This is ridiculous...

[Malakie]

I bought DVD versions of Combat Mission and the Marines module. Had intended on buying British and the newer modules coming out but at this moment, there is no way I will even consider it.

After loosing a system to power issues, I finally got new drives and a power supply and rebuilt my machine. After re-installing imagine my surprise when I found that the DVD versions also include the e-license crap.

Now for many of you this may be a non-issue. For me it is a major issue because I do NOT have ANY access to internet services. I was very happy to initially find that someone was doing a sim based on today's military... reason... I am now a service connected U.S. military disabled veteran who right now has his sole income from the V.A. If you know anything about us you know the amount of disability we get initially does not come close to what is needed just to survive let alone pay for things like internet service and cell phones.

The closest library is over an hour drive one way. I have made that trip twice in the last two months because the first time the e-license kept telling me or giving me a # 96 error whatever that is.

Today I was able to try a new license I downloaded while at the library last week. And it finally worked..... only to now have the game crash completely on initial loading. Just a windows error with a cancel button telling me windows is checking for a solution.. etc etc etc... It never gets to any screens, menus nothing.

I am sick of this crap. I bought something and I cannot use it when and where I want. Even if I could afford internet services it would still be an issue as far as I am concerned. No other product line has these kind of bullcrap restrictions. Could you imagine your car, clothes, TV, appliances etc all having this kind of restricted access?

So unless Battlefront can convince me otherwise, I will be holding off purchasing any additional products comntaining anything like this e-license crap that forces me to have internet just to use what I paid for.

It would also be nice if anyone could make some suggestion on how to fix the game now that it is licensed but crashes immediately on load.

My system is as follows:

Intel i7 based system w/9gig ram

HD3870 video card (HD4850 blew up with the system I mentioned)

two HD's totalling 1 terabyte

Creative xFi Audio

As of today, ALL drivers as well as DirectX are up to date and current since I downloaded them on my last trip.

I have uninstalled completely and reinstalled with the same results. I also deleted the games config file to try that as well. No change.

I will have my daughter log in and check for a reply to this message. Hopefully someone can offer some suggestions.... and maybe Battlefront can comment on the other if they are so inclined to keep me as a customer.

[Moon]

Sorry to hear that you are having problems. But actually it's not crap and it's not ridiculous.

Since we are an internet-based company, you have to have online access to purchase the game in the first place. An online based license activation therefore is not an unreasonable requirement. Especially since you do not have to have online access with the PC you want to play on. There is an "offline" activation procedure which you can use. You do not need to have access to a PC that is online, but it doesn't have to be the one where you have the game installed.

You are also not correct in saying that "No other product line has these kind of bullcrap restrictions" because in fact there are many companies out there where you can't even play if you do not have an internet connection. With our system you are only required to do the activation once, and can then enjoy the game offline for as long as you wish.

The error you got on the first attempt is explained in our Knowledgebase at www.battlefront.com/helpdesk. Glad it worked out now.

As for the crash you are getting, there could be many reasons, and it is difficult to troubleshoot with just the info you have given. Normally I would suggest to submit a support ticket at www.battlefront.com/helpdesk. Perhaps your daughter can do that for you. For starters, make sure that you run the game with full administrator rights. Right-click, select Properties and then "Run as admin".

And yes, it sucks that we need this licensing "crap" these days. We have been forced to protect our intellectual property and business in this way back in 2006 after one of our games had been massively pirated (while regular sales have been bad). We would love nothing more than to be able to do away with licensing. Keep in mind that nobody has more to do with it on a daily basis than we do, providing support to customers, resetting licenses etc. But it's a necessary evil thanks to people who do not seem to understand that piracy is theft.

[Thomm]

No other product line has these kind of bullcrap restrictions.

Reminds me of the friggin' copyright notices I have to wade through before being allowed to watch a legally purchased DVD!

Best regards,

Thomm

[Schrullenhaft]

Malakie - The 'error 96' that you were getting has this explanation in our Knowledgebase article on eLicense error codes:

License installation failure.

This error indicates that you generated a offline license request but did not use it, then you generated a new offline request and went to the website but pasted in the original request. In order to resolve this issue, create a new offline request and be sure that is the one you use when you go to the license website www.license.net

But it looks like you got that resolved with your latest request.

Do you currently have any sort of 'security software' on your computer ? This wouldn't seem like much of a requirement if your computer doesn't hook up to the internet, but it is still a possibility that you may have it installed. I would be speaking of programs that DO NOT come with Windows itself (like the Windows Firewall or possibly Windows Defender, etc.). We have had specific problems with the ZoneAlarm/Kaspersky software that installs an applet called "Browser Security Bar". This applet must be uninstalled for any eLicense games to work (ZoneAlarm/Kaspersky will remain installed, just this applet gets uninstalled).

Which Windows version are you running. Since your hardware is fairly new, I would expect Windows Vista or Windows 7. If that is the case, then you may need to enable DEP (Date Execution Prevention) and add exceptions for the 'Runservice.exe' and the CMSF executables (including the Marines executable too). Here's our Knowledgebase article on DEP (it's a bit long to cut and paste here).

Depending on how truly restricted your funds are with your VA Disability payments, you may want to consider 'dial up internet access' from such vendors as NetZero. You'll probably need to purchase a dial up modem (and have a telephone land line), but it is fairly reasonable at $9.95 a month or possibly less if you pay a full year in advance. It's obviously limited to 56K speeds (or slower, depending on where you live), but it may provide a bit of internet access between visits to the library for a somewhat reasonable fee.