Mass Effect 3 Leviathan DLC Freeze at Dr. Bryson's Lab

[negnihs]

I recently bought ME3, Citadel, and Leviathan, but when I go to dock at Dr. Bryson's Lab for the first time (after receiving  the message from Admiral Hackett) the loading screen freezes the moment the game auto saves. I have already tried a repair install, cleaned my dns, and used the CCleaner, and still nothing works. Here are a few questions:

1. Has anyone else encountered this at all in any instance, at any point in the game?

2. The DLC worked just fine in a previous imported save file from ME2, but on my new import (the only difference was the new one had LotSB and Kasumi in ME2 completed, the first one did not have them downloaded at all) I am seeing the issue. Could it be the save file itself?

3. Is there any way to see if my Leviathan DLC file is corrupt? If so, is there a way to repair the DLC other than the "repair game" feature, as that did not work for me.

Thank you in advance

[BattleBorn065 · Accepted solution]

There is a way around this. Unfortunately it means to delete the DLC. I too have had this problem, it is really frustrating. The good news is that you won't have to start the game over, you just won't be able to play Leviathan. The good news is that you will not have to uninstall and reinstall the game.

I agree that it may not be a ME3/EA/Bioware issue, I think it is Win 10. It did start happening after the upgrade.

Here's what you need to do
1. Back up your game save(s) (Always do this to be safe.)
You need to get the save edit program link below:
http://forum.bioware.com/topic/275079-gibbed-save-editor-for-me3-info-thread/

2. go to your documents folder, open Bioware, Mass Effect 3 then save, select your current game (if you have more than one game save). Back that save up.
3. Run the Gibbed Save Editor, select game save, (It'll list your current game) (I typically select whatever save is on the top. Just remember which you saved the edit to. When you run the game, you'll need to load that particular save for the edit to work. Otherwise it'll be looking for the DLC and tell you it isn't installed.
4. Select Raw Tab. Look for "Dependent DLC". Highlight it. On the far right you'll see 3 dots, click on that. A new window will open with all your installed DLC listed. Highlight "Leviathan"
On the bottom left of the window, you'll have two opetions, "Add" and "Remove"
Select "Remove" This will take the DLC out of your game save. Save to the "save you edited"
5. Go to This PC/OS (C\Program Files(x86)\Origin Games\Mass Effect 3\BIOGame\DLC and delete the DLC_EXP_Pack001 folder (This is the folder)
If you did it correctly, the game should run without a hitch.

NOTE: Please make sure that you back up your game save just to be safe and if something is done wrong. Otherwise you'll have to start the game over.

[EA_David]

Do you have an earlier save that you can load and try again? I suspect the issue is with the save file itself. 

So to answer your questions. 

1: Yes, we occasionally see issues like this.

2. As mentioned, It might be the file itself. 

3. The repair should have done the job, if the issue was a damaged file. 

[CommanderAngel1]

I have the same problem.  This has never happened before, and I got the DLC when it first came out, so this must be a new issue.

I really don't want to have to start all over, since I'm halfway through the Geth-Quarian arc (late game) and I would very much like to be able to fix this.

I have already sent three error reports, but I have received no response thus far.

[CommanderAngel1]

I found the file in question, it's just one massive file, named:  "Default.sfar" (no quotes) in the DLC folder under "DLC_EXP_Pack001" (no quotes)

It is 1,524,648 Kilobytes in size, which matches the size of the DLC, but I have no idea how to fix it.

[mog100]

I'm also having this issue.  I'm playing through the games again.  This wasn't an issue on Windows 8.  I recently upgraded to Windows 10.  It doesn't even work in compatibility mode though.  It is kind of frustrating.

[mog100]

I've tried the repair option, as well as starting a new game, importing a previous mass effect 3 character, where I know I completed this content, and the game still freezes the instant it auto-saves and tries to load Dr. Byson's lab.  There seems to be something substantial happening here.  However, I'm worried that you won't even address it, since the game itself is over 3 years old.

[Fnorpan]

I have the exact same problem and like you I have tried everything. The funny part for me is that this is an isolated event. It worked fine when I played through it a couple of weeks ago during an other campaign (paragon femshep, now I'm playing renegade femshep). I almost couldn't get DLC Omega to work this round either but it hoped online after shutting down "origin in the game". 

As I usually tend to play all my DLC's (except for citadel "shore leave") ASAP this is buggin' the hell out of me. 

I unistalled and reinstalled, tried every darn setting possible with graphics, compatability modes and administrator rights, but game still freezes and makes me have to "Pull the plug" on the computor to even get out of it. Hardrebooting is getting annoying. I've tried starting the game after major missions hopin' it'll start but nothing. Need help, I'm fresh out of ideas.

Running win 10 on laptop (HP elitebook, not the ultimate gamemachine but it works)

[mog100]

I'm really thinking this is a Windows 10 issue.  I didn't have this problem until I upgraded my laptop to Windows 10. Direct EA help is never available when I can contact them. :/

[Fnorpan]

Might be a win10 issue but it's not all the time. I've run win10 beta for over a year playin ME 1-3 as well as DA-series with mostly no problem at all. Upgraded to full version of win10 when it became available and still played my last campaign without a hitch in any DLC. This time around though... weird to say the least.
Anyway. I'm hopin for a solution and until then I just have to cope without Leviathan (bummer)

Have fun!

[Amztizzle]

I'm having the exact same issue and I'm also running Windows 10. I installed the Leviathan DLC and as soon as I go the the labs on the citadel it freezes. So I tried to repair it and then suddenly it messed up the rest of my DLCs (N7 Edition ones and Citadel) it said that it could authorise all of them. So basically it wouldn't load any of my saved so I had to reinstall all Mass Effect 3. Luckily this fixed the other DLCs but Leviathan is still doing the same thing.