Spore Creature Creator EADM

[huntly9]

Hi, :confused:

I have been unable to login to Spore CC since 2 days after I bought it in June. Ea have been taking me round and round on their technical support pages and their final answer to me today is....we don't see what could be causing your issue!? I was really looking forward to the game and going to pre-order Spore but if I can't login I don't want to waste my money.

Basically I registered Creature Creator when I installed it my email and password are correct, and I have my username on their Spore site. But when I press login I just get the message ' login failed please check your internet settings or try again later'. On the download manager after I exit the creature creator there is a message in gray which states ' command portal is in use by prelnit' ? Ea have been unable to even tell me what this means?

In the creature creator if I check the online section of the settings for the game it is stating unregistered in red writing!? I have already registered. Ea can't explain this either.

The install is just placing the game in the programs section and in documents there is a spore creations file but the program does not install on the desktop,or in the programs list. I am using Vista and have Directx 10.

I don't understand what is going on or why I can't login.Ea have stopped responding to my post. Please help me out here? Thanks.

AMD Phenom 9750 quad core 2.4
4 gig ram
Ati Radeon HD3870 graphic card
Vista Premium 32 bit
Directx 10

[ManagerJosh]

It's a known issue with the Electronic Arts DM. Uninstalling/Reinstalling it seems to have worked for some people.

http://easpore.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/easpore.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=19866&p_created=1213824223&p_sid=tTyS3T8j&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX 3Jvd19jbnQ9NjQsNjQmcF9wcm9kcz0wJnBfY2F0cz01NjYmcF9 wdj0mcF9jdj0xLjU2NiZwX3BhZ2U9Mg**&p_li=&p_topview=1

[huntly9]

Hi,

I have uninstalled and re-installed so many times now and the situation hasn't changed. I've tried uninstalling the ea downloader and uninstalling Spore creatures creator. I've checked my exceptions rules in my firewall. I have tried replacing a portal file in game that ea suggested, but I cannot login.:confused:

[ManagerJosh]

Which version of the Spore Creature Creator are you using? Where did you get it?

[huntly9]

Hi there,

It's the full version and I purchased it through the ea downloader. I have just noticed an exception report in my spore folder which states that a dll is missing? DasmX86Dll.dll and when I google this I get a whole load of people with the same exception message. Plus one who gets my 'command portal is in use by prelnit' message on the downloader. I am starting to wonder if the problem is with the Creature Creator or with the ea downloader?:confused:

[ManagerJosh]

Hmm..I don't know where "DasmX86Dll.dll" is though. If you just uninstalled EADM, and launch Spore, what happens?

[huntly9]

:confused: Hi,

Thanks I just uninstalled the manager and launched spore but the issue is no different. Ea have told me to make sure I have directx9 installed as directx 10 does not have apparently all of directx9 drivers. This was their response to the DasmX86Dll.dll report.

But how can I have directx9 installed on a directx10 Vista machine when all my hardware is Vista compatible? Plus isn't Spore supposed to be Vista compatible. Now Ea have just referred me to their knowledge base which I guess means they want me to go away! :( Nice Customer support there. At least here I am getting good suggestions from you and you are trying to work through a process logically. So thank you very much ManagerJosh. :)

[ManagerJosh]

Let's look at it from a new perspective. Could you post up a dxdiag report please?

[huntly9]

Hi,

Sure here you go!

[ManagerJosh]

Are you connected to multiple, unique, networks? Or you connect through proxies? Any firewalls enabled? (especially in Vista)

[huntly9]

At the moment I am connected on a home Private network using Wireless broadband that is always on.

Realtek 8185 Extensible 802.11 b/g Wireless device

Realtek RTL 8168/8111 PCI-e Gigabyte ethernet nic (ndis6.0)

I am using Vista windows Firewall but I have put both the downloader and Spore in the exceptions list.

There is one other computer in the household connected through the network which is running XP.

no proxies or switches.

[ManagerJosh]

Are you using the Ethernet or the Wireless NIC? Where does each connection lead?

[huntly9]

:happy: Hi Manager Josh,

I would like to thank you for all your kind help, which has been much better than the people at Ea have treated me (they are now just not responding to my posts?)
But I was checking briefly on the UK help forum for Spore and found a gamer in Adelaide who was having the same issue but only when he tried to play the game from his laptop running Vista. He was able to login fine using XP. I'ts not the firewall or connection as Ea kept suggesting to me! Below is his fix...hopefully it might help someone else out here and you can pass it on?

"I was getting the same error on my vista laptop. It didn't happen on my desktop which is running XP. After a brief search through the Spore program folder I had some luck.

Go to (insert drive letter here):\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Spore\Support\

You should see a file named: SPORE(TM)_code

Open control Panel. Select the option to allow a program through windows firewall and then select 'add program', browse and navigate to the above file. Select the file and click 'open', 'ok', 'ok'

Make sure the Spore application file (SporeApp located in (insert drive letter here):\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Spore\sporebin\) is allowed through windows firewall also.

Now it should work.

If you're running a 3rd party firewall, make sure both of these files have access to the internet.

This is not your problem, don't let EA tell you it is. This access should have been allowed with installation.

Hope it works for all of you who are experiencing this problem."

Thanks again
Karen

[ManagerJosh]

Hi Karen:

I'm reading those instructions and these instructions detail how to add SporeApp.exe to the Windows Vista firewall (aka Windows Firewall), permitting an outbound connection.

A core reason WHY it isn't allowed in the first place is because it violates the core principles on how Vista manages programs. Vista generally requests permission for every program that tries to access key systems or run particular routines, like the Internet.

Let's hypothetically assume this. Someone manages to break into your PC from an outside source (internet, or embeds a virus in a CD/DVD, or an electronic device like a flash drive or brand new iPod), and it installs a virus/trojan program in your computer. If a setup program ran to install it, and programming was permitted to grant permission to the Windows Firewall to allow an outbound internet connection, imagine the sheer damage it would cause!

Essentially whoever wrote the virus would have free reign of terror inside your PC.

Effectively, it isn't an EA problem or a Microsoft Windows Vista problem. It's just that some people want to do evil things with computers and thus people try to find ways of minimizing the damage by blocking things in the first place. So if there's anyone to blame, blame the people who find pleasure in creating chaos in PCs leaving people to scrambling to undo the damage.


Have fun with Spore and I would love if you'd come back and join in on our many other Spore discussions :)

[huntly9]

Hi,

Thanks ManagerJosh I can see why it's good that Vista blocks permissions and my machine stays protected, though I'll never get why some people would want to attack total strangers computers. I'm glad I have my firewall, and my spybot and my anti-virus software! And thankfully I can now enjoy Spore.

I'll certainly be checking back as it is kind of nice here! :D

Thanks again

[ManagerJosh]

Awesome Karen!

Have fun (and put a clock next to the PC...). Some of us on our team sat down to play what seems like 20 minutes at 10PM only to realize it's 5AM the next time we looked at our clocks. :D :D