Ice and Blood Installation Problem...

[wolfie2kX 528]

I've recently scored of a copy of Sacred 2 Gold. And I'm having problems getting it up and running...

 

Here's what I've done thus far:

 

1.) I downloaded all files (all 31) from DLGamer.

2.) I grabbed the UK patches for Fallen Angel and Ice and Blood (4 files)

3.) I backed up my US 2.43 files (save games and pictures) to another drive

4.) Uninstalled the US 2.43

5.) Went into Windows Explorer, deleted the old CDV folder.

6.) Ran the installation of the UK Fallen Angel package.

7.) Ran the patch that takes you to 2.40.0 UK

8.) Ran the patch that takes you from 2.40.0 to 2.43.0 UK

9.) Started the game and it wanted the serial # provided by DLGamer.

 

Up to this point all is good.. Exited the game and did the following:

 

10.) Ran the Ice & Blood installer.

11.) Installed the 2.64.0 to 2.65.1 patch

12.) Installed the 2.65.1 to 2.65.2 patch

13.) Launched Ice and Blood.

 

At this point, my frustrations began. The game never launched properly. First off, it never prompted me for the serial number for Ice and Blood. I got an orange texted start up screen, silly message, and it stuck at an error message saying:

 

Inputmanager: Unable to Acquire Devices!

 

At which point, the game sits and hangs for as long as I let it go. I have to Alt-Tab to get out, at which point, I see a dialog box flash by, which then vanishes into thin air.

 

Note: The Ice and Blood executable vanishes from the Alt-Tab list. I can't alt-tab back to it. The only way to kill it is by running Task Manager and killing it from there.

 

Thus far, I've searched high and low on the internet for a solution. Most of the instances I've seen for this issue never seem to have a solution for it. They post they've got a problem, someone replies with a suggestion that doesn't seem to do anything, and then the OP posts he solved the problem - without any useful or helpful info like links to programs or other resources that they used to fix the problem. One of them has only one reply - pointing the guy to DarkMatters for a solution.

 

I did another uninstall and reinstall to 2.43.0 UK so I can get my fix...

 

So.. What I'm looking for is a detailed solution to this problem. Anybody got one?

[Dragon Brother 619]

Do you use vista? There is some useful info on the Securom site here. Scroll down to the I cannot activate Sacred 2: Ice and Blood for a manual unlock method which doesnt require you to open the game up.

[wolfie2kX 528]

Do you use vista? There is some useful info on the Securom site here. Scroll down to the I cannot activate Sacred 2: Ice and Blood for a manual unlock method which doesnt require you to open the game up.

 

DOH! I knew I was forgetting that little tidbit.. Actually running on Windows 7. But I'll still give it a look see.. Thanks!

 

Wish me luck...

 

GOOD NEWS...! The manual activation thing worked. Bloody heck.. This needs to go on the Sacred 2 Wiki...

 

But, until that happens... In case anyone runs into this activation problem ever again... Here's how to fix it.

 

1.) Install Ice and Blood

2.) Install the Ice and Blood 2.64.0 patch to 2.65.1

3.) Install the Ice and Blood 2.65.1 patch to 2.65.2

4.) Visit https://support.securom.com/pop_sacred2.html

5.) Scroll down to the bottom of the page. Follow the instructions for downloading the manual activation utility.

6.) Extract and run the manual activation utility.

7.) Enter your Ice and Blood Serial number in the box provided.

8.) Specify a folder that's easy to find for where to put your activation temp files.

9.) Click the Activation button. This will generate an activation request file.

10.) Click on the link at the top of the utility which will take you to a page that will ask you to upload the activation request. Browse for the file.

11.) Enter your Ice and Blood Serial again on the web page.

12.) Enter the 4 character captcha security code displayed on the web site.

13.) Click the Get Activation button.

14.) The screen will refresh and it will say your request was successful. Click on the link and save the license file to the same location on the hard drive.

15.) Go back to the desktop activation utility and browse for the license file you just downloaded. This will import the license file into Ice and Blood.

 

 

At this point, things should be good to go. The game should proceed past the "InputManager: Unable to Acquire Devices!" part and actually get you into the game.

Edited November 6, 2010 by wolfie2kX

[Dragon Brother 619]

Do you use vista? There is some useful info on the Securom site here. Scroll down to the I cannot activate Sacred 2: Ice and Blood for a manual unlock method which doesnt require you to open the game up.

 

DOH! I knew I was forgetting that little tidbit.. Actually running on Windows 7. But I'll still give it a look see.. Thanks!

 

Yeah, I think it was meant to be for W7 actually...or both. Anyway, glad to hear it worked for you

[gogoblender 3,071]

This is awesome...

 

One post form DB and Blammo... Wolfie, makes it across to EU!

 

+++@ Dragon Brother

 

 

gogo

[Schot 407]

Nicely done Dragon. It's rare that the first answer to a tech question like this is the one that resolves the problem. Big points dudey and gratz wolfie! Enjoy Ice and Blood!

 

I'm in the process of copying my guide over to the wiki as we speak. Oh and for record the link to the securom manual activation is part of my guide.

[gogoblender 3,071]

I'm in the process of copying my guide over to the wiki as we speak.

 

Wonderful.

 

I just saw the write up you brought into the wiki. Looks good, and you linked it well from main index. This is a HUGE guide... the detailing on it is crazy. I'm not gonna ask how much research and time you put into this^^

 

 

gogo

[Dragon Brother 619]

This is awesome...

 

One post form DB and Blammo... Wolfie, makes it across to EU!

 

+++@ Dragon Brother

 

 

gogo

 

 

Nicely done Dragon. It's rare that the first answer to a tech question like this is the one that resolves the problem. Big points dudey and gratz wolfie! Enjoy Ice and Blood!

 

I'm in the process of copying my guide over to the wiki as we speak. Oh and for record the link to the securom manual activation is part of my guide.

Haha. Guess I got lucky then fellas.

[wolfie2kX 528]

I'm in the process of copying my guide over to the wiki as we speak.

 

Wonderful.

 

I just saw the write up you brought into the wiki. Looks good, and you linked it well from main index. This is a HUGE guide... the detailing on it is crazy. I'm not gonna ask how much research and time you put into this^^

 

 

gogo

 

Yah.. Very cool that it's in there now. I updated it with the instructions on how to manually activate Ice and Blood so it's now even more complicated and extensive. It could maybe use a bit of tweaking on the formatting, but eh.. as long as the information's there, that's what counts.

[Dragon Brother 619]

By the way wolfie, the error you posted on the wiki "Inputmanager: Unable to acquire devices!" isnt the reason it crashes. I get that error all the time and the game runs fine. Its to do with being unable to acquire the mouse/keyboard or something I believe, whereas the crash occurs because you arent being allowed to access the securom locked files from Ice and Blood.

[Schot 407]

Aaaaaah, after reading your description on the wiki wolfie I think I now understand the problem you had. Something similar happened to me once that I could not reach the Firewall screen to allow Sacred 2 access because it was hidden behind the actual game screen. If I recall correctly I had to set the game in windowed mode from customOptions and when the game started I dragged the game window over to reveal the Firewall dialogue. Sacred 2 is somewhat renowned for it's ineffective alt-tabbing.

 

I'd like to keep things concise on the initial Install guide so what would be best in this case is to create a separate page containing the content you wrote so that the Install guide page can link to it as a reference to the Securom link on the guide. In fact we could certainly use a page just for Manual Activation which could contain the steps for both the Online and Downloaded Manual Activation. Something like Securom Manual Activation could be a good page name. I'd be happy to set it up but I'd rather you be listed as the article starter since you wrote the steps wolfie.

 

P.s.

Hmmm... Or maybe just Manual Activation...

[Mortanius 0]

Hello everyone and merry christmas . I just finished downloading my sacred 2 uk version and it works wonderfully. I downloaded blood and ice, and according to the email I had to run the patch first than install the other downloads their are 3 of the in number order. Well I downloaded all 3 links and threw them on my desktop. So I go to install the first one and it asks me for a disk......... lol not sure what to do I got the cd key from my mail. So now what? I want to play really bad >.< thank you for helping me out.

 

Mortaniuss

[wolfie2kX 528]

Hello everyone and merry christmas . I just finished downloading my sacred 2 uk version and it works wonderfully. I downloaded blood and ice, and according to the email I had to run the patch first than install the other downloads their are 3 of the in number order. Well I downloaded all 3 links and threw them on my desktop. So I go to install the first one and it asks me for a disk......... lol not sure what to do I got the cd key from my mail. So now what? I want to play really bad >.< thank you for helping me out.

 

Mortaniuss

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Looks like Santa's been good to you.

 

The thing to do is follow Schot's quite thorough and excellent guide to installing the UK version and getting Ice and Blood installed on top of it.

 

If you installed Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, and gave it the serial number, and activated it successfully, then the patches should NOT be a problem. Nor should any of them ask for a disk. The guide linked above has links to the correct files - make sure you've got the right ones. And most importantly, be sure you're applying them in the correct order! The really BIG patch (2.02 to 2.40) goes first.

[wolfie2kX 528]

By the way wolfie, the error you posted on the wiki "Inputmanager: Unable to acquire devices!" isnt the reason it crashes. I get that error all the time and the game runs fine. Its to do with being unable to acquire the mouse/keyboard or something I believe, whereas the crash occurs because you arent being allowed to access the securom locked files from Ice and Blood.

 

Sorry for missing this previously - guess I was too busy playing to notice.. Hehehe

 

Anyhow.. That IS odd. Mainly because once Ice and Blood was properly registered and activated and whatnot, the "Inputmanger:" thing went away. It was replaced by the usual Mouse and KB messages. Maybe you've got some funky mouse/KB combo that takes longer for the game to recognize - and that's why it doesn't crash.

 

But you're likely right - in so far as the Securom DRM is the problem - it was preventing the game from launching because it wasn't activated. So the bloody POS was doing it's job.

 

 

Aaaaaah, after reading your description on the wiki wolfie I think I now understand the problem you had. Something similar happened to me once that I could not reach the Firewall screen to allow Sacred 2 access because it was hidden behind the actual game screen. If I recall correctly I had to set the game in windowed mode from customOptions and when the game started I dragged the game window over to reveal the Firewall dialogue. Sacred 2 is somewhat renowned for it's ineffective alt-tabbing.

 

I'd like to keep things concise on the initial Install guide so what would be best in this case is to create a separate page containing the content you wrote so that the Install guide page can link to it as a reference to the Securom link on the guide. In fact we could certainly use a page just for Manual Activation which could contain the steps for both the Online and Downloaded Manual Activation. Something like Securom Manual Activation could be a good page name. I'd be happy to set it up but I'd rather you be listed as the article starter since you wrote the steps wolfie.

 

P.s.

Hmmm... Or maybe just Manual Activation...

 

Eh.. Given you can't get to the controls in game to change the game into windowed mode, (it bombs at the start up screen, right after the silly message) - it's kinda moot - unless you have 'em change into Windowed mode BEFORE the install the I & B patch.

 

Feh.. It's much easier to just do the manual activation thing and be done with it. Not so sure it needs a page of it's own. The page - as it is now - is right on the money.