Mass Effect Issues

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Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
I pre-ordered my UK version which is due for release on 6th June ,so I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.

The technical problems are quite interesting,I'll be using my Vista x64 with my humble 7800GT card(hurry up AMD with the 4850/4870 cards I want one).

The official technical forums of ME have quite a lot of problem fixes for the game,however I wonder how long before a patch or two is released and also do you guys think the game rushed out?
 

RS8

Senior member
Oct 14, 2007
202
0
71
Ok so the only problem I've come across so far is when my system goes to standby mode after 20 mins of inactivity... I went out to cut the grass during the game, I come back and the only thing I can move is the mouse cursor lol; had to shut the game down through task manager.
 

imported_Kiwi

Golden Member
Jul 17, 2004
1,375
0
0
Originally posted by: Jdioutkast
So while I just picked up Mass Effect and am throughly enjoying it, I was wondering if anyone else is having this problem, it seems to me that all the light sources and shadows are messed up, they look very blocky. Any ideas what could be causing this?

Im guessing its a driver issue and for reference i have an ATI X1900XT

Probably by the time I reach the end of the thread, it will have an answer already, and I'll amend this, but look for something called "Dynamic Shadows" in the settings and disable it. (Later, in Edit, yes, I saw that someone had named that setting already.)

Meanwhile, personally, I'm watching developments on this game from the sidelines. I am very opposed to allowing anything to have access at the Ring Zero level of my system, not for any excuse of any kind. Sony sold EA the Rootkit on this one! I wouldn't even buy the game to make getting a crack semi-legal, since the crackers aren't any better at bug chasing than developers, and seem to introduce way too many new bugs most of the time.
 

Harmattan

Senior member
Oct 3, 2006
207
0
0
For what it's worth, the game runs absolutely perfectly for me, out of the box.

As expected, exact same game that was on 360 with better textures and an improved, more detailed interface.
 

Hauk

Platinum Member
Nov 22, 2001
2,808
0
0
Guess I'm lucky, zero issues. I already had UAC disabled so I guess that was good.

On Film Grain, what's your take, like it or not?? I can't decide..
 

MegaRoll

Member
Nov 3, 2004
26
0
0
I skimmed the thread and didn't find the fix so... (but for some reason I think I saw a discussion about pirating in a graphics issue thread)

The pixelated light sources is a symptom of their depth of field effect. To disable depth of field:
Go to Documents\Bioware\Mass Effect\Config
Open BIOEngine.ini
Under "SystemSettings," look for "DepthOfField"
Set it to "FALSE"

The blocky shadows is also part of their graphics rendering. To enhance the shadow rendering:
Go to Documents\Bioware\Mass Effect\Config
Open BIOEngine.ini
Under "Engine.Engine," look for "MaxShadowResolution" and "MinShadowResolution"
Play with those values until you get the desired effect
Ive heard 512 for min and 2048 max works well
 

Jdioutkast

Member
Nov 10, 2005
44
0
0
Originally posted by: MegaRoll
I skimmed the thread and didn't find the fix so... (but for some reason I think I saw a discussion about pirating in a graphics issue thread)

The pixelated light sources is a symptom of their depth of field effect. To disable depth of field:
Go to Documents\Bioware\Mass Effect\Config
Open BIOEngine.ini
Under "SystemSettings," look for "DepthOfField"
Set it to "FALSE"

The blocky shadows is also part of their graphics rendering. To enhance the shadow rendering:
Go to Documents\Bioware\Mass Effect\Config
Open BIOEngine.ini
Under "Engine.Engine," look for "MaxShadowResolution" and "MinShadowResolution"
Play with those values until you get the desired effect
Ive heard 512 for min and 2048 max works well

Thank you so much this fixed the issue for me!!@!!!
 

RS8

Senior member
Oct 14, 2007
202
0
71
The only problems I've been having are the occasional lockup during a loading screen and one really random one that just happened to me, I paused the game, unpause and all the graphics are glitching in and out lol. Had to alt+tab and shut it down through task manager.
 

Canai

Diamond Member
Oct 4, 2006
8,016
1
0
Originally posted by: Jdioutkast
anyone have any idea when catalyst 8.6 will be out?

8.5 just came out, so a while.

Fuck it. I'm returning my copy. Fuck EA.
 

onlyCOpunk

Platinum Member
May 25, 2003
2,533
1
0
Luckily I narrowed down my problem which was revolving around Open AL. For some reason the game wasn't switching over to the wrapper dll since I don't have a Creative sound card. So once I tried renaming the wrapper dll to the name of the original open al dll everything works peachy.
 

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
32,539
260
126
After the first DRM fuckfest and now seeing this, I'm glad I let my wallet do the talking and it's staying closed for ME.
 

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
58,161
12,338
136
Originally posted by: Canai
Originally posted by: wanderer27
Okay, found some more that may help some here.

Virtual Drive programs (Daemon) are a no no - have to either disable or uninstall these.

Alcohol etc are deacts/uninstall also.

The above are Dev confirmed DRM requirements.

The one that gets me is maybe having to deact (uninstall?) Anti-Virus software. For a program that want's to connect to the Internet - this one scares me.

From EA:

If Daemon Tools is on the machine:

* Select the icon at the bottom of the status bar of windows.
* Find the Daemon Tools Icon
* Right Click on the Daemon Tools icon in the Task Bar.
* Select the Emulation tab.
* Deselect SafeDisc.

So they give you a workaround without having to uninstall. If this works I'll be happy.

Still, it shouldn't matter if I have emulation software installed.

I have Daemon tools installed, and it didn't give me any issues. I'd have to double check to make sure it's running, and unless that's a default option, I didn't check it.
Put me down as a Vista Home Premium user who installed played for a few hours yesterday with no problems (except those funny looking facial shadows).

Actually, it did crash on me once, when I clicked a conversation wheel option at the same time as I hit the space bar to skip the current speech.

The blocky shadows is also part of their graphics rendering. To enhance the shadow rendering:
Go to Documents\Bioware\Mass Effect\Config
Open BIOEngine.ini
Under "Engine.Engine," look for "MaxShadowResolution" and "MinShadowResolution"
Play with those values until you get the desired effect
Ive heard 512 for min and 2048 max works well
I'll have to try this, it's the only thing that bugs me. I like the depth of field look, so I won't disable that.
 

martensite

Senior member
Aug 8, 2001
284
0
0
If I reassign my mouse left click button to a function other than 'fire' (default), left-clicking does not work in any of the menus, either at the main screen, or in-game. Damn irritating, considering I use the mouse L and R buttons to move fwd and backwd :/
 

Canai

Diamond Member
Oct 4, 2006
8,016
1
0
Originally posted by: Canai
Originally posted by: Jdioutkast
anyone have any idea when catalyst 8.6 will be out?

8.5 just came out, so a while.

Fuck it. I'm returning my copy. Fuck EA.

Just found a link to the 8.6 betas for those of you still having problems. I ended up breaking down and playing it, and I love it! I'm having the crappy image problems though, so hopefully the 8.6 betas take care of it for me.

http://downloads.guru3d.com/AT...64)-download-1941.html
 

Jdioutkast

Member
Nov 10, 2005
44
0
0
Originally posted by: Canai
Originally posted by: Canai
Originally posted by: Jdioutkast
anyone have any idea when catalyst 8.6 will be out?

8.5 just came out, so a while.

Fuck it. I'm returning my copy. Fuck EA.

Just found a link to the 8.6 betas for those of you still having problems. I ended up breaking down and playing it, and I love it! I'm having the crappy image problems though, so hopefully the 8.6 betas take care of it for me.

http://downloads.guru3d.com/AT...64)-download-1941.html

Let us know if it fixes it for you.