Tages servers down

Hezo · Post by **Hezo** » Fri, 2. Jan 09, 13:12

Activation worked for me NOW!

spelkZERO · Post by **spelkZERO** » Fri, 2. Jan 09, 13:26

msales wrote: If I’m understanding your post correctly then you’re entering the wrong code. There should be two codes when the authentication servers are working.

The serial code from steam is transmitted to a Tages server which should then reply with an activation code. The activation code is then transmitted to Tages which when authenticated should unlock the game.

Ah ok, I've only got one code that is pre-filled by Steam (I presume, and it is contained in a text file "serial.txt", in the directory where Steam holds the game files). Since I've not got through the authentication stage, I haven't recieved an activation code from Tages.

To further confuse matters, when you right click on the game in Steam, and select "Register Game...", it takes you to these forums and gives you a different code to register the game against your egosoft forum account.

spelkZERO · Post by **spelkZERO** » Fri, 2. Jan 09, 13:27

Ah I concur, my copy has now activated with Tages. Thanks to all those who helped with this issue.

Post by **CBJ** » Fri, 2. Jan 09, 13:37

Yep, TAGES say it should be working now.

rai2onsf · Post by **rai2onsf** » Fri, 2. Jan 09, 13:48

Game activated. Hopefully it will be worth the wait!

Any chance of a postmortem on this incident? I'm assuming that Egosoft doesn't staff a NOC (no good reason to either, you folks don't do online gaming really) but do you have or are you planning to implement some sort of monitoring system so you'll at least get a heads up when this happens again? SNMP traps a'la Infovista are probably out of the question since you're relying on a third party but even something as simple as Nagios could be scripted to check availability of the TAGES server and alert out on 500 errors or what have you. TAGES is running Apache over Tomcat which will generate meaningful error codes, right? Does TAGES have a NOC? Does their contract make any claims on uptime?

I appreciate that TAGES' server availability is out of your hands. And I understand that bringing a game to market involves a pretty long chain of decisions with you as the developers not having full authority over every link in the chain. But at the end of the day, the product is your face first and foremost. An ounce of prevention in the form of a scripted monitoring system and an "oh sh**" runbook that includes templated announcements that can be handed off to your community managers when things go south can prevent a pound of pain in the form of customer dissatisfaction and poor word-of-mouth. And I've used the word "when" rather than "if" twice now because every system fails. It's a universal constant.

Maian · Post by **Maian** » Fri, 2. Jan 09, 20:57

Well, I'm getting a different error message now:

Server communication error:
An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host.

When I try manual activation (via the HTML link): On Firefox, I just get a blank page. On IE, I get "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage".

Maian · Post by **Maian** » Fri, 2. Jan 09, 21:36

Oh yay, manual activation finally worked!

Crimsonthorn · Post by **Crimsonthorn** » Mon, 5. Jan 09, 06:13

Well, it looks like this thread and the issue is dead, but I'm now having the same problem. I've only activated the game once, and now TAGES is refusing to activate my X3:TC (after I reinstalled to try and fix another problem with the game, but I digress).

Automatic activation gives me the "Forcibly Closed" message. Manual activation gives me the blank web page and no file/text.

How do you tell if TAGES servers are down or if I have to get another activation code or I have to sacrifice some animal to the gameplaying gods to let me play?

Crimsonthorn · Post by **Crimsonthorn** » Mon, 5. Jan 09, 07:52

Once bitten, twice shy. Purchased X2 on CD's and never had a problem. Played X3 on a friend's computer, then saw the 2 for 1 deal on steam (X3 and X3:TC) and thought it would be a good idea to get, since I enjoyed X3 so much.

Can't say steam is BAD, as all my other games on steam work, but we'll see how well it goes when/if this is all resolved.

Just checked again, and nope, still can't activate it.

keno2001 · Post by **keno2001** » Tue, 6. Jan 09, 02:56

Bad frame rate caused me to try to reinstall os in place to fix some issues that I found and when I went to launch the game through steam and reactivate it I receive one of several different dialogs, the latest one is telling me that the activation limit with this serial number has been exceeded, although I have only activated the game once before. Other error dialogs have been connection refused, and others listed in the posts here.

I have to say this whole DRM crap tastes so bad that I wont find it hard at all to search first for DRM usage in a game and simply bypass it, forever, regardless of whether they plan to remove in the future.

keno2001 · Post by **keno2001** » Wed, 7. Jan 09, 06:43

oh well, reunion was fun, but TC is not worth the DRM headaches, had the credit card charges reversed today and completely removed steam from my system...too bad egosoft, maybe next time you'll think twice and test the DRM software a little more...

Gothsheep · Post by **Gothsheep** » Wed, 7. Jan 09, 09:40

keno2001 wrote:oh well, reunion was fun, but TC is not worth the DRM headaches, had the credit card charges reversed today and completely removed steam from my system...too bad egosoft, maybe next time you'll think twice and test the DRM software a little more...

Careful with that, man. It might count as fraud and they might come after you legally. You DID sign a digital contract which stated that you bought products as-is and understood the no-refund policy.

TSM · Post by **TSM** » Wed, 7. Jan 09, 15:06

keno2001 wrote:too bad egosoft, maybe next time you'll think twice and test the DRM software a little more...

EGOSOFT does not choose it's copy protection its publisher does

Da_Junka · Post by **Da_Junka** » Thu, 8. Jan 09, 06:57

I would like to ask a question about tages.
In the past I have lost 2 DvD burners due to starforce sending them constantly into overdrive. Is Tages the same or does it act differently?

I am expecting my copy of X3 TC to arrive today from Play.com.

Sandalpocalypse · Post by **Sandalpocalypse** » Thu, 8. Jan 09, 09:06

How do you tell if TAGES servers are down or if I have to get another activation code or I have to sacrifice some animal to the gameplaying gods to let me play?

Email Tages.

http://www.tagesprotection.com/main.htm

In the past I have lost 2 DvD burners due to starforce sending them constantly into overdrive. Is Tages the same or does it act differently?

Noone's reported anything like that regarding TAGES that I am aware of. I haven't found anyone complaining about ruined drives wrt TAGES via Google either so I'd say that won't be a problem.

Da_Junka · Post by **Da_Junka** » Thu, 8. Jan 09, 21:14

Noone's reported anything like that regarding TAGES that I am aware of. I haven't found anyone complaining about ruined drives wrt TAGES via Google either so I'd say that won't be a problem.

Your right, I have had no problems with Tages, doesn't seem to interfere with the game or speed up my drive at all, and that makes me happy.

Crimsonthorn · Post by **Crimsonthorn** » Fri, 9. Jan 09, 08:17

Well, after 3 days, I finally got everything going. Ended up having to manually activate over email. A warning to anyone else trying, if you have IE7, it is an absolute nightmare to get it to download the response activation file. IE7 likes to block unexpected (or in this case expected) file downloads, and I burnt through all my activations trying to get it going. Do it through IE6 if you can.

I'm not going to recommend firefox, even though I'm pretty sure I couldn't activate on firefox because I was using Shiretoko (beta atm).

Also realised that I activated my copy initially behind a standard external router, but I now operate behind an external router and an external software firewall box which is probably why TAGES hasn't worked for me automatically.

Now I have to figure out why it was silky smooth but crashing before I reinstalled, but now it's not crashing but VERY jerky in combat.

Just never allowed to win, are we.

keno2001 · Post by **keno2001** » Sat, 10. Jan 09, 21:34

Gothsheep wrote:
keno2001 wrote:oh well, reunion was fun, but TC is not worth the DRM headaches, had the credit card charges reversed today and completely removed steam from my system...too bad egosoft, maybe next time you'll think twice and test the DRM software a little more...
Careful with that, man. It might count as fraud and they might come after you legally. You DID sign a digital contract which stated that you bought products as-is and understood the no-refund policy.

Oh? I welcome that challange. It wouldnt be difficult to find willing participants to testify that services paid for were not rendered. That is a deal breaker in any court of the land, perhaps with class-action damages to boot.

You'd think they would at least have the decency to remove the buggy piece of crap off of steam, so others wont stumble into this, but NoOOooo!

Mandrak · Post by **Mandrak** » Sat, 10. Jan 09, 21:40

Yep, it sucks, it's silly. Game was cracked by the scene few days after release (less then a week), So who wanted to get pirated version, could have done it without probs. No probs with tages what so ever.

The only ones that are actually having a problem with the game are the BUYERS, people who actually payed for the game.

That's Stupid & Unfair. And above all, VERY, VERY bad for business.

I'm kinnda disappointed with both TC and EGO, for more then one reason. Really loved the series, and with that, the company that made it happen', now im just bitter, so sorry if i'm going Emo.

esd · Post by **esd** » Sat, 10. Jan 09, 21:48

From talk of trying to fiddle Steam to piracy discussion - given that the issue appears resolved, this thread's going south.

Remember - this is a Tech Support forum, not a forum for general discussion.

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

Tages servers down