A Lot Of Videos (ALOV)

What does this mod do?
ALOV is a project inspired by A Lot of Textures (ALOT) by CreeperLava, that upscales all of the prerendered cutscenes in the Mass Effect Trilogy, that cannot be fixed or upgraded with texture/content mods, to 1080p/4K (and in some cases 60fps)

Mass Effect games have 2 types of visuals displayed in them:

• Real-time rendered visuals, which consist of things like 3D models, textures, menus etc.
• Cutscenes and loading screens that are just video files - scenes similar to point 1, but rendered out before and then just played out.
  
  

In the case of the first, there are many mods improving them, from texture overhaul mods like ALOT, to story overhaul mods like EGM. But since these prerendered cutscenes are just videos files - no texture, model, or other graphics mod can help them.

The only way to make them better is to fully substitute them for newer and better prerendered videos. Ones that have higher resolution and higher bitrate, so more details are shown to the player. Originally, this was achieved using Gigapixel AI to upscale each video frame by frame. For 3.0, we have backported our advanced upscales from Legendary Edition, resulting in a huge jump in quality over 2.0!

The ALOV project has been featured on Eurogamer, IGN, DSOGaming, Overclock3D, DFTG and TheGamer.

Our work in numbers:
Mass Effect 2 + DLC features 202 prerendered .BIK videos, weighing together 3 GB:


These original BIKs had a resolution of 720p with an average bitrate of 1.4 Mbit/s
The same ones upgraded to 1080p have a bit rate of about 3.4 Mbit/s and in the 4K variant, it is about 9 Mbit/s.

ALOV for ME2 Contents

Spoiler:  

Show

Main game: 155 videos
Lair of the Shadow Broker (DLC_EXP_Part01) - 7 videos
Arrival (DLC_EXP_Part02) - 7 videos
Kasumi: Stolen Memory (DLC_HEN_MT) - 5 videos

Overlord (DLC_UNC_Pack01) - 4 videos
Firewalker (DLC_UNC_Hammer01) - 2 videos
Size:
1080p: 5.85GB
4K: 15.6GB

ALOV for ME2 includes 3 miscellaneous localized videos. These contain the opening shot "Electronic Arts Presents..", Normandy SR1 attack and the generic loading screen. We have included an addon pack that upscales these videos for German, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish and Russian localisations.


Compatibility:
ALOV for ME2 is fully compatible with all mods, with some minor exceptions.

ALOV for ME2 is NOT compatible with Shorter Loadings, but IS compatible with 4x Faster Loading Screens at 60fps. ALOV's loading screens are already 2x faster than vanilla and run at 30fps. However, you can use the 4x Faster Loading Screens utility to change the speed of ALOV videos if you so wish. Simply install ALOV and then select the 4x speed option and it will change all ALOV loading screens to 60fps.

As this mod does not alter any game files beyond videos, it may be treated like a texture mod. This means that you can install this mod if ALOT is already installed. That said, I do recommend installing this mod before or alongside ALOT.

For those who want a 21:9 experience with ALOV, check out Paleforce's ALOV - Unofficial Ultrawide Edit


Installation (ALOT Installer Method):

• Download the newest version's 7z file
• Drag into the ALOT installer. Do not unpack or rename the file, simply download the file as it is and drag it into the ALOT installer.
• Install alongside your texture mods!
  

Installation (Mod Manager Method):

• Download the newest version's 7z file
• Drag into ME3Tweaks Mod Manager
• Click Apply Mod
  

The mod is also available for download via torrent.
Each torrent is folder based, meaning you can choose either the 1080p or 4K version, or both.
If you don't have a torrenting program I suggest you use Transmission.
(Unlike most of the mainstream torrenters like BitTorrent, or uTorrent, this one doesn't collect your personal data)


Team and Credits - ALOV 1.0 to 2.5
Project Lead: Audemus
AI Upscaling Runners:

• AnomalyDetected
• Autoola
• Kholdstare
• Noble Auditore
  

Relay Jump Remaster Normandy Shot: Dylan Blanqué
ALOT/Mod Manager Integration: Mgamerz
QA Testing: HHL, Khaar, Mistress Pirotessa, drakonous7
Cloud Storage Provided By: bosp

Team and Credits - ALOV 3.0
Project Lead: Audemus
Upscale Runners: Kholdstare (MVP), Mellin, 1x4x9, AstralStorm, marsher, Nihren, NotQuiteRadiant, ormr_kin, Solinus, ClearanceClarence,
MrBeansworthy, UltraSun
In-game Recreations: HenBagle, Sil

Special Thanks:

• Mellin - For embarking on this crazy ALOV journey with me!
• Mgamerz - For being a paragon of this modding community and helping with ALOV's release(s).
• bosp - For all the internal support, from the Nextcloud mirror to cloud-based rendering.
• Tajfun403 - For the workaround that lets the optional relay jump be compatible with other mods without a patch!
  

• BioWare - For creating Mass Effect. May you return to glory soon.
• Adobe, Topaz Labs, Blender Foundation and RAD Tools - For the awesome software needed to make ALOV possible!
  

Additional thanks to our discord communities:
ME3 Modding Workshop community
ALOT community https://discord.gg/R8FfcTh
ME3Tweaks community https://discord.gg/73XVYPz