Here are answers to common questions asked when a Node ID changes, and your license stops working.


Firstly, 

  *please understand that managing your node lock is not not be part of our support. It is your task to take care of managing your license. We can not be involved each time something changes on your end. We make sure everything is up and running, but you must manage your own license(s).


Q: What is required for my license to work?


There are 3 factors required to get your license working.

  1. Username
  2. Password (usually an order ref number)
  3. Node ID (a local machine specific ID)


Starting with R5, you can now save your account info to a file, so that you no longer have to remember factors 1 and 2. You then load your account info from that file, rather than trying manually enter that info.


  • Your account contains a Node ID. It is usually the first Node ID you used the plugin with.
  • If the node ID of the machine you are on, does not match the node ID in your account, the license is mismatched, and DEM Earth will not run.


Q : I have a node locked license. My machine or c4d license has changed, resulting in my node lock no longer matching my account node lock, preventing me from using my DEM Earth license.


A: This is a node lock mismatch.

you will need to upgrade to a floating license, to be able to change your node lock. When you upgrade to floating, your lock will be cleared once. Enabling you to relock your license to the new workstation via the "add/remove node ID" button in your DEM Earth prefs.  *After that initial upgrade reset, it is then your job to be sure to clear your node ID(releasing your license), before changing machines.

You have 3 options. 

  1. Pay the service fee.. to have your node ID manually replaced (requires active support).
  2. Upgrade.. to a floating license (requires active support), which gets your node ID flushed.
  3. Renew Your support..  Gets your account completely flushed, starting you from scratch.



Q: I have a floating license. My node lock changed. I am on a new machine or my c4d license changed, how can I resolve this?


A: Before changing machines, you should always first release your license. You can not do that from another machine. You must first release your license from the machine it is currently registered on, and where the node ID matches a node ID in your license account. if you have not released your node ID, and try to register a new node ID, you will get a message telling you that the registration failed because  you do not have enough seats.


You have 4 options.

   

  1. Go back to the machine where the node ID matches, and release your license (requires active support) .
  2. Add an additional seat.. to your account (requires active support) .
  3. Pay a service fee.. to have your node ID manually released from your account (requires active support).
  4. If this is the first time your node ID was mismatched, you can make a support ticket, and in some circumstances we may release a license. *This can only be done once or twice per license, and requires active support. A reset can only be done in extreme cases such as dead hardware, or if your ID changes beyond your own control. Please understand that it is your task to manage your own license. If you move to another machine, it is always your task to make sure you release your license(s).

   

if you have R5.xxx or greater, there is an option to Auto Release your node ID. if you enable that setting, every time you exit C4D, having used DEM Earth, your node ID will automatically be released. The next time you start c4d and use DEM Earth, your node ID will automatically be added back to your account. This option is only available if you have the floating license option, and your support must be up to date for this to work.


Important notes

  • in R3 and R4, the version of C4D was part of the node lock, i.e. 21,23,25, etc. purposely preventing the license from being used across multiple c4d versions. The reason for that is that every install is a cost multiplier and we have need to prevent multiple installs per license. Each new install defeats the local cache, and means that you start downloading again, multiplying after sale costs.
  • With R5, the c4d version no longer matters. That makes the R5 node lock much more relaxed than it was in previous versions. However, we still need to limit the number of installs and keep per license costs under control.
  • We do not actively support or encourage remote installs. It is possible to install and use remotely on managed machines, however you can only do this with R5, and you will need both the floating license option, as well as an additional seat per machine for this to work smoothly, and to activate the auto release option in prefs.
  • In R5.xx there is an option to save your license info to a file. It is highly recommended that you do this, so that you do do not get your username and password wrong when changing machines or c4d versions. This is the most common mistake users make when re-installing. i.e. 95% of support is "Help, it doesn't work. Why? Answer = you are using the wrong password." If you can load your license from a file, you can not get your password wrong.  Please use this feature in R5.
  • With R5,  if you forget your account name, it is possible to use the email address used during the purchase of your license as the username/account name.
  • Your account password should be your order ref number. However, the password is set the first time you use dem earth, to whatever you enter into the dem earth prefs. If you use anything other than the order ref number, be sure to make a record of that, and also to save the account info to a file (in R5)