Re: Return to Ostagar not Triggering

Dude, I have one thing to say for you: WTF

It worked perfectly, seirous. I spent hours searching for a solution in the past 2 days and no one appeared to have a solution nor the same problem I had. I even went to EA Helper to talk with a Game Advisor.

Well for anyone that have this problem, this is the answer.

Thank you man.

Alright, I had the dlc-no-worky problem and, as with any problem I encounter, it made me research like crazy. Mine's fixed, and it's one of those that wouldn't go away with the most common fixes (which, btw, I'm posting right here... make sure you read through the following link before attempting my fix. Odds are you don't have to go through the trouble I did.)

linky!

Here's the skinny on this problem, at least as far as I can tell.

-DA:O is patched to v1.5; that is the most current version

-sometime in the recent past Origin started being more picky about applying patches, the Origin downloader automatically updates DA:O to v1.5

-The Origin version of the patch, for whatever reason (I can't think of one right off the top of my head) sometimes (always in my case) removes the program "DAUpdaterSVC." Just flat-out deletes it. No replacement, and it gets rid of a bunch of other things too.

Problem is, without the DAUpdaterSVC program, your dlc doesn't work. In fact, the screen in-game where you download dlc is bugged. And there's no real discernable way to fix it.

Here's my fix:

-Download the v1.5 update from Bioware (it's correct, and the Bioware version of the update doesn't delete a bunch of **bleep** from your game.

-Install the externally-downloaded update.

Now, don't panic. Your Origin game will not start up like this. Origin won't recognize the v1.5 update from Bioware, and the game will flash a message telling you that it has to be reinstalled. Don't worry, that's normall and can be fixed.

-Now go into your game files (programx(86)/origin games/Dragon Age/bin_ship) and locate DAUpdaterSvc.Service.

-Copy this application and paste it elsewhere on your hard drive, outside of the Origin folder.

-Open Origin, locate Dragon Age in your "my games" section.

-Right click on it. Click "check for updates"

Origin will once again "update" the game, removing anything remotely useful in helping you get dlc, and removing the real v1.5 update. Now you'll be able to play it, but still have your dlc problem.

-Go back into your game files, back to the bin_ship folder, and paste in the DAUpdaterSvc.Service program.

Now, depending on how much Origin has screwed up your game, there might be one additional step to fixing this problem, and that's to turn on the service from either services.msc or from command prompt. Those fixes can be found at the link in the first part of this post.

This fix should get the updater service working again (Windows will actually be able to find it because it won't have been deleted). Now, for me, the dlc page is still bugged, but when I load the game and then sign into the bioware servers from the in-game window, and then look at my dlc page the "download progress" tab (which I still can't get to--I'm guessing those are some of the other files Origin deleted from the game, but I'm not sure which ones) has a red exclamation mark on it. And my dlc starts to show up after I leave DA:O open for some time like this.


Also, this content isn't being downloaded through Origin. That's probably the reason Origin destroyed the game's normal updater anyway, so that every little bit of dlc would have to be registered and purchased through Origin. Unfortunately in my case it seems to have "forgotten" what "Ultimate edition" means. This fix makes the game act like it used to and install all of the content that comes with the ultimate edition. I can't guarantee it will work indefinitely, because Bioware might very well transition their record keeping to Origin and then we'll have to re-purchase all dlc again. Use it or lose it, you know?

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@TheNStorm wrote:

<snip>
Also, this content isn't being downloaded through Origin. That's probably the reason Origin destroyed the game's normal updater anyway, so that every little bit of dlc would have to be registered and purchased through Origin. Unfortunately in my case it seems to have "forgotten" what "Ultimate edition" means. This fix makes the game act like it used to and install all of the content that comes with the ultimate edition. I can't guarantee it will work indefinitely, because Bioware might very well transition their record keeping to Origin and then we'll have to re-purchase all dlc again. Use it or lose it, you know?

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Most of this is editorializing, (and is incorrect as well.)  Once you've purchased any DLC and registered/activated it under your EA account, it's yours.  You won't ever have to "re-purchase" it.

I'm no fan of the way the EA/Origin coding team has consistently managed to break DAO over the past year-or-so.  And the last time I had to re-install the UE (don't ask!) I had to go to the old BSN and my "Player Entitlements" page to obtain about half the DLC.

See Here.

But as for removing the DAUpdaterSVC, as with the "DAOriginsLauncher" which was also removed, it's not necessary any more.   You're right that the in-game method of obtaining/installing the DLC may not/doesn't work, and that it's because that method was unique to BioWare and not compatible with the overall EA distribution scheme.  But no need for this complicated work around that risks the stablilty of the game itself.

Ehh. Maybe you're right. I just got a little annoyed when I opened the Origin pannel and the DLC which so far I've purchase twice (long story) is offered to me for sale a third time. Homie don't play that.

And downloading each bit of dlc, then using daupdater works, most of the time. That's the first solution on the troubleshooting page.

Though there's not much risk to the stability of the game here. And I would humbly suggest that if "the in-game method of obtaining/installing the DLC may not/doesn't work" and the "EA distribution scheme" isn't supplying the dlc, the only options left to users are to A: re, re-buy the dlc and download through Origin, or go exploring.

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@TheNStorm wrote:

Ehh. Maybe you're right. I just got a little annoyed when I opened the Origin pannel and the DLC which so far I've purchase twice (long story) is offered to me for sale a third time. Homie don't play that.

And downloading each bit of dlc, then using daupdater works, most of the time. That's the first solution on the troubleshooting page.

Though there's not much risk to the stability of the game here. And I would humbly suggest that if "the in-game method of obtaining/installing the DLC may not/doesn't work" and the "EA distribution scheme" isn't supplying the dlc, the only options left to users are to A: re, re-buy the dlc and download through Origin, or go exploring.

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You're right that it (unfortunately, and unnecessarily) requires the users to "go exploring" to get a good number of the DLC (some might say the "best" DLC) that are part of the UE that they rightfully expected to be delivered via EA/Origin.

The immediate fix (ok, "work-around") is as described in the link I provided above:

==========================

For any remaning missing DLC, you have to log-in to your account on the old BioWare Social Network site and then:

a.  Click "My Games" on the left-hand menu.

b.  Click "Your Registered Game Content".

c.  Scroll down to find the DLC you need.

d.  Click "More Info - PC (or Mac)".

e.  READ AND HEED THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE BOX, then Click Download.

f.   Be sure you remember where you saved the files, since you then have to go to them and double-click to install.

==========================

It's just too bad that the EA/Origin team has made such a mess of integrating the most popular BioWare games (the ME- and DA-series) with their client.  I mean, this is their job, right?  If they can't do it, they should say so!

Dude....same as OP. I have been searching forever. It was bumming me out and I didn't want to continue playing. This worked and was very easy to follow. Thank you so much for posting this!

Thank you!

I was unable to get Return to Ostagar started (retail version registered to Origin) despite it showing up as enabled and authorised in the main menu.

Adding the Manifest.XML files from the .dazip files to the correct AddIn and Offers manually finally got it to work.

HOLY **bleep** THAT WORKED! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Mate I do not know you but I love you.

Spent hours scouring the net to find a solution to this problem to no avail.

Yours worked perfectly.

Kudos to you.

Dude, THANK YOU SO MUCH..

i've been looking for this solution so many days, i dont know how you get to it but thanks, really!.

TheNStorm, man, its really working! I was * up by this problem for three days, and ur sollution helped!
One mark: this sollution deletes all mods's .dazip files, just install them again. Other files arent changed.

Thanks a lot for your great answer, clearly explained. It worked for me.
A shame to see that 2 years after your post, i get the exact same problem. 😞

Does it mean that there won't be any fixes, since it is related to pre-Origin purchases ? 

Anyway, thanks again LovelyWolf !

This is f**king LEGENDARY, greetings from 2021