wine users - Aug 2011 - [Dragon Age Origins] Official DLCs "Unable to load area"

I have a Steam version of DAO + Awakening and have had no troubles with it up
until now when I've bought some DLCs from official bioware store.
For any DLC I bought I'm getting "Unable to load area" error right
after character creation or importing (or, in case of "Leliana's
song" --- right after "Play" is pressed in "Other
campaigns" menu). Its a very popular error on PC/Xbox, but this case has
obvious complications %)

Standard solution (profile.dap moving/deletion, AddIns.xml manual rewriting,
reinstalling via daupdater.exe, verifying steam game cache integrity) had no
effect so far.

EA support as a last resort offered some weird solution which I could not
properly try on Wine because it suggest disabling/changing UAC settings and
disabling some background services.

Does anyone played official DLCs and had successfully overcome "Unable to
load" errors? Please, share you suggestions, any help would be very much
appreciated!

In case it'd help EA solution (sorry for the wall of text):
> Andrew M.: We are going to disable some extra tasks/programs that are
running in the background and start when you boot up your computer. These extra
tasks/programs can cause issues and might further help get the issue resolved.
> ...
> 3. Inside that "Run" window I would like type in
"msconfig" and hit "OK".
> 4. Now a new "System Configuration" window should open up. 
> 5. Inside that new window I would like you to go to the "Tools"
tab at the top. Go to that.
> 6. Inside that Tools tab I would like you to locate inside that list a tool
named "Disable UAC" (If you cannot locate "Disable UAC" it
will be named "Change UAC Settings")
> 7. Once you have located that tool I would like you to select it and then
click the "Launch" button.
> 8. If you launched the tool named "Disable UAC" you will see a
black box pop up saying that task is completed, you can now close that and skip
to step 12.
> 9. If you launched the tool named "Change UAC Settings" you will
see a new window pop up with a slider on the left had side that says
"Always Notify" on the top and "Never Notify" on the bottom.
10. I would like you to slide that all the way down to "Never Notify"
after that you can hit "Apply" then "Okay".
> 11. If it asks you to restart you can just close that because we will be
doing one more thing before restarting.
> 12. Now I would like you to go back to your "System
Configuration" window and go to the "Services" tab.
> 13. Inside that Services tab I would like you to make sure there is a check
next to where it says "Hide All Microsoft Services".
> 14. Now that there is a check in that box I would like you to select the
"Disable All" button.
> 15. Go ahead and click on the "Startup" tab for me and select the
"Disable All" button.
> 15. Now hit "Apply" and hit "OK".
>

railla wrote:
> I have a Steam version of DAO + Awakening and have had no troubles with it
up until now when I've bought some DLCs from official bioware store.
> For any DLC I bought I'm getting "Unable to load area" error
right after character creation or importing (or, in case of "Leliana's
song" --- right after "Play" is pressed in "Other
campaigns" menu). Its a very popular error on PC/Xbox, but this case has
obvious complications %)
> 
> Standard solution (profile.dap moving/deletion, AddIns.xml manual
rewriting, reinstalling via daupdater.exe, verifying steam game cache integrity)
had no effect so far.
> 
> EA support as a last resort offered some weird solution which I could not
properly try on Wine because it suggest disabling/changing UAC settings and
disabling some background services.
> 
> Does anyone played official DLCs and had successfully overcome "Unable
to load" errors? Please, share you suggestions, any help would be very much
appreciated!
> 
> In case it'd help, here is EA solution (sorry for the wall of text):
> 
> > Andrew M.: We are going to disable some extra tasks/programs that are
running in the background and start when you boot up your computer. These extra
tasks/programs can cause issues and might further help get the issue resolved.
> > ...
> > 3. Inside that "Run" window I would like type in
"msconfig" and hit "OK".
> > 4. Now a new "System Configuration" window should open up. 
> > 5. Inside that new window I would like you to go to the
"Tools" tab at the top. Go to that.
> > 6. Inside that Tools tab I would like you to locate inside that list a
tool named "Disable UAC" (If you cannot locate "Disable UAC"
it will be named "Change UAC Settings")
> > 7. Once you have located that tool I would like you to select it and
then click the "Launch" button.
> > 8. If you launched the tool named "Disable UAC" you will see
a black box pop up saying that task is completed, you can now close that and
skip to step 12.
> > 9. If you launched the tool named "Change UAC Settings" you
will see a new window pop up with a slider on the left had side that says
"Always Notify" on the top and "Never Notify" on the bottom.
10. I would like you to slide that all the way down to "Never Notify"
after that you can hit "Apply" then "Okay".
> > 11. If it asks you to restart you can just close that because we will
be doing one more thing before restarting.
> > 12. Now I would like you to go back to your "System
Configuration" window and go to the "Services" tab.
> > 13. Inside that Services tab I would like you to make sure there is a
check next to where it says "Hide All Microsoft Services".
> > 14. Now that there is a check in that box I would like you to select
the "Disable All" button.
> > 15. Go ahead and click on the "Startup" tab for me and
select the "Disable All" button.
> > 15. Now hit "Apply" and hit "OK".
> > 
>

On Tue, Aug 2, 2011 at 7:54 AM, railla <wineforum-user at winehq.org>
wrote:
> I have a Steam version of DAO + Awakening and have had no troubles with it
up until now when I've bought some DLCs from
> official bioware store. For any DLC I bought I'm getting "Unable
to load area" error right after character creation or importing
> (or, in case of "Leliana's song" --- right after
"Play" is pressed in "Other campaigns" menu). Its a very
popular error on
> PC/Xbox, but this case has obvious complications %)
Have you taken the time to read through this game's entries on the
Applications Database?

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=10457

Is the page and it might provide helpful information.

James

jjmckenzie wrote:
> 
> Also the following bug report may have something to do with your problem:
> 
> http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=22308
> 
> Downloadable content is unauthorized and disabled when logged in to
> Dragon Age: Origins server
> 
> James

I thought this isn't a Wine bug, because lots of PC users on social.bioware
reported this issue and also because it could be fixed with
<RequiresAuthorization> set to "0" in AddIns.xml

But it's looks like some service that DLC uses for authorization is not
working properly, whether DLC itself shows authorized in the menu or not.
Anyway, DLC included in steam purchase works just fine, that's why I hoped
there's a way around

hotshotkev wrote:
> If its not a wine issue you won't get much help here.
> try getting the error data from the game and posting it here.
> 
> I don't know it that game uses .net at all. but if it does that may
cause other issues. But take it one step at a time.
> 
> If you find a fix pls post it here and in the wine bug reports(provided its
relevant to wine).

I've grown tired from this mess so I've just used some DLC decrypter:
http://narod.ru/disk/21036689001/decrypt.zip.html

It works, finally!