Invalid CD key workaround

[TinyWiking]

Greetings gang,
We are aware of the issue that currently happening to the majority of our users where the game won't start and you instead get an invalid CD key error. This is being investigated but due to us no longer working with the developer it's taking a while. For now, please try this workaround that Obnosis and StarHawke found:

From Obnosis:
Very quick fix for those that still have acces to a key (found mine in registry key in HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Valve/TestApp42890).

-write that key down or save it in a file
-open SOTS game folder.
-edit with notepad the file "42890_install.vdf"
-write your key instead of %cdkey%
-(NOT SURE IF NEEDED, but i did it) - delete registry value HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Valve/TestApp42890
-run game

my hint was that the "key" registry value in local_machine/software/etc../sots was always reset to "%cdkey%" after every attempt to launch the game.

The .vdf file changes the registry at every game startup. the game checks for the cdkey inside the registry entry. the vdf script removes the original key and replaces it with "%CDKey%" string, so it's creating an error.
by changing the "%cdkey%" string inside the 42890_install.vdf with the correct key, the script runs just like before, but this time it adds the key to the corect location.

From StarHawke
I couldn't find that exact folder in my registry under CURRENT_USER, but was able to find my cd key on the computer the game works on in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/WOW6432Node/sword of the stars. Putting that key in 42890_install.vdf manually worked perfectly!

[cruschef]

Major.Pain の投稿を引用：

cruschef, you can try searching for other "sword of the stars" registry entries or "sots" registry entries or "42890" Folders in the registry which belong to Sword of the Stars install to see if there are any cd key entrys in those that don't match or are blank ect.
Depending on your OS and if 32/64 bit the registry uses different addresses.

I managed to find a file in my steam folder that had a lot of hieroglyphics along with strings of sensible info.. some of which was involving this game. I am assuming it must be the registry yall are talking about.
Anyhow i found the (cdkey %cdkey%) section of said string and replaced it with my key, and double checked the install.vdf file.
Tried it again and received same error. Screen goes black, mouse changes for a sec and then error window. So i assume i will have to wait for TinyWiking to receive a fix.

Thanks for the assist Major, but alas it is futile lol. Unless i altered the wrong notepad deal.. should it have info about other games as well? Or be solely devoted to this one?
Oh, and its Windows 8.1 64bit that im running

[Colonel Sanders Lite]

Well, you've goobered something up.

It's hard to say what you've been doing to your files so my first recommendation is to uninstall the game. Make sure all the files in the sword fo the stars directory are deleted.

Reinstall the game.

The only file you should be editing is 42890_install.vdf

I'm going to say it's 95% likely that on your previous attempt to edit the CD key in this file you either made a typo or accidently deleted the quotes or left out the dashes or didn't capitilise it correctly or left in the %'s or something along these lines.

The line should look like:

				"CDKey"		"xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx"

[White Errorist]

Thanks god we else could play in torrent version of the game.

[Major.Pain]

Crushef, sounds to me with you seeing Heiroglyphic type characters you opened and edited the wrong file, like colonel above says only edit the 42890_install.vdf file in your Steam Library/steam apps/common/sword of the stars complete collection folder.

If you right click it and select Notepad to open it it the top part of the file should look like:

"InstallScript"
{
"Registry"
{
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Sword of the Stars"
{
"string"
{
"InstallDir" "%INSTALLDIR%"
"InstallLang" "1033"
"InstallVer" "1.8.0"
"CDKey" "PUT YOUR CD KEY HERE"


Now all you need to do is put your cd key between the qoutes.

**
I am running this one on W10 64bit so as W8 64bit was the base for W10 anyway i can't see how your file structure would be any different to mine.

After you have done this AND TRIED TO LAUNCH THE GAME AND FAILED you can check in your registry to see if this edited .vdf you have just done is adding the cd key to your registry.

Hit WINDOWS+R
Type regedit in the text field
Then you basically go to the address it is telling you in your .vdf file a couple of lines down from the top, in this case mine would be:

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Sword of the Stars"

However there is another child folder of the SOFTWARE folder for me called

WOW6432Node

so the complete address for me on W10 would be

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\WOW6432Node\\Sword of the Stars

Then its pretty self explanatory, does the cd key to the right match the cd key you put into the .vdf file???

**
A thought just ocurred to me if its relevent or not but those who have done all this and still are not having any joy actually change the registry adress in your .vdf file to match correctly match the address in your registry.

Mine does not match but still works but maybe its worth a try, so in my example above you would just change the line in your .vdf from

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Sword of the Stars"

to

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\WOW6432Node\\Sword of the Stars"

[Colonel Sanders Lite]

The path in my vdf doesn't match the actual path in the registry either. Same paths as yours on win7x64. This translation *should* be handled by WoW64 and probably shouldn't be set by hand.

[Ed Bever]

All 4 key entries match perfectly (both the register entries, the .vdf file and the key found in Steam) but its not working. Very annoying.....
Now, the two registry entries did not match exactly, in that one had the "sots" bit in capitals and the other didn't. The Steam key does have that part in capitals, too, but the pop-up, again, does not. So logically there must be a 5th entry, but i have no idea where to find it.

[Urocyon]

Hmm... I'm doing the above steps correctly, but I have a five segmented key not a four segmented key: STOTS-00b2-82f5-a85a-c20b-0087. This apparently does NOT work, and I cant find a four segmented key anywhere...

[Colonel Sanders Lite]

Try chopping off the first section. Looks like some kind of filler. Maybe something that steam uses internally these days that SOTS was never designed to handle.

[Urocyon]

Colonel Sanders Lite の投稿を引用：

Try chopping off the first section. Looks like some kind of filler. Maybe something that steam uses internally these days that SOTS was never designed to handle.

So I removed the 00b2 part ans saved the file, but when I ran it it still said it was an invalid key, INCLUDING the part I chopped off.

Thanks for the quick response, BTW.

[Major.Pain]

Ed Bever & Urocyon
Are you guys using the key in your Steam Client Library list of games?
i.e. Open Steam Client Library, select sots from you games list, cd key should be shown on a list on the right?
Urocyon cause your key does not lool right, when its listed in the Registry it displays as:
XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

For me letters are all lower case so...

If the cd key is not showing up in your Steam Library and you have not done a clean install wiping out all the extra folders and registry entries in the last few weeks, i.e. your trying to get an older install to now run that you have not tried for a while and its failing, try the clean install.

[Colonel Sanders Lite]

Urocyon の投稿を引用：

Colonel Sanders Lite の投稿を引用：

Try chopping off the first section. Looks like some kind of filler. Maybe something that steam uses internally these days that SOTS was never designed to handle.

So I removed the 00b2 part ans saved the file, but when I ran it it still said it was an invalid key, INCLUDING the part I chopped off.

Thanks for the quick response, BTW.

00b2 is not the first section. To put it another way, try: 00b2-82f5-a85a-c20b-0087

Also, I'm with Major.Pain in wanting to know where you guys got your numbers. Registry or from the steam interface?

Edit: Oh, I see that's still too many number sets. Never mind on that then. Still want to know where you got that key from.

[Owl Ball]

Still doesn't work for me. The key provided by Steam looks like this: SOTS-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx which appears to be an incorrect format.

[Colonel Sanders Lite]

Oh crap. I think I just realized what's going on with you guys...

Those look like SOTS 2 keys. My SOTS 2 key looks like SOSS-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx

I'm not sure who to talk to about that.

[Snail Parkour]

I have the old Sword of the Stars/Argos Naval Yard (Steam App numbers 25860 and 25920) and am experiencing the same issue. There's no CD key visible in the right click menu for either of these. Will this fix also be available for the older versions?

[Major.Pain]

My sots2 key format is:

SS2E-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX lower case letters.

So completely different that my sots complete collection cd key.

Crivvens
Not sure what to suggest buddy, you seem to not have the sots complete edition so maybe have a look to see if there is a path to upgrade to complete collection as i am not sure the dev who was posting on here is aware there is other editions other than complete collection??