Looking for help with these issues

[Orion Invictus]

The game has crashed multiple times at seemingly random points, textures that aren't colored properly (solid red and translucent), crashing every time a specific save was loaded, and more recently the sound stopped working altogether (along with the facial animations) when I stopped playing for a bit while grabbing a milkshake. It's probably the buggiest game I've played in the past 15 years.

I've tried/done the following:
-Lowering graphics to deal with the crashes and texture issues. It seems to have done the trick, but that's not a real fix, and playing with these graphics when the game is already this old isn't exactly optimal.
-Reloading from an older save (it was the only way to progress when it crashed upon loading the latest one). I assume the data was corrupted. Reloading also fixed the sound and animation issues.
-Updated my drivers (didn't seem to do anything).

Does anyone have permanent solutions to these issues, or a way to prevent them? In particular, a way to prevent crashes that doesn't involve lowering graphical settings would be appreciated. Also, is there any point to installing this on an NVME drive?

[es1981]

I don't have an answer, but I'm experiencing the same problem. Running Windows 11 and wondering if that's at the root, because when I first played this (about 10 years ago, from a DVD install) it was fine. Rather frustrating.

I am going to try setting a compatibility mode and see if that helps.

[Fictus22]

Installing it on your nvme drive will only benefit your loading times. If your not too concerned with how long the game takes to load a save or new area I would say don't worry about it. Anyways I have a few things you could try if your up to it.

1. Go to your game install folder's redist folder to run DXSetup (In the DirectX folder), physx and vcredist exes to install the software on them. Try and see if that corrects your issue.

Reason: Sometimes steam misses these or doesn't run them properly during setup.

2. Go to site in the link below and follow along with it's "modding video step-by-step tutorial for DA:O" from the beginning to the 4gb Patch. After doing so, see if your problem is corrected.

https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/5989

Reason: The game still is limited to using 1 - 2 gb of RAM since it was originally released. Due to newer graphical settings, DLC and various tweaks found in the present version the game requires more RAM than it was designed. The method shown in the tutorial is the correct way to apply the 4gb patch on Steam.

3. Get the game through the EA App

Reason: There is a exclusive update only available through the EA App that helps the game work on modern hardware/computers compared to when the game was made.

Note: If going the EA App route, you can just do the 4gb patch on it mentioned in the 3rd option and be good to go.

4. Get the game through GOG.

Reason: Alternative if you don't want the EA App. Just as easy to apply the 4gb patch to it as it is on the EA App.

[Orion Invictus]

Originally posted by Fictus22:

Installing it on your nvme drive will only benefit your loading times. If your not too concerned with how long the game takes to load a save or new area I would say don't worry about it. Anyways I have a few things you could try if your up to it.

1. Go to your game install folder's redist folder to run DXSetup (In the DirectX folder), physx and vcredist exes to install the software on them. Try and see if that corrects your issue.

Reason: Sometimes steam misses these or doesn't run them properly during setup.

2. Go to site in the link below and follow along with it's "modding video step-by-step tutorial for DA:O" from the beginning to the 4gb Patch. After doing so, see if your problem is corrected.

https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/5989

Reason: The game still is limited to using 1 - 2 gb of RAM since it was originally released. Due to newer graphical settings, DLC and various tweaks found in the present version the game requires more RAM than it was designed. The method shown in the tutorial is the correct way to apply the 4gb patch on Steam.

3. Get the game through the EA App

Reason: There is a exclusive update only available through the EA App that helps the game work on modern hardware/computers compared to when the game was made.

Note: If going the EA App route, you can just do the 4gb patch on it mentioned in the 3rd option and be good to go.

4. Get the game through GOG.

Reason: Alternative if you don't want the EA App. Just as easy to apply the 4gb patch to it as it is on the EA App.

Thank you. I know the only reason to install on an NVME is to get faster loading times. The real question is: is it worth it? The HDD where I install smaller/older games has a read speed of about 100 MB/s, which isn't great, but it's good enough for them. Will DA:O's loading times increase significantly if I do that? I only ask because my NVME has a read/write speed of about 5000 MB/s and it still feels like it's loading too slowly, which leads me to believe/conclude the game isn't using the NVME to its full potential.

I'll try 1 and 2, since it's a little late to get the game through the EA App or GOG. I'm past the return window at this point, and I doubt Steam will accept "I wanna buy this somewhere else" as a good excuse to refund it.

Side-note, I knew EA was ♥♥♥♥♥♥, but I never expected "patch that makes the game work isn't available on other stores" ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ out of them.

[Fictus22]

I have installed the game on both a HDD and NVME in the past and I do notice the NVME is a tad quicker vs the HDD with roughly the same read/write speeds. is it really worth it though? Well in my personal opinion, that will be a no. Now if you seriously graphically modded the game I would say NVME would be best. Either way you go about it there will be spikes in loading times depending on how long you have been playing in a single session and where in the game you are in.

If you need help with 1 and 2 I will gladly walk you though it if needed. As far as refunding goes you'd be surprised how understanding they can be regarding this game. Steam has had many issues with the game and are used to this. Though if you still don't want to I totally understand and respect that.

[Whitey]

This fixes a lot of people's problems.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=233222451

[Orion Invictus]

I've installed the patch and maxed out the graphics again. Time will tell if everything is fixed.