Activation Error?

joeswell · 07-01-2025, 11:23 PM

I just purchased OOTP 26.

When I start the game to enter the License Key, I keep getting this error message: "Activation Error - The Game could not verify activated,"

What am I doing wrong? Any suggestions?

Matt Arnold · 07-02-2025, 05:20 AM

That likely means there was an error connecting to the license server. If you have a firewall on your computer, you may need to white list OOTP to allow network access. If that's still not resolving, let us know and we may have more suggestions.

Also it's always important to make sure to copy the keys exactly, sometimes the dashes, capitalization I vs l might be easy to mis-type.

joeswell · 07-02-2025, 10:28 PM

Thanks for your reply. I don't have a firewall, that I know of, but I'll check. I do know how to copy and paste so I don't think that's the problem. I've had O TTP since version seven and I never had a problem installing a game. I'll follow your suggestions and if it still doesn't work, I'll check back

pholmer · 07-03-2025, 03:53 PM

I had this problem, too. It took a long time to resolve, but Matt Arnold gave me the solution. I was copying the code from my license and pasting it into the activation code box in my OOTP 26. But somehow during this process, I picked up some artifacts in the code. It was an extra space after a dash in the code which was almost imperceptible unless you were specifically looking for it. So examine your code carefully or type it in manually and see if that resolves the issue. This kind of thing has never happened to me before and I don't know how or why it did, but Matt's solution fixed it. Good luck.

joeswell · 07-03-2025, 06:28 PM

You and Matt figured out the solution to my dilemma. The Key was not being correctly copied to my "clipboard." Somehow, when I highlighted the License Key, it wasn't copying the dashes (-) between the clusters of letters and numbers.. only blank spaces. When I would paste the code into the game, the dashes (-) were missing... when I inserted the dashes (-) in the appropriate places in License Key, the game was activated! Now if I could only find out WHY the "Copy and Paste" command was "misbehaving..." Thanks!!

Matt Arnold · 07-04-2025, 04:56 AM

Glad it got resolved!

07-01-2025, 11:23 PM	#1
joeswell Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Mullica Hill , NJ Posts: 166	Activation Error? I just purchased OOTP 26. When I start the game to enter the License Key, I keep getting this error message: "Activation Error - The Game could not verify activated," What am I doing wrong? Any suggestions?

07-02-2025, 10:28 PM	#3
joeswell Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Mullica Hill , NJ Posts: 166	Thanks for your reply. I don't have a firewall, that I know of, but I'll check. I do know how to copy and paste so I don't think that's the problem. I've had O TTP since version seven and I never had a problem installing a game. I'll follow your suggestions and if it still doesn't work, I'll check back Last edited by joeswell; 07-02-2025 at 10:32 PM.

07-02-2025, 05:20 AM	#2
Matt Arnold OOTP Developer Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Here and there Posts: 15,853	That likely means there was an error connecting to the license server. If you have a firewall on your computer, you may need to white list OOTP to allow network access. If that's still not resolving, let us know and we may have more suggestions. Also it's always important to make sure to copy the keys exactly, sometimes the dashes, capitalization I vs l might be easy to mis-type.

07-03-2025, 03:53 PM	#4
pholmer Minors (Double A) Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Riverside, CA Posts: 177	I had this problem, too. It took a long time to resolve, but Matt Arnold gave me the solution. I was copying the code from my license and pasting it into the activation code box in my OOTP 26. But somehow during this process, I picked up some artifacts in the code. It was an extra space after a dash in the code which was almost imperceptible unless you were specifically looking for it. So examine your code carefully or type it in manually and see if that resolves the issue. This kind of thing has never happened to me before and I don't know how or why it did, but Matt's solution fixed it. Good luck.

07-03-2025, 06:28 PM	#5
joeswell Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Mullica Hill , NJ Posts: 166	You and Matt figured out the solution to my dilemma. The Key was not being correctly copied to my "clipboard." Somehow, when I highlighted the License Key, it wasn't copying the dashes (-) between the clusters of letters and numbers.. only blank spaces. When I would paste the code into the game, the dashes (-) were missing... when I inserted the dashes (-) in the appropriate places in License Key, the game was activated! Now if I could only find out WHY the "Copy and Paste" command was "misbehaving..." Thanks!!

07-04-2025, 04:56 AM	#6
Matt Arnold OOTP Developer Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Here and there Posts: 15,853	Glad it got resolved!