Black Shark 2 Activation

[txmtb]

I purchased Black Shark 2 last week and have been unable to activate it.

I've given up on my ticket 24298 receiving any response as it seems browsing this forum they never respond.

 

I get the following error when trying to activate:

The system requires the correct Serial Number of the application to perform this operation. The Serial Number entered is wrong or mistyped. Enter a valid Serial Number and try again.

Cut/paste or manual typing, no difference.

 

I have done the following:

De-activated modules, ran the registry tools I found in this forum to wipe all the license information out. No change after that.

Completely uninstalled all modules and DCS World, cleaned registry and directories of all leftovers.

Re-installed DCS World and BS 2 module, still get same error.

Checked proactive.star-force.com and it shows my serial # is valid, un-activated and appears normal as far as I can tell.

Product:Black Shark 2 ENG

Company name: Eagle Dynamics

Activated: No

Number of activations has been exceeded: No

Blacklisted: No

Expired: No

Type: Release

Number of activations spent/total: 0 / 11

Add activation automatically: Enabled

Time period: 30 day(s)

 

Tried using the "protect" file in the directory, same thing.

 

I'm having no problems with activating my A10C module, except blowing through some activations while de-installing and re-installing. So it's not a firewall or connectivity issue.

 

Editing to retract that last statement. I did a complete re-install again and now A10C will not activate with exactly the same error. Best $100 I've ever wasted.

Edited August 14, 2013 by txmtb

[Drona]

Have you bought Blackshark 2 full version or Blackshark 2 Upgrade? There is a difference between these two.

 

If above does not work try this

 

Well.. I solved this myself.

 

Looking in the registry (HKEY_CURRENT_USERS\Software\Eagle Dynamics\Warthog\Keys)

I saw eight subfolders named "License0" to "License7".

Inside each of these was a set of various keys, all of which were blank.

 

I deleted ALL of the "LicenseN" folders and restarted DCS World as "Administrator"

 

(running windows 7 Ult 64 with UAC turned off, so didn't initially think of this as a possible issue)

 

This time, in the activation window, it said my key was valid and authenticated perfectly.

Looking back in the registry now, there is just one "License0" folder and the keys inside it are all filled in appropriately.

Edited August 14, 2013 by Kunz

[PeterP]

have also a look here:

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=94531

[SkateZilla]

A. Is the Serial from ED or from Gamefly/Steam/Other?

 

B. Is the Correct option in the dropdown menu correct when installing/activating.

 

C. When activation Prompt pops up, make sure your pasting the correct key for Warthog/KA-50

[txmtb]

Thank you for the replies.

Kunz:

I checked the registry and it has the following entries;

A10A with sub Keys, no entries

Black Shark 2 with sub Keys, no entries

DCS World; Has a Language, Path, and Version subkey

SU25A with sub Keys, no entries

Warthog with sub Keys, no entries

 

PeterP:

Those are the registry cleaners I tried. No difference.

 

SkateZilla:

A10C is from Steam, BS2 is from Gamefly.

 

I'm positive I'm using the correct keys, both cut/paste and manual typing yields the same result.

 

I'm not sure about B in your response, have not seen that option I believe.

I install DCS World, run it, and go to the module manager to install A10C and Black Shark 2, then try to either run training mission or multi player to have it ask for activation key.

I have also tried using the "protect" files to activate in the sub directories for each program.

 

Edit: I o'd ption.

[Drona]

Thank you for the replies.

Kunz:

I checked the registry and it has the following entries;

A10A with sub Keys, no entries

Black Shark 2 with sub Keys, no entries

DCS World; Has a Language, Path, and Version subkey

SU25A with sub Keys, no entries

Warthog with sub Keys, no entries

 

No entries as in no LicenseN subfolders? If they have any LicenseN subfolders, I believe you have to delete them. Not sure if it will work but you could give it a try.

[txmtb]

Yep, the only folder under each of those folders is "Keys". And that one is empty except each has the (Default) Reg_SZ (value not set) entry.

[SkateZilla]

I know when I installed BS2, There was a drop menu for choosing language and which type (BS2 Upgrade, full, etc etc).

 

I chose BS2 International Full. (i think)

[Flagrum]

These activation problems seem common these days :(

 

I.e. this fellow seems to have the same problems: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=111715

[silenteye]

yesterday i had a problem i rebooted my computer and dcs was uninstalled and asked for a serial key i put my serial key for fc3 but the one for the a-10c was required (make sure to see what serial key you need), and i hope no one with a serial generator ended up with your key .

[txmtb]

Sooooooo, I finally got this whipped/figured out. What exactly worked I am not sure of. But below is the synopses of what I did:

 

Uninstalled everything, A10C standalone, BS 2 standalone, DCS World A10c and BS2 modules, and then DCS World. ( I had tried this before with removing the standalone installs and then just installing DCS World/modules thinking they were messing with the DCS World modules).

 

Searched the hard drive and deleted any leftover directories. ( The only one appeared to be /bin/headtracker I had installed for FaceTrackNoIR).

 

Ran CCleaner and did the registry scan twice with it fixing all errors.

 

Manually ran regedit and searched for DCS, World, A10, BlackShark, Black Shark, etc... Anything I could think of that might be related to DCS. And deleted all of it IF it seemed applicable to the simulation. (I'm going to warn you now, if you don't know what you are doing with regedit, then just don't do it).

 

Installed A10C standalone, activated using protect.exe and it passed.

Verified it was working correctly by running training mission.

 

Installed BlackShark 2 standalone, activated using the protect.exe, and it passed. (This is the first time out of at least 20 tries that it worked).

Verified it was working by running training mission.

 

Installed DCS World as it comes from the download.

Verified it would run and SU-25 module worked.

 

Installed A10c module, ran it, selected training mission, and activated when it asked.

 

Rebooted, checked that A10c was still working in DCS World.

 

Installed Black Shark 2 module. ran it, selected training mission, and activated when it asked.

 

Rebooted, made sure everything was still working.

 

Now I just need to get my headtracking working again.

 

 

tldr; I punted.