Can't play Spore offline?

I just installed Spore on my new PC last night, a couple of attempts now of trying to play it offline though and it will no longer let me - I keep getting the error message that I need to be online so that it can varify ownership. Shouldn't it have already done that when I installed it since I was online then?

Has anyone else had this problem and know how to fix it?

May you please provide the exact text of the error message you are receiving and which Operating System you are using? Also, may you please verify that your system time has the right day, month and year?

13th October 2008 is the date on my PC currently (I am in Australia)

I have a NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT Graphics Card (latest drivers)

Computer:

Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E8200 @ 2.66GHz
2.67GHz, 3.25 GB of RAM
Physical Address Extension
(Taken Straight from the System Properties General Section)

I am running Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2

I'll have to log off for a moment to get the exact error message - although I know it is pretty well very close to the quote I have already given.

Okay the Error message is:

The game can not start.

The game needs access to the internet in order to verify ownership of the game. Please ensure that your computer is online and try again.

Nykara wrote:Okay the Error message is:

The game can not start.

The game needs access to the internet in order to verify ownership of the game. Please ensure that your computer is online and try again.

I'm getting the same error, and funny enough i have the same graphics card except in a mobile version (9600M GT), I doubt the graphics card would be causing it though.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 10/13/2008 17:05:20

on vista, try to run spore as Administrator (rightclick -> Run as Administrator) while you are online. It might be possible that spore tries to write the verification information to some location that is not available without administrative rights. there is a chance that you might be able to use spore offline afterwards.

[EDIT] duh, i just noticed that you have XP, shame on me.

just forget my suggestion as it can't be the case in XP (unless you are using a Userprofile without administrative rights).

Researching...

Are you running any background tasks? Passive file scanners, virus scanners, firewalls either XP or third party?

If so please disable ALL of the above, see if you can log in and authorize--my theory is that something was blocked during your original authorization and that led to this issue.

SporeMasterKaliena wrote:Are you running any background tasks? Passive file scanners, virus scanners, firewalls either XP or third party?

If so please disable ALL of the above, see if you can log in and authorize--my theory is that something was blocked during your original authorization and that led to this issue.

Didn't work for me, thanks for the suggestion though.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 10/13/2008 23:12:57

By what I have read online, there is a DRM requirement built into Spore to verify ownership every so many days. This may be the problem you are having.

LBXZero wrote:By what I have read online, there is a DRM requirement built into Spore to verify ownership every so many days. This may be the problem you are having.

Originally there was a every 10 days verification but they got rid of that and just made it a one time verification at the first time you start up SPORE.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 10/13/2008 23:55:34

Killgroup wrote:

LBXZero wrote:By what I have read online, there is a DRM requirement built into Spore to verify ownership every so many days. This may be the problem you are having.

Originally there was a every 10 days verification but they got rid of that and just made it a one time verification at the first time you start up SPORE.

A change like that would require a patch. So, is this an original install or the patched game?

Also, should we believe EA when they say anything? Earlier this year, they officially said they would not implement such DRM on Spore.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 10/14/2008 00:36:55

SporeMasterKaliena wrote:Are you running any background tasks? Passive file scanners, virus scanners, firewalls either XP or third party?

If so please disable ALL of the above, see if you can log in and authorize--my theory is that something was blocked during your original authorization and that led to this issue.

I am running Avast and Windows XP firewall, however the game works perfectly fine when I am online it is only when I am offline that it wont let me play.

I hesitate to remove the windows XP firewall because any time I did in the past with my old PC and then fired up my dialup account that I have here I would end up with a virus on my computer. I really don't want to end up with one on my brand new PC.

Killgroup wrote: Originally there was a every 10 days verification but they got rid of that and just made it a one time verification at the first time you start up SPORE.

Is it possible that it is bugging for some people and that's why it wont allow us to play when offline because it wants verification every time we fire up the game?

[Edit]

Hazard wrote:duh, i just noticed that you have XP, shame on me. just forget my suggestion as it can't be the case in XP (unless you are using a Userprofile without administrative rights).

I am running as the admin too so it's not that.

The game as provided pre-patch should not require authorization every 10 days. I admit that the timing does seem odd as a coincidence. You may want to contact EA directly either by phone or by website.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 10/14/2008 09:21:36

SporeMasterKaliena wrote:The game as provided pre-patch should not require authorization every 10 days. I admit that the timing does seem odd as a coincidence. You may want to contact EA directly either by phone or by website.

There are 2 differences between my PC now and when I installed Spore on my previous computer (other then hardware). 1) Is running avast because I didn't have it running before on my old PC and 2) Is windows service pack 2 because I didn't have it on my old PC either. I was running the windows firewall on it too and it had no impact on verifying the game then.

Since it installed fine and let me play offline without any worries on my old PC my guess is it has to be one of those 2.

If i contact EA it will have to be via website, our phone is blocked it wont let overseas phone calls not that I could afford the costs to make one anyways