First off, Hello! I'm not actually Russion and I haven't been to space but I swear I was at least 50ft from the ground during a skiing competition, and thats pretty close. Only another few hundre miles.

Alright, I recieved RAGE for Christmas back in December. I've been busy, so last week I finally sat down to play it. I made sure Steam, audio, video, were all updated. This was the retail 3 DVD edition, so I placed Disk #1 in and started the installation process, no problem. Came time to write in the registration code, that went smoothly. I let it sit for 20 min installing, but a family emergency forced my to cancel the install and shut down the computer, as I did not know how long I would be gone. Well I was back the next day. I was pumped to play rage.

I saw it was no in my Library list of Steam games, and there was an option to "Play". So I double clicked on that. Sure enough it took me to the menu where it asks "Play, Uninstall, Reinstall, Technical Support". So I hit Play and it kicked me to the desktop.

Again no problem I thought, bad install. So in Steam I deleted all local content of RAGE and then mopped all the remaining remnants on my harddrive by scouring around and cleaning the registry using CCleaner. After all that, I put in the disk for a nice free install, and when I entered the Serial number, I was told that this is a "Duplicate number" and that I cannot proceed with the install until I speak with Valve's Support. Duh its a Duplicate! It's mine! Steam will not let me install my retail game (Best Buy) because I registered the serial number, deleted the game, and now am trying to reinstall. To Steam, this means THEFT.

I have spent hours scouring message boards, help topics, etc. to find an answer to this. It appears impossible. Somehome I need some files to be in some directory that will allow steam to recognize that RAGE is present and matches the serial code. I've transfered every combination of files off DVD#1 into my Steam director and nothing has made a difference.

I am open to any and all suggestions as to how I can play this game that is sitting here right next to me. I considered a keygen, but I thought that might prevent me from updates (which seem to be crucial for this game)

Any thoughts?

Unfortunately it would seem your only option is to call Steam support and have them revoke the key or something.

Just to clarify, you can't actually "call" steam support, as that would seriously hinder their support system, given all the issues people may have on a day to day basis. Go to their main site and submit a support ticket and they should sort it out in a few days or less.

Also, since the game is registered in your steam account, why not just download it and avoid this hassle?