hello giveawayof theday brains , a while ago some one posted trouble with game box not coming up and alawar saw that and fixed it for the day but that was it . I run windows 7 home premium no fire wall great connection as alawar home page shows but their gamebox is lousy every other day if not every day as it shows a warning for the above items . Any fixes would be nice from any one here as I think it is time to move on from wanna be sites that dont be fixing their mess's (alawar) . Did write them through support but have noticed from past posts on here that I am not the only one with game trouble from Alawar besides game box . Do like their games but hate lack of responsibility . Makes me a headcase lol
Alawar game box - again problems?
(39 posts) (11 voices)-
For the past 4 or 5 months, Alawar's Gamebox has had tremendous server problems. It looks like their bandwidth is just too small. They want you to play your local games through the gamebox but you can't open the gamebox. It makes absolutely no sense.
I play the games without the box and ONLY use it to check for (and download if appropriate) the free game of the "month".
I am running Vista32 Ultimate SP2. I found that I need to run in Admin mode for Gamebox to register withing itself that I have the "full" game rather than the demo. Once I have it tagged, I'm fine but it's a lot easier to just set the shortcut to run in admin mode all the time.
Posted 13 years ago # -
headcase
Memberthanks for the idea as I got a game from telltale a while ago that needs to be run as an administrator also . Will try it and see but does get frustrating when they have a great game to play and you got to jump across many road blocks to get it up . Can't complain then about the band width. Seems a lot of sites are still catching up on the heavy net traffic Thanks for your input Dragonlair and have a great fun weekend
Posted 13 years ago # -
I've got 4 or 5 games that require me to play in Admin mode. All are older games (usually written for Win98). Any game that needs write access within Program Files will have this problem if Vista is used. I don't use Program Files for my games so it's not a bigger problem for me. I'm not sure why those particular games have that problem.
Note - MPC games set themselves up to run in admin mode. I make my own shortcuts for their games but I edit the shortcut they make and remove that tag BEFORE I remove the shortcut. It puts a record in the Registry that admin mode is used. I remove the tag before removing the shortcut to remove the registry item.
Posted 13 years ago # -
I have emailed them about the lack of a new game since May. Since the first of June, there has been no free game. My first email received an automated response that I would hear in a day. I didn't hear in a week so I sent another one and didn't even get the automated response on that.
They've got all their time on that new "club" that has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard! You have to pay from 1 day (99 cents, I think) to 1 year (almost $100) to play their games. Many of their games can no longer be purchased, even though their descriptions still mention that. What is so stupid is they are not "exclusive". The one that brought this to the fore (thanks WhiteRabbit) is Treasures of Montezuma 3. You can't buy it from Alawar but you can buy it from BigFishGames for $6.99. Why pay $99 for a year to basically "rent" it for that year and then have to pay that the next year to keep that ability when you can pay $6.99 and have it PERIOD.
Even more stupid is one I noticed today. Superior Save is a HOG from Alawar (my MPC copy says Alawar in the lower right corner of the main menu screen) that you cannot buy from Alawar. The description on the lower right side of the page says you can but there is not "buy" button. However, you can get the game for FREE from MyPlayCity. You might have to watch for installation of toolbars and changing search engines and home pages and even have your browser open when you close the game but the game is free and there are no ads. Why pay $99 a year, every year when you can get it for FREE??????
I think Alawar is getting too greedy and is definitely NOT thinking.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Whiterabbit-uk
Games GuruI've always sung Alawars praises; partly because I've had some brilliant deals from them as well as a lot of free games through the giveaway project and through Beta testing, but as you mention above I've already mentioned about this elsewhere so won't go into detail. That said paying so much and then at the end of the day not actually permanently owning the licence to the games is just not worth it in my book, but then I like to return to games over and over. I never delete a game unless I know I can reinstall and register it again at a later date. (Though i have given away quite a lot of games over the last several years, but a lot of those I've ended up repurchasing, or already had them repeated on Steam). This new club deal takes that away from you.
I doubt it's going to be a success; though if you are the type of person who likes to play a game then discard them, this is probably a good deal.
Posted 13 years ago # -
I doubt it's going to be a success; though if you are the type of person who likes to play a game then discard them, this is probably a good deal.
I second that opinion 100% Even if there is not change in a game (a hog that always searches the same things), after a while, you forget where things are so it's like a new game again. I play what fits my whim and I like to re-play games.
Posted 13 years ago # -
I got a reply from a JULY email to Alawar concerning the Gamebox Free Game of the month. It's been blank since the end of May.
Guess What? They actually have a game this month! They said they'll offer a new one "soon" so they may actually do multiples this month.
The new game is "Magic Tea". It's been offered here (several years ago) and was one of the "Hot September" offerings at MyPlayCity (now available all the time there).
It's not a truly "new" game but it's a new offering for free from Alawar.
Posted 13 years ago # -
I don't know why it doesn't work for you. I didn't get the game because I personally don't care for that kind but I started the download just to see what happened and it started. You should be able to just click on "Download" and it'll take off!
Posted 13 years ago # -
Terri218
MemberIt's been so long since I downloaded anything from the Game Box, I can't even find it now.
Interestingly I see they now have a subscription plan which includes a 24 hour subscription for $1. This is great for me to play a game I can't find anywhere else for free or as part of my Shockwave subscription that I just want to play once (I rarely replay games). I have been known to stay on the computer all day to finish one game. (Forgive me Dragonlair, I see you already posted about this).
Posted 13 years ago # -
Thanks, StevieD. However, there is one problem - it won't unlock! I downloaded it from the Gamebox but the unlock won't work. I'm gonna email them on this one. Something is WRONG!
Posted 13 years ago # -
I got my unlock code - I emailed them and they apologized and emailed me a "normal" unlock code. That's the best solution possible. This way I KNOW the game will be able to be moved to another machine later.
It's not a bad little match 3 either.
It's a triple day for me - MPC has a HOG, Alawar has a Match 3 and Realore has the sequel to last week's game. Woohoo!!!!!
Posted 13 years ago # -
Has anybody else had this problem with Alawar today? I sent them an email about the unlock button in the Free Game not working. Within a few minutes I had a response and a code. A bit later I got an email in Russian with an unlock code in a totally different style for a totally different game. I replied to that email that they must have sent to the wrong address. I sent back in English (I used Google translate to find out what they said). I got a reply, IN English of an apology and asking if I got the code for Magic Tale. A short while after that message was sent to me, I got another Russian email for a third game.
I only asked for one game. These codes are not the style to work for me (only about 10 digits long instead of the about 150 character codes I see normally). How am I triggering for totally different games (Farm Frenzy: Vikings and Father's Daughter)?
The only thing I can see is that "unlock" button is really hosed up!
Posted 13 years ago # -
StevieD
MemberHiya Pixiey, the game is available through Alawars Gamebox software. The software is still available but you will have to search for it.
@Dragonlair, I have also received a full activation code from Alawar for Magic Tale....but no other emails from them (So far at least :) ).
Posted 13 years ago # -
rta - even using the form, the phone number is OPTIONAL. I have never given them anything but my email address. And I don't use my normal one. They seem to have trouble with some addresses so I switched to Yahoo and those get through OK.
Posted 13 years ago # -
ScarletPetal
MemberHmmm, well ... I checked the Gamebox last night, but my Free Game tab (which previously had Magic Tea on it) is now blank; I didn't even get the offer for Magic Tale - which is one I would have liked! Perhaps they have pulled if off? I do hope they put it back when they sort out the problem!
Posted 13 years ago # -
Anonymous
UnregisteredI just tried it a little while ago. The Game Box is in fact sending the registration key with the free game, but an error in the setup file assigns the wrong path for the game ID, mixing up two different game numbers and causing it to fail. If you look at the error log in the game folder you'll see "SetRegistrationKey failed".
The error itself (as well as the key) is in page_start.xml in the GameBox folder. Pasting the key into the proper place on the game launcher is certainly an option, but not for the average user.
Posted 13 years ago # -
You're right - that's not easy to find. Especially since with Vista, that xml file is in ProgramData which is a hidden file (at least for Vista).
Question - The only key I found was for game 2992. Magic Tale is game 3041. Does anybody know what game 2992 is?
Posted 13 years ago # -
ScarletPetal
MemberAh, thanks for that, ZF ....
Hopefully, they will fix the error soon.
And, Dragonlair, 2992 seems to be the number of the last game offered, Magic Tea.Posted 13 years ago #
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