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MellinMellin's avatar
MellinMellin
7 years ago
Solved

mass effect 3 activation error

Hello,

Recently I had a hard drive failure, because of which I had to fully reinstall my OS.

After I did so I started installing my games but I got an error after trying to run Mass Effect 3.

The first error I got said that the game could not be activated.

In order to fix it, I tried reinstalling the game.

After that I got this message:

Spoiler

translation:

Spoiler
Improper license. Cause code = Missing DLL d3dx9_42.dll Error: 0x0000007e

Just to make sure: I have this game on Origin since March of 2012 and I have never before seen this error, or have any other problem with any licenses on Origin.

Here is a list of solutions I tried in order to fix it (all of them didn't work):

1) repairing the game via Origin

2) deinstalling the game and reinstalling it

3) manually deleting main game files from "\Origin Games\Mass Effect 3" and reinstalling it

4) deinstalling both the game and Origin, then installing origin back and then the game

This error happens with only this game (no other games I tried to have any problems running).

I also thought that maybe the DLL file mentioned in the error was somehow connected to an incomplete Direct X installation, but according to the dxdiag.exe tool, I have the newest version installed (I attach the dxdiag report).

My setup:

OS: Windows 10 64bit Build 17763

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770 3.4GHz

RAM: 16GB

GPU: AMD Radeon R9 390

(any more information should be available in the dxdiag.txt file attached)

  • MellinMellin's avatar
    MellinMellin
    7 years ago

    Ok, I finally got it to work!

    First of, credit where credit is due:

    I had the same problem as the author of this topic: https://answers.ea.com/t5/Mass-Effect-3/Mass-Effect-3-launch-error-Wrong-license-missing-d3dx9-42-dll/td-p/4298372

    The solution was confirmed by EA staff as working.

    Here it is:

    First of I needed the .cab files that I manually deleted from the \Origin Games\Mass Effect 3\__Installer\directx\redist folder.

    I did that by using the repair option inside of the Origin (but I guess fully reinstalling the game would give me the same result).

    Then I needed to find 2 .cab files:

    • Aug2009_d3dx9_42_x86.cab
    • Aug2009_d3dx10_42_x86.cab

    And manually extract their content into my C:\Windows folder.

    This added those 10 new files there:

    Spoiler

15 Replies

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  • MellinMellin's avatar
    MellinMellin
    7 years ago

    I did use a second hard drive with formally installed origin games, including Mass Effect 3, but as I mentioned in my first post I tried manually deleting all of the files for the game.

    As for tests: I got "Product verification seuceeded1" on ".NET Framework 3.5 SP1" and ".NET Framework 4.7".

    Just in case I've also run it on ".NET Framework 4.7.1" and 4.7.2.

  • holger1405's avatar
    holger1405
    Hero+
    7 years ago

    @MellinMellin 

    Could you post a screenshot with all files present in your ">drive<:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Mass Effect 3\Binaries" folder?

    Also run the DxDiag setup under ">drive<:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Mass Effect 2\__Installer\directx\redist" again, now that all ME3 VC++ runtime's are installed.

    Reboot  > test.

  • MellinMellin's avatar
    MellinMellin
    7 years ago

    Running "DXSETUP.exe" did not help, still same error with license.

    Here is my \Origin Games\Mass Effect 3\Binaries:

    Spoiler

    Also \Origin Games\Mass Effect 3\Binaries\Win32:

    Spoiler

    and \Origin Games\Mass Effect 3\Binaries\Win32\Core:

    Spoiler
  • MellinMellin's avatar
    MellinMellin
    7 years ago

    Ok, I finally got it to work!

    First of, credit where credit is due:

    I had the same problem as the author of this topic: https://answers.ea.com/t5/Mass-Effect-3/Mass-Effect-3-launch-error-Wrong-license-missing-d3dx9-42-dll/td-p/4298372

    The solution was confirmed by EA staff as working.

    Here it is:

    First of I needed the .cab files that I manually deleted from the \Origin Games\Mass Effect 3\__Installer\directx\redist folder.

    I did that by using the repair option inside of the Origin (but I guess fully reinstalling the game would give me the same result).

    Then I needed to find 2 .cab files:

    • Aug2009_d3dx9_42_x86.cab
    • Aug2009_d3dx10_42_x86.cab

    And manually extract their content into my C:\Windows folder.

    This added those 10 new files there:

    Spoiler

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