People with invalid Crysis Warhead CD Key issues: Please read!

[Virt]

Fair comment.   For what it's worth, the 're-format the key and edit the file' solution has worked for me on both the PCs where I've had a Steam-installed version of Crysis Warhead.   But yeah, I agree that's not enought for it to be definitive.   

[Seraph]

A simple formatting error would be a fantastic and simple fix, but I still think it's just too early to be claiming that one specific thing is the root cause of it.

Possibly not the cause for everyone, but MANY have that exact issue when running Steam. Including 4 of my friends (that's 4 out of 5, one having no issue) which all fixed it by hard-coding the key into their pre-launch scripts. So I think it's a pretty common problem when running on Steam which MANY do due to the sale on it.

[Blu_Haze]

A simple formatting error would be a fantastic and simple fix, but I still think it's just too early to be claiming that one specific thing is the root cause of it.

Possibly not the cause for everyone, but MANY have that exact issue when running Steam. Including 4 of my friends (that's 4 out of 5, one having no issue) which all fixed it by hard-coding the key into their pre-launch scripts. So I think it's a pretty common problem when running on Steam which MANY do due to the sale on it.

Oh true, it's definitely something that should be on the list of things to try before attempting to obtain a new key from EA.

I'm curious though, of the friends that reformatting was a solution, how much time elapsed between purchasing the game and trying this workaround?

[Seraph]

A simple formatting error would be a fantastic and simple fix, but I still think it's just too early to be claiming that one specific thing is the root cause of it.

Possibly not the cause for everyone, but MANY have that exact issue when running Steam. Including 4 of my friends (that's 4 out of 5, one having no issue) which all fixed it by hard-coding the key into their pre-launch scripts. So I think it's a pretty common problem when running on Steam which MANY do due to the sale on it.

Oh true, it's definitely something that should be on the list of things to try before attempting to obtain a new key from EA.

I'm curious though, of the friends that reformatting was a solution, how much time elapsed between purchasing the game and trying this workaround?

Reformatting? I am not talking about wiping the entire system or anything. They just reformatted the key to something that is authenticated by the servers (meaning to add the missing dashes ("-") to the CD key and store it in the pre-launch file).

The fix took about 5 Minutes for a non-tech-savy friend of mine (timed by the time I sent him the solution, he replying to me "cool" and then telling me "it worked" ). IMHO a fix totally worth the time to make it work.

[Blu_Haze]

A simple formatting error would be a fantastic and simple fix, but I still think it's just too early to be claiming that one specific thing is the root cause of it.

Possibly not the cause for everyone, but MANY have that exact issue when running Steam. Including 4 of my friends (that's 4 out of 5, one having no issue) which all fixed it by hard-coding the key into their pre-launch scripts. So I think it's a pretty common problem when running on Steam which MANY do due to the sale on it.

Oh true, it's definitely something that should be on the list of things to try before attempting to obtain a new key from EA.

I'm curious though, of the friends that reformatting was a solution, how much time elapsed between purchasing the game and trying this workaround?

Reformatting? I am not talking about wiping the entire system or anything. They just reformatted the key to something that is authenticated by the servers (meaning to add the missing dashes ("-") to the CD key and store it in the pre-launch file).

The fix took about 5 Minutes for a non-tech-savy friend of mine (timed by the time I sent him the solution, he replying to me "cool" and then telling me "it worked" ). IMHO a fix totally worth the time to make it work.

Yes, that's what I was referring to. Altering the format of the serial key by manually adding dashes.

Let me rephrase my original question. Your friends purchased Crysis on Steam. They then found out that it did not work correctly online. Eventually they modified the serial key format and it then worked for them.

Approximately how much time elapsed between their purchase, and it working for them? Also, how long ago did they get it to work?

[Spooky]

According to a VALVe employee, EA already changed their Authentication method, probably in a way that it simply ignores dashes within the key when checking for its validity. It should work for everyone now, no matter if there are dashes in the CD key or not (as long as the CD key itself is valid).

[TheSneakyRussian]

I registered to post this reply  .


I don't mean to be rude, but you guys have zero idea what's causing this issue in regards to STEAM purchasing Crysis Wars. The issue is VERY simple and VERY easy to fix.

The Cause is 100% steam's fault. When STEAM installs Crysis Wars it does NOT format the CD-key correctly whatsoever. You can view this by uninstalling your Crysis:Wars from your computer. Go into your registry & clearing the cd-key out, and then reinstalling from steam's STOCK install process for Crysis:Wars. Viewing your "STEAM installed" version shows that there are absolutely ZERO dash marks ("-").

I just recently picked up Crysis:Wars via steam JUST to try & play MechWarrior:LivingLegends because i've been bored & wanted a good Mech game to play. Right out of the gate I got that "Dreaded" cdkey error. What did I do? Googled for 10minutes, found the solution, put the dash marks in my CD-key's registry location, and BAM no more error.

Since then, four other of my friends got Crysis:Wars from STEAM to play Mechwarrior:LL, and another 5th already had Crysis:Wars (boxed version) & proceeded to reinstall it. Guess what? ALL four of my friends who purchased from steam got the CDkey error, but my 5th friend with the box did NOT. Simply putting the dashes in resolved the matter completely (go figure).

By all means, keep calling EA or STEAM support about this issue to get more keys (stealing?). I've already spoken with a rep from EA about this & they've confirmed the issue (they'll no longer give out keys if you bought it from steam, or at least what I was told "lol support").

-Russian

[Seraph]

Known and already been posted someplace. I was also in touch wih Steam about this and after a while they finally understood what wss going on. That was over a year ago now and guess what ? Nothing was fixed though it's incredibly easy to fix it on their end - go figure ...

Good you found the solution and could help your friends (way to go ). I just wish that would work out of tbe box as its supposed to.

Welcome to MWLL!

[light487]

According to this, official article, you don't even need to edit your registry file:

http://www.mechlivinglegends.net/2011-01/steam-cd-key-issues/

This sorted out my problem immediately.

Once you have changed the information in the "installscript.vdf" file, as per the article, then run Crysis:Wars ONCE; everything works great.

[TAdams]

They still are having issues. It is a mess as a consumer with everyone pointing the finger at everyone else.  I almost want to post here to suggest bypassing the key authentication on MWLL servers. It is very frustrating and what is sad is that I expect this on cutting edge games not from ones that have been out for years (referring to the game itself, not the mod).

[Springer Prime]

Do you have to have a new, never used Crysis Wars code.  or can you buy a used copy with original code?
I dont have the $$ to buy new (yes I know its only $20) but I dont want to throw away money on a used one if it wont let me play LL.
I loved it until It went to exclusively Wars.  I only bought Crysis so I could play LL to begin with...

[UltimateWarrior]

i see no reason for mwll servers to require a key anyway, most of the active crysis servers dont.

the amount of legit purchasers getting the key errors is likely > the amount of people pirating crysis to play the mwll mod at any rate.

[Spooky]

i see no reason for mwll servers to require a key anyway, most of the active crysis servers dont.

The MWLL team does not, nor will they ever endorse piracy. Ultimately they have no control over the servers, but luckily there are not many (or even any) servers around, that do not require a CD key. Even the >XI< server requires one now, since it was actually a simple mistake that it didn't before.

[pesco]

Just to report, I bought Crysis Warhead on Steam this weekend (2012-03-11) and still had the "invalid key because of missing dashes" issue.
I edited the file "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Crysis Wars\installscript.vdf", replacing the variable %CDKEY% with the actual key, in AAAA-BBBB-CCCC-DDDD format.
Works now.

[Arsat]

sorry but one thing i dont understand. I have no cdkey when i only install Crysis Wars when i use steam.
I must use the Warhead Key or ?  So i only must chance the %CDKEY% in installscript.vdf to the key there stands under Warhead ( with 4-4-4-4 ) ? Right ?

I tryed it, but it dont go.