Hi again,

Having trouble with any games that use the post loading "@CTIV" product keys.
Both riddick 2 and crazy machines ask for keys but after i enter them all the buttons are still grey excet cancel.

seems a bit of a coincidence that both games using this key method wont take them.
Ive tyried emailing them and waited for a while, as i assumed that is how i register them if i needed too.

Is this a know issue? just nothing comes up when i search?

Hi you dont need to mail them all you have to do with them is input them in the key dialouge box when either running the game or inside the game when asked.

are you sure you have input the keys correctly.i usually copy and paste the key myself even if the key needs to be input in game.(ctrl v)to paste

im assuming that the buttons stay greyed out until you have input the correct ammount of characters needed for the key

tried putting them both in heaps of times. 100% surt i have copy pasted and typed also.
Read all that stuff on metaclinic about activating games manually but theres not option, my system is nothing like descrisbed.

I would have expected just to put in keys when asked but they are either wrong, used or the DRM system isnts working as it should.

The problem for me is that it appears metaboli or the company who make the drm software have changed it and there is no reference to how it's supposed to actually work.

Do games/keys even need to activated anymore an if so how?

Thanks for any help

If a game asks for a key then it needs a key, if it doesn't ask it doesn't need.
Some games only ask for a key when you want to play on-line and don't bother for stand-alone play.
The games all come from different publishers/developers and have been released over many years, hence there are a lot of different systems and very little consistency.

Technically none of the games should need keys at all - except perhaps for personalisation (usually just an excuse for DRM) - since the Metaboli system is inherently secure in the first place. However the publishers wont accept this so the DRM if often left in. It probably saves them a little in development time/cost to not bother taking it out.

Anyway - it is usually one of a few things which trip up the key activation:

1) Lack of available keys - occasionally Metaboli will run out of their allocated number of keys and you will have to wait until they get more. You would normally get a specifc message if this was the case.

2) You have something on your system that the DRM system objects to - things like alcohol tools or other CD/DVD ripping/mirroring/image mounting software. Removing that software can cure the problem.

3) Something on your system blocking the DRM system "phoning home" to register the key - firewall, virus/malware blocker, p2p controls, ... again turning it off temporarily could help - or excluding the right things.

Sometimes you just can't get it to work. It was happening to me for a while on several games and I never tracked it down to a specific cause. In those cases there will usually be an option for manual activation which usually takes the form of:
- hit the button
- they spew out a "key"
- you email support@metaboli.co.uk including the nature of the problem and the manual activation key you've been given
- support email you a new key
- you redo the activation using this new key

NEVER post keys on the discussion forum.

thanks for info. As least i know how bad the situation is in general.

I've emailed them about both keys today, they then asked me to email screenshot so i have, not sure if thats an automated response, i hope it is, because if not, they dont understand the problem after i described it in great detail.

I read the metaclinic site and they talk about activating keys manualy in using tages, but the software im using doesnt have any of those facilities, only a box pops up with cancel as the only button that isnt greyed out.

Also emailed them my thoughts on the lack of service, poor buggy software and lack of keys already but i guess as long as they are keeping enough customers and are getting plenty new signups nothing else matters really.



Others may disagree, but they need to get several issues sorted instead of releasing new games with more problems and no keys, i would be happier if they get the games they are selling to work properly first.

Thanks for reply, was very informative

This may sound like I am sticking up for Metaboli a bit - but it is more a stab at the publishers/developers. Metaboli have very little control over the DRM issue and what DRM gets used in the games that are made available through the service.

Metaboli "simply" package up the game for distribution, download and play via their player. As I stated before this inherently makes it secure - but the publishers/developers refuse to remove the in-built DRM.

A lot of the problems stem from that in-built process either being buggy (as a lot of DRM is) or having to access the publishers own servers for authorisation - they do still go to the original game servers for this (mostly, I think) - not Metaboli. On some games the DRM servers go down from time to time.

Hopefully as services like Metaboli grow the publishers will see the light.

As to stopping to sort out problems. There are two broad types of problems as I see it:

1) Problems with the delivery (download) and the running of the games.

These are in the Metaboli domain and within their power to address. However you have to remember that they generally only affect a small minority of customers. Within that small set of customers it will more often than not be a specific mutual-incompatibility issue between Metaboli software and (some software/setting on) the customers machine.

Whilst there will be some common issues, even there the solution will often be for the customer to change something on their machine as nothing Metaboli could do at their end would solve the problem.

So, you are left with a diminishing set of issues that could be dealt with directly by Metaboli. These I am fairly sure will be given due attention but to stop all other activity until they are addressed would, in my opinion anyway, be a gross misuse of resources.

2) Problems within the games themselves.

DRM and licensing falls squarely within this category. So do a lot fo problems with games crashing and being buggy. The games made available here are the same games you buy in the shops - with all of the same flaws. This is something a lot of customers on here tend to forget and come crying to the forum demanding a fix for some game bug that is in the normal version.

Two areas where Metaboli does fall down a bit on here:

- Patches - they aren't made available as fast as we'd like. Again tho, they are at the mercy of the publishers to make them available to them - something they are very slow to do.

- access to game files - newer games (via the Yummy player) are better for this as you can access most of the game files (like ini files and so on). Some game issues can be solved by tweaking game files in some way, the Exent based games hide all the game files away in encrypted data files.


I don't work for Metaboli, by the way, but I am an experienced software developer so know more than a little about the issues involved.

Also remember that this forum is naturally going to give a negatively biased view of problems - if your games are running there is not a lot of point coming to the forum's.

u have some good points


The trouble im having is with Tages, but metaboli should be aware of and willing to look into the situation, not just passing the buck and saying , nothing to do with us.

There is a lack of information about tages on the metaboli site and it when i read about the different methods of activation on the Tages site, the methods don't seem possible with both riddick 2 and crazy machines 2 which are the only tages games downloaded so far.

They talk about manual activation but when i run the game all i get is the automatic activation option. with the only button not greyed out being cancel, even after i out the code in.

Ive unistalled and reistalled tages direct from ther site but still have the same problem.

They say that if i take protection off etc, i should get an option to download a file for manual activation. This isnt the case.

Metaboli dont seem to know or dont seem to care that they are sending me instructions wich are wrong in the case of both these games.

I emailed them expalining the situation clearly and they just pass the buck, they should be aware or how any 3rd party sofware they use works, but im having to try and learn this myself.

Unless anyone here can explain how to manualy activate a tages game without the launcher system giving me the option?

Thanks again for your help

I know all the rationalisation in the world doesn't stop the frustration when things don't work.

One thing might be to try and hunt down the discussion forums for the games you are having problems with themselves on the publishers/developers own sites. Often these problems are actually present in the normal version of the game and there may be some advice on their support sites.

The difficulty would be for older games where the game no longer has an (active) site.

Similarly, google "tages activation problems" if you haven't already.

One other thing is that when activations were failing for me the manual activation option was being offered after the failed activation rather than on the same screen as the one you enter the serial code into. Not sure if that was tages tho' - it was while ago.

ive emailed tages with the game details, so i think i'll wait and see what happens, i will let u know if i have any luck with them.

I'll have a look around other forums and see if i can find anything on the game site like u suggest, i never even thought of that to be honest.

Failing that, i give up. will be the first time ive ever been beaten by a game, im not educated at a decent enough level to fully understand how tags works, ive just picked up what i know from fixing games, at least i gain knowledge with every game that wont run at first.

Hopefully tages fix the problem.

Thanks again for all you help, if it wasnt for this forum i would have taken my money back and cancelled already.

Im even thinking about staying with metaboli now, only because everyone here is so friendly and happy to help