How to register Alive on a computer without an Internet connection

To register Alive on a computer without an Internet connection, you need access to a 2nd computer, with an Internet connection.

On the target computer, where you want to register Alive:
1. Go to Start Menu -> Programs -> Alive and open Alive.
2. If you still have trials, press 'No' to register Alive.
3. Enter your serial number and press 'OK'.
4. Write down, or copy to a new document, the information, especially the computer code, shown. Then press 'OK'.
5. Press 'No' to indicate the computer is not connected to the Internet.

On a second computer, with an internet connection
6. Go to www.somaticvision.com/registration/
7. Enter your name, serial number, and computer code. The computer code is the code we got from step 4 above.
8. Press 'Unlock Product' and you should see your unlock code. Write this code down, or copy it to a new document.

On the first, target computer, where you want to register Alive:
9. Enter the Unlock Code from step 8 above. Press 'OK'.

Alive will now be registered on the target computer.

Problems Downloading Alive

Unfortunately some users can have a hard time downloading Alive, especially when downloading from countries that need to make overseas connections to the Alive servers hosted in the United States.

The Alive downloader, which is the default way to download Alive, was designed to assist downloaders world-wide, but a slow Internet connection, or momentary unreliability of a normally reliable Internet connection, can still cause the Alive downloader to fail.

The Alive downloader, which is the standard way of installing Alive, is available here:
http://www.somaticvision.com/downloads/public/alive/Alive_Setup.exe

Users who have problems downloading Alive, should instead download the following Alive setup files using Firefox, Google Chrome, or another download manager (do not use Internet Explorer).

IMPORTANT: Wait for both files to finish downloading before opening either file.

Download these 2 files using Firefox, Google Chrome, or another download manager (do not use Internet Explorer):
http://www.somaticvision.com/downloads/public/alive/setup/Alive_Setup-1a.bin
http://www.somaticvision.com/downloads/public/alive/setup/Alive_Setup.exe

When both files are finished downloading open the Alive_Setup.exe file (may be seen as Alive_Setup on computers that hide file extensions).

Execution of command 'ServerOpen.exe' failed or "Permission" problem

If you are having problems, when opening Alive or Alive Environments, that give an error message relating to "ServerOpen.exe", "Error 5", or a "Permission" error you may have an anti-virus or anti-spyware program running that is preventing Alive from functioning properly. Please temporarily disable, or properly configure, your anti-virus or anti-spyware program to allow Alive to fully function. For example you may need to add an exception for the SomaticVisionServer.exe to your firewall, or disable (or properly configure) Comodo "Defense + Security level" protection.

Clinical Version Tricks - How Do I Skip the Coach for New Users?

In the clinical version of Alive, once you have selected a user, you can press the backquote ( ` ) key to open the clinical control panel. On most keyboards this key is located in the upper left corner. This quote looks similar to a standard quote, but is angled in the opposite direction.

Once you open the clinical control panel, the top button allows you to unlock the main menu.

In addition you can change the heart rate smoothness difficulty level, turn off coach suggestions, open a secondary graphing screen and more.

A video tutorial on the clinical version features will be available shortly and a link will be added to this FAQ.

Environments / Mini-Games Not Seen or Running Slowly

To fix slow or not working Environments or Mini-Games open an Environment or Mini-Game, then go to Choose Display => Use Smaller Videos to Speed Playback.

Keeping your graphics card drivers up-to-date is also recommended. Also if you are using a virtual machine software, such as Parallels Desktop on a Mac, make sure you are using the latest version, as virtual machine support for 3d games and intensive graphics displays requires the latest updates to your virtual machine software.

The Alive Environments and Mini-Games are the most graphics intensive parts of Alive and may have problems if you do not use the above fix, and your computer does not have a recent ATI or nVidia graphics card, does not have up-to-date video drivers, or you are running Alive through a virtual machine on a Mac.

How do I Register the Alive Clinical Version Upgrade?

The Alive Clinical Version Upgrade does not require you to download any additional files (as long as you already have Alive version 1.0 or higher). You can simply use your new Alive Clinical Version Upgrade with your existing Alive software as follows.

On a new computer register using your new Alive Clinical Version serial number when prompted to register Alive. You don't need to use the original Alive serial number at all.

On a computer that you have already registered the basic version of Alive follow these steps:

1. Open Alive.
2. Select a user that has main menu access.
3. Choose Graph Training from the Alive Workshops section.
4. Choose one of the advanced graphing modes from Choose Graphs (any graph but Absolute Heart Rate).
5. Register your new Alive Clinical Version Upgrade serial number using the registration window that appears. If you have trial uses left you will need to press no to register.

Manual Download for Alive Autoupdates

The latest Alive version is 1.6.4

You can see what changes have been made to Alive in the Alive Update Log.

Alive updates itself automatically. If you are not receiving Alive autoupdates, due to lack of an internet connection, security settings on your computer such as a restrictive firewall, or failed downloads due to a slow connection, you can manually download Alive updates here.

If your Alive autoupdate is not working, download the latest Alive updates here:

To install updates:

1. Open Alive and note the version number it shows when first loading Alive.
2. Download each update listed below greater than that version number, and install them in order (if you have Alive 1.5.0 first install update 1.5.4, then update 1.5.6, etc.)

http://www.somaticvision.com/updates/WD/EA/Alive_Update_1.6.4.exe

http://www.somaticvision.com/updates/WD/EA/Alive_Update_1.6.3.1.exe

http://www.somaticvision.com/updates/WD/EA/Alive_Update_1.6.exe

http://www.somaticvision.com/updates/WD/EA/Alive_Update_1.5.6.exe

http://www.somaticvision.com/updates/WD/EA/Alive_WD_Update_1.5.4.exe

http://www.somaticvision.com/updates/WD/EA/Alive_WD_Update_1.5.exe

http://www.somaticvision.com/updates/WD/EA/Alive_WD_Upgrade_1.0.2.0.exe

Learn more »

How can I jump right to the main menu when demoing Alive?

When using Alive, in order to unlock the main menu, you need to demonstrate your ability to control your heart rate smoothness. There is spoon bending test, which occurs at the end of the coach, where you smooth your heart rate to bend the spoon. If you get a low score on the spoon bending you can choose to repeat it, or you can go through a series of steps designed to help you improve your ability to smooth your heart rate. After you go through about 4 or 5 processes, if you still can't bend the spoon the main menu is automatically unlocked.

While demoing Alive, if you want to jump directly to the main menu without completing the spoon bending, AND ARE FINE WITH DESTROYING YOUR EXISTING ALIVE TEST USER, you can follow these steps:

1) If you have not yet run Alive, please run it once, then exit. This will create the User/Documents/Alive Sessions directory.
2) Download the AliveSessions.zip replacement session directory to your desktop or another easy to find location.
3) Open your documents folder, there should be a folder "Alive Sessions". Find and open this folder.
4) Make sure Alive is closed, then unzip or extract the files from the AliveSessions.zip to the "Alive Sessions" folder on your computer, overwriting the existing somaticvision.db and other files already in that directory.
5) Open Alive and click on the "Main Menu" user.

For clinicians we have a special version of Alive, the Alive Clinical Verison. In addition to a number of additional graphing modes, and extensive review, there is a clinician control panel which allow users to immediately unlock the main menu (and go to the main menu) at any time.

Learn more about the Alive Clinical Version

Dual Drive Crashes During Countdown

This is caused by certain virus protection software, particularly Panda. If you have Panda and wish to use Dual Drive you should probably Disable Panda while using Dual Drive (disabling your virus software is always done at your own risk), or use different virus protection software. If you do not wish to disable Panda while using Dual Drive, try disabling the artificial intelligence option by following these steps:

1. Open the Panda Control Panel.
2. Under Security Protection, click on the Settings option.
3. On the left-hand side, click on Unknown Threats.
4. On the right, next to Enable TruPrevent Technologies, click on the Settings button.
5. Disable (uncheck) the behavior analysis based on artificial intelligence option.
6. Close the Panda Control Panel.

Alive crashes when opening

If you get an error when opening Alive (Alive does not open or crashes on opening), you probably need to install .NET 2.0 or later. You can download the latest version of .NET at http://www.microsoft.com/net/.