Cd-key saving problem. News! Try to confirm

[Spinner]

you guys on vista and installed it in the program files ?
if yes, plz use xp or install the game outside program files!

Windows XP and yes It Is Installed In my Program Files.. Ill have to reinstall that and see.. Now I do not have this Issue on reboot, only when I have been playing and lose My Internet connection.

[olde_thymer]

CAN SOMEON PLEASE FIX THIS??!!
I can't keep re-entering all my key bindings and cdKey everytime i want to play!!!!

Also can someone please unblock my IP address? I have to make a trip to the library everytime i want to check this thread to see if there is a solution yet...

I'll be here at the library for another hour if someone can respond.

If not, I guess i will check back in another couple of days.

[Corey]

Also can someone please unblock my IP address? I have to make a trip to the library everytime i want to check this thread to see if there is a solution yet...

You need to contact members Wartourist or Flak to do that.
Shoot them a PM to unblock your IP.
Perhaps a spammer had your IP at one time, so it got blocked, and now you have the IP.

[olde_thymer]

Thanks for the info. I will PM them now.

Thanks, they got me fixed up (Sent from my home PC)

[Nuker43]

This is ****ing rediculous. i work at a lan center with 15 computers with 2 ip's and every damn time a customer wants to play this game i have to enter the cd key for each machine (15 different cd keys for each machine)

There has better be a fix to this soon or i am uninstalling this pos and getting a full refund.

[x0rsw1tch]

I hear a lot of *****ing and moaning about this problem... I had the same exact problem, fixed it, and posted how it is done.

And yet, I still see more whining, with not a single person even attempting at trying this definitive fix. This process takes ~5 minutes. If you cant spend ~5 minutes to even attempt the fix, then you have no right to complain. Take it up with Epic if you have a problem...

http://forums.epicgames.com/showpost...7&postcount=65

Like i said, I had the same problem, and I fixed it on my own when I realized what the problem was. It took me ~5 minutes.

Just try it.

[The Last Templar]

I hear a lot of *****ing and moaning about this problem... I had the same exact problem, fixed it, and posted how it is done.

And yet, I still see more whining, with not a single person even attempting at trying this definitive fix. This process takes ~5 minutes. If you cant spend ~5 minutes to even attempt the fix, then you have no right to complain. Take it up with Epic if you have a problem...

http://forums.epicgames.com/showpost...7&postcount=65

Like i said, I had the same problem, and I fixed it on my own when I realized what the problem was. It took me ~5 minutes.

Just try it.

Unfortunately this fix is irrelevant in my case, and a few other's, but I think I read something in the patch notes for the update Epic is working on that addresses CDKey annoyances.

Hopefully that will remedy any remaining issues.

[x0rsw1tch]

Hmm, actually, if you want to try something.... I just thought of something...

1. Get online to ensure once you enter your cd-key, it is encoded and saved to the file.

2. Set all of your game settings in-game.

3. Exit the game.

4. Go into your My Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Config folder.

5. Open some of the .ini files and see if the settings in the game actually took place. If they did, proceed to the next step, if not, something else is the problem.

6. Close any .ini files you have open.

7. Highlight all the .ini files, right-click and select properties.

8. Check the box for read-only.

9. Run the game again and see if the settings are retained. If you want, try disabling your NIC to reproduce the problem with losing your connection prompts the CD-key check again.

[Lord Herman]

I have the same problem. The game worked fine yesterday, and now it's suddenly asking me for my cd key. What's worse, my key isn't working anymore. I'm absolutely certain I'm putting in the correct key, but the key from my manual, the very same one I entered yesterday when I installed the game, doesn't work anymore. Could this be related to the key saving problem, or is it an entirely different issue?

edit: Never mind, I found the 16-page thread about the issue.

[Grisu]

Had this issue as well after installing the QuakeWars demo.
Luckily I had a backup point set. So all is well again... phew...

[Parsifal]

1. Go to your My Documents folder.

2. If you have a My Games folder, click on it. Otherwise, create a My Games folder.

3. If you have a Unreal Tournament 3 folder, click on it. Otherwise, create a Unreal Tournament 3 folder.

4. If you have Binaries folder, proceed to next step, if not create a Binaries folder.

5. If you have a UTGame folder, click on it, otherwise create a UTGame folder.

6. In this folder (UTGame) you should see the following folders:

Cache
Config
Logs
SaveData
Src
Unpublished

If you dont have these folders, create them.

7. Click on the Config folder. If you have no files in this folder (for any reason) we will need to get them from the UT3 game directory which by default is:

C:\Program Files\Unreal Tournament 3\

NOTE: If you already had all this in your My Documents\My Games folder with the Config folder populated with .ini files, then your problem lies elsewhere.

8. Now, go into the UTGame\Config folder and copy the following files to your My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Config folder.

DefaultCompat.ini
DefaultCustomChar.ini
DefaultEditor.ini
DefaultEditorUserSettings.ini
DefaultEngine.ini
DefaultGame.ini
Defaultinput.ini
DefaultUI.ini
DefaultWeapon.ini

9. Last Step, we need to rename these files so that Ut3 will see them and use them for your configuration settings. We will replace the Default with UT so that the result will look like this.

UTCompat.ini
UTCustomChar.ini
UTEditor.ini
UTEditorUserSettings.ini
UTEngine.ini
UTGame.ini
UTinput.ini
UTUI.ini
UTWeapon.ini

This should solve your problems I cant say this will work for everyone, but it should fix most of your issues with settings not saving. Also, if you have -nohomedir set, take it out.

This doesn't work for me. I am also prompted for the serial every single time for every different user.

[Parsifal]

Wow... loads of help on this official forum *ahem*

That fix doesn't work for everyone, clearly... so is this something a patch will address?

[ashame]

My OS WinXP and had both the serial and settings problem on a game restart.

I've been playing UT3 yesterday on a LAN and this is solved the issue for me:

- applied the '-nohome' command to my shortcut
- made all my .ini files writable (instead of read only)

Hope this helps!

[ldspears]

Friday night, I downloaded the new UT3 Patch 1.2 and applied. I was shocked to see that I still have to re-enter my CD-Key every time I power on my Window XP Gaming PC. If I log in and out of UT3 I don't have to re-enter my CD-Key but if I power off my PC and then back on I have to re-enter it every time.

I contacted Epic Tech Support back in December 2007 about this CD-Key problem and they said it would be fixed in the first patch. I applied the first patch and it was not fixed. Then I was told it would be fixed in the second patch and it's still not fixed.

All of the changes that I make to the UT3 Settings are stored in the UT3 .ini files in "My Documents Folder" but for some reason the CD-Key is not sticking.

I loaded UT3 on two different PC's and I have to re-enter my CD-Key on both. This is not a problem with just one of my PC's.

Man I can't believe that Epic has not fixed this CD-Key problem. This is very bad.

My Gamming Rig:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (3.0 GHz, 1033 FSB)
Motherboard: ASUS Commando (BIO’s 1605)
Memory: 2 GB Corsair XMS Dominator PC2-6400 4.4.4.12
Video Card: EVGA Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX
Hard Disk: 2 Western Digital Raptors SATA 150 GB
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider 750 Watts
CPU Heatsink: Zalman CNPS9700
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy SE
DVD Burners: 2 Lite-On LN-20A1L 20X Light Scribe
Case: Antec Nine Hundred
Monitor: Dell 24” UltraSharp Wide Screen LCD Flat Panel 2407FP
Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1
OS: Windows XP Pro SP2

[ashame]

Friday night, I downloaded the new UT3 Patch 1.2 and applied. I was shocked to see that I still have to re-enter my CD-Key every time I power on my Window XP Gaming PC. If I log in and out of UT3 I don't have to re-enter my CD-Key but if I power off my PC and then back on I have to re-enter it every time.

I contacted Epic Tech Support back in December 2007 about this CD-Key problem and they said it would be fixed in the first patch. I applied the first patch and it was not fixed. Then I was told it would be fixed in the second patch and it's still not fixed.

All of the changes that I make to the UT3 Settings are stored in the UT3 .ini files in "My Documents Folder" but for some reason the CD-Key is not sticking.

I loaded UT3 on two different PC's and I have to re-enter my CD-Key on both. This is not a problem with just one of my PC's.

Man I can't believe that Epic has not fixed this CD-Key problem. This is very bad.

My Gamming Rig:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (3.0 GHz, 1033 FSB)
Motherboard: ASUS Commando (BIO’s 1605)
Memory: 2 GB Corsair XMS Dominator PC2-6400 4.4.4.12
Video Card: EVGA Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX
Hard Disk: 2 Western Digital Raptors SATA 150 GB
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider 750 Watts
CPU Heatsink: Zalman CNPS9700
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy SE
DVD Burners: 2 Lite-On LN-20A1L 20X Light Scribe
Case: Antec Nine Hundred
Monitor: Dell 24” UltraSharp Wide Screen LCD Flat Panel 2407FP
Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1
OS: Windows XP Pro SP2

Did you try one of the fixes mentioned by users?

[Parsifal]

Personally I've tried all the 'fixes' listed here and none of them solve the issue. Neither admin has responded to my PM either. It's a shame as we've bought the game in volume and can't run it for the students :\

[ldspears]

I have tried every CD-Key fix that I can find in this forum and nothing works. This is a UT3 programming bug and I don't understand why more people don't speak up about the CD-Key problem. I have loaded UT3 on four different PC's at different locations and configurations and every PC asked for the CD-Key every time I power up the PC's. Epic will not fix the CD-Key problem unless the customers demand that it be fixed.

[Stringer]

don;t want to rain on neones parade but there are multiple CD key threads, shall we try to keep it to the one thread. Personally I have found that if ur My Doc's is not in it usual place it will fail, if ur on a domain network with My Docs redirected it will fail(Vista and XP clients). This is a patch issue so hopefully it will be fixed.

[WTC]

INVALID CD KEY ISSUE
i UNSTALL THE GAME AND REINSTAL THE GAME AND KEY IS
iNVALID i Have the Pach 1.2

[junk_man32]

just to say, never giveout keys, there are people out there who are faking that they lost their key and download ut3 illegally so yeah

[IDK]

How about making the UTEngine.ini readonly after the key has been entered.

[ldspears]

My Documents folder is on the C: drive and everything else is in the proper place and I still have to re-enter my UT3 CD-Key every time I power up my PC's. All of my UT3 .ini files are updated just fine in My Documents folder but the CD-Key will not stick if I power off my PC.

[Rumple]

I've had to put my cd key in so many times I've got it memorized! Very annoying indeed! For me its completely random. Sometimes it only does it if I reboot my pc and other times it does it every time I launch the game. I'm playing through a router too. Are any of you other guys having problems playing through a router? If I disconnect the router and plug into the modem and put in the cd key I can usually launch the game a few times after that with no problems but as soon as I plug back into the router it asks for the cd key again.

[SuperC]

I ve descovery how to solve the problem in my two systens (XP and Vista), in xp i am using the spybot with registry protection enable, also in vista, but with Kaspersky Internet Security and every time the cd key was promped. I ve understood that all restart session the date of the config files in the ..\unrealtournament3\utgame\config changes to recente date and time. When i disable that options, voilà, no cd key was asked. Everyone who uses some app who uses the option to protect the windows registry try to disable to see that will work. That works for me.

[OMARn3250]

Hi:
I have the same problem too....
Can't anyone Help us with this?
Where are you Epic??!

[SuperC]

I ve descovery how to solve the problem in my two systens (XP and Vista), in xp i am using the spybot with registry protection enable, also in vista, but with Kaspersky Internet Security and every time the cd key was promped. I ve understood that all restart session the date of the config files in the ..\unrealtournament3\utgame\config changes to recente date and time. When i disable that options, voilà, no cd key was asked. Everyone who uses some app who uses the option to protect the windows registry try to disable to see that will work. That works for me.

After i do the thing above, the problem simply disapear, if you lock the windows registry, the game always create a new ini config and you lost all data about cd key.

[deABREU]

Hey, ppl! I own the steam version of the game, and was having this "UT3 not saving my anything" issue too, but now I solved it, it's simple, actually: you use the -nohomedir trick, but you can't do it from the steam app launcher or the shortcut it makes to your desktop, you have to go and make youserlf a shortcut to your "UT3.exe" anywhere you want, THEN add the "-nohomedir" parameter

i.e.: in my case, I now have a desktop shortcut aiming at ["E:\Arquivos de programas\Steam\steamapps\common\unreal tournament 3\Binaries\UT3.exe" -nohomedir] ("arquivos de programas" is portuguese for "program files" :P ), and now it works just fine. I'll be contacting Valve support so maybe they can patch the steam client in order to things work smoothier, or at least give some accurate info in their forums.

I hope I can help any more steam fellas having this issue. thanks everybody for the tips!

**update** actually, it seems that adding "-nohomedir" to the steam app settings works

[<ASS-KICKER!>]

I have the same problem and it only started after installing the 1.2 patch so someone needs to look into this soon b/c it's really anoying...

[hwan]

I have noticed that when I try to play offline without a connection, I have to input the CD key. Rather annoying, honestly.

Consider the issue verified.

Now all we need is a patch.

I have to do the same. It's only every now and then, though.

[hwan]

Hey, ppl! I own the steam version of the game, and was having this "UT3 not saving my anything" issue too, but now I solved it, it's simple, actually: you use the -nohomedir trick, but you can't do it from the steam app launcher or the shortcut it makes to your desktop, you have to go and make youserlf a shortcut to your "UT3.exe" anywhere you want, THEN add the "-nohomedir" parameter

i.e.: in my case, I now have a desktop shortcut aiming at ["E:\Arquivos de programas\Steam\steamapps\common\unreal tournament 3\Binaries\UT3.exe" -nohomedir] ("arquivos de programas" is portuguese for "program files" :P ), and now it works just fine. I'll be contacting Valve support so maybe they can patch the steam client in order to things work smoothier, or at least give some accurate info in their forums.

I hope I can help any more steam fellas having this issue. thanks everybody for the tips!

**update** actually, it seems that adding "-nohomedir" to the steam app settings works

I'm bookmarking this solution for later to see if it works.

[Lucho]

Hi, i am new.
I buy today this game, i like a lot, but i have a problem.
The problem is, when i execute the ut3.exe all time and is all time the game tell me insert cd key, and i must to insert the cd key, and put my configuration video and others options.
Why?
Thx to answer and sorry for my english.
PS: The game is original, patched 1.2 with bonus pack.

[Lucho]

Sorry for the double post.
I want an answer, first i try the ut3 demo online, in the settings don`t save, nest i try the pirated version and i put all time the cd key and dont save my settings and now with the original version same like the pirated.
So, what i can do?
Sorry for my english.
Thx to answer.

[specialsymbol]

So I have the same problem. I have to reenter my key each session twice:

First time when the game starts up.
Then I am to log in to gamespy (which doesn't work, don't know why either).
Then I click on "play offline"- which needs me to enter the key another time.

When I exit the game, go into hibernate and start the game later again it starts all over again.

I have Windows XP Professional x64, Unreal Tournament III special edition and the latest patch installed. Windows is up to date.

Any solutions? This is getting rather annoying and I have the game just for one day now.


A sidenote: I seem not to be able to resume a "Tournament", single player campaign that is. Also I don't play the character I customized under "customize character".

[VoodooMaster]

So I have the same problem. I have to reenter my key each session twice:

First time when the game starts up.
Then I am to log in to gamespy (which doesn't work, don't know why either).
Then I click on "play offline"- which needs me to enter the key another time.

When I exit the game, go into hibernate and start the game later again it starts all over again.

I have Windows XP Professional x64, Unreal Tournament III special edition and the latest patch installed. Windows is up to date.

Any solutions? This is getting rather annoying and I have the game just for one day now.

You must create a Gamspy id login account in game and if that doesn't work you can go to http://www.gamespyid.com/ and create one there.


A sidenote: I seem not to be able to resume a "Tournament", single player campaign that is. Also I don't play the character I customized under "customize character".

Go to "My Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Config"
delete all the files in config folder, don't worry the game will create them again and make sure your My Documents folder isn't "Read Only".

[specialsymbol]

Go to "My Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Config"
delete all the files in config folder, don't worry the game will create them again and make sure your My Documents folder isn't "Read Only".

Gee, thanks! It worked! I can create a gamespy account now (creating it on gamespy.com didn't work out, seems like it has to be created from out of UT), it keeps my settings and I don't have to reenter the key all the time! Great!!

By the way, I added the -nohomedir option in the shortcut before, don't know if this makes a difference. Just put a custom map in the My Games folder subfolderstuff and it worked fine, where I wouldn't have expected this with that option.. oh well.

edit some more:
I removed the -nohomedir again. Doesn't make a difference, still works like a charm. No key reentry, settings are stored as well as my character and the freshly created gamespy account.

Seems like the solution is to delete all the files in the my documents\my games\unreal tournament 3 directory.
While I was at it I wiped the UT3Demo directory in \my games, maybe that's what was interfering? Who knows.

Haven't rebooted yet though. I'll see what happens then.

[Ultron]

I thought one fix to this was have more than one user account for XP or Vista. For example, create a second account, log into it, launch UT3, and then you'll be able to only insert the cd key once. I think that fixes the primary account. I can't recall, as a) I never had the problem and b) it's been awhile since I was abreast of the issues. But it has something to do with user accounts. For example if there is only one account, and you log in as that one, you might encounter this problem.

Maybe this will help. I hope it does.

[Miguelon]

My problem. When I launch game with internet connection - all right, i play with no problem.

When i launch game without internet connection - game needs me to enter the key.

[Deathx138]

game owner for about a week now, playing on vista x32.

Randomly today when I loaded the game after restarting my computer, it asked for the CD key. However, it now lists my CD key as invalid. Any ideas? This is pretty bogus...

[Miguelon]

I have found the decision of my problem

In UTEngine.ini parameter EncryptedProductKey= for online game differs for a offline game.

I do a copy of this files for online and offline game and made a 2 bat files (for online and offline game) thats copy a necessary UTEngine.ini file and run ut3.exe

[[NBK]Digital]

I've been having this problem since the second patch. All I had to do to fix it on both my XP install and Vista install is go to the properties of My Games (In your documents folder) and uncheck the box for READ ONLY. Did the same for the game installation directory. Online or off, I don't have to put the key in again. Now, if only I could figure out where the key is actually stored so when I reinstall it, I can just copy the data back and not bother with settings and keys!!!