Bug: Blank Map

[Locus]

I have been playing Dominions 3 for about a week now, and just installed the new patch yesterday. Since then i've been experiencing a very odd and frustrating glitch: When I right click on a commander to see his information and then close the info by pressing ESC or clicking exit and going back to the main map screen the entire map appears blank. It shows only boarders and the colors of the map- no units, no flags, no names.. nothing. I'll then use hotkeys to try and get into other menus and they also all appear blank, showing only the background. I then have to end process on Dominions 3 and restart the game from where I last saved. Very frustrating. Any suggestions on solving the problem?

Thanks,
Locus

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/uploads/510355-stupid.jpg

[Edi]

Unless I'm remembering wrong, that sounds like a bad CD-key issue. It's a feature of the game, designed to discourage pirated copies, but it has also affected some legitimate installs.

*edited to protect any work around on copy protection. If you have a legitimate copy and are having this problem, you should enter a support ticket through our customer support software, thx Mindi*

[Dedas]

Yeah I got this once when I played for like a day without quitting (yes I'm addicted). After that it never showed up again.

[Locus]

Edi said:
Unless I'm remembering wrong, that sounds like a bad CD-key issue. It's a feature of the game, designed to discourage pirated copies, but it has also affected some legitimate installs.




Used a friend's CD key and it worked perfectly. Thanks a lot!

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/uploads/510355-stupid.jpg

[Tichy]

"Used a friend's CD key and it worked perfectly. Thanks a lot!"

Um, I think Edi said *your* manual.

[Gandalf Parker]

Locus said:

Edi said:
Unless I'm remembering wrong, that sounds like a bad CD-key issue. It's a feature of the game, designed to discourage pirated copies, but it has also affected some legitimate installs.



Used a friend's CD key and it worked perfectly. Thanks a lot!



Thats not going to work for very long. Now your friends CD key is going to end up in the trash bin and you both will have the problem.

If you or your friend decide that you like the game then you might want to order one quickly and replace that key again.

Gandalf Parker

[Edi]

I'll echo what Gandalf said. Additionally, I should add that it's a good bet that if a key gets revoked and thrown into the trash bin, it is NOT going to be reinstated. So if it does get revoked, to get two working legitimate installs you would need three copies (two new ones and the first one would be useless).

[Mindi]

Goodbye Locus, we do not support pirates.

[Sombre]

Is he necessarily a pirate? I mean if your friend gives you a CD key and you use it rather than him it's ok, no?

Incidentally, how would his friend's CD key be revoked? It's not like the game knows who is using it.

[thejeff]

Especially since there have been reports of legitimate keys triggering the problem.

[Reverend Zombie]

Sombre said:

Incidentally, how would his friend's CD key be revoked? It's not like the game knows who is using it.



Didn't DOMII check with a Shrapnel server over the Internet for "bad" keys?

The question then might be how is "bad" key determined.

Same key from different IPs? That might cause trouble for those with dynamic IPs, no?

[Gandalf Parker]

We will not be discussing in public the mechanics of how keys get busted. I will say that it is a seperate issue than the in-game key errors happening to hosts at the moment.

[Reverend Zombie]

Gandalf Parker said:
We will not be discussing in public the mechanics of how keys get busted. I will say that it is a seperate issue than the in-game key errors happening to hosts at the moment.



Okay. (http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/d2/6.htm)

[Mindi]

Sombre said:
Is he necessarily a pirate?



If he had his own key, he wouldn't be using his friend's key to bypass the copy protection. Since you can't have the game on computers owned by different people at the same time (it's not a one computer license, but it IS a one owner at a time license), then the game would have had to have been given to him and therefore the game would be HIS not his friends, which he readily admits. Look, he's brand new to the board and these are his ownly two posts and he gave as minimal info as he had to in signing up for the board. Look, if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck; than it's a duck.

As I posted earlier, if someone is having a problem and has a legitimate key, then they should contact customer support. Otherwise, I have to assume that when you say you use your friend's key to bypass copy protection that you are pirating the game.

Case closed.