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!!!

[DC-GS]

You probably bought the game for another launcher, not Steam.

And yeah, blame Valve for Microsoft discontinuing APIs and the developer not patching an 2-3 decade old game.

[Lithurge]

It seems this is the same problem you had this time last year, the explanation is most likely the same

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/5544461758370398301/

[Ettanin]

It's not a scam. The license is for the retail version on the medium (DVD) you were given. And if you use Windows XP you can use it as it was intended.

You need a new license to play the digital version distributed on Steam.

[Crazy Tiger]

The answer I gave you in the last thread still remains relevant: https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/5544461758370398301/#c3119273879029521295

[MancSoulja]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Lithurge:

It seems this is the same problem you had this time last year, the explanation is most likely the same

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/5544461758370398301/

Total War was a Steam exclusive for over a decade. Steam is the only place you can play Medieval and Rome.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Few things to explain.
- Game publisher / devs have to give their custom keys, or approval use for Steam to activate game copy on Steam, if they did not the key will not work for Steam. Not all games you buy from retail is for Steam, read the paper it came with for what the key is for.

- Most games after 2008 comes with a Steam key, and would actually state so on the retail box as well.

So if this is a retail copy, and key doesn't works it means that devs never supply keys to Steam to allow for activation on Steam in the first place, or that you were not provided a Steam key at all.

I have several games that are not your normal Steam key, and have activate on Steam.

[Crazy Tiger]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von MancSoulja:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Lithurge:

It seems this is the same problem you had this time last year, the explanation is most likely the same

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/5544461758370398301/

Total War was a Steam exclusive for over a decade. Steam is the only place you can play Medieval and Rome.

Both Medieval (2002) and Rome (2004) were released before Steam even started accepting 3rd party publishers and have cd versions that aren't attached to any launcher/store.

[MancSoulja]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Crazy Tiger:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von MancSoulja:

Total War was a Steam exclusive for over a decade. Steam is the only place you can play Medieval and Rome.

Both Medieval (2002) and Rome (2004) were released before Steam even started accepting 3rd party publishers and have cd versions that aren't attached to any launcher/store.

My mistake, you're completely right!

[✪ Rambo]

ya

[mihai7192]

ok, to clarify--I bought ALL of these from Walmart YEARS ago to play on my desktop, which I did for a good while until after upgrading computers and Windows I finally get told that my NEW version of Windows cannot play these older games. I am talking about the CD key-the code inside the case that holds the actual CDs for the game that you load onto your computer from the physical package. It worked fine for Medieval II. I figured I could do it on my other games too. I had Rise of Nations(regular version) and tried to enter that code a while back only to find out Steam doesn't support that game, but has Rise of Nations Deluxe. So, I would need to buy that 1. Sucks that a newer version of Windows cannot play an older game that an older version of Windows was just fine with. I can understand the other way around--if I had an older version of Windows and it can't play my new modern game-I get that. But these other games, Medieval I and Rome I, are on Steam. 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. I love the game and can play hrs on end until I fall asleep in the chair. But would like to try this other 1 too.

[mihai7192]

and just kinda sucks that I now have to play these games online. once I got into my online game, WoW, I got away from these other games. I would play them only when I was bored of WoW or my internet was down. now I'm sol when the internet goes down :'(

[shiel]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Crazy Tiger:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von MancSoulja:

Total War was a Steam exclusive for over a decade. Steam is the only place you can play Medieval and Rome.

Both Medieval (2002) and Rome (2004) were released before Steam even started accepting 3rd party publishers and have cd versions that aren't attached to any launcher/store.

This ^

Steam exclusivity started with Empire iirc.

[feytharn]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von mihai7192:

and just kinda sucks that I now have to play these games online. once I got into my online game, WoW, I got away from these other games. I would play them only when I was bored of WoW or my internet was down. now I'm sol when the internet goes down :'(

I can play those games in offline mode if I want to. The Steam versions have to be downloaded and started once online, though.

[shiel]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von mihai7192:

and just kinda sucks that I now have to play these games online. once I got into my online game, WoW, I got away from these other games. I would play them only when I was bored of WoW or my internet was down. now I'm sol when the internet goes down :'(

There's honestly nothing stopping you from installing the OG version off a disk and playing it even on Windows 10. Might have to do a workaround to get it to play, but most of the time that's pretty basic and easy to do. I've done it for tons of older games I have on disc including the original Rome Total War.

[mihai7192]

I am 50 and build semi-trailers for a living. not too 'computer literate' to do 'workarounds'...