Dragon Age digital download and DLC issues: Fix

Posted on by Nimgimli

Apologize in advance for any typos; want to pound this out before work.

I don’t think I’m alone in having some problems getting all the DLC coming to me with my digital download version of Dragon Age: Origins. It doesn’t help that there are so many sources of gee-gaws: pre-order bonuses, deluxe version bonuses, store-specific bonuses and stuff you earned playing Dragon Age: Journeys.

I finally got everything working and wanted to share my experience. I used Steam so some of these issues may be unique to that platforms.

First, in the Steam client, under “My Games” right click on Dragon Age Origins and pick View Game CD Key. You can have as many as 3 keys in here. The ones with hyphens (xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx) are redeemable DLC codes (1 for pre-order, 1 for the deluxe version). On the Bioware social site, log in and from the left nav panel (under your portrait) pick Profile and then Redeem Promo Codes. Paste these keys in that field and hit submit. The key with no hyphens xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx is your game registration key. You put that in under Profile and then Register game.

I had to enter keys several times to get them to work, since the site is so overloaded.

The next problem I had was that 1 bit of DLC downloaded and installed, then 4 more downloaded but didn’t install and I couldn’t get them to install. And other stuff I had coming wasn’t showing up at all. From surfing forums this is happening to a good number of people.

To fix that problem, run the Dragon Age Launcher and pick Configure from there. Once the Configuration Utility pops up, pick Repair and then Clear Download cache. Now run the game and check your Downloaded Content. This cleared up the problem for me.

If everything is running right, you should see the Warden’s Keep either available for purchase or (if you got the Deluxe version) installed. Once I flushed my cache it was available for purchase, which told me I had to go back and re-submit my redemption code one more time. Then I hit the swirly refresh button at the bottom right of the in-game download screen and Warden’s Keep and Shale and some other items started downloading.

Hopefully the servers will be a bit less burdened tonight and these issues will go away, but without clearing the download cache ‘stuck’ DLC doesn’t seem to clear up.

I still haven’t figured out how to get screenshots to upload, or to access the characters I built ahead of time with the Character Creator.

I’m looking forward to *playing* Dragon Age tonight. Last night was more or less about wrestling with it (and with my computer, which seems ‘fixed’ now that I replaced the new ram with old ram).

27 thoughts on “Dragon Age digital download and DLC issues: Fix”

  1. I’ve read about another worry about the DLC stuff is that in certain origins (the Dwarves in particular it seems) you will lose some or all of your DLC given items. An unfortunate QA screw-up so even once you’ve jumped over the hurdles of attaining your pre-ordered/special edition items there is a fair chance you’ll lose them due to your origin.

    Now there’s been a workaround that works for some but not all. I’m only a bystander in this at the moment as I don’t have Dragon Age but have been keeping up with all the post-release antics so I know what I’m getting into when I jump in later on.

    Good luck to all you brave pioneers being the first to breach the gate!

  3. Any luck on getting the stuff from Dragon Age Journeys? Also, when you went to DLC in the game were all screens blank at first? I see nothing on any of the tabs.

  5. @wedgiey1 Yeah, I had the blank screens at first, and I think that was just the Bioware servers being so swamped they were effectively dead. You can try flushing the download cache to see if that’ll force a ‘reload’ from Bioware’s servers.

    Let us know how it goes.

  6. @Pete Thanks, but sorry to be such a newb; where do I flush the download cache at? I see an option to defrag cache files, is that what you’re referring to?

  7. Figured it out and tried it. Still nothing. Not sure if I should be persistent or play the game some more…

  8. Any chance you can try it in the morning before you leave the house? I got all mine straightened out early this morning…figure the servers are less stressed then. Sorry I don’t have any better suggestions.

  9. Tried it at 2:00 a.m. last night and 8:00 a.m. this morning. Still nothing. This is really frustrating. I even tried putting my machine in the DMZ and disabling my Windows firewall. Just a note, when I click the “clear download cache” button, I get no indication that anything has happened. Is this normal? Is there a way to manually clear the cache? I’ve opened up tickets with both Steam and EA, but neither have been helpful so far.

  10. Yeah, I got no kind of affirmation when I clicked the “Clear Download Cache” either, but it seems to have done something.

    What OS are you running? In Win 7 it shoves files in documents/bioware/etcetc but those are, I think, “final’ documents (settings, saves, screenshots and stuff). I would *guess* (and I’m at work so can’t check) that the download cache would be somewhere under the hidden appdata directory in Win Vista/7.

    I’ll poke around tonight and see if I can figure it out for sure.

    It sucks though. Nothing taints your opinion of a game like having to jump through hoops to get it all running right. I hope you get it sorted out soon.

  11. Well, the game runs fine, and I’m enjoying it. I just really wanted to do the Gray Warden’s keep stuff so I’d have a base and place to store reagents and crap like that. The bonus items would be nice, but I can go without them for now.

    I’m on XP w/ SP3. Haven’t got around to upgrading to Vista 7 yet.

    Thanks for your help!

  13. At a guess (I still have an XP machine at work) I’d look at Documents and Settings\[your username]\Application Data\ and see if there’s a Bioware folder in there that might hold the cache files?

    You might need to go into your Documents and Settings\[user name] folder and then use Tools->Folder Options->View and toggle on Show hidden files and folder in order to see the Application Data folder.

    Have you considered trying a re-install (copying your save files first, of course)?

  14. I didn’t really want to do a reinstall, but I may try it. I have validated the files via Steam. I will look around for the cache when I get home. I wish I would hear back from EA or Steam.

  15. Yeah, I haven’t been too impressed with customer service from Steam (haven’t really used it with EA but wouldn’t expect much better). I might try Impuse next time, but I hear they’re having their own problems over there.

  18. Do you get the various free DLC for each character created or only the first? Also, for the items, the ring, armor and such, do you have to find them in-game or does it just appear in your Inv.?

    Mine says they’ve been redeemed but I can not see anything about any of it in-game, though I’ve only played for about 10 minutes so far.

    Thanks…

    – CJ

  19. I’ve only created 1 character, but the rings and some books showed up in my inventory. The stuff like Warden’s Keep you (I assume) encounter in your travels. I got a quest that popped up when I got the DLC and I assume it leads me to the Keep.

    Tho come to think of it, I’m not sure I got the Bloodsworn (?) armor..the stuff that you can use in Mass Effect 2 as well.

    It’s all crazy confusing, this stuff..

  20. Alright, the link I posted above did fix my problem! All my DLC is downloading now! As for Croakerjoe’s question, some of the equipment is held by Bodhan in your camp, according to the DLC description.

  21. Excellent news! I’m so glad you got it working. I was kind of grinding my teeth on Twitter today when Garnett Lee mentioned the same exact problem you were having and Bioware *immediately* responded to him. Sure, keep the ‘internet celebs’ happy, but quit ignoring your paying customers!

  22. Hi if u have problem to download extra things for dragon age, can say i hade that problem and fixed it by
    1.) Press the windows key + R (or click Start and then RUN) and type in services.msc and press ENTER
    2.) Locate the Dragon Age: Origins – Content Update in the list of services.<—- then right clicked on dragon age file named Dragon age: Origins – Content Updater and hade to start it, it whas on manuel. and now im downloading everything i needed, sorry for bad english but hope it help, it did for me.

  23. I am thinking of a more long-term issue, what if you have a PC issue and need to re-install 6 months from now – where will you get all the DLC your entitled to, whether the free DLC that came with the game, free DLC that came from a retailer special or even paid for DLC?

    For safety’s sake I would love to know what folder(s) I need to backup to make sure I still have all the DLC I am entitled to that I can ‘re-load into my game and have it recognised. Any idea’s?

  24. @UK_John – Under Windows 7 there’s a Bioware folder in your Documents folder. I’d just back up that whole directory, thought there’s (iirc, writing from work) there’s an Addons directory that holds the DLC (I assume).

    A bigger issue is… are there some kind of DRM licenses hidden away somewhere else?

  25. Thanks Pete, i’ll do that but hope I am not missing something in the main game folder! Because if you don’t have it all, and your PC goes down forcing a DA re-install, and you try to put the DLC back and it’s not everything you need so it doesn’t work, your left with no way to fix the problem ever!

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