"My game won't unlock" - [PSA] - Preloads and What Happens on the 24th

[Satoru]

For some this may be your first pre-load of a game on Steam. So you're obviously excited to play it. This PSA is to outline what happens between now and the 24th

UK is now officially unlocked

The UK is now officially unlocked

Restart Steam to trigger the decryption

Hey I Downloaded the game but I can't play it! It says it's encrypted!!

Right now you have a pre-load. This is an encrypted version of the game that sits on your hard drive. You can't do anything with it until October 24th. Please be patient

Hey it's the 24th! The game isn't working!

The game is being released in 3 zones depending on where you live.

http://steamcommunity.com/games/65980/announcements/detail/144438948335262596

http://i.imgur.com/hLhoeWm.jpg

Please refer to this chart to see at what time your region will go live. The times dates listed are for that local region.

Very very broadly the zones are

Zone 1 : Oceania/Asia
Zone 2: Russia/Europe/Africa
Zone 3: North/South/Central America

Hey other people are downloading the game, but mine still says "Pre-load"

Sometimes restarting Steam helps give it a good kick in the head to refresh things. Try that first.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BYPASS THE REGIONAL TIME LOCKS

Seriously its just a couple of hours. Plus doing so will result in Steam locking your account. Don't do it.

Hey it's the 24th, and the game is released. I pressed Play and Steam says it's at 95% and its 'stuck'!!

Note that you have an encrypted version as your preload. Steam needs to decrypt these files and then copy them to the right place. This takes time. It may take 10-15 minutes or more depending on your CPU and how fast your hard drive speed is. Look at your hard drive indicator light. it's likely lit up like a Christmas Tree.

Please be patient and let Steam decrypt the files. This may take awhile.

Take a bio break, stock up on provisions, do some pre-game stretches. It's going to be long night anyway. Use this time to get to get 'in the zone' mentally.

Hey Steam is downloading stuff. I thought that was the point of this 'preload'

The pre-load was likely a build, at best from Monday, but likely was from a build several weeks ago. The devs likely have had time to patch some things and such, so they're likely trying to cram in a few more fixes. You won't have to download too much so be patient.

I can't stop playing! Please help!

http://www.civanon.org/home.shtml

[SamBC]

Regarding the unlock time, it's only been said definitively for North America:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=534595

https://twitter.com/CivGame/status/515104661561282560

"Pre-loading is definitely happening. I don't believe we have a concrete date for that yet, though I'll be sure to relay that info as soon as I know.

As for going live, that's 12am Eastern, 9pm Pacific in the US. For Europe, you'll have to ask the European team what the official plan for that is."

[Satoru]

http://steamcommunity.com/games/65980/announcements/detail/144438948335262596

You're right as they appear to be doing a 'rolling' release of the game depending on your region. I've updated the OP with this new information

[LupisVolk]

Love you for putting the Australian release time.

[The Simulacra]

Sticky-worthy, imho

[LupisVolk]

Pre loading is now avaiable in Australia.

[GM Pax]

Originally posted by LB The Simulacra:

Sticky-worthy, imho

I second that motion.

[jirad]

Any chance they will release the manual before the launch to give us something to do besides refreshing the community page and posting snarky comments like these? ;->

Thanks!

[Savage]

The ♥♥♥♥ they come up with.

[Satoru]

The game releases today. Here's what you should expect to happen

[SamBC]

This is not official information, but it looks like it is something people will find useful

[Bloodking]

for USA EASTERN TIME NEW YORK aria it says the 24th at 12:00 am is that thursday night at 12 or friday at 12 srry if this sounds stupid

[TwilightDusk]

Originally posted by Bloodking:

for USA EASTERN TIME NEW YORK aria it says the 24th at 12:00 am is that thursday night at 12 or friday at 12 srry if this sounds stupid

Given that it's the same time as 9PM Wednsday for the west coast, it means 12:01AM Thursday.

[Satoru]

Originally posted by Bloodking:

for USA EASTERN TIME NEW YORK aria it says the 24th at 12:00 am is that thursday night at 12 or friday at 12 srry if this sounds stupid

It's pretty standard notation that 12:00am means midnight on the 24th

[Kyorisu]

Originally posted by Satoru:

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BYPASS THE REGIONAL TIME LOCKS

Seriously its just a couple of hours. Plus doing so will result in Steam locking your account. Don't do it.

What are things that have never happened? Valve will ban your arse for trying to buy something over a VPN but otherwise they don't care. Advise against it sure but don't scare monger.

[Mazi7]

First time that I'm seeing explanation like this for "first timers". Awesome job.