Mass Effect 3

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Mass Effect Modding Community

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Tydeous

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About this mod

An overhaul for the final mission of Mass Effect 3 with the aim of representing the allies you have gathered over the course of the trilogy, fixing bugs and adding ambient immersive events. In addition, this is natively built to be compatible with story mods such as Expanded Galaxy Mod and Spectre Expansion Mod.

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  • Russian
Changelogs
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Take Earth Back is a community mod designed to address one of the weakest sections of Mass Effect 3 - Priority: Earth. Bioware's mission was adequate, but it didn't account for the war assets you collected across the trilogy. Take Earth Back primarily focuses on these with an overhaul of the Earth hub to feature more than 28 war assets, as well as cut content restorations, new interactive conversations and more. Additionally, the Hammer landing sequence and beam run have had minor overhauls, and the mod is built from the ground up to work for vanilla players, as well as those who play Expanded Galaxy Mod and Spectre Expansion Mod.

Below are some of the changes we have made in this mod:

Earth Hub Overhaul
When you have spent an entire game gathering allies, all you want is to see these allies when you play through the final mission. Well, we've done our best to overhaul the Earth hub area to show as many as we possibly can, not only from vanilla but also from Expanded Galaxy Mod and Spectre Expansion Mod. Additionally, we have overhauled the turret sequence. Not only has the cutscene been edited to show an aerial dogfight but the enemy composition has changed, and you are joined by an Asari Commando who will use biotics to support you in battle.

This overhaul has been done with the utmost care so that it will feel truly authentic to the vanilla experience. As our mod progresses we will strive to add more and add each war asset from the game. If you wish to know which war assets are included so far in the hub, please click on the spoiler below:
Spoiler:  
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Vanilla:
- Armali Snipers
- Asari Commandos
- Asari Justicars
- Batarian Forces
- Blood Pack Mercenaries
- Blue Suns Mercenaries
- Bolto
- Diana Allers
- Eclipse Mercenaries
- Elcor Warriors
- Ex-Cerberus Engineers
- Geth Corp
- Geth Primes
- Hanar & Drell Forces
- Kirrahe
- Krogan Clans
- Leviathan Enthrallment Team
- Rachni Warriors
- Salarian STG
- Shadow Broker Wet Squad
- Spectre Unit & Jondum Bau
- Terminus Systems Forces
- Turian 43rd Marine Detachment
- Turian Blackwatch
- Turian Engineering Corp
- Volus Bombing Flotilla
- Vorcha Labor Team
- Vorcha Void Devils
- Zhu's Hope Colonists & Shiala

Expanded Galaxy Mod:
- Awakened Collector
- Cerberus AI
- Feron
- Project Phoenix Defectors
- Tazzik

Spectre Expansion Mod:
- CAT6 Mercenaries
- Enhanced Varren
- Maeko Matsuo & ERCS Guard
- Nax
- Lystheni Operatives
- Volus Spectre Sura Nao
- Vorcha Social Research


Dialogue Overhaul
Bioware never finished making all of Earths dialogue cinematic, with only squadmates receiving polished cameras and animations. All other conversations were left ambient, and though the quality of the voice acting shone through, the immersive element was lost.

With Take Earth Back, we are striving to complete their work by adding cameras and suitable animations where possible, as well as restoring unused dialogue and cut scenes that match the quality of Bioware at their best. If you wish to know what dialogue has been touched by this mod so far, click on the spoiler below for a full explanation:
Spoiler:  
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- The Anderson-Hackett-Shepard conversation aboard the Normandy has been overhauled. Alongside a new dialogue choice and alternate mission objectives, we have restored an additional paragon dialogue for those Shepards who are on good terms with Anderson.

- James' cut dialogue about his dad has been restored.

- Jokers Paragon handshake and conversation has been restored to the Sword cutscene.

- Primarch Victus' ambient lines have been reshaped into a fully interactive conversation.

- Admiral Raan's dialogue has been turned cinematic

- Wrex's ambient lines have been crafted into an interactive conversation

- Geth Primes ambient dialogue is now an interactive conversation


Full Motion Videos
The TEB team has been working in sync with the ALOV team to introduce two new FMVs into the mod. We do not edit the FMVs lightly as we wish to retain an authentic experience for the player, so all work is handled with great care and consideration to keep it immersive. At this time, we have added two videos and split one into two parts. Click on the spoiler if you wish to know more:
Spoiler:  
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- If you make peace between the Geth and Quarians you will see both fleets take part in the Sword introduction cutscene.

- The Hammer Arrives video has been split into two. The first half takes place when the Hades Cannon is destroyed, with the follow up happening just before your shuttle lands at the Earth hub. This has been added to account for a new event mentioned later in this document.

- A console halfway through the final mission is linked to the Citadel. If you hack it, then you will see a broadcast that reveals a clue as to what is happening on the Citadel. This fixes a major plot hole and also references the Citadel Defence Force and Khalisah al-Jilani war assets.


New Events
We know from the leaked alpha/beta scripts that Bioware hoped to go a lot further with events than they did. Rather than make what they had intended, we have chosen to build ambient events based around the war assets you have gathered. These range from showing Hammer landing around you to witnessing a second Hades Cannon explode. There are more, but those are being kept under wraps for now. You'll just have to play to witness them!

These additions take time, so we only have a few at this point but there are more on the horizon.


New Models
Take Earth Back includes a whole bunch of expertly constructed models to make the mission that bit better. Whether its restoring Harbinger to his Mass Effect 2 design, creating a high-poly Hades Cannon, adding Elcor Soldiers or showing the SSV Ain Jalut from Spectre Expansion Mod, there are many exciting new models to see.


Mission Overhauls
It is a work in progress, but we have begun to edit both the Hades Cannon mission and the final mission of the game. These changes range from new events as mentioned above, to combat tweaks, new ambient decoration such as Dragons Teeth or swarms of Harvesters, interactive objects, minor cutscene edits, and new enemies to fight including the Scion. Not only this, but you will see war assets fighting as you run through the final mission, and once you hit the beam they will run at your side. A full list of additions is included in the spoiler below.
Spoiler:  
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Hades Cannon:

- Map decorated with groups of Dragons Teeth

- Burning debris falls from the sky during the mission

- Second Hades Cannon added that explodes as an ambient event

- Hammer starts landing around you after you destroy your target

- SSV Ain Jalut arrives during the Hammer sequence if you have the asset via Spectre Expansion Mod

- Tyrant enemy added from Spectre Expansion Mod (if you have the mod)

Final Mission:

- Swarms of Harvesters fly overhead during the battle

- Randomised NPCs fight a battle along the route to the underground car park

- Underground car park is a Ravager breeding ground, with exploding eggs and webs on show

- Rachni swarms, Elcor troopers and other war assets seen after you defeat the Marauders on turrets

- Khalisah al-Jilani news terminal cutscene added

- Randomised NPCs fight a battle near you in Oxford Circus

- Volus Bombing Run event in Oxford Circus

- Scion enemy added to Oxford Circus

Beam Run:

- Various races run at your side as you sprint for the beam, including Elcor soldiers and vehicles such as the Tomkah or Geth Fighters

- Beam run cutscene edited to show aliens running for the beam

- Anderson runs at your side during the final stages of the beam run cutscene

- Corpses of various races are spotted around you when you wake up following Harbingers attack

- The dying soldier varies depending upon the race of who you romanced


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INSTALLATION:

Using Mod Manager, then drag and drop the archive into Mod Manager to import it. After that all you need to do is apply the mod.


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FAQ:

"Can I use this mod with Priority Earth Overhaul Mod? If not, will there be a compatibility patch?"

I'm afraid not, the two mods both edit the same mission. There will not be a compatibility patch for various reasons, but as our mods are similar there shouldn't be a need for it.

"Is this mod compatible with ending mods?"

It is! We do not edit anything after the beam run, so all content on board the Citadel or beyond is not touched by this mod.

"Is this mod compatible with A Lot Of Textures?"

It is! We have worked hard to keep the memory usage far below the memory limits and tested this frequently, so there should be no issues. If there are any, let us know.

How does DLC affect the mod?

You can use this mod whether you've played DLC or not, all that changes is the war assets that you will see during the mission. We have done our best to accommodate war assets tied to these DLC's, but the Leviathan Enthrallment Team is not yet ingame, but is on the cards for an update.

Extended Cut DLC is required.


What future content are you planning to add?

We are still in the process of deciding that, but we would like to improve the ambience of the level where we can, and if possible add more nods to story mods once we have finished accounting for the vanilla & DLC content.

I have an idea, I'd love for you to add it to the mod! Would you?

Potentially! We have a lot of our own ideas to sift through first, but you can always post it in the comments section.


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The Team:

Team Leader:

Tydeous

Modding & Sequencing:

Scottina
Tydeous

Dialogue:

SpaceD0lphin
Exkywor
Lunkensko
Scottina
Tydeous

Voice Actors:

Larissa Thompson - Matriarch-General Tirassa

Terrain Editing:

Beccatoria
Tydeous

Design:

Arterius
Beccatoria
Gabe
Jade
Rusm0
Tydeous
Vrky

Models & Textures:

Audemus
Furinax
Jenya
Mellin
NoiraFayn

FMVs:

Audemus
Furinax
Mellin

Bug Testers:

Beccatoria
Deadspear
Exkywor
Khaar
Mellin
Mgamerz
Strife

Translation:

Exkywor
Herobrine24
ilgrank
Jenya
Strife
Zooman

Toolset:

Kinkojiro
Mgamerz
SirCyrtyx