Major Addon Loss Follows Motherboard Crash **solved**

[grasshopper]

Hi Virtuali, I am pasting here a copy of the question that I posed on the AVSIM forum, about how to re-activate all my licensed addons after a motherboard crash, since I could not locate a new motherboard of the same type as the one that stopped working.   I own Cloud9 LAX, and FSDT Zurich, O'Hare and JKF, all of which I assume I will now need to re-validate.  Could you please advise me on how to accomplish this re-validation process ?  Below are the details of what took place here.

I do apologize if this topic has been handled back in the mists of time, and I did carry out brief search in the archives before deciding to go ahead and ask my question in a new post.

My FS9 computer's motherboard, a Gigabyte P.Ga-P35-DS3L stoped working a couple of weeks back without warning. When the diagnosis came in I wasn't really worried because I had made a complete backup of my FS9 hard-drive contents, on a separate drive that was left UN-connected so as to avert damage to that backup drive in the event of a system breakdown.

The computer repairman who helps keep my system running was unable to find the exact same model as the motherboard that went bad, so he purchased a Gigabyte EP41-UD3L motherboard as a replacement. Next he tried the REPAIR procedure on my registered copy of the Vista OS, but was informed by a system message that a NEW Vista install would be needed, as opposed to the Vista "repair" approach that he found would not work.

At one point the computer guy installed Windows7 on the new hard drive, followed by a re-install of FS9. Right off an "invalid license" message from PMDG prevented FS9 from even starting up. Oddly enough, installing an un-opened CD copy of the LevelD767 removed that error message from PMDG, and enabled FS9 to start up. But then, when I looked into the scenery and aircraft addon listings inside FS9, NONE of my extensive scenery and aircraft addons were visible or accessible in FS9.

Over the years I have purchased and enjoyed flying the entire PMDG Boeing fleet, the PMDG MD11, the LevelD767, the Feelthere Embraer fleet, the Dreamfleet 727 and the Leonardo Maddog 80. Also before this disaster, my FS9 scenery list included many titles by UK2000, Fly Tampa, Aerosoft, FSDT/Cloud9, SimWings and Megascenery. With my computer still not yet set up right for FS9 use, I have now lost access to ALL of these addon aircraft and scenery products, many of which took HOURS to download from the net.

As I speak, the computer tech is attempting to re-install my licensed Vista OS unto a NEW hard drive, after which he intends to try and move the Windows Game Folder, which contains FS9, along with all my previously registered addon scenery and aircraft, from my original, evidently undamaged drive from the old system, to the new drive.

With the nightmare scenario of me ultimately having to re-install and re-register ALL my addon scenery and aircraft looming larger with every failed fix here, I would like to seek your learned opinions as to whether the corrective steps I have described above will allow me to once again use all my addon FS9 scenery when complete, or if, despite my precaution of backing up all my FS9-related files unto a physically separate drive, I will have to contact each addon vendor to commence that time-comsuming re-install and validation process all over again.

Any answers that could set me on the right path would be greatly appreciated, folks. As it stands now I am effectively locked out from all the enhancements that made FS9 so magical for me, and becoming more depressed with each new corrective action that fails to reverse this situation. Apologies for the long-winded write up, but I felt that I needed to explain precisely what has been done so far, in the hopes someone on this forum might see a quick , no-hassle solution to it all.

[Bruce Hamilton]

Go to esellerate.net and click support.  All the info on obtaining your serials is there.

[grasshopper]

Much obliged, Bruce.   Will do.

[virtuali]

There's no risk whatsoever losing any of our addons due to a total crash, since every order can be easily retrieved, have a look at our FAQ page, or the sticky thread named Reinstallation after system upgrade or crash, please READ!

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=649.0

 

[grasshopper]

Thanks for the reply, Virtuali.  I was delighted to see from the link you posted above that the re-activation process for FSDT scenery is now as simple as entering the emailed product serial number when prompted upon selecting the "registration number" option for re-activation.

Since my purchased copies of FSDT JFK, O'Hare and Zurich are all fully downloaded but de-activated due to my harware change, I pressed "ALT" from within FS9, and then clicked the Addon manager tab, under which I then re-entered my serial number, which in the case of Zurich was 24 digits long.

Rather than activate the product as I anticipated based on FSDT's newly simplified re-activation procedure, entering the product serial number resulted in an error message thus " esellerate engine not found".  That point, in essence, is where I found myself stuck with every attempt I made to re-activate JFK, Zurich or O'Hare.

Could you please advise me as to where I may have gone wrong in this series of failed re-activation attempts ?  Is it not permissible to re-activate a previously downloaded copy of these sceneries from within FS9 ?   Thanks in advance.

[waleed]

There's no risk whatsoever losing any of our addons due to a total crash, since every order can be easily retrieved, have a look at our FAQ page, or the sticky thread named Reinstallation after system upgrade or crash, please READ!

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=649.0

 

And that is the beauty of this system.

Grasshopper, I hope all goes well with your road to fs recovery.

[virtuali]

Rather than activate the product as I anticipated based on FSDT's newly simplified re-activation procedure, entering the product serial number resulted in an error message thus " esellerate engine not found".

Are you using our *current* installers, or some old installers you had ? Older version might not be compatible with latest OS, so it's best if you re-download everything from our site.

Also, check the following folders:

C:\Windows
C:\YourFS9Folder (usually c:\program files\Microsoft games\Microsoft Flight simulator )
C:\ProgramData\Esellerate

If they contains the esellerateengine.dll file. If you have any copy of it, REMOVE IT. The correct place for the file is

C:\Windows if you use Windows XP
C:\ProgramData\Esellerate if you use Vista or Windows 7

Another addon that uses Esellerate (including old Cloud9 installers) might have installed an older version of the dll, that's why you see that error. Our installers always put the correct version in the correct folder for the OS used and they also try to clean this for you but, if another product put it into the C:\Windows folder, you have to remove it manually.

Is it not permissible to re-activate a previously downloaded copy of these sceneries from within FS9 ?   Thanks in advance.

If, with "previously downloaded copy", you mean an old installer you had, that's not an issue, since our downloads are always freely available from download without any limitations so, you can basically safely delete all your old installers, if you have any. The *download* doesn't have anything to do with the activation, it's always freely available, and you can download and re-download as many times as you want.

[grasshopper]

I checked all the folders you have listed here, Vurtuali, but could not find any esellerate files.  Next I tried to go ahead and download Chicago O'Hare.  Pressed the download button, and then after a brief attempt to access a website whose name began with the word mediafire, my screen went blank, with a "Failure to Connect" error message accross the screen.

I was unable to even commence the download of O'Hare, so I would be grateful for any advice you could offer, since the previously downloaded installers for O'Hare, Zurich and JFK currently in my system all date back three years or so, which you mentioned would be out of date for re-activation in the current operating systems for which the latest versions of your products are configured.

All my addon FS9 scenery products are up and running with zero problems, in the wake of my computer crash, with the notable exception of FSDT's products.  Your scenery products are top-of-the-line, Virtuali, and I would own every single product your company released, were it not for the enormous difficulties I encountered at just about every stage of the download and validation process back when I first acquired Zurich, JFK and O'Hare. 

Please advise me of any and all solutions you feel might get me on the road to downloading your products once again, so that I can once again use my FSDT scenery collection.

[virtuali]

Pressed the download button, and then after a brief attempt to access a website whose name began with the word mediafire, my screen went blank, with a "Failure to Connect" error message accross the screen.

I've checked the download, and it works just fine. It's surely a problem with your browser. Try the following:

- Empty your browser cache, restart the browser and try again

- If it doesn't work, clear all cookies from mediafire.com, restart the browser and try again

- If it doesn't work, try with a different browser

Your scenery products are top-of-the-line, Virtuali, and I would own every single product your company released, were it not for the enormous difficulties I encountered at just about every stage of the download and validation process back when I first acquired Zurich, JFK and O'Hare. 

Sorry, but this is not the case. The reinstallation process can't be easier. You are confusing your *download* problem, as if it had anything to do with the activation system. Your problem accessing mediafire.com will surely fixed, and it doesn't have anything to do with the activation.

Fact the activation system might not work on new OS with 3 years old installers, should be expected, since they were released before the current OSs.

If you still can't download the new installers (which is the best solution, since the scenery might been updated in the meantime), you can try a different route:

- KEEP your installers, install them all and don't try any reactivation.

- Download only the Stand-Alone Addon Manager for FS9, which is not hosted on mediafire, but here so, if you can read this forum, you should be able to download it. The link for it is on every "Info" page of every product.

- Install the Stand-Alone Addon Manager after all the sceneries, and see if you can activate.

- If you still getting the "Esellerate Engine not found", try to run FS9 as Administrator.

[grasshopper]

Again I thank you for taking the time to spell out the steps that will get me out of the woods, Virtuali.  I am getting a little bit out of my depth here, but I have cut and pasted your every response to my questions, to pass on to the computer tech that helps me out on these matters.  Hopefuly in a couple of days I'll be back here with some good news

Without mentioning names, another FS9 addon vendor that I contacted about this data loss responded with a somewhat accusatory tone, and then just clammed up, despite my having tendered the emailed purchase receipts to prove my legitimacy as a paying customer. 

Once again, sir, I greatly appreciate your courteous and patient responses to my questions, even though I haven't as yet solved this mystery.  Besides the sublime beauty and amazing detail of your airport scenery products, this close attention to customer enquiries does set FSDT  far apart from many other FS9 addon vendors out there.   Much obliged.

[grasshopper]

Got some good news, Virtuali.  Anticipating a complicated process, I went ahead and clicked on the info button, and on the FS9 installer button, and then, to my amazement, the installer downloaded instantly, followed by the sceneries for Zurich, JFK and Chicago in turn.  I have not activated them yet beacuse I want to first confirm which serial number I need to type in.

Looking at printouts of my original emailed purchase confirmation, and taking Zurich as a representative example, am I correct in assuming that the serial number expected for this new registration is the SAME 24-digit alpha-numeric string that starts with "ZRHX" ?  

I ask this because in my notes from the time of purchase a couple of years ago, I also hand-copied out a second alpha-numeric string 26 characters long, and starting with "R3P5", which I evidently entered at some point in the activation process, leaving me uncertain now as to which "serial number" is applicable for this second activation of Zurich, Ohare and JFK.

Finally am I correct in assuming that the registration (activation?) process to be carried out now will be done with FS9 running, and then clicking on the FSDT tab accessible by pressing ALT, before proceeding ?  So far this has been so easy that I am almost expecting complications of the sort I encountered with my intial purchase of these products first , yet also hoping none will crop up.   Standing by.

[virtuali]

Looking at printouts of my original emailed purchase confirmation, and taking Zurich as a representative example, am I correct in assuming that the serial number expected for this new registration is the SAME 24-digit alpha-numeric string that starts with "ZRHX" ?

There's only one Serial Number on your purchase receipt, and it's labeled as "Serial Number". This term is not used anywhere else on the email receipt, and the "Register Serial" function of the Addon Manager also use the term Serial Number so, there's shouldn't be any room for confusion. And yes, for Zurich it usually starts with ZRHX.

I ask this because in my notes from the time of purchase a couple of years ago, I also hand-copied out a second alpha-numeric string 26 characters long, and starting with "R3P5", which I evidently entered at some point in the activation process

Such long code suggests you might have used the offline activation back then, the one that works without an internet connection, but requires activating manually using another computer that has web access. That's code is called "Install ID", not "Serial Number", and it's only valid for your hardware config at that time, it's no use saving it.

Nowhere in our installation gude (fsdt_install_guide.pdf, under the main fsdreamteam folder) we say you need to care about that code or keep it safe, the only thing you need in order to reactivate a scenery is your Serial Number, that's why is indicated in your purchase receipt, and why there are several means to retrieve a lost receipt.

Finally am I correct in assuming that the registration (activation?) process to be carried out now will be done with FS9 running, and then clicking on the FSDT tab accessible by pressing ALT, before proceeding ?

Yes, as with any other 3rd party module in the FS9 menu bar, you have to press the ALT key to access it, then select the FsDreamTeam menu, the scenery you want to activate, and the "Register Serial" option.

You also need to run FS9 in Windowed mode, but that's also taken care of: if you are in Full Screen, the program will ask you to go into Windowed mode (press ALT+Enter), to do the activation, you'll be free to return to Full Screen after the scenery is active.

So far this has been so easy that I am almost expecting complications of the sort I encountered with my intial purchase of these products first , yet also hoping none will crop up.   Standing by.

Of course it's easy ( if you used the offline activation when you purchased originally, then yes, it was more difficult, as with any offline activation method, like the Windows one, were you have to *call* Microsoft ), it's just that you apparently had issues *downloading* the installers (which were browser-related), so you confused this with the whole "activation" thing, when in fact downloading and eventually having problem with it, doesn't have anything to do with the activation.

[grasshopper]

Hello Umberto I finally got around to attempting the serial number registration route from inside the FSDT drop-down menu of FS9's windowed mode.  I entered the serial number, was prompted for confirmation that the activation was for this computer, and, as soon as I clicked "yes" to that question, was rewarded with a black screen that lasted till I exited FS9.   Restarting the computer and entering FS9, I got an "esellerate error" message, and the re-activation of Zurich failed, leaving me with only the time-limited trial version as before.

Taking my original three purchases in sequence, I first attempted to re-activate Zurich, then O’Hare and finally JFK.  I got nowhere with each of these products.  I tried the offline registration procedure, but wind up lost in a bewildering maze, doing the internet on-and-off rumba.   Any pointers would be gratefully appreciated.  

Thanks from Tony

[virtuali]

Restarting the computer and entering FS9, I got an "esellerate error" message, and the re-activation of Zurich failed, leaving me with only the time-limited trial version as before.

You surely haven't seen an "Esellerate error" message, but a precise error code, or a more specific message. Please, read the message again and report it exactly as it is.

[grasshopper]

I re-tried the activation for Zurich from inside FS9, and was prompted with data entry fields labelled A to J.  I entered the data supplied me in an email from you back in 2008, and got the error message 8225:7769.  The difference between online and offline activation is also starting to baffle me as well.

When I clicked "cancel"  after the failed data entry, an "esellerate fatal error" message appeared, placing me back on the treadmill once again.  Before actually attempting to re-activate my already purchased products, I had tried to download demo copies of FSDT's Hawaiian airports, and a couple of others, thinking the system had been simplified, but that failed as well, as even the trial versions of those products remain off limits to me.

Postponing further purchases for now while confusion reigns here, can you see a short cut that will enable me to use Zurich, JFK and O'Hare ?  The more failed attempts I try to activate those three, the closer I get to just accepting that I will never use these purchases again.  Please point out my mistakes in procedure if you can spot them.  

Also, if it becomes necessary to issue new codes to me, could you please try to ensure that  such codes contain no alphabetic "o" or numeric "0", since those characters appear identical on the screen, and add immensely to my confusion, forcing me to try swapping the alphabetic "o" with the numeric "0" in a frustrating bid to see which permutation of identical looking characters will work.   I'm getting close to the hair-pulling stage again here, Umberto.

Please help clear this fog.  I really would buy FSDT's every excellent product, IF ONLY there could be a short-cut that bypasses all the stress and hoop jumping.