Mass Effect 3 Message Board  

What is preloading?

When a customer's product is available in Origin in a preload state, the customer will be able to download the product ahead of the product release date. This will save the user time when the game becomes available to unlock, unpack, and install.

When will I be charged for the purchase?

You will be charged for the game on the date of pre-load release, and your statements will reflect this.

When can I download the game?

When a customer logs into Origin, the product available for preload will be available to download. The customer can download the encrypted game file. The download time will vary based on network connection for the customer. For example, a 4 gig download can take a few hours based on typical DSL speeds, while it can take 30 minutes on a T1 line.

How soon can I play the game?

Once the encrypted game file is downloaded, Origin will display a timer informing the user when the product will be "unlocked". This timer appears on the lower right hand corner of the product row within Origin. The timer will count down to the time the product unlocks. The product will unlock automatically when the unlock date for the product is reached.

Can I play immediately?

Certain newer products will be ready to play immediately after download. Other products may require an addition step.

Once the product unlocks, the customer will need to "decrypt" the downloaded file. This will usually take 15-30 minutes depending on computer specifications. Origin will show the product as "decrypting".

Once the product is decrypted, the product will "unpack" the compressed file to the game installer folder. This can take another 15-30 minutes depending on computer processor speed.

Once the product is unpacked, the customer will be able to "install" the game. Origin will show an "install" button. Clicking on the install button will start the game installer.

Decrypting and Unpacking to start the game installer can take 30-60 minutes depending on the game file size and computer speed.

Game manuals will only be available upon activation of the game.

I love how they make a big deal about being able to pre-load it, when Steam customers have accepted it as the norm for most big titles for a while now.

Good to know for the Origin users though... well, Origin buyers I should say. We're all Origin users now.

Hope Origin isn't doing the same thing as Steam with the pre-download thing.

Example: Left 4 dead 2, 3 days ahead of the release date, pre-download, downloaded content was encrypted. release day, run decryption... constant communication with the Steam servers required. Me and everyone else was doing the same. Steam servers got taxed beyond capacity.

A game that took me some 2.5 hours to 'pre-download' took over 6 hours to decrypt...

And how to you suggest I go about doing that? Steam and origin automatically route me to a server that has the desired content on it. I don't have any control over which one it is. that and I don't know how many servers they have.

Also with the example above, it actually happened and I wasn't the only one with this issue. I was talking to someone from the UK, America and Canada at the time, as we were all good to go for playing some Cooperative in L4D as soon as it came out. heck we even stayed up for it.

all 4 of us had the same issue so it wasn't just isolated to the server I was connected to. Either that or Steam only has one content server.

[Edited by tommygunner70, 3/2/2012 1:19:51 PM]