Getting a second-hand game to work..

miniyazz · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:00

Quick intro: I bought what looks like a retail copy of MW2 second-hand from the MM but in the small-print on the back of the box it says it needs activating via Steam to install. This fails because it was already activated for Steam, so it won't install. This is especially annoying as I'm not even fussed about playing online with it.

Does anyone have any words of wisdom about how to get the thing installed so I can use it offline?

Cheers

Kenai · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:04

MW wasn't steamworks was it? Have you got MW or MW2?

Robert1986 · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:05

crack?

unwashed potato! · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:10

it's mw2 and it is steamworks to activate. i'm sure there is a way to transfer this across when it's sold on

miniyazz · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:10

MW2, sorry.

I always assumed a crack would be of more use once installed - would one help me actually install it?

deko · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:17

MW2, you could technically crack it for SP but it means you would never be able to play MP, pretty dishonest from somebody on the MM tbh.

Ampeg · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:18

Unless you can get the Steam account details from the seller its just a fairly expensive coaster youve bought

.

miniyazz · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:18

Could be accidental

Edit: OK, what if - the seller changes his Steam password, gives me the details to the account for half an hour and I install COD, I delete Steam (I have no other Steam games so no need for it) and the seller reverts his Steam password. Would that let me play offline, do you think?

unwashed potato! · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:31

fairly certain it was an accident and the seller would happily refund, may need to check though

wont work i don't think as you have to start steam to launch the game iirc. seems crazy if you can't sell the game as if you look on ebay there is many second hand mw2 being sold so how does that work?

miniyazz · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:40

Lol

I dunno how all those second-hand copies work, and there've been several more copies of COD:MW2 sold on the MM for PC in the past couple of months as well.

It seems such a waste to not even be able to play it offline, it's not like I'm about to buy it new from Steam, I don't care that much about it and I'm certainly less likely to buy anything from them after this debacle

I might try to find out what's happened with the other COD:MW2 sales in the MM.

miniyazz · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:49

I just thought, is it possible to 'gift' games through Steam? Could that get around it?

PapaLazaru · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:53

miniyazz said:
I just thought, is it possible to 'gift' games through Steam? Could that get around it?

No. You can only gift at the point of purchase.

Basically, you should not have been sold the game in the first place. You will NOT get it to work online.

arknor · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:53

miniyazz said:
I just thought, is it possible to 'gift' games through Steam? Could that get around it?

sure if he buys it on steam a second time and gifts it to you..

you cant just give a game away thats already on your steam acount , he knew the score and ripped you off

miniyazz · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:56

That's a shame

Also looking closer, it looks like most of the MM sales of COD were for different versions (their naming system confuses me), i.e. COD4:MW not MW2 etc.

PapaLazaru · 7 Nov 2010 at 20:00

There are games for sale in MM at the moment that are totally useless, unless you need a replacement disc. All online games have a key and if the seller has played the game online the key will have been used and therefore make the game to a buyer useless.

Semiskimmed · 7 Nov 2010 at 20:01

theres cod4:mw then cod:world at war and then came cod:mw2.
try having a word with the guy you bought it off as they may not be wise to this either

Semiskimmed · 7 Nov 2010 at 20:02

PapaLazaru said:
There are games for sale in MM at the moment that are totally useless, unless you need a replacement disc. All online games have a key and if the seller has played the game online the key will have been used and therefore make the game to a buyer useless.

if youre talking about cod:mw2 then fair enough but not all games have cd keys that get tied up the first time their installed. really depends on the game

miniyazz · 7 Nov 2010 at 20:05

OK, well TBH I'd rather just be able to play single player and keep it than send it back for a refund. Does it definitely need Steam installed to play SP (offline)? Or is there a way round with a crack?

unwashed potato! · 7 Nov 2010 at 20:10

unfortunately it's against the rules to talk about cracking games on here though other forums it's ok

arknor said:
he knew the score and ripped you off

seems crazy as there is 20 mw2 on pc that are classed as used on ebay so i guess all these are useless? what a shame that if there is no way around this that you cannot sell games on if they use steam. I buy games because i know i'll sell them on and make only a small loss which means i end up buying a lot more games then what i'd usually buy, however this scares me off it now

arknor · 7 Nov 2010 at 20:24

how can you not realise games are tied to an account on steam? ofcourse he sold it on knowing it was worthless.

dont u roll eye me...