EA details fixes for Red Alert 3's broken serial keys

by Alexander Sliwinski { Oct 30th 2008 at 12:45PM }

EA ran into two separate, yet equally important, serial key problems with the release of Red Alert 3. The first issue was that the serial key pinged back as being "invalid," while the other involved a missing digit in the 20-digit code. Here are the solutions from the EA site:

Invalid key issue: EA says the issue should be resolved by now. It involved a "small amount" of keys not being pre-loaded to the company's "backend." Coincidentally, the same place where customers probably felt like they were kicked.
Manual has 19 digits instead of 20: Either click here to contact customer service, or resolve the issue by trial and error. The only thing missing is the last digit, which is either "a number from 0 - 9 or a letter from A - Z." That leaves only 36 possibilities.

EA apologizes for the inconvenience. In Soviet Russia, inconvenience apologizes to EA!

[Thanks, Nut Man]

Tags: command-and-conquer, ea, red-alert, red-alert-3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Zertoss @ Oct 30th 2008 12:51PM

Somehow I doubt the affected customers felt "kicked".

Huey2k2 @ Oct 30th 2008 12:57PM

What's the deal with all these CD key issues EA has been having lately.

You'd figure they would QA this stuff ahead of time to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen.

CTC XBL-supapaypamawio PSN-ctclaw @ Oct 30th 2008 12:59PM

Yeah I don't get it either...it seems like someone would look over the keys and realize a digit was missing.

NoHitHair @ Oct 30th 2008 2:40PM

QA?

Right. Lots of QA nowadays. The consolidated mega-publishers of the gaming industry care so much about ensuring we recieve tested product on their dime. It would depress and even shock them to find out that we would ever suffer the result of their shortening deadlines and increasing cutbacks to developers.

reppy @ Oct 30th 2008 2:57PM

EA is so busy worrying about protecting their products from piracy that they forget "Oh hey, our paying customers might want a working product."

Ciaran @ Oct 30th 2008 12:57PM

"EA apologizes for the inconvenience. In Soviet Russia, inconvenience apologizes to EA!"

That made me lol, +1!

Trickob @ Oct 30th 2008 9:06PM

me too. thanks for the laugh alex! :D

CTC XBL-supapaypamawio PSN-ctclaw @ Oct 30th 2008 12:59PM

I am loving Red Alert 3, you can't beat the cheesy video sequences with the live actors! Plus parachuting polar bears, attack dogs, and dolphins with missles!

FestiveTragedy @ Oct 30th 2008 1:07PM

Ok, 0-9: check, a-z: check, 36 possibilities: check; where in the 19 is the missing 1 supposed to be: shit

Maurice M @ Oct 30th 2008 1:10PM

"The only thing missing is the last digit"

dark_inchworm @ Oct 30th 2008 1:54PM

He's the one they call Dr. Failgood.

dabamf @ Oct 30th 2008 1:10PM

I recently picked up Crysis Warhead and had a similar problem, only worse! I was missing the first two characters of the serial key. That's 36 x 36 = 1296. I returned the game for a replacement.

NutMan @ Oct 30th 2008 1:17PM

Thankfully I was only missing a digit in my serial key and once I figured it out the game worked perfectly.

Anyone else noticing a trend of serial key mess ups with PC games? Stalker Clear Sky and (I think) NBA 2k9 had similar problems although clear sky was recalled if i remember correctly.

Waffle Slayer @ Oct 30th 2008 1:31PM

In Soviet Russia, this shit don't happen.

Dirty @ Oct 30th 2008 2:06PM

I went down to Target to pick up some things, figured I would get a copy of this while I was there. They were sold out... went online to best buy... also sold out.

Is it just me or is this game doing better than expected?

I love the old Westwood franchises.

Mr Khan @ Oct 30th 2008 2:21PM

The latter method would work, though? Normally such things just lock up if you fail to enter the correct number after so many tries

Biff_McFresh @ Oct 30th 2008 3:46PM

My backend needs no preloading.

...wait.

Lekko @ Oct 30th 2008 3:51PM

You know.. I'm starting to think PC games and consoles and such need barcode scanners to eliminate the need to type insane strings of random numbers and letters.

Actually, just give them all small simple cameras that can read QR codes with the option to type them in manually. I hate serials.

Dirty @ Oct 30th 2008 4:36PM

Would certainly be possible on Apples computers as almost all have a camera these days.

Would be a nice option though.

Genome4824 @ Oct 30th 2008 8:23PM

five hours later...

God i fucking hate EA it's always SOMETHING

now i get my new game put in the CD Key and it says cannot install invalid cd key. Noticed it was 19 digits but didnt think EA would be that stupid. Contacted customer service and they only JUST got back to me. I checked the forums on EA before then though. Misprinted Guides missing a character etc.

it was U.. so i did all numbers and letters up to U 9and it only allows 3 tries and then you gotta load the installer again for another 3.

Fucking nightmare i dont even want to play today now...

Bouille @ Oct 30th 2008 8:33PM

Red Alert 3 is out?

dabamf @ Oct 30th 2008 1:08PM

Yep, overshadowed by other new releases, but it looks cool!

Dirty @ Oct 30th 2008 2:05PM

PC only, the 360 version is in a couple weeks. Thats probably the source of your confusion.

Bouille @ Oct 30th 2008 8:33PM

Nah source of my confusion is that, other than the official annoucement of the game, we haven't heard anything from RA3.

Blank-Mage @ Oct 31st 2008 12:04AM

Guh, I just got done trying that new-fangled "Direct Download" business. My advice? Never, EVER try to direct download from EA store. You know it's going to be a long day when the "Start Download" button is greyed out on the program they force you to use.

MarkHawk @ Oct 31st 2008 4:24AM

Amazon isnt even shipping mind till Nov... wonder why.

Dave @ Oct 31st 2008 11:13AM

You all will get a kick out of this one ... Me also cursed with one of the 19 character serials called customer support not once but twice and finally after uploading a pic of my manual they gave me a new serial code. Great Installed thegame played a couple campaigns ... triedskirmish everythings great go to get online .... Invalid serial key ... but wait this code was just generated ...

Now Remember: this is a separate issue:
Invalid key issue: EA says the issue should be resolved by now. It involved a "small amount" of keys not being pre-loaded to the company's "backend."

But now they are introducing more new keycodes that are potentialy not being added to to the general pool of valid "online serial numbers"

so now I could potential be in an endless loop with customer support get this damn game online....

If anyone else has been through this please share your thoughts...

BAH!!

Nick Kusters @ Nov 4th 2008 3:18AM

Dear Dave,

I've created a tool to allow you to recover what that last serial digit should have been. You will need to uninstall the game and fire this baby up. It will tell you the last missing character of your key, which sould solve your online gaming issues.

http://www.nickkusters.com/articles/82/Red_Alert_3_Manuals_Missing_Last_License_Character.aspx

Spartan @ Nov 1st 2008 3:00AM

For what it is worth people we are getting organized to protest C&C3 and SuckROMs inclusion. We want the response to be twice as big as the one for Spore. Change starts with YOU and you are truly needed. EA now has a seven year low stock price and some analysis on Wall Street even think the top management is crazy. So now is the time to stand up, man-up and be heard!

We would like every self respecting gamer to give C&C3 the lowest possible review on as many such sites that you belong to and to inform all your friends and family to do so as well and to spread the word within all your social groups online. The time for change is now the time to act is now. Gamers are not morons nor are the vast majority of us infringers. We need to send a loud message to Wall Street and it must be soon.

EA cares about no one other than its top management and it must go but sadly only the board can do that so we must make our voices loud and known everywhere and anywhere.

Please go to the following site to educate yourselves about the issues with DRM and then chose to act. Check out:
http://www.defectivebydesign.org/
http://www.drm.info/