How do I get an expansion CD Key off Steam without the base game?

Magic Pink

I bought a Sims expansion for my BF but didn't know he owns all the Sims 3 stuff off Origin. How do we get the CD Key from the expansion I sent him to activate on Origin? He already accepted the gift and it shows in his gift inventory but Steam won't put it in his library because he doesn't own the base game on Steam.

edit: Here's the whole story:
I bought a copy of Sims 3 Pets and started downloading it. I also bought a copy for Steam usfor the boyfriend which he accpeted.

The problem is, he doesn't have Sims 3 from Steam, he has it from Origin. We were unable to access the gift at all to see the CD Key on the gift copy of Pets so we could activate in Origin so I gave him MY CD Key which activated fine. He then returned the gift copy of Pets to me.

So now I need to move the copy I have registered to him and activate the gift copy I have on my account. Is this possible or did I just really screw myself over? I sent the problem to Steam Support but I don't expect much of a reply beyond "Seriously? Eff off."

Darmak

You can't, anything you buy on Steam is tied to Steam and Steam only. You can possibly contact Valve's customer support and get a refund and buy the expansion on Origin.

TychoCelchuuu

Steam support might handle this, but if you want, you could just gift it to a new random Steam account you make and grab the key that way. You'd be tied to Origin from here on out but otherwise you'd be fine.

Magic Pink

Darmak wrote: »

You can't, anything you buy on Steam is tied to Steam and Steam only. You can possibly contact Valve's customer support and get a refund and buy the expansion on Origin.

That's not even vaguely what I'm trying to do.

Magic Pink

TychoCelchuuu wrote: »

Steam support might handle this, but if you want, you could just gift it to a new random Steam account you make and grab the key that way. You'd be tied to Origin from here on out but otherwise you'd be fine.

The expansion works fine for me on Steam and him on Origin even tho we're using the same key, I just want to get the key off of the gift copy. Steam support is just sending me links to a FAQ on Retail CD Keys over and over.

Pariel

To see the key you're going to need to send the gift to an account which already has the base game.

Magic Pink

Pariel wrote: »

To see the key you're going to need to send the gift to an account which already has the base game.

That'll makes thing even more complex then they are now. As it is now it's 2 people using one expansion with no one using the second. That way would be three people using two expansions. I'll just let it sit in the inventory and make my case in the event Steam or EA makes a issue of it.

Bowen

o_O

I'm not sure what you're trying to do is legal.

Magic Pink

bowen wrote: »

o_O

I'm not sure what you're trying to do is legal.

Yes, it is. What I'm doing now isn't, that's why I want to change it.

Pariel

I would try continuing to contact Steam Support. Eventually you should be able to get through and have someone give you a refund, and then you can go buy it on Origin.

Unfortunately, there's no other way to use it that doesn't exacerbate your problem. Other than perhaps selling it to someone who then buys you a copy on Origin.

Magic Pink

The only reason I bought it was because it was on sale. It won't be on Origin so even if they refunded me I wouldn't buy it from there so I don't really want a refund. We ARE using two copies of the expansion and that's what I paid for. The reason I want the key is Steam copies of anything Sims 3 can be activated on Origin as well.

urahonky

You MIGHT be able to look in the registry for the key. Basically install it from steam, then look in the registry. I found my Modern Warfare 1 key that way.

e: Annnnd I just realized this thread is 11 days old. Nice.

Magic Pink

urahonky wrote: »

You MIGHT be able to look in the registry for the key. Basically install it from steam, then look in the registry. I found my Modern Warfare 1 key that way.

e: Annnnd I just realized this thread is 11 days old. Nice.

Youc an't install an expansion without the base game and I already have a copy of the expansion installed.

urahonky

Magic Pink wrote: »

urahonky wrote: »

You MIGHT be able to look in the registry for the key. Basically install it from steam, then look in the registry. I found my Modern Warfare 1 key that way.

e: Annnnd I just realized this thread is 11 days old. Nice.

Youc an't install an expansion without the base game and I already have a copy of the expansion installed.

You can't? Hmm. I always thought you could "install" the game in Steam but won't be able to run without the other Sims installed. I have an idea.

Have your account set to offline mode, then have your BF log-in on his machine with your account credentials. Then install the base game and expansion. Then set the account to offline mode, and then he can play the game. And then you can log back into online mode.

That's what I did for my wife when she got addicted to Plants vs Zombies.

Magic Pink

urahonky wrote: »

Magic Pink wrote: »

urahonky wrote: »

You MIGHT be able to look in the registry for the key. Basically install it from steam, then look in the registry. I found my Modern Warfare 1 key that way.

e: Annnnd I just realized this thread is 11 days old. Nice.

Youc an't install an expansion without the base game and I already have a copy of the expansion installed.

You can't? Hmm. I always thought you could "install" the game in Steam but won't be able to run without the other Sims installed. I have an idea.

Have your account set to offline mode, then have your BF log-in on his machine with your account credentials. Then install the base game and expansion. Then set the account to offline mode, and then he can play the game. And then you can log back into online mode.

That's what I did for my wife when she got addicted to Plants vs Zombies.

That's what I'm doing essentially and I don't want to because it's illegal and we could both get our accounts banned.