Phew, that’s a long title. What’s ironic is that it’s 100% accurate.
After the computer issues that prompted me to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7, I decided to reinstall some of my games. Among those, was Dragon Age II, a game I loved, but didn’t feel had much replay value. The new DLC, Legacy, of course, changed this, and so I went through the trouble of installing, added some graphical tweaks, and dove right into the game.
All was going well until I got the bright idea in my head to purchase Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate Edition. Now, I tried to be smart, and purchased it from Amazon.com, where I got a fairly good bargain, or, so I thought. I waited two days, the disc arrived in a slender manilla package, and I popped the disk in to install while I grabbed a sandwich. The install started just fine, but I noticed rather quickly that it was stalling at around 16%, somewhere in the anims.erf area.
Alright, I went hunting for solutions to this issue and discovered that it was potentially because of my disc drive. Since I didn’t have another drive I could slap into my machine, I instead opted to use the EA Downloader (Origins Downloader now, irony, no?), and grabbed a nice hot bath while the 27 GB download processed. I was lucky and started it early, so it only took approximately two hours total to download.
Convinced that all would be well, I started my program only to realize … that my DLC was all titled ‘Unauthorized’, except for Awakenings.
To quote Isabela here, “Balls.”
So I tried a couple of fixes and discovered the problem apparently revolved around the DAUpdaterSvc.Service file associated with the game. It’s required to authorize the DLC and wasn’t working. Some suggestions went flying around about how to fix it, so I opted to do so the simple way, and decided to Uninstall and Reinstall. Except my install file was apparently erased, and required a complete redownload.
Again I say, “Balls.”
I started the download, now later in the evening, obviously, and as of now have spent the last 4 hours waiting for the program to download, staring at the woefully short progress on the download bar, declaring that I’ve only downloaded 50% of the game. This wouldn’t feel so punishing, but I have to get sleep some time, and had planned on attempting to play the game sometime tonight.
Reading the dozens of fixes has made me absolutely disappointed in the state of this game. A ‘bargain’ shouldn’t include a faulty disc, and multiple authorization errors, since apparently, the DAUpdaterSvc.Service file doesn’t actually install with the Ultimate Edition of the game, according to the multiple user reports on the Bioware Self-Help forums. With all of this drama, I’m trapped on an administrator account (hey, my main was supposed to be that, but apparently isn’t), without access to any of my settings, staring at a brightly colored screen, as this tiny blue bar moves. In the time it’s taken me to type this, the bar has progressed to 51%, and isn’t quite ticking up speed.
I love Bioware, I love Dragon Age, but I’m starting to rethink my pre-order of some of Bioware’s other games, (namely The Old Republic, of which I’ve ordered two copies of the Collector’s Edition). What is so frustrating is the Dragon Age II works like a dream, only DAO seems to suffer the shoddy customer support, innumerable bugs and glitches, and inaccessible DLC content.
Bioware, I want to go into the gaming industry. I’m in college working towards that end, but I swear, I just want to find whoever decided the system of authorizing DLC in this fashion was a good idea, and give them a one-two punch, right in their nards, or whatever serves for them.
I’m going to go shoot myself, and maybe play Mass Effect while I wait for the irritation to wind down. I have that on the XBox – so at least that’s working right.
Derp.
By Jeanna | July 17, 2011
Well, I ended up getting sucked back into the worlds of role-play and anime. And manga. And somehow, I managed to leave Lord of the Rings Online behind. I wonder if I shouldn’t just cancel my subscription, the game really isn’t all that interesting to me at this point, likely because I’ve got three characters at 65, and no further interest in going through the grind that leveling another character would actually demand of me.
I also managed to pass my math exam, with some tutoring from S. Since S has offered to teach me during the course of my math class, I think I can pass it without having the school knock me back a level. So that’s good. Money should be rolling in soon, so I can get some nice things I want.
Also decided to save up for a Macbook, as opposed to a PC Laptop. Specs are better, upgrades are fewer, and I like the idea of all the extra customer support that Apple gives. Had someone tell me that Macbook is the way to go for a laptop, but PC is the way to go for a Desktop. So does that make me a PC Mac? It sounds like a Hamburger Helper meal you’d have for dinner. xD
Since I don’t have anything else relevant to say, I’ll just say that cup ramen is amazing with a little bit of soy and teriyaki, and go crawl into bed.
Back in the real world, away from Fable, I’m finding my Facebook to be absolutely splattered with discussions about the movie revolving around Casey Anthony, the woman recently found “Not Guilty” for killing her daughter.
Regardless of the heated opinions, I find it highly unlikely that this woman did not actually kill her child, and think that the unnecessary press the trial received contributed to the lack of a guilty verdict by the jury.
Far too often, items that are sensationalized in the media are given too much attention to really be viewed without bias. The fact that this woman got a tattoo declaring ‘Beautiful Life’ on herself just a short time before her daughter’s body was found sinks the verdict to guilty for me, but that’s neither here nor there.
The shameful part is what I read on Facebook, and later found via Tribute.ca. While I agree that Kristen Stewart may play a good role in the movie, considering her lack of enthusiasm in general and the flat performance we saw in Twilight, what actually angers me is the fact that this woman is going to be working to make not just a movie, but also will be writing a book.
If at any point she discusses the death of her child or makes an admission of guilt in the book, the fact that she has already been tried and found “Not Guilty” means that they cannot attempt to prosecute again. And wouldn’t that be ironic?
I, personally, and I believe dozens of others as well, will be boycotting this book, and I somehow expect that many theaters will be empty on the opening day of the movie, should it go ahead into production.
Is it too much to hope that when she’s released on July 13th and she finally walks out of jail, someone runs her down?
- J
The following post is going to be terribly full of spoilers, so I’m hiding the bulk of the post. If you have beaten Fable 2 and Fable 3, or don’t care about spoilers, please, feel free to continue reading.
…Ow.
By Jeanna | June 28, 2011
So, a word to the wise, moving everything that sums up the contents of your desk, off of it, then back onto it again, results in a great deal of pain. ;\ I did manage to get everything set up the way I want it to be, though I totally still need to get a shelf for things like, books, to go on. Other than that, though, the bedroom area looks nicer. ;\
I finished Fable III. I’m going to post more on that later, for now I’m going to eat my macaroni, and mindlessly shoot aliens on Halo Reach.
Ta~
This is me trying to be proactive about my blogging! Seriously though, I spent a great deal of time not blogging and I’m going to need therapy for this, considering how my classes are going. I’m mega stressed over the coming semester (mostly because I am not looking forward to math) and so this is going to cause a great deal of bashing my head on the desk in frustration.
The course shell for the University has changed, and that makes the new course considerably interesting, but hey, I’m always looking forward to a challenge? I guess..?
I hate IE but I haven’t downloaded any of my other browsers yet except for Firefox, and the latest IE for Windows 7 seems to be sucking less than previously, and also doesn’t error my University pages, which does not offer support for the new Firefox browser yet. I even reinstalled my Greasemonkey scripts and it isn’t killing the new Firefox the way it did previously, so we have that.
I was surfing the Internet and trying not to be a recluse during the week and a half of vacation from school that I still possess.. okay, back on topic, I found this blog post while randomly surfing around and was appalled. Not by the writer of the blog, no, but by the content of the post itself.
OB-GYNs in Florida place ‘weight limit’ on patients.
As someone who is far ‘over’ the prescribed weight limit of 200 lbs, this is both appalling and disgusting. That in turn led me to Primary Care Physicians’ Attitudes about Obesity and Its Treatment. The quote in the previously mentioned blog post that really got to me was included near the bottom. Studies implying that doctors see their fat patients as “awkward, unattractive, ugly, and noncompliant.” ?
When did being fat become even more of a social stigma than it already is? What’s more, why is the medical community allowing this behavior to stand? Are obese individuals more likely to have health problems? Yes, of course we are, our weight puts a high strain on our bodies and we understand that, but in that case shouldn’t we be more encouraged to seek out the help of a medical professional to ‘fix’ what is viewed as our ‘disease’, rather than being turned away because of our physical size?
When I was several years younger, my primary care physician told me she was jealous because my numbers (cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, blood pressure) were all better than hers, and I weighed a whopping hundred and fifty pounds or more than she did. Nowhere in the doctor/patient relationship was she ever rude, dismissive, or unconcerned about my health. I guess I have to count my blessings, with the ripples going through the health care community right now.
I’ll post a more ‘carefree’ blog post a little later.
Wow..
By Jeanna | June 24, 2011
I am such a lazy freaking blogger, right? I never post in a timely manner, I take forever (years in some cases) between posts, and I’m a lazy bum besides.
So, what prompted me to blog again this time? I’m tired of having nowhere to just talk. I don’t even care if people want to read it, I just need somewhere to talk. And my blog is kinda girly this time, freaking imagine that.
I think if I was a guy, I’d totally be a gay guy, because I’m too fab’ to be straight, frsrs.
So, the other day, a woman at the DMV asked me what my real hair color was when I was trying to get my State ID renewed. She said I was ‘too old’ to have my hair multicolored. She also asked me what I was doing with it so many colors – I told her I was ‘having fun’, and that you’re never too old for that.
She then admitted that blonde wasn’t her natural color either.
So, aside from that, I installed Windows 7 today. My god this is a fantastic OS. Seamless, smooth, fast loading times, and oh-so-slick looking. Now if I had just been smart and gotten my wireless printer like I wanted to.
Math next semester. I dread. But my project from last semester turned out fantastic, even if it was very very green.
In A Cynical World is a blog written by Jeanna Holland, a lippy fat chick who talks about gaming, weight, food, school, psychology, web design, and anything else she can think of, from a feminist-flavored point of view.