Can't pause/access in game GUI [ Edited ]

[bean1701]

It's very simple, when I hit escape absolutely nothing happens. The game just keeps playing and I can't access the pause menu. All other keybindings work fine, I can fire, enter and exit the Mako, use the space button for the tactical pause, but I can't get into the pause menu. I hadn't played ME1 in a long time, and when I loaded it I couldn't get pause to work.

I tried:

1- Verifying the BIOInput.INI ( %SystemDrive%\Users\%Username%\Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect\Config) file correctly mapped Escape to InGameGUI

2- Restoring a backed up version of BIOInput I had from the first time I activated the console

3- Deleting BIOInput and ran the game so the game re-wrote the file from the DefaultInput.INI file located here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Mass Effect\BioGame\Config

4- Verified local files using Steam

5- Uninstalled the game, deleted the Bioware\Mass Effect folder from Documents, and re-installed the game

EDIT: Also, the problem occurred in BOTH full screen and windowed mode. I am running dual monitors.

None of those solutions fixed the problem, making the game unplayable. I have played this game for hundreds of hours on this system, I'd like to play it again.

Computer Specs:

Processor

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4810MQ CPU @ 2.80GHz

Video Card

Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600

Video Card #2

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M

RAM

16 GB

Operating System

Windows 10

Size: 64-bit

Version: 10.0.18362

Audio 1

Sound Device

Realtek USB2.0 MIC

Driver

10.0.18362.1

Audio 2

Sound Device

Arctis 7 Game

Driver

10.0.18362.1

Audio 3

Sound Device

Intel(R) Display Audio

Driver

Audio 4

Sound Device

Arctis 7 Chat

Driver

10.0.18362.1

Audio 5

Sound Device

NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device (Wave Extensible) (WDM)

Driver

Audio 6

Sound Device

Realtek High Definition Audio

Driver

6.0.1.7156

[holger1405 · Accepted solution]

@bean1701 

Please preform a clean boot and test the Game in clean boot mode.

[Fred_vdp]

Do you have a second keyboard that you can use to test if it isn't a hardware problem?

This may be far fetched, but the Mass Effect series has some input related bugs related to bad performance (mostly in ME2, though). Make sure the game is actually running on the dedicated GPU instead of the integrated grahics. There should be an option to force this in the Nvidia control panel.

[bean1701]

I did test it, the laptop has both a built in keyboard and an external USB keyboard. It's not respecting input from either one, and other applications DO record input from the Escape key.

In addition, NVIDIA was already set to force ME1 to use the dedicated NVIDIA GPU. Just to make sure, I set it again and tested it. The game still won't let me into the pause menu

Any other ideas?

[holger1405 · Accepted solution]

@bean1701 

Please preform a clean boot and test the Game in clean boot mode.

[bean1701]

Good news and bad news

That worked! A clean boot IMMEDIATELY made the game respect Escape, it would skip the opening animations and I could pause/access the menu.

The bad news is, I've no idea which of the services or start up programs caused the problem in the first place. What do you suggest? Perhaps restoring them one by one until I reproduce the problem?

[holger1405]

@bean1701 

Unfortunately, the only way to find out is trial and error.

Activate the auto start application and let the services disabled > Test.

Then you will know if it is an application or a service.

After that you have to test one after another.

[bean1701]

AH HA! I found it! Shockingly it was a windows component, something called "Run a Legacy CPL Elevated" (the app is RunLegacyCPLElevated.exe and it lives in C:\Windows\System32). Of course it was the LAST one I tried re-enabling. I don't know what it does, but it was stopping Escape from working. It works again!

Thank you both so much!

[holger1405]

@bean1701 

You're welcome! Have fun gaming!