Bam! The issue is the Legendary Edition launcher. Mass Effect 1 works PERFECTLY with Windows 7 (on Origin) WITHOUT any hex editing of the EXEs, without any batch/BAT files, and without any of the custom files hosted on Rataje's Nexus page. What's causing the problem? Two things: the stupid Legendary Launcher EA added, and the new DX11 API calls that ME1 uses.
Steps to resolve: - Make sure your Mass Effect 1 install folder and EXE is the basic, standard one included in the latest game update with no modifications.
- Grab Dividebyzero's "Custom Launcher for Unlocking All Language Options" mod from the Nexus over at https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/46 - this replaces EA's standard/most recently-updated Legendary Edition Launcher EXE (you dont need the included AHK file, just that Nexus page's Launcher EXE).
- Grab the latest Doitsujin DXVK https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/releases In the tar.gz file (needs WinRAR or 7zip to open it), you wanna grab the DXGI and D3D11 DLL files from the x64 folder, place BOTH of those next to your Mass Effect 1 EXE like Rataje's Nexus page instructs, and possibly your xinput1_4 DLL file (made by copying, pasting, and renaming the xinput1_3 DLL in your System 32 folder) if you want to use a gamepad too, and BAM - game boots, works great with DS4Windows gamepads too.
- With the Custom Language Options launcher having overwritten EA's, you can select which Mass Effect game to boot simply by right-clicking your little orange Origin taskbar icon and selecting MEL from the game list, EA's Legendary Launcher never loads, and DXVK will boot Mass Effect 1 in its full glory using the Vulkan API instead of DX11. Once you confirm that the title screen works, you will likely have to set your gfx settings and screen size, then re-launch the game to commit the changes.
Mods like the Community Patch and better FOV camera seem to be working fine, so if you've hit the title screen, you should be clear to start adding all the mods you want. This is a single player game, so it is advised you disable the in-game Origin overlay due to it potentially causing performance problems.
Would like to thank Rataje, Dividebyzero, the folks all working on DXVK projects, and everyone that worked on the Windows 7 tutorial for helping get this game working, it looks great and runs great on my older Win7 GTX 1070 system! I assume repeating the process for the Mass Effect 2 and 3 EXE files (DXGI, D3D11, and xinput1_4 DLLs have to go in EACH ME game's EXE folder) gets them working just the same. If I encounter any crashes or problems I'll update this, but yeah.... game looks amazing after all these years. A shame EA mucked it up.
================================ Was trying to get this working earlier. Got a GTX 1070, 419.17 drivers installed, and Origin keeps saying something is wrong and needs re-installed. Is Vulkan automatically installed when you install Nvidia drivers?
I found the correct address in the ME1 exe since that's the only game I'm trying to run right now (didn't change the ME 2 and 3 addresses since I'm not playing them yet). It was slightly different than the example screenshot, but I still tried. I tried the 1.9 DXVK and the latest DXVK, but the reinstall message wont go away.
Thanks Rataje - your guide was essential to figuring this out and even though my AM3+ CPU | GTX 1070 system can run it on Origin now, Steam may still have its own issues. I wouldn't take the page down, it definitely seemed like the BAT files were doing their intended job, the issue on my end was that Origin kept "paranoia checking" for & running the official MEL launcher EXE regardless of whether the game was booted via a BAT or your custom loader. The only way around it was to outright replace/overwrite the official MEL launcher EXE file with Dividebyzero's (which only bypasses the official MEL launcher, not Origin) and once EA's launcher was gone, DXVK was able to run the game unobstructed - no more "please reinstall the game" message.
just to let you know, this works also for Windows 11 22H2, without this I had a "0xc0000005" error. all the procedure has to be followed: I download the DXVK 2.1 ( no xinput1_3 needed in my case, probably because xinput1_4 already exists in System32?) Had to use HEX editings on EXE Only tested with MELE2 and no mods so far. EDIT: works well with mods
EDIT: after replacing dxgi and d3d11 files from version 2.0 to 1.10.3 Mass Effect 1 works great with no problems by far. But when i choose ME2 or ME3 it shows reinstall screen. Do i need to put d3d11 and dxgi files to these folders as well?
Hey guys, I've done all steps: -downloaded launcher and replace the file -placed d3d11 and dxgi files to MELE/Game/ME1/Binaries/Win64 -placed renamed xinput1_4 from system 32 to the same folder (MELE/Game/ME1/Binaries/Win64)
Now when I start the game by launching it from origin it shows custom launcher, but when I choose ME 1 it crashes. After crash in MELE/Game/ME1/Binaries/Win64 folder MassEffect1_dxgi file appears and says as below. Please let me know if you have any solution
info: Game: MassEffect1.exe info: DXVK: v2.0 info: Built-in extension providers: info: Win32 WSI info: OpenVR info: OpenXR info: OpenVR: could not open registry key, status 2 info: OpenVR: Failed to locate module info: Enabled instance extensions: info: VK_KHR_get_surface_capabilities2 info: VK_KHR_surface info: VK_KHR_win32_surface warn: Skipping Vulkan 1.2 adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 warn: DXVK: No adapters found. Please check your device filter settings and Vulkan setup.
I was able to get past the "reinstall" screen on Windows 7 with the just the dlls (dxvk's and the renamed xinput1_3.dll) and dividebyzero's custom launcher. No hex edits or batch files.
I've only launched ME1 and haven't tried the others just yet or played much, but wanted to share my results before forgetting. If I run into problems I'll come back and update this message.
Also, I can't endorse for some reason? It's greyed out. I've been out of the nexus community for a while so if there was a change I'm not familiar with it.
Editing the hex, dx files and the bat file worked like a charm. Didn't work when I used the custom launchers for some reason. Any type of launcher (tried legit and every custom one I could find), wouldn't launch the game. But I had given up hope and tried again with just the bat and it worked. Thank you!
thank you very much. using the custom launcher from your link in the post and copying the 3 DLL files into the binaries folder worked like a charm for me for ME 1,2 and 3
when i started the game the first time i had problems with lip sync at the very beginning of all 3 games, but after a restart they also worked like a charm
I followed the (half-baked) instructions meticulously, to the letter. Doesn't work. The launcher does not launch the games. The .bat files and hex editing methods do not work, even when installing all the .dll files to the appropriate directories.
You still get the "there is a problem with your installation" popup when using the game's launcher, and this "custom" launcher, provided here, does not launch the games, as I already mentioned.
It works using Origin at least. Try this launcher here - https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/46?tab=posts
You have to load through Origin like any regular game. Make sure dxgi/d3d11/xinput1_4 (xinput1_3 renamed) are beside the exe. If it doesn't work, do the hex editing.
EDIT: SOLVED - Version 1.10.3 of dxvk dxgi/d3d11.dll works for ME3. Menus/weapon upgrades show properly.
Does anyone have issues with Mass Effect 3's main menu and weapon upgrade menu not showing? There are also issues with text not clipping in anything with a scrollbar. You can still click or use the arrow keys to navigate, but you have to do it blind, which is impossible for the weapon upgrade screen.
ME1 and ME2 work perfectly and I've played them to completion on W7.
110 comments
Bam! The issue is the Legendary Edition launcher. Mass Effect 1 works PERFECTLY with Windows 7 (on Origin) WITHOUT any hex editing of the EXEs, without any batch/BAT files, and without any of the custom files hosted on Rataje's Nexus page. What's causing the problem? Two things: the stupid Legendary Launcher EA added, and the new DX11 API calls that ME1 uses.
Steps to resolve:
- Make sure your Mass Effect 1 install folder and EXE is the basic, standard one included in the latest game update with no modifications.
- Grab Dividebyzero's "Custom Launcher for Unlocking All Language Options" mod from the Nexus over at https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectlegendaryedition/mods/46 - this replaces EA's standard/most recently-updated Legendary Edition Launcher EXE (you dont need the included AHK file, just that Nexus page's Launcher EXE).
- Grab the latest Doitsujin DXVK https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/releases In the tar.gz file (needs WinRAR or 7zip to open it), you wanna grab the DXGI and D3D11 DLL files from the x64 folder, place BOTH of those next to your Mass Effect 1 EXE like Rataje's Nexus page instructs, and possibly your xinput1_4 DLL file (made by copying, pasting, and renaming the xinput1_3 DLL in your System 32 folder) if you want to use a gamepad too, and BAM - game boots, works great with DS4Windows gamepads too.
- With the Custom Language Options launcher having overwritten EA's, you can select which Mass Effect game to boot simply by right-clicking your little orange Origin taskbar icon and selecting MEL from the game list, EA's Legendary Launcher never loads, and DXVK will boot Mass Effect 1 in its full glory using the Vulkan API instead of DX11. Once you confirm that the title screen works, you will likely have to set your gfx settings and screen size, then re-launch the game to commit the changes.
Mods like the Community Patch and better FOV camera seem to be working fine, so if you've hit the title screen, you should be clear to start adding all the mods you want. This is a single player game, so it is advised you disable the in-game Origin overlay due to it potentially causing performance problems.
Would like to thank Rataje, Dividebyzero, the folks all working on DXVK projects, and everyone that worked on the Windows 7 tutorial for helping get this game working, it looks great and runs great on my older Win7 GTX 1070 system! I assume repeating the process for the Mass Effect 2 and 3 EXE files (DXGI, D3D11, and xinput1_4 DLLs have to go in EACH ME game's EXE folder) gets them working just the same. If I encounter any crashes or problems I'll update this, but yeah.... game looks amazing after all these years. A shame EA mucked it up.
================================
Was trying to get this working earlier. Got a GTX 1070, 419.17 drivers installed, and Origin keeps saying something is wrong and needs re-installed. Is Vulkan automatically installed when you install Nvidia drivers?
I found the correct address in the ME1 exe since that's the only game I'm trying to run right now (didn't change the ME 2 and 3 addresses since I'm not playing them yet). It was slightly different than the example screenshot, but I still tried. I tried the 1.9 DXVK and the latest DXVK, but the reinstall message wont go away.
just to let you know, this works also for Windows 11 22H2,
without this I had a "0xc0000005" error.
all the procedure has to be followed:
I download the DXVK 2.1 ( no xinput1_3 needed in my case, probably because xinput1_4 already exists in System32?)
Had to use HEX editings on EXE
Only tested with MELE2 and no mods so far.
EDIT: works well with mods
Many thanks.
Hey guys, I've done all steps:
-downloaded launcher and replace the file
-placed d3d11 and dxgi files to MELE/Game/ME1/Binaries/Win64
-placed renamed xinput1_4 from system 32 to the same folder (MELE/Game/ME1/Binaries/Win64)
Now when I start the game by launching it from origin it shows custom launcher, but when I choose ME 1 it crashes.
After crash in MELE/Game/ME1/Binaries/Win64 folder MassEffect1_dxgi file appears and says as below. Please let me know if you have any solution
info: Game: MassEffect1.exe
info: DXVK: v2.0
info: Built-in extension providers:
info: Win32 WSI
info: OpenVR
info: OpenXR
info: OpenVR: could not open registry key, status 2
info: OpenVR: Failed to locate module
info: Enabled instance extensions:
info: VK_KHR_get_surface_capabilities2
info: VK_KHR_surface
info: VK_KHR_win32_surface
warn: Skipping Vulkan 1.2 adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
warn: DXVK: No adapters found. Please check your device filter settings and Vulkan setup.
I've only launched ME1 and haven't tried the others just yet or played much, but wanted to share my results before forgetting. If I run into problems I'll come back and update this message.
Also, I can't endorse for some reason? It's greyed out. I've been out of the nexus community for a while so if there was a change I'm not familiar with it.
when i started the game the first time i had problems with lip sync at the very beginning of all 3 games, but after a restart they also worked like a charm
again: thanks for your efforts!
cheers
I followed the (half-baked) instructions meticulously, to the letter. Doesn't work. The launcher does not launch the games. The .bat files and hex editing methods do not work, even when installing all the .dll files to the appropriate directories.
You still get the "there is a problem with your installation" popup when using the game's launcher, and this "custom" launcher, provided here, does not launch the games, as I already mentioned.
If this ever did work, it does not work now.
You have to load through Origin like any regular game. Make sure dxgi/d3d11/xinput1_4 (xinput1_3 renamed) are beside the exe. If it doesn't work, do the hex editing.
Does anyone have issues with Mass Effect 3's main menu and weapon upgrade menu not showing? There are also issues with text not clipping in anything with a scrollbar. You can still click or use the arrow keys to navigate, but you have to do it blind, which is impossible for the weapon upgrade screen.
ME1 and ME2 work perfectly and I've played them to completion on W7.