I have had the exact some issue with the free origin version vs a retail version that I registered with Bioware way back when. Anyway, tried this solution. I installed DAO to a seperate file on drive C, but if I log into origin to play another game it tries to corrupt the install again. Also, my downloadable content is showing up as incompatable ( the red explanation mark, I have a lot of it) regardless of whether I have the correct version. I'm getting tired of uninstalling, reinstalling, manually installing. Is there a way to disable the origin version of DAO? It wont stay uninstalled.
Well, I guess the red explanation mark doesn't mean anything anymore, I just had to start the downloads. The Origin version I downloaded for free is still trying to muck with my retail install. Thanks for the suggestion. I need to try and play it now.
I uninstalled the origin version of dragon age before trying to install the retail version. The retail version I installed in C>DragonAgeOrigins. The Origin folder is in C>Program Files (x86). I even checked to make sure all the files assosiated with dragon age origins were deleted before trying to reinstall yet again. There is nothing in the origin folder labeled dragon age origins, but it still is trying to update my retail version. I'm still new at windows 7. I suppose I could try to install to another partition of my hard drive, but it's not windows. I'm at a loss at this point. Thanks for the help.
Okay. I'm terrible at making these posts, but aparantly people have been having this kind of problem with Dragon Age for a while. You can disable auto updates in origin for all games, but not individual ones. I don't have a lot of games, so it's not that big of a deal for me. Just do a search for
Prevent-Origin-from-updating-game-Dragon-Age-Origins
Like I said, I'm terrible at the social posting thing. I should never have downloaded the digital version.
I tried a few things out and the easiest solution seems to be to install the Origin version, let that automaticlly patch to 1.05. Concact EA support to transfer all the DLC they can to Origin (thats Awakening, Warden's Keep, Ostagar a Feastday Combo Pack). The rest, you have to download from https://social.bioware.com/user_entitlements.php and install through daupdater.exe. So far it seems to work OK.
