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Fermi_Paradoxx's avatar
Fermi_Paradoxx
2 years ago
Solved

[PC] ME3 Fails to launch, "Could Not Activate"

Mass Effect 3 doesn't launch. Instead, a pop up window appears that says it could not activate, when I try to enter the key, a second dialog pops up that says "We're sorry, an error has occurred".

Originally bought the game on Origin a couple years ago and it worked fine back then. Other games are launching fine through the EA App for me. Tried all the normal stuff I see suggested here like moving the Licenses folder, reinstalling the game, reinstalling the app, clearing the app's cache, but no change in behavior.

  • holger1405's avatar
    holger1405
    2 years ago

    @Fermi_Paradoxx 

    • Make sure EA app and Steam are closed.
    • Press the Windows key and "R" at the same time.
    • Type or copy and paste "%ProgramData%\Electronic Arts\EA Services" (without the quotes) into the new Window > ENTER
    • Delete the "License" folder.
    • Test.

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  • EA_Shepard's avatar
    EA_Shepard
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    12 months ago
    @MaxSmalls wrote:

    WOW! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! This worked for me although I just renamed the license folder instead of deleting files. About a year ago I went through like 4 chats, 3 weeks of e-mail support, and in the end I gave up. I knew it had to be something on this PC cause my laptop worked fine. Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer is my all time favorite horde mode that I have countless hours in and haven't been able to play since Origin retired! THANK YOU!!!!!

    That is awesome! so you basically renamed the folder instead of deleting all contents within? Did you rename it to something specific or just something random?

  • MaxSmalls's avatar
    MaxSmalls
    12 months ago

    Old habit from doing Win XP support back in the early 2000's. We almost never deleted anything. I just renamed the folder to "oldlicense". One other nice thing is now I could recreate the issue if needed by saving that as well.

    I'm glad I was able to get it to work. I've dropped so much time into that game but funny enough I've never really put any public videos on my YouTube channel so planning to change that. Got a bunch of video the past couple days and have partially put together a ME3 version of my intro so hopefully will have that up pretty quick here. Started filming an Infiltrator from level 1 - 20 set lol.

    https://youtube.com/@maxsmalls

    But yeah, thanks again!

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