EA Origin, and how awful it is

[Vince, Pt. II]

I'm certain we have a thread for this already, and I'm just as certain that if I typed in the correct cryptic phrasing that I'd find the answer searching the internet. But good fucking god this is annoying. I've been blowing through Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, really into it, and I find I need to get 3 through Origin. So I download Origin. When I click on the shortcut from my desktop, it fails to open, telling me the file it refers to has been moved or deleted, and prompts me to delete the shortcut.

Huh, weird. I just installed it.

So I go to the directory it's in, find out that there are four .exe files there, none of which is Origin.exe. None of them seem to accomplish anything by clicking on them. Cursory internet search reveals that the only solution to any Origin problem is to make sure you're running Origin.exe in administrator mode. Well, since I don't even HAVE an Origin.exe, this is not very much help to me. I uninstall the game through the windows uninstall control panel widget, and then go to remove the hard copy files that are still remaining out of that directory. Except I need to get permission from an administrator to do that. Which is weird, because I AM an administrator on my own system. I go verify my settings just to make sure, and yes I am indeed still capable of admin privileges. I go back, and this time it lets me delete them with no problems.

I re-download and re-install Origin...same problem. No Origin.exe. I still can't find this to troubleshoot it on Google, so I break down and search the EA help desk. After finding absolutely nothing, I click on "contact us," content to wait a day or two if only I can get this problem handled. It prompts me to log in to my account, so I do. Only to find that "this feature is temporarily unavailable." Seriously? Logging in to your website is temporarily out of service? What the freaking hell.

End Rant.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Apathetic Lurker]

Yeah, stop dealing with EA.....

[Vince, Pt. II]

It appears it's the only way to play Mass Effect 3 on my computer. Which is uber lame.

[Vince, Pt. II]

So, because this was entertaining, I thought I'd catalog the conversation I just had with an online chat help guy.

Shardul: "You need to uninstall Origin and then re-install it."
Vince: "I have already done this."
Shardul: "This is the step you need to repeat."
...
Vince: "Ok, I've uninstalled, re-installed, and now it's telling me that I don't have permission to access Origin.exe."
Shardul: "Yes, you need to uninstall and re-install it."
Vince: "Really?"
Shardul: "Yes."
Vince: "Ok, Origin.exe just literally disappeared from the folder through no action of my own. This is a pretty phenomenal product you have here."
Shardul: "Thank you."
Vince: "So, I've tried this step, that I must repeat. I repeated it. It's still not working. Thoughts?"
Shardul: "Since this is taking a long time, would you mind if I took 2 minutes to try to solve your problem?"
Vince: "Knock yourself out."
...
Shardul: "You must delete the C:\Origin folder and the C:\Windows\Temp folder. Then download the Origin Installer from this link "XXX". Then create a new Admin account and run the installer."
Vince: "So when I try to delete the Origin folder, it says I need permission from an Administrator to delete it. However, I AM an Administrator account. Any ideas?"
Shardul: "Yes, you must install Origin as an Administrator."
Vince: "I haven't gotten there yet. I'm still on the deleting folders part. Well, I guess it doesn't matter now because it randomly decided to let me delete it."
...
Vince: "Ok. So it looks like that worked. Give me a second to make sure it runs...and nope. Another error. It appears that I don't have permission to access Origin.exe."
Shardul: "Did you run it as Administrator?"
Vince: "Yes."
Shardul: "Why don't we try uninstalling it and reinstalling it?"
Vince: "...ok, it just worked. It's up and running. For no apparent reason other than it wanted to. Thanks for your help."
Shardul: "Okay."
Shardul: "Welcome."
Shardul: "May I know if you have run the origin as admin?"
Vince: "Yes, I have. I decided to cut out the middle man and not bother to try it like a normal program would run."
Shardul: "Okay I'm sending you screen sharing request please accept it"
Vince: "Uh, it's working now. We don't need to screen share."
Shardul: "Great. Thank you for contacting EA."

[Neon_Chaos]

http://media.steampowered.com/steamcommunity/public/images/avatars/5e/5e798604c3e7fa272eea933181bbd67f47a009e6_full.jpg

[Grover]

I had major issues the last time I tried to play FIFA through Origin. I had to keep installing and uninstalling, I had to reset my password, among other problems. And every time it would tell me that Origin was unavailable. Steam is 50,000 times better.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Steam is 50,000 times better.

After reading this I suspect shooting yourself might be at least 5,000 times better.

[jeff061]

I'd have bought Mass Effect 3 by now if it didn't require Origin.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I installed Origin so I could play Mass Effect 3. The only issue I had with it was when I tried to buy the ME3 DLC while in game. I couldn't scroll the browser window at all and, therefore, couldn't complete my tansaction, so I had to back out of it, close the game down and do the transaction outside of the game.

Other than that one small issue I have had no problems at all with Origin. It's not even close to anything like Steam, but I never expected it to be. It was easy to buy ME3 from and easy to launch the game from it.

I have no problem with it, but wont likely ever use it unless I want to buy another EA game.

[Fidatelo]

I'm not certain how badly I will have to want a game for it to be worth installing Origin. So far nothing has come even close. Steam4Life.

[mckerney]

I had the same issue where I had installed Origin and then couldn't launch it because the .exe had completely vanished. Thankfully just one reinstall worked to get it running.

At least EA is helping out with the decision not to use Origin with things like an always online DRM requirement for the new SimCity game and the declining quality of Bioware games.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Save some possible ME3 DLC, the only thing I can see using Origin again for is when "Dragon Age 3" comes out. There's nothing else on the EA horizon - that I am aware of - that holds any interest for me. And it appears it may be a while before "DA3" is released.

[Neon_Chaos]

The upcoming Mass Effect 3 extended cut ending DLC (free) comes to mind. At least they finally relentrd to fix the ending and give it away for free.

[Draft Dodger]

I'm not certain how badly I will have to want a game for it to be worth installing Origin. So far nothing has come even close. Steam4Life.

yeah, if it's not on Steam it doesn't exist

[Mota]

I really dislike Origin as well. What's on sale this week? No way to tell. Matter of fact, there really is no way to browse through the catalog efficiently as well.

When they were only distributing their own product it wasn't that big of a deal, but since they've added many other publishers it's impossible to find what you're looking for.

[EagleFan]

"This is a pretty phenomenal product you have here."
"Thank You"

That part amused me. Someone didn't understand sarcasm. I bet I know where that support was from...

[sabotai]

I'm not certain how badly I will have to want a game for it to be worth installing Origin. So far nothing has come even close. Steam4Life.

The only exception for me is GamersGate (which I only use for the Paradox games) and the occasional indie game that isn't on Steam. Otherwise, I just stick with Steam.

Although, I do avoid the Ubisoft games on Steam now because they require you to log onto their network as well, even though they are on Steam. So fuck 'em.

[Ryan S]

I have Mass Effect 1 and 2 on PC, but whenever I finally pick up Mass Effect 3 it will be on PS3.

[Honolulu_Blue]

While 95% of my PC purchases are through Steam and I think it's fantastic, when necessary, I'll branch out.

I used GamersGate for that horrible Elemental: War of Magic.

I used Origin for ME3.

I used Desura to buy "Project Zomboid."

I don't really have any expectations with respect to these other programs. So long as they work, and they all have, they are really just an icon on my desktop to be clicked and opened when I want to play a game. I never have any intention of browsing their stores or sales or anything.

I also buy games of GOG.com.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Yeah, I'm not elitist enough to hate it just because it's not Steam. But when you can't install the program from the beginning? At least get that part right. And the customer service experience was just a riot from beginning to end. The guy told me to do the things that I had already done (minus deleting the \Temp folder), and it just so happened to work while he was there on the line. I mean really?

EDIT: Also, it was really strange that the Origin.exe file literally disappeared out of the directory while I was watching it. Sort of creeped me out a little, actually.

[mckerney]

The upcoming Mass Effect 3 extended cut ending DLC (free) comes to mind. At least they finally relentrd to fix the ending and give it away for free.

I'm not so sure they are planning to fix it rather than offer, "clarification and closure."