Can't play Dead Space 2 (Always end up in the Activation Wizard) **SOLVED**

[plm999]

I'm trying to play Dead Space 2. I bought it a few months ago, just tried to load it and play it. It downloaded and installed, went through activation, everything looks good, "Activation Sucessful", then.....nothing happens.
I go back to the Steam app, the game status is "ready to play", click it again, goes through activation process agan, says I sucessfully activated the game AGAIN. It just does that every time I try to play the game. It never launches the game.
How do I fix it?
Thanks.

[WhereIsBusmin]

Start your troubleshooting journey here:

Steam Support > How to remove and refresh your Steam files [/quote]

Refreshing your Steam files can resolve many issues that can be encountered in the Steam application, store, or games. Performing this operation will ensure that there are no issues that could be resolved with a new installation of Steam, and is a good place to start any troubleshooting process.

[Meow]

Restart Steam?

[plm999]

I refreshed my steam files, nothing changed. Every time I try to play Dead Space 2 it goes into this registration validation process and reports "success"

[Silicon Vampire]

Just installed and ran Dead Space 2 without issue on W7HP64bit, fyi.

Sounds like the computer needs help...

[Jerry]

check ur computer's configuration. Does it support them?

[plm999]

My computer is a fairly recent build (maybe 9 months), W7 Pro with i5 unlocked and overclocked, 16 GB RAM, Nvidia GTX660. I've run newer games that Deadspace 2 without trouble. Metro Last Light was no problem.
It never attempts to launch the game, it always cycles back to validating registration.
Just downloaded and tried to run BioShock2, worked with no problem, probably because is already had the certificate as it was part of the half-life bundle.
I think the bug might have to do with how it is interacting with the certificate server.

[plm999]

I noticed the McAfee Virus sneaked onto my computer somehow (probably ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Adobe or Google toolbar or some such snuck it in when I didn't read the fine print an check the box that says "hell no, don't put any extra crap on my computer"). Anyway, I've removed it. Removed some other crap while I was at it. Unfortunately I had already deleted Deadspace2 and now have to wait for it to finish downloading before i can see if this fixes it. I'll post tomorrow whether it worked or not.

[plm999]

Still no success. Re-installed game, went through activatrion, "success", status is ready to play, click play and it start the validation all over dialog agaiin. I'm stuck.

[plm999]

Steam update didn't help. Still can't play DeadSpace2. Bioshock2 loaded and plays no problem. Any ideas?????

[Silicon Vampire]

Humor me.

Refresh your Steam files again but this time when you start steam for the first time, right click the steam.exe and "Run as Administrator". Test again. If it works, shut down steam, restart normally and test again.

[plm999]

Still no success. Bummer.

[Silicon Vampire]

DBL check your AV/Firewall, make sure something isn't getting blocked that shouldn't be...

I tend to exclude my whole Steam Folder(s) from both real-time scanning and my firewall...

[plm999]

Dead Spacce 2 is the only game I've had trouble with. What is different between that and Last Light, Halflife, Bioshock, etc.?

[Silicon Vampire]

Electronic Arts authentication...

[plm999]

OK, checked all the security logs, nothing there. Windows firewall would have notified me if anything was blocked. Antivirus, same, nothing there, nothing in the logs, router firewall as well. The game keeps giving me a success and steam status is "ready to play". Maybe there's a file in the DS2 directory I need to delete to force a real re-auth? Something?