Just wanted to know what people thought of the game to see whether i should try it.
-Teal
Tamren, this is a general comment as I don't have ME so can't comment specifically.
What you have described sounds very similar to issues I have seen in the past where games don't shut down properly leaving [part of] themselves still running. Checking the process list might show a ME related process still running.
One thing that could cause this, and might also explain the sound problems, is if you have an online (voice) chat service running in the background. These have a tendency to lock the sound libraries in such a way that the game can still use them but when it comes to release them on shut down find it can't so freezes - leaving itself in memory. Any process (other than card drivers etc.) that interact with the sound card could also cause this.
Generalising a bit - any unnecessary processes left running can, at the least, reduce performance and, at worst, interfere with games.
Another general note about stutter (graphical and sound) is the good old defrag can do wonders.
you do realize that vsync puts further strain on your gpu? i´d recommend shutting it down if you have a low-end gpu, heck i´d shut it down even if you had a mid-range gpu.
usually you dont even notice that much of a difference in image quality, except a drop in framerates. worst case i´ve ever seen till now was dead space with vsync on, the controlls were so extremely laggy - no matter the cpu/gpu - it was terrible
Have you installed the patch / updated relevant drivers? If so, I suggest you get onto Bioware technical support, because it sounds like you're having some pretty bad problems.
RE This:
"I noticed that the computer was using 38% of its ram. Task manager quotes it as using over 500mbs. My computer when idle never uses more than 22-24% and on a fresh boot it starts at 18%"
Sounds like Mass Effect didn't finish cleaning up after itself when it crashed. Probably some threads were left running. I've seen this happen with a lot of games, and also with programs I've written myself . If you can find the process for Mass Effect (sorting by memory should help you here) and kill it manually from task manager, then you should get your memory back.
Its strange really, all of the problems seem localized to Mass Effect. I have never had problems with the motherboard sound until now and it runs better with hardware acceleration turned off. I don't have any chat or internet programs on this computer with the exception of ventrilo and I haven't used that in months.
I don't think my graphics card is to blame for the choppy graphics, everyone seems to get them no matter the hardware spec. My card is and 8800 GTS 512 and its handled everything I have thrown at it so far. I can run company of heroes with everything maxed, the only slowdown is when the screen is packed wall to wall with stuff firing weapons, turning down anti-aliasing a few notches solved the problem and I can't tell the difference between X8 and X2 at that distance anyway. Left 4 dead might not be as detailed as Mass Effect but I can run it at full blast, I have not had a single hiccup or choppy frame. And this is with max detail, film grain, vsync, 16x AA, the works basically. I have never heard the sound stutter either, even with 40+ zombies on screen and 4 seperate survivors all firing guns.
--
I did some looking around and I am far from the only person to have problems. Whats frustrating is that this seems to be a recent change. There are people out there who ran Mass Effect smooth as butter, who went on to run Crysis/Far Cry2 and the like without problems. Only to come back and have Mass Effect crash on them. I still don't get why it uses 100% of BOTH cores when running. (not even Crysis does this 100% of the time) It actually uses LESS cpu power when loading stuff.
The general consensus is that between then and now something changed, whether it had to do with drivers I don't know. I am running the latest from Nvidia.
100% of both CPU cores indicates to me that there is a thread (well, at least 2 threads) waiting in an infinite loop.
Bad luck, hope one of the appropriate companies fixes this for you.
Tamren, I read a post this morning on the MEPC boards where the guy was having tons of troubles. He had Daemon Tools and Alcohol on his rig, so he removed them. As well, he rolled back to the 175.19 driver and he went into the nVidia control panel and set Anti Aliasing to Application Controlled.
He's not sure which of the changes fixed the issue, but he said it cleared things up for him. If there's something there you haven't tried, give it a go and see if it helps. Good luck.
Other people report that the 175.19 drivers work. How do I go about installing older drivers and switching to them for a nvidia card? There doesn't seem to be any option for such things in the control panel. Apparantly all of this crap has to do with the PhysX stuff that was added to the drivers. They interfere with Mass Effect and other games as well such as WoW. A couple guys mentioned that you need to get rid of the physx drivers as well, but how could I do that?
Edit: Did some experimenting. There is an option in the NVIDIA control panel called "Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames". The default is that the CPU crunches on 3 frames before it hands them over to the GPU. I turned the option from 3 down to two and the 100% cpu went away. Now the only time it hits 100% on both cores for an extended period is the first time any savegame is loaded, after that the usage hovers around 60-80% on both cores.
Its an improvement at least but the sound and choppyness are just as bad as ever.
Edit Edit: Evidently that only works once. I changed it back to 3 to test other things and when I changed it back to 2 I still get the 100% cpu.
Tamren, to change drivers, you have to DL the older version, uninstall the one you currently have, and install the old one. I don't know if there's a way to get rid of the Physx stuff only.
Can that be done from the add/remove menu of the control panel? because a lot of these sites that reccoment the older drivers also mention unsing Driver Cleaner which can horribly bork your PC up if you do it wrong. It seems like far too much trouble for one game.
I guess I will be stuck until they patch it
Alright, let's see what we can do here.
First things first, download whatever driver you want (usually the latest, but in your case . . . ). I recommend saving it to your desktop for easy finding.
Second open up the Hardware tab of the System Properties menu (right click on my computer, properties; or hit the windows button and pause/break) and click on Device Manager.
Now, in the Device Manager click on "Display adapters" and it should show your card. Right click on your card and uninstall the driver.
After it uninstalls do not restart, yet. Go to your c: drive and click on the NVIDIA folder. In here you want to delete all video driver related folders (otherwise your system will automatically install whatever's present on the next reboot and we don't want this). Again, make sure it's only the video driver folders, which should be numbered 169.12 and whatnot.
Reboot.
We want to get into Safe Mode now: follow the instructions at this website if you don't know how.
Upon reboot Windows will install a generic VGA driver, this is fine. Now run a registry program like CCleaner and have it fix/delete the errors it finds (and yes, backup when it asks you to). Then you will want to run a program lke Driver Cleaner.* I prefer Driver Sweeper as it's free and can be found at guru3d: http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/
And yes, these programs can more or less cripple your system is used incorrectly. The only caveat in this situation is to make sure you clean out the Nvidia VIDEO drivers and NOT chipset drivers.
After you run the program, reboot.
Install driver.
You should be good to go.
*Note: A driver cleaner or driver sweeper program is not essential unless you are switching card manufacturers (a la Ati and Nvidia), but it is recommended when rolling back to an older driver like you are proposing.
Edited to say that really you can skip the whole driver cleaner thing if you want. Simply unistall the driver and reboot then install your new driver. If you don't have problems, be happy. If you do have problems then try again while also employing driver sweeper at the right time.
Eep. I've messed with the registry before and lets just say the burned hand teaches best. If I ever have to nuke and pave this system and start from scratch I will install the older drivers instead but for now I think I will just shelf the game until they patch it. Evidently some of the fixes were attached to the downloadable content and were not included with the standalone patch, once that content goes in it should fix a few problems.
But anyway from what I gather the PC version as it stands now is a horrible console port. There are so many things wrong in the settings and programming that don't mesh with PC systems as well as they should. Its possible that the recent drivers broke these but most people point the finger at the game because these issues affect ATI cards as well as Nvidia.
For now though I would like to solve another problem that has cropped up. Mass Effect sounds like utter crap on my system where all my other programs work just fine. In the logs this text is displayed near the beginning:
[11.935] Init: Audio Driver: USB Audio Device (usbaudio.sys)[11.948] Init: Audio Device: Generic Hardware[12.001] Init: 28 Free Sources, 2 Reserved
Basically what this tells me is that for some unfathomable reason the game is using generic USB audio device drivers to run my onboard SoundMAX HD sound system. It is also limiting channels to 28 and reserving two. Those USB drivers are used to run my USB headset. I use desktop speakers to play all sounds but I use the headseat for its built in microphone. The headseat speakers are disabled and never play any sound. I don't know why but the game refuses to detect my proper sound equipment.
Well, a program like CCleaner isn't going to mess with anything significant. It just removes old entries. It's a very good program and I've never once had an issue from it, but it does give you the option of saving a backup before it removes/fixes anything so if something isn't right afterwards you just double click on the saved file and like magic it all works again.
I don't know about your soundcard issue, but the 28 channels is common. You simply need to change it to 64 in the ini file. Try this:
1. Set sound to Software2. Open up "bioengine.ini". Should be located at "C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\My Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect\Config"3. Locate the tag "[ISACTAudio.ISACTAudioDevice]" and change these values:MaxChannels=64 (default for my system was 28)TotalAvailableChannels=62 (default was also 28)4. Save ini file and play game.
That's assuming your onboard sound allows for more channels, which I would think it does.
The downloadable content is already out, so I don't know if they're going to release any more patches and whatnot.
I'd go to the Mass Effect tech forums as most workarounds will be there. Good luck.
Hm. Well, it's a pretty solid game, although the OP's system doesn't seem powerful enough to run it properly. I had some trouble getting it to run properly under Vista 64-bit, but the problems Tamren's describing sound like they may be unique to the Steam version. Sorry, I'm no help on that.
I have a Mass Effect PC review here (http://warreni.joeuser.com/article/333593/Mass_Effect_delivers_a_solid_if_decidedly_console-ized_RPG_experience) if anyone's interested.
Well I did some poking around. At first I tried changing the settings and editing the files, nada. I managed to solve the sound problem in another way. When you first boot up mass effect it scans your computer and creates a set of ini files that store all of your settings. It also creates an XML file that stores system information. I followed the instructions in a forum post and deleted all of the above. Then instead of running mass effect I ran the config utility instead. It detected the hardware again and the settings seem to work fine now. Its set to software sound but this time around it seems to work fine. The log file lists 64 channels at bootup, so whatever problem that was lingering in the settings is gone now. 64 should be enough, people who downgraded from 64 to 32 as a test got the same errors as me and everyone else.
Apparantly these sound problems are very common. ME has some holdovers from its console incarnation that make the game detect sound hardware incorrectly.
The DLC doesn't work with the Steam release. If you use the content package it replaces the game exe which Steam can't handle. There was a texture bug that was fixed in the DLC but not in the standalone patch, you can fix this without the DLC but it requires jumping through a few hoops.
Ah, yes, I forgot they're still working on that. Gotcha.
Glad the sound got fixed.
Mass Effect is definitely my favorite game EVER.
Love it to death. If only stardock had published it though. I would love to be able to have had a DRM free version from the start.
I really wish the engine was better optimized for the pc. If I walk down a corridor there are 5 distinct lines on my screen where the textures get less and less detailed. I can't fathom why the computer wouldn't just display the best texture off until the horizon, it is certainly capable.
Normally it wouldn't bother me as lots of games do this but the intervals are ridiculously short. Literally every 8 feet away from my character the texture get worse and worse untill they reach "pathetic".
What do you have the AF set to? Regarless, turn it up higher. Should help with the draw distance issues.
For me, I wasn't happy with the visual performance until I forced 4x AA. Made things look much cripser, though I did have to bump down to a lower resolution to keep the framerate up. In fact, the framerate was fine for me everywhere except the Citadel, though that is most people's experience.
There actually isn't any button in the options to turn on AF. It seems to be tied to graphic quality. I bumped the graphics up to Ultra and there is still a line, but only one of them and it is far enough away that it can get off unnoticed. I disabled PhysX on my nvidia card and the game can now run at least an hour without crashing which is good enough for me.
But dear god, my biggest gripe is the Mako handling. The vehicle has great suspension, but the terrain they make you move over is ridiculously jaggy. The wheels have a tendency to bottom out so instead of "smooth out the ride on jagged terrain" translates into "make the Mako bounce as if it was on a trampoline". The jump jets are of little use, whenever I use them I tend to slide down mountainsides facing the wrong way, while upside down.
Otherwise the game is great fun.
Be glad you didn't play the game on the 360, the Mako handled worse.
All of the stuff involving the Mako was pretty useless. By that I mean the "nonlinear" exploration portions. Bland, boring and I stopped doing them after three or so. The main story is way more interesting and I didn't want to break it up with more floating over terrain in random directions.
I only found the jump jets to be useful not to completely bottom out and kill myself. The Mako is pretty stupid overall, and it didn't really bother me as much as most people, so that's saying something.
P.S. - I hope you have Wrex in your party.
Didn't. My first character was a soldier and provided 90% of the required shooty power. So I ended up taking Liara and Tali for most of the game. However my next character will be a pure biotic or engineer so I will probably end up taking Wrex and the human soldier woman, I forgot her name.
Its annoying that you almost never find Quarian armour. I think I am nearing the end and I have only seen 5 sets over the entire game so far.
That sorta annoys me, since it means that you can easily get stuck for a big part of the game, with an extremely ugly armor (like that pink one). My favourite armor by far is the Onyx armor on Shepard (On Shepard, the Onyx armor, normally entirely black, have red lines and the 'N7' designation). Unfortunately, it seems that Onyx becomes increasily rare (or worthless) on higher levels, even though there's armors all up to X.
Onyx looks crap on everyone else, though.
Edit: I just started my first game on Insanity after a long time away from the game, playing a pure Biotic (Adept) with Electronics. All I can say is that it's a blast, and by far the most challenging game so far. I'm going about it primarily with Ashley and Kaidan, because I enjoy them overall the most - it just seems fitting somehow; they are my crew members, they are with the alliance, so they are in my primary away team.
I wish there was a way to kick all these aliens off my ship, or at least give them jobs to take care of, so they weren't just meatbags standing around my ship. I just don't see the logic of hauling Wrex around in particular, just so he can stand in my cargo hold.
Onyx heavy oh Shepard looks awesome. The command stripe has the best look of all the armours. Wrex can get some crazy looking ones though. I once found him a set from the "geth armoury", which doesn't make any damn sense granted but it did look cool.
In case you didn't know, the reason Shepard have 'N7' is because he's part of the special forces (N) of the highest proficiency (7). It kinds ticks me that the remaining classifications and proficiencies aren't really present in the game. It would really help my sense an immersion (not to mention it'd look freaking sweet) if Ashley Williams had her "B4" designation, and Kaidan Alenko had his (?) on all their armors.
And of course, I wouldn't complain if Shepard had it on all his armors, too.
Superb game, Awful DRM.
Its a fairly linear story action RPG, just the kind of game I love.
I loved Mafia, Vampires of the masquerade, and then mass effects, then fallout 3 which was even better.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
Sign in or Create Account
