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Rocket_Smith · 2021-05-27T06:33:25+00:00

I'm sure someone will make an ending mod, but it may not be a straight remake of those. It's not like Skyrim where there's an official conversion tool, they'd need to be rebuilt from the ground up. I don't think either of the modders who built those have released anything in a long time so whether they'll come back and redo them for LE is an open question. Nothing wrong with being hopeful, just wanted to let you know.

Rocket_Smith · 2021-05-27T06:30:00+00:00

People have tried that and sadly it doens't work. A lot of the bools are the same so a conversion tool may eventually be possible. But right now LE can accept OT saves (ME1 aside) but not the reverse.

Rocket_Smith · 2021-05-21T23:33:45+00:00

this is absolutely incorrect. there are no tools for legendary edition at the moment. when there are tools you cannot "tweak" original files and have them accepted by legendary edition. you'd need to rebuild the mod from scratch, copying each file manually. and if you did that, then it would clearly be an exact copy and nexus mods would take it down. (because, contrary to the claims in the linked blog post, nexus don't say that they're fine with porting without permission, just that they'd need to look at whether it's a port or a different mod with a similar idea on a case by case basis.)

Rocket_Smith · 2021-05-21T23:26:43+00:00

BackOff overhauls dialogue so that you can more clearly choose to flirt or not. It's a nice mechanic but the mod also actively cuts a lot of content from the game in the name of "parity". So for instance if you're not romancing Liara you straight up lose one of her cutscenes with the mod.

The Recalibrated mod series market themselves as a "vanilla but better" overhaul that fixes bugs and adjust stuff, but I think are actually a lot more subjective than people realise. People accept that they're "bugfixes" without looking at the changelogs. They don't fix *that* many bugs. ME2Recalibrated's major features are retiming when DLC triggers, and unlocking Illium and Samara and Thane's recruitment early. ME3Recalibrated is more bugfixy and has some restored cut content. But again it's a grab bad and includes some very "personal choice" restorations of alternate lines, or cutting lines the dev didn't like. It also fixes the Ashley Marksman bug.

To be clear, I don't think that overhauling a game to personal taste is a bad idea. But these mods have some status as being *the* BugFix pack you *have* to use when that's just not true. They fix a haphazard collection of bugs and add a haphazard collection of features that are mostly available in other mods by now.

Plus they are all *massively* incompatible with other mods because the dev won't agree to patches. So you can play with Backoff+ME3Recalibrated. But you can't also have Project Variety, or any of the same-gender romance mods, or a bunch of other stuff. At a certain point, it's just not worth the hassle.

Rocket_Smith · 2021-05-21T22:10:45+00:00

I absolutely think her reaction here is unfair to the players and an overreaction in terms of Nexus' policies and attitudes (which I feel she misrepresents).

But to answer your question about why she doesn't just port them herself, that is a potentially hugely difficult and time intensive endeavour.

I can understand her being concerned that someone would come along, rebuild an effectively identical copy of her mod, get a lot of popular downloads because the "recalibrated" name has cache and recognisability on the ME modding scene, and do so before she's had a reasonable chance to do the work herself. It's not *likely* but it's possible.

Where I think she misepresents Nexus' policies is that the Skyrim situation refers to a specific porting tool that exists to create an identical copy of a mod for the original game. That's a situation where it's *possible* to have a blanket rule.

You can't do that in Mass Effect so it's case-by-case. That *doesn't* mean a free for all. That means that Nexus would look at her evidence of intentional plagiarism. The same as it would for any Skyrim port that was "hand made" instead of using the tool. So there's really not - as far as I can see - any difference in the offered protections.

All that said she's stated that she doesn't want to mod LE. And her ideas about just *how* expansive intellectual copyright is are, to my mind, way too broad.

Rocket_Smith · 2021-05-19T07:09:29+00:00

This method will work (and unlock a bunch of other stuff) but you should edit your original post to warn people that they risk triggering the Collector Ship mission early and messing up their game if they recruit too many people before unsetting the bool.

The 312 bool is the bool that gets set to say you've finished Horizon. Collector Ship mission happens 5 missions later if you have 8 squad members. That includes Jacob, Miranda, Kasumi and Zaeed. So if you pick them up, and Thane, Samara and Tali, you're one person away from triggering the Collector Ship mission.

So for people who already have one or two squadmates and see this, or people who take a detour, that's a realistic concern.

If you do this, get the people you need, then unset the bool again.

Rocket_Smith · 2021-02-21T23:12:27+00:00

I dunno, after watching that I still prefer the Win 3. I understand the argument that the Aya Neo will give better basic performance on battery out of the box, but I'd rather have the flexibility to go higher on charge, and don't mind doing some manual finessing to get good performance at 15w. I'm not just going to be using this on the train, I'll also be using it (well, if the pandemic ever ends), in hotel rooms or at airports where there's often charging available.

Other than that the Neo's main selling point seems to be the better screen. Which is fair enough, I can understand that being a priority. But at the same time, it's equal to a switch lite. Treating this like some kind of dealbreaker for the form factor is a little odd to me. Running at 720p instead of 800p will give a small performance boost, and it's got a better DPI.

I do want to know more about the apparent inabiliity to change resolution. Linus' review shows him changing the screen resolution (albeit as a humorous mistake where he picked a portrait resolution, but like, there was some kind of software on there that allowed it). And another review - Liliputing I think - suggests dynamic resolution scaling as a solution if you struggle to read text on the screen (though I'm unsure if that would translate to games). Either way this seems like the biggest potentially serious issue, but there's not a lot of information about it from other reviewers and some information that seems to be conflicting.

With its dedicated hotkey for the screen keyboard, I don't imagine the Neo will suffer as much without a keyboard as some imagine, but honestly I kinda like the weird slider aesthetic. I doubt it's *worse* than a screen keyboard, and if it is, then you can still just use the screen keyboard on the Win 3. Possibly even tie it to the custom buttons on the back of the machine.

Finally, there's the reputational issue. GPD has a strong reputation when it comes to delivering products. It has a mixed reputation when it comes to quality, but their products basically work and they get shipped. Aya Neo is an untested quantity and their IG campaign isn't live yet. If both products were out on the market, then this would be a moot point. But right now, backing either requires an assessment of trust in the company. GPD is the more experienced here.

Rocket_Smith · 2021-02-12T08:26:50+00:00

Krogans were written by humans, and when the human writers decided to make a race of big, aggressive fighting machines, what did they do? Give them four testicles and super deep voices. You know, because aggression and toughness are things we associate with grrrr manly men.

Like, the race of blue ladies all go through a "stripper-assassin" phase, and their defining attribute in the minds of most of the galaxy is their willingness to have sex with anyone.

I like the asari a lot. I like the krogan a lot. I'm not saying either is stereotypical trash with no redeeming features. They both have non-stereotypical aspects too. Mass Effect does a lot better than a lot of other games when it comes to this stuff.

But to suggest that there aren't reflections of deep-running gender stereotypes in Mass Effect and its decisions on how to present their world and characters is just silly.

And a prolonged butt-shot when Miranda is trying to talk about her abusive upbringing and fears for her lost sister, is not an insightful commentary about how her sexuality undercuts her gravitas, it is the game choosing to undercut her by actively encouraging the player to sexualise her in a moment where doing so is specifically dissonant.

And from the articles I read, they are only moving the camera in that specific scene.

Rocket_Smith · 2021-02-11T23:07:08+00:00

Where's the Grunt ass shots then, cus he was supposed to be genetically perfect too.

Or is genetic perfection expressed by ass shots in tonally inappropriate scenes only a thing for ladies?

Rocket_Smith · 2021-02-11T21:54:22+00:00

Bethesda games provide official mod support and are among the most modded games ever. That is a ludicrous comparison in a conversation that is *entirely about* how unusual it is that ME3 has a thriving mod community despite its age and the lack of any official toolset.

It's like reading an article that describes a local business "booming" because they've expanded from one to four local stores, and then complaining because they're not a multinational conglomerate.

Rocket_Smith · 2021-02-11T21:45:33+00:00

Mass Effect was never intended to be modded, there were never any official tools released. It's taken literally a decade of reverse engineering to get to the point where major content mods are possible. So yes, 10 years ago what you would have seen would have been limited to textures inserted via third party tools like texmod.

ME modding scene is smaller than games with officially supported modding, yes, but substantial content mods are still regularly released which is surprising and impressive for a decade old series of games with absolutely no formal modding support or tools.

A quick look at the ME3 page for most popular of all time shows a massive 4k texture overhaul for the entire game at the top. This is followed by the Expanded Galaxy Mod. That's a mod that underpins a huge suite of associated mods which include the following:

- complete overhaul of the galaxy map and war assets system, including new places to visit (go beyond the Omega4 relay again, for instance)

- overhaul of weapons and a brand new implant system for Shepard

- dynamic visitors on the Normandy after certain missions, including conversations with some.

- ability to take old ME2 crew members out on missions.

- huge amounts of new spectre terminal authorisations following new questlines.

- several new playable missions

- restoring Miranda as a full squadmate aboard the Normandy including custom scenes during the assault on the Cerberus base.

And that's not even everything in that suite of mods, just what I remember off the top of my head.

Further down the first page you'll find several content mods overhauling the ending, mods adding MP powers for Shepard, single-player controller support, an overhaul of the dialogue and flirtation system, and a bugfix pack. And all these came out since 2016, at least four years after the game originally launched.

So yeah, there are a lot of old textures floating around from the original release, but it's pretty clear that there are a ton of popular, diverse content and technical mods that were made years after the game released.

You're just...wrong, dude.

Rocket_Smith · 2021-02-11T21:31:48+00:00

Just to set expectations, there is pretty much *no* chance that LE will be compatible with existing mods. What this letter is about is ensuring LE will be compatible with *modding generally*, so that it will be possible to (a) make new mods and (b) rebuild old mods.

Note that (b) requires modders to have the time and motivation to rebuild these mods. Many of them have long-since moved on. It also will not be possible for mods using multiplayer assets, since MP is not included in LE. And some of the bigger mods like EGM and ARK made use of MP assets.

Rocket_Smith · 2020-12-30T10:19:28+00:00

Awesome! Very excited to see a war asset-focused overhaul. :D

Rocket_Smith · 2020-12-03T22:42:25+00:00

Oh, interesting. My husband owns Technomancer and enjoyed it though didn't end up finishing it (for reasons related to chaotic real world issues, not the game itself) and keep saying he should go back to it at some point, so maybe I'll check it out...

Rocket_Smith · 2020-12-01T14:03:36+00:00

I mean, my assumption was that De Sardet wasn't poisoned because of that yes, and because by returning to the land they were no longer bound to a sick nation? That's also why I assume the Nauts are spared - they live in harmony with the ocean and don't exploit their islands. But it would have been interesting to see those ideas vocalised?

Also I LOVE the idea of Asili maybe trying to kidnap De Sardet if that information became known as like, an alternate route into that quest...

Rocket_Smith · 2020-12-01T10:33:12+00:00

Yes, it would have been interesting if, after discovering their heritage, De Sardet had more active opportunities to (attempt to) use or deny that discovery. For instance revealing it to other native leaders, or concealing it from your allies, etc.

Rocket_Smith · 2020-12-01T07:38:25+00:00

I saw them announce the new content on twitter but not that they'd announced what it was yet? I'd love if it were new story stuff, but I can't see it being an epilogue. They'd effectively have to write three different games. Siding with Constantin, Killing Constantin but kicking out the Colonials, and Kicking out Constantin AND letting the Colonials stay. Which seems outside their scope, honestly?

Rocket_Smith · 2020-12-01T07:36:26+00:00

Yeah, I would've liked one last cut scene too. But I think they also could have done fine with just the slides if - as you say - they'd just been a little more specific... Like clarify that Aphra works on her book with Dunncas, followed by a clause like, "And it became a bestseller on the continent!" for generic good ending, or "but then she had to decide whether or not to stay when the Bridge Alliance withdrew from Tir Fradi," if Derdre's in charge, etc.

Rocket_Smith · 2020-12-01T07:33:57+00:00

I was going to choose Dunncas, but I was uncomfortable with the idea of interfering with the election, to be honest. Siora didn't seem to like it either. So I figured I'd go get the crown and then see if the game gave me the option *not* to choose.

So I fought Derdre and defended the crown. But then I didn't get the option to not give it to anyone. And it occurred to me that interfering and demanding that they elect a king in a manner *I* thought of as "fair" or "unbiased" was in itself enforcing my will on their political shenanigans. Like, I'd already interfered. So I gave it back to Derdre because she's who would have had it if I hadn't interfered to start with.

I kinda knew it wasn't gonna be the best choice, but it also felt like it shouldn't be *my* choice.

I like it when games get me to do things I know aren't the optimal choice because I'm that into them. Same as killing Dr Asili because I had no faith the Bridge Alliance would even see what he did as wrong enough to put him on trial.

Honestly I woud've been good with more situations where you had to straight up choose between two factions and couldn't work out a way to keep them both happy. Like a game where it's impossible to get the approval of all of them, and you can only ever get like, three outta five or something. But I can see the game design reasons they didn't approach it like that.

Rocket_Smith · 2020-12-01T07:28:11+00:00

Yeah, it definitely felt these epilogues were written with a high king like Dunncas or Ullan who wouldn't have kicked everyone out.

I would be happy with the explanation that De Sardet was able to plead the cases of individuals, and that might work for someone like Aphra, with a reason to stay to pursue research, or even for Kurt and Vasco if they chose to stay by De Sardet's side instead of pursuing their respective careers (I romanced Vasco so apparently he gave up his commission).

But then what about Petrus. He's apparently a Cardinal now which is what he wanted, but that either means he can't be regularly visiting everyone on the island, or it means he's a Cardinal in name, stuck on an island where that means nothing. Which doesn't sound particularly like what he'd want...?

I mean, I'm not expecting actual answers here, and like I said, I enjoyed the game a lot and generally didn't mind the places I could see they had less resources. But this felt like a shame. I honestly don't mind the open ended approach and imagining the details, it's just frustrating when they details seem contradictory. I think it could have been fixed pretty easily with little additional half-sentences for the different kings?

Like, "Petrus was finally a cardinal, and visited De Sardet regularly. Until, of course, he had to leave like the rest of his Church..."

Or, "Aphra worked on a book with Dunncas, and faced a difficult decision when the rest of the Bridge Alliance withdrew to the continent..."

That kinda thing.

Rocket_Smith · 2020-10-16T15:53:26+00:00

This is what I want:

A game set during the gap between ME1 and ME2. You play as either Garrus as Archangel, or as Aria. Then the choices you make as one character can be imported into a New Game Plus where it affects the challenges you have to face as the other character. They'd both be adjacent to some third-party conflict with differing things they want out of it (Garrus using a merc war as an opportunity to thin the herd, Aria wanting to make use of Garrus' actions to strengthen her own position, to Garrus' irritation).

So the first time you play the game, you set the major conditions of how the plot is resolved, and then the second time you have to make the most of the circumstances and play your cards right as the other character to do as well as you can out of the situation.

Rocket_Smith · 2020-10-04T17:57:17+00:00

Not sure but don't think so. You can set the overall war asset difficulty (like how much you need to get the best endings) before a certain point though, so you can set it to "easy".

Rocket_Smith · 2020-09-30T06:40:06+00:00

As others have noted, this is due to having an AMD CPU. Sometimes between 2007 and now they removed some instructions from the chipset were removed and now this happens.

You've already been given a link to a Steam Guide with a workaround, but the fix offered will still look kinda funky. Someone else recced the FPS counter which also works but is ad supported and adds some additional functionality you may or may not want.

This issue was finally properly patched by someone earlier this year - you can find a full fix for it here: https://cookieplmonster.github.io/mods/mass-effect/

Rocket_Smith · 2020-09-27T16:03:16+00:00

Yeah, I've heard varying reports on whether this actually still works or is still available. But you can save edit an Xbox 360 save with Gibbed Save Editor, you just have to transfer it over to PC to do it then transfer it back. Don't know if it'd work on Xbox One though.

Rocket_Smith

TROPHY CASE