[PC] There is a problem connecting to the server. ME1 authorization issue.

Hi @EA_Mai

I'll clarify 🙂

With the game: When I installed it on Friday, it gave me the "There is a problem connecting to the server." message, and it gave me that message no matter what. I ran through as much troubleshooting on my end as I could to make sure it was not an issue with my computer, my game install, or my internet. I did not make my own forum post until Sunday, after I'd seen others had been getting the exact same message with Sims 3. The work-around that they figured out also worked for me. Mass Effect is now working, with no issues, and I detailed how I did it in my post here. However, in the case of non-Sims games, I can't guarantee that the solution that worked for me will work for others. It only worked because I also have Sims 3 installed, and could use the same files that they used. I don't feel comfortable leaving this issue unresolved, when what I have is a work-around, and not a genuine fix that will work for everyone who uses a disk install.

With the Mass Effect deauthorization tool: I used it to deauthorize my Mass Effect install on my old operating system, with no issues, on October 8th. I mention the date only as a reference that the issue was not present then (it seems to have started around Thursday last week, that was when it was first noticed anyway). While troubleshooting the message for the Mass Effect game itself, I used the deauthorization tool to make sure the issue was not just present for the Mass Effect game (since I figured if it could connect to deauthorize, the game should be connecting to the same place to authorize it). When both the game AND the tool gave me the message, it told me it was probably not the game's install, and I should look at checking my internet connection or my operating system. I continued to use the tool to check if it would eventually connect, and it didn't for all of Friday afternoon. However, on Friday evening, it did connect. I did not change anything on my end, whatever it was that got it working again, it was on EA's end. Since then when I've checked the connection via the tool, most of the time it has connected without issue. But occasionally, it will throw up that "There is a problem connecting to the server." message again. To doubly clarify: The game was still not connecting at this point, I didn't get that working until yesterday (Wednesday).

With the solution: As far as we can tell, mostly thanks to @beerxced79000's findings, is that the issue lies with the 'paul.dll' that ships with disk versions of Mass Effect, and other games that can be found on this list. As beerxced79000 explained the .dll to me, it's a "road" between the Securom DRM on our computers, and the authorization servers. Versions 4.1.1.13 and 4.1.1.14 of this 'paul.dll' are what are present with the games that are getting the "There is a problem connecting to the server." message. When we swapped them out for other versions of the 'paul.dll' found in other games (I used 4.1.1.18, beerxced79000 has used 4.1.1.20) our games authorized fine.

What this tells me: For some reason, around Thursday 11th of October, versions 4.1.1.13 and 4.1.1.14 of 'paul.dll' stopped being able to connect with EA's servers. This is not a connection issue at our end, but at EA's. If it wasn't at EA's end, then why would newer versions of this 'paul.dll' connect with the servers fine? I don't know how servers work, or what could have caused this, but if you can get this information to someone who does understand them, and knows what's going on with EA's servers, maybe they will, and I hope then things can be fixed so all versions of 'paul.dll' can connect for everyone 🙂

If more clarification is required, I'll help however I can tomorrow, I really, really need to step away now 😪

@EA_Mai  @holger1405  Following up on my post here, now @beerxced79000 has explained 'paul.dll' in more detail to me 🙂 I thought I'd simplify the explanations here, so it's definitely seen on EA's side.

(Holger1405, I hope it's ok if I tag you in this? I don't know if there's any other way ensure someone at EA sees this, and you can evidently talk to them easier than me.)

As far as we understand the system from what information we have avaliable to us: To add some further information on 'paul.dll', it connects to the EA servers for the game authorization. It will then either return with a valid license and we can start our games, or, the server will return an error code. This error code (or GL code in this case, as the .dll refers to it) will then tell the 'winui.dll' linked to 'paul.dll' what error message to show to the user. The user only sees the error message, but not the code that the server returned to give us that message. But, we can find the code and the message connected to it in the 'gl.ini' file, found in the same folder as the 'paul.dll'.

The point of this post: We don't know why exactly the server is returning this code for versions 4.1.1.13 and 4.1.1.14, but not for versions 4.1.1.18 or 4.1.1.20. However, this may be something that can be found out on EA's side, which may then point to the root cause of these error messages appearing across multiple games. The GL code for this error message is "GL:5602". Or, to copy-paste directly from the 'gl.ini' file:

GL:5602="There is a problem connecting to the server.  Please ensure your internet connection is active.  If the problem persists try again later."

Again: this is only appearing for versions 4.1.1.13 and 4.1.1.14 of 'paul.dll' files, but NOT versions 4.1.1.18+. So while it asks us to check our internet connection, the problems isn't with our connection at all!

Is there any chance this can be escalated on EA's side, so someone who can 'translate' what this code means can see it and look into it? (I may edit/correct this post later, if I've over-simplified things. @beerxced79000 is the one who knows the most on this 🙂 )