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Hellgate London plus EA Download Manager = Hell on Earth!
Ok, so I'm a liar and couldn't help myself from trying out the full version of "Hellgate London", I mean, who cares about all the multi-player stuff, right? I just want to experience the single-player storyline.
But, guess what? More "fun" abounds with even trying to get the single player version of Hellgate London to run!
However, this time it's not even a technical problem with the game that's stopping me from playing, it's some kind of glitch with Electronic Arts' Download Manager (EA Download Manager).
Now, normally I would just wait until the next time I was in the city to buy a game, but I wanted to use some spare Paypal money I had laying around to purchase Hellgate London, so I decided to try EA's online store, just for the experience. I mean, downloadable content is the wave of the future, isn't it? Valve's Steam network seems to be crunching right along, so why not try the "next generation" of content delivery.
The purchase was super smooth, accomplished through my old buddies at Digital River, install code was received no problem, then came the download, which had to be accomplished through the EA Download Manager, a "quick" 20mb download and simple install later and I was ready to rock. Just enter my EA account information and there's my game, ready to be downloaded at the click of a button. The total size of the program was nearly 7 gigs, which came through in under 12 hours, "not bad", I though. A click to start the install, enter some information, create a Hellgate London account and "poof", we're ready for some hardcore demon slaying action!
I double-click the icon and have 4 choices, "Single Player", "Multiplay", "Visit Website" and "Exit". Now, at this point, I had closed the EA Download Manager, so I was sort of interested to note that it popped back up in my system try after trying to start the Single Player game. And then… Voila! Nothing but an error message:
"The game can not start. In order to launch this game, please login to the EA Download Manager to verify your ownership, then try again."
Aha! I think to myself, the download manager also acts as a copy protection scheme, which makes sense, since there's no DVD to verify ownership. Makes sense, except, what the hell do I do now? LOL!
As always, I jumped on Google, plugged in the error and started reading. Interestingly enough, it doesn't seem to be ~that~ common, just a few quick forum messages with replies like "Ya, nobody around here trusts EA's download manager, so we don't know how to help."
Great! So, on to tech support for Hellgate London and directly for EA, some quick searches and once again, Voila! Nothing… Neither Flagship's tech support, nor EA's tech support has any mention of this particular error, beyond connection issues, which I'm definitely not having, as the EA Download Manager logs into my EA account no problem.
I even went to the extent of firing up my trusty copy of Sysinternals TCPView, just to get an idea about what the EA Download Manager was up to. Apparently it makes a secure connection to link.ea.com, ok, again, makes sense, they have to double-check my account against my serial number, etc… A quick ping check later and I know that link.ea.com is working just fine, so what the hell is happening?
I have no idea! But, interestingly enough, the Multi-Player option works without a hitch, which means that the EA Download Manager doesn't check the multiplayer executable, in fact, checking the system folders, we see that there are a total of four executable versions of Hellgate London, with single and multi-player options for DirectX 9 (which I'm using, since I absolutely refuse to corrupt my system with Vista) and DirectX 10.
I guess it makes sense not to check the multi-player version, as you have to log-in to your account, which is linked to your serial number, to play. So basically, the EA Download Manager, acts like a log in check for the single player version.
Just for fun, I tried un-installing the EA Download Manager and then running both versions of the game. The multi-player executable still ran without a hitch, but the single player executable just died, without even producing an error message. I expected at least a note like "You must have the EA Download Manager installed to play this game", but nada! That's just shoddy programming in my ever so humble opinion!
So, what am I going to do? Well, at the moment I'm waiting to hear back from EA and Flagship's tech support, if the single player game doesn't run, then I feel that I'm entitled to a refund, so we'll see what happens, I'll keep you posted!
In the meantime, here's to hoping that some friendly sorts will find a way of creating either a faux version of EA's Download Manager or executables for Hellgate London that bypass the EA Download Manager check. Yes, you read it here, I'm actually hoping that a crack will allow me to play my legally purchased software, yeesh, what has the world come to!
Posted by Dylon on November 1, 2007 10:46 AM |
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I ran into the exact same thing. I'm so frustrated I can't even begin to quantify my anger. :) I'm going to ask for a refund and see how that goes. I'll report back to you on this blog.
Mark
Hey, thank you! I'm both sorry and not sorry to hear that others have experienced this problem! The only stories of resolution that I have been able to locate online have involved a refund, so hopefully we'll both be able to get our money back! Good luck and thanks again!
EA Downloader manager is a disaster id avoid it like the plague and buy a hard copy of it from a proper online store.
EA havnt a clue i canceled my pre order of crysis from them due to the problems i had trying to get an old game to reinstall.
Avoid this game like the plague
I bought mine in-store and the multiplayer mode simply will not work, the tech support site is worse that 'ask jeeves' it really sucks
I can't even get the EA Download Manager to run.
It keeps asking for the Flash plugin which I actually do have installed for both FireFox and IE7.
Contacted EA for a refund.
i play on the sims2 all are hard copies part from the one i got a few weeks back seasons i payed and downloaded it of the ea link went to play it last night and it keeps telling me to log in and verify ownership so is this a problem with ea them selfs then
Ok, so I've now received two answers, one through Flagship Studios, and one through Electronic Arts.
Here is the first reply through Flagship:
Greetings Dylon,
Thanks for contacting Hellgate Technical support.
We have compiled all the known issues and commonly asked questions for EA Download Manager troubleshooting in an easy-to-read format at the URL below. Please review them, as the answer to your question can be found here.
http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=11909
Sincerely,
Abner
Hellgate Technical Support
The mentioned F.A.Q. is interesting, but doesn't seem to be helpful. I really would simply love to clear the mentioned license files, however, the indicated folder doesn't exist on my hard drive, anywhere (wondering to myself if this could be part of the problem?)
And this is the second message, standard install, uninstall B.S., which, of course, I already tried even before contacting tech support.
Hello Dylon,
Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts Customer Support.
I do apologize for the difficulties you are experiencing with Hellgate London for the EA Download Manager. We recommend that you uninstall the EA Download Manager through the Add/Remove Program console that can be found under My Computers. Once you uninstall the EA Download Manager we would like you to reinstall it by clicking on this link: http://na.llnet.cdn.ea.com/u/eadm/eadm-installer.exe. After reinstalling the EA Download Manager console please log in with your account and download Hellgate London. If the error message reappears we would like you to uninstall Hellgate London and reinstall it. Please let me know the outcome! Thanks again for your patience and understanding. If you have anymore questions please feel free to respond back to this email or please visit our website and review our extensive Self Help Knowledgebase (http://support.ea.com). Have a great day!!!
Thank you for contacting EA Customer Support!
Brian S.
EA Customer Support
Here's a little more information on PACE Anti-Piracy, which is possibly behind the issues with EA's Download Manager.
PACE's Website
and
A website that explains some technical details of PACE's so-called Anti-Piracy system.
Part of the problem is that Hellgate London doesn't use PACE Anti-Piracy. It uses Sony's SecuROM. For both the download and retail versions. So if you try and follow the knowledge base article's advice about clearing license files, you'll be stuck scratching your head because there won't be any in that location.
If you look in the ProgramData/Cache directory, you'll find a Core.html file under the Logs directory which will indicate that the problem is with Sony's DRM and a null or invalid license. Good luck clearing the licnese data because Sony's SecuROM uses a exploit in Windows to ensure that the registry key it's stored in can't be deleted or modified.
I contacted EA "Support" and they basically copy-pasted the knowledge base article. I specifically stated that I had followed each of the things in the knowledge base article on the issue, and they still copy+pasted it. I then asked for a refund and got another form response stating that they can't because I've already downloaded it and I've agreed to the "terms of service" for the site.
I replied informing them that they've sold me a non-working product, that no contract legally gives them the right to sell a defective product, and that furthermore, even if the contract was legal, they are not upholding their end of it and that if they don't give me a refund, I'll reverse the charges on my credit card. To that, they replied that my EA Store account would be banned as well as my credit card. I then replied saying go ahead because it'll be a cold day in hell before I buy another product from their again. I then contacted my CC company to do a chargeback. EA is a joke.
Thanks Damicatz,
Here's a copy of the log data that shows that the issue is indeed with Sony's DRM Software:
[13:15:04:515] Error cSonyDRMGetLicense::ExtractLicenseFile License response error : '42000,The data passed in failed validation. Check the ValidationErrorContainer For more information.'
[13:15:04:656] Error cSonyDRMGetLicense::ExtractLicenseFile License response error : '78011,DRM Definition Object is null'
[13:15:04:781] Error cSonyDRMGetLicense::ExtractLicenseFile License response error : '78011,DRM Definition Object is null'
[13:15:04:781] Error DRMLicenseManager::HandleGetNewLicenseAndRun License refresh timeout.
[13:15:04:781] Error DRMLicenseManager::HandleGetNewLicenseAndRun DRMLicenseManager::HandleGetNewLicenseAndRun error = 78011
[13:15:04:781] Error EADMessageManager::PostMessageW EADMessageManager::PostMessage - No listeners for message: type:"content_retrieved_success"(61) - data:"eadcommand:?cmd=content_retrieved_success"
[13:15:17:609] Error EADError::ShowErrorDialog Displaying error dialog: 'The game can not start. In order to launch this game, please login to the EA Download Manager to verify your ownership, then try again.'
A quick search for SecureROM turned up all kings of known issues, in face, there's even a note about the SecureROM version that's included with the Single Player version of Hellgate London: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecuROM
However, the note about issues with Process Explorer and SecureROM still haven't led to the cause and cure of this particular issue. It does shed light on matters however, as I'm sure that SecureROM is having fits about some other software that's installed on my system, such as Daemon Tools.
The battle goes on!
Good news! (Perhaps..)
I just got a message from Paypal stating that my purchase of Hellgate London had been refunded in full. I'm forced to assume that they either didn't like the fact that this blog post is number one on Google when looking up issues with EA Download Manager and Hellgate London or the way I started asked questions about their DRM when talking to customer support. My best guess is that I was getting too close to the truth about the issue, so I was just "bought off"! (LOL)
The really funny thing is that about half an hour before I received the refund message, I received a message from the EA store with a promo code for the Wasp Dye Kit, something that only pre-orders (which I was most certainly not) were supposed to receive! Glitch or bribe, you be the judge! (Actually, the final word will be if my multi-player access is nuked, which I'm almost positive will happen any time now!)
BTW, to anybody still dealing with the EA Download Manager and who still wants to play Hellgate London, Game Copy World has a patched version of the single-player executable that bypasses SecureROM. Please note that using such software is most certainly breaking some part of your license agreement with Electronic Arts. (Although, aren't they dealing with you in bad trust if they can't provide functioning software?) Also, such software will regularly get nuked by regular software patches for the game, which may be required for the game to run correctly. And, if all that is not bad enough, never, ever, ever trust downloads from any source, always scan thoroughly for viruses and/or malware.
There, you've been officially warned, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK and if you get messed up somehow, it's not my fault or responsibility!
If nothing else, the pervasiveness of aggressive DRM (Digital Rights Management) software is just going to get worse and worse until some part of the software world seriously breaks. I've read a lot of articles about consoles vs. PCs as far as gaming is concerned and there are a lot of naysayers that would like to ring a premature death toll for PC game. In general, I have always disagreed with this perspective, I love both PC and console gaming, but I'll always prefer the depth and flexibility of PC games. However, if, as consumers, we don't start to fight back against the cancer of ridiculous DRM policies, we could in face end up seeing PC gaming face an excruciating (and underserved) death.
And I guess that this is what really concerns me when it comes to the nagging feeling in the back of my head that I've just been paid off to shut up. When faced with DRM issues, are game companies really just burying the facts and accelerating the decline of PC gaming? Quite a troubling, but not unsurprising thought to find that yet another industry is eating itself from the inside…
Well thats the one and only time I use EA's download service. Nice way to combat piracy -people who illegally download the game from a torrent can play it fine, I pay £30 and can't. This has been the only place with information, as I'm yet to recieve a reply from either EA's or flagship studios technical support. I just hope I can get a refund.
Here is the garbage I got from them where they accused me of trying to install the game on more than three computers. I only have one computer and it has never worked for me.
Hi,
Thank you for contacting us here at Electronic Arts Technical Support. I apologize for the difficulty with the EA Download Manager.
If you see the following error, your game has likely been downloaded and installed on three other computers already.
"The game can not start. In order to launch this game, please login to the EA Download Manager to verify your ownership, then try again."
According to the End User License Agreement, which can be found by opening the EA Download Manager, highlighting your game and selecting Game Manual: "You may only have the game installed on three computers at any given time."
If you are sure you have not installed the game on a fourth computer, please clear your license files located at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\PACE Anti-Piracy\License Files and delete all the files in that folder.
Also be sure your system time and date are correct to your geography. You may need to check the time stored on your system CMOS as well as the time in the Windows operating system. To adjust the time on your system CMOS, please check with your system manufacturer or consult your owner's manual. To change the time in Windows:
1. Right-click the clock that shows on your Windows Taskbar.
2. Select 'Adjust Date/Time.'
If you don't see the system time on the taskbar:
1. Right-click your Windows Taskbar and select Properties.
2. When the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties applet appears, select the 'Taskbar' tab is selected.
3. Be sure that the 'Show the clock' check box is selected.
4. Click OK.
The clock should now appear opposite of the Start button. You can now check and edit the time easily as described above.
Should you require further assistance about this or any Electronic Arts games in the future please visit our website and review our extensive Self Help knowledgebase (support.ea.com)
Francis A.
EA Games Technical Support
Yep, I had the same issue all day today. Bought the game off EA digitally and when I ran the SP mode nothing happened. After trying every single suggestion I could find on every forum on the net dealing with HGL I was almost ready to give up. Then I tried just completely disabling my Windows Firewall. Poof! It worked. I have to give the EA at least 20-30 seconds to do whatever it does (and of course there is no indication that it is doing anything) then the HGL splash screen pops up and I am in. So I went on to trouble shoot my firewall, added port forwards for EA Download Manager for ports TCP 80 and UDP 1024 and after a log out and back in it works with the firewall up.
I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't have a dsl connection and bought the game digitally.
Don't take it personally, their first email to everyone seems to be "you must be a crook". That even though I just signed up with them and *bought* their product.
Next email is that you need to upgrade your account!
DirectX troubleshooting will follow.
Has anyone actually managed to get this to work?
I have the same problem. had to use the no-cd patch. Please post if you get a real solution.
thanks
So I just bought a game from EA Games and had the exact same problem. I bought Battlefield 2
and after i installed everything, I keep getting "please log into download manager" even though IM LOGGED IN.
It is really making me angry because I waited for a few hours and now i'm back where i started. I submitted a help ticket but if nothing works, i'll ask for a refund.
Ya, I wish it had been as simple as the Windblowz firewall for me, that was one of the first things I checked, along with temporarily DMZing the router I use to share my DSL connection.
The no cd patch is still the only way to go as far as I know and if you do upgrade to Patch 0, you'll find that the Hellgate won't run with the patch unless you diddle a couple of file names, instruction are out there!
Hi, I just wanted to add to the list of frustrations here. I'm having this issue with Crysis which I just bought today. I tried the disable windows firewall trick and it didn't seem to help. Has anyone's situation improved (Besides getting a refund)?
Well, good news. Sdaly, as much as we love to hate EA's customer support, re-installing EA-download manager fixed the issue for me.
Glad to know that at least a few people are finding solutions. I only wish it had been as simple as reinstalling the download manager for me!
Yeah, this is killing me too! The problem I have is that I am running Windows on an Intel Mac. This gives them a perfect excuse to tell me that "the mac platform is not supported." Funny. I just finished playing Gothic 3, FEAR, S.T.A.L.K.E.R, HL2 on this very same box, but only this game has a problem. Since I paid $65 to purchase and download this game, you bet I will get the no CD patch and use it. I feel I am entitled. I'm not breaking the law in any way. I paid for and own a legal copy of ths game, it's just that EA sucks.
i've got the same problem. but my tipp: try a search on the "get help"-faqs with following text:
manager "game can not start"
answer at top:
These words are very common and not included: game, can, not, start
great service!
Same story here. None of the canned solutions EA has spouted off to me have done anything. What's worse is that if they ever do decide to refund my money, it won't really help me any because I bought it through a reseller on Ebay. *sigh*
Next stop, the Better Business Bureau.
It makes me feel marginally better to know that I am not the only one who has had this issue. I have successfully bought and enjoyed many games digitally via Steam, so I IMAGINED that EA, being the conglomerate that they are, would provide a similar experience. NOT! I kick myself now, having spent $50 (full retail) for a digital copy of Crysis and after nearly a week, have nothing to show for it, especially no game playing experience! Of course I tried uninstalls, firewall settings, EA DM reinstall and still getting the same DRM message as you all. I have sent THREE requests for help to EA and gotten zero response. It amazes me that a public company can provide this poor level of customer support. Not even a phone number. I am hoping to get a refund as well.
Thanks for the info: this is the only place I've gotten any real information about this problem in hours of searching. I guess EA doesn't really care about their customers.
Thinking I was getting to play Crysis for my $40 and 5 hour download, all I got to play was SUCKER to EA's DRM SCAM. Just to stop the bad publicity alone one would think they would be doing something about this already.
I bought C&C3 3 days ago and was naturally peeved to become nother victim of this problem, and up until last night I WAS being given the usual runaround by EA.
However, while fiddling around I've found a solution that worked for me and I'd like to spread the word in case it helps anyone else.
I've written the full details here..
http://www.mattyf.net/blog/25
..but, briefly, here is what I did:-
There is a tool in the game's Support folder called Electronic Registration which you can use to create a "member account" with a "screen name" which the game will need to talk to the EA servers.
In their standard response to a support call, just after accusing us of installing the game on more than 3 computers and then telling us to check the CMOS clock, EA tell us how to attach a "classic screen name" to a new style account.
After doing that my copy of C&C3 now works.
The mentioned solution, which involves using a tool located in the “support” folder of a Command & Conquer 3 installation, doesn’t seem to apply to installations of Hellgate: London, which don’t include a “support” folder or the “electronic registration” tool.
However, other installations of other games downloaded with EA’s download manager may benefit from the listed trick. For the time being at least, as one can assume that this old “electronic registration” tool was distribution with C&C 3 by mistake and represents gap in security that EA may eventually decided to close.
In the meantime, it would be fascinating to know if this tool can be used to correct registration issues for other downloaded EA games. Now that the knowledge of a possible fix is available, I wonder how long it will be before folks start distributing the tool above and/or below board?
April 2008