MEUITM a Mass Effect HD Texture mod guide

This guide will get you setup with Mass Effect Updated/Improved Textures Mod (TexMod free version) by Catachrism.

Welcome Mass effect Modders and Mod users,

I'm trying to fix some of the "uglies" in ME1 and give it the polished look the epic story line deserves. So far I have updated/re-textured: Light and Shadow Maps on walls and floors (Normandy Citadel and Feros covered so far), Kaidan, Tali, Garrus, Wrex, Liara, Saren, Benezia, Udina, Council, Anderson, Joker, Chakwas, Geth, Colonists, Scientists, Keepers, Normandy, Mako, many NPC clothings, Geth ship, volus, hanar, elcor, Salarians, Batarians some armors, default character armors including N7 armor (of characters re-textured) and various environmental textures.

This was all achieved by texture editing (up-scaling, re-painting, adding details, adding texture, adding pattern, and using that to rebuild spec maps, spec power maps, and normal maps). Then once all the details are added I load up the Character models into Photoshop and paint away texture seams as best as possible. I added a higher resolution film grain for crisper picture with film grain one. This mod also introduces soft shadow shaders by daemonjax, tweaked by myself and tweaked bioengine.ini settings for texture streaming and soft shadow setting by me and other various quality improvements by Aquadran all done behind the scenes by the installer ro manually in MEM for advanced users. Lastly I have included a ReShade preset that I customized specifically for MEUITM to add next gen lighting and effects as best as possible without betraying the original feel of the game while adding some effects to mimic visual styles seen in Unreal Engine 4.

Requests are always welcome :)

Setup and Install

Before and After Shots

Install video:

Let's get Started:

Ideal pre-install steps to allow the mod and game to run properly and prevent issues:

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0). Yes step zero :). Install the main game and any DLC you will be using fresh, especially if you were using any mE3Explorer mods including pre- 2018 MEUITM.

**This mod is not compatible with old MEUITM for file structure reasons. You need reset to vanilla before installing the new version, there is currently no way around this. If you don't the installer will abort as to avoid breaking your game**
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1). Install any other mods that you want that are non-texture based now

(They can also be texture based but MEUITM will overwrite any that are covered in it). Mainly this step is for same sex romances, Xbox 360 controller support, any mods that alter the games files etc...These mods will break MEUITM and the game if installed after.
Install the mods for vanilla compatibility (Ignore any MEUITM versions as they refer to the old MEUITM which is incompatible.)
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2). Run Once.

Now we can run the game one time before doing any texture modding so all files are set up by the game it also builds the shader cache with the soft shadows. This is also a good time to go in and Max Out in-game graphics settings and choose your gaming resolution (use left and right arrows to see resolutions not displayed in the drop down in game menu). Also if you've never played Mass Effect before please run around a bit in vanilla so you can see what it is the mod is aiming to improve.
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For AMD CPU owners to fix an old bug with the game Download and install FPS Counter by Pharago:

This will fix the black character bug on Noveria and Ilos that have plagued AMD CPU owners for years.
FPS Counter[www.nexusmods.com](Nexus)
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Now we are ready to install the mod:

Happy 10 years of Mass Effect!

MEUITM Anniversary Edition is the new version of MEUITM , it uses MEM with a user friendly installer.
Benefits of MEM and the new installer:
Smaller download size
More localizations support (only textures are being installed)
Improved performance
Perfect mipmap function
2K texture option at the installer level for even more performance
Boat loads of new and revised textures.

Special thanks to Aquadran for MEM and all the support getting this going including the nice installer!
Special thanks to CreeperLava for pointing me towards MEM, support, and all of the work on ALOT!

To install:

DOWNLOAD[www.nexusmods.com]

Extract the MEUITMAnniversay.zip.
From the extracted folder, run MassEffectModder.exe and click "install".
(Optional) check the 2k box if your system has lower specs.

Follow any prompts but mostly kick back until it's done and then launch MassEffect.exe like normal.
Enjoy:)
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Dynamic Shadow Fix if you already installed the mod first:

Install the "soft shadows" by extracting the contents of the zip file in to your game directory example: "C:\Origin\Mass Effect\"

Then for them to take effect you must clear the shader cache, to clear the shader cache
There are 2 ways to clear the shader cache.

1) Find your install directory:...\Mass Effect\Binaries\ and run MassEffectConfig.exe. On the lefthand sidebar, select the Repair option. Click the Delete Local Shader Cache Files button. That's it, you can close the config program and start the game normally and it will load the new soft shadow shaders.

2) Find your My Documents directory: x:\Users\xxx\Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect\Published\CookedPC\ and delete the file named: "LocalShaderCache-PC-D3D-SM3.upk" That's it, you can now start the game normally and it will load the new soft shadow shaders.
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Further tweak Dynamic Shadows

This file is located: x:\Users\xxx\Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect\Config "Bioengine.ini"

Find the following entries:
DepthBias=0.030000 or(0.012 if you restored to pre-official 1.2 patch values)
MinShadowResolution=32
MaxShadowResolution=512

And change them to:
DepthBias=0.006000
MinShadowResolution=16
MaxShadowResolution=2048

Lastly, to match the screenshots you will need to install the MEUITM Reshade loactated in the mod's "addons" sections. Simply extract the contents in to the binaries folder in you Mass effect install directory.**Note- FPS Counter is not comaptible with ReShade so you will need to amke a choice as to which one you want to use.**

Troubleshooting general Mass Effect issues and potential Mod issues

Mass Effect Troubleshooting:

Mass Effect with or without the mod can crash and have issues!!!!!!!

For all general Mass Effect troubleshooting and any issues I don't mention I recommend going here first, Link[pcgamingwiki.com].

The most prominent issues and crashes in my experience are:

1. Hardware sound issues

These will cause random invalid page faults and crashes. There are pages and pages online of people with this issue back to 2008. Google is your friend here. Usually a fairly simple bioengine.ini fix, which will vary depending on your audio hardware.

2. AMD processors (bulldozer or later chipsets)

This is because Mass Effect is seeing AMD and looking for 3D Now instruction sets that existed when the game was made. AMD has ditched these instructions in their processors since causing missed timings and faults in communication between Mass effect and the CPU. Due to this you will see black textures for characters and have potential crashes/general instability.

Links to the bug:
video of the issue on un-modded game with workaround fix:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEvl9RAn2CY
Bug description similar to above but to show another source
Link[social.bioware.com]

Proper fix has finally been created here: FPS Counter[www.nexusmods.com]

Black textures on Therum is another non mod related issue. Fix is here [pcgamingwiki.com]
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Mod Troubleshooting:

1. MY SHADOWS ON FACES ARE BLOCKY, I DON'T LIKE IT:

You didn't clear your shader cache before running the modded game because the shadows from Daemonjax completely resolve this problem.

There are 2 ways to clear the shader cache.

1) Find your install directory:...\Mass Effect\Binaries\ and run MassEffectConfig.exe. On the left hand sidebar, select the Repair option. Click the Delete Local Shader Cache Files button. That's it, you can close the config program and start the game normally and it will load the new soft shadow shaders.
2) Find your My Documents directory: x:\Users\xxx\Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect\Published\CookedPC\ and delete the file named: "LocalShaderCache-PC-D3D-SM3.upk" That's it, you can now start the game normally and it will load the new soft shadow shaders.

2. MY GAME IS CRASHING TO THE DESKTOP

It's most likely a mod conflict or invalid Bioengine.ini settings:

Remember to install all non-texture mods before MEUITM, and don't mix and match FPS with Reshade, ENB, or sweetFX and there really shouldn't be any crashes.

If you've made custom tweaks to the bioengine.ini and the game is crashing you can delete it and the game will create a new one which should resolve the crashes, from there you can return and tweak carefully.

That's about it for the Steam version, most troubleshooting comes from the Origin version of the game.
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If you still have problems post them here and we will work them out. With the infinite number of hardware configurations out there we are bound to need to fix a few things to get it running on every configuration.

Screenshots

[/previewimg]l,floatLeft;MassEffect 2017-12-31 16-57-09.jpg][/previewimg]

[fadster]

I have a pretty old installation of the game and I'm not entirely sure if it has MEUITM. Does anyone know a way to verify it's indeed present?

[TenTech]

Try turning off updates for the game.

[Absolute Bust Superiority]

I have no fucking idea why, I install the mod, no problems, great mod, and suddenly one day the textures are gone, and the game resolution and textures go back to default. Weird, but I decide to install it again. So a play a few days, and then today when I launched it, the resolution is back to default one, and the improved textures are, again, gone. I can only think of Steam doing something to revert anything to the default state, I'm losing my fucking mind.

[TenTech]

Judging by the comparison shots, I'd say this mod will still have something to offer, once it's updated for the legendary version.

[liltracy]

Thank you!!!

[xoJasberry]

@TenTech: God, I hope not. But you might be right, that was my first thought as well.

[TenTech]

I'm getting the feeling this will be retired, due to recent announcements...

[funkynutz]

Oops... FPSCounter isn't included. Get it from nexus: https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect/mods/71/?

[funkynutz]

@Alsius, that's a bug in Noveria (and one of the other planets if memory serves). FPSCounter app included with the mod should fix it, but if it doesn't, or you don't want to use it for some reason:

1. You'll need to enable the console (go to your documents folder, find Bioware>Mass Effect>Config and edit the BIOInput file by adding ConsoleKey=Tilde under the [Engine.Console] secion).

2. In game, open the console and enter "viewmode unlit". Brightness will be a bit high, and shadows will dissapear but you'll be able to see what's going on again.

3. When you leave the area, enter "viewmode lit" to turn the lighting effects back on.

[Alsius]

So, I just got out of my first vehicle section, and now every character model has become completely black and blocky.
I already deleted shader cache if it matters, and it didn't help.