CD Key Invalid....Epic Please Read!!

[legacy-Nutcracker]

Again this morning I am getting the dreadful "CD Key is Invalid or in Use by Another Player." Well, my CD Key in NOT invalid, and I have received this error before. It only occurs while playing on my own server. I connect via LAN, so really think there's a problem with the master server understanding the 2 IP's (LAN and WAN). This is extremely frustrating, as Epic has had more than enough time to fix this issue. I admin what seems to be a very popular UT2003 server, but have my own fix for this problem. If the error pops up again tonight, my server will most politely be taken down, and I'll just fire off either UT'99 or Q3, as these games don't seem to have this issue It is just very difficult to take, having purchased the game on day one of availability, set up the dedicated server only complete with server only cd key from Epic, pay for the maintenence and upkeep of the server, pay for the additional bandwidth necessary to run the server, only not to be able to play at certain times because of the "cd key" bug, or what ever it is. So please Epic, either fix this issue, or when it does happen, my server will go offline!!! I have been a huge supporter of this game, and just wonder where it will go without the support of admins??

{SBD}NuT - Admin
"A House of Sex, Booze and Drugs"
unreal://66.76.48.29

[Imaginos]

Epic is shaken and troubled by your threatening words and will immediately cease all development of UT2004 to accomodate your demand that they focus on your problem.

And then again I could be wrong..

While I haven't heard of this problem before, there may be someone here that has. I have been connecting to my own server via LAN since the UT2003 demo with NO problems whatsoever. In my experience though, when it reports your CD key is invalid or in use.. it actually IS in use by someone else. Most cases the key was compromised or stolen mos ago by a "no-CD" hack and people are only now starting to realize it as whoever harvested the keys are using them/distributing them.

Assuming that isn't the case, what steps have you taken to troubleshoot this? As a minimum, when you get the "key invalid" message (I'm not sure if the error kicks both users of the key, which would tip off the thief), try a different valid key borrowed from a trusted friend. (Do a quick regedit to swap them) If it works, quickly switch back to your own key and see if that one fails. If it does.. guess what.

BTW, is this your first posting on the subject?

[legacy-Nutcracker]

Imaginos...

No sir, it's not the first posting on this subject I've made, although it is the first in a while. The last incident was responded to by other admins, who also had the exact same problem connecting exactly the same way we do. That's what makes me think it has something to do with the master server getting "confused" with multiple IP's on one game (internet and lan IP's).

What have I done to troubleshoot? Well, I know of nobody that would "loan" me their cd key to try what you're suggesting. I certainly would not loan mine out either Normally, when it does happen, I can shut down my gaming machine (not just a simple reboot), restart the machine and game, and it seems to go away. Then again, sometimes this will not work either. Also, I've only received the error when connecting to my server, and not others. Also, no other players ever receive the error on my server. Strange, huh?

I agree, I'm quite confident that shutting down the UT2003 server in favor of Q3 will have no bearing on Epic. They already have my $50, which is the reason they're in business I suppose. However, I'm also quite confident that they will want us to fork out another $50 for UT2004, which IMHO should be a free bonus pack type download. Just hopeful they will eventually find a solution to this erratic yet frustrating problem. Thank goodness it only happens occasionally!

[Imaginos]

Multiple posts? Only reason I asked was I didn't research this backwards and your exasperation was making me wonder where the original thread went.

I'm not sure how it would see multiple addresses in use. But that's making assumptions that LAN clients are not treated as internet clients in that the keys are validated.. That, and the game should track the player only once - via private IP or public one, depending on his join method. If the game is tracking a ghost, that could only happen if the ghost were in the game with you. The dedicated server can only generate bots, not a player so the ghost must come from your internal network. If that is the case, the IP's that epic sees your key being played from will still resolve to your server IP on Cox and there *is* an allowance for 2 gamers on a single IP still. So that blows that theory..

This leads me to wonder if your server has nothing at all to do with it.

Have you checked in the regular tech support forum to see how this issue is investigated for regular gamers? Maybe there's some logging going on that will explain it all.. That you have an evil twin!!

In the meantime, now I gotta know - if a key is in use does it bounce both players or just the second one to use the key? I'll get ahold of someone to test this and find out..

[legacy-Nutcracker]

Imaginos,

I'm not sure if it sees multiple addresses or not. I know when I connect, the server logs my IP as my lan IP, but am not sure if it reports me on the master server as under the lan or Cox IP??? I really don't think my server is the issue, but it seems to me that there occasionally is a quirk in the master server, since this is where the kick for the invalid cd key originates. But I dunno....

If you do the testing, please post your findings!!! I would be interested to know what you discover. Also, here is an old post, with others with the same issue as mine. I haven't had it nearly as much with the 2225 patch. Anyway, click below for the last post I made on this issue....and thanks for the help!!

http://www.ina-community.com/forums/...83#post3513283

[legacy-tru]

Just wanted to let you know, that I have the same exact problem (sporadic). It frustrated me so much that I just took the server down until I see a solution in one of these threads.

Cheers,

[Imaginos]

Still haven't tested this yet either.. Hopefully tonight I can catch my brother before his wife beats him to sleep.

[legacy-RYAN166]

did either one of you two get a server key for your guy's server? that is in an email from epic? if so u didnt need one and that would cause your cd key from the retail package to become overwritten and then invalid, if u did do this i can tell u how to change it back without uninstalling it.

[Imaginos]

Real simple if you are comfortable with the Windows Registry editor.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Unreal Technology\Installed Apps\UT2003 contains an entry called CDKey.

You can edit that on the fly to put in your valid one.

If need be I can post a simple Reg file you can edit with notepad to reflect the correct CD Key and doubleclick to do the registry edit for you..

[legacy-Nutcracker]

Ryan166...

Yes, I'm running the dedicated server only install, and not the retail box version for the server. And yes, it has the server only cd key emailed from Epic. The problem is very sporadic, as I have not received the error since the first post (fingers crossed). Thanks for the thought though!

[legacy-[FBM]Bermuda^]

well this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't posted your copy of UT2k3 on Kazaa now would it ?

Seriously though, this happened to me with Half-Life once or twice, i'm sure its down to the CD-Key hack that people have been distributing. I mean the games are only a few quid so why dont people just buy them, lowest of the low leeching someone elses CD-Key if you ask me.


:bulb:

[legacy-tru]

Yeah, I too had a server key. I just copied the registry key before changing to the new server key so that I could change back at any time. (So no problem there).
I'll tell you what may have been my problem. I had dloaded the 2199 version of the free dedicated server, then updated via patch to the new version (2225) I think. I think that was my problem. I think that update to 2225 did not work right. I very recently dloaded the free server package again. This time I searched for the 2225 version, dloaded and installed it. I have not had the "cd key" in use problem yet". Oh well, most problems that I have ever had have ultimately turned out to be "my fault" so no surprise there. If I have any re-occurance of the "cdkey in use" problem with this 2225 version, I will post it.
Thanks for your help.

cheers,

[legacy-Nutcracker]

Just got the dreaded cd key thing again this afternoon. Gonna try a hard reboot and see if that fixes it for another 10 days. LOL!! Tru, I'm not receiving this error daily or anything, so don't be so sure that the 2225 server will fix this annoying issue. I hope for you sake it does!!

[legacy-Nutcracker]

Completely shutting down my client machine, not just a simple reboot, fixed the problem. I didn't have to shut the server down. So maybe I'll be good to go for another 10 or so days :bulb:

[legacy-tru]

Good news and bad news-

The bad news is the same "key in use " problem popped up again. I almost took a hammer to my PC this time lol.
The good news is that I now have the problem fixed for good. (I have had the server up for over a week with no problems)
This is what I did-
I dumped the dedicated server that I downloaded earlier and started a game through my original installation of UT3. I went in there, and chose host a game and checkmarked dedicated. It ran fine. Then, (since I want the game to run as a service on another pc) I used firedaemon and directed it to the runserver bat in my original UT3 directory. It works great. I am using my original (purchased BTW) key for the server machine and for my PC when I join from another room. No problems yet and my wife can even join the game from her PC with the same key. Nice..........

I know this explanation is kinda weak, if you need more details let me know.

cheers,

[Frogger]

this is a problem I have had sporadically since I started playing it online...I get it not only on my dedicated server...but whenever online. None of the tell tales are there..(Kazaa Dl, multiple people trying to use it)...Dr SIN has assured me that there are no working KeyGens that would be able to replicate my key...So I am stuck frustrated...randomly being kicked offline in the middle of matches...for what seems to be a problem that can't/won't be addressed. Hopefully I get a new key with 2004:down:

[legacy-Nutcracker]

Well, I'm not sure the people at Epic know exactly what is going on with this issue at all. Look at Tru's fix. I'm glad that is working for him. But according to how the cd key thing is "supposed" to work, his fix definitely should not work. Especially if he's advertising his server, as he's using one key for 2 clients and one server. My set up has one dedicated server install with a server only cd key from Epic, and my client is a purchased legal retail box, which should not produce this type of error, but occasionally does. To me, the only thing that is certain is however this cd key thing is implemented, it danged sure doesn't work BTW, if you do talk to Dr. Sin, please ask when in the world we will get a new version of UTSecure and post your results.

[legacy->>MaLi<<]

Unfortunatley I don't have a solution to your problem, all I can say is that it works for me.

I'm running a dedicated server with UTSecure, MapVote and Server-Only key from Epic. I've been running the server since day one, but added UTSecure and MapVote a few months back.
When playing on my own server I connect through LAN with my retail-version and valid key without any problems.

A few times I've hade the "Not valid / in use" error message, but I can't remember if that was on my own server or on another one but it's not more frequent than once every second month and it never lasted more than 10 minutes.

/MaLi

[legacy-BDC]AmbiantByte]

Unfortunatley I know what the problem is, someone must have used an illegal KeyGen App and downloaded ut2003, and the keygen must have given him the same reg code as you. You should directly contact epic games.