How to keep XSI 4.2 Foundation running?

[Anonymous]

Hi, I'm an occasional hobbiest user of XSI 4.2 Foundation (I bought ages ago). Now with the transition to Autodesk there were some emails about license transfers.

I asked about old XSI Foundation and yesterday got the answer, that 4.x and 5.x will not be supported anymore.

My question is: how can I keep my license running? What I think of are occasions like changing hardware or reinstall/change the OS (currently Win XP Home). AFAIK this would need a re-activation over Internet. But if the Softimage license server is shut down, this won't work anymore ?

Is there a way to save licensing information (key files, registry keys) to just keep it runnig - at least on the same hardware/OS after OS-reinstallation?

Or will it simply die some day?

I'm not very happy with this situation, as imho I paid for a permanent license and not for time limited service contract. I bought this license - not rented it.

I believe open source and tools like Blender is the way to go - if you don't want to waste money on people that treat you like a criminal or a idiot. Or Cinema 4D - afaik it needs registration with Maxon but you get a permanent key - and don't are dongled or bound by online activation schemes.

So if someone has an some insight in keeping activation keys alive after system crash - let me know and thanks for every reply.

[Leendert68]

As far as I can recall, 4.2 Foundation doesn't ask for reactivation. After reinstall of OS or hardware change, just feed it the key you originally got from Softimage...
But I am not sure...

[Stephen.Blair]

Hi, I'm an occasional hobbiest user of XSI 4.2 Foundation (I bought ages ago). Now with the transition to Autodesk there were some emails about license transfers.

I asked about old XSI Foundation and yesterday got the answer, that 4.x and 5.x will not be supported anymore.

My question is: how can I keep my license running? What I think of are occasions like changing hardware or reinstall/change the OS (currently Win XP Home). AFAIK this would need a re-activation over Internet. But if the Softimage license server is shut down, this won't work anymore ?

Is there a way to save licensing information (key files, registry keys) to just keep it runnig - at least on the same hardware/OS after OS-reinstallation?

Or will it simply die some day?

I'm not very happy with this situation, as imho I paid for a permanent license and not for time limited service contract. I bought this license - not rented it.

I believe open source and tools like Blender is the way to go - if you don't want to waste money on people that treat you like a criminal or a idiot. Or Cinema 4D - afaik it needs registration with Maxon but you get a permanent key - and don't are dongled or bound by online activation schemes.

So if someone has an some insight in keeping activation keys alive after system crash - let me know and thanks for every reply.

Foundation 4.2 and 5.x do not require online activation.

The first time you start Foundation, you have to enter your Email and your License Key.

So, if you back up your current license key, you will always be able to reactivate Foundation after a computer crash.

You can find the Email and Key under this registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Softimage\SOFTIMAGE Application\C:|Softimage|XSI_5.0_Foundation|Application|bin\ProductInfo


For later versions of Foundation, which did require online activation, you can contact Product Support, and the Softimage team will reactivate the license for you.

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much for this fast (and correct) reply!

Foundation 4.2 and 5.x do not require online activation.

The first time you start Foundation, you have to enter your Email and your License Key.
So, if you back up your current license key, you will always be able to reactivate Foundation after a computer crash.

I just made a test installation on my wife's notebook and deactivated the network (to be sure their is no background online activation possible when I enter my key and mail address). Needless to say it worked like you told. When I changed my system some years ago I was (falsely) under the impression it was a network re-activation going on.

You can find the Email and Key under this registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Softimage\SOFTIMAGE Application\C:|Softimage|XSI_5.0_Foundation|Application|bin\ProductInfo

Good to know, but I had this data written in my license sheet.

For later versions of Foundation, which did require online activation, you can contact Product Support, and the Softimage team will reactivate the license for you.

So I misunderstood the email from Autodesk support, as I had the impression that licenses prior to XSI 6 won't get any support for "reactivation". So its simply not needed.

My oppinion is still, that all this dongle and license server stuff is only contra-productive. It is only a problem for people who bought legal licenses as the guys who use warez don't bother and some cracker removed this copy-protection.

I will tell you a story from my previous employment. We worked on inhouse 3d realtime viz software in a big company. I'm a developer. Occasionally I had to touch some 3d data. We had 3ds max and Maya with license server but as I didn't need it too often, I always had to install the newest version and fight with license server problems and firewall settings. Installation of 3ds max is really a pain and really slow. Even deinstallation of the older version needs ages. For some unknown reasons options to use the license server are hidden. If you just always click "OK" you do the wrong thing and have to reinstall.
I was so annoyed (didn't like Max and Maya anyway) that I switched to using Blender. After writing some custom Python scripts it did exactly what I needed. It was fast enough, it was no problem to install (just unzip) and didn't need any firewall exceptions.
Other guys in the department saw me using "unprofessional" software, but it was good enough for this job and no setup hassle. So they also got interested in Blender.

Autodesk should reconsider if frustrating paying customers is really needed - as piracy isn't really stopped by this means. Most professionals are willing to pay for the service - not only to use the software.

[Anonymous]

About 4.2 activation- this is good news for me, as I was hoping to install it on a laptop. Thanks StephenBlair for the info!