Mass Effect 1 crashes whenever I load any save game

by Claymix93
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Original Post

Accepted Solution

Mass Effect 1 crashes whenever I load any save game

[ Edited ]
★ Novice

I have Mass Effect 1 through Origin. It's run fine for awhile now. All of a sudden, the game crashes everytime I click Resume Career or Load Game. No save files work.

 

All the save files appear, but when I click "Load Game" the game completely locks up. The menu music continues to play in the background, but the game is completely locked up. I can't close the game, I can't even access task manager, because the game will never minimize. I have to restart my computer everytime.

 

If the game is set to windowed mode, it will actually display as Not Responding and Windows will let me close it.

 

I can create new careers and the game loads fine, but any attempt to load a save results in a crash. I have changed nothing in the game files. It literally worked fine last week and now it doesn't.

 

I tried adjusting compatibility settings, repairing the game files, even reinstalling the game. In amongst my troubleshooting, I was able to get an Auto Save to load exactly once without crashing. At the time, the game was windowed and the resolution was so awful that half the game wasn't visible, but it worked and was playable. I tried to reproduce the steps I took to get to that point, but it has never worked since then.

 

For reference, I am running on Windows 10.

 

Any ideas? I'm at a loss.

 

 

Message 1 of 11 (4,423 Views)

Accepted Solution

Betreff: Mass Effect 1 crashes whenever I load any save game

[ Edited ]

@Claymix93 

 

  • Make sure Origin is closed.
  • Go to your "Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect" folder.
  • Move the "Save" and the "Config" folder to your desktop.
  • Start ME and close it again after it is fully loaded.
  • Move a single Save file back the "Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect"
  • See if this save works. (Try with a few different save files if the first don't works.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This is a players helping players forum, I don't work for EA.
Dies ist ein Spieler helfen Spielern Forum, ich arbeite nicht für EA.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Death closes all: but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
Ulysses - Alfred, Lord Tennyson

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Message 2 of 11 (4,399 Views)

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Betreff: Mass Effect 1 crashes whenever I load any save game

[ Edited ]

@Claymix93 

 

  • Make sure Origin is closed.
  • Go to your "Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect" folder.
  • Move the "Save" and the "Config" folder to your desktop.
  • Start ME and close it again after it is fully loaded.
  • Move a single Save file back the "Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect"
  • See if this save works. (Try with a few different save files if the first don't works.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This is a players helping players forum, I don't work for EA.
Dies ist ein Spieler helfen Spielern Forum, ich arbeite nicht für EA.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Death closes all: but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
Ulysses - Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Message 2 of 11 (4,400 Views)

Betreff: Mass Effect 1 crashes whenever I load any save game

★ Novice

Thank you for the reply! I will try this as soon as I can and update this thread.

Message 3 of 11 (4,389 Views)

Betreff: Mass Effect 1 crashes whenever I load any save game

★ Novice
@Holger1405 I moved the saves, launched the game, quit, moved one save over and... it worked. So then I moved them all over, launched the game, and all the saves work now. Then I synced with the cloud saves again and it's all bueno!

I don't get it. These are the exact same save games that didn't work earlier, and now they work fine. Does that mean the config files got messed up somehow?
Message 4 of 11 (4,386 Views)

Betreff: Mass Effect 1 crashes whenever I load any save game

@Claymix93 

 


vspr417GPXpohf  schrieb:

I don't get it. These are the exact same save games that didn't work earlier, and now they work fine. Does that mean the config files got messed up somehow?

Yeah, that's the most likely conclusion.

 

Have fun gaming!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This is a players helping players forum, I don't work for EA.
Dies ist ein Spieler helfen Spielern Forum, ich arbeite nicht für EA.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Death closes all: but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
Ulysses - Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Message 5 of 11 (4,372 Views)

Betreff: Mass Effect 1 crashes whenever I load any save game

★★★ Novice
@Holger1405 Any other possible solutions? I've had this problem myself and none of my saves work (neither manual, auto, or quick) after trying this method
Message 6 of 11 (3,832 Views)

Betreff: Mass Effect 1 crashes whenever I load any save game

@YourPunkPrincess 

 

First it would be of interest if both, the "Save" and the "Config" folder are on their destined location and filled with the right data.

Cold you provide a screenshot of your "Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect" folder and the subordinate folders?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This is a players helping players forum, I don't work for EA.
Dies ist ein Spieler helfen Spielern Forum, ich arbeite nicht für EA.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Death closes all: but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
Ulysses - Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Message 7 of 11 (3,819 Views)

Betreff: Mass Effect 1 crashes whenever I load any save game

★ Novice

I should note: I had Mass Effect installed twice on my computer in different folders and that was causing my issues. This can happen if you owned Mass Effect through another store (physical copy or bought through another website) and you used your key to get it in Origin too. Also, if you back up your game files to install mods like ALOT. 

 

You can end up with multiple shortcuts to Mass Effect and not know which is correct and apparently even Origin can become confused. I'm almost positive this lead to my issue (among others).

 

Just a thought! 

Message 8 of 11 (3,791 Views)

Betreff: Mass Effect 1 crashes whenever I load any save game

★★★★★ Novice
@Holger1405 This was a long time ago but perhaps not too long to get some help with this. I'm encountering the same problem and I've tried the above suggestions.
I get to the step where you launch the game after moving the folders but for some reason the game doesn't regenerate the config files after they've been moved. I don't think this is relevant though as it falls back to the default backup files anyway with low screen resolution, but when I try to load a save, it still freezes in the same way.

I have the compatibility set correctly and I even installed the legacy physx drivers just in case, but no dice.

My last save was dated 2017, it was on this machine though and it worked perfectly fine back then.

I'm totally stumped yet it feels like it could be something simple to fix and I'm just doing something wrong. Are there any other suggestions I could try?
Message 9 of 11 (2,800 Views)

Betreff: Mass Effect 1 crashes whenever I load any save game

@VanguardDragon 

 

Please create a DxDiag in text file format and post it with your next reply. You can do that  with the "Choose file" button at the bottom right corner of the reply window. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This is a players helping players forum, I don't work for EA.
Dies ist ein Spieler helfen Spielern Forum, ich arbeite nicht für EA.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Death closes all: but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
Ulysses - Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Message 10 of 11 (2,781 Views)