Does the DRM mean you can't exchange the game?

[Placoderm]

Originally Posted by bamzors

Understood Placoderm. I'm using the game *and* the associated online account - the game was bought for me but my brother did an install for a quick peek (this sounds complete dodgy bolox even as I write it but you have to guess whether I'm (a) an 11-year-old who spends his life downloading torrents and rebuilding my PC every couple of weeks to recover from viruses or (b) a balding middle-aged bloke with a large mortgage who only gets a chance for serious sim-time if I get up three hours before the rest of the family.)

- Noob question: I have a couple of Steam games and the info Steam gives you about your account is really quite impressive, e.g. obviously what games you've got licenced, but also their upgrade status and play stats etc. I still wonder if I've missed something with Ubisoft because I have found *no* personalised info online after I log on except I can see the profile info I typed in - is that really it or am I missing something??

I'm sure the a/c will be sorted Tuesday and I'm looking forward to seeing how good the rough seas of the North Atlantic really are in SH5.

cheers,

Bamzors

LOL!...No problem, Bamzors. I personally fall into the category b myself, with the added frustration of having been laid-off for way too long for my own comfort. I am definately no fan of the DRM system that Ubisoft has employed, but we are stuck with what it is...and so I was just clarifying the limitations you will face using the game once it has been registered to another person.

As for your second question, you are not missing anything. All the Ubisoft registration does is guarantee you will be spammed by endless "offers" from Ubisoft whenever their marketing department wants to promote another one of their games. So far, I have received nothing of merit as a member insofar as value-added services are concerned (and that is after literally years...as I was registered long before SH5 was released). Steam is different in many many ways. Steam is a third-party distributor and a gaming service. Steam attracts customers based on numerous enhancements, as you have already found out...and they succeed by offering more than just an over-used sales pitch, with such services as player chat, game tracking, unlimited re-installs, automatic updates, videos, forums, game stat tracking, and more. Ubisoft's version is the ugly inbred crooked-toothed wart-nosed bastard-child of their marketing department, and is essentially useless for anything but their own internal marketing needs.

Trust me, you are not missing anything worthwhile at all...

[SabreHawk]

Originally Posted by bamzors

I'm sure the a/c will be sorted Tuesday and I'm looking forward to seeing how good the rough seas of the North Atlantic really are in SH5.

cheers,

Bamzors

What is a/c, and whats happening on tuesday?

The bottom line is here that you will not be able to play SH5 until the issue of it being registered to your brother or who ever gave it to you.
But I dont think this is possible unless you contact UBI and can prove all that you say here to them, and they can delete the original account and registration.
But if you ask me I smell something very fishy here with this whole story.

[bamzors]

What is a/c, and whats happening on tuesday?

a/c = account.
what's happening on tuesday = I phone Ubisoft support.

and I agree it *looks* fishy (unless you have smell-o-vision).

Bamzors

[SabreHawk]

Originally Posted by bamzors

a/c = account.
what's happening on tuesday = I phone Ubisoft support.

and I agree it *looks* fishy (unless you have smell-o-vision).

Bamzors

Ahhh, ok.
Yep thats what I'd do is call UBI on this. But they too may think it's fishy, cause if you think about it anyone could call them up and make this claim.

One other option, make him go buy another one for you.
I mean this mess was all his making in the first place.

[bamzors]

Final summary, for anyone actually interested in this thread, mainly if you get the "cd-key already in use" message, particularly after a re-install of SH5:

1) When you first re-install SH5 onto a new PC, you will be prompted for your ubi.com online account/password, so you should get immediate confirmation at least you've given the right password. I created a *new* account which is a mistake obvious to people that know what they're doing, but then was able to simply log out and log in again using the proper ubi.com account.

2) Assuming you've used the correct online ubisoft account, and password authenticated ok, you should *not* be prompted for the cd-key on re-install. I was being prompted for the cd-key and re-typed it a thousand times checking for capslock and 'V's being 'U's and '0's being 'O's but my error was that I was correctly authenticating to the *wrong* online account (simple when you know). Basically the fact that I was even being prompted for the cd-key on the re-install was enough to know it was the wrong account.

3) I dialled the 0871 support number listed in the SH5 dvd manual which is manned 11am-8pm, although I notice Ubisoft uk website lists another tech support number 0905 482 010 (30p/min) manned 9am-7pm. It took 2 minutes to get through the tone-menus to a real person but then it was straightforward.

4) The support guy asked for my online account *and* password and I think he logged in directly to my account. There are security questions like date-of-birth but that's checked against the info that is stored in the account so given the password it's a bit circular. Immediately he was able to tell me the ubisoft games licenced to that account, which in my case did *not* include SH5 hence the issue. It would have helped me a lot if I could have seen that online.

5) I gave the support guy the cd-key (from the retail dvd box) and he was able to tell me the ubi.com account that *did* have that SH5 licenced to it, only because this account was an obvious clone of the other one (same personal details, different email account). He was simply able to reset the password of *that* account with the new password going to the registered email address (which I can access) so he didn't actually tell me/do anything insecure.

So now it's all sorted. I did have all the security info the support guy needed, (cd key, ubi.com account info, d.o.b. etc, able to access the original email accounts - if you don't then it will be hard to distinguish yourself from the 'fishy' category' as SabreHawk says). And it helps now to know the process which looks trivial now but stumped me on the weekend. With hindsight the only hints I'd have would be:
* do dial ubisoft support - they can see a lot of stuff you can't see
* when you fill in the form for the online account, be a bit careful with account name, password, email address and date-of-birth. *All* of these can turn out to be crucial in recovering your licence. In particular if you move to a new email address, go back in and change the entry in your online ubi.com account, because a password-reset will be sent out on that address... the ubi.com entry form won't accept my '.ac.uk' email account (WTF?)

Thanks for the help on here - I'd have bored you with it less if it hadn't been a holiday weekend and I had 3 days to wait for ubisoft support...

Bamzors

[Feuer Frei!]

Originally Posted by bamzors

Final summary, for anyone actually interested in this thread, mainly if you get the "cd-key already in use" message

Glad you got it sorted, constructive and helpful reference for others who may have this issue, and don't know.

[robbo180265]

Originally Posted by Feuer Frei!

Glad you got it sorted, constructive and helpful reference for others who may have this issue, and don't know.

I can only echo Feuer Frei's statement above.

Glad you got it sorted in the end - and thanks for your last post, that'll really help someone if they find themselves in your postion.

NOW GO SINK STUFF!