Mass Effect Won't Start, Yes I've read the other Forums.

[bucadyz1234]

Before we start I guess I should tell you my computer specs. I'm running windows 8, on an HP computer, seem to have the right amount of stuffs to run a game like mass effect. My computer runs other games like Bioshock and the Half-Lifes. If you need anything specific just ask. 

I bought the Mass Effect Trilogy. I downloaded only the first one ( I figured I would get to the other 2 later) and I pressed play and it said cloud syncing then nothing happened. So I googled some forums and I figured I would just not sync it to the cloud. So Cloud is disabled. Check that off the list. Then I looked at other forums and it said download the patch for windows 8. Looked it up and downloaded it. Apparently Mass Effect does not exist on my computer. The forums say not to worry because I just need to run it in admin mode and it'll be fine. I ran Origin in admin mode and nothing special happened. Check that off. A different forum said I needed to do something special with compatibility to my masseffectlauncher.exe or masseffect.exe file. That's where I encountered a problem. I went to Program Files(x68) I went to Origin Games, I went to Mass Effect. I scoured the Installer, Binaries, and Biogame folders. I can't find the launcher/.exe file. I'm positive it's not in there. I uninstalled and reinstalled Mass Effect. No .exe file. I right clicked on the poster in origin and repaired for corrupt files. There's no corrupt files to be repaired. I have no idea what to do. I'm in quite the conundrum.

[ThandalNLyman · Accepted solution]

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@xiqan wrote:

All that is going to do is destroy his serial. with the triolgy his .exe date is 2012.

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Ok, good point.  Should have said:."... game executable dated July 17, 2009, or later."  mileywink:

[EDIT:  added this to the previous post.]

But it wouldn't "destroy his serial".  The version of the executable is not what's checked. (Unlike Steam, which won't even let players apply patches themselves.)  I've applied the 1.02 patch multiple times in testing various fixes, never had a problem with game validation.

(And anyway, if the game version is "current" then the 1.02 patch isn't needed and the entire conversation about how to apply it is beside the point.)

[xiqan]

You're not alone, EA FIX THE PROBLEM!!!

[bucadyz1234]

Thank You. Would you mind telling me how they fixed it? It would be very much appreciated.

[xiqan]

That was a statement, they haven't fix anything.

At least if they were to acknowledge they have a problem and put a sticky up that they recognize this is an issue would be good enough for most as i i can wait for a fix.

What i don't want is to continually beat my pc to death with disabling security, changing this and modify that all to end up with a program they have to address.

[bucadyz1234]

Ah. Silly me. I guess this problem is a lot bigger than I realized.

[ThandalNLyman]

My steps for "ME1 won't start":

0. Ensure you have the 1.02 patch applied (absolutely required to run under Win7 or Win8).  This should already be the game version if you installed from EA/Origin recently, but check.  If your main game executable "MassEffect.exe" is dated July 17, 2009, [edit: "...or later"] you already have 1.02.  (It won't hurt to run the patch again "just in case", but see the NOTE below...)

NOTE:  If you need the patch, you must have a file named "MassEffectLauncher.exe" in the game's root program folder ("C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Mass Effect\") in order for the patch installer to locate the game.  Depending on your original install it might not be there.  If you don't have it, you can make one.  It can be an empty file.  Just create a .txt with that name, re-name it to ".exe", and then place it in that folder.  (Running the patch will actually replace this file with the real "Launcher"!)

1. Disable "Sync with cloud" (at least until everything else is working properly).

2. Close Origin completely (right-click on the icon in the systray and choose "Exit").

3. Set "C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin\Origin.exe" to "Run as administrator".

4. Set "C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Mass Effect\Binaries\MassEffect.exe" to run in "WinXP (SP3)" compatibility mode. This is the actual game executable. (The "Launcher" was removed from the distribution of the game, and from the Dragon Age-series as well, in August 2013.)

From your message, I think this is where you didn't succeed.

--then-

5. Re-start Origin.

6. Go to "My Games".

7. Choose Mass Effect -> Play.

[xiqan]

All that is going to do is destroy his serial. with the triolgy his .exe date is 2012.

[bucadyz1234]

So I should not do all his technical steps? It looked pretty official but then again I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm taking your guys's word for it.

[xiqan]

I did that yesterday and had to completely reinstall, there was a warning that would happen, and it did, then i got exceeded serial limit. So yeah if you're up for a complete uninstall reinstall go ahead.

[bucadyz1234]

But it'll work? I'm fine with the installing stuff if it'll work.