Dragon Age Origins: Trouble getting DLC

[Martimus]

I bought DA:O a while back when it was on sale from Impulse, and waited until I got my new computer to actually download it. (So I could play it with all the graphical eye-candy)

I have to say that I am already kind of pissed at the game, and I haven't even started playing it yet. It took me probably a half hour jumping through hoops signing up for an account and finding my game codes and DLC codes just to get it running. I swear I didn't have to jump through this many hoops to get my Top Secret security clearance! This is insane! It is a freaking video game!

Anyway, I felt the need to vent. I can't believe this is the way games are, and this game isn't even that new. I can't imagine the types of draconian DRM are on new games ...

EDIT: And now it seems I didn't register my DLC properly, and I don't have it. On top of that, since I tried to register it, I can no longer use it since it was redeemed already. I guess I might have redeemed it too early? Plus I don't see how to actually use it in game, or at least yet. I am confused as all get out, why does this have to be so fucking complicated?

EDIT2: Ok, I figured out that I had to log-in a few different ways in game, but it is still showing that my DLC is "unauthorized". I haven't even started playing the game yet, I am just spending all my time trying to get this game to work properly, but the darn DRM is giving me a hard time. I wish I never bought this stupid game!

 

[Veliko]

I remember having similar problems back when I had this game. There is actually a service that you can restart in computer management that controls this content - it's what fixed it for me.

 

[Nik]

looks like restarting the computer will solve the problem? haha.

 

[Martimus]

I have to admit that I am completely pissed off at this.

I spent 2 days downloading this game, then installed it. Now I can't get it to work because of insanely complicated DRM. I can't describe how much I hate EA right now.

 

[alcoholbob]

Welcome to the world of EA.

It's slightly better than Microsoft's Games for Windows Live though. I couldn't get Bulletstorm to start because you can't even get into the game menu without GFWL being fully updated, and their update program kept crashing on my comp. Had to eventually find a stand-alone GFWL patch to start the game.

 

[Arg Clin]

The service that controls the Dragon Age DRM seems bugged. Even if it's set to start automatically it usually doesn't. It's also prone to stop for no aparent reason.

 

[Martimus]

This is frustrating. I am going to try reinstalling the game, but I am wary because it took so long to download it in the first place.

 

[NoSoup4You]

Others have already mentioned the fix. You need to start the DragonAgeUpdater.svc first. If it's not listed among your services, it gets a little more complicated. You'll need to manually install it.

Chances are good that everytime before you start the game, you'll need to start this service.

 

[Anteaus]

Everyone is having problems right now. The service fix doesn't work for everyone. I called three of my friends who have DA and they are all having the same problem. I just installed DA vanilla 1.0 from the disc and the service runs fine and have the problem. The authentication server is screwed right now. The service issue is secondary problem related to digital download versions. The problem is serverside.

To the OP, just stay with it. This is a very odd situation. I've been playing DA since day one and this is teh first time this has happened. If you check the offical DA forums they are getting slammed with complaints right now. It's just bad timing.

 

[Martimus]

I actually tried that, and it was already started. I restarted it just in case and that didn't do anything either. I also found that Impulse was installing it to the wrong directory anyway, so I moved the files to a new one in the HDD vs. the SSD like they were, and changed my DL settings. I'll see if it works now, but I am not holding my breath.

 

[Martimus]

Everyone is having problems right now. The service fix doesn't work for everyone. I called three of my friends who have DA and they are all having the same problem. I just installed DA vanilla 1.0 from the disc and the service runs fine and have the problem. The authentication server is screwed right now.

To the OP, just stay with it. This is a very odd situation. I've been playing DA since day one and this is teh first time this has happened. If you check the offical DA forums they are getting slammed with complaints right now. It's just bad timing.

OK, thanks. I kind of figured that might be the issue, as I clicked the "buy" button on the DLC just to see what would happen, and it told me the server was down.

I hope that is the problem and they fix it relatively soon.

 

[Aristotelian]

I'm not sure if this is the same issue. I just bought DA:O Ultimate on Steam. Steam has given me a DLC key, and a key for the basic game. I registered the basic game on the bioware website, and when I went to start the campaign it said that I had not logged in with an account that had paid for the additional content. I went to register said content (DA:O Awakening) on the Bioware website but my DLC key doesn't work to register DA:O Awakening. Anyone have this issue? Thought I'd play through this before getting DA:2

 

[Martimus]

yep, that is the same issue as me. I think their server is down. Chances are they won't fix it until Monday at the earliest, if I had to guess.

 

[KaOTiK]

I had the same problems getting the DLC to actually show up, I remember having to restart some service and completely rebooting my PC for it to go through. It was a major PIA and did piss me off a lot.

 

[Raduque]

I bought DA:O Ultimate on Steam and had a problem with my DLC not showing up till I redeemed my extras code.

However, that's not the problem; the authentication server is down.

Martimus, if you were able to get your DLC and login to your Bioware/EA account at least once, you can try logging out, disable auto-login, and restart the game. You should be able to use your DLC then. It works for me.

 

[Aristotelian]

The authentication servers are still down. I'm going to say that I find this rather absurd. If I buy the DA:O Ultimate Edition on Steam, shouldn't Steam just host all of the relevant bonus content themselves, and do all of this authentication stuff with Bioware on their end? Bleh.

 

[Anteaus]

The authentication servers are still down. I'm going to say that I find this rather absurd.

I agree it is very absurd. Personally, I'm not upset that they are having technical problems. Given the rarity of this type of event with Bioware, I'm letting it slide a bit more than normal.

However, what is ridiculous is that there has been little to no official chatter at all about it for the last few days. It's almost as if no one was even working on it. Given that the login servers are working fine, I'm curious to know if they were even aware of how extensive the problem was over the weekend.

Regardless, I'm certain we will hear something soon one way or another.

 

[you2]

Yea; I played the game when it first came out and EA servers crashed. EA really sucks rotten apple on how this crap is implemented. They assume their service will always be perfect (i.e, the default behavior regardless of usage history) is screw the customer if we goof. Hell they can't even put out a decent error message such as "your network is fine but our crappy server is unavailable" when things go wrong (and yes decent software can detect these sort of things most of the time; so it is more than feasible).
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I have to admit their service is better than MS and it even has a nice feature or two for those who want them (data uploaded to your profile; I could care less about such features but I can see how others might find them amusing).
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Oh well; companies gripe about declining profits but fail to point the fingers at their own crappy management who make these lame ass decisions. And yes i will actually pass over decent games from crappy customer unfriendly @)(#&) companies for those that lean towards customer friendly polices. Current favorite companies include 1c (publisher) and the folks making witcher 2. Also I have no complaints about steam. yea its drm is rigid and yea it has occasional glitch but ya know overall it seem to work pretty well and does a good job with patching and similar.

 

[Martimus]

I found this post today in the Dragon Age forums: http://help.dragonage.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/218/session/L3RpbWUvMTMwMjU1NDAwNi9zaWQvWFZDQ0Nlcms%3D

It gives you instructions for bypassing their DRM on the DLC. I am trying it now, and will let you know if it works.

EDIT: Yep, it works. Kind of tedious, but at least I can now play the game I paid for. I don't think I will now, sicne I started a different game in frustration, but at least I know it works to the point that it no longer says the DLC is unauthorized.

 

[Aristotelian]

I found this post today in the Dragon Age forums: http://help.dragonage.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/218/session/L3RpbWUvMTMwMjU1NDAwNi9zaWQvWFZDQ0Nlcms%3D

It gives you instructions for bypassing their DRM on the DLC. I am trying it now, and will let you know if it works.

EDIT: Yep, it works. Kind of tedious, but at least I can now play the game I paid for. I don't think I will now, sicne I started a different game in frustration, but at least I know it works to the point that it no longer says the DLC is unauthorized.

When I click on your link it essentially says to 'log in with the account that is authorized for this content'.

The problem is, when I bought DA:O Ultimate on Steam, I got 2 keys. One for the game (Ultimate Edition), and one for Awakening.

I have authenticated both on the Bioware website, yet in game it still doesn't say that I'm authorized to use the additional content, and that additional content was advertised on the Steam page for DA:O Ultimate. Are we talking about the same problem?

Edit: I have 2 keys. One for DA:O Ultimate, and one for DA:O Ultimate DLC. On the steam purchase page it says this includes DA:O, Awakening, and all of the bonus content listed under 'downloadable content' (hence the 'ultimate' qualifier, I guess).

 

[Anteaus]

I found this post today in the Dragon Age forums: http://help.dragonage.com/app/answe...sion/L3RpbWUvMTMwMjU1NDAwNi9zaWQvWFZDQ0Nlcms=

It gives you instructions for bypassing their DRM on the DLC. I am trying it now, and will let you know if it works.

EDIT: Yep, it works. Kind of tedious, but at least I can now play the game I paid for. I don't think I will now, sicne I started a different game in frustration, but at least I know it works to the point that it no longer says the DLC is unauthorized.

Be careful. The trick bypasses the DRM check, but doesn't actually fix anything. Without proper authentication you can have items/npcs missing and potentially could screw up your saved games.

Until Bioware fixes the problem on their end, there is no real work around.

 

[Raduque]

The second key you got is for all the DLC (Ultimate Edition Content). You have to redeem it on the Bioware Social page for your account then login with the same account.

Im betting the authentication servers are still down though.

 

[Aristotelian]

Yeah I had done that already. The authentication servers are still down. In game under 'dlc' it still shows the relevant items as 'unauthorized' and when I click 'buy' it says the servers are down (presumably that's when the check is done).

Ahh well.

 

[coloumb]

Here ya go - servers still down as of today:

Over the April 9, 2011 weekend, some of our Dragon Age: Origins content servers experienced an as yet unidentified failure. As a result, users began to experience error messages when attempting to access their downloadable content, indicating that the DLC was unauthorized.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/58/index/6265850

 

[Raduque]

Yeah I had done that already. The authentication servers are still down. In game under 'dlc' it still shows the relevant items as 'unauthorized' and when I click 'buy' it says the servers are down (presumably that's when the check is done).

Ahh well.

Have you been able to login and play with the DLC at any time before this weekend?

If so, just log out, disable auto login and restart the game.