Mass Effect(PC) Released!

I'll report back on DDR2 8600M GT playability soon.

Edit: 1280x800, particles on medium, textures on high, no dynamic shadows, vsync off, trilinear, I get 25-30 FPS during most scenes. Much like Assassin's Creed though, this is a game that's highly playable at even low framerates, it still feels smooth.

Initial impressions:

-Great UI, not sure what the 360 version's menus were like but this is top notch
-Mouse behaves like it does in your OS, which I like, it annoys me when games change the mouse feel
-Very, very immersive

I'm a sandbox type player who has to go around and talk to everybody and do everything, so this is taking me a hell of a long time to get going on.

 

And a bump for a quick question, are you supposed to be able to quick save in the Citadel? Ever since I arrived I haven't been able to F6 a save or do it through the menu.

 

I've been able to quick save as long as its not during a loading sequence (elevator music on).

And youtube didn't like my file format so converting to mp4 first. Boo to delays.

 

As soon as someone can show me that it either:
1: Can install on more than 3 different machines, or
2: Can install and run without online authentication,

Of course if #2 is true, then #1 is as well.

I don't want to buy a game I can't run if I dare to upgrade my computer too often.

 

Well, I can play it on my 8400M GS, that currently is modded to be a 8600GS.. Not a big performance bump

I have a HP dv6535ep:
- AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-56 1.8Ghz
- Geforce 8400M GS (i don't think the mod makes any difference)
- 2 GB Ram
- Vista Home Premium SP1 32bits

I'm running the game at 1280x800 with textures in high, particle effects on low and without dynamic shadows.. Runs pretty smooth

 

anyone else like the grain effects? I really like it actually, makes it look much more real in cut scenes and helps a bit in the actual game.

Also I thought starting off was much harder then it is now, i have gotten established in it and i think its a little easier.

Overall so far I am extremely impressed, the only complaint would be not enough autosaving, not often enough, i had to redo this one part proabably 6 times and it took a long time.

 

Thanks! That's what I wanted to hear. I'm going to go buy it as soon as I can get to a Circuit City.

 

Am I the only one that thinks this game is lame? Graphics 5/10 looks and feels like an arcade game to me. Highest possible settings and getting over 50fps.

 

Hey, I've got a small problem.

When I go into the galaxy map on the Normandy, my screen goes black, and that's it. I can press Q or right click and it takes me out.

So I can't take off, at all.

Anyone?

 

These benchmarks sound encouraging. I'm not sure how well it will run on my laptop, mostly because I heard that it is quite CPU dependant and I've got a 1.8ghz AMD Turion X2. All I would want to play it at is 1024x768 and with low-medium settings, no dynamic shadows, but it must stay fairly smooth in the most demanding areas (ideally 20+ FPS, averaging 30+).

How does the game run in the more demanding areas? Is the game at all like Crysis, in that the game runs very smooth early on, but later areas the fps drops and you have to change the settings for smooth gameplay?

 

is it released in UK yet?

 

Snowsurfer i'm not doubting your 50FPS+ but can you post some screenies? cause the benchmark link i posted in this thread recently shows that 8800GTX DESKTOP barley gets over 50FPS maxed out. i'm not doubting you i just need to see some screenies

EDIT: here is the link again
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/aid,64...w_Mass_Effect/

 

right just found out its not releaseduntil the 6/6 in the UK

 

hehe it wont reach Palestine till july ^^

 

dam you have a long wait

 

I'm getting a solid 60 fps on my desktop with a 2.4ghz intel c2d with an 8800 GTX installed. Max all visuals at 1920x1200 resolution. No slowdowns at all.

My Alienware m9750 lappie is having trouble though...
I can play it with 30+ fps at 1280x800, max visuals but I get some screen artifacts (black boxes on screen on top of the characters) I updated my drivers to 175.63 and boxes only occasionally appear now. Previous drivers I was using was 174.74 as suggested in the Alienware Forums.

I haven't played with any of the sli settings yet though... just used defaults and verified sli was in use by enabling visualizer.

 

Yeah I don't think this is a stressful game for a gpu, basic graphics to me anyways.

 

Yes, you are. I thought the game looks great at 1920x1200 with everything maxed.

 

I did my benchmarking this morning. This is copypasta of what I reported on NeoGAF, so if you browse there also, I did not steal this:
Got the game made my d00d. I've played through the first mission, and I already love this game. It runs well on my laptop also.

For those interested, I ran through the entire mission with FRAPS running to benchmark the frames per second.

Specs:
T7250 2.0 C2D
3gb RAM
8600M-GT 256mb DDR2 overclocked @ 625/1250/530
Vista Premium

1280x768, settings on medium, blur off grain on
During the mission fps - min: 25 max: 45 avg: 31

If you turn on the blur, you'll lose a few frames, between 2-5fps. I tried turning on just 2xAA, but that took off ten to fifteen frames.

I just realized I had a Dreamscene running on my desktop during my playthrough -.-'

Screens (with Fraps in upper-right corner):




I like the grain filter, and found it too plain looking without it once I'd gotten used to it being there. I only turned off the blur so I could stay steadily >30 at my resolution of choice.

edit - even with particles and textures set to High, my average fps was only 3 frames lower than when on Medium.

 

@grey728 Thats because you dont have a SLI profile you should be getting 50+ FPS maxed out i guess

 

nope hes about right, i am getting a bit lower then that, but he has a better CPU

 

I'm not sure yet how I feel about the grain, I think I like it, but I haven't played enough without it to decide if I like that better. So what exactly does the blur do? I'm running with textures on ultra-high now because it was frustratingly muddy looking before.

Also, anybody else having issues alt-tabbing out and then back in to the game? When I come back in I have a black screen with a cursor and I can hear the audio, but the video never comes back.

 

Depending on OS and GPU, you may or may not be able to recover from an alt-tab. On my office rig with Vista and an Ati X1900 pro, I can't recover from an alt-tab. But I have no problem with my laptop (see sig) and home PC.

 

wow nice.. now i think i'm gonna buy it .. some people told me it didnt run so well but you people cleared it up

 

people doing the tests dont have their systems quite as tweaked as ours, or they have bad drivers, this game runs good though, only a few times does it slow down, actually only once in the last level there is so much sh!t going on, i think its a processor limitation though and I dont exactly have a powerful processor.

 

To all with a low card ... x1400 oc (513/445), medium @ 640x480, ansio, dynamic=off, blur=off, grain=on.

2008-05-30 17:18:29 - MassEffect
Frames: 10322 - Time: 402665ms - Avg: 25.634 - Min: 1 - Max: 43

hey at least its playable.

 

The black screen on an alt-tab shouldn't a crash. If you wait nearly two minute the game will come back. It's a bit ridiculous tbqh. I lost at least three profiles because I did a task manager shut down, under the assumption that the game wasn't going to right itself. I read on the Bioware forums that you just have to wait longer, and it was true.

The same thing goes for in-game resolution changes.

Edit - If my screenshots are too big, just let me know.

 

More demanding games usually take longer to return from alt tabbing. Also different drivers make a difference too.

 

Youtube footage! Been getting a constant 25-35 FPS even in heavy combat which is better than I'd expected.

link 1 - Some cover mechanics + sniper rifle

link 2 - Use of powers

link 3 - (Slight spoilers as the main antagonist is named, an NPC is revealed, and the goal of a mission is also stated)

I turned down the video quality when encoding, let me know if I turned it down too much. The settings are everything medium except textures on high. This will at least let people with a medium video card see how it plays.

Specs in sig.

 

You *edited*, you already posted spoilers in your spoiler warning.

 

Runs wonderfully (actually some minimal screen tearing) all maxed out @ 1680x1050 with my desktop in my sig for any of you desktop owners wondering.

Loving this game tho, generally not an RPG fan but i love FPS and this blends a lot of good FPS elements with all the action elements from RPG's and some tactical team rainbow six style stuff

 

I apologize, I revealed the name of an NPC. I overlooked the fact that it may be considered a spoiler to some. I did not reveal the name of the main antagonist though. It didn't cross my mind because most of the previews/reviews on websites named the NPC whom is very publicized in any ad for the game.

Apologies again.

 

So i just thought id add that this game is so amazing...

 

My protip: Do whatever you can settings wise to allow your frame rate to support Ultra High textures. It's a night and day difference from High to Ultra High, the characters look so much better and so do the materials.

 

I dunno, if I drop my res down to 1280x800, I can use ultra high textures, but it doesnt look as good as 1680x1050 with high textures to me, though this is on a 22" screen. I also pwersonally cant stand thwe grain filter, to me its pointless and sullies up an otherwise beautiful game.

 

I agree with the grain filter, I guess this is a new fad with the developers? Sort of like every "period" move has huge slow turning fans or rocket firing motorcycles

On certain scenes it may add a mood or feeling to the action.

 

I hate all of you!

 

I'll try to post some screenies on 8800GT desktop in a few hours

 

Still in the beginning stages of the game (i've played it on xbox as well) but here are some screenshots with my desktop in my sig. Plays great, lowest FPS drops are 20-25 or so, i prob average around 35-40fps which plays smooth on this game. WIll post some more action screens later in the week if anyone is interested.

 

I find I like the film grain for some scenes, and dislike it for others. I find for close up dialogue it smooths the features of some of the characters so the graphics look better, but for general gameplay, it looks better turned off. Especially in the Citadel Tower, that place looks amazing with no film grain. Some figures for others with my card/setup for Mass Effect:

1280x800
Particles: Medium
Textures: Ultra High
Filtering: Anisotropic
Motion Blur: Off
Film Grain: Off (Stylistic preference, not sure how it affects frame rate)
Dynamic Shadows: Off
DDR2 8600M GT OC: 600/500

I ran around C-Sec, the Presidium, and the Embassies for about 2 and a half minutes to get a measurement for the frame rate, I made sure I looked at plenty of water and rooms with lots of NPCs.

Min: 0 (I think this is likely from the very brief loading scene in the elevator - 3-4 seconds)
Max: 48
Average: 33.291

It dipped into the low-mid 20's when looking at certain water scenes, but other than that, I was almost always over 30.

 

For how good this game looks I think the hardware specs justify the visuals.

I think it was well done for a PC port.... and I can't get away from it

I never really enjoyed oblivion since im a FPS fan at heart, and that game was just too much rpg for me, but I thought i would try an RPG again and this is one is just amazing.

 

It is an exceptional game, its been a long long while since I've enjoyed a title as much as this one.

 

God I can finally join the ranks as I've solved my problem. Pesky OpenAL drivers.

Runs exceptionally well on my laptop.

1024x768 particle effects on high, textures on Ultra High, dynamic shadows turned off and my fps hover around 30. I don't know why they said the HD2600 was below requirement.

 

So wheres everyone at right now?

 

I allready beat it.....awesome story....i just did the main story, nothing else, took me about 10 hours

 

I'm taking my time with it, doing all/most of the side quests... i'm about 5 hours into it so i was only able to visit about 2 galaxies so far and completing each quest as i get it

as a side note, i hope sales have been going well for this game to show other dev's out there that a solid pc game can sell well without overdoing restrictions to installations/registration.

 

Finished all initial Citadel main and side quest. Got Liara and did a couple UNC quest.

 

10 hours into it, but got hooked on sidequests and haven't advanced the story much yet.

 

I didn't know much about the game or the copy protection controversy surrounding it, but I picked it up two days ago and have really enjoyed it. It's my first "console port" so maybe I just lucked out. I've never owned a 360 or PS or anything like that.

It looks beautiful on my laptop and runs really smooth. I get a hiccup from time to time. It's about time there was a sci-fi RPG that looked as good as Oblivion. The last really good pseudo RPG game that I played was Deus Ex.

I've got three small ones running around the house, so I havn't gotten very far, but I enjoy taking my time with games like this. I just reached the Citidal.

It seems like most of you guys already were aware of this game, so has it lived up to your anticipation/the hype?

Living in a cave, I'm not dissapointed at all.

 

Yeah it has been really the only RPG i've played and can't get enough of, so it has definitely lived up to they hype for me.... was just up last night till 2:30 playing without even realizing it was that late!