DeutschRitter Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 I dont want to recall all the discussion about the "new license method" problems especially Steve has closed the thread. I am one of the customers who uses CMBN on his Desktop Machine and Laptop (anticipation). I find myself as a person who often, maybe 4-6 times per year or more, reinstalls his system. I often reinstall my system after one driver caused me some problems. Its a psychological thing and I often feel better when I reinstalled my system because of things like (getting a virus warning, having troubles installing a new software, etc...) Installing my whole new system is a thing what I am doing additionally without wasting a lot of time. Believe me, I am used with it. Now I dont want to blame BF for my special behaviour and I was thinking to deal with my/this special problem. After reading all the posts in the thread Steve closed I couldnt find an answer to my considerations: I was thinking buying a software like Norton Ghost or another (I have to investigate the best programm for me) to deal with the limited numbers of activations (after reinstalling windows; I know that I can activate it an unlimited times on the same old Windows installation again and again). So my question is: When i created a ghost after a fresh installation with CMBN installed and activated it (anticipation), is the game still activated when I formatted my disk and using the ghost file? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJFHutch Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Reinstalling Windows is a refreshing experience. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Do you perhaps use “CMSF on his Desktop Machine and Laptop“ instead of CM:Bn (i.e. was that sentence a typo? If so then you should know that CM:BN doesn’t use “E License”. Unsure if that helps though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeutschRitter Posted May 4, 2011 Author Share Posted May 4, 2011 Do you perhaps use “CMSF on his Desktop Machine and Laptop“ instead of CM:Bn (i.e. was that sentence a typo? Hey, I am living in the future and have CMBN installed Just kidding I was anticipating that I have CMBN installed. I am german and my wording can lead someone to misunterstood what I mean. Sorry for that! If so then you should know that CM:BN doesn’t use “E License”. My fault. I meant the new license method and called it e-license. My question is if I can make a backup with a fresh windows and CMBN installed and activated on it and use this backup for a unlimited times without wasting an activation :confused: (Just like a backup it comes with a new laptop and windows installed with all the applications and drivers) That is my idea to deal with my "psychological problems" of always wanting a fresh installation and the new license method :cool: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodkin Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 I think that method would work as long as there were no major hardware changes, don't know if a new drive would work with an image from a different type/size/brand of disk. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 I'm not absolutely sure if Ghosting a hard drive will preserve the activation or not with the new 'Online Activation System'. My initial guess is that YES, the license would remain activated and not get "lost" if you restored a ghosted image to a system that had the same hardware. I'll have to experiment with this and post back to the thread (it will be several days before I can do this though). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeutschRitter Posted May 4, 2011 Author Share Posted May 4, 2011 don't know if a new drive would work with an image from a different type/size/brand of disk. This is an good consideration about not wasting an activation by getting a new harddrive if my idea works with an ghost/backup programm! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 If Norton Ghost is some kind of VM (virtual machine) based software, then neither eLicense nor our new activation system will allow any of our games to run on it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 No its an imaging product. You make a master image of a disk and you can then install it on multiple machine so they then have a standard operating environment. Or you can use it as a backup tool to re apply some previously made image over the top of a possibly corrupted installation. I think the guy wants to know if he installs it, then images it will the game still run after that image is restored to the machine (if required). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeutschRitter Posted May 4, 2011 Author Share Posted May 4, 2011 I think the guy wants to know if he installs it, then images it will the game still run after that image is restored to the machine (if required). yep. thats exactly what I want! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noxnoctum Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 You should be able to just copy all the folders associated with the game to an external HD or whatever and then paste them back in to the new instlalation. I'm fairly sure I did that with CMSF a while ago. Can't be sure though. Anyone wanna back me up? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodkin Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Acronis True Image would do it because I know it's saved me in the past, but I think now the new licence takes a snapshot of your hardware. I don't think copying and pasting folders will do what you want. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeutschRitter Posted May 4, 2011 Author Share Posted May 4, 2011 I am pretty sure that this wont work because (despite the licensing method) the most games have to be installed to run. They need to be written into the registry of the OS. What works with all the CM*1 games and CMSF is that you dont have to license the game anymore when you uninstalled it and installs it again because all the license stuff is somewhere written into the deeper structures of the OS. When you reinstall the OS everything is deleted. But when you create an image everything is stored into the image. When you also apply this image on the same machine you have created it, everything is like the moment you created it. Its the same method you will find on every new laptop you buy to set your system in the original state you bought it. Schrullenhaft also guesses that this might work. If its working then I will reinstall my system with all the new driver, updates etc... AND install CMBN and I can have a fresh installation of Windwos with CMBN every time I want for my desktop and my laptop using only two activations till I will buy another system. I have a brand new system with a sandy bridge I7 2600k, 8GB and a Geforce GTX 580 Twinfrozer OC and a good gaming laptop and I can save my activations for the new system maybe end of the next year. I always try to have the newest stuff (thats my hobby). I am selling "the new stuff" on Ebay and buy the newest. For people like me 4 activations +1 additional per year are definetly not enough. Yes I am playing beside many independent wargames all the new stuff too and I can abstract and can enjoy either graphic blenders or games with bad graphics and nice gameplay. And there are many good mainstream title that look very good and are really fun for 3 months or more. But thats ok. I am still playing CM*1 and other games like I dont want to mention here. I would call me a real wargamer. I play a lot of good cosim boardgames too beside on my PC. But I always tried not to get ideological. I am the bridge between the old ones and the younger ones. Maybe in a world with people like me independent developers dont have to die out I am playing a lot of COH AND CM*1, CMSF I accept any challenge in all three games to show you that I am not a noob in both games (and of course CMBN, when it comes out! I pre-ordered it some time ago) This is not an offense to some people here. Because of my "bad english" something can be misunderstood. I just wanted to explain that I am looking for an alternative for me to handle the (for me) only 4 activations. I dont want to blame BF (I accept their decission) nor other people who dont accept the method. I just want to share my idea with other people. So back to topic: I hope it will work creating an image file with CMBN installed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shardz Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Hey guys, Long time member here, but had to re-register. I pre-ordered CMBN because I wanted the nice printed manual, but I'm curious about the DRM. Could someone please explain it or point me to a thread that explains it in detail? I'm a little concerned the way people are talking. Why would anyone need to create and image to play a game a year down the road. Do we own the game once we plop down the dollars or are we leasing it for a small period? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Go to www.battlefront.com/helpdesk and click on Knowledgebase, then take it from there. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shardz Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Thanks Moon. Wow, I was under the impression from others that you only have a limited number of installs per year. But it sounds like you can install it any two computers. If you want to move it to a third computer, you need to unlicense it on one of the others. And I'd imagine that works the same when you want to re-install Windows on your machine. I'm assuming you want to unlicense it before you format your hard drive to retain the keys. If that's the case, I don't see that as an intrusive DRM scheme. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Shardz, what you are describing is our old eLicense scheme. Our new activation system does not support unlicensing. To take your example, in our new activation system, after installing on two computers, if you want to install on a third, you don't have to do ANYTHING. If you want to install on a fourth, you don't have to do ANYTHING. If you want to install on a fifth, you'll have to add an activation to your key via the online interface. If you want to install on a sixth, you'll have to add an activation to your key. And so forth. The new system is simpler, faster and more user friendly since it does not require any support interaction from us. You'll only run into issues if you plan on changing your gaming PCs faster than once a year. And of course any of the previously installed/activated games will continue to work all this time, even after uninstalling them, unless you make major system modifications to the PR, or completely reformat it etc. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wodin Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Yeah with CMSF you needed to unlicense before uninstalling and formating drive etc....something I'm terrible at remembering...at the minute I haven't reinstalled CMSF...due to a crash I had to format...the problem I think I will have though is I had to get an offline activation last time I installed and also I now have Win 7 64bit professional and before I had Win 7 32 bit....so I expect I wont be able to use my offline activation key...so I have a sneaky feeling I can no longer play it...it's things like this that may cause people problems... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Wodin, you can always contact us at www.battlefront.com/helpdesk (click on Submit Ticket) to have your key reset if you forget to unlicense or run into other problems like that). Resets are usually reserved to emergencies such as crashes, and we can only do them a few times, but there is no reason why you should lose your game because of it. Martin 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medex Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 You should be able to just copy all the folders associated with the game to an external HD or whatever and then paste them back in to the new instlalation. I'm fairly sure I did that with CMSF a while ago. Can't be sure though. Anyone wanna back me up? Yep I did the same thing, even backed up the emails I got from Battlefront, especially the Normandy one. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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