Mon 18 Aug 2008
Mass Effect is a Role-Playing Game released by Bioware. During the setup (or first run), the game tries to validate the CD Key by contacting Bioware through the Internet.
I noticed that having Vista’s ECN capability enabled can cause the validation to fail. Luckily, most users don’t face the problem as ECN is disabled by default. To check whether ECN is enabled, type in a Command Prompt:
netsh interface tcp show global
So, for those of us who use Vista with ECN, try disabling ECN for the first run of the game. This can be done by opening a Command Prompt as Administrator (done by right clicking on Command Prompt and choosing to Run as Administrator) and typing the following command:
netsh interface tcp set global ecncapability=disabled
Then run the game till it displays the Game Menu.
If you wish, you can re-enabled ECN by typing:
netsh interface tcp set global ecncapability=enabled
The same process may be required while installing the expansion for the game. The problem is most likely due to one of the intermediate routers in the Bioware network not supporting ECN. Mentioning this problem as it can be one of many problems which you could face. The problem is being discussed in the Bioware Community Forum.
Problem detected by using Sysinternals TCPView – SYN SENT not being acknowledged by Bioware Server.
August 19th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Mass Effect sounds like my kind of game. Wish I had time to play it.
November 1st, 2008 at 9:14 am
I had to do this before Crysis Warhead could “phone home” too. I suspect this may be the issue, but I am not sure, with Spore and other PC games that utilize SecureROM DRM copy protection. If, when you run any game for the very first time, after installation, and you receive the following error message: “The game cannot start/The game needs to access the internet in order to verify ownership of this game. Please ensure that your computer is online and try again.”, give the aforementioned netsh command a try (“netsh interface tcp set global ecncapability=disabled”). It worked for me. I am running Vista Ultimate. It is an EA game. Again, it is using SecureROM DRM copy protection. Yes, I had internet connectivitiy. Yes, I tried disabling my firewall (Norton ISS 2008), but it did not work as is not necessary. Good luck!