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annakie · 3 years ago

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Mass Effect Legendary Edition Modding Post

*edit* - It’s been awhile since I made this post and there’s been a ton of great mods released, or ones that I just didn’t use that were out when I made the list. I have slightly updated with a few additions in late 2022, but as I haven’t played LE1 in awhile, I’m probably missing out on some cool newer things.

Consider this a starting point, and go find other things you like on Nexus Mods. This list mostly contains what I installed and used in the last quarter or so of 2021.

It is, by the way, super annoying that all Legendary Edition mods for all three games are at one space on the Nexus. Searching for “LE1″ will take you to most of the mods for this game, but not all. It’s annoying to have to trawl through everything each time you want to play one of the games, but that’s the decision the Nexus admins made.

This list will start with the bigger ones which are most highly rec’d, and end with the ones that are more about personal taste. Except for the bullet pointed sections near the end, the headline/title of the mod’s section on this post has the link.

General Advice: When installing mods, always check for compatibility patches you may need for other mods you have installed or are going to install. And be sure to check for incompatibilities -- they are usually listed on the mod’s description page. It may be a good idea to jot down a list of the mods you intend to use FIRST, and then you can check for compatibility as you download and install.

Mod Manager

First of all, you just need ME3Tweaks Mod Manager to install the mods. It’s pretty easy to set up, and to use. When running mod manager for the first time, it will ask if you want to make a backup. YOU DO WANT TO MAKE THE BACKUP.

After that, you can start installing mods. If you have a paid account to NexusMods, you can even download mods directly from the website to the mod manager.

Otherwise, download the mod then drag and drop the .zip file onto the mod manager.

Be sure you import the mod after downloading it, and then on the main menu Apply Mod to install it, and choose options, if available. You need to both Import and Apply for any mod you want to use.

Also, launching the game from the Mod Manager launches you right into whichever game you’re on in the MM at the time, bypassing splash screens and the game selection screen. Much faster.

BTW I’ve had a few people reach out for tech support for the mod manager because of this post. This is the most tech support I’m providing. There is an excellent Discord where they can be of actual tech help.

LE1 Community Patch

If you don’t install any other mod, at least install this one, and install it FIRST. Tons of bug fixes, lore fixes, etc. Hundreds of little things and many big things and glitches are fixed. Install, and enjoy a much more lore friendly and less buggy game. There is nothing more important modding-wise than installig the Community Patch first and foremost.

A Lot Of Videos (ALOV) for LE1

(Including optional Relay Jump Remaster) Psst... Bioware did not, in fact, upscale all the cutscene videos for LE. (I actually helped a little at the beginning of the ALOV project but had some stuff come up so I couldn’t finish helping, but I definitely saw how they were all still mostly in like 1440 or 1080.) So the ALOV team painstakingly did all that work which Bioware should have done in the first place. Truly upscaled 4k cutscenes, for all 3 games. Thanks modders.

Saren Stages

This is so good. It’s so, so good. One of the things that over and over again we’ve all said is how it should have been done in the first place is now... done. Saren starts the game looking just a little different than a “normal” Turian, but not obviously a guy with tubes and mechanics sticking out of him. When he meets with the council, he’s wearing a robe over body so what little reaperized bits he has are covered. He looks a little different on Virmire, before looking fully changed finally on the Citadel, where his appearance actually feels shocking. Really well done, actually lore-friendly, makes Nihilus and the Council not look like complete morons for not asking why someone they’ve known for many years is now half machine.

Pinnacle Station DLC

Where, once again, Bioware failed, the modders succeeded. Made a post about this recently with screenshots. But yes, the full DLC, some of it ported in, some of it completely remade, is now seamlessly integrated into the game. Sure, it’s a couple of hours of inconsequential fighting with a few rewards, but if you miss it, it’s amazing that it exists at all in the LE now.

Same-Gender Romances for LE1

You probably already know what this does. Do you want to play MShep and romance Kaidan from LE1? Or Femshep/Ashley? Here ya go, fully doable with virtually no difference from the het ship.

But even if you are romancing Liara, or doing Femshep/Kaidan or MShep/Ashley, or doing no ME1 romance at all, I still highly rec this mod.

Because of the way Bioware designed the dialog wheel, it’s really hard to know what lines exactly trigger the romances, thus accusations of being “ninjamanced” (or starting a romance with a character you didn’t want to just by being nice to a companion) were born. This mod really helps avoid that. Read the description and you can easily tell exactly what lines to avoid using to stop the romance from triggering. You’ll want to make sure you do this for all of the 3 companions you don’t plan on romancing.

There was also a bug in Liara’s dialog in the base game that DIDN’T stop the romance from triggering even if you selected the right dialog. The LE1 Community Patch fixed this, but even if you don’t install it, this mod also fixes it.

Galaxy Map Trackers

Marks UNC missions you’ve unlocked on the Galaxy Map. Definitely does get a bit cluttered until you start knocking out those missions, but really worth it.

Charted Worlds

Reveals ALL of the mineral and misc. locations on all the planetary maps from the start. No more driving around planets hoping you find everything, if you feel like you need to clear everything on every planet. I don’t have a screenshot of a planetary map, and you know what it looks like, so take this pretty Mako screenshot instead.

Mission Timings

“This mod delays the Council's message about Virmire until all three initial missions (Therum, Feros, and Noveria) are completed, rather than delivering the message after only two of the three are completed. It also delays Kahoku's message about Cerberus until Feros and Noveria are completed, since UNC: Cerberus features enemies introduced in both missions.“

The timeline feels more natural, and forces the Cerberus questline make more sense, imho. Enjoy the screenshot of one of the Cerberus bunkers since it’s hard to actually have a screenshot for this mod.

No Sexual Harassment

A few choices here to remove some of the sexism directed towards Femshep in various areas of the game, and another to remove the Consort stroking your face. I’ve always hated the face stroking, my Shep would have definitely taken a polite step back there. So to be able to have a calm interaction with the Consort, who I otherwise like, without the touching was great.

I didn’t remove Harkin the sexist dialog, I personally feel like it’s part of Harkin’s personality and just more fuel to dislike him, and I like Femshep standing up for herself. But I love that it’s an option for those who choose to install it.

LE1 Diversification Project

Brand new on N7 Day 2022 - huge overhaul of the Citadel, and significant changes to other hubs, to diversify the races and genders in the galaxy. Moves some favorite NPCs to better locations, does some lighting fixing, lots of new outfits and hair for NPCs! Requires Halcyon Hairpack and Advanced Weapon Models for LE1.

This is a HUGE mod and is going to make a huge impact on your game, visually. Can’t wait for further releases of the project!

Travel & Convenience:

N7 Mako and Unlimited Sprint and Boost - The Mako is better in LE1. These mods make planet travel much better. And also very long sprint (as long as your weapon is out) is really nice, if immersion breaking, to make it around the hubs faster.

Normandy Rapid Transit - Adds a Normandy option to Citadel Fast Travel to land you at the docking bay if you want to avoid the elevator. I didn’t use it much, since I like the elevator in LE1 now, but it was nice to have the option.

Skip Minigames - I saw the spinny blocks minigame exactly once the whole game (on Noveria while breaking into the office near Lorik Qui’in’s office.) Aside from that, every minigame cost 0 Omnigel to skip. It was so, so nice.

Equipment & Appearance:

Iconic Fashion Party - All companions stay in their Iconic armor look (N7 Onyx for Shepard, Phoenix for Ashley, Non-N7 Onyx for Kaidan, Agent for Garrus, etc.) no matter what armor you are actually wearing. Removes options of having your entire team in Phoenix armor if that’s your thing. But everyone has a consistent look throughout the game and nobody will ever have to sport banana colored armor just to survive. Will still change the look from Light --> Medium --> Heavy armor when you/companions can equip heavier armor though.

Morlan’s Famous Iconic Armor Shop - Adds another store to Morlan that only sells iconic armor (see above). Not really necessary if you just want to keep them in the look if you have Iconic Fashion Party installed, but it IS another shop where you can find better armor, especially for like, Tali, who can be really hard to find armor for if the RNG isn’t nice. So why not install it?

Black Market License - Adds additional armors and weapons into the game which, TBH, are probably overpowered, or at least equal to Spectre gear. The armor will override Iconic Fashion Party but the stats are great, and it’s a unique look that isn’t in the basegame naturally. Adds a license to the Normandy Quartermaster so that he sells these items, as well.

Elements of Comparative Weaponry - Makes weapon stats more accurate and make more sense.

There are many Hair Mods you can install and, following the instructions the mod has, using the Trilogy Save Editor, apply to your Shepard. You’ll want to do a search for “LE1 Hair” on the Nexus to see them. These are not texture mods, so you can install and swap them out at any time.

Companion Overhauls

Kaidan Alenko Overhaul - Gives Kaidan better textures, especially for his hair, which no longer looks like an overly-gelled mess. I love this one, a lot.

Subtle Face for Tali - There are a few Tali face/outfit overhauls on the Nexus, showing various amounts of her face. This is the most subtle. You can see a face behind her visor, but it’s not super clear. Check out the others and pick your favorite. They’re all animated and look good, it’s definitely a preference thing.

Casual Hubs for LE1

Lets you and your companions wear your Normandy outfit on the Citadel. The only thing is that you still have your guns on your back if you’re at a part of the game where you still might fight on the Citadel, so it’s a bit immersion breaking there. Will have you in casuals in Port Hanshan once fighting there is done (so like if you go back after completing Peak 15.)

Also puts Garrus and Wrex in casual outfits on the Normandy, as well as the hubs.

Dr. Heart Experiments

Just a small non-texture mod that uses a different model on Dr. Heart’s ships for the failed experiments. Does not un-vanilla the game. Sorry for the dark screenshot, THEY’RE ALL DARK. I took my photomode screenshots for color, not clarity. :)

ME3 Alliance Armor for LE1

Puts the generic marines (and a few named ones) throughout the game in more lore-friendly armor. A few good customization options in this one. I had my on-duty soldiers guarding the Normandy in Alliance armor instead of their casual blues as well.

Other Stuff

There is ALOT for all of the LE games, adding in even better textures where they could be better. As always, you cannot install other mods after installing textures without going through a restore process, so decide do do texture mods carefully and only when you’re done with other modding and have tested to make sure your game is stable.

I really didn’t feel like adding in textures for this run, though, so I could easily add more mods as they came out. Maybe next time I play, once the modding scene has slowed.

There are many non-ALOT choice texture mods, like one that gives Benezia a full outfit, complexion textures for Shepard and companions, new outfits, etc. Can’t wait to use them, later!

And again, there’s just like, a bunch of other mods on the Nexus that I didn’t use but others will probably like! Just because I chose not to use something doesn’t mean it isn’t awesome.

Anyway, once again, thanks to the modders for making incredible contributions to fix the bugs, tweak the game to taste, and restore entire cut content. If you’re on PC, I highly suggest giving modifying your game via mods a try. The mods are mostly built around using ME3Tweaks / Mass Effect Modder, which were written from the ground up to be as stable and friendly as possible, so it’s pretty easy to keep a stable game if you follow directions.

#mass effect #mass effect legendary edition #annakie's mass effect stuff #mass effect mods #mass effect modding #bioware #gaming #video games

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annakie · 2 years ago

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Finally started my new Shepard, who I named Indyara after my currently-favorite TTRPG character. Not a lot of analogues between the two characters. I just like the name.

I’ve been stewing what I wanted to do with a new character for awhile now. Again, in the interest in doing things and seeing content normally you wouldn’t see in a typical paragon everybody lives game, and using some mods. I made a post about some of it like a year ago but this is what I decided for her in the end:

1. In general, going to skip a lot of quests that have little to no impact on later games, or to ensure someone dies in ME2. Also going to be treading that line between Renegade and Complete Asshole most of the time. I already got Ashley mad at me for not always being nice to her during Eden Prime, but smoothed the situation out, then ended the conversation with a barb. I know most of the dialog to avoid in order to not look like a psychopath, but she’s also not going to take any bullshit.

2. Low-Garrus playthrough. I love Garrus and all, but would like to experience a playthrough where he’s not forced to be your best buddy no matter what. Not going to recruit him in ME1. Will wait as long as possible to pick him up in ME2, including using mods that let you do recruitment missions in different orders. No loyalty mission so he’ll die during the suicide mission probably leading the fire team. I’m sorry, but there absolutely is a Shepard without Vakarian, Shepard can save the galaxy just fine without him, especially for Indyara here.

3. Save Mordin. This will mean Wrex dies in ME1, sorry buddy, but Mordin must live. Sabotage genophage, convince Mordin to go into hiding. Likely going to let Ashley kill Wrex on Virmire.

4. Tali also dies in ME2. Would like to see Ran’s expanded role in ME3, and this also will mean saving the Geth over the Quarians whereas I’ve always in every playthrough otherwise made peace between the two. Probably going to skip her loyalty and send her to the vents.

5. Romance No one –> Thane –> Joker. Have never done a Thane romance and have always wanted to. And now I really want to do @hatboyproject‘s Joker Romance Mod so this is the TIME. It’ll be awhile til I get to LE3 with the speed I’ve been gaming so hopefully it’ll be out for LE3 by then. I may still do a Thane Lives mod option if I can do that while romancing Joker. I’ll have to check when it’s time. But if Hatboy is still not an option when I make it to LE3, it’ll be Samantha, instead and I’ll either replay LE3 with Indyara later for Hatoby or make a new LE3-only Shepard.

6. Virmire Savior mod for all 3 games! Gonna save both Ashley and Kaidan. I’m not normally going to use this mod in my games because it prioritizes Ashley, like on Horizon, and obviously in my canon-Kaidanmance-faithful run I want to maximize Kaidan content. But I am VERY excited to use it this time! In order to make myself not romance Kaidan even in ME1, I specifically made a Shepard that kinda looks like Kaidan, and I am going to headcanon that they found out that they’re like, cousins. My Shepard is Earthborn for even easier headcanoning. She really likes Kaidan, and they’re going to remain close but... just friends. Thanks Optional Flirting mods (And I think it’s the Same Gender mod in LE1 that fixes the issues) for making it easier to avoid the accidental romance.

6. Class wise, Infiltrator, which I’ve never done before. Plus, you know, Garrus is one so normally, why bother? So this is my chance to finally play one.

7. Probably screw up a few other things, like pick Morinth over Samara, delay going to pick up Jack in ME3 so she gets reaperized just because I’ve never done those things before. Probably won’t let other characters die who don’t need to when letting them die does nothing but just have less content in future games instead of different content. I don’t care to have a near-empty & depressing Citadel party, after all. Just experience most of the rest of the little things I’ve been interested in that I’ve never gotten around to because of playing my canon Shep time and time again instead.

#mass effect stuff #annakie's mass effect stuff

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