Author Topic: Did Bioware lose my CD keys?  (Read 1456 times)

Legacy_ZaphodZyrustace

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Did Bioware lose my CD keys?
« on: October 20, 2015, 09:11:02 pm »


               

It's been about a decade since I've played NWN.  I had the regular game and two expansions and I'm 99% sure I registered my CD keys but now I can't find them anywhere on the site.  Any ideas?



               
               

               
            

Legacy_Empyre65

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Did Bioware lose my CD keys?
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2015, 10:14:47 pm »


               

Yes they lost the keys. I take it that you lost your keys, too. I'm afraid that your only recourse is to buy the game again. You can get it from GOG for cheap, and with all the available stuff to download and play in NWN, it's still a great deal.



               
               

               
            

Baaleos

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Did Bioware lose my CD keys?
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2015, 01:53:01 pm »


               

More specifically - a data breech (hackers) got into Bioware several years ago, which prompted the closure of the old bioware forums, where the cd keys were stored.


Bioware did not explicitly say the keys were gone, but one can assume that after all this time - they have no plans of making those keys easily available to us.


 


It might be possible to request bioware support to give you a new cdkey if you can prove purchase.


Receipt, Box, Instruction manual etc


I wouldnt hold thy breath...


 


Not that I would condone piracy - it should be noted that with the official master server gone, the only purpose the cdkeys have now, is to prevent multiple people using the same key on the same server.


Eg:


ABC-DEF-ABC  - cannot be used on Server A


If someone else is using


ABC-DEF-ABC


 


In fact - GOG ship the game to you with two CDKeys - the default that everyone has access to, and then you e-mail them for your own personal multiplayer one.


 


In any case - there has been some debate on the ethics of being forced to purchase the game twice due to a mishap on bioware's end.


It becomes somewhat circular in that some people say that Bioware provided a service which led to us trusting them with our cdkeys, the other people say that the cdkeys are your own property and you need to guard them yourself - 


Both arguments are true - and yet somewhat moot given that bioware are unlikely to try and resolve any lost cdkey issues.


 


Im somewhat lucky I guess because I have always just copy and pasted my install directory from machine to machine.



               
               

               
            

Legacy_Gruftlord

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Did Bioware lose my CD keys?
« Reply #3 on: October 31, 2015, 01:53:07 pm »


               

Im somewhat lucky I guess because I have always just copy and pasted my install directory from machine to machine.


Does that game work simply like that? No installation required? That would come in pretty handy, now that USB and cloud drives are so big.
               
               

               
            

Legacy_Gruftlord

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Did Bioware lose my CD keys?
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2015, 09:36:09 am »


               Quick update: While the game works uninstalled, NWN_CX does not.
               
               

               
            

Baaleos

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Did Bioware lose my CD keys?
« Reply #5 on: November 22, 2015, 05:23:50 pm »


               

NWN_CX


You mean the client extender?


I've never had any reason to use it.



               
               

               
            

Legacy_Gruftlord

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Did Bioware lose my CD keys?
« Reply #6 on: November 23, 2015, 08:35:03 pm »


               

Among other things, I use it to display skywing server information in game, in the place where the game spy server list used to be.



               
               

               
            

Legacy_Grani

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Did Bioware lose my CD keys?
« Reply #7 on: November 24, 2015, 11:45:45 am »


               

What do you mean NWNCX does not work if you copy-paste the game? It works fine.


 


And I see many reasons to use it. What Gruftlord said about the server list is one thing, but going multiplayer without having to wait for the game to try to connect to the master server is another one. There are many more features, though. Community Patch uses NWNCX to implement some fixes (monk's circle kick and trident weapon focus) and many servers advise their players to use it to preload hak paks when joining. These are some examples.


 


So, it's definitely useful.