My serial number doesn't work.

[ACLerok]

I bought the game from the online store last night, downloaded it from the link provided, installed it, and put in the serial number provided from Digital River/Matrixgames. Upon first start up, I received an error saying there was a problem with my serial number. I then spent an hour on the phone with customer support who in turn had me reinstall the game 2 different times and re-input the same serial number two different times and the game still will not start.

Anyone else have this problem?

I've attached an ss of the error

[Erik Rutins]

Hi ACLerok,

That's not actually one of our error codes, it's some kind of garbage code. This generally suggests that a third party program is somehow interfering with the serial number installation or check. My first suggestion would be to try uninstalling, then turn of all background programs especially security/anti-virus programs, then reinstall and try to play while those programs are still off to see if that helps. Also, if you are running on Vista/7, try to install and play using "Run as Administrator" to see if that helps.

Who did you work with in Customer Support, was this Daniel?

[ACLerok]

Hi Erik,

I'm running Windows 7, and this is a fresh install, so I'm not sure what could possibly be interfering with the installation or the check.  Both the installation and the execution of the game prompt me to run as Administrator so it's doing that automatically.

I spoke to 2 different people last night.  One's name was Mark, and the other's name was Jeff or Joe (I know it started with a 'J').  I'm afraid I'm confused as to what could possibly interfere with a serial number check.  I will try this right now.

[Erik Rutins]

Sounds like you were speaking with Digital River's support (which is meant as store/order support rather than install support) instead of ours, as we don't have any support folks with those names. For future reference, you can reach our support through the link in my signature.

Are you running any anti-virus/security software? Even on a fresh install of an OS, such programs can interfere. Every time DW starts, it checks against its own data to make sure it has a good install and a correct serial number (it does this check entirely locally). If something interferes with that check, it will throw up a message like what you saw. Normally there's one of a set of error codes to tell us which part of the check did not complete. In your case, the error code itself was garbage, which strongly suggests that something is interfering with the executable itself as it tries to check the serial number data.

[ACLerok]

The only anti-virus/security software currently running is Windows Defender. When I installed the game I let Distant Worlds make exceptions in Windows Firewall as well. I was speaking with Digital River's support, and I also created a ticket in the matrixgames helpdesk, but haven't heard anything back.

Is there an error log from the installer or a debug mode when I run the game that I can turn on to get some sort of log file?

[Erik Rutins]

I know you said you are "running as administrator" but are you also logged into an Administrator account when you install?

Where are you installing the game to? I'm wondering if this could be some kind of security/permissions issue and if a different install location might help.

Regards,

- Erik

[HsojVvad]

Well not shure if this will help. When I tried to install the game, I usually copy and paste the number in. I had an error that said it wasn't the same number. I just clicked back and this time I entered the number slowly and it worked. So make shure there is no space in front of the numbers and you didn't accidently hit a wrong number.

Most likely this isn't the case but trying to give you some ideas.

[deanco2]

I had a similar issue (serial number incorrect although I copy/pasted the number) with another Matrix game, it was because I made a shortcut to the game .exe on my desktop.  Running the game from the launcher worked though.

Try running the exe directly from the install folder?

Hope this helps.

[ACLerok]

Let me say first of all thanks to everyone for their suggestions and help. You guys are very helpful.

are you also logged into an Administrator account when you install?

No, but iirc Windows 7 doesn't have a usable Administrator account. Everything is done by way of UAC and the "Run as Admin" command. I'd have to go thru some hoops in order to activate the Administrator account...

Where are you installing the game to?

The default path that comes up in the installer which I believe is C:\Matrix Games\Distant Worlds

...I usually copy and paste the number in.

I tried copy/pasting from the email I received after purchase, copy/pasting from the html receipt that came up immediately after clicking purchase in the store, and also typing the serial number in manually both with and without dashes. I can say that when I typed it in without the dashes a box came up immediately saying the format of the number wasn't valid.

Try running the exe directly from the install folder?

I've tried running the game from the icon it made on the desktop by dbl-clicking as well as right-clicking and clicking "Run as Administrator" and have tried it from the folder it's installed in. I've tried running it from the autorun.exe file (dbl-click + right-click R.A.A.) and the DistantWorlds.exe file (dbl-click + right-click R.A.A.).

[ACLerok]

Sorry for the double post, but I'm posting thru a proxy that disables javascript since I'm at work and they block everything game related :\ I couldn't preview nor edit my previous post...

[Andrew Loveridge]

It still sounds like Anti Virus or spyware is interfering in some way, but another possibility is the download was corrupted.  Try re-downloading the file.  You can use findmyorder.com if you don't have the link anymore.

[ACLerok]

It still sounds like Anti Virus or spyware is interfering in some way, but another possibility is the download was corrupted. Try re-downloading the file. You can use findmyorder.com if you don't have the link anymore.

I will try that when I get home from work tonight after running another full virus/spyware scan. I will also try installing it to the C:\Program Files (x86) dir as well rather than the default dir.

Thanks again for all the help, I'll keep you guys updated. I really want to play this game

[alhscw]

I had this same problem right after launch. It turns out that the only change I had to make was to set DistantWorlds.exe to run in Windows XP (Service Pack 3) compatibility mode. See the thread at http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2414346 for more info. I'm not sure what's causing it, but I am running 64 bit Win 7 Pro on an i7 cpu with 12 GBs ram.

[ACLerok]

I had this same problem right after launch. It turns out that the only change I had to make was to set DistantWorlds.exe to run in Windows XP (Service Pack 3) compatibility mode.

Ahhh, I didn't even think to try that. I will do that as well. Thanks!

[ACLerok]

Using XP SP3 Compatibility fixes my problem. Thanks for the suggestion, alhscw

Erik, perhaps you guys might want to put something in the FAQ or release notes informing 64-bit Win7 users of a potential issue? I noticed that alhscw said he has an i7, I'm currently using an i5 so perhaps the issue is with these intel processors?

Again, thanks everyone for your help and suggestions!

[Erik Rutins]

Thanks, glad to hear it's working and it looks like there might be something very specific here that we need to test for. It works well on our Windows 7 64-bit system, so it must be more specific than that, whether hardware or some specific software configuration.

[deanco2]

Glad you got it working, dude.

[mcampbell]

I had this same problem trying to install TOAW III on a new laptop. I'm running Windows 7, 64-bit, installed the program running as administrator, turned off Norton Antivirus during the install, but got the same error message others have gotten when I try and open the program: "There's an error with your serial number as entered, etc." I'm able to get the game running if I set it to run in Windows XP (SP2) compatability mode.

[Athalian]

i got win 7 64-bit and it worked perfectly fine with me. Though i have turned off the uac, got really irritated at it after less then a week

[OverlordCW]

IIRC, if you put an application in WinXP compatibility mode you tell Windows it is not compatible with UAC and then it redirects all HDD writes etc. to the virtual store instead of the install dir. (C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore)

EDIT: After some reading I found out it's the other way round: VirtualStore is disabled in compatibility mode. More info can be found here: http://www.cromis.net/blog/2010/02/yaho ... tualstore/