Better graphics

[Kaneko]

Hello every one! I'm currently replaying ME and my laptop is much better than the rig that I used back then on my first playthough...

Found this tweaks on Bioware forum that really come in handy...

Anyway all you need to do is open your bioengine.ini located in Documents/Bioware/MassEffect/Config/ and change the lines one by one...

[Engine.GameEngine]
DepthBias=0.0120000
MinShadowResolution=32
MaxShadowResolution=1024

[Engine.Physics]
NxPrimarySceneHW=True


[Core.System]
StaleCacheDays=30
MaxStaleCacheSize=100
MaxOverallCacheSize=300


[ISACTAudio.ISACTAudioDevice]
MaxChannels=128
TimeBetweenHWUpdates=15
MinOggVorbisDurationGame=20
MinOggVorbisDurationEditor=4
TotalAvailableChannels=126
DeviceName=Generic Hardware


[Engine.ISVHacks]
bInitializeShadersOnDemand=False
DisableATITextureFilterOptimizationChecks=True
UseMinimalNVIDIADriverShaderOptimization=True
PumpWindowMessagesWhenRenderThreadStalled=False


[SystemSettings]
StaticDecals=TRUE
DynamicDecals=TRUE
DynamicLights=TRUE
DynamicShadows=TRUE
LightEnvironmentShadows=TRUE
CompositeDynamicLights=FALSE
ShadowFilterQualityBias=0
DirectionalLightMaps=TRUE
MotionBlur=TRUE
DepthOfField=TRUE
Bloom=TRUE
QualityBloom=TRUE
SpeedTreeLeaves=TRUE
SpeedTreeFronds=TRUE
OnlyStreamInTextures=TRUE
LensFlares=TRUE
FloatingPointRenderTargets=TRUE
EnableHighPolyChars=True
AllowD3D10=True
Trilinear=TRUE
OneFrameThreadLag=TRUE
SkeletalMEshLODBias=0
ParticleLODBias=0
DetailMode=2
ShadowFilterQualityBias=0
MaxAnisotropy=8
ScreenPercentage=100

[TextureStreaming]
PoolSize=1024
HysteresisLimit=30
DropMipLevelsLimit=26
StopIncreasingLimit=24
StopStreamingLimit=12
FudgeFactorIncreaseRateOfChange=0.5
FudgeFactorDecreaseRateOfChange=-0.4
MinRequestedMipsToConsider=11
MinTimeToGuaranteeMinMipCount=2
MaxTimeToGuaranteeMinMipCount=12
StaticTextureStreamingDistance=1
UseTextureFileCache=TRUE

[D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]
MaxTranslucencyLayers=2
MaxTextureSize=2048
DisableHWShadowMaps=True
BIOPixelShaderVersion=ps_4_0
BIOVertexShaderVersion=vs_4_0

There's a chance that some of them don't work but in general they made the dinamic shadows much smoother than the crappy ones the game has as default...

Any feedback is welcome.

Hope it helps!!!

[dlrdgm]

If you want better textures for mass effect 1 you coud try Mass Effect texture improvement mod .

[Kaneko]

Yeah, I saw it some days ago... But a 4.5GB mod just seems too much :/ I mean the textures may be kind of blurry but the game runs smooth... I think by fixxing the dinamic shadow make a whole lot of difference without such a big install. But thanks for the info!

[chriskringel]

thanks!

[Filho de Gled]

It worked! Thanks! I'm gonna try the mod too, let's see how much can be improved.

[Quantum Fury]

Originally posted by dlrdgm:

If you want better textures for mass effect 1 you coud try Mass Effect texture improvement mod .

Thanks for the link, I did this yesterday and its made a gigantic improvement. Kudos

Ive also configured the above lines in the bioengine.ini file. Although the odd one was missing in my file, the majority have been altered. Thanks