Same old PC, went back today to try using CrazyTalk and the program asked me to login to buy more online content. I declined.

Started the program again, again declined to buy more content.

Now I get a screen giving me the option of either paying for the application again, or "Deactivate". Not very good choices.

To be clear: same PC, not a reinstall.

Come on Reallusion, with PD stuff like Blender, Pencil, and Synfig why do you feel the need to punish paying customers with self destructing "features" under the banner of copy protection?

I put the program aside a year or so ago when I learned that it couldn't even output on a transparent screen like most every other normal program. Now what do I have to do? Hope that your records haven't lost me? Hope that you are still in business so that you can reactivate me?

Just in case I haven't been clear, your product policies are customer unfriendly. And my purchased software is not working. What must I do?

Hi..

Sorry to hear of your install problems.

If you have made hardware changes to your computer, this can cause the activation system to think you are using a new computer and activate it as a separate install. I have checked and can see two computers registered with the same name.

However it is very easy to deactivate one of the two computers by following the FAQ below.

http://faq.reallusion.com/index.php?action=article&cat_id=001002&id=422&lang=

Once you deactivate one of the two installs you will be able to install again.

With regards to your comment about exporting with a transparent background. You can do this in CTA by choosing Sequence Image PNG format. Most video editors can work with this format.

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Nope. One computer. Never tried or installed on another computer.

What do you mean by change my computer? I did not reinstall windows, or your app.

Are you saying that Reallusion is employing a copy protection scheme more draconian than Microsoft? I haven't had any problem with Windows.

Could you please elaborate on "changed" your computer?
Microsoft Windows believes that my computer is not "changed".
I didn't reinstall windows. Would REallusion deactivate my installation of its products
if I installed a competitor's product? Is that what you mean by changed?

If so, it's not fair to do that because I already owned Sony Vegas and don't want to buy Reallusion's video editor. I've also purchased some other animation software, but I won't mention the name because I don't want to offend on your business site. But the point is, these other purchased programs are running fine on the same PC.

AFAIK the AMD and Intel CPU's have immutable id's burned into them, and internet cards have explicit MAC addresses over and above the IP address ( which often changes every time Verizon reboots their server ). So I can confidently say that none of that has changed. Which may explain why Microsoft and every other program I run, except Reallusion Animator, is working fine on the same PC.

So I'd really like to know what you mean, because if you want me to hunt down the prior graphics card or something, and take out a screwdriver, and reboot to a prior configuration, and reinstall old graphics drivers. Hey, that's a lot of work. And I'd like to avoid that sort of thing if you could just be a little more candid.

You know, if my time was worth "as much" as $2 an hour, it would be cheaper for me to repurchase your software again, than to go through all of that work. Hopefully, that type of "gotcha" business model was not part of Reallusion's decision.

I'm still waiting and hoping for the best.

Hi..

Changing hardware such as a mainboard would constitute a major change that can cause activation systems to think you are using a different computer (in effect you are).

However as I mentioned previously we have made it very easy for the end user to deactivate one of the two computers you are allowed to install a single copy of CTA on.

Just follow the link I gave above and it will take just a few seconds to deactivate.

And let me clarify, you will never be required to purchase the software again unless you want to install on more than two computers. In this case you would require an additional license.

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

No. Didn't change the mainboard. And didn't upgrade the CPU, either.

Would installing RAM do it? What about installing other software, like other animation software?

Hi Peter,
I've got a ticket with tech support, and they had me trying things like editing the registry and making sure that I have DirectX 9.c installed. No luck.

I think there is something stuck with the "authorization method" that Reallusion is using. Microsoft Windows is working fine and has never sought reauthorization, so that seems to me to be an indicator that something might not be correct with the Reallusion authorization technology.

I might have added more RAM, but I didn't change the CPU or the motherboard, or the network card, or its MAC address. However, I have changed internet service providers, so my IP address is most likely different.

If you can do anything on your end to return my ability to use the product I'd greatly appreciate it. Also, if you have any further detail on what could be causing the "different PC" reading it may help explain things.

For now, I can't use the software and that is frustrating after having purchased the big bundle.

Thanks for your help

There is actually a bug in CTA, where it registers the program twice on the same computer. I think it happened to me after I ran a patch. It wasn't due to a hardware change.

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Hopefully by now Support have got things sorted out for you. But I do wonder why you were not able to deactivate your computers yourself as I described previously. What happened when you tried this?

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com