Dragon Age II Freezes on loading screen

[Crimsy3366]

I purchased and downloaded Dragon Age II about a year ago and have always been able to play it with no problem (a little lag at one point but I think my pc was just being slow). Today I downloaded the Exiled Prince DLC and hit a few roadblocks, most of which I resolved on my own.
The game is now freezing on the loading screen at the very beginning when Hawke and their family is going to Kirkwall. I have gone on countless old forums. Here's a list of everything I've tried:
-uninstalling origin
-uninstalling da2
-running da2 as administrator
-restarting my computer
-updating the game through origin
-repairing the game through origin
-moving all of the .cab files in the install folder into a separate folder
-turning the graphics on low
And honestly so many other things I can't even remember. I've been working on this for 5 hours lmao please if anyone has any other advice, I'd appreciate it.

[mcsupersport · Accepted solution]

It is possible that something in the DLC changed, upgraded or modified certain code in the base game and now you can't play.....it is also possible that you updated the Graphics driver since the last time you played and now it doesn't work.  It is also possible a operating system update changed something or a host of other things, at this point in time, there is no 100% answer to what changed without rolling back changes to the last time you played and see what works.  You can try removing the DLC, repairing the game and seeing if it works, but again, you are trying to play a game on a system not designed for it.  You may try over at the Intel Graphics forums and get some good advice on how to make it work, because not many games ARE designed to run on Intel graphics and people spend a good amount of time making them work.

Graphics chip in this case is built into your CPU and in integral to the Laptop.  IF you were using a full tower desktop, you could have the option to install a graphics card manufactured by AMD or Nvidia and thus make it work, but laptops are a take it or leave it proposition 99.9% of the time.  IF you are going to try gaming on a laptop, you really need to upgrade to one that comes with one of the dedicated graphics devices, usually Nvidia for gaming, and not have one from INTEL as the only option.  Even then problems occur due to the system using a Hybrid system, but for the most part it works. 

[mcsupersport]

What road blocks did you hit and how did you get past them??  Don't know if related but it is one thing to check.

How about a DxDiag file so we can see hardware and some errors if any listed in your system.

Are you running any mods for DA2?

Have you tried Compatibility mode settings for DA2?? 

Have you tried disabling Origin in game??

[Crimsy3366]

@mcsupersport

I mainly had issues redownloading the dlc once I tried uninstalling and reinstalling origin and DA2 and I just had to go into Origin and turn Safe Mode Downloading off. Then the game wouldn't fill fullscreen so I just went into the settings folder on my computer and changed this row in the DA2 document that was originally at "Fullscreen=0" to "Fullscreen=1".

I don't have any mods for DA2 and I tried compatibility mode settings, but I haven't tried disabling Origin in game, I'll try that right now. 

I attatched the DxDiag folder. Thank you so much for being willing to just help, I absolutely love this game, but I'm horrible with technology!

----------------------------EDIT----------------------------------

I just tried disabling Origin in game and it still didn't work. Hopefully looking at the DxDiag folder will sprak some kind of solution. I just checked it and I do see the file DragonAge2.exe pops up a lot under ERROR but I have no idea what to do to fix that. 

[Crimsy3366]

@mcsupersport

I mainly had issues redownloading the dlc once I tried uninstalling and reinstalling origin and DA2 and I just had to go into Origin and turn Safe Mode Downloading off. Then the game wouldn't fill fullscreen so I just went into the settings folder on my computer and changed this row in the DA2 document that was originally at "Fullscreen=0" to "Fullscreen=1".

I don't have any mods for DA2 and I tried compatibility mode settings.

I attatched the DxDiag folder. Thank you so much for being willing to just help, I absolutely love this game, but I'm horrible with technology!

I just tried disabling Origin in game and it still didn't work. Hopefully looking at the DxDiag folder will sprak some kind of solution. I just checked it and I do see the file DragonAge2.exe pops up a lot under ERROR but I have no idea what to do to fix that. 

[mcsupersport]

Sadly, it lists only Intel HD graphics as your video card/chip.  This isn't anyway close to min specs for the game.  IF your machine has another graphics card, then it isn't showing on your DxDiag and if google is correct your HP Envy doesn't have one.  Basically, the game isn't designed to run on your hardware, if it does, you are lucky and if it doesn't that is kinda expected.  If you desire to get it to run, you will need to spend some time googling and searching the Intel graphics forums about how to get DA2 to run on this hardware.  Only real advice I can give you is if you wish to actually game on PCs, you will need to buy/build a machine that is designed to do so, and that means a good CPU, an AMD or Nvidia Graphics device, good ram, and decent HDs(SSDs).

Sorry.

[Crimsy3366]

@mcsupersport that's so weird and doesn't really make sense because I've played DA2 on this same PC several times. Do you think it's just the DLC that is what's making it unable to be played? You mentioned something about a card/chip, is that something that I could replace with a different one that could support the game?

[mcsupersport · Accepted solution]

It is possible that something in the DLC changed, upgraded or modified certain code in the base game and now you can't play.....it is also possible that you updated the Graphics driver since the last time you played and now it doesn't work.  It is also possible a operating system update changed something or a host of other things, at this point in time, there is no 100% answer to what changed without rolling back changes to the last time you played and see what works.  You can try removing the DLC, repairing the game and seeing if it works, but again, you are trying to play a game on a system not designed for it.  You may try over at the Intel Graphics forums and get some good advice on how to make it work, because not many games ARE designed to run on Intel graphics and people spend a good amount of time making them work.

Graphics chip in this case is built into your CPU and in integral to the Laptop.  IF you were using a full tower desktop, you could have the option to install a graphics card manufactured by AMD or Nvidia and thus make it work, but laptops are a take it or leave it proposition 99.9% of the time.  IF you are going to try gaming on a laptop, you really need to upgrade to one that comes with one of the dedicated graphics devices, usually Nvidia for gaming, and not have one from INTEL as the only option.  Even then problems occur due to the system using a Hybrid system, but for the most part it works. 

[BaderSherbaji]

Hello! Hope you guys are well! 

Dragon Age II was working perfectly fine for me, up until I downloaded some of the free packs Origin have (DLCs).

Now, whenever I try to launch the game and load my save, it keeps crashing! I can't understand why it is doing so! 

Please help - let me know what information I have to provide so you can get a full scope of the issue here.

I appreciate your time!