Gold Edition, bought it today. Same problem as above. None of the solutions work and Ubisoft´s support page is a joke.
I think Ubisoft should email me my activation code as this would be the easiest solution for me as a costumer. It is not my fault that they release a crappy product that does not work.

Same problem as above. None of the solutions work and Ubisoft´s support page is a joke.
I think Ubisoft should email me my activation code as this would be the easiest solution for me as a costumer. It is not my fault that they release a crappy product that does not work.

Two weeks later and still not a word or reply from Ubisoft Support. Their Support site is a joke!!!!!
Anyway, I brought the game back to the retailer and explained that it would not work and they allowed an exchange for another game. Needless to say it was NOT a Ubisoft game!

Apologies to all but due to the holidays I’ve only just become aware of this issue.

We are now aware of the issue and looking into it, I will let you know as soon as I have any information. In the meantime anyone still experiencing issues please continue to provide any information on your experience you feel may be helpful in the process.

Thanks

I am having the exact same problem as Kraskland and the others. Bought my game through Amazon in the United States. Hope we get an answer to this soon as it is very irritating.

I am having the exact same problem as Kraskland and the others. Bought my game in a PC store in Denmark, and they have no solution, they are willing to exchange the game for me but i still like settlers

Finally got a response from Ubisofts Support site and they must be having a laugh. What a joke. >>> Copied and pasted this from email response from Ubisoft >>>

_______________________________________________

Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support centre. Below is a summary of your request and our response.

We will assume your issue has been resolved if we do not hear from you within 48 hours.

Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.
________________________________________________

Still dont get it, have UBIsoft cleared the problem or did they solve your problem at all.
the problem would solve it self if ubi opened the activation server again.

I have bought the gold edition in Denmark.
I think I have found the solution. After having installed the rise of an empire, and then the expansion eastern realms. I removed the eastern realms disk, inserted the original and found the .exe to eastern realms in the settlers folder. When starting the eastern realms from this .exe, with the rise of an empire (disk1) in the drive, the game works...

If you look elsewhere on the forums, you'll find I've been telling people for ages you play Eastern Realm with the original Rise of an Empire disc in the drive.
On XP the game installs a desktop icon for both, and can also be found in the All Programs/Ubisoft menu, so I assume you're using Vista? if so, just make a shortcut to the exe on your desktop.

A word of warning though, if you ever wish to uninstall Eastern Realm, and plan on reinstalling later, READ the readme file for Eastern Realm.

All the suggestions on the forum do not work for me, I still have not heard from Ubisoft about my problem with my copy of the Settlers. I bought the gold edition which supposedly include the eastern realm expansion of this gam. I play as a single player, in campain mode the game stops at level 15? Rotossories and there is no expansion after this. Help what am I doing wrong? My original version played just as far. Any suggestions I also don't have an activation code.
Manuela

I too bought it as a gold edition from a danish internet shop.
Tried this but it does NOT solve it for me:
"After having installed the rise of an empire, and then the expansion eastern realms. I removed the eastern realms disk, inserted the original and found the .exe to eastern realms in the settlers folder. When starting the eastern realms from this .exe, with the rise of an empire (disk1) in the drive, the game works..."
Don't Ubisoft test their CD's/games before they release them? I would get fired if I was careless like that in my job...
Dont mind telling that on facebook and all the other good places on the net, if this isn't solved soon.
Ubisoft: Wake up!

I just bought the Eastern Realm mission add on from Game in the UK after playing the normal release version of the original release.

I have the exact same problem regarding the activation code. It just seems that the server is not working as I have been waiting for the activation code I received to be 'interpreted' for a good 30 mins now.

Can't find any solutions to this anywhere, please can someone help as soon as possible?

What are games publishers up to these days?!? I spent many days over Christmas trying to get GTAIV up and running thinking that Rockstar were alone in their crazy installations...

Do you have any imaging software installed? and when you installed your original Rise of an Empire, was it fully patched?
Unless you've changed something, or installed something like Daemon or Magic ISO, you shouldn't be asked for your key or need to activate it with Tages.
If you had no problems with the original, the expansion should play in the same way, just have the Rise of an Empire disc in the drive and select Eastern Realm from either the "All Programs" menu or the exe (on Vista you'll have to make your own shorcut for the desktop), it works every time for me that way.
You haven't activated the original game more than the limit of three times on different computers have you?

no imaging software.

Latest version was fully patched and updated and have been playing it for the last month or so.

It was just your basic installation from a purchased disc disc onto computer. Just one installation so not had to activate the original more than once.

The installation of eastern realm installed a desktop icon and a all programs menu choice. Both options when selected come up with the discussed issue.

Oh this is so GOOD. For once, I am having the last laugh. From my previous posts, I had contacted Ubisof and got a response about two weeks later from them saying that if I don't respond back to them in 48 hrs they will presume the issue is resolved(see above tread). What if I did respond to them. would I be waiting another two weeks??? Any way, I had brought the game back and exchanged it for a different Medieval game (a truly brilliant one).

I had previously read a thread and tried to play the game by inserting the original RoaE disc and this would not work for me, it just came up with the RoaE menu. I was thinking that it would also give an option in the main menu for E Realm also but no.

But a BIG THANKS to BTOG46, I read his response just yesterday after returning the game to the retailer about a week ago, I decided to insert the original RoaE disc and while letting the disc run, I quickly clicked on the Eastern Realm icon from the Program files menu and away we go, the Eastern Realm menu page - the works.

So for everyone out there, the game had actually installed originally, it was just coming up with "Cannot activate or cannot read disc error or whatever" etc.

I had removed the desktop icon but had not unistalled the game because when the option to unistall E Realm from Control Panel > Add/Remove programs menu, it only gave me an option to unistall all RoaE games. So either just add or replace the icon to desktop or as I did;

Insert original RoaE disc and quickly goto;
Start > Program Files > Ubisoft > Play Settlers-RoaE-Eastern Realm

A free game.

Hope this Helps!!!

Imaging Software... oh my doesn't that sort mean every DVD/CD burner driver with a software package out there?

And perhaps it's time to give up on the idea that the use of Daemon tools is only for pirates, some of us have access to ISO files from Microsoft, and believe me it's so much less of a pain in the butt to be able to have those files on a central server, than actually remember where the bloody DVD/CD you burned is. True this is more of a work related thing, and what the heck is a game doing at work anyways, well I'm just trying to put the whole thing of Daemon Tools into perspective, it does have useful legit reasons for being on a system.

What really boggles the mind is that a company supposedly aiming to sell their game and keep their gamers coming back, would cancel their online activation route with their vendor (without setting up a new one) leaving their customers in the wind. I must admit I don't feel like a fool at all for spending money on something I like. Only to find that I'm not able to use it, while the evil mad pirates are having their fun with a game cracked wide open.

So the real question is this: "Did Ubisoft sit down and plan how to proceed when they canceled the online activation, or did it just happen as a spur of the moment trying to save some money?"

Oh and just so this stays on topic, yes I did try all the hints above and indeed more from Ubisoft support about deleting a little folder hidden by Tages at %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data

Access by going to: Start > Run > enter "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data" without the " signs.

Now this folder seems to be saving the information collected during the "Activation phase", anyways this didn't help with the issue either. So just sharing in case anyone else gets the same message.

FYI Tages is not removed when you uninstall the game (as other games might be using it), in any case, why doesn't Ubisoft let the user have the choise, Tages provides removal tools at http://www.tagesprotection.com/5.5.htm (run twice, as the first time installs them).

No changes to computer at all. When installing the original RoaE disc, I did NOT have to input the CD Key code which was present on the manual. But it installed no problem and did NOT ask for the key. The games was only installed on one computer.

@ RacingApe

Lots of people have imaging software installed, the game makes provision for it, I have Daemon tools pro, and Tages has never batted an eyelid, it just asked me to enter my key, checked it, and that was it.
The protection was slightly changed after one of the patches, that's why you see posts from people complaining that the game won't work properly if they update to patch 1.6, if they didn't use a "fixed" exe to play without the disc, 1.6 would work ok.
After 1,6, to play without the disc, just start RoaE without the disc, and Tages will check, and allow you to play with no disc in the drive.
This still works, I only recently formatted my drive, and reinstalled XP on one drive, and the Windows 7 Beta on another, and I had no problems.

@ Alzerkhan

Glad to see you managed to play Eastern Realm, and even managed to score it for free.
When you first installed Rise of an Empire, the game wouldn't ask for the key unless it detected copying/imaging software running, but if you ever decide to try the online play, you will be asked for the key.

What is the next step then? Is there a universal fix for this problem? Is the activation process going to get sorted?

???

BTOG46 can you not tell us what Ubisoft are doing to sort the problem? How long is it going to take?