Mass Effect - PC version


Recommended Posts

What are your PC specs? :p

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.0Ghz

4GB Dual Channel 1066MHz OCZ RAM

Nvidia Geforce 9800GX2 1GB

Windows Vista Ultimate x64

well those are the main parts, but im sure you can run it the way I do with less then this. Great game!

Excellent stuff!!! runs fantastic... very exciting to play... I'm drawn to it and play very slow like I did with kotor1 and kotor2 so it will last a long time and I will not miss a thing.

I am bugged that you cant even force AA on it and that somehow it ignores my crossfired video cards

What video card are you using? I'm using an ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT and I'm able to force AA in the Catalyst Control Centre. Maybe it's an issue with CrossFire configurations. It's highly likely that there will be a fix for it in the next Catalyst driver update.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.0Ghz

4GB Dual Channel 1066MHz OCZ RAM

Nvidia Geforce 9800GX2 1GB

Windows Vista Ultimate x64

well those are the main parts, but im sure you can run it the way I do with less then this. Great game!

Damn, it's certainly better than what I have. I'll give it a go anyways.

Just finished the game.

I didn't end up doing all the side missions because I got too into the main story. Though I will be playing it through again and completing everything. I finished at level 37 I believe. I also believe the max level is 50, so those extra missions and stuff makes a difference. I have to say this game is one of my favorites this year/last year. I enjoyed the whole game!

Anyways, can't wait to play more and can't wait for a second Mass Effect???....

I also believe the max level is 50, so those extra missions and stuff makes a difference.

level 50 is the max level when you play through the game the first time, after that it's 60.. though to get to 60 you'll probably have to reuse the old character on the second play through.

I really do want to get this, but i'm thinking that my 8400GS wont cut it, anywone tried on this card ??

Sorry, but it won't cut it. I know how you feel though. I used to be in a similar situation.

PCGH (PC Gaming Hardware) has a performance review for Mass Effect. Unfortunately, the highest resolution benchmarked was 1680x1050 with max details and 16xAF. Here's the image (click to enlarge):

ME_GPU_1680.PNG

SOURCE

What kind of frame rates has everyone been getting with the mid range cards such as 3870 or 9600GT?

Take a look at the screenshot above. The HD 3870 is the fastest performing single card, only 2 fps behind the 9800GX2. The HD 3850 performs just as well as the 9600GT. I don't know why but the game seems to favour ATI video cards.

I really do want to get this, but i'm thinking that my 8400GS wont cut it, anywone tried on this card ??

It will barely cut it. My 7400 Go card managed to play everything at low but I will be getting a new notebook soon. X_X Got to love finding out how ancient your laptop is in 2 years, eh?

Take a look at the screenshot above. The HD 3870 is the fastest performing single card, only 2 fps behind the 9800GX2. The HD 3850 performs just as well as the 9600GT. I don't know why but the game seems to favour ATI video cards.

Possibly because it was made for the Xbox 360 which uses an ATI Chip and thus retains the optimisations for it?

It will barely cut it. My 7400 Go card managed to play everything at low but I will be getting a new notebook soon. X_X Got to love finding out how ancient your laptop is in 2 years, eh?

:blink: What are you people talking about? I can play it at 1440 x 900 with all video settings on high just fine except for a slight framerate drop in intense areas. I would change to 1280 x 800, but it's not in the list. See specs below.

:blink: What are you people talking about? I can play it at 1440 x 900 with all video settings on high just fine except for a slight framerate drop in intense areas. I would change to 1280 x 800, but it's not in the list. See specs below.

You have a good setup. A 8400GS and 7400 pale in comparison to a 7800.

The first digit signifies the generation number. The second digit signifies its performance scale.

7400 << 8400 <<< 7800.

Got this game and love it but it sure is buggy on my computer.

I have the one graphics card that causes tons of problems (x1950 pro)

So I have to turn off depth of field or else the game is so pixelated i can't even see. And I have to save the game a lot because it will freeze sometimes and I will lose all progress...Which has happened multiple times and made me want to quit the game haha. Then I set it to automatically do my squads points and I havent been able to decrypt any safe that isn't easy because it won't put points into my squade-mate's skill i need.

But I really love the game, the atmostphere is pretty cool. Just some bugs bioware needs to fix.

But I've been stuck with all the bad weapons since I can't open any hard safes but oh well.

I just bought it today (picked it up along with GRID as I pre-ordered it). Installing now, sounds like a fun game (minus the DRM, but I'm not one to shun a good game just because of that).

Well at first I didn't like it because it was confusing but once you get into it, it is super fun!

I'll for sure replay it and do all the side missions after too. But it is a really amazing game....Long too.

I finished it up a couple of days ago and was sad when it was over. I must say it was the best gaming expirience I have had in the past 6 months or more. Bugs aside its a very fun game that really draws you into its universe. I can't wait for the sequels.

That's strange. 3870 out performing 9800GTX.

The game is shader intensive and ATI video cards have alot of shader horsepower.

Possibly because it was made for the Xbox 360 which uses an ATI Chip and thus retains the optimisations for it?

I guess so, Xenos was designed by ATI and it uses a unified shader architecture. Since that design is still used in the HD 3870, it's safe to assume that the game will run well with it.

Got this game and love it but it sure is buggy on my computer.

I have the one graphics card that causes tons of problems (x1950 pro)

So I have to turn off depth of field or else the game is so pixelated i can't even see. And I have to save the game a lot because it will freeze sometimes and I will lose all progress...Which has happened multiple times and made me want to quit the game haha. Then I set it to automatically do my squads points and I havent been able to decrypt any safe that isn't easy because it won't put points into my squade-mate's skill i need.

But I really love the game, the atmostphere is pretty cool. Just some bugs bioware needs to fix.

But I've been stuck with all the bad weapons since I can't open any hard safes but oh well.

Darn, I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully Bioware will release a patch in the near future. It sucks that you can't get any of the weapons and upgrades. They really help.

I finished it up a couple of days ago and was sad when it was over. I must say it was the best gaming expirience I have had in the past 6 months or more. Bugs aside its a very fun game that really draws you into its universe. I can't wait for the sequels.

I hope piracy doesn't hurt the sales for Mass Effect otherwise we may not see Mass Effect 2 on the PC.

Just finished the game, I really enjoyed it.

I am mad that I after I finished I couldn't go back and wander the city doing the extra missions, but oh well.

Actually it is pretty dumb that you can't go back after you finished and do the side missions...

So just to play the new downloadable content I have to start a new game and do everything over again??

Edited by PricklyPoo

This game is brutal on my poor laptop :(

Plus I have to run it as an admin, or it crashes all the time. That's pretty sloppy on Bioware's part.

If it was fluid enough for me to play it reliably, I'd probably like it, but given the frequency of crashing (Fixed by running as an Admin, but very, very dissapointing that you have to do that) and how brutal it is on my graphics card, even with everything turned down (And it looks worse than many other games that play beautifully on my computer when it's turned down this much) I can't say I'm happy with it.

Games are not tested on laptops and the mobile CPU's and GPU's are not supported. Don't blame Bioware, you're the one trying to run a game on a laptop. :p If you want it to run reliably, play it on a desktop PC as it was designed to.

Well I just did the first run on the game and I loved it... went paragon, and heterosexual with Ashley and I might add she ownz :p

Next stop, renegade + lesbo alien sex... yeah!

I can't wait for ME2 (or kotor3, if that ever happens :p).

Well I just did the first run on the game and I loved it... went paragon, and heterosexual with Ashley and I might add she ownz :p

Next stop, renegade + lesbo alien sex... yeah!

I can't wait for ME2 (or kotor3, if that ever happens :p ).

I didnt even notice any hetro/homo'sexual options.

*****

Oh, I bet its within the storyline futher on.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Disabling open on hover, great! That was so stupid! They need to do a fix, where if a network share is disconnected, it doesn't hang when opening "This PC" for 20 seconds.
    • Microsoft releases major feature updates for stock Windows 11 apps by Taras Buria In addition to releasing new Windows 11 preview builds, Microsoft announced that inbox Windows apps now have dedicated release notes in the official documentation. At long last, users have access to all the release notes for each app, with changes listed in chronological order. Microsoft used to announce feature updates for stock apps with each build. Now, with Windows Insider release notes hosted on the Microsoft Learn website, each app has a dedicated space for its changelog, which is very useful for those who want to track new features and improvements. Alongside that, Microsoft dropped massive feature updates for six stock apps: Clock, Media Player, Calculator, Voice Recorder, Photos, and Paint. Each app packs quite a lot of changes and new capabilities, so here are the release notes. Here are quick notes so that you can jump to the app you are interested in the most: Calculator Camera Clock Media Player Paint Photos Sound Recorder Here is what is new for the Calculator in version 11.2605.9.0: More accurate square-root results — Fixed rare cases where a calculation that should equal zero (like sqrt(2.25) - 1.5) returned a tiny leftover value instead. Readable text in High Contrast themes — Settings text now shows the correct colors in the High Contrast Aquatic and Desert themes. Fixed layout for right-to-left languages — For languages like Arabic and Hebrew, the graph, number pad, equation fields, and scroll buttons now appear correctly oriented. Reliable launch after upgrading — Fixed an issue where upgrading from much older versions could leave outdated settings that stopped the app from opening. Here is what is new for the Camera app (version 2026.2605.7.0): Zoom slider works on more cameras — The zoom slider now works on the latest cameras, respects your system zoom settings, and updates instantly when you change those settings. Full range of zoom levels — Fixed an issue where the zoom slider only showed three steps on some devices that zoom in finer increments. Front camera works on more devices — Resolved a problem that blocked the front-facing camera on certain wide-angle devices. More video resolution choices — You can now pick video resolutions that were previously hidden; the app shows a heads-up warning instead of removing them. QR links you can still use — When a scanned QR code points to something with no matching app, the link is now copied to your clipboard (with a notification) while still offering a Store search. Smarter default settings — When you haven't set a preference, the app now follows your system settings by default. The Clock app has a massive changelog with the following improvements in version 11.2605.9.0: Timers keep counting after they hit zero — When a timer runs out, it now keeps counting up (for example, -00:27:31) so you can see how far past the time you've gone. You can turn off the daily goal — Focus Sessions now include an "Off" option so you can skip setting a daily goal entirely. New 15-minute snooze option — Alarms now offer a 15-minute snooze interval. Run up to 3 countdowns at once — The Countdown Widget now supports three simultaneous countdowns, up from two. Timer Widget notifications now appear — Fixed an issue where the "timer finished" notification didn't show when the timer was started from the widget. Less clutter in Focus Sessions — Tasks you've already completed no longer show up in the Focus Session task list. More accurate focus progress — Fixed a rounding issue that could show your daily focus progress as a minute short (for example, 49 minutes instead of 50). Smoother World Clock comparisons — The World Clock compare page now loads dates as you scroll, so it feels more responsive. Up-to-date World Clock locations — Refreshed country and city names to match their current names. Correct sun and moon icons during midnight sun — Fixed an icon that wrongly showed a moon during all-day daylight in polar regions. Fixed back-button behavior in clock comparisons — Pressing back once now takes you back as expected, instead of jumping the date to 1926. Corrected the Newfoundland time zone — Newfoundland now uses the right time zone (St. John's). Disabled alarms stay looking disabled — Editing a turned-off alarm no longer makes it appear turned on. Cleaner timer cards — The expand button is now turned off on timer cards that have no time set, preventing actions that wouldn't do anything. Clearer theme setting — Updated the wording to "Choose your preferred app theme." Smoother Settings links — The "About" links in Settings no longer trigger an unexpected "switch apps" prompt. Fixed spacing in Spotify settings — Corrected uneven spacing in the Spotify settings card. Better focus visibility in High Contrast — The focus highlight in World Clock is now clearly visible in the High Contrast Aquatic and Desert themes. No more double announcements — Screen readers no longer read the timer value twice. Countdown names read correctly — Screen readers now properly announce the name of each countdown. Keyboard focus stays put — Focus no longer disappears after you press the Timer Reset button. Clearer alarm toggle for screen readers — Tidied up how the alarm on/off switch is announced. The Media Player app received plenty of changes as well (version 11.2605.14.0): Custom captions — You can now personalize how closed captions appear, with caption styling tied to your Windows caption settings, plus a quick link to open those settings directly. "Indexing" banner in the play queue — When your media library is still being scanned, a banner now explains why some items may not appear yet. Fixed the look of selected items — Corrected a layout glitch with selected items in lists. Fewer playback failures — Improved how the app recognizes supported file types, so more files play without issues. Playlists need a name — You can no longer accidentally save a playlist with a blank name. Cleaner look for empty playlists — Improved how a playlist appears when it has no items yet. More stable play queue edits — Fixed a crash that could happen when changing the play queue while the app was switching between sessions. Clearer "missing codec" message — Improved the dialog that appears when a file needs a codec you don't have, with clearer guidance on what to do. A big update is also available for Paint in version 11.2605.61.0: Adjustable eraser transparency — You can now control how transparent the eraser is. Cleaner stamp brush strokes — Fixed visible color shifts and artifacts when using stamp-style brushes. JPEG photos save in place — Opening a rotated JPEG and pressing Save now overwrites the original instead of unexpectedly prompting "Save As." No more crash on bad image files — Opening a damaged or invalid image, from within the app, by double click, or commandline, now shows a clear error message instead of closing the app. Classic selection behavior restored — The selection outline now hides while you move, resize, or rotate a selection, just like in classic Paint. Tidier AI image panel — Fixed missing spacing at the bottom of the AI image generation panel for a cleaner layout. Visible button hover in light theme — Toolbar split buttons now show a clear hover highlight in the light theme. Snappier toolbar — Streamlined how the ribbon lays out, giving a small speed boost at startup. Fewer background crashes — Fixed a crash that could happen while background tasks were finishing up. Stable app shutdown — Prevented rare crashes when closing the app. Fixed layer removal glitch — Deleting the active layer no longer leaves the layers list in an inconsistent state. Here is what is new in the Photos app (version 2026.11060.2004.0): AI watermarking — AI-generated or edited images can now carry a visible Copilot watermark. You choose Never, Always, or Ask Every Time in Settings, with a confirmation when saving. The watermarking is off by default in settings. Better viewing of small images and pixel art — Tiny images (like 16×16 pixel art) now zoom in far more to fill the screen and stay crisp instead of looking blurry. Select scanned text with the keyboard — When text is detected in an image, you can now navigate and select it using the arrow keys, Shift+Arrow, Home/End, and Ctrl+A, with a clear focus highlight. Fixed a crash in text recognition — Resolved a crash that could close Photos while detecting text in images; the app now recovers gracefully. Easier keyboard navigation — Tabbing through the navigation bar no longer stops on hidden controls, so it takes a single Tab to move past it instead of three. And finally, here is the Sound Recorder (version 11.2605.1.0): Waveform shows with Bluetooth mics — The live waveform now displays correctly when you record using a Bluetooth audio device. No more stray scrollbar — A non-working horizontal scrollbar no longer appears at the bottom of the waveform unless you've zoomed in. Mark button ready right away — The Mark button no longer looks grayed out until you hover over it after opening the app. Markers hidden for WAV files — Markers are now turned off for WAV recordings, since that format can't store them — so they're no longer lost silently. Smoother deleting — Quickly pressing Delete and Enter to remove several recordings in a row no longer triggers a "file doesn't exist" error. Fixed a memory issue — Resolved a memory leak that occurred each time a recording started. You can find all these changelogs in the official documentation here.
    • again, an article about Microsoft Edge and ridicules hater's comments
    • From this very same article: "For organizations that prefer a “more deliberate pace”, the Extended Stable channel remains an option."
    • Or every other browser, because they all behave the same, at least the mainstream ones. Firefox does exactly the same: background updates, restart to install them. Haters gotta hate, I guess.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Very Popular
      AndrewSteel earned a badge
      Very Popular
    • Veteran
      Taliseian went up a rank
      Veteran
    • One Month Later
      Clizby earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      Timaximus earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Timaximus earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      504
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      170
    3. 3
      +Edouard
      162
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      85
    5. 5
      ATLien_0
      77
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!