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Official Q+A Thread - Activation / DRM


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Hello,

I just bought the game via Steam. The game is downloading right now, but i didnt receive any

activation keys whatsoever. Only thing i have is an email from steam that confirms my purchase,

and there is some kind of confirmation number.

I didnt find any instructions and im new using steam so if someone could help i would appreciate it..

Plus, the game cost me $60.99, is this normal??

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What the Shxt !!! I just buy this game in Hong Kong. The "25 characters" Football Manager 2009 Keycode is adhered at the back of the game manual.

I have tried all the possible code....I have no "O" or "0", only have one "I" (maybe "1" or "L") but I have already tried all of it. Nothing but Invalid Product Code.

I don't have a scanner to scan my manual / receipt, if I have to contact the STEAM support, do I really have to buy a SCANNER for it?

Actually, I am extremely angry now !!!!!!! Anyone can help ??

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While I accept the reasons for SI using this protection I am a little bit unhappy about this.

I do not buy FM every year even though it is my favourite game because I get attached to long term saves. The last FM game I bought was FM 2006 and I play this game more than any other even today.

I am thinking this year of getting FM2009 because of the improvements and sadly leaving my saved FM2006.

However if I do buy FM2009 I will want to play it for three years quite possibly a lot longer. Also in that time I might well change my computer.

Bearing in mind that the activation servers wil likely be not available in a few years will those who have proof of purchase get a free copy of a DRM version of the game.

In conclusion I blame the theives (pirates) for stealing the games in the first place for the necessity of activation and other anti piracy measures.

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I have registered on steam and it accepted the product key (after I entered it into the box to get a correct key), when trying to launch I am now getting error [-703] unable to process unlock request.

This is a real joke - talk about putting customers interests last, as a big fan of SI I am really quite annoyed by this.

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Well.. I'm currently struggling to do this.

I tried to use the product ket from the back of the manual when I chucked the CD in, and it said it wasn't an accurate key. (double checked the 0/O stuff)

I then tried to activate it through Steam, and it started downloading the entire game.

Was it downloading the game or just an update?

I know this is good to stop the pirates, but it's a bit of a pain in the arse for people who are a bit less au fait with this sort of stuff.

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whats the number for england? this whole process is a complete joke! im online right now and yet when i try and activate the game through steam and softanchor it says cannot connect to the internet. i've bought it and installed it, it's my game i want to play it. it's good that they are taking steps to combat piracy but this is stupid.

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While writing this, the game is not available in a 'cracked' version.

SI Games 1 - Pirates 0

You ever heard of hubris? Ask EA about how this type of DRM nonsense can so easily backfire on a company. If i have to go through tis rigmarole just to play a silly game, i think i won't bother.

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Oh well. Getting the old 'cannot connect to Internet' problem. I must say, this is an excellent method of keeping legit, paying customers off the game. Yawn.

Going to try reinstall and Steam activation route even though I hate that thing.

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My copy arrived in the post a couple of hours ago and installation was a breeze. However, activation is a real issue!

1. Firstly, the game cannot connect to the internet despite the fact that the internet works fine for everything else.

2. I turned off my firewall but the game still cannot connect to the internet.

3. I turned to phone activation and called the UK number provided (0-808-120-3655). The phone rang, and rang and rang - then they hung up.

4. I repeated the process but got the same result.

5. I read the book and it gave a different UK phone number (0870 010 8002) but was told that the number was temporarily unavailable.

6. I went to www.sega-europe.com/support and got validation that my Key Code was OK and they referred me here.

Incidentally, Steam is not without it's problems. Even their own web site gives a list of all the programs that cause problems - just look at what they expect you to uninstall:-

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9828-SFLZ-9289

Can anyone please tell me how to activate FM 2009?

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Those with cannot connect to Internet (SoftAnchor).

I had the same thing. Total shambles that process. So, I uninstalled, reinstalled and chose the Steam activation route.

Worked first time.

That was just good luck. I have used the STEAM installation, everything goes fine untill the online authentication using softanchor and it says I'm not connected to the 'net - tried windows update, restart, clock sync, EVERYTHING.

Totally infuriating.

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Those with cannot connect to Internet (SoftAnchor).

I had the same thing. Total shambles that process. So, I uninstalled, reinstalled and chose the Steam activation route.

Worked first time.

I tried that, but it started to download the game? Or was it downloading an update

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That was just good luck. I have used the STEAM installation, everything goes fine untill the online authentication using softanchor and it says I'm not connected to the 'net - tried windows update, restart, clock sync, EVERYTHING.

Totally infuriating.

I dont quite understand - you mean you tried Steam and it didnt work? SoftAnchor route, and the Steam route are seperate. You just need to authenticate with one or the other. Have you tried uninstalling, reinstalling and selecting to authenticate with Steam?

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Yeah I keep getting the 'cannot connect to the internet' problem every time i enter the code to activate the game on softanchor even though its right and i checked it on the link given. Also if I try installing the game through steam, the first time i tried it it came up with 'updating steam' but then nothing happened and it didnt progress, so i uninstalled steam completely ( i had installed it 4 the demo) and rebooted comp and tried again, it installed steam and the 'updating steam' part was working fine but then it automatically went off snd that was that :s. I'm currently trying the uniloc way again ( after following the instructions to uninstall the game, delete all content from the fm 09 certificate directory) If it doesn't work either way how the frig am I meant to play the game? lol, I understand the desire to use product keys and protect the game from pirate users, but this has totally hindered actual game-loving customers.:confused: If none of this works, is there any idea how i can get my game to work? And why is steam either not updating when it should be during the installation process or just simply randomly disappearing when it does decide to install properly? Is this anything to do with the Steam issue already stated? Any help would be greatly appreciated, I know you guys are doing all u can. ( Ive just had the 'cannot connect to the internet message come up again on my latest attempt to install)

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Yeah I keep getting the 'cannot connect to the internet' problem every time...

... Any help would be greatly appreciated, I know you guys are doing all u can. ( Ive just had the 'cannot connect to the internet message come up again on my latest attempt to install)

1) I'd uninstall FM, uninstall Steam (just to make sure everything is clean before you start again).

2) Reboot

3) Use your (existing I presume as you got the demo earlier) existing Steam account when you reinstall the Steam application (let it do its stuff, might take a while)

4) Insert FM (disc?) and follow the prompt to insert keycode

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Steam can go suck on something for all I care. I had the "cannot remove Steam.exe" problem and after consulting their knowledge base I found out that Steam has serious issues with a LOT of the most common anti-virus applications out there - including AVG, Avast, McAfee and Kaspersky. Good luck getting me to uninstall anti-virus just to run your service. Oh well, as soon as Uniloc starts working I might be able to activate my game...

I seriously can't believe that Steam are that thick.

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Sput, see my post above yours.

Gave up on SoftLads.

I tried that first but had to give up because I got a message "Steam.exe (main exception): Unable to load library Steam.dll"

That was why I tried SoftLabs - but that does not work either!!!!

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DRM led to extraordianary numbers of EA consumers taking the illegal path to accquiring Spore. Causing many hundreds of thousands of people, who would previously never had illegally downloaded a copy, actually downloading it, even those that had purchased a legit copy. Yes, EA limited the amount of times you could activate the game, but that wasn't and isn't the main issue. The main issue is that loyal and honest consumers who pay good money expect to play what they have purchased instantly, and when other consumers see and hear the horror stories of how legitimate consumers have been treated they are then more inclined to take the path to the pirates so as to get a copy which doesn't require hours or even days of unecessary hassle. Which rather makes invalid the whole point of you using DRM protection in the first place. To use a footballing phrase, SI you have scored one massive own goal.

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No problem - it's going to be a long day for us - basically, if you put the disc in the drive - and autorun, you will get all the information you need. If you are still unsure - please PM and I'll give you a call to talk it through (if that helps?)

Muzchap, I've downloaded the game onto Steam no problems but when I click on launch it takes me to SoftAnchor Online Activation asking for my product key, I've already entered this into Steam and when I try and do it into this SoftAnchor, it just says the installation could not be completed because the application was unable to connect to the internet! Thanks

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Hi Guys,

Sorry it has taken so long to get back to you and thankyou for your patience.

It would be incredibly useful to me, in terms of getting back to you if you could post your problem and how you have tried to fix it.

Those of you who are getting the 'not connected to the internet' issue, please do not worry it is not a problem with the software or the disc. In order to fix the problems and our servers we have taken them down for a brief period of time to perform maintenance, we expect them to be back up shortly and I will post here as soon as I hear internally.

sarah

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please moderator, please please help me

i know we're all experiencing this soft anchor problem and we all need to be patient. but mines finnaly just worked but after clicking ok i got a message saying something about not being able to launch game because of a graphics file. so i tried the keycode thing agian and it says that its already been verified and i need to purchase a new one. now im really worried thats its messed up big time and im not gonna be able to play the game at all

:(

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Muzchap, I've downloaded the game onto Steam no problems but when I click on launch it takes me to SoftAnchor Online Activation asking for my product key, I've already entered this into Steam and when I try and do it into this SoftAnchor, it just says the installation could not be completed because the application was unable to connect to the internet! Thanks

I'm having exactly the same problem, I followed the advice given here and im thankful cuz that worked as far as to this point. its all ready to launch on steam but when i click launch it takes me to softanchor to input code and it again says ' I cannot connect to the internet' etc etc. What is the plan from here to get it to work? lol. Im student n this game cost me 30 quid and im deep into my student overdraft so its not like i have money to burn lol... please help...anybody :) everything worked up until in putting the code into softanchor ( inputign the code into steam to 'activate product' worked fine)

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Sarah,

How kind of you to do that. So now I like many others can't play my game because you have took the servers down which we need to activate the game, the phone numbers given seem to have 1 monkey behind a desk in outer mongolia and I haven't nor intent to get Steam.

Typical crapness from SI and Sega on Football Managers release day. Normally you make a fine mess of things in October. You this year have put things back to November and still make a fine mess of things.

Well done.

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Rich and the King, thanks for letting me know I am speaking to our tech team now and will update you asap:)

wnn: I understand that this is incredibly frustrating but the reason we have temporarily taken them down is to help people sign in with much more ease than before and to rectify the problems. As you can imagine our customer service teams are incredibly busy andfor reference we have customer support in in all the European territories (and I sit in the office next to some of our great UK support:)). They are doing a great job and working incredibly hard to help everyone so please be patient.

I am reporting all the problems direct to our tech team and will keep you updated.

Sarah

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I did mine through Uniloc, and got all the way to the soft anchor part and then put in my code and it came up with this message:

" We're sorry but this installation of Football Manager 2009 Certificate could not be acticated for the following reason: The application was unable to connect to the internet. Please check your connection"

As i did it with Uniloc, there should be a phone number aswell? does anybody know what it is?

Thanks

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Here is my problem. I bought the boxed game here in Australia. Already had steam so I chose to activate through steam. I put in my activation code, at first it said it was wrong, I did not change the code, then clicked next again and it worked. I updated the game through steam. Then when I launched the game softanchor asked me for the code so I put it on. It worked. I played for a while. But when I quit and tried to start again softanchor wants my code again because my "trial has run out". I type it in and it says that the code is already in use.

Now after I try it again I get the same internet connection problem.

Uninstalling steam, is not an option for me as I have The Orange box which is dependent on steam and I think you'd have to download all the updates again (and internet is treacle slow in Australia). Not good enough Softanchor (I assume they are the ones to blame?).

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Nathan,

This is because as part of our server work to fix the problems we are experiencing problems with authentication. This is being worked on at present and I will post back here as soon as I hear anything:)

Thanks Truby your patience is much appreciated, we just want to get you guys into the game!

Sarah

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