So what’s with this login crap now every time I open the program. it’s still laughable that the software can’t be used offline if my internet drops even though I’ve paid for the software. Honestly it’s not surprising people resort to piracy when you inflict paying customers with being unable to use software they’ve paid for because you can’t verify an account if they are offline or your servers go down…
You should be better served raising a support request at the main website as there seems to be an issue with your PC if you have to login every time you start veai.
Not everyone is being affected by this but several people have reported the offline/login issue including me, I sent logs as requested, The dev says it should only be prompting once a month + once when the license initially expires at most. That’s standard industry practice.
I’ve seen the fix, which works for me and when 3.0.8 the next release is out, that will hopefully fix it for all.
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Yeah I just loaded it up today and “Activate!” I already activated yesterday.
Cmon guys, stop asking us to beta test this stuff.
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Oh would you look at that, opened the software opened browser and got this:
Our website checkout is undergoing maintenance. Please check back later today (12/15) at 3PM CT. Sorry for the inconvenience!
So can’t use the software other than TRIAL mode!!!
Mine has been down for 3 hours now, not able to work. This really bites.
This is exactly my point, it’s not supposed to be subscription software. I’ve paid for it so should be able to use it without any internet connection whenever I want and not subject to checking I have a valid account every time. The fact it can’t check accounts stops you from using it which is a joke.
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Industry standard practice? For what? You buy the software, you have your registration code once, perhaps a “call home” to verify and that is it. Why would you need to check in monthly? I have never heard of such a thing.
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Adobe has always done it, Capture One does it and On1 Photo RAW does it … the three I use that I know of.
I guess companies are trying to protect their investment in producing software.
Yep, Vegas Pro and Boris fx stuff to name but two more.
I forgot, Affinity Photo, Designer & Publisher also.
I’d say only once per month is more than reasonable. Running 3.1.0.2.m now, and it’s fine. Even 3.0.8 solved the matter. As a dev said yesterday, they had a server outage: unfortunate, but not how things are meant to run normally.
Adobe products are monthly subscriptions – so of course they have to “phone home.” Vegas Pro can be bought as a subscription or you buy a license. You must be subscribing.
But this is not a subscription. You are buying software that you can run “forever.” Requiring a check-in is odd and can be problematic if their server is down. Wouldn’t you think? If you are a professional?
I was in SE Asia using 2.6.4 and thank goodness I did not need it to phone home, because I had very little internet (if any) on location.
It’s the details that matter of course - and we haven’t to my knowledge seen the details yet - is there an end user license agreement for this software yet and if so, what does that say about phoning home? If it’s anything like Magix (Vegas Pro), it won’t be much (if it exists), or what it means won’t be obvious.
There’s an interesting thread about phoning home and activations in the Magix forum in 2017 and even the long-time VP developer Gary Rebholz had to go away to research it. Here’s his reply: https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/a-ringing-endorsement-of-vp15--108974/?page=4#ca672586
So Vegas Pro tries (then) to phone home every 2 weeks, but if offline it just keeps trying silently, and doesn’t block anything. Plus every time it needs certain new codecs for the first time - and that DOES block use of the codec (if offline).
So I just fired up VP on this PC for the first time in a while then checked my Magix account. It records “last activation” date as… today! So it phoned home, but didn’t tell me. And if I’d needed a previously unlicensed codec and their server was down, I wouldn’t be able to use that codec.
So to summarise, yes Topaz do need to improve and clarify their online/offline requirements and if it does end up phoning home once a month, failure to connect should not block use of the software.
All the above is for permanently licensed software - and I suspect that all vendors do it slightly differently but phoning home for one reason or another isn’t at all unusual and sometimes, aspects of the software can be blocked if offline or their servers are down. Just not the entire use of the software so Topaz, I hope, will now engage with us to ensure that they get this right in future releases.
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Unfortunately I’ve see this before especially with games. Does this “licence” check actually stop piracy? The simple answer is no. This, as a one time payment, should be a one time activation and then the paying user can use it offline or at any time they want with no dependency on an account server being online or their internet connection going down. I’ve seen this many times with games in particular. It doesn’t stop piracy it just annoys actual paying customers. These checks if cracked won’t even try to connect to a server that’s how it works so actual pirated versions don’t have this problem at all.
Then take into account what could potentially happen in the future as I’ve also seen with games and other software: company goes under or decides not to support software any more. Where does that leave you? You can no longer use it even though you paid for it no matter what. It’s all very underhanded practice for people that do actually pay. They are not actually stopping people who use pirated copies it only affects paying customers.
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Well from what I have seen, it is scanning my local network automatically to log on. This is what Apple did with FCP.
They need to create a set policy that does not feel invasive.
They also need to insure this software continues to function if they go under, by allowing one to run it without an internet connection.
No one knows what is truly happening behind the scenes.
Otherwise, confidence in the future of the software will be questioned.
I’d gladly pay a higher price knowing it will function without the need of their servers.
You have a valid point about TVAI not being a subscription… Or is it? Because the license is not for perpetual updates, but only lasts 1 year. So, that leaves Topaz with only 2 options: either you’re never eligible for updates, or they need to check your license, periodically.
Now, granted, they could check your eligibility for updates via the Registry too, but maybe they fear piracy, going that route.
Looking back at FCP from Apple. You bought a license to use the software forever. It didn’t require an internet connection (unless you wanted it to check for an updated version that fixed problems).
You also got free updates for life on that major version of software (if they were bugs).
These were updates to fix promised features in the software when you purchased it.
When you buy a 10 seat license (as I had) - you are expected for the software to operate as advertised and it did.
Obviously when Apple came out with a new major version (with cooler features), you could then upgrade at a fraction of the of cost or continue to keep using the original version you bought (and free bug updates never stopped).
Regardless you got what you paid for and if anything did not work as promised, you would get a free minor update - no time limit.
To this day I still have machines with FCP that are just used for ingesting video tapes with Blackmagic hardware (SDI inputs).
Apple delivered what they promised and fixed what needed to be broken at no additional charge.
Providing software that is buggy should remain on the same major version level until everything works properly (with no time limit on bug updates), otherwise it is sounds to me like fraud.
This software is still in a beta phase as it is known to have problems. Their problems are certainly not ours.
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I don’t disagree on any particular point. 
I can live with a once-per-month login, though. I can not accept an every-time-you-start-the-program login. Fortunately, the latter is not the case for me.
Me too. I did the most recent update and it basically changed it from working fine to only working with a watermark, asking me to login every time I open the program and generally crashing. What in the hell did they do to this thing?
