The Mass Effect remaster got an 11GB patch last night
But I'm not sure why it was so large
Mass Effect Legendary Edition received its first big update last night, bringing some helpful calibrations to BioWare's freshly remastered sci-fi RPG trilogy. Oddly, some of the changes include improved textures and lighting, which I thought was the point of the remaster in the first place. Other tweaks include achievement-tracking fixes and cutscene improvements, but the patch notes are pretty vague - especially for a patch some players report was an 11GB download.
Our Alice Bee has the Legendary Edition downloaded on Origin, where her update is about 9GB, while Steam users are reporting patches at 11GB or less. Check out the patch notes for this whopper below, these tweaks are live across PC and consoles now.
GeneralMass Effect
- Improved iris shaders for better interaction with light and ambient occlusion
- Minor calibrations, fixes, and stability improvements
Mass Effect & Mass Effect 2
- Improved terrain textures
- Fixed an issue where kills for achievements/trophies weren’t tracking correctly
Mass Effect 2
- Resolved an issue where the character code would sometimes not display in the squad menu
- Improvements to pre-rendered cutscenes to reduce occasional artifacts
Mass Effect 3
- Improved lighting and shadows in some cinematics
- Minor visual, rendering, and VFX improvements on some levels
- Resolved minor text issues with achievements
- Fixed an issue where kills for achievements/trophies weren’t tracking correctly
Surprisingly small notes for such a large patch, right? I will say that I've already noticed the improved iris shaders. I didn't actually realise that my Shep's eyes reflecting light weirdly was a bug, and only noticed how much better it was after the tweak. I also finally saw the achievement for taking Tali on five missions in ME1 pop last night, after definitely having her around for more than five missions.
I'm hoping that some of those "minor calibrations and fixes" include dealing with some of the bugs that keep cropping up. There's an issue with the Mako that I (and a bunch of other players) keep having where occasionally I can't click on anything when I leave the space tank. I have to save and reload to sort it, which isn't the end of the world, but I'd still rather not have to waste time I could be using to zoom around alien planets.
Others have reported problems like dialogue and animations getting cut off, and weird outlines appearing around characters in cutscenes. Alice Bee had issues with her guns just not wanting to fire at all too, though it doesn't seem to have put her off from playing the Legendary Edition. I wish these patch notes were more detailed so I could know which bugs are actually fixed.
Have you noticed any improvements in your games, reader? Or, are there any issues you're still struggling with? Beyond the Mako thing, it's been pretty smooth sailing for me, though I can't speak for ME2 or ME3 just yet.