This article is dedicated to listing all of the known issues that I have discovered with the Anthem VIP Demo and the Public Demo. To some of the problems there are workarounds that I myself have tested and/or other users on the internet have shared. Check out the list and see if your issue is here and if there is currently a working solution for it.
How to get access to the Anthem Demos
The Anthem VIP Demo runs from January 25th until January 27th. It is only available to players, who have an active EA Access, Origin Subscription or have pre-ordered the game.
To access the demo you need to find it in the Origin Store (for PC) or the Xbox/PS4 stores for the consoles. If you have pre-ordered the game from a retailer, you should ask them for a code that will allow you to join. Search for “Anthem Demo” and click on the “try the game” button to download it. Its size is ~43GB on PC and ~23 on consoles.
The Public Demo runs from February 1st until February 3rd. It is available to all players, who wish to test the game.
You need active internet connection and for consoles you also need an active Subscription to the appropriate live service. The Anthem Demos are online service and require access to internet to download and play.
The Demos will only be accessed during the set times in the aforementioned Weekends. Outside of these times you will not be allowed to play the game.
Unable sign in to my Origin Account to get the Anthem Demo
The Origin website may currently be overloaded from incoming traffic. If you are unable to sign in, simply keep trying until the system eventually lets you in. Happened to me too on Friday (25th) evening.
Many players are actively trying to download the demo, share the experience with their friends or simply access their account. It is expected for the website to experience issues, especially in peak hours during the Weekend.
If you get the “Server Error 500” message, this means the website is overloaded. Simply wait a bit and try again or keep spamming the refresh/reload button until you manage to sign in.
Getting infinite loading screen in the Anthem Demo
This is currently a known issue and the BioWare Developers are actively looking into it. The suggested workaround is to simply restart your game and hope for it to load. It did happen to me a few times – I got the infinite loading screen. Restarting the game a few times did eventually work for me.
We're looking into the infinite loading issue with the #AnthemGame demo. In the meantime, try relaunching the game and rejoining your mission to see if that helps you.
— EA Help (@EAHelp) January 25, 2019
Cannot play Anthem Demo on Xbox One: Service is offline
If this happens to you, check the official Xbox live status page to find out if it’s something global or it’s just you having troubles. At the time of publishing this article the official message states:
“Hello Xbox members, we’re currently experiencing an issue. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please check back for updates.”
At this point all you can do is keep trying to get in and hope the Xbox support find a fix for it.
Cannot log in to Anthem Demo, servers have reached maximum capacity
This was happening all evening on January 25th. It is likely that the same will happen on February 1st when the Public Demo gets out. A lot of people are trying to log in as soon as the servers open up to welcome players. BioWare is doing a staged expanse – allowing players in chunks and slowly increasing server capacity to prevent crashes.
Getting Graphical glitches and crashes in the Anthem Demo
Before you blame the game developers for creating a piece of **** (:P), check if you have the latest video drivers. Nvidia just released a new driver specifically tuned for Anthem. I don’t have an AMD card, so I cannot tell how Team Red is doing, but Nvidia’s 417.22 drivers are working fine with the Anthem Demo. At the time of publishing, the latest driver from Team Green is 417.71.
If you experience low Framerates on PC or crashes, check if your PC covers the game’s system requirements.
Getting a “This EA Account is restricted…” Error Message for the Anthem Demo
If you see this or a similar message in-game, you should ignore it. Unless you have done something illegal or out of the ordinary with your account and you are in danger of actually getting banned or restricted, consider this to be a temporary mistake on EA’s side. Quite a few other people have had it too as you can see on EA HQ.
I myself got it once. It popped for a second, then the VIP Demo loaded normally.
If you keep getting this error, you’d better contact EA Support as fast as possible.
Getting “The Anthem Service is currently unavailable” error message
If you get a message of this sort when trying to load the Anthem Demo, it means that the services are currently offline and there’s nothing you can do. During the first day of the VIP Demo this happened a lot.
Tons of players are eager to try the game for the first time. BioWare did their best (apparently) to allow players in chunks and expand the servers capacity slowly to prevent crashes. It seems that wasn’t quite successful. The best you can do is be patient and keep trying – restart your game over and over until eventually the service is back up online and you get in.
You can follow this kind of issues on twitter.
Turns out to not be a server capacity issue. Seems to be a different issue that didn’t come up in previous scale testing. Teams are on it… https://t.co/nnDi2xK1s6
— Casey Hudson (@CaseyDHudson) January 25, 2019
Rubber-banding in Freeplay and/or inside instances and missions
This issue is quite popular and has been acknowledged by the developers on EA’s Answers HQ forums on Day 2 of the VIP Demo. The team is reportedly working on a solution.
If you experience rubber-banding and your internet connection is fine in general, then all you can do is sit down, pick up a fresh load of patience and wait.
Getting very low FPS (24-25) in the Anthem Demo on PC
I have no clue what this is related to, but have heard a few people having it, myself included. Some times, not always, when you launch the game and you get low FPS in the range of 24-25, try changing focus from the game to another window on your Desktop and back to the game.
I haven’t done much research on the topic, but this is a quick fix that works for me personally. I play on Full Screen and all I do when the game launches at 25 FPS is to ALT+TAB and back to the game, FPS jumps back to normal.
Not earning XP in the Anthem Demo
This has been registered as a known issue. BioWare’s Mark Darrah suggest you to try this:
- Start a mission or stronghold;
- Kill some things;
- Quit out of the mission (not the game).
This should give you SOME XP. We are looking at other solves to get everyone their second Javelin Fixed in final game
EA’s official statements and issue updates
Here’s a quote from EA’s Answers HQ forums, stating the current issues and fixes after Day 1 of the Anthem Public Demo:
Hello freelancers,
Here is a list of known issues that have been reported by the community that the team is looking into. Please note that some of these reported issues may not be able to be fixed prior to the open demo ending. Many of these have already been fixed in the full version of Anthem.
- Disconnects within certain areas of the Tyrant Mine
- Unable to end freeplay from menus
- Errors when accessing the Anthem Demo in certain languages
- Storm using ultimate in the Tyrant Mine stronghold will sometimes make the HUD of all other storms in the party lose their UI
- Sound dropping when playing
- Delayed gun recoil that causes camera to shake more than intended
- XP not being rewarded after missions or expeditions
- Disconnects that return players to the start screen
- Fresh accounts that don’t visit the Forge before going on an expedition can lead to a disconnect
This is not a comprehensive list of every issue but some of the key issues the studio is tracking. We will provide updates in this thread as needed.
Source ► EA Answers HQ
Anthem is out now. Check out the new and updated Anthem Problems and Fixes Guide!
If you get an error message or experience an issue that is not listed here, report it in the comments below. Someone else, who might have had it may be able to offer help and a solution. I myself will do my best to research it and look for a workaround to help you out.
