This gist documents my research into booting up that old EA Origin client and having it working again. It is incomplete and I currently give up for now, and this gist serves as a bit of info dump in case someone (like me) wants to pick this up again in the future.
Those were supported for a short moment after the new Origin 10.x (OriginX) was already out. They didn't include the social features/chat anymore.
Latest version is 9.13.1.35109, however it seems all they did in that update is to brick the app and just display a message for people to update to the new app. It seems the previous version 9.13.1.26771 did not have that.
All known download links of the legacy channel:
- https://origin-a.akamaihd.net/Origin-Client-Download/origin/legacy/OriginUpdate_9_13_1_35109.zip
- https://origin-a.akamaihd.net/Origin-Client-Download/origin/legacy/OriginUpdate_9_13_1_26771.zip
- https://origin-a.akamaihd.net/Origin-Client-Download/origin/legacy/OriginUpdate_9_13_1_22660.zip
- https://origin-a.akamaihd.net/Origin-Client-Download/origin/legacy/OriginUpdate_9_13_0_62213.zip
- https://origin-a.akamaihd.net/Origin-Client-Download/origin/legacy/OriginUpdate_9_13_0_19465.zip
Last version in there was 9.12.2.69376 ( https://origin-a.akamaihd.net/Origin-Client-Download/origin/live/OriginUpdate_9_12_2_60376.zip ).
As the installers are a bit of hit or miss, the most reliable way to test things out seems to be to unpack the update zip into Origin's installation. Then wipe out Origin folder from %appdata%, %localappdata%, and C:\ProgramData, as files from newer Origin will interfere (incompatible web cache from newer Origin will crash older Origin).
Then before starting up Origin, you need to create EACore.ini file at the installation directory with contents:
[Bootstrap]
EnableUpdating=falseAlternatively you can use /noUpdate.
Another useful option to note during testing is /StartOffline, but note that you cannot "login offline" if you didn't already login online at least once and have cached some of your account information locally.
It seems that the login URL has changed a bit between the Origin versions.
- in 9.12 it'd have this format:
https://accounts.ea.com/connect/auth?client_id=ORIGIN_PC&response_type=code id_token&redirect_uri=qrc:///html/login_successful.html&display=origin_client&locale=en_US&nonce=0000&pc_machine_id=00000000000000000000 - in 9.13:
https://accounts.ea.com/connect/auth?client_id=ORIGIN_PC&response_type=code id_token&redirect_uri=qrc:///html/login_successful.html&display=originX/login&locale=en_US&nonce=0000&pclegacy=1&pc_machine_id=00000000000000000000 - in current Origin:
https://accounts.ea.com/connect/auth?client_id=ORIGIN_PC&response_type=code%20id_token&redirect_uri=qrc:///html/login_successful.html&display=originX/login&locale=en_US&nonce=0000&pc_sign=ey...ik
As we can see msot parameters are the same, including redirect_uri.
The display needs to be adjusted to originX/login, otherwise it will fail, which the legacy client was doing already. However the missing property is the new pc_sign, which the current client uses to generate and sign an unique PC machine ID (by func Origin::Services::PlatformService::getMachineId in OriginClient.dll). Old parameter pc_machine_id is gone on the other hand. The legacy client has used pclegacy=1 to support the old client despite these changes, however backend support for this was removed when legacy client was sunsetted.
You can successfully use the PHP script below to change these parameters below, injecting captured pc_sign param from your latest Origin client, and it will work:
// origin_redir.php
<?php
$params = $_GET;
$params['display'] = 'originX/login';
$params['pc_sign'] = '...';
$params['nonce'] = '1501';
header('Location: https://accounts.ea.com' . $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'] . '?' . http_build_query($params));then in C:\ProgramData\Origin\local.xml use key <Setting key="ConnectPortalBaseUrl" value="https://.../origin_redir.php" type="10"/>.
This will cause the Origin login to pop up (instead of failing and falling back to offline login at https://signin.ea.com/p/pc/offline (PS: it doesn't work, and new page is at https://signin.ea.com/p/originX/offline)).
After login you get redirected to location: qrc:/html/login_successful.html#code=QUOxA...&id_token=eYJ.... Also cookies are set with Set-Cookie.
The Origin client is then supposed to read this and make a request to POST https://accounts.ea.com/connect/token. And that's where the old client currently fails, and where I gave up for now.
Post body is supposed to be:
grant_type=authorization_code&code=QUOx...&client_id=ORIGIN_PC&client_secret=UIY...&redirect_uri=qrc:///html/login_successful.html
The log lines are as follows:
86 Mar 15 04:52:41.568 Event Origin::Client::LoginViewController::loginUrl 5440 LoginViewController: loginUrl - getOfflineUrl=false global connection state =true
87 Mar 15 04:52:41.568 Event Origin::Client::LoginViewController::loginUrl 5440 Logging in online
88 Mar 15 04:52:41.568 Event Origin::Client::LoginViewController::loadLoginPage 5440 loadLoginPage[https://.../origin_redir.php/connect/auth]
89 Mar 15 04:52:41.568 Event Origin::Client::LoginViewController::validateOfflineWebApplicationCache 5440 Web application cache path: C:/Users/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/AppData/Local/Origin/Origin
90 Mar 15 04:52:41.584 Event Origin::Client::LoginViewController::show 5440 Show login window
91 Mar 15 04:52:41.599 Event Origin::Client::LoginViewController::closeLoginWindow 5440 Closing login window.
92 Mar 15 04:52:42.881 Event Origin::Client::LoginViewController::onUrlChanged 5440 onUrlChanged: url = [https://signin.ea.com/p/originX/login]
93 Mar 15 04:52:42.974 Event Origin::Client::PageErrorDetector::networkRequestFinished 5440 Load Error 3 (HTTP status 0) for host: www.google-analytics.com
94 Mar 15 04:52:50.483 Event Origin::Client::LoginViewController::onUrlChanged 5440 onUrlChanged: url = [https://signin.ea.com/p/originX/login]
95 Mar 15 04:52:51.177 Event Origin::Client::LoginViewController::onUrlChanged 5440 onUrlChanged: url = [qrc:///html/login_successful.html]
96 Mar 15 04:52:51.177 Event Origin::Client::AuthenticationJsHelper::onLoginSuccess 5440 Successfully logged in: ONLINE
97 Mar 15 04:52:51.193 Event Origin::Services::Session::LoginRegistrationSession::extractCid 5440 Logging in as invisible? = false
98 Mar 15 04:52:51.193 Event Origin::Services::Session::LoginRegistrationSession::retrieveTokens 5440 Initial token retrieval
**99 Mar 15 04:52:51.271 Error Origin::Services::Session::LoginRegistrationSession::onTokensRetrievedError 5440 Tokens Retrieved Error: -1
**100 Mar 15 04:52:51.271 Error Origin::Services::Session::LoginRegistrationSession::onTokensRetrievedError 5440 Tokens Retrieved HTTP status code: 302
**101 Mar 15 04:52:51.271 Error Origin::Services::Session::LoginRegistrationSession::attemptOfflineLogin 5440 Attempting Offline login after REST request failed: -1:9
**102 Mar 15 04:52:51.271 Warning Origin::Services::Session::LoginRegistrationSession::attemptLoginViaOfflineCache 5440 Primary offline key was empty.
**103 Mar 15 04:52:51.271 Error Origin::Services::Session::LoginRegistrationSession::attemptLoginViaOfflineCache 5440 empty id
**104 Mar 15 04:52:51.271 Error Origin::Services::Session::retrieveOfflineLoginInfo 5440 canonical user empty
Currently it's unclear where it fails and if it even issues /connect/token request at all or just fails reading previous response. Annoyingly Origin 9.x does not want to use a system proxy unlike OriginX and I didn't find a good way to sniff stuff yet. Except maybe trying to override endpoints, which I didn't do yet.
<Setting key="DisableMotd" value="true" type="1"/> if you get bothered by MOTDs if they're not dismissable.
One of the below might be useful, the first line was taken from OriginX client:
<Setting key="OfflineLoginUrl" type="10" value="https://signin.ea.com/p/originX/offline?client_id=ORIGIN_PC&response_type=code id_token&redirect_uri=qrc:///html/login_successful.html&display=originX/login&locale=en_US&nonce=19111&host=https://accounts.ea.com"/>
<Setting key="OfflineLoginUrl" type="10" value="https://signin.ea.com/p/pc/offline"/>This does NOT work sadly: <Setting key="OverrideOSVersion" value="6.0.9200" type="10"/>. That's why you need to disable updates, as they'll want to install Origin 10.5.x and will fail at doing that.
Also useful logs are at: C:\ProgramData\Origin\Logs.
Origin.exe and OriginClientService.exe explicitly verify codesign signatures of Origin.exe and OriginClient.dll. Problem: they're expired, so they fail this verification. Solution: need to do some binary patches to them.
For OriginClientService.exe ver. 9.13.1.26771 at raw file offset 0x38DE0 change bytes to: B0 01 C3 (mov al,1; ret;).
For Origin.exe ver. 9.13.1.35109 at raw file offset 0x2C500 change bytes to: B0 01 C3 (from 55 8B EC).
Yes I used newer Origin.exe because I patched it in that latest bricked version and then was too lazy to re-do it on the older one.
Relevant log lines in case someone needs to redo the patches quickly on another version:
Bootstrapper_Log
0: [Mar 15 04:36:30] Event LogFile: C:\ProgramData\Origin\Logs\Bootstrapper_Log
1: [Mar 15 04:36:30] Event 03/15/19 04:36:30
2: [Mar 15 04:36:30] Event Version: 9.13.1.35109
3: [Mar 15 04:36:30] Event "C:\ProgramFiles(x86)\Origin\Origin.exe"
4: [Mar 15 04:36:30] Event Got the single instance mutex
5: [Mar 15 04:36:30] Event Waiting for update thread to finish
6: [Mar 15 04:36:30] Event shouldUpdate = false
7: [Mar 15 04:36:30] Event doUpdates completed
8: [Mar 15 04:36:36] Error File signature verification error. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin\Origin.exe
9: [Mar 15 04:36:36] Error Problem found in executable signature.
10: [Mar 15 04:36:36] Error File signature verification error. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin\OriginClient.dll
11: [Mar 15 04:36:36] Error Problem found in dll signature.
12: [Mar 15 04:36:36] Error OriginClient.dll Signature invalid
13: [Mar 15 04:36:37] Event releaseAndExitProcess called
OriginClientService_Log
0 Mar 15 04:46:12.740 Event Origin::Services::Logger::Init 5628 Logfile: C:\ProgramData/Origin/Logs/OriginClientService_Log
1 Mar 15 04:46:12.740 Event Origin::Services::Logger::Init 5628 Local time: Wed Mar 15 05:46:12 2023
2 Mar 15 04:46:12.740 Debug Origin::Services::LoggerFilter::DumpCommandLineToLog 5628 debug header="Cmdline Param" cmdLine=""
3 Mar 15 04:46:12.740 Event Origin::Services::LoggerFilter::DumpCommandLineToLog 5628 Cmdline Param:
4 Mar 15 04:46:12.740 Event main 5628 Origin Client Service: Running as service.
5 Mar 15 04:46:12.740 Event main 5628 OS Version: 6.2
6 Mar 15 04:46:12.740 Event main 5628 Origin Client Service starting up...
7 Mar 15 04:46:12.740 Event ServiceMain 2524 ServiceMain Startup
8 Mar 15 04:46:12.740 Event ServiceMain 2524 Service Running
9 Mar 15 04:46:12.740 Event ServiceWorkerThread 5132 Service Control Monitor Thread Started
10 Mar 15 04:46:12.740 Event ServiceQtThread 5848 Qt Event Thread Started
11 Mar 15 04:46:12.755 Event ServiceQtThread 5848 EscalationServiceWin Starting...
12 Mar 15 04:46:12.755 Event Origin::Escalation::IPCServer::IPCServer 5848 LocalSocket listening on pipe: OriginClientService
13 Mar 15 04:46:13.161 Event Origin::Escalation::IEscalationService::IEscalationService 5848 Found escalation args.
14 Mar 15 04:46:13.161 Event Origin::Escalation::IEscalationService::IEscalationService 5848 Successfully determined caller process ID: 2484
**15 Mar 15 04:46:14.099 Error Origin::Escalation::EscalationServiceWin::verifyEmbeddedSignature 5848 Failed to verify embedded signature for file [C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin\Origin.exe]: File was not signed [last error: 2148204800].
**16 Mar 15 04:46:14.099 Error Origin::Escalation::EscalationServiceWin::validateCaller 5848 Failed to verify embedded signature or cert for process path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin\Origin.exe
**17 Mar 15 04:46:14.099 Error Origin::Escalation::IEscalationService::validatePipeClient 5848 Command received from invalid caller, shutting down for safety. ValidateCaller Result = 4
**18 Mar 15 04:46:14.099 Error Origin::Escalation::IEscalationService::onIPCServer_clientValidationFailed 5848 Shutting down Escalation Service due to IPC server failure.
19 Mar 15 04:46:14.099 Event Origin::Escalation::IEscalationService::~IEscalationService 5848 Escalation service shutdown.
20 Mar 15 04:46:14.771 Event ServiceWorkerThread 5132 Qt Thread event loop exited.
21 Mar 15 04:46:14.771 Event ServiceMain 2524 Service Control Monitor Thread finished, shutting down...
22 Mar 15 04:46:14.771 Event ServiceMain 2524 Service stopped
Figure some way of sniffing packets, probably by replacing the URIs/domains to base services, either by local.xml or EACore.ini (if it has &SETTINGS_ then it's xml, if it mentions "Bootstrapper" then likely the ini), to see if the request or parsing of /connect/auth response fails.
Also some code for generating some acceptable &pc_sign= parameter would need to be figured out.