CD Key location

Ice_Sickle · #1 February 9th, 2005, 12:38 PM

A friend of mine is having some real computer problems. The best solution seems to be a re-format at this time. The problem is that he can't find his Dominions II manual (with CD key). So once he re-formats he won't be able to play until he finds his manual.

In many game and even in Windows the CD key is saved in the registry. I've dug through my registry and couldn't find mine. Does the key exist in a file or something so he can determine what his is before he reformats?

liga · #2 February 9th, 2005, 12:43 PM

the Cd key is in a text file called "key" in the dominions2 installation directory (the one with the executable)

good play
Liga

Agrajag · #3 February 9th, 2005, 01:15 PM

Actually, its not officialy a text file, it has no extension.
But if you open it with "Notepad" then it will work okay.
Or atleast that's how things are in my installation =P

Ice_Sickle · #4 February 9th, 2005, 01:21 PM

Thank you! I'm stunned I didn't find it.

reverend · #5 February 9th, 2005, 01:52 PM

Heh. That's because storing the key in an open, plain textfile is much too simple for games nowadays. You just don't think to look for it anymore.

Bluebird · #6 February 10th, 2005, 05:30 PM

It is the UNIX way to do things ... the Windows way with strange registries and binary formats was a horrible design decision from the start. It is probably the second worst part of the Windows design (right after .dll-Hell)

reverend · #7 February 10th, 2005, 07:40 PM

The UNIX way would be a .key file.

I think the registry in itself isn't so bad, it's just implemented terribly. After all, you store most ini files in /etc on Linux, the Windows registry is simply a more annoying way to do the same.

Bluebird · #8 February 10th, 2005, 08:15 PM

Sorry that I have to object, but

System backup is much more difficult.
The naming conventions in the registry are quite strange and most of the time it is hard to find the correct key.
Simple copy operations are not sufficient to transfer a software installation from one machine to another.
Manual software deinstallation requires a complex knowledge of used keys and is nearly impossible.
...

In general it is not understandable why two disjoint hierarchies (file system and registry) are needed to store information. Having two concepts instead of one increases the complexity of the system in an unnecessary way.

reverend · #9 February 10th, 2005, 08:56 PM

That's why I said it's implemented VERY badly.

Ed Kolis · #10 February 12th, 2005, 02:28 PM

I just switched to Linux and now I can't find my key - there isn't even any key file! Is this because I have an old copy of Dominions from before the keys were required? If so, am I screwed until I can find my manual?

edit: ah, nevermind, I found it on the Windows installation on my old machine