"CD Key in use" - 1998 HL copy - am i buggered?

brisck1

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Hey guys, I found my old 98 version of HL a while ago and decided to register it with steam. All was well for a while, I entered my key and steam unlocked all of my purchased games plus addons, and for a while I was reliving some classic HLDM levels. But then I didnt bother again for a while, and when I came back to steam, I was presented with "CD Key in use" and with that all my games dissapeard!

First thing I tried was steampowered.com, and according to the site info, unless I have purchased the game within the last 12 months, I could not solve my problem!! :(

I was really annoyed for ages and couldn't understand how it could be already in use?? I left it for a while and a then a freind of mine told me he would sell me his old copy of HL for a fiver so I thought why not? not sure what edition it was but it was pretty old too. Anyway I try "registering" again, to find the same msg AGAIN!

Im a big fan of the original, and with HL2 on sale I guseed that HL would now be down to a bargain price on Steam, so I looked up the purchase options in steam and it now appears that you cannot buy HL on its own!!! ;(

I dont reall want to buy HL2 off steam as im not even sure if I would get HLDM or TFC straight away or whether I would have to wait for HL:Source to come out...(plus I prefer to buy the boxed DVD edition)

Anyone else had this problem? Someone told me earlier that some warez bugger may well have used my CDKey on a keygen thing or something and there's pretty much nothing I can do about it... true?

anyway do you think we will have access to HLDM and TFC (original) when we buy HL2?

Cheers
Rob
 
I've had the same problem as you ;(
Steam said my cd-key was in use by another person...
I contacted sierra by mail and scanned my cd key and bill, they sent me a new cd-key within the day...:cheers:
 
wow really? did you scan your jewel case? how old was your version?
 
someone has probaly used a keygen and accidentaly landed on your key?? its a possibility. The game has been out for so long now!
 
The same thing happened to one of my keys after the Steam Public beta last year. When Steam was released I had to register a new account with another cd-key. Luckily I had 3 cd-keys. Anyway, now I've bought the Silver Pack with HL2 and all the other valve games included.
 
brisck1 said:
Hey guys, I found my old 98 version of HL a while ago and decided to register it with steam. All was well for a while, I entered my key and steam unlocked all of my purchased games plus addons, and for a while I was reliving some classic HLDM levels. But then I didnt bother again for a while, and when I came back to steam, I was presented with "CD Key in use" and with that all my games dissapeard!

First thing I tried was steampowered.com, and according to the site info, unless I have purchased the game within the last 12 months, I could not solve my problem!! :(

I was really annoyed for ages and couldn't understand how it could be already in use?? I left it for a while and a then a freind of mine told me he would sell me his old copy of HL for a fiver so I thought why not? not sure what edition it was but it was pretty old too. Anyway I try "registering" again, to find the same msg AGAIN!

Im a big fan of the original, and with HL2 on sale I guseed that HL would now be down to a bargain price on Steam, so I looked up the purchase options in steam and it now appears that you cannot buy HL on its own!!! ;(

I dont reall want to buy HL2 off steam as im not even sure if I would get HLDM or TFC straight away or whether I would have to wait for HL:Source to come out...(plus I prefer to buy the boxed DVD edition)

Anyone else had this problem? Someone told me earlier that some warez bugger may well have used my CDKey on a keygen thing or something and there's pretty much nothing I can do about it... true?

anyway do you think we will have access to HLDM and TFC (original) when we buy HL2?

Cheers
Rob
Another alternative would be to try your Opposing Force, Blue Shift, Counter-Strike or DOD retail CD-keys.

If you can get any one of them to be accepted by Steam, all of them will be available.
 
hey thats a good idea Chris, I do have a copy of Opposing Force lying around somewhere. You reckon I'll get access to TFC and HLDM too?
 
Hey nissen, you said that you sent sierra a letter and they send you another cd key. Can you or someone else give me their contact info. My email is [email protected]
 
Seeing as hl1's key generating algorithm was pretty weak and subject to countless millions of attempts to break it, it seems likely that somewhere somehow somebody could be playing or has registered an identical key.
 
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