What is this for?

If you own the complete version of ME:A for Steam and are not able to access the extra goodies like the paint jobs for the Nomad, the casual outfits for Ryder and the rapidly outdated extra armors and you've delved into the games folder, you've seen the file that contains your pet pyjak, you yearn for it in your game so you can negotiate the threesome of your dreams with Kesh and Vetra as Sara Ryder. Or you just want to save yourself the headache of shuffling through countless discussions, ea posts, youtube vids and just get to the fixing because you, like me, have the "I have to fix this thing that's right in front of me but not working for some stupid reason no matter how long it takes even if I really don't want the thing that I'm trying to fix" virus...

What's the issue and what's the fix?

Issue: You've bought the complete edition of ME: A from Steam knowing that some way, some how, Origin will be involved and it'll cause you misery. In this particular case, it's redeeming the Deluxe DLC stuff. In Ryder's room on the Tempest by the email terminal, there's supposed to be a console on the right hand corner of the desk that has an option "Special Delivery Cache" which should light up when you get close which allows you to redeem the various digital goodies that comes with the deluxe and above editions. The very annoying thing for me was two-fold.

For starters I wasn't aware that I actually needed to activate that console as I, wrongly, assumed that the single player stuff would auto-load like most games I've played... the assumption is wrong... never underestimate the convolution that a game that's gone full EA/Origin is capable of... Once I figured out that you need to activate the console, to my chagrin, I could see the godsdamned thing sitting there but it wouldn't do anything/didn't have the use option.

Now, given that the ThinOrigin client is notorious for borking any steam bought game it touches in innumerable random ways, if this fix doesn't work IDK what to tell you.

I tried pretty much everything else including thorough full uninstall/reinstall and more to get the game to just gimme the lackluster DLC content so I can move on with my "life". That being said, if this doesn't work, there are many different solutions that might work in discussions here, on reddit or elsewhere.

The Fix
• Go to Library page via the Steam launcher and find Andromeda
• Right click on Andromeda
• Hover over Manage Game and click browse local files.
• Locate MassEffectAndromeda.exe
• Right click the exe and click properties.
• Click on the compatibility tab.
• Un-check the "run windows in compatibility mode" option.
• Hit Apply.
• Close windows explorer and launch the game.
• Go to your room on the tempest and you should now see the option "Special Delivery Cache" light up when you walk over to the desk with the email terminal.
• Activate the special delivery cache and you should now be getting a message letting you know that you've got your stuff.

WARNING: Make sure you have enough space in your inventory before redeeming these items! If your inventory is full you will either lose the items you're redeeming or it'll make room by deleting something you're already carrying. This is something that I saw repeated several times during my long, anti-climactic journey.

Note: This will redeem the single player stuff, although, the pet Pyjack requires some extra steps, namely checking email to get the quest to find the Pyjack. There are innumerable YouTube guides available to walk you through getting it. Also, according to Ody via the comment linked above, they think that the issue is caused because running in compatibility mode stops the game from properly detecting the dlc. IDK if that's what's happening or not, though that makes sense, all I care about is it worked and thus ended my headache.

DISCLAIMER: This is a result of my tinkering, I have no issues doing things like this despite it potentially risking my rig because if I don't know how to fix it, my OCD will force me to focus on the issue until it's fixed. This might cause hardware problems for you if your specs aren't good enough/if you don't have the exact same set up as me. Try this at your own risk, you have been warned, I will not be responsible if it blows up your PC, or mugs your neighbor's chihuahua or implodes the head of that snooty elderly woman down the street that always complains to everyone about what every other neighbor is doing to feel like she's actually not a nosy old bat that no one likes. YMMV

Just thought I'd add this bonus for anyone who's curious/interested and is a bit of a tinkerer.

Andromeda supports raytracing. You can enable it via console commands, or, imo, the easier way to enable it is to navigate to Andromeda's steam folder as mentioned above, create a new text file (make sure you have extensions set to visible so your file isn't saved as a .txt), open it and copy/paste the following:


Then save as user.cfg

What this does is runs those console commands at game start-up. Best part? It's not paywalled behind an RTX card. I've a GTX 1650 and it works perfectly fine! IDK if it'll work with AMD cards though, I guess that depends on how it's coded.

I would probably not try that with an AMD card come to think of it, not unless you don't mind your rig being a guinea pig... if you *DO* have an AMD video card and decide to try this, please let me know if it worked! I'd be happy to know, although if it causes issues with your rig, I can't provide any sort of tech support (hence the disclaimer at the beginning of this section).

The thumbnail was not my work, all credit goes to the site I downloaded it from Here[knowyourmeme.com]

Once more, props to Ody for the actual fix. They came up with it, I'm just signal boosting it.

The sacrifice of my sanity. Oh thou shalt be missed in my lonesome cast ashore on an Isle in the Bay of Insanity.

This also goes out to my recently deceased four legged friend Reiki, my familiar and companion for the last decade. You are missed my sassy kitteh. May your road be ever-filled with fish and other cats to boss around. You literally saved my life not but two weeks ago. Thank you for that.