Which forum are you getting the error with? Certain subfora, generally user mods, bug reports, and technical support, are behind the registration pay wall. You need to own the game in order to access those fora. I see you have Victoria II and it's EPs registered.
UPDATED 03/01/18
Due to some confusion and questions, I've updated the post with more information on what the actual link entails at the bottom.
Greetings everyone,
Changes to how owned items are registered on the forum has been made and it is awesome! All you need to get all your games registered is to follow the guide below!
Step 1.
Connect your Paradox account to your Steam account at accounts.paradoxplaza.com (as I'm already connected it says Disconnect)
View attachment 301487
Step 2.
Go to your Owned Items list in the Forums - you'll see this menu when you hover your mouse cursor over your forum user name, up the top-right of every page in the forums:
View attachment 145270
Step 3.
Sync your games with this button.
View attachment 145271
Step 4.
Enjoy!
This will fetch all the games you own on your Steam account and automatically add them to your OwnedItem list, effectively removing the need for you to register CD keys for each game you own! However, I'm sure there are questions so a very short FAQ:
I own non-Steam games!
Not a problem, you are still able to use the Register a Game feature!
UPDATE: if you get an error doing this, the game will have to be registered manually for you. Log a ticket at paradox.zendesk.com with all relevant details.
I don't want to register my Steam account!
That's cool, we won't force you - but it will make your life much simpler since you need to manually register your games one at a time.
UPDATE:
You don't need to link the account, this is true, however since keys will no longer be visible in your Steam library you will be unable to register the game UNLESS it's a physical copy of a game that was released before Steam. All new games released in physical form (HoI 4 and Stellaris for example) still require Steam. For now, some keys are visible and will remain so until we turn them off, this is an ongoing process. If you don't link, you will be unable to access some parts of the forum but you will still be able to get help if you open a ticket.
My games are GONE?! What did you DO?!
Calm down, breathe, your games are not gone
Do I need to manually sync the Owned Items every time I buy a new game?
Yes and no. The list is updated each time you log into the forum so if you have it set to "remember me" you will need to do it manually.
I've been accepted into a Beta, can I use this feature?
No, Beta access will only be available via codes distributed by us.
OMG the keys that used to show up in my Steam library are GONE!
Yes and this is intended. As we turn off the third party key distribution the keys will disappear over time. Not all products have had this done yet but the goal is to remove the need for users to register manually and instead just sync their Steam account to get all games registered to their accounts.
This Steam link, what does actually do, how does it work?
Basically it looks at your Steam profile, more specifically your owned items, and compares it to a list of our games. If any game ID you own matches our list, you get credited with it. That's it. It only uses information that is publicly available in Steam anyway (ie what games you own).
The script that does this is run on our server, Steam and Valve do not have any access to your Paradox details, they can't see your Paradox email, username etc. There have been concerns that Steam will "spy" on your account but I can definitively confirm that this isn't the case as they don't have access to your data.
The screen you enter your Steam account details into is a Valve interface, it is not ours and we do not see your Steam credentials at all.
Do I need to have Steam installed, does it need to be running?
No, you only need to register the game to your Steam profile, it doesn't matter if you run Steam or not.
But.... why? I liked the keys, can't you still use them as well?
Generating, maintaining and managing keys for our 100+ products was a massive undertaking. It could take hours to generate keys for a single product and it was never a feasible long term solution. By removing the need for keys we make it easier for our customers to get the credit they deserve.
It should also be added that doing this was feasible when we had a catalog of 20-30 games alas now as we have grown (and will continue to do so!) it has become unfeasible.
Does this mean you can add or remove games from my Steam account?
No, this is a read only system. We use a Steam API that checks the games on your account and if any of them match one that we have in our database it connects the dots and grants you the icon and access. We also cannot see non-Paradox games.
It says my Steam account is already connected!
We can fix that for you, please read this help desk article and follow the instructions.
--
We will monitor this new feature closely but please report any problems you may encounter in this thread so I can address it properly.
We hope you enjoy the change and all feedback is greatly appreciated!
UPDATED 03/01/18
Due to some confusion and questions, I've updated the post with more information on what the actual link entails at the bottom.
Greetings everyone,
Changes to how owned items are registered on the forum has been made and it is awesome! All you need to get all your games registered is to follow the guide below!
Step 1.
Connect your Paradox account to your Steam account at accounts.paradoxplaza.com (as I'm already connected it says Disconnect)
View attachment 301487
Step 2.
Go to your Owned Items list in the Forums - you'll see this menu when you hover your mouse cursor over your forum user name, up the top-right of every page in the forums:
View attachment 145270
Step 3.
Sync your games with this button.
View attachment 145271
Step 4.
Enjoy
This will fetch all the games you own on your Steam account and automatically add them to your OwnedItem list, effectively removing the need for you to register CD keys for each game you own! However, I'm sure there are questions so a very short FAQ:
I own non-Steam games!
Not a problem, you are still able to use the Register a Game feature!
UPDATE: if you get an error doing this, the game will have to be registered manually for you. Log a ticket at paradox.zendesk.com with all relevant details.
I don't want to register my Steam account!
That's cool, we won't force you - but it will make your life much simpler since you need to manually register your games one at a time.
UPDATE:
You don't need to link the account, this is true, however since keys will no longer be visible in your Steam library you will be unable to register the game UNLESS it's a physical copy of a game that was released before Steam. All new games released in physical form (HoI 4 and Stellaris for example) still require Steam. For now, some keys are visible and will remain so until we turn them off, this is an ongoing process. If you don't link, you will be unable to access some parts of the forum but you will still be able to get help if you open a ticket.
My games are GONE?! What did you DO?!
Calm down, breathe, your games are not gone
Update! I was, In fact, being a doofus!
Do I need to manually sync the Owned Items every time I buy a new game?
Yes and no. The list is updated each time you log into the forum so if you have it set to "remember me" you will need to do it manually.
I've been accepted into a Beta, can I use this feature?
No, Beta access will only be available via codes distributed by us.
OMG the keys that used to show up in my Steam library are GONE!
Yes and this is intended. As we turn off the third party key distribution the keys will disappear over time. Not all products have had this done yet but the goal is to remove the need for users to register manually and instead just sync their Steam account to get all games registered to their accounts.
This Steam link, what does actually do, how does it work?
Basically it looks at your Steam profile, more specifically your owned items, and compares it to a list of our games. If any game ID you own matches our list, you get credited with it. That's it. It only uses information that is publicly available in Steam anyway (ie what games you own).
The script that does this is run on our server, Steam and Valve do not have any access to your Paradox details, they can't see your Paradox email, username etc. There have been concerns that Steam will "spy" on your account but I can definitively confirm that this isn't the case as they don't have access to your data.
The screen you enter your Steam account details into is a Valve interface, it is not ours and we do not see your Steam credentials at all.
Do I need to have Steam installed, does it need to be running?
No, you only need to register the game to your Steam profile, it doesn't matter if you run Steam or not.
But.... why? I liked the keys, can't you still use them as well?
Generating, maintaining and managing keys for our 100+ products was a massive undertaking. It could take hours to generate keys for a single product and it was never a feasible long term solution. By removing the need for keys we make it easier for our customers to get the credit they deserve.
It should also be added that doing this was feasible when we had a catalog of 20-30 games alas now as we have grown (and will continue to do so!) it has become unfeasible.
Does this mean you can add or remove games from my Steam account?
No, this is a read only system. We use a Steam API that checks the games on your account and if any of them match one that we have in our database it connects the dots and grants you the icon and access. We also cannot see non-Paradox games.
It says my Steam account is already connected!
We can fix that for you, please read this help desk article and follow the instructions.
--
We will monitor this new feature closely but please report any problems you may encounter in this thread so I can address it properly.
We hope you enjoy the change and all feedback is greatly appreciated!
It replaced a system where all our games had copy protection , which was a support nightmare for us and for our customers. Believe me this is far better.
Can I ask which part of that you had problems with?
Thanks Andrew, I got it sorted with some tinkering, it was more my fault, struggling with Steam authentication, but it's all good now. Cheers.
I briefly answered this in post #1246 above. I van expand on that if you wish.
We do ... ?!? The only exceptions I'm aware of are very large ones like CK2+ and GoT that the Steam Workshop can't handle.
We get no extra information out of you linking your Steam and Paradox accounts. All we see is what is already publicly visible in your Steam profile - what games you own.
