Re: [Old Report] Unable To Launch Game Through Steam/EA App

@redrew83 Can you attach a DxDiag for me? 

To save time, can you toss me the steps you have tried? I'm not one to send steps that players have already done that did nothing. Saves a lot of time.

Thank you for the response. I have checked the Run as Administrator, tried changing the language setting to the Beta: Use Unicode-UTF 8 in Control Panel under the Region settings, I have tried verifying game files, I have tried reverting back to Origin (which I was unable to accomplish). Everything short of uninstalling and reinstalling because my internet isn't the fastest and would rather not wait a day for the game to re-download (especially if it still wouldn't fix the issue, which from what I've read is likely to be the case). I have attached what you asked to this post and I will update my case in EA Help with it as well. 

I don't want you to have to do that either. Can you make sure to set the game to run off the Nvidia card and not the Intel chipset?

You can do that with these steps here

 
What it seems is one of two things -
1. Either something on your PC is blocking it
2. OR it is using dedicated non-supported hardware like the intel chip. 

Again, thank you for your response. I did as was suggested and changed the NVidia setting. The game didn't launch and I recieved the same error.  Also, extrapplating from your possible causes, I tried launching the game without any virus protection turned on, with no success. I also added the MELE Launcher as an app allowed passed the Firewall, also no change. Still recieveing the same error message that there is an error on EA's end and please try again in a little while. Also, attempting to launch the game from Steam, the EA app, and even directly from the games files all result in the same error.

The game is not launching. You can't have a product on Steam that is not working.

Literally the game is not opening at all.

REMOVE the need to open the EA App to launch a game that you brought to another platform.

It's absolutely ridiculous. If I wanted to use the EA app I would have gotten the game in that platform.

@redrew83 

Please preform a clean boot and test the Game in clean boot mode.

Make sure your virus scanner and other security software and also Afterburner and similar software is disabled.
Then make sure the "In-game overlay" inside EA app is enabled. (EA app menu > Settings > Application) > Test.

If that don't helps:

Create a new Windows user account  (Administrator) don't use local special characters, use only  Characters from the ASCII table

• Reboot > Log in to the new user account.
• Test.

@holger1405

I thank you for the suggestion. I appreciate that you are trying to help and I will try your solutions, but I have my doubts. If either of these steps are necessary, then there is something wrong with the app. Neither of these steps are user friendly let alone reasonable. The most egregious thing to me is the complete lack of acknowledgement that there is a problem with this new app. At least tell your customers that you know that there is an issue and that you are working to resolve it (This is not directed @EA_Shepard, who has at least tried to be helpful and I'm sure is doing their job to the best of their abilities).

I played this game for nearly 420 hours in the two years I have owned it without any problems until the release of the EA app. I see there are currently over 4,000 people who ARE able to play this game as I type this, since that is what Steam reports in the games Community tab, but sadly not me and not many others. Did all of those people have to create a brand new windows user account in order to play the game? Did all of those people have to spend days scowering message boards trying every possible solution? I love this game but this experience has turned me into one of the many people who loathe EA and their business practices. I am frustrated and angry with no recourse available to me and I will remember that when considering my future purchases. 

@holger1405 

Again, thanks for the suggestions, but they failed. None of them worked. 

i'm having the same issues...i've been trying for over 12 hours to get this game to launch...i managed it once on steam deck and never again.

on PC i've tried over 20 different things from powershell stuff, cmd, clean driver install, running as admin, NOT running as admin...i am exhausted.

event viewer...i thought comodo might be the issue so i uninstalled it and nothing. every time, the error is on EA's end it says...i'm not a PC specialist

so i don't know if there are any other ways i can view and diagnose what the issue may be.

Commander, you have a new message at your private terminal!

Wanted to update this. I am waiting on an update for this but sadly there has not yet been one posted. I do have a couple of things to try which I bet some have but some may not.

First, make sure that Windows is not blocking the game from launching. When I install new games, sometimes Windows security pops up and says allow access. Make sure that isn't there or click allow access.
Make sure that both Steam, the game, and the EA App are all on the same drive.
Install/Repair your VC++ files for the game (Microsoft VC++ Link)

Check for other applications that may be limiting EA App or Game performance

In Steam

• Right-click the game
• Go to DLC
• uncheck Mass Effect Legendary Edition key
• Verify the integrity of the game files and make sure that box under DLC is not checked

Try to launch the game again and see if it is running in task manager, or not there at all.

If this does not work, please let me know that all steps above were tried and what happened when the game was launched.

@EA_Shepard 

I have done all the steps and for a brief moment I was hopeful. I was able to get the game to load into the Mass Effect Legendary Edition Launcher, where I could have selected which game to play. I was happy that specifically those steps listed for Steam seemed to have solved my issue. Rather that diving in and playing the game again, I wanted to make sure I would be able to launch the game whenever I wanted to, so I exited the game's launcher. When I went to start my game again I was once again greeted with the same message, an error occured on our end, please try again in a little while. Disappointed, I decided to follow the same steps for Steam as suggested. I made sure it was checked in DLC, verified my game files, and attempted to launch the game. No success, same error message. So then I tried the EA app recovery, restarted both the EA app and Steam, made sure it was checked in DLC and verified my game files again, and still nothing. I hope you have some more suggestions as to how I may solve this issue once and for all. I now know it's possible to make it at least launch the games own launcher (maybe we need a third launcher?) and that only makes the situation even more frustrating. Please help!

@redrew83 

There is a custom launcher available on Nexus Mods.

I can't link it directly here, but you can find a link in the sticked workaround post under "Fixed" (Position 2.)

@holger1405 

Thanks again for the suggestion. I truly appreciate your help. It did not work for me. I still recieve the same error from the EA app. I was hopeful that a modder would/could do what EA hasn't yet, but nope. 

I managed to make it work but this is beyond ridiculous.

You have to install Origin (not EA App). And it must be a very specific version of it. Then disable the option to automatically update the app because you want to start at a specific version of Origin. You don't want it to update to the point of prompting you to switch to the EA App.

With that specific version Origin I could finally launch the game. This happens for other games like Dragon Age Inquisition, too.

It's absolutely pathetic. I can't believe EA abandons their products this way. The best solution would be to just release the game on Steam and REMOVE the need of the EA App or any secondary launcher.

I got it to work with the EA app by clicking on the three lines in the top left above Home then clicking Settings>Application>Disable In-Game Overlay.

I was having this issue in both Mass Effect 3 and ME:LE.

I am having the same problem.  Contacted EA Support via Chat and tried all the steps that they suggested at the following URLs. 

https://help.ea.com/in/help/pc/pc-graphics-troubleshooting/

https://help.ea.com/in/help/pc/troubleshoot-vc-dll-errors/

https://help.ea.com/in/help/faq/clear-cache-to-fix-problems-with-your-games/

None of the above helped and EA closed the ticket and directed me to Answers HQ.  Reviewed multiple MELE posts and decided to work my way through this one as it seemed to be the most promising and relevant.  Note that this seems to be an issue that people are having with many EA games purchased through Steam.

Attached is my dxdiag file.

I have worked my way through pretty much all suggested steps in this post with the exception of the Clean Boot.  May try that later when I have more time.

What I am specifically seeing is as follow: With Steam and EA App both open, regardless of whether I try to open the game using the desktop shortcut, the Steam Play button or the EA play button, I see a new Link2EA application open for 5-10 seconds.  The Link2EA app shows onscreen with a border and title but is otherwise black.  See attached Screenshot 🏀.

The Link2EA app then closes but nothing else happens.  Was monitoring task manager and it looks like it is trying to open a second instance of the EA app (see attached Screenshot (8)

I wish you luck, but don't hold your breath. I gave up. EA has won. They have stolen their digital product back and there is nothing we can do about it.

If you are a superfan of the game and can stomach giving EA any more of your hard earned money, get a cheap copy for a console (if you have one). At least the console version has nothing to do with the EA App, so you will be able to play and enjoy this amazing series. 

This worked for me.

I had to start EA app separately and then log into it before being able to launch the game from steam (with the master code unchecked - dlc unchecked when launched in steam).

I'm having the same problem. It used to work fine back when I had Origin installed, then it forced me to "migrate" to the EA App. Didn't touch the game for a while after that.

Then I had an urge to start up MELE today and try a new playthrough, but it refuses to launch. This is my process.

1. I click the play button in my Steam client.
2. The EA App opens. Link2EA appears in my task manager.
3. It says its preparing the game (or something) for at least a minute, then vanishes.
4. Link2EA vanishes from my task manager.
5. The game hasn't launched.

I've tried:

• A fresh boot
• Setting the MELE launcher to run as admin
• Setting the EA App to run as admin.
• Opening the EA App separately before trying to launch the game from Steam.
• Clearing the EA App's cache.
• Logging in to the EA App with my linked Steam account.
• Launching the game through Steam with the "key" disabled in the DLC tab.
• Launching the game from the EA App directly (it just says its loading the game indefinitely).
• Verifying the files through Steam.

I am very reluctant to uninstall and reinstall the game because my connection speed is so slow that it would take almost a whole week of night-only download sessions to get the game reinstalled. However I have read there were a couple of other workarounds involving reinstalling Origin (somehow) and tricking it into not auto-upgrading to the EA App, but I'm not certain I should try that.

I filed a trouble ticket earlier today about it, but I suppose that Link2EA is what's choking right now. But why would it choke when launching MELE when I can launch Mass Effect: Andromeda with only a short delay?

@SwordFox5208 

• 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
• Move the "License" folder to your desktop.
• Test.

@holger1405 

Tried it. Its a no-go. The same thing happens; it says it is "preparing game", then Link2EA appears in my task manager. After about 30 seconds, the pop-up vanishes and the Link2EA process self-terminates. The game doesn't get launched.