EA Downloader, WTF only 6 months to redownload game unless you pay more money?!?!

[RangerXML]

Err, sorry man, but you should remove those links. I don't think that site is considered friendly here!

Thanx for the link though!

DUDE, I just finished d/l Northern Strick from EA d/l and its a plain executable!!!

[193d DCAT1]

If EA is going to charge me to redownload a game, they should give me clear instructions on how I can make my own backups of the games. Then it will be my own damn fault if I have to pay the $5.99 in the future. Otherwise they are just ripping me off every time I buy a new computer, my hard drive goes bad, or one of their patches messes up my game and I have to reinstall!

[RangerXML]

If EA is going to charge me to redownload a game, they should give me clear instructions on how I can make my own backups of the games. Then it will be my own damn fault if I have to pay the $5.99 in the future. Otherwise they are just ripping me off every time I buy a new computer, my hard drive goes bad, or one of their patches messes up my game and I have to reinstall!

Go to your main HDD (C:\) and find

C:\ProgramData\Electronic Arts\EADM\Cache\{#########}

for example Northern Strike is:

C:\ProgramData\Electronic Arts\EADM\cache\{ do not share this # }\bf2142_bp1\setup.exe

you'll see clearly labeled (thank you for once EA) folders which contain now (not back in EA Link) setup.exe files which you can burn to disc. WOOT WOOT!


Guess something good came outta this.

[Namakan]

what the hell.....

[Shalashaska]

I have Northern Strike installed and working, and have done for quite a while now, but i cannot find no NS exe in my EADM cache, the whole cache folder is only 5mb in size, so it is not there.

I have not had to reinstall 2142 or northern strike since the new EADM came along, last time i downloaded and installed it was thru the old EA link, and the new EADM rightly claims that it is downloaded and installed, but i cant make the backup of the exe because its not in the EADM folder and it wont let me redownload it because its allready installed.

How do i make a backup of NS?


And second question, does EADM no longer deal with patches, because my downloaded 1.25 patch is no longer shown in the dl manager, and ea store doent have it, so has this feature been dropped?, since EA link used to deal with patches.


And thirdly, isnt what they are doing illegal, they are changing the terms of the agreement that customers agreed to when purchasing games thru EA link.

[RangerXML]

It lists BF2 1.41 patch for me, but like you I already have BF2142 1.25 patch installed and it is not listed, so it might have something to do with whats installed and whats not. I have to redownload NS and all the other boosters 'cause they weren't installed and I had to wipe my notebook to put XP back on after Vista.

[TheSpearman]

I've just tried this myself and lo and behold it does indeed offer only six months. This pretty much means the end of the EA Downloader/Store since no one in their right mind would buy this way now. Maybe someone with a Slashdot/Digg account could post this and maybe shame EA into reversing this.

[Wizrdwarts]

How do I back it up? I opened the file with the "{######}" but it's empty. I had NS before EADM came out, so did it wipe my cache or something?

[Basil.]

i found my 2142 booster in C:##########
2142 and bf2 boosters in c/program/Electronic Arts/EA Downloader/cache/my ea account name.

Hope that helps

[RangerXML]

And you can't re-download it?

[Wizrdwarts]

I already have it downloaded but there's no install/cache files.

[sddo]

Thanks a lot for posting this info about the backup files. I had heard about this new EA Link policy, but between the hellgate london beta and bioshock I forgot this would apply to me. I just reinstalled XP last night though and realized that the NS booster was part of that mess and panicked a little. I mean hell, 6.95 is practically buying the booster again.

Once again thanks for digging and helping out the rest of us.

[Ghost 1800]

And thirdly, isnt what they are doing illegal, they are changing the terms of the agreement that customers agreed to when purchasing games thru EA link.

sadly no it isn't, they said in the EULA that they were free to change it at any time.

Edit: and how am I supposed to download the .exe again so that I can reinstall it in case I have to reinstall 2142 for some reason...

[Vreki]

sadly no it isn't, they said in the EULA that they were free to change it at any time.

At least in Denmark, you can not grant a customer less rights than guaranteed by our customer protection laws.
Even if they sign an Eula in blood.

I suspect that selling me unlimited downloads of a game (NS) and then revoking it less than a year later is a violation of that law.

The NS download boxes sold in stores will probably also be a problem, since I am pretty certain that the download limit isn't mentioned on those boxes.

There could easily pass half a year without me visiting EA link / Store, and then suddenly all my purchases would be gone?
Nice!

[Ghost 1800]

then bring it to the attention of whatever officials are supposed to deal with that sort of thing, here in the U.S. we're pretty much screwed...