My recommendations for a pretty game, without the use of code injectors. These will likely be modified from time-to-time, so check back, occasionally.
- Mass Effect was built from the Unreal Engine (UE) 3 games engine, which allows many modifications by the user to enhance the in-game graphics and controls. Mass Effect's in-game configuration options have very little tweaking possibilities and only support basic graphic and key mapping. This article intends to serve as a guide to players who want to have more control on game performance.
- Mass Effect was built from the Unreal Engine (UE) 3 games engine, which allows many modifications by the user to enhance the in-game graphics and controls. Mass Effect's in-game configuration options have very little tweaking possibilities and only support basic graphic and key mapping.
The original Mass Effect was, in retrospect, something of an experiment. Hindsight shows us that the formula for the franchise hadn’t quite been perfected, yet. This has led to some divisiveness in the community about the merits of the grandfather game. Whatever your feelings on its presentation, its art aesthetic has stood the test of time, 8+ years after its initial release. It benefits tremendously from a few easy modifications.
If you have a PC, Mass Effect 1 can be made to look near-brilliant.
Playing Mass Effect 3 at 1080p isn't quite the revelation we had hoped for due to the game's decidedly fixed texture settings, but the additional clarity is warmly welcome.
Here’s what I recommend:
Install the MEUITM Mod
It’s simple to install, and the difference will astound you.
The MEUITM Mod
Includes application executable and instructions. Get it at Nexus Mods.
Adjust your settings in the Nvidia Control Panel
I tend to like Mass Effect 1 (and other games) to have high-contrast, moderately high gamma, and lower-than-average brightness, which makes colors rich and vibrant while keeping shadows dark and deep.
Resolution
Enabling Full range can darken your blacks and allow deeper gradient ranges; this is a simple, subtle change.
Color
I’ve elected to use Nvidia Settings; the second screenshot below shows the settings. These can vary greatly, depending on your monitor and your own personal preferences. Spend some time adjusting to your personal taste.
3D Settings
Ambient Occlusion – Performance
Anisotropic Filtering – 16x
FXAA – On
Anisotropic Filtering – 16x
FXAA – On
Anti-Aliasing
You should enable the in-game Anti-Aliasing (in the in-game Display / Graphic Options menu) to prevent jagged images. However, this is not perfect, as it only applies to some objects in the foreground, in most cases.
The version of Unreal Engine used in the Mass Effect trilogy does not support traditional anti-aliasing methods that would be applied via the Control Panel. In the best case, if you attempt to Override or Enhance the setting, your game will look no different. In the worst case, it can cause a crash or strange graphical anomalies.
Nvidia introduced a simple, fast, and decent-quality alternative called FXAA for situations where standard AA was impractical or impossible. This is a general filter applied to the entire scene. It works without issue in all 3 Mass Effect games, and has minimal impact to visual quality (some people even prefer the very-slightly-blurred appearance, but you will need to decide for yourself.)
Additionally, modern Nvidia cards can perform what is called DSR, Dynamic Super Resolution. It renders your game at a high resolution, like 3840 x 2160 (4K) and then scales it down to your monitor’s native resolution (like 1920 x 1080) and adds a slight Gaussian filter (you can control the strength of the filter via the Control Panel.) In the process, it not only smooths and enhances textures, but it effectively removes jagged lines from objects.
If you are streaming or need the extra processing power, you should enable FXAA, instead of DSR. (If you are using a native 4K display, then DSR will serve no purpose and you might simply turn on FXAA.)
![Effect Effect](/uploads/1/1/8/4/118488861/694166352.png)
Vertical Sync
Mass Effect 2 Resolution Setting
You should enable V-Sync, in the in-game Display / Graphic Options menu, to prevent image tearing.
Much of what was written above (Resolution, Color, Anti-Aliasing, and Vertical Sync) also applies to ME2 & 3, because they use the same engine. Ambient Occlusion is not supported in these games, and I don’t advise forcing it through any other method.
Mass Effect Tweak Guide
Nexus mods also has a texture mod tool that can be applied to ME 2 & 3, called ALOT. Be warned, though, ALOT is alot more work to install, even with it’s newest installer package, and it requires a significant time investment, as well as hard drive space. Unlike MEUITM, the creator of ALOT has curated some but not all textures and many of the best textures must be downloaded and installed separately one-by-one, due to creator rights. The tool does assist in keeping track of which ones have been installed, and does do the installing for you. Many of the textures in the core ALOT package were taken directly from MEUITM, as well, as some textures are shared between all 3 games.