Total War 'invalid CD key' message

[mihai7192]

A few yrs ago I entered my CD key for Medieval Total War II and had no problems. I can play it fine. I wanted to add my Medieval TW I and Rome TW I, but every time I enter the code, I get the 'Invalid CD key' message. I have tried with and w/out the hyphons. I bought the games many yrs ago and now they won't play on my newest desktops cuz Windows is too high(huh?!?!). It is so stupid that Windows 10 won't play a game that Windows 98 could play easily. Is it a scam by Steam just so you have to REBUY the game from them?!?! I spent $30-$40 EACH when these games came out originally. Now it seems my only hope to play them is buy them all over again from Steam? Yeah, a Total scam!!!

[Crazy Tiger]

mihai7192 lähetti viestin:

I am talking about the CD key

We know. We're telling you that CD keys aren't the same as Steam activation keys. The vast majority of CD keys do NOT work on Steam.

mihai7192 lähetti viestin:

It worked fine for Medieval II.

Because the publisher enabled the conversion of CD keys to Steam activation keys. Which is something that didn't actually happen that often.

mihai7192 lähetti viestin:

I figured I could do it on my other games too.

You figured wrong.

mihai7192 lähetti viestin:

Also weird--I have Medieval II and Medieval II Kingdoms. When I try to enter that 1's code, it says it's already on there, yet only lets me play Medieval II regular version.

When you press the Play button, you get a small screen with a few options. The extra campaigns listed are from the Kingdoms expansion. It's all included in Medieval 2 Definitive edition.

mihai7192 lähetti viestin:

now I'm sol when the internet goes down :'(

Just play in Offline mode.

[mihai7192]

oh, this is just ridiculous!!! I bought Rise of Nations last wkend from Steam. I go to play it tonite(Sat). it plays fine for a few hrs. I log off. now I go to get back on and I can HEAR it trying to start but see a black screen. I've tried it both from the RoN thumbnail on my desktop and the Steam thumbnail--same results. I finally, after a few minutes get a box saying 'BHG RTS run time ERROR could not resize swap chain buffers!' I am so done w/this crap!!!

[Crazy Tiger]

Usually fixed by changing a .ini file: https://steamcommunity.com/app/287450/discussions/1/2906376154326286703/?ctp=2#c3042732979955429733

If you want to play older games on a newer OS/hardware, you should be prepared to have to occassionally do a tweak. Older software often works less good on newer stuff due to compatibility issues.