Could do with some help regarding Uplay (ubisoft) games...

[someonehairy-ish]

So... over christmas I bought Farcry 3 on steam. After buying it, I found that I had to make a Uplay account, which I did. It all worked fine and dandy. But now, when I try to login and play my game, this happens: "Login failed: a ubisoft service is not available at this time."

That's irritating. But what's more irritating is that I can't just play offline. When I try, I get a message saying "if this is your first time using Uplay on this computer you need to log in at least once before using offline mode." I have logged in at least once already, but whatever.

So... I can't play the games I've purchased. At all. And this has been consistent for the last 3 days, so I can't see it changing.

Anyone have any idea how I can just bypass this Uplay crap? It's the most frustrating thing I've had to put up with in a while...

 

[tippy2k2]

Short of the "way that shall not be named", I think you're stuck either emailing Ubisoft tech support or waiting it out.

I'm shocked that Ubisoft still even makes games for the PCs at this point. Has there been a game they've released in the past five years that DIDN'T get a large number of "My game isn't working!" threads? I suppose as long as people keep handing them money for broken products, why bother fixing it?

 

[Rawne1980]

Uplay is shockingly bad. Servers tend to have issues ... a lot of issues.

There is a way around it but just let it be known I would never tell anyone to use a cracked exe. Nope, not me.

The only other advice I can give, if not to you as you've already done it but to save others the same fate, is to not buy Ubisoft games on the PC.

The shitty DRM they use is god awful considering their servers go down more than Paris Hilton.

Either save your money or buy it on another platform. Ubisoft and PC just don't mix.

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

UPlay? Don'tPlay!

AhahahahahaI'magenius.

But seriously. What you're describing is an extremely common Uplay error. Your computer is failing to connect to Ubisoft's servers. Nine times out of ten, this is Ubisoft's fault, and not something you can fix from your end. If you haven't already logged in once to authenticate - and sometimes even if you have - it won't let you turn on the offline mode that Uplay is supposed to have.

You can't play your game. Your best bet is to call Ubisoft tech support and wait until they figures out the problem at their end, or to take that other option that I can't tell you about because it's against the forum code of conduct. It starts with a "p" and ends with "banned."

I don't even know why Uplay exists, considering that Ubisoft sells all its games through Steam. It's just a totally redundant layer of DRM that's no harder for the average pirate to bypass, so all it does is add extra bullshit for Steam users to tackle. Uplay - or Games for Windows Live - are usually deal-breakers for me, because they don't do anything except fuck up and stop me from playing.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

Well, I've emailed ubisoft, but I reckon there's a 99% chance I'll get some useless copy-pasted reply.

Can't say I'd feel very guilty about taking the option that shall-not-be-named because I've already bought these games. Unfortunately all the cracks that I definitely haven't tried at all are loaded with viruses. According to a uh... friend.

+unfortunately I'm at uni atm and the PC is the only platform I have available.

 

[janjotat]

No-one would blame you if you went THAT route, but you can't find a virus free source? Thats weird but I guess searching for too long would just get annoying. In that case good luck with it.