Can i move saves from mass effect (2007) to mass effect legendary edition?

[RageOfShizuno]

I spent 50+ hours on a save file and i don't want to do all over again if i decide to buy the legendary edition. Can someone tell me if it's possible to start the game in the legendary edition from where i stopped in mass effect 2007?

[Jon_Smith]

Nope, from what I understand that is not possible.

I reckon you could probably fudge it however, get a save game for ME1 LE and using a save game editor fiddle around with it until it matches your 2007 save file.

Sooner or later someone might make a converter that does this automatically.

[Ogami]

No, not compatible. It will completely bug out your game.

[Jon_Smith]

Originally posted by Jon_Smith:

Nope, from what I understand that is not possible.

I reckon you could probably fudge it however, get a save game for ME1 LE and using a save game editor fiddle around with it until it matches your 2007 save file.

Sooner or later someone might make a converter that does this automatically.

I was curious and just looked into this. Turned out there is no save game editor for Mass Effect 1 (original).


However save games from the original ME2 and ME3 are apparently compatible. I dunno about bugs as Ogami claims.

If someone has ME2 original they could import the save and save immediately, then the ME2 save file should be compatible....

[Ogami]

Originally posted by Jon_Smith:

However save games from the original ME2 and ME3 are apparently compatible. I dunno about bugs as Ogami claims.

i did not claim, the devs did. They explicitly warned to not try to import save games from ME 1 into ME 1 Legendary as it could completely break the game progress.

The later games are apparently fine since not much has changed. But ME 1 has changed some basic gameplay mechanics related to weapon stats and how they work that make old save games incompatible.

[Jon_Smith]

Originally posted by Ogami:

Originally posted by Jon_Smith:

However save games from the original ME2 and ME3 are apparently compatible. I dunno about bugs as Ogami claims.

i did not claim, the devs did. They explicitly warned to not try to import save games from ME 1 into ME 1 Legendary as it could completely break the game progress.

The later games are apparently fine since not much has changed. But ME 1 has changed some basic gameplay mechanics related to weapon stats and how they work that make old save games incompatible.

Apologies if it seemed I was making it out you were claiming something untrue. I was just saying that I wasn't aware of any bugs with importing ME2 or ME3 saves and perhaps you knew something I didn't.

From what I understand importing a ME1 file into MELE1 won't be buggy, it simply won't work.

Originally ME1 had a save format called .MassEffectSave, and in ME2 and ME3 the save format is .pcsave, ME2 could consume .MassEffectSave files and use them to make a new ME2 .pcsave.


MELE uses the .pcsave for all 3 games now and the functionality in ME2 has been changed to instead consume the more universal .pcsave format, as such a .MassEffectSave just wouldn't be recognized, rather than result in a buggy save.

Perhaps there are issues with using an old ME2 save aswell, but since they are all the .pcsave format I think it should be ok.

[Xazomn]

I don't know if you used mods with the old saves if you can use them without the same mods in ME LE. But I don't think it will be the same as with Fallout games. Never did modding for ME games as I did with Fallout games.


I've played hundreds of hours, but then I start a new game with a new character and new story. Don't see the problem though. Deleted all my saves because I wanted to start all over with ME LE

[orthostatic]

ME1 legacy saves used a different binary format than ME1 Legendary saves, so unless the community or maker produces a conversion utility, it isn't going to happen.

There are some great LE saves out on Nexusmods and other sites, though, if you'd like to jumpstart your imports a little.

[Jon_Smith]

Originally posted by orthostatic:

ME1 legacy saves used a different binary format than ME1 Legendary saves, so unless the community or maker produces a conversion utility, it isn't going to happen.

There are some great LE saves out on Nexusmods and other sites, though, if you'd like to jumpstart your imports a little.

I figured this too, but the lack of any save editor since ME1 was released leads me to think no-one can or is willing to invest the time needed to decrypt the ME1 format so it can be read or edited, and without that you cannot convert to the newer format.

[n#n#m#]

Originally posted by Jon_Smith:

Originally posted by orthostatic:

ME1 legacy saves used a different binary format than ME1 Legendary saves, so unless the community or maker produces a conversion utility, it isn't going to happen.

There are some great LE saves out on Nexusmods and other sites, though, if you'd like to jumpstart your imports a little.

I figured this too, but the lack of any save editor since ME1 was released leads me to think no-one can or is willing to invest the time needed to decrypt the ME1 format so it can be read or edited, and without that you cannot convert to the newer format.

Trilogy Save Editor (it's fairly new) allows you to edit your OG saves from ME1, but I don't know If it's possible to convert them to newer format, I only fiddle with headmorphs and such, so not my area of expertise

[Jon_Smith]

Originally posted by young person online:

Originally posted by Jon_Smith:

I figured this too, but the lack of any save editor since ME1 was released leads me to think no-one can or is willing to invest the time needed to decrypt the ME1 format so it can be read or edited, and without that you cannot convert to the newer format.

Trilogy Save Editor (it's fairly new) allows you to edit your OG saves from ME1

Fair point, I just tried it with the old file format and it works.

There's your answer I reckon. Make a new ME1LE save, open two instances of the new Trilogy editor, open the old save and the new save and make them match manually.

[Buck]

IDK why you'd want to do that. The whole point of the LE is to re-experience the series.

[Six of Saturn]

ME1 is worth the replay in this bundle, it may be the best part about it aside from having everything remastered in one spot with all DLCs.

[RageOfShizuno]

Originally posted by Jon_Smith:

Originally posted by Jon_Smith:

Nope, from what I understand that is not possible.

I reckon you could probably fudge it however, get a save game for ME1 LE and using a save game editor fiddle around with it until it matches your 2007 save file.

Sooner or later someone might make a converter that does this automatically.

I was curious and just looked into this. Turned out there is no save game editor for Mass Effect 1 (original).


However save games from the original ME2 and ME3 are apparently compatible. I dunno about bugs as Ogami claims.

If someone has ME2 original they could import the save and save immediately, then the ME2 save file should be compatible....

And what if i don't have all the DLC in my mass effect 2 (2010)?
What would happen if I import the save files from mass effect 1 (2007) to mass effect 2 (2010) and save immediately without having all DLC. Would it break the the game if i import the save file from the 2010 to the legendary edition?

[orthostatic]

Originally posted by Buck:

IDK why you'd want to do that. The whole point of the LE is to re-experience the series.

Experience is subjective. I'm aligned with your preference, and I enjoyed running all three games again with a "from scratch" character. Other players may want to re-experience their old save (which is valid), and I imagine this was part of a cost/benefit analysis when the EA devs changed the ME1 save format for Legendary Edition.

Makes me wonder what the benefits were, since ME2 and ME3 were already capable of importing the legacy save format. Probably related to cloud storage and data-mining against clouded saves.

Edit: May also relate to a design decision to maintain the save format in that hyped up ME4 they're talking about doing. Converting ME1 to the "new" format would make possible imports from ME1->ME4 without having to maintain two formats in the ME4 codebase.

[RageOfShizuno]

Originally posted by Buck:

IDK why you'd want to do that. The whole point of the LE is to re-experience the series.

It's because i'm doing every single quest, i'm draining every single drop of EXP, opening every crate. I will become dumb if i do it all over again when i'm so close to finishing the game 100% xd