Question and possibly warning about activations

[mtwomey]

Greetings,

 

I just bought the downloadable version of the game last night. I ran into a hitch which I wanted to bring up and ask a question about.

 

I installed the game on my "gaming" computer which was not connected to the Internet. I typically leave this computer disconnected. Upon launch, I was prompted to activate the product as expected. At this point, I saw the option for activation without internet access so I clicked "other". I read the message and it wasn't clear to me if I'd receive the activation code immediately or if it might take a day or two - so instead of clicking "next" I clicked "back". This took me back to the initial activation screen. Now I went googling on my laptop to see how long the "offline activation" process would take. While reading I became curious if there was also a "phone activation" option, so I again clicked "other" on the activation screen. I saw that there was no phone option, so I once again clicked "back". After a little more reading I decided I would just go ahead and connect the gaming computer to the Internet and proceed with the Internet activation. I did this, and it activated properly, but the message it came back with indicated that I now have only 7 activations left.

 

It appears that the act of simply clicking on the "other" link in the activation window uses up an activation (even if you then click back and don't proceed with the activation).

 

Could someone please confirm this. Also is there someone I can get incontact with to restore these two lost activations? I know I'll probably never use them - but I'd rather get this taken care of now just in case. I can of course send my serial number and/or email receipt to the appropriate party.

 

Thanks,

 

-Matt

[EtherealN]

Actually, as far as I know you haven't lost any activations. Up until now I thought it had 7 activations total, which would mean you had an extra one, not two down. :P

Edited March 8, 2009 by EtherealN
I be wrong on some things there.

[EtherealN]

Here we go:

 

Q: What form of copy protection does the product utilize?

 

A: The currently available English online (download) release of DCS: Black Shark utilizes StarForce copy protection technology. The product requires online or phone activation. If StarForce detects changes to your computer hardware/software as described below, an activation will be required. The English version includes 8 (eight) activations and 10 (ten) deactivations.

 

You have not lost any activations.

 

EDIT: Oh, and in case you wonder, the difference between those is that you can "deactivate" and thereby get a new key if you are, f.ex, extensively modifying your computer or moving to a new computer, and thereby use the deactivation key to reinstall on the new hardware configuration without burning an "activation".

 

Some links:

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=568704&postcount=3 <-- On activations.

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=33527 <-- General user's FAQ

Edited March 8, 2009 by EtherealN

[mtwomey]

EtherealN - thanks. I see that I was simply mistaken about the number of initial activations. That clears it up.

 

It seems that prior to release several different (unofficial) websites were reporting that "the download version with have 10 activations". That must have just been a rumor or changed when the product went live. As you point out, it's very clear in the official FAQ. No big deal at all, I'm enjoying the sim so far!

 

Thanks,

 

-Matt

[EtherealN]

Well, depending on how you look at it, it actually has 18 activations, if you make use of the deactivations when changing computer. So while I personally absolutely hate activation-based systems they have at least given us the most generous one out there - in a time when EA tried to lower it down to just three on some of their products...