GUIDE Tech Enhanced - Mass Effect

[TechAngel85]

Couple more updates:

• Changed settings for antialiasing in the video drivers because forcing AA caused lighting glitches that inferred with gameplay
• Added SMAA to the guide as the preferred AA solution

[phazer11]

I've been working on a ME2 and ME3 guide, not ready for publishing yet, want to do a couple more playthroughs to iron out some stuff but liking it so far. The most annoying thing for me personally is that ME1 and ME2 don't have GeForce Experience profiles.

[TechAngel85]

I've been working on a ME2 and ME3 guide, not ready for publishing yet, want to do a couple more playthroughs to iron out some stuff but liking it so far. The most annoying thing for me personally is that ME1 and ME2 don't have GeForce Experience profiles.

That's where hard testing has to step in, which I admit is a pain. Popping in and out of the game to test stuff is a real hassle, but that's how I found out about changing the AA settings in Inspector causes issues for ME1. Turns out a quick google search will turn up a ton of people posting this very issue, but I only found a single post (that got ignored) on an old forum thread that suggested it had something to do with AA. After testing and vetting it out myself, the guy was right. Overriding the games AA via Inspector causes the issue. SMAA works beautifully for these situations, though, since the game's native AA sucks. Sad that more people aren't competent enough to test things for themselves. I guess that I why we put together solid and well tested guides. ::

 

Specifically, it's this blue "aura" issue:

 

Imagine seeing that while tying to shoot the Geth... On a side note, I'm still not even sure if the transparency AA via Inspector is doing anything or not. I'm planning on tackling that one next.

[phazer11]

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Just no.

 

BTW since texmod and the ilk are such massive PITA and slow to apply textures, I HIGHLY recommend you switch to

MassEffectModder much faster system, uses more space since it basically repackages your .dds and .pcc files into an archive it then reads and applies but worth it IMO. For ME3 it reduces the install time from a few hours to maybe 40 mins, instructions are pretty straight forward.

[Neovalen]

Nice to see this being updated. I liked ME1 quite a lot... sad I'll never play 2 or 3 due to the DLC situation with those titles. Still $80+ for years old DLCs... really want to like Andromeda but it's such a let down thinking about how the DLC will likely be.

 

I literally spent 2 hours tonight trying to justify a purchase of the DLCs to see if I'll even like the new game but just couldn't do it.

[TechAngel85]

Upon further testing, the following changes have been made:

• Transparency AA has been removed from the guide. Testing showed no difference whether this was set to Off or to 8x (max).
• AO has been changed to High Quality due to there being no performance loss on my system. Most modern systems shouldn't have any issue with this. My system stats are in my signature.

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Just no.

 

BTW since texmod and the ilk are such massive PITA and slow to apply textures, I HIGHLY recommend you switch to

MassEffectModder much faster system, uses more space since it basically repackages your .dds and .pcc files into an archive it then reads and applies but worth it IMO. For ME3 it reduces the install time from a few hours to maybe 40 mins, instructions are pretty straight forward.

The only mod in this guide is MEUITM. I refused to add anything else due to TexMod notoriously making the game unstable. I might look into MassEffectModder, though. Thanks for the heads up!

[mcshame]

Just want to thank you for freshening up this guide.  It's in my steam list begging to be played. If the guides are made for ME2 and 3, that would be great.

 

Neo, I just don't understand Origin with all the DLCs.  So many version of Mass effect 3, I just ended up buying the trilogy pack, likely still missing DLCs, very frustrating...

Edited March 5, 2017 by mcshame

[figby]

Getting back to another run-through of the trilogy after a few years. Unfortunately, when I follow the process in the Mass Effect Enhancement Guide, ME won't start. I get the Origin Cloud Sync progress bar, then a quick flash then nothing. If I use CFF Explorer and uncheck the >2GB box, the game will start but will crash during the initial cinematic of Cmdr Shep walking through the Normandy. Thoughts?

[TechAngel85]

Getting back to another run-through of the trilogy after a few years. Unfortunately, when I follow the process in the Mass Effect Enhancement Guide, ME won't start. I get the Origin Cloud Sync progress bar, then a quick flash then nothing. If I use CFF Explorer and uncheck the >2GB box, the game will start but will crash during the initial cinematic of Cmdr Shep walking through the Normandy. Thoughts?

Unfortunately, I've never had that happen for me. You can attempt to try the LAA patch on the Nexus page which I say not to use. I've just experienced crashes with it while others seem to be able to use it fine.

[L1Qu1D1]

Just decided to install ME for my vr thingie and I noticed MEUITM has been updated as of 1st of Jan so anyway, new textures yet possibly lower texture size. Since i'm installing for vr and only have gtx 580 this is my route, 2k will be enough i reckon.

[TechAngel85]

Just decided to install ME for my vr thingie and I noticed MEUITM has been updated as of 1st of Jan so anyway, new textures yet possibly lower texture size. Since i'm installing for vr and only have gtx 580 this is my route, 2k will be enough i reckon.

Interesting that he's still updating that mod after all this time.

[L1Qu1D1]

That's what I thought. Also ALOT of textures has been uploaded recently and installs cooperatively with MEUITM using an installer called MEM, you don't know if that is texmod under a new name do you?

[TechAngel85]

That's what I thought. Also ALOT of textures has been uploaded recently and installs cooperatively with MEUITM using an installer called MEM, you don't know if that is texmod under a new name do you?

I have no idea, to be honest. I haven't addressed this game and guide in a long time.

[L1Qu1D1]

For some reason I thought ME was 1st person, doubly disappointed now since my fo4 vr setup is running out of texture memory.. i'm in serious need of a good first person game to test it out properly that I don't have to use enboost with since tridef will not install local files and won't chain d3d dll. Oh well..