Hi all,

I am trying to set up a server for Freelancer at an internet cafe. Unfortunately due to the way the systems are rolled out, I am having some difficulty setting one up. I can get one up and running fine, but when another person tries to join in it says "the account ID is already in use".

Here's the scenario: I installed a machine with Windows XP, then with all the software and games. The image of this machine is then replicated using Norton Ghost onto the other machines quickly and efficiently. This however, means that all the machines have identical product IDs, etc. I have had to re-install some software and games manually on each individual machine, and edit the registry to replace some serial codes so that the games work properly. All the other games work fine except for Freelancer.

First I reinstalled Freelancer with the different CDs thinking that the FL account IDs had something to do with the CDs. However I was wrong and I still got the same error message. Now I am wondering if it has something to do with the fact that all the machines have the identical product ID for Windows XP. If this is the case, do I really have to manually reinstall each machine with Windows XP, all its software and games, just to get Freelancer working on our LAN? Surely there has to be a better way otherwise it would take me a week to reinstall all the machines individually.

Alternatively, I could be totally wrong about the Windows XP product IDs and I messed something up somewhere. Is there anyone out there who has done something similar or know what I need to do ?

Also, this has got me thinking that even if I do get this working on the LAN. It does not look like Freelancer has any protection for player characters on a shared computer. Is there any way to place a password on player characters?

Thanks,
George