recourse such as giving Stardock the email of the person? Would it do any good?

I wonder if this could just be a used game that the previouse owner registered rather than being a burned copy. I email supoprt and asked if they could help determine what the problem is.

I have sam problem ppl. IMHO opinion the problem is their crappy system for registration. It's good to make upgrades available only to ppl who actually bought the game, but their system forget to ask You CD-KEY when You register your e-mail. I mean look the forum, We are not the only who have this problem.

We've had a lot of reports from people who bought a copy off of eBay and all it was was the the CD with a warez CD key.

There's not much Stardock can do. We've contacted eBay already numerous times. I would complain to eBay.

If you purchased the game off eBay using a Credit Card (which you should), you may want to contact the credit card company to discuss a chargeback. If you can get Stardock to claim that the CD-key was banned a few months back for being pirated, all the better.

If you purchased it through Cash or Cheque, fraud recovery is a bit harder. You will need to look on the web to see methods on fraud avoidance and protection (such as this Slashdot thread: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/10/10/1346223 )

Didn't this subject come up before? I was under the impression that all who do not buy brand new retail copies of the game were branded pariahs and basically ignored ;D.

*zealously clutches his personal retail copy of Galciv, purchased from a brick and mortar store*.

~SDC~