27.09.2019
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Mass Effect Tweak Guide Page 8 Advanced Tweaking (Pt.2) BIOEngine.ini (Cont.) SystemSettings StaticDecals=True Static decals are markings or posters in the game world which are placed on surfaces as decoration by the developers, and are not created by players. Setting this option to False removes these, and depending on the area the visual and performance difference may or may not be noticeable. In general it is not recommended that this be disabled for gameplay purposes. DynamicDecals=True Dynamic decals are the marks left by players when using weapons on the surroundings. If this option is set to False, while weapons may show impact effects initially, most weapons will not leave dark scorch marks or bullet holes on scenery.
Disabling this option can improve performance in heavy combat, but it also reduces realism. DynamicLights=True This setting controls the use of, which is lighting that interacts realistically with the game world. Disabling this setting in Mass Effect results in a range of lighting glitches - wherever dynamic lighting is used objects will appear as flat black, so it is not recommended that you alter this. LightEnvironmentShadows=True This setting controls whether the Light Environment, namely the general lighting in a level, such as sunlight, creates shadows.
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When set to False, it disables many shadows similar to disabling the Dynamic Shadows setting, but it still does not remove the shadows for objects with fixed shadows, such as buildings and terrain. This may improve performance but also reduces realism. CompositeDynamicLights=False If set to True, this option appears to enable a less accurate form of dynamic lighting, which may improve performance at the cost of image quality. In practice the visual difference is not noticeable. ShadowFilterQualityBias=0 This setting appears twice in this section for some reason. In any case it is meant to control the quality of the shadow filtering used (if shadows are enabled). Higher values should provide better quality at the cost of performance, but once again with testing I was unable to note any real differences in shadow quality using this setting.
Mass Effect Tweak Guide [Page 8] Advanced Tweaking (Pt.2) BIOEngine.ini (Cont.) [SystemSettings] StaticDecals=True. Static decals are markings or posters in the game. Com - Mass Effect Tweak Guide. Mass Effect Tweak Guide[Page 7] Advanced Tweaking. Mass Effect is based on the Unreal Engine 3. In this section we look. Mass Effect 1: Mass Effect 1 PC Version Surround Sound Issue. You have to edit the BioEngine.ini file which is located in Documents - BioWare - Config.
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DirectionalLightmaps=True This technique allows for improved image quality, as surfaces will have additional depth, bump and detailing. Setting this option to False can increase performance but in Mass Effect simply results in flat black textures wherever the lightmaps were used, so there is no reason to disable it. DepthOfField=True This option controls the use of, which is an effect used to simulate the way in which objects within focus are sharper than objects outside our direct field of focus. It's primarily noticeable when zooming in on objects with a sniper rifle - objects in focus will appear crisp, while surrounding objects will be blurred. You can set this option to =False to gain improved performance, or if you just don't like this effect. Bloom=True This setting controls the use of, which is a form of lighting that exaggerates the brightness and glow of lights, creating a slightly hazy, more atmospheric look.
With this option set to False, Bloom is not supposed to be used, however it doesn't seem to affect the lighting at all. If you want to remove Bloom lighting you can set bUsePostProcessEffects to False (See further above), though this removes all post processing effects. QualityBloom=True As with Bloom above, this setting controls Bloom lighting effects, and if set to True uses a more accurate form of Bloom. Disabling this may gain additional performance without a noticeable change in image quality.
Once again, in practice disabling this and/or the Bloom setting above doesn't actually appear to diminish or remove Bloom lighting. SpeedTreeLeaves=True SpeedTreeFronds=True These two settings are supposed to control how the foliage rendering system works. However in practice if set to False, it doesn't appear as though this has any impact on foliage in most areas.
OnlyStreamInTextures=False This setting relates to the streaming system used in the Unreal Engine. However it has no impact on texture streaming, so setting it =True should primarily result in audio being preloaded. This may result in a reduction in stuttering throughout the game, however in my testing it had no discernable impact.
LensFlares=True is an effect seen when staring at a bright light source, such as a Sun, or gun muzzle flashes. There are halo effects or changes in light intensity when this happens. When this option is set to False however these effects are not removed in Mass Effect. FloatingPointRenderTargets=True This setting enables or disables Floating Point Render Target technology, which is used to provide certain post processing effects, such as the ability to enable HDR and Anti-Aliasing at the same time. The main impact of setting this option to False is that it can alter the appearance of the game, removing certain post processing effects. However for the most part there doesn't seem to be any benefit to disabling this option.
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Trilinear=True This option controls the use of, which can improve the appearance of textures. Disabling this option may slightly reduce texture clarity but can improve performance. Note that the general appearance of textures is more dependent on the MaxAnisotropy variable, as well as the Texture Detail in-game setting. You can enable Trilinear Filtering with Anisotropic Filtering to get a higher quality of Anisotropic, however this might increase stuttering and/or further reduce performance. SkeletalMeshLODBias=0 ParticleLODBias=0 LOD Bias affects the clarity of textures and details, by determining how textures appear. Higher positive values make things blurrier and less detailed but can improve performance, while lower values, including negative values, make things clearer at the cost of performance, and can also introduce further aliasing (jaggedness and shimmering) to the scene. Lives of the saints nino ricci. The SkeletalMeshLODBias setting relates to animations, while ParticleLODBias relates to particle effects.
In practice the impacts of altering either of these settings is not significant, but if you want the best quality try using a negative value for both, such as -1. MaxAnisotropy=4 If you have Anisotropic selected under the Filtering Mode in-game setting, the setting here controls the actual level of (AF) used in the game to make distant textures clearer. You can set a sample rate value ranging from 0 (0xAF, or no AF), to 4 (4x AF) which is the default when Anisotropic is used, to 16 (16xAF) which is the maximum possible. The higher the sample rate, the lower your performance in return for crisper, more detailed textures. Note that you can also enable Trilinear at the same time for even higher quality - see the Trilinear setting further above.
ScreenPercentage=100.000000 This setting allows you to control the proportion of the screen in which the main game image is shown. For example a value of 50 for this setting means that the main game image (but not in-game menus) will be reduced to only take up 50% of screen. There doesn't appear to be much of a performance benefit in doing this. TextureLODSettings TEXTUREGROUPLightAndShadowMap=(MinLODSize=256,MaxLODSize=4096,LODBias=0) There are a range of TEXTUREGROUP settings in this section relating to the Level of Detail (LOD) of different aspects of the game world, objects, characters, and lighting among other things. These are essentially supposed to control the level of detail and quality of objects and textures as they recede into the distance.
Each has a MinLODSize, a MaxLODSize and LODBias which you can experiment with to alter image quality. By raising MinLODSize as well as MaxLODSize, and lowering LODBias, you should be able to get better image quality. However in practice not only will the game crash if you use certain values, there also appears to be absolutely no improvement in image quality even when correct values are used. In any case I encourage users to experiment with these, and if you want to know the best possible values for these settings, then refer to the ones provided in this file: (1KB), originally tested and provided by Martigen.
D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice DisableHWShadowMaps=True This setting should control Hardware Shadow Mapping, which when enabled uses your graphics card to render shadows. When this setting is =True, that means it has supposedly disabled Hardware Shadow Mapping, and thus your CPU may be undertaking shadow calculations. The premise is that by setting this option to =False, those with weaker CPUs but faster graphics cards can get a performance boost. In practice however, having tested this in a range of areas, I found no performance or image quality difference whatsoever, even though I have a relatively weak CPU (X2 4400+) compared to my GPU (8800GTS).
However single-core CPU owners and those with low-end Dual Core CPUs may still like to give it a try and see if it makes a difference for them. Stats.
There are a range of sections here starting with Stats. as far as I can tell, these are not gameplay parameters to be changed by users, they are engine statistics. For example changing the line Total Texture Memory=200 MB to =0MB has no impact on the performance of the game. The next page continues the Advanced Tweaks.
This guide will get you setup with Mass Effect Updated/Improved Textures Mod (TexMod free version) by CDAMJC (Catechrism) Welcome Mass effect Modders and Mod users, I'm trying to fix some of the 'uglies' in ME1 and give it the polished look the epic story line deserves. So far I have updated/re-textured: Light and Shadow Maps on walls and floors (Normandy Citadel and Feros covered so far), Kaidan, Tali, Garrus, Wrex, Liara, Saren, Benezia, Udina, Council, Anderson, Joker, Chakwas, Geth, Colonists, Scientists, Keepers, Normandy, Mako, many NPC clothings, Geth ship, volus, hanar, elcor, Salarians, Batarians some armors, default character armors including N7 armor (of characters re-textured) and various environmental textures. This was all achieved by texture editing (up-scaling, re-painting, adding details, adding texture, adding pattern, and using that to rebuild spec maps, spec power maps, and normal maps). Then once all the details are added I load up the Character models into Photoshop and paint away texture seams as best as possible.
I added a higher resolution film grain for crisper picture with film grain one. This mod also introduces soft shadow shaders by daemonjax, tweaked by myself and tweaked bioengine.ini settings for texture streaming and soft shadow setting by me and other various quality improvements by Aquadran all done behind the scenes by the installer ro manually in MEM for advanced users. Lastly I have included a ReShade preset that I customized specifically for MEUITM to add next gen lighting and effects as best as possible without betraying the original feel of the game while adding some effects to mimic visual styles seen in Unreal Engine 4. Requests are always welcome:).
Yes step zero:). Install the game fresh but don't run it yet (You can still install the mod on a game that's been run this just is the ideal way to start).This mod is not compatible with old MEUITM for file structure reasons.
You need reset to vanilla before installing the new version, there is currently no way around this. If you don't the installer will abort as to avoid breaking your game. Install any other mods that you want that are non-texture based now (They can also be texture based but MEUITM will overwrite any that are covered in it). Mainly this step is for same sex romances, Xbox 360 controller support, any mods that alter the games files etc.These mods will break MEUITM and the game if installed after. Install the mods for vanilla compatibility (Ignore any MEUITM versions as they refer to the old MEUITM which is incompatible.). Run Once.Now we can run the game one time before doing any texture modding so all files are set up by the game it also builds the shader cache with the soft shadows. This is also a good time to go in and Max Out in-game graphics settings and choose your gaming resolution (use left and right arrows to see resolutions not displayed in the drop down in game menu).
Also if you've never played Mass Effect before please run around a bit in vanilla so you can see what it is the mod is aiming to improve. Now we are ready to install the mod: Happy 10 years of Mass Effect! MEUITM Anniversary Edition is the new version of MEUITM, it uses MEM with a user friendly installer. Benefits of MEM and the new installer: Smaller download size More localizations support (only textures are being installed) Improved performance Perfect mipmap function 2K texture option at the installer level for even more performance Boat loads of new and revised textures.
Special thanks to Aquadran for MEM and all the support getting this going including the nice installer! Special thanks to CreeperLava for pointing me towards MEM, support, and all of the work on ALOT! To install: Extract the MEUITMAnniversay.zip. From the extracted folder, run MassEffectModder.exe and click 'install'. (Optional) check the 2k box if your system has lower specs. Follow any prompts but mostly kick back until it's done and then launch MassEffect.exe like normal.
Enjoy:) - Dynamic Shadow Fix if you already installed the mod first: Install the 'soft shadows' by extracting the contents of the zip file in to your game directory example: 'C: Origin Mass Effect ' Then for them to take effect you must clear the shader cache, to clear the shader cache There are 2 ways to clear the shader cache. 1) Find your install directory. Mass Effect Binaries and run MassEffectConfig.exe. On the lefthand sidebar, select the Repair option. Click the Delete Local Shader Cache Files button.
That's it, you can close the config program and start the game normally and it will load the new soft shadow shaders. 2) Find your My Documents directory: x: Users xxx Documents BioWare Mass Effect Published CookedPC and delete the file named: 'LocalShaderCache-PC-D3D-SM3.upk' That's it, you can now start the game normally and it will load the new soft shadow shaders. Further tweak Dynamic Shadows This file is located: x: Users xxx Documents BioWare Mass Effect Config 'Bioengine.ini' Find the following entries: DepthBias=0.030000 or(0.012 if you restored to pre-official 1.2 patch values) MinShadowResolution=32 MaxShadowResolution=512 And change them to: DepthBias=0.006000 MinShadowResolution=16 MaxShadowResolution=2048 Lastly, to match the screenshots you will need to install the MEUITM Reshade loactated in the mod's 'addons' sections.
Simply extract the contents in to the binaries folder in you Mass effect install directory.Note- FPS Counter is not comaptible with ReShade so you will need to amke a choice as to which one you want to use. AMD processors (bulldozer or later chipsets) This is because Mass Effect is seeing AMD and looking for 3D Now instruction sets that existed when the game was made. AMD has ditched these instructions in their processors since causing missed timings and faults in communication between Mass effect and the CPU. Due to this you will see black textures for characters and have potential crashes/general instability.
Links to the bug: video of the issue on un-modded game with workaround fix: Bug description similar to above but to show another source social.bioware.com Proper fix has finally been created here: www.nexusmods.com Black textures on Therum is another non mod related issue. Fix is pcgamingwiki.com. MY SHADOWS ON FACES ARE BLOCKY, I DON'T LIKE IT: You didn't clear your shader cache before running the modded game because the shadows from Daemonjax completely resolve this problem. There are 2 ways to clear the shader cache. 1) Find your install directory. Mass Effect Binaries and run MassEffectConfig.exe.
On the left hand sidebar, select the Repair option. Click the Delete Local Shader Cache Files button. That's it, you can close the config program and start the game normally and it will load the new soft shadow shaders. 2) Find your My Documents directory: x: Users xxx Documents BioWare Mass Effect Published CookedPC and delete the file named: 'LocalShaderCache-PC-D3D-SM3.upk' That's it, you can now start the game normally and it will load the new soft shadow shaders. MY GAME IS CRASHING TO THE DESKTOP It's most likely a mod conflict or invalid Bioengine.ini settings: Remember to install all non-texture mods before MEUITM, and don't mix and match FPS with Reshade, ENB, or sweetFX and there really shouldn't be any crashes. If you've made custom tweaks to the bioengine.ini and the game is crashing you can delete it and the game will create a new one which should resolve the crashes, from there you can return and tweak carefully.
That's about it for the Steam version, most troubleshooting comes from the Origin version of the game. If you still have problems post them here and we will work them out. With the infinite number of hardware configurations out there we are bound to need to fix a few things to get it running on every configuration.