Difference between revisions of "Mass Effect"

Revision as of 06:49, 10 December 2016

Mass Effect
Mass Effect	2008
Mass Effect 2	2010
Mass Effect 3	2012
Mass Effect: Andromeda	2017
Mass Effect Legendary Edition	2021

General information

Official game site

Mass Effect Wiki

Steam Community Discussions

Steam Users' Forums for game series

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		DRM: SecuROM, three machine limit.^[1] A De-Authorization Tool is available.
Retail		DRM: SafeDisc 4. Only in Hungary and Czech Republic. The provided CD-Keys are invalid to Origin, needs contact through Origin Support.
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk

Origin
Steam		Steam DRM late v1.5. The key that Steam provides is invalid to Origin, need to contact EA Support

DLC and expansion packs

Origin version includes all DLC (existing Origin owners can install the latest update to get the DLC).

Name	Notes
Bring Down the Sky	Free download from Bring Down the Sky DLC Redemption or by activating the base game on Origin.
Pinnacle Station	Activate the game on Origin or download it separately for the Steam version. Pinnacle Station download

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Instructions

Instructions

Patches

The latest patch is update 1.02 which fixes various issues. The Steam and Origin versions are already patched.

Game data

In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

Template:Game data/row

System	Location
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/17460/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game data location

Template:Game data/row

System	Location
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/17460/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Origin
Steam Cloud

Video settings

In-game video settings.

Template:Video settings

Borderless fullscreen windowed

Instructions

Anisotropic filtering (AF)

Instructions

High frame rate

Instructions

Input settings

In-game general control settings.

In-game key map settings.

Template:Input settings

Controller support

Instructions

Audio settings

In-game audio settings.

Template:Audio settings

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Czech				Retail only^[2]^{[citation needed]}
French
German
Hungarian				Retail only^[3]
Italian
Polish				Retail only^[4]
Russian
Spanish

No surround sound

Instructions

VR support

3D modes	State	GG3D	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision			See Helix Mod: Mass Effect for better support.
iZ3D

Issues unresolved

Some menu screens have sides "cut off" on 4:3 screen resolutions

Playing in 4:3 resolutions like 1600x1200(useful for non-widescreen monitors and projectors) results in some menu screens displaying incorrectly: the left and right hand sides of the screen are clipped (as if "zoomed in" too far), so important information cannot be seen (like journal details and the map legend). Screens affected include: Map, Party Selection, Planet details, and Journal. Currently the only known fix is to use a 16:9 screen resolution when playing, like 1920x1080.

People and objects become black

Instructions

Instructions

Black screen after loading a save

Instructions

FIX: activate the console (instructions on how to enable the console further down) and type At BIOA_NOR00 Start_BIOA_NOR00_01 and press ↵ Enter. This will place you at the entrance to the Normandy and you will be able to save and load your game with no problems. If you fall through anywhere else in the game, pctweaks has a comprehensive list of all the "At string newArea" commands.

Issues fixed

TweakGuides has created a comprehensive guide for fixing issues in this game^[5]

Game simply doesn't start

Instructions

Launcher crashes (retail)

Instructions

Game always asks for admin permissions

Template:Fixbox/fix

Allow the game to run as admin the first time
Rename the game executable to ut3.exe

Failed to compile shader ** error

Instructions

Instructions

Instructions

Therum missing textures

If when you get to Therum most of the ground is black, then you've got a common texture problem. Some of the black area is safe to drive on but some of it will kill you outright, making it quite hard to navigate.

Instructions

IGameExplorer --> Verify Access. Unable to verify access to the game

Instructions

No high resolution option

Instructions

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9
Shader Model support	3

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX	2.7.2
Audio	ISACT, ^[6] OpenAL
Interface	Scaleform
Cutscenes	Bink Video	1.8v

Large Address Aware

Improves stability on 64 bit systems with at least 3GB RAM by allowing the application to use more than 2GB RAM.

Low res textures fix

Instructions

Mods

Mass Effect 1 Updated/Improved Textures Mod

Instructions

Enable developer console

Instructions

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz AMD Athlon XP 2400+ 2.0 GHz	Intel Pentium 4 2.6 GHz AMD Athlon 64 3700+ 2.2 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1 GB (XP) 2 GB (Vista)	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	12 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 6800 ATI Radeon X1300 XT 256 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible Shader model 3.0 support	Nvidia GeForce 7900 GTX ATI Radeon X1800 XL 512 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible Shader model 3.0 support

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/17460/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (17460) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

↑ Mass Effect Community - Mass Effect for PC System Specs, SecuROM and FAQ Part 2
↑ CDProjekt.cz - Mass Effect - last accessed on 2016-8-24
↑ CD Projekt - last accessed on 2016-8-24
↑ CD Projekt: Gra - Mass Effect - last accessed on 2016-8-24
↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Tweakguides
↑ Exclusive Interview with the Sound Design Team of “Mass Effect 2″ | Designing Sound

[Proton_path_note-2] 1.0 ^1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/17460/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (17460) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[1] Mass Effect Community - Mass Effect for PC System Specs, SecuROM and FAQ Part 2

[3] CDProjekt.cz - Mass Effect - last accessed on 2016-8-24

[4] CD Projekt - last accessed on 2016-8-24

[5] CD Projekt: Gra - Mass Effect - last accessed on 2016-8-24

[Tweakguides-6] Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Tweakguides

[7] Exclusive Interview with the Sound Design Team of “Mass Effect 2″ | Designing Sound

[1]

[Note 1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

@@ Line 394: / Line 394: @@
 ===Game always asks for admin permissions===
-{{Fixbox|1=
 {{Fixbox/fix|Instructions|ref={{cn|date=November 2016}}}}
-# The following does not work in Windows 10.
+# Allow the game to run as admin the first time
-# Open an elevated [[Microsoft Windows#Command Prompt|command prompt]].
+# Rename the game executable to ut3.exe
-# Run the following command:<br/><code>FOR /F "skip=2 tokens=2,*" %A IN ('REG QUERY "HKLM\SOFTWARE\bioware\mass effect" /v Path /reg:32') DO REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers" /v "%B"^\Binaries\MassEffect.exe /t REG_SZ /d RUNASINVOKER</code>
-'''Notes'''
-{{ii}} It's highly recommended to remove [[Glossary:PhysX#Games prefer private own libraries to system ones|leftover registry values]] to avoid issues in other games.<ref>[http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=786523&page=3#post21432065 PhsyX, Mirror's Edge, and You - Steam Users' Forums]</ref>
-}}
 ===Failed to compile shader ** error===

Developers

	BioWare
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Eastern Europe	CD Projekt
Engines
	Unreal Engine 3
Release dates
Windows	May 28, 2008