# Mass Effect 1 + 2 graphical tweaking



## Aus_Karlos (Mar 10, 2007)

Finally getting around to seeing if there was a way to tweak ME settings on the PC but the Coalesced.ini file was every messy and most the time hard to read.
But with the Coalesced editor you can edit the settings with a few clicks.

The editor is found here.
Choose Language | BioWare Social Network
The editor will automatically locate your Coalesced file and back it up. To save file press F5 (Rebuild Coalesced under "Command")

Some tips in increasing your graphics in ME1+2 (only tested in ME2 atm).

BIOEngine -> [Engine.Engine]\bEnableVSMShadows = True (Smother shadows im told)

BIOEngine -> [SystemSettings]\MaxShadowResolution = 2048 (default 512, increases shadow resolution, 2048 is about the max you set before major slowdowns become an issue)

BIOEngine ->[SystemSettings]\MinShadowResolution = 512 (default 32)

BIOEngine -> [SystemSettings]\ShadowFilterQualityBias = 2 (default 0, sort of like LOD for shadows 0.00-2.00 is recommended)

BIOEngine ->[Stats.Level]\Shadow Map Size = 12 MB (default 6MB, increase for higher shadow res otherwise you may see shadows struggle to load in time)

BIOEngine ->[Stats.MapChunk]\Shadow Map Size = 12 MB (Default 6MB)


BIOEngine ->[Stats.Art]\Total Texture Memory = 700MB (Default 300MB, Memory allocated to textures (Increases loading time in areas with same textures)


BIOEngine ->[Stats.Char]\Char Texture Memory = 200MB (default 80MB, useful when forcing High poly models)

BIOEngine-> [SystemSettings]\EnableHighPolyChars = True


BIOEngine ->[SystemSettings]\SkeletalMeshLODBias = -1 (Default 0)


BIOEngine ->[D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]\MaxTextureSize = 2048 (Increase texture res)


BIOEngine ->[D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]\DisableHWShadowMaps = False (Default True, If set to False the GPU takes over shadow rendering)


BIOEngine ->[D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]\BIOVertexShaderVersion = vs_3_0 (Default is vs_2_0 please leave unless you have a GPU that supports Vertex Shader 3.0 or above)


In the Search Criteria type TEXTUREGROUP, with the line ending in LODBias=0 you can change to -1 to force that texture group to be displayed fully at any distance. (ME2 only)
Do it for the following texture groups.

```
TEXTUREGROUP_AmbientLightMap=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=512,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_Character_Diff=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=512,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_Character_Norm=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=512,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_Character_Spec=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=256,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_Environment_512=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=512,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_Environment_256=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=256,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_Environment_128=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=128,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_Environment_64=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=64,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_VFX_512=(MinLODSize=8,MaxLODSize=512,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_VFX_256=(MinLODSize=8,MaxLODSize=256,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_VFX_128=(MinLODSize=8,MaxLODSize=128,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_VFX_64=(MinLODSize=8,MaxLODSize=64,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_UI=(MinLODSize=8,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_Environment_1024=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_VFX_1024=(MinLODSize=8,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_APL_128=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=128,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_APL_256=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=256,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_APL_512=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=512,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_APL_1024=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_Character_1024=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=1024,LODBias=-1)
TEXTUREGROUP_Promotional=(MinLODSize=32,MaxLODSize=2048,LODBias=-1)
```

Final note *do not * by any means change AllowD3D10 to True it will cause the game to crash.


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## -WOLF- (Jan 17, 2009)

Two questions: One, why can't you set it to use DX10?
Second: how much of a performance hit will this bring and how noticeable are the changes? (maybe screenshots if you can?)


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## Aus_Karlos (Mar 10, 2007)

I believe the unreal engine supports DX10 but no code exists for Mass Effect 2.

With those settings i experience no slowdowns in battles. However some camera angles in the cinematic scenes my fps drop to about 10. Dont know why because when the same angle returns but zoomed out a bit my fps are normal again.

I'll post pics in a bit.


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## sthowp (Oct 14, 2010)

is this really worth it?


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## Alex_06 (Sep 29, 2011)

Is there a video/pictures that show the difference between the normal game and the tweaked version discussed in this topic?


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