The Descent Doesn't Appear In Game
Hello Everyone,
SOLUTION FOUND! SEE MY NEXT POST!
I'm new here and after a lot of fruitless emails, I'm unfortunately tired of EA Advisors giving me the run around with the same answers that I cannot get to work.
I purchased DAI years ago when it came out and all of its DLC, save The Descent. I have been revisiting the game and thought I would purchase and include the DLC in my new playthrough.
My Issue: It does not show up in game. Specifically, the war table operation to allow access to it. According to the Dragon Age Wiki, the "Disaster in the Deep Roads" Operation (the one costing 16 power) should become available upon reaching Skyhold. No other requirements save the DLC be purchased and installed. It does not appear. I do have the Frostback Basin Operation for Jaws of Hakkon, but not the one for Descent.
This is a screenshot of my War Table right after reaching Skyhold in a new playthrough started after purchasing and installing The Descent. It's not there, but the Jaws of Hakkon one is in the bottom left corner. I also didn't see it in an active playthrough where I reached Skyhold before I downloaded and installed the DLC. New game or active game, it doesn't show up.
I did ensure the DLC is installed on my PC. Here is a screenshot verifying its installation.
I have attempted to reach an EA Advisor on EA Help via live chat or even over a phone, however, I only get the email option, regardless of what information I put down for my case or what time of day/week I attempt to access these options. I would like to utilize the live options if I could actually access them.
Troubleshooting methods I have attempted at the request of nearly a dozen EA Advisors:
1. "Hard Way" uninstall and reinstall of Origin (I am not using the EA App). Twice per EA guides.
2. I have deleted Origin registry entries and cleared the game caches (program data and app data folders) per EA guides.
3. I have tried a new game after the DLC was installed, and an active game past Skyhold before I installed the DLC. Both don't have the operation.
4. I have verified through my EA Account in Order History that the purchase is confirmed and active for my account.
5. DAI logs into the EA Servers every time it boots up, so the game should know the DLC is authorized.
I should note that I am using the Frosty Mod Manager to heavily modify the game, however, deactivating the one mod I have affecting the War Table doesn't fix this issue. I am not using the abandoned DAI Mod Manager alongside Frosty either.
The only thing left I haven't tried: while I was searching through the registries to delete Origin ones (per a guide sent by an EA Advisor), I found a registry one below "Origin" called "Origin Games" and it had 3 entries. One said "The Exiled Prince," which is another DLC I purchased and downloaded recently for DA2, but the one above it was "blank." The only entries in this particular registry would conform to the two DLCs I recently purchased from Origin to complete my Dragon Age collection. I'm curious if this registry entry may be The Descent and possibly be corrupted? I'm trying to find this specific registry again to double check.
I have been passed to 10 different EA Advisors with most repeating the same advice that I cannot get to work. I'm not sure what I've missed or may have done incorrectly. In the end, I wouldn't mind not having access to the DLC, but I did pay $15 for it, so I'd rather have it if possible. Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks.
Hey, thank you for replying. Your suggestion got me thinking and I finally, finally, finally solved it!
I couldn't get the DLC operation to appear with no mods or Frosty, but that was after I cleared the cache and should have fixed the authorization, so I removed Frosty again to try it and the DLC appeared, and that's when I realized:
The problem at first was a bad authorization. Then it was Frosty Mod Manager on top of that, which I didn't expect, yet it makes sense now that I've worked through it.
When you use Frosty Mod Manager, it detects your game install and loads all the data from your Frosty Engine game into a cache file. That cache file is used by Frosty to load the game and install mods properly. The problem was I installed The Descent DLC AFTER Frosty had scanned DAI, so Frosty didn't recognize the Descent DLC (had to reason to) and never loaded it. I had to fix both my install of the game (bad authorization) and my Frosty Mod Manager's cache knowledge.
It didn't work well at first with Origin, telling me the DLC was not installed (which I knew was wrong). So, I updated to the EA App (I'm going to have to at some point anyway). Redownloaded the game. Started the game once without running Frosty. The DLC appeared without mods. Then I installed a new, clean copy of Frosty (newer version too). I set everything up again, got the save game to load and to my great relief, not only did my latest save load with all my mods, so did the DLC Operation. It's all good now.
The lesson: One, clear caches to ensure proper authorization and, two, do not install DLC mid-playthrough when you use the Frosty Mod Manager. You need to reset Frosty (delete mods and caches) to get the DLC in game.
