Mass Effects shadows

SkeeterUK · 29 Sep 2009 at 02:46

Just reinstalled and gona play through again as didnt finish it last time due to jaggies.

The game runs so amazingly fast its mind blowing and also gorgeous.

Tho theres one thing briniging the experiance down which is the shadows.

Does anyone have any tips for me to improve the shadow quality?

zytok · 29 Sep 2009 at 07:00

turn self shadowing off.... It's a nice idea but doesn't work that well in practise. Turn it off, still looks gorgeous but without the dodgy flickery bits. If you have it patched up I think self-shadowing gets turned off by default anyway.

Bleek · 29 Sep 2009 at 08:43

I just bought this off of Steam, really like it so far and it's very pretty!

Teki187 · 29 Sep 2009 at 09:16

Try tweak guides, they have a lot of good tweaks there, but remember what you change so you can undo it if the game bugs out.

What shadows look bad?

'Wes · 29 Sep 2009 at 10:28

I thought the shadows looked great.

zytok · 29 Sep 2009 at 11:08

zytok said:

the normal shadows as in the pic here look stunning, I presume he is talking about the real time self shadowing that looks a bit like the shadowing in Oblivion which is not pretty. The above is with self-shadowing off just to prove it really isn't needed.

Sorry I realise that this is the third thread I've posted this in but it's gotta be my fav screenie of all time. Love how Mass Effect even seems to get emotion into the eyes. Does she looked miffed or what ??? ^^^^^

osc89er · 29 Sep 2009 at 11:23

The official forums have a few posts with some user-recommended settings.

Teki187 · 29 Sep 2009 at 12:26

osc89er said:
The official forums have a few posts with some user-recommended settings.

Links would be nice

Squark · 30 Sep 2009 at 11:54

Is self shadows the same as dynamic shadows?
Thats the only shadow option I have in the config window

zytok · 30 Sep 2009 at 12:06

I think so yes, try turning it off and look for the generated shadows of say someone's head on their neck. If it's not all blocky and moving around, you're sorted.....

Seriously loved playing through this. One of the best single-player experiences I think I've ever had. The story is so well done, the ending nearly had me in tears.....

Arthalen · 30 Sep 2009 at 16:53

zytok said:
Seriously loved playing through this. One of the best single-player experiences I think I've ever had. The story is so well done, the ending nearly had me in tears.....

I know exactly what you mean. When I crucified Saren for the 2nd time , and then got blown up I was "I just died... WTF??..." ... and then to see me climb out of the rubble with a broken arm, all hero swagger in full effect, I was like "Yeah baby!"........

Btw: I just love using the Sniper Rifle with Frictionless Material upgrades. And on the 2nd playthrough have access to the top level spectre gear - Awesome fun