OK, I've solved the "Invalid Serial Number" error.
Here was the problem in regedit.exe:
- "123A-5678-B8CD-D3D3-P0P0" : adding slashes will let me play skirmish and campaign but will pop the "Invalid Serial Number" when you login
- "123A5678B8CDD3D3P0P0" : without slashes will let me bypass the "Invalid Serial Number" and play multiplayer matches, but blows up all my buildings at the start of the game.
So after doing your steps, I did the following:
1) Make sure the game is patched
2) Make sure I've got regedit.exe open in the egrc to see the ZH serial number (with the slashes in)
3) Rerun the game with disabled compatibility. This bit is not too improtant but it might help, since it solved my "Invalid Serial Number" error in the past with my windows 7.
4) Enter your multiplayer details after clicking on multiplayer in the main menu. Do not hit the login just yet.
5) Go back to regedit and take off the slashes from the serial number (added from your instructions lajakl)
6) Login and you should be able to play online, without buildings blowing up at the start of matches. Skirmish works fine as well
However, when you exit Zero Hour and rerun the game, the anti-piracy thing will kick in and start blowing up your buildings again. To solve this, before you exit the game go back to regedit and add the slashes back into your serial number. When you rerun, skirmish should be fine and multiplayer should not becuase the "Invalid Serial Number" error would've come back. To play multiplayer again, simply follow steps 4, 5 and 6 again.
I hope this will help you in future posts, and please show some appreciation as ths took me 3 hours to work out.
HOORAY :D
(for anyone reading this, please read the whole post to understand what im talking about)
DigitalGeo
