Mass Effect 1 replay 2016

[Daehawk]

So Im back to Mass Effect for maybe the 4th replay. This time Ive used a handful of graphics mods and a few file tweaks. It looks beautiful. BUT no matter what I do I cant get the res I need. My monitor is an ultrawide 2560x1080. But in game the highest it will manage is something around 1200x800 or near that. I tried using flawless widescreen and it crashed on start so no go. In game it appears great but characters appear squished.

Anything I can do to get it to run 2560x1080?

[Blackhawk]

I will introduce you to your new best friend.

That will tell you if it can be done, and how. If they don't know, it is unlikely anyone here would.

[Daehawk]

I used to visit that site. Forgot all about it. Now to dig and find ME1

EDIT: Tried their widescreenfixer..downloaded many times...but its always corrupted.

I edited the ini to 2560x1080 and now the hud and menus are off the screen.

[TheMix]

Hmmm... I used Widescreen Fixer v3.4 r702 for Kingdoms of Amalur.

I just checked, and it apparently has a setting for ME1. However, if you cannot get it to download, I'm not sure what to tell you.

[Daehawk]

Ill just play it as is. I think after a while Ill get used to it.

[Daehawk]

While playing Mass Effect again and still dreaming of a KOTOR 3 I realize something else I want...a sequel to Jade Empire. Im surprised when they made it that the tech allowed it to be as good as it was. I think with the new stuff of today we could have a much better and great kung fu game.

[Daehawk]

With the skills of CHARM & INTIMIDATE .....does anyone recall if its a good idea to take both or is it simply a waste of skill points to do that? I plan to play a mainly noble Shepard and was thinking Id only take CHARM......but on bad guys and when trying to get info Im worried that I may need INTIMIDATE if I fail to take it then I could be out of luck.

Thinking of maxing CHARM then and along the way adding a couple into the other to mix it up a little or to use on jackasses instead of cowing to them.

[Turtle]

There are a few instances where you can do one, but not the other. However, it's not useful to take both.

[NickAragua]

Yeah, there's almost always both an "extreme goody two shoes" and "extreme jackass" response. So, unless you're planning to min-max, just pick one.

What class are you running?

[Smoove_B]

Maybe I'm wrong with my memory, but I want to say all the BioWare games from that generation (Jade Empire, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Knights of the Old Republic) were geared at having the story reward you for playing extremes (i.e. very good or very bad, sarcastic, intimidating, etc...) with your personality. I don't recall it being advantageous to playing a middle-of-the-road character.

[Daehawk]

Yeah, there's almost always both an "extreme goody two shoes" and "extreme jackass" response. So, unless you're planning to min-max, just pick one.

What class are you running?

I just went straight up soldier this time. I get all weps and all armor.

[NickAragua]

Good times. I'd still focus on just one weapon type to max it out as fast as possible. What's your carryover skill (assuming your mass effect install realizes that you've beaten it previously)?

[Daehawk]

None I started completely clean. All my former plays were from disc and on a different hard drive and OS.

I started to let the NPCS lvl themselves up and did the first bit but then decided Id better do it so as to get skills I could from them like lockpick and other such stuff. I hate when I get a NPC like Tali that I want to use a shotgun and the only wep skill she has I can raise is pistol.

[Smoove_B]

My entire Mass Effect run (all three games) was played as a solider and I'm 99% sure I let the NPCs level themselves up. I enjoyed it tremendously.

[NickAragua]

Yeah, if you're not playing on the higher difficulty level, you can just let the NPCs pick their own skills and you won't have any trouble with the game. Just as long as you've got those two lockpicking skills somewhere on your team (decryption and electronics?)

I'm too much of a micromanager when it comes to my RPG characters to ever let the AI pick my skills though.

[Rumpy]

While playing Mass Effect again and still dreaming of a KOTOR 3 I realize something else I want...a sequel to Jade Empire. Im surprised when they made it that the tech allowed it to be as good as it was. I think with the new stuff of today we could have a much better and great kung fu game.

Jade Empire was also the first modern Bioware game to incorporate many of the things we now think for granted in a Bioware game. I played it rather recently and it was interesting to see just how many things were in there. Interestingly, even though Jade Empire and KOTOR were released during the same year, Jade Empire looks worse and has shown its age more than KOTOR has, presumably because it was developed with the XBox as the primary platform. The controls were also very clunky and I was surprised at how bad the gamepad support was. So yeah, a sequel or even an HD remaster would be welcome at this point.

And btw, by modern, I mean the point when Bioware switched from Isometric to full 3D.

[Daehawk]

Shoot me now. Ive scanned 19 / 21 Keepers and have no idea what 2 I haven't scanned. The only way to tell is to walk up to one and look at it. Going to take me a week to get this Going to have to go level by level.

EDIT: Found the last two by sheer luck. One was in the back room of the tailor shop. I didn't even know there was a back room until I got a quest there. And the last one was in the ambassador chambers which I hadn't been too since I got there.

[Fitzy]

There's a really nice graphics mod on The Nexus. Especially at higher resolutions it makes a noticeable difference.

[Daehawk]

I used a couple...a HD one and a SweetFX with ENB one.

[Daehawk]

Ive discovered as I replay this that ME1 has terrible menus and info. Like right now Im at a store wanting to buy new armor and stuff. But I cant tell what some of my guys have on at all or what they can use. Some tell in the skills area but others dont say a thing . I cant take armor off to see what it is unless theres some in my inv to change out with. I cant tell from the details page for the armor because it doesn't say. So I have no idea if they can wear something before I buy it. Sucks.

[Daehawk]

Damnit! That one guy did not have to shoot himself!!! I could have gassed him too. Damn.

[Daehawk]

Sigh. When i started this game I planned from the start to let Ashley die. I dont need her and I dont give a crap about her skills. I have played from the start with her death in mind. Then last night I get to that point and realize "geez who dies here wont be in the next two games" and I froze. I couldn't commit. I stopped playing but here I am tonight. I need to go through with it. Ive done it 3 or 4 times before. No difference...but its tough this time. Ive let him die Ive let her die. Just tough to move ahead this play through.

But she must be sacrificed. Sigh.

[Scuzz]

Yeah, if you're not playing on the higher difficulty level, you can just let the NPCs pick their own skills and you won't have any trouble with the game. Just as long as you've got those two lockpicking skills somewhere on your team (decryption and electronics?)

I'm too much of a micromanager when it comes to my RPG characters to ever let the AI pick my skills though.

Yea, given the opportunity I always level up my hired help. I want to maximize the opportunities to always have somebody who can do some act I may need, whether it be lockpick or computer crack.

[Daehawk]

I mainly use blue girl and the quarian...blue for biotics and quarian for tech and hacking. I mix up characters I take on unimportant side missions so I dont bore myself out but on important stuff its those two.

IF I play 2 and or 3 Im not sure who ro romance. If I go blue in the first game then Im pretty sure you cant stick with her in 2 or 3 even..you only have Miranda, Jack and...god cant recall...plus side chicks. I know Ashley is in 2..or maybe it was 3. Oh well.

[Blackhawk]

If I go blue

You'll never go back.

If I go blue in the first game then Im pretty sure you cant stick with her in 2 or 3 even.

Not in 2, but you can resume the romance in 3.

[Smoove_B]

"Blue girl" makes me sad.

[Daehawk]

I still haven't killed Ashley!! I ....must.....do....it. Hate to.

[Daehawk]

Done!

Fun ride as usual. Loved the music at the end.

Going to wait on ME2 for a good while..if ever. For some reason I cant recall how the reapers finally got there in ME3...so a replay of the next two might be ok since I cant recall it as well. ME3 I barely remember anything. I guess I just didn't care for it much since Ive forgotten so much. And I hated the ending so much I swore Id never replay it. But maybe.

[El Guapo]

I mainly use blue girl and the quarian...blue for biotics and quarian for tech and hacking. I mix up characters I take on unimportant side missions so I dont bore myself out but on important stuff its those two.

IF I play 2 and or 3 Im not sure who ro romance. If I go blue in the first game then Im pretty sure you cant stick with her in 2 or 3 even..you only have Miranda, Jack and...god cant recall...plus side chicks. I know Ashley is in 2..or maybe it was 3. Oh well.

You can romance her in 2 as well as part of the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC (but not in the main game). Ashley only has a cameo in 2.