BioWare Talking to Modders About Mass Effect Legendary Edition Mods

texhnolyze · Feb 5, 2021

The best news after the game's announcement.

People who decide to upgrade to the Mass Effect Legendary Edition on PCs might not have to say goodbye to their favorite mods. It turns out, BioWare is apparently already considering how to handle it. Project Director Mac Walters said on Twitter that the team has "been in touch with a few in the modding community" when it comes to mod support. When the game launches in May, people should have a better idea of what to expect.

Sites like Nexus Mods have multiple listings for entries in the series. In particular, the search results for "Mass Effect" on Nexus Mods shows Mass Effect 3 has over 600 files available, which have been downloaded over seven million times. Some of the most popular mods did things like offer an Expanded Galaxy, extra hairstyles, and a different ending.

BioWare Talking to Modders About Mass Effect Legendary Edition Mods

Wondering about Mass Effect Legendary Edition mod support? Mac Walters said BioWare has “been in touch with a few in the modding community.”

www.siliconera.com

Milennia · Feb 5, 2021

Good news, I'm sure they want people playing this game until the next installment, best way to do that is be nice to your mod makers.

TissueBox · Feb 5, 2021

Moddable BioWare games, I remember those days. *cough* thx Frostbite *cough*

Mivey · Feb 5, 2021

I wonder what the chances are for integration with Steam Workshop. Having to look for mods in various online places is always the most annoying part of the modding experience to me.

MadLaughter · Feb 5, 2021

Major members of the modding community are skeptical of this. According to them, it's a tight knit community and they don't know a single person that's been approached by BioWare.

ciddative · Feb 5, 2021

Can't wait to use the Happy Ending mod (or one of its ilk) to completely alter or excise Bioware's mistakes!

/s

Cranster · Feb 5, 2021

ciddative said:
Can't wait to use the Happy Ending mod (or one of its ilk) to completely alter or excise Bioware's mistakes!

/s

Realistically those mods are better than the official endings.

texhnolyze · Feb 5, 2021

MadLaughter said:
Major members of the modding community are skeptical of this. According to them, it's a tight knit community and they don't know a single person that's been approached by BioWare.

Oh snap. So who have they actually contacted then, smaller modders? Maybe they going through the list and it may take time.

ciddative said:
Can't wait to use the Happy Ending mod (or one of its ilk) to completely alter or excise Bioware's mistakes!

/s

I mean, what's wrong with that? People keep bringing up and complaining about the ending, and they can alter it if they so desire.

TissueBox · Feb 5, 2021

MadLaughter said:
Major members of the modding community are skeptical of this. According to them, it's a tight knit community and they don't know a single person that's been approached by BioWare.

Hey, priorities. Once they wrap up talks with the hair retexturers, these fellas will be up next.

Jokes aside, I am all for cosmetic mods. Mean no offence!! *throws off wig*

In any case, gotta wonder who exactly has been in touch with BioWare then. Sure, it could be a newer/more low-key band of devs, but the whole point concerns the preservation of mods that have been sustained and anchored long in the games' modding history.

TheMadTitan · Feb 5, 2021

I hope this works out. EGM is probably the best thing to happen to ME3. Shit lets you disable DLC prompts to after specific missions so you don't get inundated with a bunch of shit early in the game. Not to mention things like using old squad members in missions as long as they're on the Normandy.

And I hope Bioware just up and adds all of the multiplayer weapons and powers into the game so modders don't have to convert all of that stuff over.

Deleted member 17289 · Feb 5, 2021

Ellise texture mods are the best, i hope this is true, it would be a shame to lose all that amazing work.

TheMadTitan · Feb 5, 2021

dEvAnGeL said:
Ellise texture mods are the best, i hope this is true, it would be a shame to lose all that amazing work.

If it's not a color swap or something that adjusts makeup/skin complexion, I don't think it's going to be something that makes it over given that a lot of the texture mods are just achieving what Bioware is going to have by default in the collection. And Bioware has the benefit of upscaling from the original textures versus compressed versions or redrawn ones.

Deleted member 17184 · Feb 5, 2021

TissueBox said:
Moddable BioWare games, I remember those days. *cough* thx Frostbite *cough*

There are a lot of great mods for Dragon Age Inquisition and Mass Effect Andromeda. In fact, Frostbite modding tools have become really powerful.

ConVito · Feb 5, 2021

Cranster said:
Realistically those mods are better than the official endings.

You certainly have every right to that opinion.

disparate · Feb 5, 2021

Happy ending mods are the only kinds of endings worse than the control/synthesis endings so I won't weep for those. They should just adjust the game to kill control/synthesis and make the end-state explanation more robust so ties into ME Next seamlessly.

Phellps · Feb 5, 2021

Khrn said:
There are a lot of great mods for Dragon Age Inquisition and Mass Effect Andromeda. In fact, Frostbite modding tools have become really powerful.

Yeah, Inquisition mods are pretty great. The actual process of adding the mods is kind of a pain if you're making a bunch of small tweaks, though.
I miss the old days of just dropping the files in the override folder lol

TheMadTitan · Feb 5, 2021

Cranster said:
Realistically those mods are better than the official endings.

Nah. The only ones that are legitimately better are the ones that do light tweaks, like the one removes some of the stupid and contradictory lines during ending. Stuff like the Happy Ending Mod aren't better. They're different.

Deleted member 17184 · Feb 5, 2021

Phellps said:
Yeah, Inquisition mods are pretty great. The actual process of adding the mods is kind of a pain if you're making a bunch of small tweaks, though.
I miss the old days of just dropping the files in the override folder lol

True, that could be better! At least the Frosty Mod Manager is so much better than DAIMod, haha.

Vincent Alexander · Feb 5, 2021

I know nothing about this modding scene, but that tweet from Benny B kind of rubs me the wrong way. Not quite sure what word I'm looking for.

Lashley · Feb 5, 2021

I hope this is true

Vincent Alexander said:
I know nothing about this modding scene, but that tweet from Benny B kind of rubs me the wrong way. Not quite sure what word I'm looking for.

Pretentious? Whiny?

Garlador · Feb 5, 2021

Vincent Alexander said:
I know nothing about this modding scene, but that tweet from Benny B kind of rubs me the wrong way. Not quite sure what word I'm looking for.

"Entitled".

It's not like the original games were really designed to be mod-friendly in the first place either. Compared to Frostbite, they're a cakewalk, but Mass Effect was never the Skyrim of mod-friendly games.

I know I tried hard to get mods up and running on my PC and it was a very frustrating measure. ME1 in particular was a very finnicky game with a lot of video card issues for me.

TheMadTitan · Feb 5, 2021

Garlador said:
"Entitled".

It's not like the original games were really designed to be mod-friendly in the first place either. Compared to Frostbite, they're a cakewalk, but Mass Effect was never the Skyrim of mod-friendly games.

I know I tried hard to get mods up and running on my PC and it was a very frustrating measure. ME1 in particular was a very finnicky game with a lot of video card issues for me.

Mods didn't really hit their stride until Mass 3, before then, most of it was from editing the ini file to add in NPC outfits to the ME2 and ME3 locker, and being able to pull up the lockers with a hotkey regardless of where you were to swap weapons and equipment.

A lot of the good mods for ME2, aside from the texture stuff, didn't result until they figured out how to make custom DLC packs thanks to ME3.

But yeah, ME1 was really just mods to get the game to run on better hardware without crashing and the 4k texture mod that is mainly worth it to fix Garrus' face and to turn that one dude in that one sidequest into a Turian like he's supposed to be.

Console commands did everything else.

Deleted member 14568 · Feb 5, 2021

EGM is a really good mod so i'm hoping it gets ported at some point if it's possible anyway

NeoBob688 · Feb 5, 2021

Bioware has binders full of modders.

Metroidvania · Feb 5, 2021

I honestly hadn't thought there even were 345 viable/worthwhile mods for Mass Effect, given how hard it was to modify things compared to Bethesda's offerings.

I know there's a few good texture mods, the injection for ME3 multiplayer skills into the singleplayer, and the controller support, but....aside from that and the 'happy ending' mod, I'm curious as to what else plays into that 345 mod #, lol.

TheMadTitan · Feb 5, 2021

Metroidvania said:
I honestly hadn't thought there even were 345 viable/worthwhile mods for Mass Effect, given how hard it was to modify things compared to Bethesda's offerings.

I know there's a few good texture mods, the injection for ME3 multiplayer skills into the singleplayer, and the controller support, but....aside from that and the 'happy ending' mod, I'm curious as to what else plays into that 345 mod #, lol.

Maybe not 345 since a lot of those will no doubt be texture mods, there's a good chunk of gameplay rebalances, weapon DLC, and so on.

Rodney McKay · Feb 5, 2021

That's great. I personally can't think of any mods other than controller support that I wanted in the original releases, but I know there's a lot out there to allow for romances with certain characters and stuff like that so it's great they're supporting that.

Khrn said:
There are a lot of great mods for Dragon Age Inquisition and Mass Effect Andromeda. In fact, Frostbite modding tools have become really powerful.

I just started a replay of DA:I and the one mod I installed is the one that let's you set the Wartable mission timers to 0, so no waiting real world time to finish that stuff.

I used it during my last playthrough and it was fantastic, zero issues with it.

My first playthrough of the game, the Wartable was one of my main complaints because it just caused me unnecessary stress to manage all of those and always return to the Wartable as soon as they finished so I'd be able to do all of them in one playthrough.

shinobi602 · Feb 5, 2021

MadLaughter said:
Major members of the modding community are skeptical of this. According to them, it's a tight knit community and they don't know a single person that's been approached by BioWare.

On topic yeah these dudes kind of sound like assholes lol.

Phellps · Feb 5, 2021

shinobi602 said:
On topic yeah these dudes kind of sound like assholes lol.

Jesus, what an awful attitude. Who do they think they are to believe BioWare needs to report to them with whom they have spoken? It would've been better if BioWare just released the damn remaster paying no attention to mods and just letting everything break. Damned if you do...

Weebos · Feb 5, 2021

Small modding communities being full of divas shouldn't be a surprise.

Beth Cyra · Feb 5, 2021

I don't know. I have a hard time defending BioWare here.

Those Modders aren't joking when they say that expectations are being set when BioWare makes the claim they did, and it could end very very badly for these modders.

Are they being a bit pushy? Yes. However their worlds could become much worse because BioWare made claims they couldn't back up.

thepenguin55 · Feb 5, 2021

TheMadTitan said:
Mods didn't really hit their stride until Mass 3, before then, most of it was from editing the ini file to add in NPC outfits to the ME2 and ME3 locker, and being able to pull up the lockers with a hotkey regardless of where you were to swap weapons and equipment.

A lot of the good mods for ME2, aside from the texture stuff, didn't result until they figured out how to make custom DLC packs thanks to ME3.

But yeah, ME1 was really just mods to get the game to run on better hardware without crashing and the 4k texture mod that is mainly worth it to fix Garrus' face and to turn that one dude in that one sidequest into a Turian like he's supposed to be.

Console commands did everything else.

I totally forgot about this! I wonder if BioWare will have corrected this or not? On a related note I'll be curious to see what mods are rendered irrelevant with this remaster? The controller mods are obvious ones and texture mods will go from borderline necessary to decidedly less so but it'll be interesting to see.

Phellps · Feb 5, 2021

Beth Cyra said:
I don't know. I have a hard time defending BioWare here.

Those Modders aren't joking when they say that expectations are being set when BioWare makes the claim they did, and it could end very very badly for these modders.

Are they being a bit pushy? Yes. However their worlds could become much worse because BioWare made claims they couldn't back up.

BioWare made a very small claim, though: that they were talking to members of the modding community. That's not even a promise of how mods will work, just that they're looking into it.

I take issue with acting like they need to be in the know because the community is small and they don't know anyone who has been contacted, and they want names. I mean, what? Why do you need names? Why do you expect your peers who are under NDAs to disclose that they have been contacted by BioWare?

It's a weird attitude like they're some sort of modding authority.

TheMadTitan · Feb 5, 2021

thepenguin55 said:
I totally forgot about this! I wonder if BioWare will have corrected this or not? On a related note I'll be curious to see what mods are rendered irrelevant with this remaster? The controller mods are obvious ones and texture mods will go from borderline necessary to decidedly less so but it'll be interesting to see.

They already alluded to them fixing that bug on twitter already.

Texture mods, controller mods. and the bug fixes are likely the only things no longer needed with the remaster. Well, that and the Miranda butt fix camera mod.

Unless they change ME2's character select screen so you can equip Shepard and the squad with any weapon like you can do in ME3 (and if you haven't done that mod in ME2 yet, you should because it's lovely) and add multiplayer weapons and multiplayer powers to ME3's single player, there's still going to be gaping holes missing.

Ralemont · Feb 5, 2021

Beth Cyra said:
I don't know. I have a hard time defending BioWare here.

Those Modders aren't joking when they say that expectations are being set when BioWare makes the claim they did, and it could end very very badly for these modders.

Are they being a bit pushy? Yes. However their worlds could become much worse because BioWare made claims they couldn't back up.

Well luckily no one has to defend Bioware because there's nothing to defend.

Beth Cyra · Feb 5, 2021

Ralemont said:
Well luckily no one has to defend Bioware because there's nothing to defend.

I disagree.

The way that person responded saying BioWare has spoken with Modders absolutely will give certain people expectations that mods will work with LE, and we've seen today how absolutely batshit people can be (them fixing the un-needed butt shots) and there will be some that try to use mods, have it not work and then attack the mod teams.

Is it a certainty that it will happen? No, but it's a very real possibility and I can totally understand why the Mod Community are rightful in a defensive mode right now.

tobascodagama · Feb 5, 2021

Weebos said:
Small modding communities being full of divas shouldn't be a surprise.

The big modding communities aren't much different, to be quite honest.

Samiya · Feb 6, 2021

ciddative said:
Can't wait to use the Happy Ending mod (or one of its ilk) to completely alter or excise Bioware's mistakes!

/s

disparate said:
Happy ending mods are the only kinds of endings worse than the control/synthesis endings so I won't weep for those. They should just adjust the game to kill control/synthesis and make the end-state explanation more robust so ties into ME Next seamlessly.

TheMadTitan said:
Nah. The only ones that are legitimately better are the ones that do light tweaks, like the one removes some of the stupid and contradictory lines during ending. Stuff like the Happy Ending Mod aren't better. They're different.

The MEHEM ending mod in its most updated version actually feels entirely believable and *very* deserved. Sure, it's not groundbreaking or pull the rug underneath your feet, but it is still an earned ending that differs depending on your choices throughout the game. It is still a million times better and more coherent and more fitting for the entire series than the vanilla and Extended Cut versions of the ending. It actually works really well because the whole game is about Shepard not making it out alive and having many moments in the narrative telling Shepard that they'll die, yet the ending overcomes this warning and thereby "surprises" the player in some fashion.

Phellps said:
Jesus, what an awful attitude. Who do they think they are to believe BioWare needs to report to them with whom they have spoken? It would've been better if BioWare just released the damn remaster paying no attention to mods and just letting everything break. Damned if you do...

I definitely think there's an entitled diva complex as well here, but we also have to recognize that some of these modders literally created the tools like ME3explorer that have enabled the possibility to even mod the games in the first place.

If I was working at Bioware and wanted to reach out to the modding community, the people behind the modding tools would be my priority. It's possible to state that the negative reaction by some in the modding community is a really bad look and that Bioware should attempt to reach out the major names in the community who literally laid the groundwork for modding ME1/2/3 at all. Until ME3explorer came around, we were all relying on the incredibly outdated and unoptimized Texmod to simply just use texture mods with nothing else to do.

TheMadTitan · Feb 6, 2021

Samiya said:
The MEHEM ending mod in its most updated version actually feels entirely believable and *very* deserved. Sure, it's not groundbreaking or pull the rug underneath your feet, but it is still an earned ending that differs depending on your choices throughout the game. It is still a million times better and more coherent and more fitting for the entire series than the vanilla and Extended Cut versions of the ending. It actually works really well because the whole game is about Shepard not making it out alive and having many moments in the narrative telling Shepard that they'll die, yet the ending overcomes this warning and thereby "surprises" the player in some fashion.

Some of the other ending mods aren't that good, though. Or at least weren't; haven't downloaded or updated my mods in awhile now.

That, and Origin likes to decouple itself from my game installs, forcing me to verify and reinstall them all over again. Not a real issue for the first two, but if I boot up ME3, that tends to get me to play multiplayer again, and I have multiplayer mods installed that I'd end up wanting to use.

BioWare Talking to Modders About Mass Effect Legendary Edition Mods

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