Re: Mass Effect 2 (PC) - Hardware Not Supported

by EA_David
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Mass Effect 2 (PC) - Hardware Not Supported

★★★ Novice

So, after deciding to pick up the Mass Effect series again to do another playthrough, I've encountered a problem when I made my way to Mass Effect 2.  For some reason, when I started it, it gave me a 'Hardware is not supported' error, stating that performance would be reduced.  I had no problems running Mass Effect 2 on my laptop a few months ago, but now, for a reason I have not found yet, the performance of the game has dropped drastically.  I can no longer have it playing with all the graphical options in effect, and even when I turn off everything (including dynamic shadows) I experience frame rate loss in game and it drops more when I'm in combat.  This is the only game that I've played recently that has had this issue, and theo ther two Mass Effect games (Mass Effect, Mass Effect 3) are not experiencing the same issues that I am having with Mass Effect 2.

 

I have tried uninstalling Mass Effect 2, removing all data, closing all background programs (including my virus scanner), rolled back my graphics driver, reinstalling Mass Effect 2, and it is still giving me the same error.  I have tried finding other similar questions that may have been answered, but was unable to find any.  If a problem such as this has already been solved, I apologize for being unable to find that answered question.

 

The specs of my laptop include:

Windows 7 64-Bit

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00GHz

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M (Driver version: 331.82) (was version 332.21)

8GB Ram

 

I would also like to point out that Mass Effect 2 has no problems on my desktop, just my laptop.

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Re: Mass Effect 2 (PC) - Hardware Not Supported

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Ok then. I'm still curious as to whether ME2 is even using your proper card.

Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Mass Effect 2\Binaries (or wherever your game is installed) and run the MassEffect2Config.exe

Check the display tab for the GPU information.

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Re: Mass Effect 2 (PC) - Hardware Not Supported

Community Manager

By any chance could your laptop be swapping to a low-power mode and not utilising your main GPU when you play ME2?

 

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Re: Mass Effect 2 (PC) - Hardware Not Supported

★★★ Novice

I do not believe so.  I have kept an eye on the power mode as I play it, and I usually have it either on High Power or Balanced (if it gets too hot).  I have not seen it switch to the Low Power settings.

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Re: Mass Effect 2 (PC) - Hardware Not Supported

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If it will also help, the laptop model is the Toshiba Qosmio X770-ST4N04.  Sorry I forgot to put that in along with the specs.

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Re: Mass Effect 2 (PC) - Hardware Not Supported

[ Edited ]
Community Manager

Hmmm, if you use GeForce experience, check if this has any odd custom settings for ME2 specifically that might be causing strange performance.

 

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Re: Mass Effect 2 (PC) - Hardware Not Supported

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I do not believe so, as I usually do not mess with GeForce Experience except to check for any driver updates.  Also, according to the list NVIDIA has, Mass Effect 2 isn't a supported game for optimizing graphics, though Mass Effect 3 is.  Also, I had turned it off as well when I was closing background programs to see if it was affecting Mass Effect 2, along with programs such as Raptr and Curse Client.

 

None the less, I am checking it right now to see if there is anything odd.

 

[AFTER CHECKING]: Under Preferences > Games in the GeForce Experience window, under Optimal Game Settings, I have 'Recommend optimal settings' unchecked, so I think that means that it should not be attempting to affect any of my games.  And under the 21 games I have installed that is supported, I do not see Mass Effect 2, though I do indeed see Mass Effect 3.

 

Is there anywhere else I can check to see if it is somehow affecting Mass Effect 2, or would it not affect anything anyway when I had turned it off?

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Re: Mass Effect 2 (PC) - Hardware Not Supported

Community Manager

Thanks for the update. You mention shutting everything else down, but it might be worth restarting with a proper Clean Boot, in case there's something else interfering.

 

Also, and this is more of a wild guess, try running the DXSETUP from your ME2 folder again. It should be at C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Mass Effect 2\__Installer\directx\redist

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Re: Mass Effect 2 (PC) - Hardware Not Supported

★★★ Novice

Alright, I'll try that when I get the chance.  I'll update once I've had a chance to do both of those, though I'll try DXSETUP first.

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Re: Mass Effect 2 (PC) - Hardware Not Supported

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Alright, tried using DXSETUP first, then a Clean Boot, and then tried DXSETUP again after the clean boot.  Unfortunately the frame rate is still dropping in game (more so in combat).  And as far as I know, the amount of power my laptop is using isn't changing.

 

I also played a few of my other games, and it is only Mass Effect 2 that's having problems.

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Re: Mass Effect 2 (PC) - Hardware Not Supported

[ Edited ]
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Hmm... after removing my Mass Effect 2 folder from User > (username) > My Documents > Bioware, I managed to get it to replicate the error message:

 

'Your hardware appears to be unsupported. The game will continue, but you may experience reduced performance or instability.'

 

[EDIT]: Even with moving the folder and turning off cloud storage so the folder isn't brought back, frame rate is still dropping.

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