"Error! Missing one or more tags" when clicking "I've already purchased this"

[LatHans]

Hi.

I just bought sam & max - culture shock (complete season), and downloaded and installed it. When I click on the icon on my desktop, followed by "I've already purchased this", I get this error:



(if the image doesn't work, it looks something like the following:)

Error!
Missing one or more tags
[ OK ]

When I click OK, it returns to the box where I can choose between "playing free trial" or "play the $8.95 full version". Clicking trial version works (the trial version starts), and clicking full version does nothing, except relaunching (and centering) the same window).

I have clicked on activation support and sent them an e-mail regarding the issue, but with less detail than found in this post. It's been 5 and a half hour, and I havn't got any repsonse yet.

Can anyone help me get the full version started?

Some info: I'm:

... Using windows xp pro sp2 english
... Internet Explorer 7 installed
... Firefox as default browser
... DirectX 9.0c of course
... Nvidia GF6600GT
... No antivirus/firewall/whatever

[phillip_marlowe]

I'm getting the exact same thing... I'm running pretty much the same rig (made sure to run Windows update just today), except my card is a ATI. I don't think that matters, though, since I can run the demo perfectly.

[LatHans]

I managed to get it to work after I redownloaded and reinstalled the game, without unchecking the boxes that starts the installation (or the game) after the download (and installation) is completed. I didn't clicked on the details button during the installation either.

Maybe it downloaded a new version, maybe it didn't like that I unchecked those boxes, or clicked on the details button the previous time.

Good luck to others with the same error!

[Emily]

Where are you guys downloading the game from when you get this message? Our website, or a mirror site?

Thanks for the info about which boxes you checked / unchecked. If anyone can provide concrete details for how to reproduce this problem it would be very helpful.

[jugga]

Hello!

I have the same problem... I donwloaded S&M from the ttg official homepage after upgrading to the complete seson I. Then some days I had no time to install the game. (I had to reinstal, because since I've played the first game I got a new laptop...)

Cheers


Florian

PS: Reinstalling without checking the "Start game" box is not changing anything... I guess I will try to download again... hopefully this works...

[Emily]

This error usually indicates a problem with the installation or the download. Usually uninstalling and reinstalling, or redownloading from our website, fixes the problem. Remember that you can download the demo version of any of our games and convert it to the full version, so don't worry if you don't have access to the direct download link from the end of the checkout process.

If you've tried both of these things and keep getting the error message, click Activation Support and follow the instructions to get an activation key from us. The activation key should bypass this error.

[Steltek]

Same problem here with Situation Comedy. Reinstalling didn't help. Trying to redownload the game now. I downloaded it using the executable from the link in the e-mail I received and the download actually cancels out quite often (it just stops, and when I restart the downloader, it starts downloading the file from the beginning).

Just an idea: Could you provide the download via Bittorrent? BT has the advantage of checking whether the download is complete before actually marking it as such, it also avoids bandwidth issues by sharing already downloaded parts among users directly (leveraging the user's bandwidth). It would certainly be a nice addition to the current (apparently unreliable) HTTP-only part.

Oh and one other thing I noticed: The downloader apparently limits the download throughput. I get only max 15kbps with it, but when I trace the network traffic and hit the download URL directly with my browser, I get over 700!

[Emily]

We can't put the download on bittorrent because for the game to activate properly it needs to go through the download manager. However, the download manager *should* resume a dropped download at the same place you left off. Just run the "Download Sam & Max Situation Comedy now" thingie again and it should pick up in the middle.

If you're not able to download because of the dropped connections, you can follow the instructions here, but we're going to have to activate manually with an activation key. If you do finish the download but still get that missing tags error, an activation key will work for you, too. It's not the sexiest solution, but it works.

[Steltek]

I was under the impression that simply clicking 'I already bought this' and entering one's order number would be sufficient to activate the game (provided that that link worked of course), in which case BT would be a viable distribution option.

I've not managed to get the download to pull the game though, it simply stops: the pause button gets greyed out, instead the 'open folder' button goes active. If I selected that I would want to start the installer, it actually starts the half-downloaded file. When I relaunch the downloader after that, it starts all over again, so I'm stuck in a neverending loop, downloading half (actually it usually doesn't even manage to get half) of the setup file over and over again.

I've requested an activation key through support now, hopefully that will work.

Update: Yay! I managed to trick the stupid downloader. Here's how:

1. Sniff the network traffic to get the URL of the file it is downloading (might be optional, see 2 below)
2. Download that file with for example Firefox (the latter reaches far over 800kbps here instead of the measly 15kbps the downloader gets and it doesn't bail out in the middle of the download. N.B. The demo installer might also work in which case, step 1 can be skipped. Haven't tested that.)
3. Cut off a few bytes at the end of the file, I used Mirkes Tiny Hexer to do this. (Reason: if the file is complete, the downloader will complain about a problem with the Internet connection, if a few bytes are missing, it will just download them to complete the file.)
4. Start the downloader, indicate where to save the file and then immediately close it (with the X).
5. Replace the file the downloader started with the cut file you got from 3.
6. Start the downloader again, it will see the nearly complete file, retrieve the last few bytes and launch the installer. (I guess it gives a special parameter to the installer, or somehow drops a special file into the install Dir, or a setting into the registry, no idea, anyway once the install finishes and you launch the game, it will say 'Retrieving key' and activate itself.)

Now I can finally play Situation Comedy, no thanks to the downloader, nor the game launcher with the defunct 'already bought this' option.

[Emily]

I'm glad you got it to work.

I was under the impression that simply clicking 'I already bought this' and entering one's order number would be sufficient to activate the game (provided that that link worked of course), in which case BT would be a viable distribution option.

We were under that impression too, until recently. We're trying to update the wording on our site, in the games, etc. to make it clearer when this will and won't work.

[imi]

Had the same problem.

Redownload worked (with no speed cap here. Full 2MBit download..)

Now playing.. ;-)

[Emily]

Redownload worked (with no speed cap here. Full 2MBit download..)

Glad to hear it.