Arm505 Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 Hi, I have an old pc (CMSF unlicensed and uninstalled, this was the 1st place installed), a new pc (attempting to license), an old laptop (CMSF unlicensed and uninstalled), and a new laptop (CMSF installed and licensed, runs fine). When I want to install to the new pc, it claims I've run out of licenses. This despite unlicensing, then uninstalling on the old PC. When trying to run the eLicense applet under control panel (Win 7 32), nothing happens. The service is running, and I can stop and start it at will. Will reinstalling the software on the old pc allow me an actual chance to try to unlicense again? What recourse do I have if this doesn't work? (I thought I did it properly the first time, it seemed to unlicense fine). Would I have to buy the game again if it didn't work? That's a rhetorical question by the way, I don't buy the same software twice simply because its DRM failed to work properly....but is that seriously expected of me? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 Sometimes eLicense doesn't seem to unlicense properly. Probably the best way to check is to unlicense and then attempt to run the game again. If it still runs then the unlicensing really wasn't successful. If it asks you to activate the license key again, then you should be good to go. You can reinstall CMSF on one or both of the computers you had it previously activated on and see if it runs. If there hasn't been hardware or OS changes to that computer, then the game may run if it hasn't been unlicensed fully. You may need to patch CMSF to the level it was at when you initially activated it on both computers. If you installed modules, that complicates unlicensing, since each item that was licensed needs to be unlicensed. A single unlicensing will NOT get all modules that were activated. That becomes a bit of a manual process to unlicense each one. If that is your situation, let us know what modules you installed. If there doesn't seem to be a solution, then you could submit a ticket to the Helpdesk and provide your license keys. We can then possibly reset them to allow for the activation on the other computer. However it is more constructive to try to make sure that the unlicensing has actually been successful first. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arm505 Posted September 10, 2011 Author Share Posted September 10, 2011 Thanks, I appreciate the answer, and this is what I tried - problem located, or at least some idea of the problem. I just installed the basic CMSF, and it still runs on the old PC. But, after I install the British and Marine addon, it no longer runs, saying that I have unlicensed the product. I can't remember whether I installed the NATO addon on that PC, but if I did, should I go ahead and install that too? Should I license the British and Marine module first, then install the NATO module to check it? Then, once that's done, how do I go 'back down the layers' as it were, properly this time? Sorry for what may be some tedious questions, but it's not really all that obvious to me what I should do. Somehow I managed to do all this on my old laptop, but that was using Win XP. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arm505 Posted September 10, 2011 Author Share Posted September 10, 2011 ...aaaah, epic fail. I tried relicensing the B&M addon on the old pc, and it said I've run out of licenses for that. Now I'm lost. And it may seem like I'm some kind of moron, but I can assure you I did try and unlicense each individual addon, while connected, in all cases and I'm pretty sure they each said they were unlicensed. Aaargh! I really hate DRM like this......yes, I should have tried to run it after each unlicense. In my defense, this system isn't super-intuitive and could be simpler. But I suppose everyone knows that already... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arm505 Posted September 10, 2011 Author Share Posted September 10, 2011 To add some data, when I attempted to uninstall the whole lot, the unlicensing window came up - when I tried to unlicense, it gave the error 'The system identifier has changed (something like that)' and then said 'This cannot be unlicensed'. Then it uninstalled. The only thing that has changed in that pc (and yes, I suppose it's significant), is that my wife now uses it, and my windows 'account' has been deleted. So I guess that license has just vanished into the ether then. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted September 11, 2011 Share Posted September 11, 2011 Unfortunately unlicensing with CMSF and its modules is a bit of tedious process. To unlicense everything, you may have to reinstall mulitple times with several different combinations. If you intend to install any of the CMSF modules, then you DO NOT need to license the base CMSF game. It just complicates things. Any of the modules will activate the base game once the module is activated. So for future consideration you shouldn't license the base game if you intend on installing a module. For the computer your wife is using, I believe it should be possible to unlicense the game, even if your account has been deleted. I'm not absolutely sure of that since there is registration information held under both the System and user accounts associated with eLicense. Do you recall licensing the base game on your wife's computer ? Go ahead and wipe out whatever previous installs you have. Now reinstall the base game and try to run it. If it works, then UNLICENSE that base game install. Hopefully that is successful. Now try to run the game to make sure it is unlicensed. Assuming that you have been successful in unlicensing the base game, then install the Marines module on this unlicensed base game install of CMSF. I don't know if you have a separate install of the Marines module or a 'bundle' installer. If you have a bundle install, then it will force you to install the other module (or modules) and then also license them in order to get the game working. If you have to license any of the modules in a 'bundle' install, then that particular module is not licensed. I'll cover a few more details about the 'bundle' installs a bit later. If you have a separate Marines module install, then attempt to run CMSF once it has been installed. You should be prompted for the Marines license key or the game will run if the Marines module had been previously licensed, but not unlicensed. If the game does run with the Marines module, then attempt to unlicense it. Run CMSF again and see if it prompts you to license the Marines module. If it does, then that module has been unlicensed. If you have a separate British Forces installer, then you will want to completely uninstall CMSF at this point (assuming you have been successful in unlicensing both the base game and the Marines module). Now install the base CMSF game again and patch it to 1.10 (if it isn't at that level or higher already). DO NOT license the CMSF base game. Now install the British Forces module. Attempt to run CMSF after installing this module and see if the game runs. If it does, then the game is still licensed. Attempt to unlicense it and then run it again to make sure that the license key has been unlicensed. I assume that the game prompted you to license the NATO module earlier, which would suggest that it has been unlicensed (or 'lost' and is no longer unlicensable). If you've had separate installers for each of the modules then at this point you should be fully unlicensed. If you have bundle installers, then the situation requires more work. If you have a 'bundle' install, such as 'Marines + British Forces', etc., then you will need to unlicense the modules with shortcuts you create yourself. That is actually all the Start Menu unlicensing shortcuts are, slightly different shortcuts that will unlicense the game/module. With the module bundles, you will need to install the base game (do NOT license it) and then the module bundle. I'm not sure which module will come up to be licensed (if any). If the game runs, then both modules are licensed. If you get prompted to license a module, then it is unlicensed (but you don't know the state of other modules). Once you have CMSF and the module bundle installed you will need to browse to where you have CMSF installed in the Windows Explorer file manager and within that CMSF directory go to the 'Modules' subdirectory. You should have several executable files in here, possibly 'CMSF Marines Module.exe' and 'British Forces Module.exe'. Right-click on each and select 'Create Shortcut' in each popup menu. You will now have a shortcut for each of the executable files in the 'Modules' subdirectory. If you want to you can also rename these shortcuts to 'CMSF Marines unlicense' and 'CMSF British Forces unlicense', though that isn't necessary. Now you will need to right-click on each of the new shortcuts and select "Properties" from each. In here you should be at the 'Shortcut' tab with the 'Target' text string highlighted. Press the 'right arrow' key and the text should un-highlight and you should be at the end of the text string in the 'Target' box (after the last quotation mark - "). Now type in a 'space' and then (without quotes) '-unlicense'. Click the 'Apply' and 'OK' buttons. Do this for both shortcuts. Now go to the main CMSF directory and copy (do not 'MOVE') the following files to the 'Modules' subdirectory: elicen40.dll msvcr71.dll Once these files have been copied now double-click on the British Forces shortcut and hopefully the license dialog box comes up and you can unlicense the module. Now try to run CMSF and see if it prompts you to license that module or not. Now do the same for the Marines module and unlicense it. Unfortunately it will be hard to confirm this has actually been successful since I don't know which module will initially come up to be activated when you launch CMSF. If you want to confirm that the Marines module has been unlicensed, you can sort of do that. Try to run CMSF and if you get prompted to license the Marines module, then you have been successful. However if you get prompted to license the British Forces module, then you will need to license it. Then relaunch CMSF and see if it prompts you to license the Marines module or if it runs fully. If it runs, then the Marines module needs to be unlicensed. Now try to run CMSF again and see if it prompts you to license the Marines module again. Once it does that, then you can unlicense the British Forces module. However confirming that it has been unlicensed becomes the same task again, which may get you nowhere (since the Marines module may have to be licensed to confirm that the British Forces module has been unlicensed). So the bundle modules significantly mess up confirming that the individual modules have been unlicensed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arm505 Posted September 12, 2011 Author Share Posted September 12, 2011 I just want to quickly say thank you for your time and effort in posting this information, it's really appreciated. I'll be giving it all a try now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arm505 Posted September 12, 2011 Author Share Posted September 12, 2011 Ok, some progress. Still not solved, but getting there. The old PC only had the base game still licensed. Attempting to unlicense all the other modules (after multiple uninstall/reinstalls) showed that only the base game could run, and not any modules (I have the Marines & Brit bundle, and the NATO module). Unlicensing the base game worked, and I can now run the base game on my new PC. BUT, not any of the modules - which means that they must still be licensed on my OLD laptop (new laptop works fine, all modules). Of course my old laptop is 1700km from me at the moment, so that will have to wait.... In the meantime I have unlicensed the base install from my new pc, in preparation for the attempt on my OLD laptop - now, in theory, the old laptop only has licenses for all the modules, but not the base game (since I was able to have the base game on my new PC and new laptop running together) I have absolute faith that this system has been relegated to the history books as the epic PITA that it is... Again, thanks for the helpful replies. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arm505 Posted September 17, 2011 Author Share Posted September 17, 2011 (Combat) mission accomplished. The modules were still licensed on my old laptop. This despite them supposedly unlicensing during the uninstall. Anyway, job done and thanks. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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