"Bad cd key - Your key is disabled.." when trying to play ArmA 2 OA multiplayer

I've bought a digital download of the game (Direct2Drive) and I've bought a retail copy. Neither work online and both give me the same error. The only difference is that the retail copy doesn't even let me install the 1.6 patch ("Bad Cd Key" it says). I had to use a registry-workaround I found in these forums which involved backing up my game's registry files, then using an illegitimate key to get through the patch process, and then re-imported the original registry keys. I sent Placebo a PM but I find the situation curious. What are the odds that both of these keys don't work? If they truly are both invalid, that's pretty lame on BI's behalf. I can only imagine the accumulated endless hours of sleep lost over this game's copy-protection (which ends up hurting the consumer more than the pirate).

I'm going to give BI the benefit of the doubt and assume there's just something wrong with my computer. I reinstalled Operation Arrowhead twice and I've had no luck. Does anyone have any ideas?

Install the game as administrator.

And, BI is not to blame for any keys or copy protection issues. The publishers are in charge of that.

However, as you may have noticed on these forums BI are helping everyone who has had troubles with their key as of late due to the popularity with the DayZ mod where other companies which need to validate those can not keep up with the sale crazyness. You see......its good you give BI the benefit of the doubt.

I only have one account on my system...and it's an administrator account. :P Would it be a waste of time? I've rather avoid another pointless reinstallation.

still, run as administrator is still needed. when you are about to install the game, right click on setup.exe , choose run as administrator , and proceed as usual until installation process finished :)

Yes. Having an administrator's account allows you to 'run programs as administrator'. It does not run administrative rights for every program all of the time.

Yes. Having an administrator's account allows you to 'run programs as administrator'. It does not run administrative rights for every program all of the time.

Interesting. I figured that's just something you'd tell someone who may or may not be running as a limited User. In all of my years of computing I've never seen "Run As Administrator" provide a different outcome than running the program regularly. Maybe as a complete and total last resort I can understand, but unless every single person can't get the game working without "Running as Administrator", I don't see why I would have to do it. (I'm typing this as I reinstall Operation Arrowhead for the nth time).

EDIT: Lo and behold, no success. I guess publishers replaced the CD Key Verification system with Placebo, who has to personally screen everyone's CD Keys to make sure they aren't buying from resellers. I'm a genius :P

EDIT 2: Reading through the threads the similar threads, it all comes down to Placebo having to do a "special something" to each key. A lot of responsibility for one guy, it's no wonder it's difficult to get a reply out of him...

It would really nice to be able to play the game I've bought (multiple times...). I certainly understand Placebo is a busy guy and can't respond to PM's very quickly, but why don't you have multiple people doing this sort of thing? I've seen a least a dozen relevant threads (here and on other forums) that have been created in the past few weeks regarding this specific problem I'm having. I understand the influx of popularity but it's be realistic - these aren't incredibly popular games. I've never seen a game with such wide-spread key authentication issues in the past. Certainly a unique problem with a unique solution.

Interesting. I figured that's just something you'd tell someone who may or may not be running as a limited User. In all of my years of computing I've never seen "Run As Administrator" provide a different outcome than running the program regularly. Maybe as a complete and total last resort I can understand, but unless every single person can't get the game working without "Running as Administrator", I don't see why I would have to do it. (I'm typing this as I reinstall Operation Arrowhead for the nth time).

EDIT: Lo and behold, no success. I guess publishers replaced the CD Key Verification system with Placebo, who has to personally screen everyone's CD Keys to make sure they aren't buying from resellers. I'm a genius :P

EDIT 2: Reading through the threads the similar threads, it all comes down to Placebo having to do a "special something" to each key. A lot of responsibility for one guy, it's no wonder it's difficult to get a reply out of him...

It would really nice to be able to play the game I've bought (multiple times...). I certainly understand Placebo is a busy guy and can't respond to PM's very quickly, but why don't you have multiple people doing this sort of thing? I've seen a least a dozen relevant threads (here and on other forums) that have been created in the past few weeks regarding this specific problem I'm having. I understand the influx of popularity but it's be realistic - these aren't incredibly popular games. I've never seen a game with such wide-spread key authentication issues in the past. Certainly a unique problem with a unique solution.

i too have recently had bad cd-key messages, i thought it may be something to do with the most recent dayz update, so went onto forums and was told the same as you, re-install and run as administrator ? first up i have no idea how to do this, and secondly why should i have to, i bought a digital download of arma 2 combined ops about 6 months ago and it has worked just fine, till the last dayz update, now i cannot log into any server, i just get a bad cd-key, cd key disabled message ?

who do i complain to now, is it steam or dayz commander, tbh the whole process of buying/installing arma and dayz commander has been a nightmare to navigate and no-one seems to give me a straight answer.

i have not downloaded any hacks, does not interest me, as suggested in the dayz forums - am i missing something here or is bohemia just another rip off company who is quite happy to take your money but when it comes to customer support there is no-one culpable ?

i too have recently had bad cd-key messages, i thought it may be something to do with the most recent dayz update, so went onto forums and was told the same as you, re-install and run as administrator ? first up i have no idea how to do this, and secondly why should i have to, i bought a digital download of arma 2 combined ops about 6 months ago and it has worked just fine, till the last dayz update, now i cannot log into any server, i just get a bad cd-key, cd key disabled message ?

who do i complain to now, is it steam or dayz commander, tbh the whole process of buying/installing arma and dayz commander has been a nightmare to navigate and no-one seems to give me a straight answer.

i have not downloaded any hacks, does not interest me, as suggested in the dayz forums - am i missing something here or is bohemia just another rip off company who is quite happy to take your money but when it comes to customer support there is no-one culpable ?

IT is very happy to take your money. A couple of weeks ago, I got banned. I was playing on a server, when my PC overheated, and when I logged back on, i had been banned. previously, I got refunded my key from battleey support, because my acc got hacked. Now, they wont give me a new one, or lift my ban. This is bullcrap. They are a retarded company. I bought this game with my own money, and I've been banned twice now. and to this day I have a banned account. I am still trying to contact them, but they haven't replied for 4 weeks now. It is unacceptable, and I wish I could make them pay for this.

If you download bad software, install additional software which you only install to fake your uber skills while you really suck at the game or simply want to be a kiddie wrecker you can not be suprised to get banned so much.

If you manage to do this multiple times it might be an idea to bang your head against the wall a few times and excpet PC's are not your thing.

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