Like many old PC games, the game comes with an activation-code on the back of the case. The installer asks me for the 25 digit code on the case. I look, and I can see that the code definitely contains 25 digits. But than when I try to input the 25 digit code into the 5 text boxes provided (5 digits per box) only 4 digits can be inputted into any of the text-boxes, meaning I can only input a max of 20 characters through all the boxes, and the installation fails. Does anyone know how to get around this? Thanks.

Update: With a suggestion from within the comments, I managed to solve the issue by installing Microsoft Core Fonts using the command winetricks corefonts. Once corefonts was installed, I can now input all 5 digits into each text box.

That fixes the text box issue. Now I can’t play the game because after inserting Disc 2 to begin the next part of the installation, I get the ‘feature transfer error’, as the window calls it: “Error: -1603 Fatal error during installation. Consult Windows Installer Help (Msi.chm) or MSDN for more information.”

  • @[email protected]OPEnglish
    1•1 year ago

    Can you see the digits you input or are they replaced with asterisks or something so it’s not obvious if the software accepted the input.

    Yeah, I can see them; they aren’t asterisks.

    I’d just try to input the code and let the installer switch me to the next input field automatically. That’s how it usually works.

    That’s the first thing I tried; it’s the usual way. But I solved the textbox issue by installing Microsoft Core Fonts with winetricks corefonts

    • @[email protected]English
      2•1 year ago

      But I solved the textbox issue by installing Microsoft Core Fonts with winetricks corefonts

      Which would suggest that the limit is not given in number of characters, but text width, which would be such a strange decision, from a software development point of view.
      Can you make it use a very narrow font and squeeze 6 characters in there? Just for the giggles.