Anyone try an install and unlock lately?

Though there are other threads concerning this ( see "Sandlot Servers" & "Who is still here?" ); just wondering if anyone has tried an install and unlock of an Sandlot game recently? I would test it on a second pc rather than do an uninstall if I were you.

I'll report back when I find the Cake Mania installers. I really hope the codes are still working.

I bought a new computer around the time of the site closing down. I downloaded all of my SL games onto it and unlocked most of them (thankfully) but there were some which had already been unlocked on 2 earlier machines (my old one and a borrowed one) and it would have been the 3rd (final, without Support help) use of those codes so I decided to save them until I was ready to play them again.

When I read Jeremiah's thread today, I was able to try those codes right away. I tried 3 different games and got the same error message that J described, each time.

Looks as though I should have just gone for it at the time.

Kaotika - I hope the mention of CM installers doesn't mean that you currently don't have them installed, especially since they are (or were anyway) your favourites.

(But if you had previously unlocked them on a machine which you still use then I hope that my comment to Turin in the 'Sandlot servers down' thread turns out to be correct).

MJay wrote:Kaotika - I hope the mention of CM installers doesn't mean that you currently don't have them installed, especially since they are (or were anyway) your favourites.

(But if you had previously unlocked them on a machine which you still use then I hope that my comment to Turin in the 'Sandlot servers down' thread turns out to be correct).

No. I've gone through a lot in the past year, which means lots of PC formats too.

Cake Mania was and still is one of my favourite game franchises and will always hold a special place in my heart. I haven't found the installers yet, but now I guess I won't be able to play Cake Mania ever again.

Oh well, I might just rebuy the whole series on Big Fish Games (I guess BttB was a Sandlot exclusive), but I'm extremely short on money right now which means I'll not get to play Cake Mania again for a long time. While I was busy in the past year, I've managed to find time in some games that were not as time consuming, but right now, I'm craving some Cake Mania again.

I'm wondering why in the hell Sandlot was sold to Digital Chocolate. Have they done anything worthwhile in there? And I'm sure that some Sandlot staff were included in the recent layoffs. Oh well.

Kaotika: Don't know if purchasing SL games from Big Fish or other sites will help unless the rights to the server domains were sold. TURIN has indicated that from their reply BF had no idea about the changes, so it may be a risky buy.I believe Daniel went on to an other field of endeavor entirely and that it was a merger rather than a sale of SL to DigChoc.The why of it was money.Certainly if DC is having difficuties the support for anything SL related got the axe first.

Jeremiah,

Why do you think BF would need rights to the Sandlot's server domains? (If that is what you are saying)

BF has it's own way of unlocking games (activation within the BF Game Manager) and doesn't use coupon codes.

I recognise I don't know much about these things, so maybe I am missing something but, I managed to install and activate the BF version of Westward IV today with no problems

I had been saving my last use of the SL unlock code until I was ready to play it again but, because it is my favourite SL game of all, I hedged my bets by buying it on BF when it was a Daily Deal ($2.99) there back in February this year (in case the SL server did eventually disappear).

I had the SL demo installed on my new computer but hadn't unlocked it, and now I can't unlock it (did try again today, but still getting same error message as yesterday).

So I uninstalled the SL demo version and installed the BF version instead (from my BF purchase history) and it activated just fine. That was today (after SL servers appear to have already disappeared).

I think I should be able to access the extra free maps from it too, but I think that will be because I made a point of installing them and Sandlot Connect on this computer when it was still available (it was always a free download) on the SL site.

I think (IF I remember correctly!) that some games, if bought from somewhere other than SL themselves, will only recognise free Sandlot bonus downloads (such as WW sandbox maps & maybe SG5 user levels(?)) if you have Sandlot Connect installed too.

Kaotika, sorry to hear that you don't have them unlocked any more.

Until you feel able to afford to get them again at BF normal prices, you could maybe try keeping an eye on the BF $2.99 Daily Deals. I have heard of at least one of the earlier Cake Mania games coming up there before.

Kaotika: Since you have unlocked a BF issue of a Sandlot game that means the deal was done( possibly even when SL agreed to allow other sites to vend their games ).Basically they need to establish a link ( like SL connect, to their server and within the game installations they sell ). Wish BF's support would have mentioned that in their reply, still ( though I lost the money invested in SL games not left on my computer ) it's good to know we can trust the BF downloads of SL games.I don't think it has to do with the fact that your WW IV from BF was purchased in February.

OK, I'm very confused right now. Big Fish will always maintain the right to sell Sandlot's games, so it's safe buying from them, right? If so, I'll keep an eye on the daily deals.

By the way, is it still possible to download the bonus levels in Cake Mania 3?

J - that was me, not Kaotika .

I'm still surprised by the idea of 'BF linking to SL server' thing because, if they did, wouldn't that mean they'd always have the latest version of games?

That (always having the latest versions of games) definitely hasn't always been the case. They is usually some kind of delay on updates/fixes on a dev site before they reach BF.

I'm not going to contact BF about it. Don't want to encourage them to consider maybe withdrawing those games.

On the Cake Manias - I originally bought the first 3 elsewhere before I discovered the SL site and had them on an old PC. I bought CM3 again from SL just before the site closed down, and have that unlocked on this computer, but I don't have CM & CM2 (unless I can find my code from the other supplier).

I'll play CM3 again soon and, if I still love it, then I'll watch out for it coming up as a DD on BF because I'd like to have that for the future for my next computer. (I know there's no guarantee that BF will be around forever either but, for $2.99, I'll take that gamble and buy it again from them, if I find I still love it. I suppose it's possible that my tastes may have changed because I have tried a huge variety of different types of casual games since I got that one).

Back then I had only played console games, except for Cake Manias and Build-a-Lots on PC.

Kaotika wrote:OK, I'm very confused right now. Big Fish will always maintain the right to sell Sandlot's games, so it's safe buying from them, right? If so, I'll keep an eye on the daily deals.

By the way, is it still possible to download the bonus levels in Cake Mania 3?

Sadly, I don't believe we can take anything as absolutely guaranteed Kaotika. I think I have heard of BF removing games from sale before, for example, when the rights to them changed hands and the new owner didn't want BF to sell them, but I believe that people who had already bought them would still have access to download them (and if not, then could insist on getting a credit back for the lost game).

So I'd, personally, still feel safe to buy one of the CMs that I don't have from BF at the moment & I have no actual reason to suspect they will withdraw them (since they haven't yet) but I wouldn't like to say it definitely couldn't happen, because I have no idea.

Sorry, I know you'd have preferred a definite answer, but I'm not convinced that anything is ever definite any more regarding such things .

But please bear in mind that this all just my own conclusions based on what I am seeing happen with SL and have heard of happening on BF with a (very) few other games. Even when we were still volunteer mods on the SL site, we didn't have any inside information on how those things worked, and the SL servers having disappeared without warning is just as much a surprise to me as to everyone else here.

I'm not claiming to know any of this for sure.

As for the SM3 bonus levels, I would expect them to have disappeared along with the SL servers. If you had saved the installers from when you last downloaded them, then it may be possible to reinstall from those (I'm not sure because I think I always downloaded those from inside the game, rather than a separate install) but I don't expect them to be available to download from within the game any more. I haven't tried but that seems likely. Sorry .

The Digital Chocolate website still directs to other sellers for Sandlot's games. Since it's been 4 months since the layoffs and nothing has changed yet, I doubt they'll want to pull Sandlot's games down.

Sorry MJay,my stackwalk function for these posts isn't opreating at full capacity . As far as servers being linked I don't think that ever happens, but the server domain rights can be acquired just like game ( title ) rights.Developers don't sell the title rights to their games unless they don't vend themselves or they close shop; rather they cut a profit sharing deal or as with newbies thay beg reputable sites to get their sales off the ground ( that is why so many have an menu option dedicated to propective game developers ). ChoclateSnow was/is? one that would pitch just about any game from anybody. Kaotika:Since M'ers has installed/unlocked the WW4 game she got from BF you may be right. She is most likely right about the re-credit policy, especially at BF.The whole gaming market is in flux right now and the console gamers appear to be the only winners ( if you can afford the cost ). Than there's MJay with 3/4 PC's and a console system drifting 'round her home

Kaotika - thanks for pointing that out about the digital choc SL suppliers page still being there. I tried all my bookmarks from when SL closed (the ones that eventually just went to a page about the closure) and they were all 'page not found' so I thought that page had gone too.

I found it by a search after reading your post and bookmarked it.

LOL Jeremiah - I wish I did have that much equipment! I take it that comes from my comments about 3rd activation of games: The first was an old Win XP one which I was using when I first joined SL site but which is now out of order. The second was a Vista LT which hubby lent me (long-term) while I decided whether to get my old XP one sorted (and maybe upgraded) or give in and buy a new Win7 one instead.

I held off for nearly 2 years, waiting to see how people got on with Win7 after seeing so many people posting that games wouldn't work with theirs and being worried that I'd invest in a new one only to find it wouldn't play my favourite games .

What finally made me take the plunge was the news that the Sandlot site was shutting down. I decided to make my mind up and get a new one to get my games unlocked on it while I still had access to downloads right from the site without having to email support for links.

As for console systems - I must be well out of date there by now LOL - between us we have a couple of ancient ones - early Nintendo ones (being kept for old times sake ) - and my 'newest' one is a Sony Playstation 2 (yes TWO!). I got that because I was still playing all the Tombraider games as they came out at that time (hadn't discovered Time Management games yet). I used to get the newest Tombraider game from Santa every year.

MJay:Unless your using Atari and playing Pong your console isn't too old ( last console game I played was first NBA Jams ).I haven't heard that playing with Win 7 caused difficulties, but do know that the TW series seemed more compatible with Vista and WW with XP ( at least when Vista first came out ).Now, unless I'm going to repurchase SL titles from other vendors, I'll probably push this PC until the drive goes mushy/motherboard passes well beyond menopause.