CD-key is Invalid & Linux

[Leamare]

I wrote to "[e-mail]", but instead of solving the problem I've got advice to run the game as administrator or go to UT2004 forums. I registered at Epic's forum, but I can't post anything.

Well, the problem is that my CDkey appears to be invalid. I bought UT2004 in steam for getting a valid CD-key, but I'm using Linux-based OS so I used this key for installing and launching UT2004 native on linux.

Everything worked fine for years, but I've not played UT2004 for around two years. After I've installed the game again after GameSpy servers down, I've got "CD-key is invalid window" and I used the same CD-key that I used earlier and which I've got from my steam version.

Used it only four times on my two machines (two times on windows and two times on linux). Sometimes I use the same version of UT2004 both as server and client (launch>host game>dedicated and launch again>connect). May that be the reason? And, well, how can I fix that?

[jefe]

Could be a few things happening there. First off, are you having trouble entering the key? Were you able to get UT2004 to run at all? I don't have any experience with Linux, so I can't help much.


Assuming you were able to get UT2004 to run, it might be Steam itself causing the problem.

My situation is a bit unusual, but I had installed UT2004 using the CD key from my disc. Later on I decided to install the Steam version as well, as a vanilla install for testing mods and maps (I have many years of accumulation on my main install.) When I did that it replaced my CD key with the Steam key. No big deal. That worked great until very recently.

I have my system set up for familiy library sharing - some games are on my son's account, while others are on mine. Now here's the weird part - whenever my son logs into Steam on my computer, it immediately deletes the UT2004 CD Key! So I can't use my older install of UT2004 without either starting the Steam version first or editing the CDKey manually. Like I said, my situation is a bit unusual because most people won't have 2 separate installations of 2k4, but it is weird behavior and only started about a month or two ago.

The reason I mention this weird issue it is that it's possible that Steam is deleting your CDKey in the same way - Steam doesn't support the Linux version of UT2004, and it might be deleting it because you don't "own" it on that platform. What you should do is manually enter your key while Steam is not running, then check to see if it disappears when Steam is started.

[Leamare]

I tried some experiments this night and suddenly fixed the issue.

I thought: maybe the CDkey has been changed? Maybe it's hardware-related or just changed because of new master server (after GameSpy down)?
Well, I don't know what's the reason, but I decided to check it out. I installed Steam using Wine and installed UT2004. I checked registry for CDkey and, well, it's really changed. I copied this new key and used it instead of my old CDkey and... everything worked! Linux version commects to master server, CDkey is valid and everything is fine.

[wt_oneil]

I ran into this after trying to install UT2004 on an additional newer Linux PC. Has been running fine for years on the old Linux PC . Install on newer PC even pulled the download from the older one.

Once installed on newer PC, Steam launched the game with pop-up showing the CD Key which I copied to clipboard but, the game did not give me an opportunity enter the key anywhere and I get the invalid key error in a Window looking dialog and game exits.

Did some searching around and fixed it by enter registry key. Here's source file which should work in most Bash like shells to start regedit. Then follow comments at end to add registry key with your license. Sorry, license not included:

# Set variables for Steam library home
STEAM_LIBRARY=$HOME/.local/share/Steam/steamapps

# ****** CHANGE IF REQUIRED *********
# If you changed default install location, WINEPREFIX for a given game will 
# be relative to the altered location and not STEAM_LIBRARY.
# However, the core tools will still be at default location so, with the above var,
# create 1 extra var
STEAM_LIBRARY_ALT=/srv/storage/steam/steamapps

[[ ! -d $STEAM_LIBRARY_ALT ]] && STEAM_LIBRARY_ALT="$STEAM_LIBRARY"


# and wine binary for a particular version of Proton.
# Make sure to pick the one your game is using by checking in Steam UI Library:
# Library >> Right-Click Game in listed games >> Properties >> Compatibility
PROTON_WINE_BIN="$STEAM_LIBRARY/common/Proton - Experimental/files/bin/wine"

# Run regedit 32-bit for a given APPID number
# Library >> Right-Click Game in listed games >> Properties >> Updates

# Example (UT2004): Adding CD Key
env WINEPREFIX="$STEAM_LIBRARY_ALT/compatdata/13230/pfx" "$PROTON_WINE_BIN" regedit

# UT2004 CD Key =  Displayed prior to start by Steam Launcher.

# Once, regedit launches, create Key branch from left hand side of window:
# HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Unreal Technology\Installed Apps\UT2004

# Add a string key right winow pane (child of UT2004 key)
# CDkey  with value equal to your CD key

# Exit regedit which will save the changes.
# Note: Leaving regedit open will lock that registry and prevent the game from launching until you close the registry.

[vee-kay]

I got "CD Key is invalid" error when I updated to 64-bit patch and launched the UT2004.exe from System subfolder.

Launched the game from Steam, and it worked.
Then I closed the gamee and tried the game exe again, and it too worked.
Weird.