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Monstarguy · 08-10-2008, 09:53 AM

California
United States

Standard Edition SPORE

Windows Vista Home Premium, on Toshiba Satelite Laptop

All I can say is: "At least the UK site is getting feedback, or has a forum PERIOD!" Over here in the U.S., the site is buggy and mostly doesn't work, and we're lucky to get a Maxis rep to SNEAZE in our general direction, let alone acknowledge that we have problems.

OK, so I'm not sure if anyone here can help, since I live in the US, in California. It's pathetic really, living 20 miles from one of EA's office buildings and not being able to get help... that's beside the point. I live in the US, in Southern California. I'm running Standard Edition of Spore that I purchased from Target (an American retail chain, similar to Wal-Mart). Bought the game Monday.

When the game first released, I borrowed my friend's copy that he got from EADM and attempted installing it on my computer. Unfortunately the install didn't work because the file was corrupt. SO, I uninstalled what little bit of the game HAD loaded itself onto my PC.

Last Saturday I downloaded the trial version of Creature Creator onto my PC to see if I could get it to run. I was quite excited when it did.

So I went out on a limb and risked purchasing the full version of Creature Creator. I mean, after all, if it didn't run I'd only be out $10. Installed it, linked up to my profile, ran beautifully.

Then I read on the net that generally if your PC will support Creature Creator, it will support SPORE. SO, not wanting to risk downloading a corrupt file, I ran to the nearest electronics store and purchased a hard copy of SPORE. I had no problems installing it. It loaded beautifully... until I came upon the dreaded "The code for this installation is invalid and cannot be used to link this product to your account" Message. When I hit "Try again" I got the "You do not have the proper SPORE.com privileges to use this product's online features" Message.

So I went online and tried contacting EA's Customer Support. What a joke (here in the States at least).

Then I went searching for answers. I tried doing the "delete preferences folder and try again trick", but the login.** file was nowhere to be found. After much digging I FINALLY found the Preferences folder and deleted it.Which did nothing. I still get the error messages.

One weird thing that I DID notice when I started my install, is that NOWHERE not ONCE did it give me any sort of input field to type in the registration key on the back of my manual. As soon as I put the disk in it made me select a language, asked if I agreed with the terms and conditions, and instantly began installing the game (which I find odd for Maxis). ALSO, SPORE doesn't display in the EADM as "installed" with the " --> Play" button like both versions of creature creator did. BUT, if the EADM is running while spore is running, EADM displays the message "EADM is in use by SPORE".

Other things I tried are Having the EADM off when starting the game, as opposed to on. Deleting all the temp files from the EADM folder. Both of which did nothing.

I'm going to attempt to contact EA over the phone on the number provided in the game manual. If by tomorrow after lunch, my issue still isn't resolved, I'm going to go to the nearest EA corporate Headquarters in Los Angeles and throw my game at someone's head... At least then I'd be getting $50 worth of enjoyment out of this game.

08-10-2008, 09:53 AM	#1264 (permalink)
Monstarguy Hi, I'm New! Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 1	California United States Standard Edition SPORE Windows Vista Home Premium, on Toshiba Satelite Laptop All I can say is: "At least the UK site is getting feedback, or has a forum PERIOD!" Over here in the U.S., the site is buggy and mostly doesn't work, and we're lucky to get a Maxis rep to SNEAZE in our general direction, let alone acknowledge that we have problems. OK, so I'm not sure if anyone here can help, since I live in the US, in California. It's pathetic really, living 20 miles from one of EA's office buildings and not being able to get help... that's beside the point. I live in the US, in Southern California. I'm running Standard Edition of Spore that I purchased from Target (an American retail chain, similar to Wal-Mart). Bought the game Monday. When the game first released, I borrowed my friend's copy that he got from EADM and attempted installing it on my computer. Unfortunately the install didn't work because the file was corrupt. SO, I uninstalled what little bit of the game HAD loaded itself onto my PC. Last Saturday I downloaded the trial version of Creature Creator onto my PC to see if I could get it to run. I was quite excited when it did. So I went out on a limb and risked purchasing the full version of Creature Creator. I mean, after all, if it didn't run I'd only be out $10. Installed it, linked up to my profile, ran beautifully. Then I read on the net that generally if your PC will support Creature Creator, it will support SPORE. SO, not wanting to risk downloading a corrupt file, I ran to the nearest electronics store and purchased a hard copy of SPORE. I had no problems installing it. It loaded beautifully... until I came upon the dreaded "The code for this installation is invalid and cannot be used to link this product to your account" Message. When I hit "Try again" I got the "You do not have the proper SPORE.com privileges to use this product's online features" Message. So I went online and tried contacting EA's Customer Support. What a joke (here in the States at least). Then I went searching for answers. I tried doing the "delete preferences folder and try again trick", but the login.** file was nowhere to be found. After much digging I FINALLY found the Preferences folder and deleted it.Which did nothing. I still get the error messages. One weird thing that I DID notice when I started my install, is that NOWHERE not ONCE did it give me any sort of input field to type in the registration key on the back of my manual. As soon as I put the disk in it made me select a language, asked if I agreed with the terms and conditions, and instantly began installing the game (which I find odd for Maxis). ALSO, SPORE doesn't display in the EADM as "installed" with the " --> Play" button like both versions of creature creator did. BUT, if the EADM is running while spore is running, EADM displays the message "EADM is in use by SPORE". Other things I tried are Having the EADM off when starting the game, as opposed to on. Deleting all the temp files from the EADM folder. Both of which did nothing. I'm going to attempt to contact EA over the phone on the number provided in the game manual. If by tomorrow after lunch, my issue still isn't resolved, I'm going to go to the nearest EA corporate Headquarters in Los Angeles and throw my game at someone's head... At least then I'd be getting $50 worth of enjoyment out of this game.