Re: Star Wars: Squadrons fails to download

Unless I'm missing something, all this did was uninstall EA Desktop, reinstall it, and then initiate the download through EA Desktop exactly like before. No, this did not change anything.

Just initiated the download (this time I clicked 'Install' in the Xbox app, which opened EA Desktop to initialize installation) at 1:15pm, and it failed the exact same way as before.

@Poxleitnerr 

The workaround we advised is to uninstall and re-install it through the Xbox app. If that's not working, can you try adjusting your UAC settings on your PC to be less restrictive? We've seen that work for others players in these forums.

If that doesn't do the trick, let's try a Clean Boot. Once completed, immediately launch EA Desktop as Administrator.

How to Clean Boot your PC

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/how-to-clean-boot-your-pc/

UAC reduction made no change. Clean boot setup made it worse. EA Desktop won't start. I get "Something went wrong and the service failed to start. Try again in a minute." I setup Clean Boot per your instruction, rebooted, launched EA Desktop immediately upon Windows startup.

I also tried installing Squadrons from the Xbox app while in this state, but it gives unknown errors.

I still have Origin installed as well. Should that be removed?

Edit - Nope, doesn't matter. Origin uninstalled, symptom unchanged.

Just to test, I started installing, and got active downloading status on (but cancelled before any amount of downloading happened) : FIFA '21, Madden '21, Jedi Fallen Order, and Battlefield V (I'm actually letting that one install the whole way).

@Poxleitnerr 

Can you let me know if this fixes it for you?

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports-Technical-Issues/Error-During-Installation-Something-blew-up/m-p/10342223/highlight/true#M3020

I closed the EA Desktop app while it was downloading BFV, and now it's wedged mid-download. I can't cancel it or pause. Used app recovery and it crashed...

Launched it again, crashed again. Launched it AGAIN, it let me login. Downloading Squadrons gives the same error.

Edit: I wasn't specific enough: I closed the Xbox app and attempted the steps from the link. Then the above happened.

@Poxleitnerr 

Would you be able to attach a DxDiag of your system specs? 

How to gather DxDiag information

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

Attached.

@Poxleitnerr 

Thank you for attaching the DxDiag. I don't see any issues that immediately standout to me.

Is there any way you can create a new Windows User profile and try downloading EA Desktop through the Xbox app, and then try downloading this game? I want to see if it's Windows User permission related. 

Squadrons has different user requirements than every other EA game? Hmmm.

Edit: made a new user, EA Desktop was already installed for it. Same symptom.

Edit 2: This is a brand-new computer (< 2 months old), that Squadrons has never been installed on. Everything else on the planet runs, because it's a brand new computer. EA Desktop has had a ton of issues crashing and failing downloads. I've had to use the App Recovery a dozen times at least to get past stuck downloads. Is there some registry entry or some other cruft I can clean up and try anew, as if EA Desktop had not been installed? As uninstalling/reinstalling doesn't change behavior, I'm assuming EA Desktop is doing something wrong.

@Poxleitnerr 

Even though EA desktop was already installed, can you try un-installing it on the new user profile and then re-download it through the Xbox app before attempting to download the game? We have another post where players are getting download errors for specific games so we'll be looking to gather information, however I want to see if this last step we're working on can help get around this. 

New User: Test Bro.

1. Uninstalled EA Desktop while logged in as Test Bro.

2. Opened Xbox app, login with my normal Microsoft account.

3. Click the EA Play prompt, which installed EA Desktop.

4. Clicked 'Install' on Star Wars: Squadrons from inside the Xbox app

     a. This opened EA Desktop and took me directly to the install.

5. Changed install drive from C: to D: (I've tried all three hard drives before I posted the message on this forum).

6. Click install.

     a. It spins for a few seconds, then gives the same error message as always - "There's a problem with your download."

@Poxleitnerr 

Did you outright purchase the game or are you trying to play it through your EA Play Pro membership? 

EA Play regular account. 

Screenshots of EA Play and EA Play Pro selected, showing Squadrons appears on both with the regular "EA Play" tag.

I played it originally on an EA Play Pro account, on an older computer. Never finished the game. Let my subscription to Pro expire, then when EA Play was added to Xbox Game pass I tried installing it on this new computer.

@Poxleitnerr 

When you visit profile.ea.com and select EA Play do you see an active membership?

Yes.

Edit: Also, I'm unable to install FIFA '21 as well, with different behavior. It says it can't install Game Name Unknown. 2nd screenshot attached of this.

@Poxleitnerr 

Squadrons is available for EA Play Pro or if you have the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership. 

https://www.ea.com/ea-play/games-ea-play-pro

LOL so this is a bug in EA Desktop giving me the wrong info, and equally useless error info? NICE.

Why is it telling me it's available? It told me it was available in the Xbox app, also, hence the ability to attempt to install it.

Can you get this fixed in the beta client so I don't have to cross reference some other authority against it?

Edit. Removing my angry words. Sorry, I know you don't make this software.

So, looking at the Xbox Game Pass ultimate FAQ, it explicitly says EA Play Pro games are NOT included: 

"Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Xbox Game Pass for PC members receive EA Play. EA Play Pro is only available through EA’s PC platforms, Origin and EA Desktop (Beta)."

Please clarify why Squadrons would be available if I got Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

So this is a bug/feature request in EA Desktop, correct? Some database/authorization service knows I've already exceeded that 10 hours, or previously installed the whole game, hence my inability to download it.

This 10 hour play window isn't listed anywhere in EA Desktop, it just says the game is available to me. It also doesn't say anything anywhere about these limitations with regards to previous full installs.

Seems like bare-bones functionality that should be included before Beta was rolled out. Please forward this feedback to the dev team.

Edit: You didn't answer the question why Xbox Game Pass Ultimate would give me access to Squadrons. According to Microsoft it definitely will not.

@EA_Blueberry 

plz reply

Sheesh, now I try to play a brand new game - Knockout City, and it requires Origin? What? Can you guys pick EA Desktop or Origin? Nobody wants two clients for one company/library of games.

Hey @Poxleitnerr,

EA Desktop is still in Beta and we'll have less and less bugs and more features closer to the release of EA Desktop. 

As for Knockout City, I'm downloading the game now through EA Desktop and I'll double check if it is working through EA Desktop.