Support
Please email support@sabigames.com if you do not find an answer to your issue.
Game Instructions:
- I just purchased the game and all the playsets except “Home Sweet Home” are locked!
- When we go back to re-play a playset, it does not pick up where we left off
- What are the star challenges about?
ItzaBitza is not working on my PC:
- What do I do if the PC I want to play ItzaBitza on is not connected to the Internet?
- When I try to open the program it gives me the message “ItzaBitza has stopped working. Windows is looking for a solution”
- When I put in the activation key I received a message saying Activation server failed generating the requested licence.
- ItzaBitza did not install correctly
- A window came up saying “SABI updater has stopped working”
- How do I get the latest version of the game?
- The graphics aren’t displaying correctly on my monitor.
- I can’t get the cursor to go to the bottom of the screen to click on anything.
- Can ItzaBitza be used by multiple kids on the same PC?
- How to create a user account on Windows XP
- How to create a user account on Windows Vista
- What are the System Requirements?
- Where can I find my activation key?
- I get error 1001 when I try to install ItzaBitza. What do I do?
- I did not receive an email with my purchase information
- How can I re-download a purchased game?
- My download failed, what should I do?
- How can I contact Sabi?
- My virus program has detected something after installing the game, what’s happening?
- Will ItzaBitza work with Mac Parallels Desktop?
- We’ve been playing ItzaBitza. We want to start ItzaBitza as if it was just installed
- Will ItzaBitza and ItzaZoo run on a netbook?
I just purchased the game and all the playsets except “Home Sweet Home” are locked!
By design, the first time your child plays the full version of ItzaBitza, the only playset that will be unlocked is the “Home Sweet Home” Playset. Your child unlocks the next playset once they complete five star challenges within the same playtime and earn a bronze trophy. Now that a new level is unlocked, your child can choose to go to the new unlocked level, or continue on the current level finding and earning more stars to ultimately earn a gold trophy. Although your child unlocks different playsets in a sequence reminiscent of traditional game levels, they will reap the rewards of play without progressing or completing them. In this way the game allows your child to enjoy playsets that personally motivate them.
When we go back to re-play a playset, it does not pick up where we left off
The game design is such that each time the player re-enters the playset, they get a fresh environment. The designer’s logic is to see playsets as conceptually similar to physical playsets in where the child plays and comes up with stories through their imagination. The playset is then put away and re-played. This would be similar to playing with dolls or trucks in the physical world.
What are the star challenges about?
The stars provide creative problem solving opportunities (e.g.: to pick 5 purple flowers, the flowers have to be there. If they are not there, how do you get them? Oh – you need a sun. After picking the 5 purple flowers, a star is obtained. Get 5 stars within one playing of the playset and the player unlocks the next playset). Stars continue to be collected in total with the design intent that the child feels a sense of accomplishment. Also, stars appear in context to what is being draw, hence another design behind the challenge is to find all the stars. When all stars are found, the player earns a gold trophy. In order to do this, the challenge is finding and solving all the stars.
ItzaBitza did not install correctly
There are some steps we need you to take.
The first task is to cleanup. Think of it as if the cookies you just made were horribly dry and your kids wouldn’t eat them (yes, this has happened to one of us). What do we do? We sigh, clean up, and start again.
CLEAN UP:
- Go to Start Menu > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs for XP users, Uninstall a Program for Vista users
- Look for the program ItzaBitza and uninstall
Once the game has completed uninstalling, on to the next step!
GET A FRESH COPY. This will require an Internet connection (now you can’t see this totally fascinating process (sort of like we can’t see the germs on the table without a microscope) but gazillions of bits have just woken up and are scrambling as fast as they can from their home on our server to the new home on your hard disk)
- Click on this link: http://sabigames.com/downloads/
- On the right-hand side, click Download Now
- When the box pops up, click ‘Run’
ACTIVATE
The first time you start the game, it will ask for your activation key. The activation key is by necessity long and confusing. This is because we have commissioned several monks to find the exact combination of keys that will give you the best Karma. Unfortunately, the monks don’t agree. We didn’t realize there were so many different types of monks!
- The different areas of the game that have locks over them will automatically unlock once the player has progressed through the game and received at least five stars within a level.
- To get the stars, there are different tasks that can be completed in each level – for example in the first level -
- Player draws a house.
- Once the house is completed, the player is able to interact with the house and open the door.
- Within the open door there is a star.
- Once the star has been clicked on a new task will appear in the lower left-hand side of the screen.
- Scrolling over the new star details how to complete the task.
- Once completed the player receives a star in their counter that applies towards unlocking the next level.
- I hope this has helped to kick-start all the star gathering fun that the game offers.
.How do I get the latest version of the game?
We do a lot of testing. But even after all the testing there are countless number of PC hardware configurations that we could not test on. We pride ourselves on a quality game and will periodically update as we encounter challenges customers have running ItzaBitza on their PCs.
There are two ways the game can get updated:
AUTO UPDATE:
- Go into the game, wait a while, then exit the game and restart it
- This should prompt the game to update itself if we have put a patch out anytime recently
MANUAL UPDATE:
- Download and install the game from – http://sabigames.com/downloads/
- You can install over the old version and you will not have to reactivate
Once that has completed, you will have the latest version of the game for your enjoyment
.What do I do if the PC I want to play ItzaBitza on is not connected to the Internet?
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Note: Sometimes a PC is on the Internet, but a firewall or PC security software is preventing your PC to talk with the game’s third party licensing service. If this is the case, the message you most likely received was: Activation Server failed generating the requested license. This is usually due to the PC you are installing the game on to be behind a firewall or uses virus/security software that blocks the communication to the third party server. Customers have done either one of these: 1) following the steps below to obtain the license file from a PC that is not behind a firewall 2) temporarily turning of the firewall or PC software that is blocking communication from the third party licensing service.
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First – please determine if there is any way to get the PC that will be running on ItzaBitza on the Internet for activation. The only action that needs to occur on the Internet is activation. Once completed, the PC need not be connected. Internet online activation is the recommended method. If this can be done, there is no need to continue the steps noted below.
Before you begin, you will need:
1) Access to a computer with an internet connection.
2) A removable storage device – like a USB thumb drive as pictured below. From now on the term “thumb drive” will be used when referencing the removable storage device:
3) A copy of the game.
4) Check to make sure the Date/Time on the PC that will be running ItzaBitza is the current date/time. One customer was loading ItzaBitza on a PC whose charge had lost the correct date. This prevented the license from being issued.
4) An activation key. Which you get when you buy a copy of the game. The activation key is a string of weird characters and numbers. It will look like (but NOT BE) this:
29TQU-YSTMC-8NLZP-SB9VJ-1234
Getting the game
To get the game, you can either:
=> Buy and download immediately (buy and download button is here)
WHEN YOU DOWNLOAD the game, you will be presented with the following dialog box:
Instead of clicking on RUN, click on SAVE. From here you will see the standard file dialog box in Windows. Save ItzaBitzaInstaller.exe to your thumb drive.
You will also need the activation key that was emailed to you. Note: Keeping the activation key in a “safe place” is recommended. You will need the activation key if you need to re-install ItzaBitza on your PC. You can go to our Get Key page and enter your email address you used when you purchased ItzaBitza.
Take your thumb drive to the PC that will be running ItzaBitza. Navigate to the location of ItzaBitzaInstaller.exe on your thumb drive and double-click on ItzaBitzaInstaller.exe.
=> Buy the box from a retailer – Best Buy, Fry’s, Office Max, Amazon.com Nebraska Furniture Mart, MicroCenter all carry ItzaBitza. [NOTE: Best Buy just started carrying ItzaBitza so through the month of April, 2009 we are offering a $5 mail-in rebate (information is here) ]. Put the CD in the PC that will be running ItzaBitza. The game should start installing.
You will need the Activation key that is located on the back side of the CD-ROM sleeve:
The Activation key is located on the yellow tag.
Activate the game
The first time ItzaBitza is launched from the PC that is not on the Internet, a screen will pop up asking how you would like to activate the software (See Below)
- Choose the third option, ‘I want to request a license file.’
When you have selected that, it will ask for your activation key. The activation key was either emailed to you if you downloaded ItzaBitza, or it came on the back of the CD wrapper as a bunch of numbers/letters with dashes on the orange label.
- After entering your activation key, it will give you a License Request (See Below)
- Click on “Copy to clipboard”
- Open up Notepad (note: other writing programs like Word, will often change the – - after End Request into a line that the page will not recognize. For example: – -END-REQUEST— should be – -END-REQUEST- -. Using Notepad avoids this problem)
- Notepad can be found by first left clicking the start button, then left clicking All Programs, then left clicking Accessories. Notepad is an application within the Accessories group.
- Paste the contents of the clipboard into Notepad.
- Save the file to licrequest.txt onto your USB thumb drive.
- Plug the USB thumb drive on the computer with internet connection
- Go to http://www.itzabitza.com/GetRegistration.aspx
- Open the licrequest.txt file that you stored on the USB thumb drive
- Copy the entire contents of this file, from Begin Request to End Request, including the – - before and after into the text box under “Enter license request”
- left click on the “Get License File” button
- Transfer the file that gets created from left clicking on the “Get License file” onto the USB thumb drive.
- Go to the computer that ItzaBitza will be played on and insert the USB thumb drive
- Open the game once again, but this time you will want to choose the second option, ‘I have a license file I want to install.’ (See Below)
- Browse to where you placed the bin file on the computer (See Below)
- Once you have directed it to the bin file, the game will install the license and you’re done
Enjoy the game!
How to create a user account on Windows XP
Log on to your computer as an administrator. Click Start, and then click Control Panel. Under Pick a category, click User Accounts. Under Pick a task, click Create a new account. In the User Accounts wizard, on the Name the new account page, type the name for the user. You can use the person’s full name, first name, or a nickname. Then click Next. To create another account, return to step 3.
How to create a user account in Windows Vista
Click Start and click Control Panel Click User Accounts and Family Safety Under User Accounts, click Add or remove user accounts Click Create a new account Type in the account name, select the account type: Standard or Administrator Click Create Account Select the account you just created, click Create a password Type in a password for the user account and an option password hint Click Create password To create another account, return to step 3.
An Internet connection is needed for activation of ItzaBitza. This happens when you first launch the game. You enter your activation key on the computer that will be running ItzaBitza. Then ItzaBitza goes to Microsoft’s licensing service to create a license file which gets placed on the computer so that ItzaBitza knows the computer is licensed to run a copy of ItzaBitza.
If the computer you wish to install on does not have an internet connection, you will need to do the step outlined in the topic on installing without an internet connection.
- OS: Windows XP/Vista(tm)
- Processor: -1 GHz or faster
- Ram: 512 MB RAM
- Video: 64 MB DirectX® 9.0c compliant
- Display Resolution: 1024 x 768
- Sound: – DirectX® 9.0c compliant
- Input devices: – Mouse, keyboard
NOTE: ItzaBitza does not support Macs at this time. The only way to run on the Mac is to run under Boot Camp. VM programs like Parallels will not work.
Where can I find my activation code?
If you purchased the game from our website, the activation code will come to you in an email to the address that you have provided. If you purchased the box game, once you receive the box (in its pretty packaging) it will be on the sleeve that the installation disk is in.
I get error 1001 when I try to install ItzaBitza – what do I do?
The third party installer used to install ItzaBitza will not install ItzaBitza on non-English versions of the Windows XP/Vista OS. We have also run into a couple of English versions of Windows XP that also give an error 1001 when trying to install. The workaround to this is:
1) download the ItzaBitza zip files from here.
2) create the folder c:\Program Files\Sabi\ItzaBitza
3) unzip the files you downloaded in step #1 to the folder you created in step #2
4) Make sure DirectX 9 is installed. You can install DirectX 9 from here.
5) Make sure .NET 2.0 is installed. You can install .Net 2.0 from here.
6) You will probably want to create a shortcut to ItzaBitza.exe on your desktop so that the game is quickly found.
I did not receive an email with my purchase information
Sometimes mail is filtered by internet service providers. Try checking the folders that contain your junk mail, or use the following page to re-send your activation key: Get My Key Now
How can I re-download a purchased game?
Download and install the game from – http://sabigames.com/downloads/ .
My download failed, what should I do?
The most common reason a download may fail is a weak internet connection. Download again and install the game from – http://secure.sabigames.com/Download.aspx , if you continue to experience difficulties please contact support@sabigames.com with more details.
Our support email is: support@sabigames.com
Our phone number is: (206) 426-6232
Our fax number is: (206) 426-6232
Our mailing address is: Sabi, Inc. 10827 NE 68th Street Suite D Kirkland, WA 98033
My virus program has detected something after installing the game, what’s happening?
There are many virus programs out there and while we try, we are not able to get all of them all the time. If you are experiencing this, please leave a comment on the webpage or email us at support@sabigames.com of what virus program you are using. That way we are able to get a copy to test to see why it may not like such a wonderful game as ItzaBitza. Your comments are appreciated and very helpful in solving issues such as these!
Will ItzaBitza work with Mac Parallels Desktop?
At this time ItzaBitza is not able to run in a Parallels environment.
Can ItzaBitza be used by multiple kids on the same PC?
Yes! Currently the game itself does not remember multiple players, but Windows supports multiple users. Each user can be a separate player. If you have multiple children using the same computer, create each a user account.
For Windows XP –Click here
For Windows Vista – Click here
Each time your child plays the game, they will be logging into their own account, that way they can keep track of how many stars they have gotten and what play sets they have unlocked. GO TO TOP
A window came up saying “SABI updater has stopped working”
Sometimes if an update does not download correctly it can put the game is a state that it cannot recover from. Running the FixUpdater.bat file will correct this problem. Click here to download the FixUpdater.bat file, choose “run” to run the batch file on your PC, and then try to run the game again.
We’ve been playing ItzaBitza. We want to start ItzaBitza as if it was just installed
Running http://deploy.itzabitza.com/ClearUserData.bat will take your installed copy back to its originally installed state, deleting all knowledge of stars and trophy that have been won.
The graphics are not displaying correctly on my monitor
We need to see what is going on with your DirectX video hardware. Please follow these steps to run DXDIAG.EXE.
1) click the start button on the bottom left of the screen (in Windows XP, or the Windows button in Vista)
2) on Windows XP click Run…
3) Type DXDIAG and then enter
4) Save all information, which will be saved to the DXDiag.txt file:
5) email DXDiag.txt to support@sabigames.com
I can’t get the cursor to go to the bottom of the screen to click on anything.
Please go to the UI that allows you to change the display resolution. Set the display resolution to 1024 x 768.
Running ItzaBitza and ItzaZoo on a netbook
ItzaZoo supports netbooks. The download and instant play version of ItzaBitza supports netbooks. The CD Rom packaged ItzaBitza with the flap or light blue box cover need to be updated in order to support netbooks. To do this, go to http://Sabigames.com/downloads/ and download the latest build. When asked to Activate, use the activation key you received when you purchased ItzaBitza.
You’ll get this message when DirectX is not working correctly on your PC. Windows XP (and Vista) use a graphics driver and graphics hardware called DirectX or DX for short. This problem happens because the DirectX installation on your machine is not working correctly. There are two reasons this can occur:
1) The DirectX drivers for the graphics chip on your computer are not the most current. To fix this, you need to go to the web site of the vendor of your PC and download the latest graphics drivers for your PC’s graphics hardware.
2) Hardware acceleration is turned off, therefore preventing DirectX to start. This can happen particularly in older PCs. To check this, you need to:
- Click on the Troubleshoot tab
You can enable the hardware acceleration by dragging the slider to the extreme right of the scale.
