Everybody is welcome to request any other model for Male & Female Shepard for me to upload! It only takes a few minutes to do! I intend to consolidate all requests by race, so finding any other Asari requests can be done here on this page.
Now that this mod has shown you what ini file to mess around with you need two things! 1. What line of the file changes the player model? 2. How do I find model names to change to?
1. Use Ctrl+F and enter "Actor". Hit Enter twice to get to the lines describing m_FemaleActorType and m_MaleActorType. The text following the = sign is what must be replaced to give you the new model!
2. Finding the model names is trickier. Use the wonderful Mass Effect INI Modder mod here on the Nexus to find the list of models! Under the "BIOGame" Tab there is a complete list of models both female and male only under the Male Shepard model replacer drop-down menu. All you need to do is A) Select your preferred model under Male Shepard's drop-down. B) Save to ini (bottom-right of tool) [If you want to play Male Shepard, then you don't need to do anything else. This is simply how you use the tool as intended by the tool's creator] C) Open the BioGame.ini file in your documents D) Find the m_maleActorType= section and copy the text after the = sign. E) Paste it after m_femaleActorType={>HERE<} and save the file. It may ask you to rename it, which is simple. Remember to delete the old BioGame.ini and rename your new one to BioGame.ini. F) Launch the game.
NOTES: - You'll know if you messed up if the launch screen takes a million years. Usually just a spelling error! - When creating a Shepard, it is ideal to use Quick-Start Shepards because customized Shepards faces sometimes appear overtop of the model's face you're attempting to use. - Many models have issues such as taking cover, moving without guns, using guns, or performing any animations. However, if all you care about are cutscenes, then almost every model works wonderfully! - Using the console command "teleport" is helpful when moving without a gun on models where it is difficult. - If you are not playing a party member then sometimes there are combat issues. Your name will not show up on the bottom left HUI with your health bar, and sometimes your abilities won't go off until a few moments after activating them. - Also sometimes you're invincible - The camera in this game follows where normal Shepard WOULD be, so some camera angles won't work for some models (like volus for example. You just won't see the character unless it is zoomed out far enough).
Oh, no, those were just some fancy photos of Tali on Google Images to get the idea across. If you hop in game, simply your Shepard looks and animates like Tali from ME1. You can even armour her (or you) in all the armours as you normally could yourself.
Greetings! Big fan of the mod you're making. I have a request/inquiry that I would love to see made in the game. I've always wanted to play as a Turian, and I do know you made a mod with garrus and nihlus. However, I wanted to play with a "random" turian. Like ones we see in cut-scenes or just wandering about in the map.They all have different outfits and its just something I would enjoy doing more so than just playing as a big name main character like garrus. This is where the inquiry comes in, would this be possible? I am not too sure on how this mod works. So i wasn't sure if you could use other character models that weren't a main focus as playable characters. For example, if I wanted to play as a random C-Sec Turian officer. Would that be possible? Hope this isn't confusing to ask, i just am very curious about it.
This is absolutely doable! In fact I have a character that I'm playing right now who is the Turian councilor (just because I liked his robes and wanted to play a Turian).
Any model you see in game, I can do. If there is someone specific you've seen walking about, let me know A) Where you spotted them B) What colours they're wearing.
Otherwise, you can just say "Turian in red civilian clothing" or "Random C-Sec NPC" and I'll find something for you. :)
I will point out though that Garrus works best for Turians because he is a fully functioning character. Other characters like the drunk General in Chora's Den won't work as well. That general probably won't have any combat animations because he never fights in game. Random NPCs have that issue too, as they usually don't start shooting you - so they don't have any animations for combat. Sometimes they can still fight, but they'll just be T-Posing the whole time.
Cutscenes work perfectly though! Otherwise I couldn't get all my lovely screenshots like on the Geth and Krogan mod.
Awesome! I understand that there will be bugs for sure. I did have a turian in mind. However, I wish to ask if you know of any turian that would perform well! I was thinking of maybe of a Turian whom fights on Tuchanka that is sent to disable the bomb on the planet! The 9th platoon to be exact. I presumed since you could see them fighting that they might work. (My character I have is actually very similar to that platoons as his armor matches theres. And with some other lore thrown in haha.)
So I suppose before I ask you to do one of those guys, do you have any you have found to work well? Theres plenty of casual turians I would love to play as too. But i just figured id ask you first since you've tried some yourself.
That would be Mass Effect 3, those models don't exist in this game and as far as I am aware, Nihlus is the only Turian in combat gear in Mass Effect 1 with black/red armor that would match the 9th Platoon.
If I personally wanted to RP with one of those 9th platoon guys, I would run the Garrus mod (with default shepard's face so it doesn't override Garrus') and give myself the Light Phantom armour using this code: Giveitem self # TurianL manf_serrice_armor_phantom
(The # is the LEVEL you want the armor at. Anything from 1-10)
Alright, I see. Well i think if i were to try that it would work just as well. Do you have a Discord? I could show you the exact guys i am speaking of in the scene. As i wasn't sure if you'd want to make this a mod, or just instruct me on how to accomplish it. I appreciate your help!
Sadly I don't have a discord or anything. I assume you're talking about the Turians that appear in the Tuchanka: Turian Platoon mission in Mass Effect 3; Tarqin Victus and all them. I'm just looking at the guys in the photos that appear in google images when you type "9th Platoon Turian".
Like I said I have no way of adding in new things to the game, just letting you change into things that already exist in the ME1 files. And since (other than Nihlus) no Turians really appear in red and black medium armour that I'm aware of, I would just use Garrus and give him the Light Phantom armour. That would be the best way to get that effect.
Couldn't you just use Mass Effect Ini Modder? It has this feature built into it for every model in the game and does not require the user to even find their config file.
My tutorial comment I pinned above mentions that Mass Effect INI Modder ONLY changes Male Shepard model into any model in the game. What my file does is essentially let the user
A) Not have to rifle through the hundreds of file names with various codes; it took me quite a few hours to find exactly the right mix of skin tone, outfit type, and outfit colour to get the Asari model I wanted ofc.
B) Play as a Female Shepard with whatever model they like. Wanna be a female Sovereign? Give me a couple minutes and it's done.
C) I also describe the various issues that arise when playing different models, WHY they exist, and how to circumvent those few issues. Mass Effect INI Modder has only described maybe 20% of the models in game (which is still a fantastic effort).
But you can do the same thing with Female Shepard in Mass Effect Ini Modder, but I see your point of it not being fully cataloged.
The reason it doesn't describe everything is because it is simply a huge task that I don't have time to dedicate to. If someone was to help me catalog the models and their weaknesses, that would help me finish the program (I am currently working on a different ME1 project that's quite large in scope).
I do have a database of images, it's just really time consuming to screenshot, name, write the description... for hundreds of entries.
Oh man, I didn't even realize you were the author of MEIni Modder lmao. Sorry about that. If you'd like I can remove these mods I uploaded. I just felt like being generous with my time. If you could update your tool to include the list that MShep has for the FemShep then half the trouble of my mod is over. Although I think I've deciphered what causes the issues with each model by the way so it's simple to predict which causes which set of problems.
I've rifled through all the models though, to rename and describe the what, 500 models(?) would take an insane amount of time. Your tool is phenomenal and made my life and gameplay so much better so thank you for that as well. This Quarian mod in particular is useless because your tool has the companions for FemShep and there are no more Quarians in the game to replace. My mods were just meant to add the ability to play as females that aren't the companions as your tool has no method for that. And to find models in the game that are buried in the fancy model IDs written below so others don't have to.
There isn't any reason to remove it, this is still your work. Also what breaks some of them? I assumed it was because some animations did not exist. You should come to my ME3Tweaks Discord - if you are interested in helping finish the catalog, that would help immensely. I am working on a large ME1 project that touches on a few things MEIM can do.
The animations "exist" per se, but they all need to be "stringed" to the models.
For example: animations for combat exist for all Turians, humans, asari, quarians, whatever. However, the reason some of these races don't have the animations is because the devs never needed to apply (or string) them to certain characters.
For example, cutscene ONLY characters (who do not appear in game idly anywhere) will have absolutely no animations at all and probably cannot even enter combat. Additionally, enemies will not fire at them because they don't even register as a target. Nihlus is an example of this.
Characters who idle in non-combat zones (like the Citadel NPCs) would not have combat animations because they never go into combat.
Characters who are only ever in combat will only operate properly with a gun pulled out (such as Geth and Asari Commandos).
Characters who idle in playable areas AND fight sometimes (like the Chora's Den bartender, or the civilians of Feros) have all animations. (I did a fully functioning playthrough with the clothes of a Feros civilian because I liked them).
Also sadly I'm a full-time medical student and hospital employee, as well as a household runner, so I don't really have much time on my hands to do any sort of big cataloguing. If I had more time I might, but it is a rather boring process. I only run a couple characters in Mass Effect, and I've just been adding the models I've used on my female characters while I had them loaded in my inis.
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Now that this mod has shown you what ini file to mess around with you need two things!
1. What line of the file changes the player model?
2. How do I find model names to change to?
1. Use Ctrl+F and enter "Actor". Hit Enter twice to get to the lines describing m_FemaleActorType and m_MaleActorType. The text following the = sign is what must be replaced to give you the new model!
2. Finding the model names is trickier. Use the wonderful Mass Effect INI Modder mod here on the Nexus to find the list of models! Under the "BIOGame" Tab there is a complete list of models both female and male only under the Male Shepard model replacer drop-down menu. All you need to do is
A) Select your preferred model under Male Shepard's drop-down.
B) Save to ini (bottom-right of tool)
[If you want to play Male Shepard, then you don't need to do anything else. This is simply how you use the tool as intended by the tool's creator]
C) Open the BioGame.ini file in your documents
D) Find the m_maleActorType= section and copy the text after the = sign.
E) Paste it after m_femaleActorType={>HERE<} and save the file. It may ask you to rename it, which is simple. Remember to delete the old BioGame.ini and rename your new one to BioGame.ini.
F) Launch the game.
- You'll know if you messed up if the launch screen takes a million years. Usually just a spelling error!
- When creating a Shepard, it is ideal to use Quick-Start Shepards because customized Shepards faces sometimes appear overtop of the model's face you're attempting to use.
- Many models have issues such as taking cover, moving without guns, using guns, or performing any animations. However, if all you care about are cutscenes, then almost every model works wonderfully!
- Using the console command "teleport" is helpful when moving without a gun on models where it is difficult.
- If you are not playing a party member then sometimes there are combat issues. Your name will not show up on the bottom left HUI with your health bar, and sometimes your abilities won't go off until a few moments after activating them.
- Also sometimes you're invincible
- The camera in this game follows where normal Shepard WOULD be, so some camera angles won't work for some models (like volus for example. You just won't see the character unless it is zoomed out far enough).
Edit: update: replacing the ini file with the one in here doesn't work at least. It plays you as regular Shepard still.
Any model you see in game, I can do. If there is someone specific you've seen walking about, let me know
A) Where you spotted them
B) What colours they're wearing.
Otherwise, you can just say "Turian in red civilian clothing" or "Random C-Sec NPC" and I'll find something for you. :)
Cutscenes work perfectly though! Otherwise I couldn't get all my lovely screenshots like on the Geth and Krogan mod.
So I suppose before I ask you to do one of those guys, do you have any you have found to work well? Theres plenty of casual turians I would love to play as too. But i just figured id ask you first since you've tried some yourself.
If I personally wanted to RP with one of those 9th platoon guys, I would run the Garrus mod (with default shepard's face so it doesn't override Garrus') and give myself the Light Phantom armour using this code:
Giveitem self # TurianL manf_serrice_armor_phantom
(The # is the LEVEL you want the armor at. Anything from 1-10)
Like I said I have no way of adding in new things to the game, just letting you change into things that already exist in the ME1 files. And since (other than Nihlus) no Turians really appear in red and black medium armour that I'm aware of, I would just use Garrus and give him the Light Phantom armour. That would be the best way to get that effect.
A) Not have to rifle through the hundreds of file names with various codes; it took me quite a few hours to find exactly the right mix of skin tone, outfit type, and outfit colour to get the Asari model I wanted ofc.
B) Play as a Female Shepard with whatever model they like. Wanna be a female Sovereign? Give me a couple minutes and it's done.
C) I also describe the various issues that arise when playing different models, WHY they exist, and how to circumvent those few issues. Mass Effect INI Modder has only described maybe 20% of the models in game (which is still a fantastic effort).
The reason it doesn't describe everything is because it is simply a huge task that I don't have time to dedicate to. If someone was to help me catalog the models and their weaknesses, that would help me finish the program (I am currently working on a different ME1 project that's quite large in scope).
I do have a database of images, it's just really time consuming to screenshot, name, write the description... for hundreds of entries.
If you'd like I can remove these mods I uploaded. I just felt like being generous with my time. If you could update your tool to include the list that MShep has for the FemShep then half the trouble of my mod is over.
Although I think I've deciphered what causes the issues with each model by the way so it's simple to predict which causes which set of problems.
I've rifled through all the models though, to rename and describe the what, 500 models(?) would take an insane amount of time. Your tool is phenomenal and made my life and gameplay so much better so thank you for that as well. This Quarian mod in particular is useless because your tool has the companions for FemShep and there are no more Quarians in the game to replace. My mods were just meant to add the ability to play as females that aren't the companions as your tool has no method for that. And to find models in the game that are buried in the fancy model IDs written below so others don't have to.
For example: animations for combat exist for all Turians, humans, asari, quarians, whatever.
However, the reason some of these races don't have the animations is because the devs never needed to apply (or string) them to certain characters.
For example, cutscene ONLY characters (who do not appear in game idly anywhere) will have absolutely no animations at all and probably cannot even enter combat. Additionally, enemies will not fire at them because they don't even register as a target. Nihlus is an example of this.
Characters who idle in non-combat zones (like the Citadel NPCs) would not have combat animations because they never go into combat.
Characters who are only ever in combat will only operate properly with a gun pulled out (such as Geth and Asari Commandos).
Characters who idle in playable areas AND fight sometimes (like the Chora's Den bartender, or the civilians of Feros) have all animations. (I did a fully functioning playthrough with the clothes of a Feros civilian because I liked them).