Expanded Shepard Armory for the Legendary Edition is out now!

Description

Finally, at long last, Shepards of both genders shall be able to enjoy the official DLC armors (Inferno, Collector, Cerberus, Terminus and Blood Dragon) without a helmet. Additionally, with updates 2.0 and 3.0, several new armors from Mass Effect 1 and 3 have been ported back in.

Expanded Shepard Armory adds additional "Chest" options to Shepard locker which include all of the DLC armors without helmet. Since these new "chests" already include legs, arms and shoulders; new options for removing those have been added to the end of each section of the locker. They are easily recognizable by the name "None". The original full body armors remain untouched, meaning you can swap between full body and helmetless, whenever you have access to the armor locker. The new armors lack voice modulation and can be combined with whichever regular headgear you want. Did you ever wish to use the Kuwashii Visor and Cerberus Armor together? Now you can! Don't forget to tint your headgear to match your new helmetless armors.

The DLC based armors require its respective official DLC in order to work and they will use the same original stats. New armors from other games do not require any official DLC, for the exception of the Cerberus Assault Variant and Ajax Armors which will require of the Cerberus Weapon and Armor DLC.

Moreover, Expanded Shepard Armory includes several new casual outfits, taken from Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect Andromeda. These outfits are available for both genders and should provide a new touch to your Shepard while on the Normandy for your next Mass Effect 2 run.

Lastly with 3.0 all gear that is NOT Cerberus branded MUST NOW BE ACQUIRED. Casual outfits and armors are now in most cases found on stores across the Citadel and Omega so players can acquire them early on in their playthroughs. There is an exception with some gear that has a unique way to be acquired by just playing the game. Will your Shepard earn it?



Installation



This mod REQUIRES to be installed with the latest ME3Tweaks Mod Manager version by Mgamerz. Make sure you let it update to the latest build after installation, in order to make sure that alternate files are correctly installed.

The mod is in DLC form, so its installation is as simple as drag and drop the .7z file into the Mod Manager and let it work its magic. A prompt will show indicating which parts of the mod will be installed depending on your game setup. For each armor to be installed you will require each official DLC installed first. This is a design choice that is here to stay. Trying to manually install the mod to cheat my installation method will not work, so I will not be supporting help requests for those attempting to install the helmeted version of armors they do not own.

With 3.0 a new OPTIONAL feature is included: New Default Gear. This option will change what Shepard wears both when they wake up on Lazarus Station as well as on Project Base (Arrival DLC) after they are running tests on them, instead of Cerberus casuals. Moreover, the armor Shepard will get from the locker at the beginning of the game will be the Cerberus Assault one and not N7. Furthermore, when landing on planets or areas in which a breather is needed, the game will not default to the N7 helmet if not wearing a full helmet, but to a Cerberus issued breather instead. This option REQUIRES the Cerberus Assault Armor to be installed. N7 gear will still be unlocked after playing through the Lazarus Station and can be selected for Freedom's Progress as normal.

The mod uses armor IDs that I did not find to be used by any other mods. If anyone find any incompatibilities I am unaware of, please, kindly let me know.

Recommended mods

New Armor Colors by Jade: this mod adds 595 new colors to Tint 1, Tint 2, and Pattern Colors in the Armor Customization screen.

Casual Hubs for ME2 by rondeeno: this mod allows Shepard to wear casual clothes on the Citadel, Omega, and Illium, and gives certain squadmates casual appearances as well.

Same-Gender Romances for ME2 by rondeeno: this mod allows Tali and Thane to be romanced by both male and female Shepard, utilizing unused dialogue in the game files. It also fixes issues with imported same-gender Ashley and Kaidan romances if using the same mod and allows and restores other same-gender content whenever possible.

Femshep and Miranda Romance for ME2 by Mentlegen: this mod adds the ability for FemShep players to romance Miranda in ME2. It unlocks unused romance audio and re-purposes dialogue from other areas of the game to replace all romance dialogue that was never recorded for FemShep.

FemShep and Jack Romance for ME2 by Mentlegen: this mod adds the ability for FemShep players to romance Jack in ME2. This mod unlocks unused romance audio and re-purposes dialogue from other areas of the game to replace all romance dialogue that was never recorded for FemShep.

Femshep Appearance Consistency Project for ME2 by anshela: this mod ports ME3's Default Femshep headmorph into ME2. It is used on my femshep screenshots of this mod. Both mods have thoroughly been tested together, so there shouldn't be any issues related to meshes.

In order to get the best visual experience and quality (including my mod armors), I highly recommend using ALOT for ME2, by CreeperLava and MEUITM2, by Catachrism (including his amazing mesh edits). My mod is fully compatible with it; moreover, any retextures that you choose for the DLC armors will also be applied to the helmetless versions. Remember that content mods must be always installed BEFORE ALOT. Thanks to different mod authors, those armors and outfits whose high-quality textures were not included in ALOT for ME2 have included themselves in this mod. This ensures all new models to be between 2K and 4K quality, texture wise when rising your LODs.

Un-Installation

Use the Mod Manager to remove the mod. Savegames aren't dependent of it, so it can be safely removed and/or added at any point during your game. Just remember ALOT's instructions if you are also using that mod. Savegames using these armors after uninstallation of the mod will default to the N7 Armor/Cerberus Fatigues, so make sure to reequip your armor/casual of choice.





None. The mod has been throughly tested by several people and should be bug free now. However, in the event of strange behaviors happening regarding the use of the armors, do not hesitate to provide a description of your issues.

Currently the mod is only localized in English. It will however work with any language of the game. New armors will simply have their descriptions set in English.

Although technically not an issue, I feel the need to point out that if you use the New Default Gear option and you never dress your Shepard at Minuteman Station (after Lazarus), they will arrive to the Normandy on their undies. Dressing Shepard REQUIRES hitting APPLY on the armor locker.

History

Credits & Acknowledgements

• Ellia/Anshela: without your teeny tiny fix, this mod would not even be working as intended. Proof that the smallest thing in the world can make the biggest change. Thank you for all your testing, saves, shared laughs with THE bug, being a shoulder to cry on and being there to listen to my rants. Oh, and thank you for fixing Petrovsky's texture too. You are the best.
• Kinkojiro: the true MVP. The mod was working, until someone met Jack and all went downhill. Such a tiny mistake, but such a big help and piece of knowledge you provided regarding the bones structure and proper mesh replacement between game ports. Thanks to you, Jack has recovered from red sand abuse.
• JadeBarker: my partner in crime. Lots of brainstorming for this mod and for your testing of every version.
• Jenya66: thank you for all the support, cursed memes, testing and screenshots. You are my favorite Pokémon and that goes without saying. Development on the 2.0 version would have been duller without your humor and without your expertise on texture behavior. Thank you for your hard work on making the Joker Helmet be of proper use for both genders.
• Audemus: thank you for all of your feedback and testing. We will never forget Root. Thank you for creating the Cerberus Female Variant Armor Textures based on Miranda's Alternate Appearance Pack.
• Noirafayn: thank you for testing, debugging and pointing me in the right path towards the buggy mess of my first internal release. Thank you for also fixing the Tank Top meshes for females to better hide the seams, as well as your female underwear textures.
• Tajfun403: thank you for helping me determine if my mod was cursed or there was something else at play. Sorry for making you discover Jack was also on drugs for your projects.
• Bosmeroya: thank you for testing broShep. Everyone was so focused on femshep bugs that no one was truly checking if he was messed up as well. Furthermore, thank you for going forward and porting the Cerberus Ajax armor to Mass Effect 2 and allowing me to include it as part of this mod.
• Mellin: thank you for allowing me to include the beautiful Mass Effect Andromeda ports you have made for Project Variety 3, as part of this mod. Moreover, thank you for offering yourself to upscale the N7 Defender textures to 4K quality.
• Horography: thank you for having open permissions on your Mass Effect 3 mods. Your Tank Top models were a beautiful addition for this mod. If you are still around, I hope you see your mod in a new place being enjoyed by others. You deserve the credit for those outfits.
• ELE08: thank you for having open permissions for using your fixed meshes on the CAT6 and Miranda's armors for Femshep. I hope you approve of the appropriate use they have been given here.
• ThaliaGraces: thank you very much for offering to include in this mod your ports of the CAT6 armor from the Citadel DLC and fixing for me the emissive lights of the N7 Defender armor. But, most of all, thank you for all the support on this run towards N7 day. Your technical knowledge on texture and materials has saved the day plenty of times. It also goes without saying that 3.0 wouldn't exist without all the extra upscales and new textures you have worked on. Thank you, a pleasure working with you every time.
• Exkywor: thank you for allowing me to deceive you into trying to fix the Tank Top textures to match the different scalp textures from Mass Effect 2. You could have given up after a hundred tests, but you committed to getting them done the best possible way, despite me taking your time from your own mod. Thank you for sticking with me and further fixing Petrovsky's hands on his textures.
• ClearanceClarence: thank you for allowing me to include in this mod your high-quality textures for the Cerberus Trooper and Ajax armors.
• JimbobJeffers: thank you for allowing the inclusion of your beautifully crafted Leather Jacket textures for ALOT for ME3 as part of this mod.
• CreeperLava: thank you for allowing the addition of your upscaled Leather Dress and Cerberus Casuals textures from ALOT for ME3. Thank you for letting us use your upscale of a ME1 armor as base for us to work on the male Spectre armor.
• Ottemis: thank so much for allowing the inclusion of both of your beautiful and high quality Hoodie textures as part of this mod. I hope you can enjoy them in Mass Effect 2 in your next run too.
• Getorex: thank you for allowing me to include your clear N7 helmets into this mod.
• PoophairJones: thank you for having open permissions on your mods and thus allowing me to include a more realistic and close body option for males to that of Mass Effect 1.
• Strife: thank you for providing all the interesting descriptions the mod now has for the stores. Your enthusiasm and willingness to write were greatly appreciated.
• Beccatoria: thank you for proofreading all new included text strings, as well as for your feedback and testing of 3.0.
• Gabe8: special thanks for offering to do a beautiful banner for the mod page. I could not have come up with something as good looking as you did in that record time. Thank you for testing of 3.0.
• Scottina123: special thanks to the man who patiently helped me through my first steps into modding within the Mass Effect world. Honestly, if it would not be for him, my mods would not exist. Thank you for keeping being an inspiration.
• MGamerz and the ME3TweaksFork developers: thank you for actively working on the modding tools for the trilogy, as well as for all the help offered on the Discord server.
  

Hairy Sheploo: allows players to add a new hairstyle and/or beard to the default male Shepard, based on Dutch model Mark Vanderloo. All hairstyles plus the beard are custom meshes with new textures, meaning this mod provides 3D hair options and aren't just painted over his face. Mass Effect 2 version.

Project Variety for ME2: major bug fix and overhaul mod for the original Mass Effect 2. Currently in Alpha but fully functional. Compatibility and lore accuracy is its foundations as well as transparency.

Oriana Looks Like Miranda's Twin: small lore-friendly mod that changes Oriana's face into Miranda's, so they actually look like twins. It offers two texture options (vanilla and Ellise's).

Joker Wears Cerberus Fatigues: this mod fixes a vanilla bug which had Joker wearing Alliance fatigues during the cutscene arriving to the Flotilla. He will be wearing Cerberus fatigues now as intended.

Licensing/Legal

The mod is provided as is. By downloading and installing it you decide to use it at your own risk. Incompatibilities produced by installation on pirated copies of the game will not be assisted, as well as those installations over an ALOT modified game.
You may use this mod as you wish but I kindly ask you to credit me for my work.
Please, do not re-host this file without my explicit permission.