This post is a condensation of various page-long threads of guesswork, official statements, and trial-and-error experience pertaining especially to the matter of uploading characters with Dragon Age: Origins (DA:O) and its expansion pack Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening (DA:OA). Relevant technical problems will be discussed in detail here, but for problems of a more general nature, see the unofficial site FAQ. Suggestions for corrections and additions are welcome, though preferred via PM to ease management.
This post is aimed at DA:O. Unless explicitly noted otherwise it can be assumed that information here pertains only to DA:O and DA:OA, and the latter is mentioned only if and where behaviour differs from DA:O. Mass Effect 2 (ME2) does not upload anything and is unlikely ever to because of game architecture.
For the purposes of this post, the PC and Mac versions of DA:O are considered identical.
Thank you to everyone that has contributed, directly or indirectly, to this post.
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1 Background Knowledge1.1 Persona Concept
1.1.1 Persona Page Updating
1.2 Achievements
1.3 Uploading
1.4 Storage
2 Common Technical Problems
2.1 Excess Personas
2.2 Hark, Console Players
2.3 Accented Characters, Foreign Game Versions
3 Persona Management
3.1 Deleting Characters and Screenshots
3.2 Diagnostics Page Run-down
4 Error Codes
4.1 1000
4.2 1001
4.3 1002
4.4 1003
4.5 1004
4.6 1005
5 Version History
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1 Background Knowledge1.1 Persona Concept
When an EA account is accessed by DA:O or ME2 the game attempts to find an existing persona (on a per-game basis) or create a new one. For consoles this is the Xbox Gamertag or PS3 PSN, for PCs it's a generic name identifying the game, followed by a unique ID. Uploaded data (e.g. character sheets and screenshots) is then associated with that specific persona (not account). For every game on every type of platform that has accessed a given EA account there should be one persona. When viewing a user's DA:O persona page the default persona is the older one, and any additional ones can be accessed via the link beneath the username (which is displayed regardless of persona count). There is currently no way to specify a default persona manually.
1.1.1 Persona Page Updating
The persona page is not a real-time representation of characters on the server. At regular intervals, data is sourced from the master server to slave servers, but only if that data has been requested. If a persona page has never been viewed it will never update. Updates are given priority based on the traffic to a given persona page. This setup saves a great deal of resources at the cost of some update delay. A single view should mark a persona page for updating, and users can view their own persona page to this end, but precisely how priority is calculated is unknown.
1.2 Achievements
Achievements are stored on a separate server that sees much less traffic than the one storing character and screenshot data. This is the reason they appear practically immediately. Like everything else, achievements are uniquely attached to personas, but they cannot be deleted or otherwise removed once uploaded.
1.3 Uploading
DA:O is particular about when files are uploaded, though the details are a little sketchy. Screenshots can be uploaded manually via the in-game menu but also upload automatically when taken, provided the options for taking and uploading screenshots automatically are enabled. Characters are only uploaded following an explicit save (i.e. not auto- or quicksave) and only if specific conditions are met, such as story progression, levelling up, or exchanging equipped items. Only the DA:O Character Creator allows for manual uploading of characters. For troubleshooting upload problems, see 4.1. Console players, see 2.2.
Nothing is uploaded if a persona's storage has been filled.
1.4 Storage
Persona storage is limited to 50 files; or 100MB, but in practice that limit cannot be reached. A screenshot is one file. A single, complete character is four files: one character sheet, one portrait, one avatar (this is the large image), and one timeline. Mind that the DA:O Character Creator does not upload any story data (timeline).
When a persona runs out of storage space, DA:O will upload no more files. No warnings are issued. See 3.2 for details on checking persona status.
NB: In early November 2010 the storage limit was observed to have been lowered from 100 files and 350MB, respectively. There was no pruning of excess files as a result of this, however, the change affected the way the diagnostics page operates. See 3.2 for further details.
2 Common Technical Problems
2.1 Excess Personas
This appears to be exclusive to PCs. For no apparent reason, additional personas are created (and subsequently used). The change is irreversible. If data does not seem to be uploading, especially if it has in the past, check for this bug (see 1.1). Until such a time that users can set their default personas manually, nothing can be done about this inconvenience.
2.2 Hark, Console Players
The console versions of DA:O suffer from a bug that can cause sporadic uploading, or no uploading at all. This is a problem with the game, not the website, and it can only be fixed in a future patch. Users are encouraged to contact EA support in order to give a better idea of the magnitude of the problem. While the PC version can show similar symptoms it is not believed to have this particular bug.
2.3 Accented Characters, Foreign Game Versions
Although not addressed in the patch notes, patch 1.04 is believed to correct this issue.
There is strong evidence to suggest that accents in place names, codex entries, etc. are not properly escaped ("translated") in some versions of the game when saving, corrupting the XML files so that they cannot be processed by the website. The result is an inability to render the file contents, similar to when the files haven't uploaded at all, despite the diagnostics page reporting that the file does exist. Toolson provides a work-around in his thread above. Additionally, special characters in the Documents path may prevent uploading entirely and can only be fixed by moving the folder.
3 Persona Management
Users have access to three additional functions on their own DA:O persona page: two for managing (i.e. deleting) uploaded characters and screenshots, one for displaying persona status.
3.1 Deleting Characters and Screenshots
Due to the heavy strain on the storage server tracking character data, requests to delete a character or a screenshot may not be registered. If data is not successfully deleted, wait and try again. Until BioWare finds a solution to this problem, patience is key: persistency has proven reliable if slow. For a detailed explanation on how to effectively delete characters, see Darth Midville's How to delete unwanted characters & files from your profile. There is no other way to delete files.
Deleting files on the website has no effect on local files, and the other way around. Uploaded files cannot be used to reconstruct neither characters nor screenshots.
3.2 Diagnostics Page Run-down
The diagnostics page is the closest to a real-time represenation of a persona available. Following the storage limit change detailed in 1.4 the diagnostics page disregards sourced screenshots. In other words, once a screenshot is uploaded it will count towards the file limit until that screenshot can be seen in the screenshot album, after which it will disappear from the diagnostics page. In practice this means the file limit now applies only to character files, with the catch that no screenshots may be uploaded if the storage has been filled with character files.
The diagnostics page first lists all detected characters, then a new-screenshot count, and finally an overview of storage.
- The character overview shows each character by name; the status for each of the four expected files; the total number of files tied to that character; and any errors for that specific character. Below the list is a summary of all error codes and their meaning. At the time of writing there is no further information to be gleaned from the FAQ, which the error codes themselves link to.
- The screenshot overview only displays a total count of uploaded, unsourced screenshots. Screenshots that can be seen in the screenshot album are not counted.
- The storage overview displays a total count of all files (sum of all character files plus unsourced screenshots) and how much total space is used by those files. The in-game screenshot uploader is always consistent with the file count reported here.
4 Error Codes
There are six error codes in total, numbered 1000 through 1005.
4.1 1000 - No characters were found in your on-line storage.
More an observation than an error, this means that no character files whatsoever have been found on the given persona. This can be caused by the game not properly uploading data or successfully deleting all characters. If the former is the case:
- Investigate the existence of multiple personas, see 2.1.
- Ensure persona storage has not been filled, see 3.2.
- Ensure the EA account specified in-game is the one linked to the BioWare account in question, for instance by installing DLC acquired through that BioWare account. Skip if achievements are uploading correctly.
- Ensure the game is set to upload data, either from within the game or in the configuration utility.
- Ensure the DAUpdaterSvc.Service.exe service is running. See 3.1.4, 3.1.3.2, and 3.2.1-3.2.4 in the Redeemed DLC Unofficial Troubleshooting and FAQ thread.
- Ensure the following ports are open: TCP: 443, 8000, 18081; UDP: 8001; both: 80. For users behind a router without the knowledge of how to configure it, look for the model (or one that sounds like it from the same manufacturer) here for a guide.
- Ensure that at least patch 1.02a is installed.
- Run the game from the launcher, not directly from the game executable or via a console enabling shortcut.
- Owners of localised games, see 2.3
Whatever the cause, this error is not indicative of problems with the website.
4.2 1001 - No character xml file uploaded from the game to the on-line storage server.
As far as displaying characters go, this is the only critical file. If it is missing, that character, regardless of any other files, will not show up neither on the persona page nor for deletion, but it will still appear on the diagnostics page if any of the three other files exist. In contrast, no other file is needed for a character to appear on the persona page or for deletion. While this file may fail to upload occasionally it does not seem to be affected by the earlier mentioned console version exclusive bug, meaning it will upload eventually. In fact, this file and the timeline are the primary causes for error 1005. See 4.1 for suggestions on improving chances of uploading data.
If an attempt to delete a character successfully deletes this file but not all other files, such that the character is no longer displayed anywhere but the diagnostics page, see 3.1.
4.3 1002 - No portrait image uploaded from the game to the on-line storage server.
The portrait image is the file that can be used in place of regular 2D avatars ("portraits") on the fora. It is also displayed on the persona page. See 4.1 for suggestions on improving chances of uploading data.
As of early January 2010, already uploaded portraits have been randomly disappearing from the website. There are no clues as to the underlying cause but it does not otherwise prevent the game from simply uploading the portrait again. Since May 2010, occasionally avatars have been replaced by screenshots or different avatars, even uploaded by other people. This is not temporary or a cache issue, the files have been physically confused. It may only be solved by uploading the avatar again. Console users that are not able to upload the avatar again must delete the character.
NB: currently, console versions that do not upload portraits and avatars for a particular character during or immediately after character creation will never upload the pictures for said character. In the meantime, successful uploading is no guarantee that the game will continue to upload pictures for that character in the future. As far as anyone knows, this is not intentional. If the portrait has any importance, create the character, let it upload, and confirm that the portrait has been uploaded. If it has not, create a new character and proceed as before. This may or may not be related to 2.2.
4.4 1003 - No avatar image uploaded from the game to the on-line storage server.
The avatar is the character image displayed in the in-game character sheet. It is only shown on each character's individual page, though frequently out of date. Also see 4.3.
4.5 1004 - No story xml file uploaded from the game to the on-line storage server.
This file is only uploaded by the game, not the Character Creator. It tracks developments such as journal states and codex entries. It is accessed via the Story button on each character's individual page and serves to give an idea of how far in the game that character has gotten. See 4.1 for suggestions on improving chances of uploading data.
NB: several users have reported mismatches, including major story spoilers, between actual game state and that reported by the timeline. To avoid spoilers users are advised against viewing this data until after having completed DA:O at least once. It is unknown whether this bug occurs when the timeline is saved or uploaded, but all accounts claim that the timeline contains codex entries the in-game codex does not.
4.6 1005 - Extra unexpected files uploaded for this character.
This error is caused by a bug in the game leading it to upload too many files for a given character, usually character and story XMLs. The wording of the message is important. The server expects to find exactly four files per character. If one character has more than four files, that character is given error 1005, regardless of how many files other characters have. It is implied that the error is triggered by the file count for that character rather than the existence of duplicate files, meaning it is possible to have, say, four character XML files and not receive the error.
Unlike the other errors, this error has no visibly negative effect except if the total file count reaches the limit, in which case no more files can be uploaded. As long as this bug exists, attempting to keep down the file count for an active character is a waste of time unless strictly necessary. The process of deleting characters is explained in 3.1. On the other hand, should a persona be filled with undeletable files (i.e. portraits, avatars, timelines), however unlikely, users can do nothing about it themselves.
5 Version History
1.00 - 2010-02-17
- Initial version.
- 4.3 and 4.4 had been swapped.
- Added 2.3: theory on impact of accented characters.
- Expanded 1.2, 1.3, and 4.1 to cover consequences of filled storage.
- Elaboration of a few points.
- Expanded 4.3 with note on disappearing portraits.
- Expanded 4.6 to cover storage filled with undeletable files.
- Expanded 2.3 to cover special characters in directory paths.
- Reviewed for consistency in wording and formatting.
- Expanded 4.3 to cover recent observations.
- DA:OA acknowledged where applicable.
- Colour coded.
- Revision 1.11 misnumbered.
- Expanded 1.4 to cover possible >100 files storage capacity.
- Expanded 4.1 with reference to 2.3.
- Cleaned up language.
- Expanded 4.3 to cover foreign portraits.
- Cleaned up language.
- Version history reviewed for consistency.
- Adjusted 1.4 to reflect new file limit.
- Expanded 2.3 with reported fix.
- Cleaned up language.
- Local deep-linking.
- Clarified introduction.
- Rewrote 1.1.1.
- Updated 1.4, 3, and 3.2 to reflect current, recently observed behaviour.
- Restructured 2.3 to necessitate less reading.
- Clarified relation between local and server files in 3.1.
- Revision 1.22 incorrectly referenced section 1.1.1 instead of section 1.4.
Bearbeitet von Snoteye, 17 November 2010 - 04:43 .
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