Need More Info Game stuck in trial version

[fakegame]

I've been playing the original M&B through steam for years on and off almost exclusively using the TLD total conversion mod.

Today I thought I'd load up and try a new game on vanilla and it informed me at lvl 7 the game was in trial mode and I needed my CD key, which I pasted in, and the congrats game activated message came up but it immediately demanded the serial key again and keeps repeating this every time I try activate.

Now I'm stuck in trial mode even unable to access my high level saves.

 

[MArdA TaleWorlds]

Please keep in mind that if you are playing through Steam, Steam handles the activation process and, if you are not playing a modification, you should not need to activate the game with a serial key.

If you can't activate your game with your serial key please make sure that your game is up-to-date and unmodded.