PATCH!

If you bought it second-hand, you didn't actually purchase from us. 

You don't even mention what you purchased. GalCiv II? GalCiv II: Dark Avatar? What?

If it's GalCiv II (plain old GalCiv II) you just go to the downloads area and click on the retail update and install it.

Are you accusing me of dealing in pirate software, I would hope for you sake you are not.

It is perfectly legal to buy and sell video games in the UK. If you wish people to buy only brand nw vesions then i suggest you sell those version in shops and that you make it perfectly clear on the packaging what the terms of purchase actually are. You are NOT exempt from the law and the retailer is not breaking the law by selling the game used any more than i am in purchasing it.

I woudl be very careful in how you respond to this or deal with customers unless you regard the UK sale of goods act as trivially as you do your downloads section which contains no mention of an actual patch. It does contain a bonus pack which doesn't update the game to the latest version.

Yet another naive cave dweller. I don't recall reading anywhere anything to liken a "pirate" comment. Guilty conscience perhaps?



Are you actually giving threats over the internet? The plot thickens.

Frogboy's point was that if you bought the game 2nd hand, ie from your neighbor, dog walker, teacher, whoever, then you did not buy the game off Stardock. How you get "pirate" out of that i'm not sure.



Again is this another threat? What would he or anyone else have to be careful about? What i find trivial is your blatant disrespect and arrogance in regards on how a media such as a forum works. Did you even search the forum for your answer? Did you take the time to look in the aptly named Downloads section. I highly doubt it. The retail update even has it's own link on the front page, all you needed do was click that then click download.



No. No-one is exempt from the law nor does it seem from rash acts of stupidity either. And again i did not read anywhere where he stated anything to the contrary.

It is fairly obvious what the reason for not allowing people to register used versions is; piracy. I don't have aguilty conscience at all. I brought the game for £8 yesterday from CEX in the UK. If the devs would rather I brought DIRECTLY from them (without a credit card i'm not sure how that woudl work) then they are living in fantasy land. I have never brought anything direct from the maker ever. That's why we have shops. Would they rather retailers went out ofof business? What a ridiculous attitude.

It's quite simple: they have failed to make their terms of purchase (terms that cannot exceed or contraven the UK law without breaking it) clear on the packaging. Therefore they have no legal leg to stand on in denying support to a legitimate, albiet second hand version of the game any more than if it was brand new.

Of course if it was brand new it would be the same situation since the only way to buy brand new is from a third party anyway.

And if they think retailers are still going to be stocking this game brand new 2 years after it came and went (regardless of its success, to which i cannot and do not claim to attest) they are living in cloud cuckoo land. I would have been more than happy to buy this for the same price brand new, but since they are unable to provide either that or proper packing they are out of line in their approach to customers in this way.

OP--kindness begets kindness. Had you simply asked for the information you need instead of ranting, your problem may have been solved by now. Yet you have still failed to give anyone looking at this post key pieces of information needed to be able to help you.

What specific game did you buy? Gal Civ I, Gal Civ II, or Dread Lords?

Did the advise from Frogboy work:


If not, tell us what happened and we may be able to further try to figure out what is going on.

Note: I am not speaking on behalf of Stardock here and the following is not legal advice but I need to correct a misconception here.

Regarding the Sale of Goods Act, I believe this actually applies to the retailer you purchased the software from, NOT the manufacturer (or in this case the developer as the manufacturer would be Paradox I think)

In the event that a product does not work, your rights allow you to return the goods to the original retailer for a replacement, repair or refund.  In this case the original retailer is the store you purchased the goods from which is not Stardock.

Many manufacturers will assist customers who have purchased a product from a retailer, but they are under no legal obligation to do so.  Their contract is with the store who purchased from them.

------

Having looked at that link that Frogboy provided, it does seem like there may be an error on the site as it does indeed seem to be taking you to the collectors edition downloads instead of the patch but if you click the bonus pack download it actually gives you the 1.4 patch.

I agree that seems wrong and it should be clearer.

So in short, use the link that Frogboy provided and click the bonus pack link.

 

Well, it is the 1.4 patch and it won't work if the serial ID is already linked with an e-mail.

Well there isn't any protection on the retail version of the game. The only cavecat is that a valid serial Id (ie one that isn't linked to another e-mail) is required to activate patch 1.1 or greater

The main problem is that with GC2, you aren't really buying the game, but a serial Id (since when you have just a valid serial ID, you can download the full game). And the EULA states:

So you haven't bought the game but a license to play the game. And for Stardock only first hand licenses are valid. And the original owner of your version still own the license as the following page https://www.galciv2.com/Purchase.aspx hints:

Once registered, you can re-download the entire game any time you want, even years from now. If you lose your serial #, no problem, just go here and we'll automatically send it to you

 

Actually, they might be... Stardock produced the game, but might not have anything to do with distributing it to retailers, etc. The retailer could break the law without Stardock's complicity or even knowledge. Of course, that is assuming that a law was even broken, which seems unlikely in this case.

The point is, we don't get any money at all from used sales--the proceeds from such deals go directly to the store's coffers and to no one else.

If you were indeed able to register your serial as you seem to have done (you didn't mention that giving any problem in your first post) though, I'm not sure what your complaint is. It's the registration of the serial that truly makes a copy 'used', and as the original owner apparently did not, you were able to do so and secure access to updates, etc, as if your copy were new.

As you never did answer Frogboy's question about which version of the game you purchased, I'll deduce from your comment that you live in the UK that it was the original version of GalCiv2 (GC2:Gold has not yet been released in Europe). If that's indeed the case, you simply need to do as he instructed. The 'bonus pack' you found is the 1.4x patch.

While there have been some minor updates to GC2DL since 1.4x, they mostly relate to the Dark Avatar expansion. If you want them all the same, they are only available via Stardock Central, which you can find on the downloads page. Stardock Central is our download/update manager, which will even let you download the entire game at any time if you so desire.

well, that won't really change anything since the download would still be the 1.4 patch.

BTW, the dreadlords bonus pack as linked is the latest patch.

Ok lets see if anyone can help me out here. I have bought the dread lords collectors edition brand new. Now i have downloaded the bonus pack/patch or whatever they want to call it. When i start the game again it asks for my email and serial key. I input both and it gives me an error message saying that it's not the right serial key for the copy of dread lords that i bought. Can anyone help me here or am i just SOL. Cause bye far this is the dumbest way to issue game patches to a wide user audience. They should have made the game to be able to connect to the internet and download the patch automatically like most recent games do now.

Metaman, does the serial you're trying to use begin with GC2-? If so, check for another one in the packaging that doesn't.

If you have two GC2- serials or just one but no second serial, try entering the GC2- serial on this page to get one you can register the game with. If that doesn't work, please contact [email protected].

If the serial you're trying to use does not begin with GC2-, then please contact [email protected] in that case as well.



Once you've registered the game successfully, you can just use Stardock Central and click the Update button by GC2 to get the very latest without any other effort. You can even download the whole game via SDC, if you lose your disc or don't have it handy for whatever reason when you want to install.

I'm still waiting for them to contact me back. I used the serial on my jewel case which begins with a d8 and so on. This is the most trouble that i have ever gone through to update a game. It's no wonder so many people like Blizzard better. Much easier to update and way better games.

 

Well, you could do that with Stardock Central.

If it is really the serial key that isn't right (and not the e-mail), that could mean that you have a serial Id starting with GC2. if it is the case, you need to go here https://www.galciv2.com/paradox/

Alright--make sure you got the automated response right after you mailed them, containing your support ticket details. If you didn't get one, check your spam filters/bulk folders.

But stardock central is tool that i have to download to have. I find it useless as it just takes up space on my hard drive. Not only that i don't see to many patches that have come out for the game since it has been released. All in all the trouble you have to go through just to get a patch is really troublesome and time consuming.

Well, if you are speaking about GC2, then it is true that there hasn't lot of patches recently since all patchs developpement are for the extension Dark Avatar. And SDC allows you to install the beta patches.

Hogwash.

IT's quite simple: if you want to do business this way, make it clear at the point of sale.

I am well aware that used games make no money for the manufacturers, but taking it out on the customer is a very poor way of encouraging sales and is nothing short of hostile.

Do you think I want to do business with you knowing this is how you treat me for the simple crime of buying a game second hand? Get a life!

I don't see where someone from Stardock has mistreated you, just lots of conclusions being jumped to by lots of people with no particular basis.

And as I said above, since you've successfully registered the serial, your copy is, for practical purposes, new. It's the registering of the serial that makes it 'used', and if you can register it, it means the prior owner didn't.

All you need to do is download the 1.4x patch (the bonus pack option on the page you saw, yes it is mislabeled and it is being addressed, but it is the 1.4x patch) and install it as directed.

Why are you making this so much more complicated than it is?

As I said before, all you have to do is click on the downloads button on the left side of the page and then click on the 1.4 retail update and you're done. 

Hahaha, I won't post the obvious jokes about trolling, or the fact that every game made now has it's own download manager, or a variation of one that may or may not be incorporated into the game's gui but is still taking up more hard drive space regardless, or the fact that I have an install manager from Blizzard themselves (gasp)...

But I will say that updating GalCiv is ridiculously easy for me, and should be for most. If you're registered, just open stardock central and it'll tell you what's available and if you want to download it. Simple as 3 clicks. Maybe 5, I didn't count, but it's a simple, convenient way to do business and I appreciate it.

The fact that they use the serial numbers is also smart business. The no copy protection means the game is cheaper to produce (so theoretically it's cheaper for us.   ) (and copy protection is always cracked anyway, always). It also helps them keep track of their products. If you bought the game second hand, and couldn't update it, it's actually the original owners fault who's screwed you. They're going to be playing their game forever, updating it as needed, and even installing it free via SDC on new computers without the game disc that you bought 2nd hand..... It's not SDC's fault that they're taking better measures to prevent piracy. If you were to successfully install and update the game, you would (albeit unknowingly) be pirating the game. It may be a myriad of other's faults, but acting like a jerk to one of the better game companies around is a joke. It's just like yelling at a cashier because your bananas rang up wrong at check out. They don't have control over that. Stardock doesn't have control over second hand sales, and it would be a shame to be ripped off, but they're preventing pirating in their own way, even if you got tricked into pirating the game, it's not SD's or their system's fault. GC2DL and DA are great games from a great company, with a simple update system, imho. The few Mb on my HDD aren't a problem for most, as it's ridiculous how many Gbs are left on my drives. (at least for my leisure computer), and it would be a shame to have a bad experience jade your view of them, as there are many other retailers and games to be fearful of that actually do take part in malicious or customer-screwing policies. The amount that this team has given us post-release for absolutely FREE is beyond measure. It's ridiculous to be honest, and I'll be buying all of their games until they give me a reason to otherwise, or I run out of money.

I'm sorry that you're having a problem, and I'm glad that others are trying to help you, but it is immeasurably childish to complain without any positive criticism. If you state your problem, then others will help you, if you complain about your problem, most won't, and you ruin your credibility. I don't believe that all complaints are idiotic, but there is definitely a difference between an asinine complaint and a legitimate one. You've stated some of both, but they all still sound like one kind. I won't say which though.

And so this is half-way on topic, it seems to me that the terms of sale and user agreements are very clear. If the 2nd hand retailer failed to mention that and the original buyer is just ripping everyone else off, then SDC is miles away from who should be held responsible in the perfect world. And I hope you've now successfully downloaded the patch and got the game running so you can realize how much fun the game is. Since you don't have a manual, I'd recommend downloading the Pdf version as well, just to give it a read over. There's lots of stuff in there that could help you out. If you've got the DA too, then have fun with that. I love virus bombing the jagged knife and those other breakaway's into submission as penalty for fleeing my empire...

Wow, he complains, HAS THE CEO OF THE COMPANY PERSONALLY RESPOND IN 7 MINUTES TIME TELLING EXACTLY HOW TO FIX HIS PROBLEM, and still complains of poor service.

Wow.

My 2 cents Stardock is a great company and one of the best for updating and adding content to their games as well a forum activity.

Anyone can download their game as there is no CD protection.
So to ensure that their paying customers are the ones getting the benefits from patches or new content you are required to have a Serial and for easy management they have SDCenteral. I have 10 games that SDCenteral checks and lets me know if there are updates for my games to download. I can delete and later install the games Without a Disk with just a couple clicks now that is a great feature and darn handy.

They also take a personal interest in the Forums and it is not uncommon to speak to them. Infact they seemed quick to try and help you with your concern actually within 7.5 mins of you posting your first post (enough said).

Matthew.