Invalid Serial Number

from Stardock Forums

Purchased FE via Stardock website.  Took serial number and activated on Steam.   Installed game.  Launched, and was presented with an activation screen for FE (2nd level DRM?).

Enter in valid Stardock account information and the serial number from the Stardock account products page, and..   it tells me the serial number is invalid.  Attempted with the same serial as presented in the purchase email..  still invalid.

Started a support ticket #QRO-333-70584, though given the track record on my other ticket for a different piece of software (4 months unresolved) I'm dubious about support.  It would be nice to get it sorted out so I can start using the product I paid for.

 

 Edit: Move to FE Support subforum.

61,182 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Hi, I am not from Stardock but still feel sad that you are in stuck in this situation.
You might want to move this post into the ."FE Support" sub-category though, it will probably get more attention there! :)

Good luck, and meaby try refreshing the earlier ticket, I have had a way shorter response-time experience regarding Fallen Enchantress

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

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Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

buying fe from stardock directly does NOT give you a ice key, only a stardock serial key, and you can download from https://store.stardock.com/myaccount/products after logging in with the same username and password that you used to BUY fe

and if this info does not help then email either 'sales' or 'support' at stardock.com

hope this helps

harpo

 

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks for the vote of confidence Kongdej.  I'm hoping support will be working tomorrow and can sort it out easily.

Harpo - this product is activated specifically via Steam - you give Steam the Stardock serial number, it activates the product and allows you to download it.  Unfortunately, it *still* has the Stardock DRM for activation, which is totally separate.  That asks me for Stardock account info and a serial, which it declares as invalid.  =/  You can't even download the product via Stardock anymore, distribution is solely Steam.

At this point, stuck.  And I had nothing but free time tonight - karma is not smiling.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Jaga, reply 3

Thanks for the vote of confidence Kongdej.  I'm hoping support will be working tomorrow and can sort it out easily.

Harpo - this product is activated specifically via Steam - you give Steam the Stardock serial number, it activates the product and allows you to download it.  Unfortunately, it *still* has the Stardock DRM for activation, which is totally separate.  That asks me for Stardock account info and a serial, which it declares as invalid.  =/  You can't even download the product via Stardock anymore, distribution is solely Steam.

At this point, stuck.  And I had nothing but free time tonight - karma is not smiling.

This is where you're wrong. The version from stardock isn't linked to steam in anyway. IF you purchased it from stardock you have to download and install from stardocks site, not steam.

If you go to stardock and log in, click my purchases you should have a download link right there for FE. The serial you have isn't valid likely due to you trying to install a steam copy of it.


Now legendary heros will require steam from what I gather so that one will probably work how you expect FE to.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting harpo99999, reply 2
buying fe from stardock directly does NOT give you a ice key,

Quoting Fistalis, reply 4
This is where you're wrong. The version from stardock isn't linked to steam in anyway.

This is where both of you are wrong. Take a look at the minimum system requirements. ALL Stardock games are now Steam-only. You may not need Steam to play some of them, according to Frogboy, but you need it to install them.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

it might for new purchases, BUT I do NOT have ice on most of my machines, BUT do have FE on them, and I did get it as a freebe for wom pre-purchase, and I download from the link that I gave!

still the best answer is to email either sales or support at stardock.com,

 and according to frogboy's GBOR the gamers should not be FORCED to use a thirdparty DRM(ie ice), but apparently he is going back on his word

harpo

 

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting harpo99999, reply 6
it might for new purchases, BUT I do NOT have ice on most of my machines, BUT do have FE on them, and I did get it as a freebe for wom pre-purchase, and I download from the link that I gave!

Yes, it is only for new purchases. Our old copies are unchanged.

Still, it was a pretty bad move from Stardock not to announce this change. They were probably afraid of the backlash they would get. Having to find out about it while trying to help somebody else, was actually worse for me than the change itself. I usually think of Stardock as pretty open when it comes to communication. In this case, however, it was anything but. #:(

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

There are 2 numbers you need.  The first is the steam activation, which gets it installed and on your computer.  The 2nd is the product key.  To get that right click on Fallen Enchantress in your steam library and select the "View CD Key" option.  That's the key you need to enter in the Stardock activation dialog.

 

Nerd Info:

This is kinda confusing?

True, with Legendary Heroes the activation key is being removed from the Stardock registration dialog.  Because we have multiple ways of getting FE, and people have gotten it through multiple channels we need it to tie people to their products.  That's what the stardock activation key is for.  But one fo the big advantages of having LH be always redeemed with Steam is that we can cut that hassle out.

 

Why do we need a Stardock registration at all?

Valve is a good company that protects their customers privacy, as they should.  Because of that they don't tell us who you are, even if you have purchased a game from us.  We have no way of validating who you are if you want to use support, if we want to email you about a patch, or if (god forbid) something happens and Steam goes away.  In that case we would want to be able to give our games to customers who have purchased them, but without a registration of who those people are we are lost.  The Stardock registration isn't DRM of any sort.

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Thank you Derek, that fixed the game telling me the serial was invalid.  The CD key from Steam is in fact the "serial number" the game was asking for.

However, I'd like to point out the oxymoron of the system that is in place right now.  Steam product registration requires the Stardock serial number, whereas the Stardock software requires the Steam number.  It is completely non-intuitive, and I expect it will continue to generate support tickets for you.  You should probably annotate the product activation page with info on what number it is asking for, and where to find it.

I realize the way the system works has recently changed, but one look at this thread and you'll see it has confused people who are even very familiar with Stardock's products and systems.

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Fistalis, reply 4

If you go to stardock and log in, click my purchases you should have a download link right there for FE. The serial you have isn't valid likely due to you trying to install a steam copy of it.

From what I understand this has changed now for new FE purchases through Stardock.  The download link I see next to FE, has a link to download the Steam software, not FE itself.

Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top

Glad to hear your issue is resolved, sorry for the confusion.  And yes this is why we are removing the serial number from the activation dialog for LH and future products.

Reply #12 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Jaga, reply 10


Quoting Fistalis, reply 4
If you go to stardock and log in, click my purchases you should have a download link right there for FE. The serial you have isn't valid likely due to you trying to install a steam copy of it.

From what I understand this has changed now for new FE purchases through Stardock.  The download link I see next to FE, has a link to download the Steam software, not FE itself.

Well its nice to know they are already abandoning their download option again.. lol, where is that post where I pointed out that stardock central or w.e you wanna call it could just as fast go the way of impulse. Heck apparently my FE download is already on legacy support. How long til they decided to remove the download option for all of us and just retroactively require steam? If they want me to purchase future games they better be purely multiplayer based games because thats the only reason I find it acceptable to have steam required.

But I digress, my apologies for not having the most current facts as to stardock capitulating to steam fully.

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

Well for what it's worth my 2 cts here.

 

Bought the game via Steam, which went flawlessy as usual. Then all of a sudden, out of the blue another activation screen pops up... uh oh I think to myself... I'm screwed here... the activation screen from Stardock wants a "serial number". Serial number what serial number? So I copy/paste the one that I got via Steam... no go. Tried that again and again, until finally the fifth time or so *poof* it worked. All of a sudden a serial number is already copied in the Stardock activation screen??

Whatever, I got the game running... but please please  remove this very confusing double activation, it's very user and buyer unfriendly.

 

Awesome game by the way :-)