Mass Effect 1&2 - RELEASING CONTROL OF THIS FORM

BlackDove

errrrr...

Wiki wrote:

Mass Effect is an award-winning, bestselling series of science fiction RPG third person shooters developed by the Canadian company BioWare and released on the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The first game takes place in the year 2183, with the player assuming the role of an elite human soldier named Commander Shepard, set out to explore the Galaxy on a starship, the SSV Normandy. The Xbox 360 edition was released worldwide in November 2007 published by Microsoft Game Studios. The Windows edition was released on May 28, 2008, published by Electronic Arts. The first downloadable content package, Bring Down the Sky, was released on March 10, 2008 (with a PC version released on July 29, 2008) The second downloadable content package, Pinnacle Station, was released on August 25, 2009 for the PC and Xbox 360.

Essentially everything you need to know about the first Mass Effect game is located here.

Alternately, you can trawl through the old OP.

If you've got Steam issues with the first game, a good place to look for information is by clicking on this sentence.






Release Date:

It's already been released for the Xbox 360 and the TurboGrafx 16. Why haven't you bought it already?
What is wrong with you?

Screenshots:




Videos/Media:

Most can be found here.

Interviews and other videos can be found here.


Additional Info:

If you really NEED to contact Commander Shepard, we have his facebook.



______________________________________________________________________


ANSWERS TO ALL YOUR QUESTIONS REGARDING MASS EFFECT 2 ARE LOCATED HERE, COURTESY OF GIANTBOMB.
THE PAGE DETAILS THE ENTIRE GAME, SO SPOILERS ARE ABOUND. BE WARNED.

______________________________________________________________________



The damage statistics of all the weapons in the game.


Location of the planets to scan for starting the N7 missions:

Spoiler:

Neith - Amun - Eagle Nebula = Wreched Merchant Freighter
-leads to Abandoned Research Station
--leads to Hahne-Kedar Facility

Joab - Enoch - Rosetta Nebula = Archeological Dig Site
-leads to MSV Strontium Mule
--leads to Blue Suns Base

Tarith - Lusarn - Crescent Nebula = Blood Pack Communications Relay
-leads to Blood Pack Base

Zanethu - Ploitari - Hourglass Nebula = Wrecked Ship
Helyme - Zelene - Crescent Nebula = Captured Mining Facility
Franklin - Skepsis - Sigurd's Cradle - Javelin Missiles Launched
Sinmara - Solvieg - Caleston Rift - Endangered Research Station
Canalus - Dirada - Pylos Nebula = Anomalous Weather Detected
Gei Hinnom - Sheol - Hades Nexus = Quarian Crash Site
Aequitas - Fortis - Minos Wasteland = Abandoned Mine

Location of Resources and Upgrades for weapons, made by DVG.

You can use EditGrid to view it online or install OpenOffice to view and edit the data. Excel in Microsoft Office does the job as well.


______________________________________________________________________


Mass Effect Soundtrack music can be pretty much found on YouTube, but you should buy it to get the full effect of the lossless bitrate.

______________________________________________________________________


Mass Effect 1 save compendium for those of you that want to import characters in but have lost your own/haven't played the game due to being a heretic.

______________________________________________________________________


FIX FOR FREEZING ON THE LOADING SCREEN

Spoiler:

Courtesy of pcultimate from the Bioware forums for creating the dummy load.blk files and mtvnot from Piratebay for figuring out the fucked up .blk files that don't play correctly for whatever reason:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1KHDBLIL

Get those files.

Replace the following files ONLY, NOT ALL OF THEM, or you won't be able to move forward with the game past the IFF sequence of events. Only the files below are broken, the rest you should be able to watch.

load_f01
load_f02c
load_f02d
load_f03
load_f03b
load_f05
load_f06
load_f08
load_f08b
load_f08c
load_f08d
load_f09
load_f09b
load_f09c
load_f09d
load_f15
load_f80_ESN
load_f80_INT

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If you're getting in-game freezing every few seconds, do the following:

Go to the folder where you installed the game.

Go to Binaries and make a shortcut of MassEffect2.exe.

Now open properties on this shortcut and add the line -nomoviestartup.

It should look like this "...Binaries\MassEffect2.exe" -nomoviestartup.

Start the game. It should work lag free now.

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The third kind of loading problem is addressed here. It deals with their length.

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Why you should save the council in Mass Effect 1.

Deaderinred

such a classy OP.

gunwarrior

Continuing from last thread:

BlackDove wrote: »

gunwarrior wrote: »

smof wrote: »

BlackDove wrote: »

I kind of wish games did away with the "set your own difficulty", and someone programmed in an automatic adjustable difficulty, so that the game auto-scales based on some basic parameters regarding how quickly the player is going through the game, how many times they're getting hit, being out of ammo, how many times they die, etc. and simply do the difficulty thing in the background.

Somewhat similar to how the game scales towards your level (Insanity at level 5 is not the same as Insanity at level 30) automatically without ever asking you.

Though I'd assume that would be a tad harder to balance and implement.

Oh well.

Isn't that what the AI director in the Left 4 Dead games does? Gives you more ammo and health when you're doing badly, then sends hordes of zombies to rape you as soon as you've healed yourself.

No, the AI director controls spawns, item placement, etc. to make it more cinematic . What he's saying is the difficulty scaling which would give the enemies more/less health and better/weaker guns depending on how well you're doing.

I haven't played Left 4 Dead, so I wouldn't know exactly.

But you get the idea of what I was going for.

I mean - the same kind of changes that you select manually when you select Normal, Veteran, Hardcore, Insanity - but seamlessly in the background being chosen for you depending on how good you are at playing the game.

Many games, last gen even, have had that. I just can't think of any off the top of my head.

smof

good grief these threads

subedii

I saw it mentioned that the crazy long loading times some people have been getting (myself included) can be fixed by setting the affinity of the game to single thread. Might want to put that in the op.

EDIT: Found this if it helps, haven't tried it myself so can't attest to how useful it is:

http://www.playwrite-blog.net/tools-and-utilities/auto-set-processor-affinity-for-mass-effect-2-pc-with-massaffinity-fix-those-load-times/

electricitylikesme

It's funny how the single greatest thing which makes you hate the council in ME2 is the best reason to save them.

Alegis

About the ending

Spoiler:

Where did that data slate with harbinger pop up from? Retrieved right before leaving the collector base?

So the one collector ship crafting a human reaper became active around the same time saren did his attack. How come sovereign and harbinger didn't cooperate or collector tech wasn't used in the citadel assault?

Stele

Anomaly side mission list. Finally in on the first page.

Blah disclaimer: anomalies only, yes there are other side missions from e-mail and stuff. These are the ones you scan for.

Spoiler:

Neith - Amun - Eagle Nebula = Wreched Merchant Freighter
-leads to Abandoned Research Station
--leads to Hahne-Kedar Facility

Joab - Enoch - Rosetta Nebula = Archeological Dig Site
-leads to MSV Strontium Mule
--leads to Blue Suns Base

Tarith - Lusarn - Crescent Nebula = Blood Pack Communications Relay
-leads to Blood Pack Base

Zanethu - Ploitari - Hourglass Nebula = Wrecked Ship
Helyme - Zelene - Crescent Nebula = Captured Mining Facility
Franklin - Skepsis - Sigurd's Cradle - Javelin Missiles Launched
Sinmara - Solvieg - Caleston Rift - Endangered Research Station
Canalus - Dirada - Pylos Nebula = Anomalous Weather Detected
Gei Hinnom - Sheol - Hades Nexus = Quarian Crash Site
Aequitas - Fortis - Minos Wasteland = Abandoned Mine

DrunkMc

subedii wrote: »

I saw it mentioned that the crazy long loading times some people have been getting (myself included) can be fixed by setting the affinity of the game to single thread. Might want to put that in the op.

How do we do this, cause I did have some insane loading times?

I remember finishing ME1 and I had a list of things I wanted in ME2, and I am pretty sure they hit every damn thing on my list. Insane.

I have no such list for ME3, I just want more Mass Effect.

early-midearly spoiler question

Spoiler:

How fucked up can Shepard's face get? I went mostly renegade, and I LOVED her glowing eyes, especially in Jack's bunk. And her face was pretty shredded, but what's the worst it can look anyone have a SS?

Aegeri

electricitylikesme wrote: »

It's funny how the single greatest thing which makes you hate the council in ME2 is the best reason to save them.

The Turian councilor was always a classy dude.

Alegis

And why wouldn't miranda's and jack's expertise on Ship upgrades not be implemented in Normandy SR-2 from the getgo considering the offered improvements at the little relative cost?

electricitylikesme

Alegis wrote: »

About the ending

Spoiler:

Where did that data slate with harbinger pop up from? Retrieved right before leaving the collector base?

So the one collector ship crafting a human reaper became active around the same time saren did his attack. How come sovereign and harbinger didn't cooperate or collector tech wasn't used in the citadel assault?

Spoiler:

Actually it seems it happened a couple months after Sovereign went down. Presumably the Reapers activated Plan C when Sovereign failed, which they certainly didn't expect.

My guess is the data slate came from EDI hacking the fuck out of the Collector base while the Normandy was parked on it. It would certainly meet the proximity requirements for cyberwarfare.

-Tal

Alegis wrote: »

About the ending

Spoiler:

Where did that data slate with harbinger pop up from? Retrieved right before leaving the collector base?

So the one collector ship crafting a human reaper became active around the same time saren did his attack. How come sovereign and harbinger didn't cooperate or collector tech wasn't used in the citadel assault?

Spoiler:

It's speculated that the Collector General sent Normandy that data as his only act of free will, which makes that dude a cool bro even if he tried to kill me.

The Collector ship isn't that strong. An upgraded Normandy was able to take it out, it probably wouldn't have been a major force in the Citadel battle. They didn't want to waste the Collectors on plan A, as they still need them to do experiments and shit once the next cycle comes around.

Harbinger seems to have activated once Sovereign died, possibly because Sovereign died which sent out a signal.

Deaderinred

so this video is awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PjTuSQNLI4

electricitylikesme

Alegis wrote: »

And why wouldn't miranda's and jack's expertise on Ship upgrades not be implemented in Normandy SR-2 from the getgo considering the offered improvements at the little relative cost?

Spoiler:

Jack's is a prototype biotic amp. Miranda's isn't mission-critical. I do imagine you cut this sort of thing when you're covertly duplicating a warship as a terrorist organization.

gunwarrior

Wait a sec, this has been bothering me for a while.

Spoiler:

When you install the IFF and the Normandy gets boarded. Doesn't a collector show up on EDI's holographic display? She did mention that there was someone else in the system. Yet all they mention afterwards is a virus, I've been thinking that a collector AI hacked into the Normandy and has been waiting for a chance to screw them over. When it didn't happen at the end I tossed the idea aside, but maybe something'll happen in ME3? Or maybe I'm just being paranoid

Aegeri

-Tal wrote: »

Alegis wrote: »

About the ending

Spoiler:

Where did that data slate with harbinger pop up from? Retrieved right before leaving the collector base?

So the one collector ship crafting a human reaper became active around the same time saren did his attack. How come sovereign and harbinger didn't cooperate or collector tech wasn't used in the citadel assault?

Spoiler:

It's speculated that the Collector General sent Normandy that data as his only act of free will, which makes that dude a cool bro even if he tried to kill me.

What? How did people come up with this?

BlackDove

Stele wrote: »

Anomaly side mission list. Finally in on the first page.

Blah disclaimer: anomalies only, yes there are other side missions from e-mail and stuff. These are the ones you scan for.

Spoiler:

Neith - Amun - Eagle Nebula = Wreched Merchant Freighter
-leads to Abandoned Research Station
--leads to Hahne-Kedar Facility

Joab - Enoch - Rosetta Nebula = Archeological Dig Site
-leads to MSV Strontium Mule
--leads to Blue Suns Base

Tarith - Lusarn - Crescent Nebula = Blood Pack Communications Relay
-leads to Blood Pack Base

Zanethu - Ploitari - Hourglass Nebula = Wrecked Ship
Helyme - Zelene - Crescent Nebula = Captured Mining Facility
Franklin - Skepsis - Sigurd's Cradle - Javelin Missiles Launched
Sinmara - Solvieg - Caleston Rift - Endangered Research Station
Canalus - Dirada - Pylos Nebula = Anomalous Weather Detected
Gei Hinnom - Sheol - Hades Nexus = Quarian Crash Site
Aequitas - Fortis - Minos Wasteland = Abandoned Mine

There, I put it in the OP.

Cherrn

I don't suppose someone has compiled a list of all the weapon/armour upgrades and where to get them? Would make insanity a lot less of a headache.

Also, should probably put the "max minerals required to upgrade" list in the OP.

BlackDove

Aegeri wrote: »

-Tal wrote: »

Alegis wrote: »

About the ending

Spoiler:

Where did that data slate with harbinger pop up from? Retrieved right before leaving the collector base?

So the one collector ship crafting a human reaper became active around the same time saren did his attack. How come sovereign and harbinger didn't cooperate or collector tech wasn't used in the citadel assault?

Spoiler:

It's speculated that the Collector General sent Normandy that data as his only act of free will, which makes that dude a cool bro even if he tried to kill me.

What? How did people come up with this?

Yeah, that is a little far fetched.

Spoiler:

I'd say EDI mined the data while you were on board, provided by the fact you had the entire blueprint of the base when you were planning the assault.

If you have access to that data... you probably have access to all the other kinds of data as well.

Including Harbinger.

electricitylikesme

gunwarrior wrote: »

Wait a sec, this has been bothering me for a while.

Spoiler:

When you install the IFF and the Normandy gets boarded. Doesn't a collector show up on EDI's holographic display? She did mention that there was someone else in the system. Yet all they mention afterwards is a virus, I've been thinking that a collector AI hacked into the Normandy and has been waiting for a chance to screw them over. When it didn't happen at the end I tossed the idea aside, but maybe something'll happen in ME3? Or maybe I'm just being paranoid

Spoiler:

EDI only had limited systems access. I presume this also protected her from being invaded by it - her and the Collectors only fought over the same limited systems they had access to. I do imagine that holographic display can do other things.

-Tal

Aegeri wrote: »

-Tal wrote: »

Alegis wrote: »

About the ending

Spoiler:

Where did that data slate with harbinger pop up from? Retrieved right before leaving the collector base?

So the one collector ship crafting a human reaper became active around the same time saren did his attack. How come sovereign and harbinger didn't cooperate or collector tech wasn't used in the citadel assault?

Spoiler:

It's speculated that the Collector General sent Normandy that data as his only act of free will, which makes that dude a cool bro even if he tried to kill me.

What? How did people come up with this?

Spoiler:

It kind of looks that way at the ending. Other ways are probable of course, but EDI may have been too busy getting the ship running again.

hyperpower

So, what is the actual point of no return in this thread.

I have just

Spoiler:

explored the collector ship

How many more story missions are there? I kind of want to progress the story but still do a lot of the optional stuff.

The Fourth Estate

Spoiler:

The Collector General definately has a go at the controls after being released by Harbinger. Not for very long, but maybe enough to transmit to the Normandy.

BlackDove

Cherrn wrote: »

I don't suppose someone has compiled a list of all the weapon/armour upgrades and where to get them? Would make insanity a lot less of a headache.

Also, should probably put the "max minerals required to upgrade" list in the OP.

Give me the list.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

-Tal wrote: »

Aegeri wrote: »

-Tal wrote: »

Alegis wrote: »

About the ending

Spoiler:

Where did that data slate with harbinger pop up from? Retrieved right before leaving the collector base?

So the one collector ship crafting a human reaper became active around the same time saren did his attack. How come sovereign and harbinger didn't cooperate or collector tech wasn't used in the citadel assault?

Spoiler:

It's speculated that the Collector General sent Normandy that data as his only act of free will, which makes that dude a cool bro even if he tried to kill me.

What? How did people come up with this?

Spoiler:

It kind of looks that way at the ending. Other ways are probable of course, but EDI may have been too busy getting the ship running again.

Spoiler:

there's no way to really know, but it appears that after harbinger releases control the general perks up a bit and does something with the console. Hard to say if we're meant to take anything from it or not, but it's fun to think it overcame reaper control long enough to help you a little bit (like how saren did.)

Wallhitter

on that "certain mission" on Insanity

Spoiler:

I was a soldier when I did it, I brought Thane and Miranda. Their combined Warps sure as hell made the mission easier. Only had to do like, two retries for the platform part.

EDIT: also regardless of how likely it is i like that theory.

-Tal

hyperpower wrote: »

So, what is the actual point of no return in this thread.

I have just

Spoiler:

explored the collector ship

How many more story missions are there? I kind of want to progress the story but still do a lot of the optional stuff.

Spoiler:

There is no real "point of no return", but on the next mission the Illusive Man asks you to do, there will be a very obvious story event a certain time after that mission, and if you don't head into the endgame immediately after that very obvious story event then some bad things may happen during the endgame.

BlackDove

Wallhitter wrote: »

on that "certain mission" on Insanity

Spoiler:

I was a soldier when I did it, I brought Thane and Miranda. Their combined Warps sure as hell made the mission easier. Only had to do like, two retries for the platform part.

A little harder for the other classes that aren't as buff as Soldier and Sentinel.

But yeah, that is exactly the same team I brought, for that exact reason.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

BlackDove wrote: »

Cherrn wrote: »

I don't suppose someone has compiled a list of all the weapon/armour upgrades and where to get them? Would make insanity a lot less of a headache.

Also, should probably put the "max minerals required to upgrade" list in the OP.

Give me the list.

someone posted a spreadsheet at the end of the last thread that supposedly lists all this stuff but I haven't looked at it yet

Aegeri

The Fourth Estate wrote: »

Spoiler:

The Collector General definately has a go at the controls after being released by Harbinger. Not for very long, but maybe enough to transmit to the Normandy.

Spoiler:

I disagree that is what he is doing. He is probably shutting down the communications link to Harbinger on their end, not transmitting anything.

This is really far fetched.

Deaderinred

The Fourth Estate wrote: »

Spoiler:

The Collector General definately has a go at the controls after being released by Harbinger. Not for very long, but maybe enough to transmit to the Normandy.

no he doesnt

Spoiler:

he just slumps on the controllers and looks sorry for himself then turns around to the explosion, he doesnt try to send them the data

BlackDove

Dyscord wrote: »

BlackDove wrote: »

Cherrn wrote: »

I don't suppose someone has compiled a list of all the weapon/armour upgrades and where to get them? Would make insanity a lot less of a headache.

Also, should probably put the "max minerals required to upgrade" list in the OP.

Give me the list.

someone posted a spreadsheet at the end of the last thread that supposedly lists all this stuff but I haven't looked at it yet

Yeap, if I'm gonna put that up there, I need it in a format that's not exclusive to Excel.

-Tal

Aegeri wrote: »

The Fourth Estate wrote: »

Spoiler:

The Collector General definately has a go at the controls after being released by Harbinger. Not for very long, but maybe enough to transmit to the Normandy.

Spoiler:

I disagree that is what he is doing. He is probably shutting down the communications link to Harbinger on their end, not transmitting anything.

This is really far fetched.

Spoiler:

Why would he shut down the communications link? The place is about to get blown up.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

eh, why?

ed: I mean, why not just link the spreadsheet?

Aegeri

-Tal wrote: »

Aegeri wrote: »

The Fourth Estate wrote: »

Spoiler:

The Collector General definately has a go at the controls after being released by Harbinger. Not for very long, but maybe enough to transmit to the Normandy.

Spoiler:

I disagree that is what he is doing. He is probably shutting down the communications link to Harbinger on their end, not transmitting anything.

This is really far fetched.

Spoiler:

Why would he shut down the communications link? The place is about to get blown up.

Spoiler:

Who knows why, he could have been turning off the machine for any number of reasons. It is far more likely he is simply dong that than transmitting to the normandy, which is truly far fetched on this evidence. Especially because Harbinger says before he plays with the console that he is severing his link with the collectors at the time.

Xagarath

This has probably been covered before, but how's the DRM on part 2? Does it have the limited installs and online activation nonsense of the first one?
Since these things deterred me from buying part 1, this is relevant.

Hedgethorn

Deaderinred wrote: »

so this video is awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PjTuSQNLI4

FemShep pulls of the Renegade voice so much better.

subedii

DrunkMc wrote: »

subedii wrote: »

I saw it mentioned that the crazy long loading times some people have been getting (myself included) can be fixed by setting the affinity of the game to single thread. Might want to put that in the op.

How do we do this, cause I did have some insane loading times?

http://neb.frikafrax.com/2010/02-1403-mass-effect-2-toggle-processor-affinity-to-speed-load-screens.html

Basically you set it to use just one core, then allow it to use all cores again. Toggling the two like that fixes the problem.

Unfortunately you need to do it every time you start the game, but some searching reveals someone made a small app to do it for you:

http://www.playwrite-blog.net/tools-and-utilities/auto-set-processor-affinity-for-mass-effect-2-pc-with-massaffinity-fix-those-load-times/

Note: I have not used this app myself and can't make any statements about it, use at your own risk etc.

BlackDove

Dyscord wrote: »

eh, why?

ed: I mean, why not just link the spreadsheet?

Because the information is not clear unless you have one specific program for it, that's not exactly in common use.

Jintor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaper_Cuttlefish

/edit also