D.A. fan is back for an ME1 Text Only 'Let's Play' (page 51)

Nope. The helper guy didn't do the careful backup folder thing and just threw it in there. It only mentioned changing 5 files instead of the 25 you mentioned, but it was too late. All it did was crash after that.

Had to uninstall. Downloading it agian now. Says 65 minutes.

dragontartare

So, I left while it was downloading to talk to people and figured it'd be done by the time I got back. Uh, no. Computer had randomly turned itself off.

So, ME2 is back to DLing now, and I downloaded AVG and Spybot while I was at it to check my computer for viruses etc.

Thought I'd be two or so hours in at this point. :/

phoray

If it's a completely fresh download (did you delete your install directory before downloading?) and the game still crashes, try to delete its document folder where it keeps all its configurations. It will re-create the folder when you start the game again and set everything to default. If it still crashes then, we can try something else.

EDIT: you also said that your computer shuts down randomly. It may sound like a stupid question, but does it do that while you're actively using it or only when you have been away from it for some time? In the latter case it might just be some energy saving plan switching it to hibernate mode after a certain time of user inactivity. Just saying.

Uninstall can leave files behind that were not part of the original installation, i.e. any mod files you might have copied into the game folder might still be around. They may be completely harmless, since a newly downloaded game would have no reference to them unless there's some automatism like an override folder or some such, but better safe than sorry.

It just does a restart without any error messages or prompts? Hmm. You could try to check the computer's event log to see if there's anything helpful in there. If no viruses were found, try check your Windows system files by opening a command prompt with administrator rights (if your user does not have administrator rights, right click the command prompt icon and choose "run as administrator" from the context menu) and type the following line

sfc /scannow

It will check your Windows system files for integrity and redownload any that are damaged. Might be worth a shot.

phoray I am keeping my fingers crossed for the install to work for you. Sorry to hear that it is so troublesome. I am also really tempted to start a parallel run of ME2, heh, because that Vanguard w Garrus or Adept w Tali are calling to me....

phoray

I just remembered one more thing - are you playing ME2 from the Origin client and have Origin enabled in game? I recall having a ton of trouble with that option turned on - it slowed the game to crawl in the menu on a rig way above recommended stats, and made actual gameplay impossible.

Origin is on, I am unaware if I had it enabled in game. 

Yesterday, I only got as far as the import save screen to test whether the Mass Effect Save website save file would work. Then I immediately exited out. Then I was dealing with all the crashes where I never even got the start screen to come up. Then after the 2nd DL, Origin would say it was cloud synching, reach 100% in a split second, then do nothing. No crash, no start screen, just nothing.

So, hopefully the cleanse and re download of today will at least get me back to the start screen situation.

@domi

I prefer Dual Weilding Rogue in every DA game, although I've explored being a mage in all three now as well. But from what I recall of Mass Effect 1, I had no idea how to use any of the powers, pretty much, and was just shooting even though I was some hybrid thing like Kaidan. So, I'm going to go with just shooting things for now. I plan to date Jacob in ME2 and Kaidan in ME3, so how does that effect team balance? then again, I'm just going to play on casual mode, so perhaps it doesn't matter.

Casual in ME2 is fine. In the first game the companions will just clear everything for you while you try to shoot at random targets. You don't really play as a melee in MET, save for a Vanguard, and I have not played it in a SP yet. In ME2, with powers, the aim assist is great, so you almost always hit, unless you obviously mistarget or try to shoot through a wall, heh. Always put piercing mods on your guns... ah, just ask if you go along. It takes a bit of adjustment, but the second game is way easier to learn than the first.

In ME2, I would actually recommend a Sentinel as an easy intro class. Use Overload on everything that has red and blue bars, then shoot a pistol, Submachine gun or assault rifle, whatever you like the most till Overload is back. If the bar is yellow, then do the same with Warp. Easy. Whoever you bring along will work well with you. Same with a soldier, but you will have to pace yourself on those grenades....

I don't remember what Jacob had, since I only use him for his loyalty mission, but i think he was fine, and so is Kaiden, iirc, very similar to a sentinel or something like that. Again, never really used him in ME3, because of my negative reaction to him in ME2. Plus, the moment I saw Thane, all other companions ceased to exist as potential romances.

I think Jacob is bad for F!Shepard self esteem, tbh, and I'd rather play a spinster Shepard than Jacob...

I think ME also allows you to improve very fast. My first play through I started ME1 with a Sentinel, could barely made it past the first few meters, then just died in the first Geth battle still in the Intro on Casual. Switched to a Soldier, still could not go past the first battle with Geth, so had my husband to fight it for me, but was able to finish it after that on Casual.

Second time, on Normal, I did not even notice that battle that made me cry first time round on Normal on a Sentinel. Once you get the cover, aim, combos and shield/armor stripping, which is something you do not do in the other Bio games, and learn to pause a lot, you can cruise (with rare exceptions, like Grissholm). DA2 was much harder, because there are battles there I could not have done on Normal, no matter what.

My next playthrough for ME2/3, I am either going Hardmode, or playing without pausing if I can't do Hardmode. Fighting is actually quite fun once you understand the basics.

Heh, that's if I can fit it before Andromeda.

So, phoray, ask for tips if you are having a hard time, if someone as bad as I am can play it fine, you can certainly pick it up!

My problem with it personally was

Yeah, it's a really odd directing decision to allow one actor to sound so seductive and the other so dry in the same conversation. I like Hale otherwise.