This guide was created due to many issues myself and others are facing with running or playing the game. The most recent helpful articles are dated 6 to 7 years back and I figured it was time to create a newer guide to efficiently help everyone!

The following information I am submitting has worked for me and might not work for you.

I will continually add to this guide if I find anymore useful information.

If you have any useful information you would like to add please don't hesitate to comment on this guide or send me a message. I will add that information to the appropriate section of the guide with your name next to it.

**I want to add that some of the solutions may work for start up and FPS. So don't hesitate to try them all. It doesn't hurt you in any way. It might actually help you later on.

There has been some recent issues of the game not starting up properly. The following process has helped me and might help you.

Go to the C: Drive (or primary drive) -> Program Data folder -> Electronic Arts folder -> EA Services folder

Delete every thing in this folder. You might have to select all individual files in this folder AND in the License folder due to admin rights

I cannot find the article or post that had this solution but if I find it again I will link the url.

**I would like to add that the main menu might take some time to load. This might be because I have so many mods installed that it continually checks for DLC. Just keep this in mind.**

ME3 is *not* a demanding game, but most of you have probably installed a wide range of mods which is going to make the game much more demanding.

Installing ReShade[reshade.me] helped me to fix my stuttering frame rate. It's quick and easy to install and the following video (not mine) will show you how to install and use it.



Remember to select directx 9 otherwise it will still stutter.

Mgamerz has taken a chance to talk with Erik JS (he's a developer who has made great contributions to the modding scene) and he says the reason reshade fixes this issue is because it actually disables Origin In-Game overlay. The proxy d3d9.dll file it uses causes origin to not find the memory pattern it's looking for to inject, which it then just aborts. It may be possible for someone to make a blank proxy dll for d3d9 (that doesn't do anything but load the real d3d9) for users whose systems don't work with reshade.

Thanks to @Random Ware for bringing this to my attention. They ran into a DLC installation issued that required them to "use the origin client after initially loading the game, closing the game, then open up origin and install each DLC individually."

I figured I would add this section to show you the mods I installed and the issues I have ran into so far.

Mod manager:

• ME3Tweaks Mod Manager[www.nexusmods.com] (for some gameplay mods)

Gameplay Mods:

• ME3Recalibrated[www.nexusmods.com] (ALWAYS install this first before any other mods)
  
• EGM - Expanded Galaxy Mod[www.nexusmods.com]
  
• Ark Mod[www.nexusmods.com]
  
• Omega Hub[www.nexusmods.com] (this doesn't do much but let you go back to Afterlife when you finish the DLC. There are known issues which I will post below)
  
• Spectre Expansion Mod[www.nexusmods.com]
  
• Project Variety[www.nexusmods.com]
  
• Intuitive Controls Mod[www.nexusmods.com] (if youre going to install anything this is the one you need. It fixes PC control issues)

Texture Mods:
**Texture mods should only be installed AFTER you install all gameplay mods. It can break the game and you will have to completely uninstall and delete all files just to start back at the beginning**

• A Lot of Textures (ALOT) for ME3[www.nexusmods.com]
  
• A Lot of Videos (ALOV) For ME3[www.nexusmods.com]

**ALOT will give you links to additional texture mods it can install.
**Once you install ALOT you can not install anything else for this game.
**The installation process will take time as it took an hour on my PC.

Mod Issues:
I have experienced many instances of the game freezing when moving to new areas. I have no idea if there is a fix for it but all you need to do is bring up the task manager and force close it. Start it back up and it should be fixed.

Omega Hub
The game freezes when going through the hallway into Afterlife.

• Save the game outside Afterlife
  
• Close the game
  
• Go to D: -> Users -> USERNAME -> Documents -> Bioware -> Mass Effect 3
  
• Make a backup copy of GamerSettings.ini and place somewhere safe.
  
• Open the original GamerSettings.ini in the folder with notepad
  
• Go to [TEXTGROUP] section
  
• Delete the entire section
  
• Save

This will allow you to go into Afterlife again. Before you leave to go back onto the Normandy.

• Save the game outside of Afterlife
  
• Close the game
  
• Go back to GamerSettings.ini
  
• Take the copied .ini and overwrite the .ini you edited in the folder

Start up the game and you can get back on the Normandy with no issues.

There are obviously going to be hiccups in gameplay and certain events might stop you in your tracks. This section is meant to help you find ways around certain roadblocks in the game.

When you are fighting EVA at the beginning of the game on Mars you are brought into a one on one standoff where she is running at you. In order to end the fight and kill her you must bring an automatic weapon. Any high power weapons that force you to load after each shot will not be sufficient. She takes multiple shots and in the time you are reloading she will have reached and killed you forcing you to restart the sequence again in and endless loop.

I know some of you are still having issues so I am hoping this section will allow others to test these solutions and give me feedback.

[Untested #1]
If none of the solutions have worked for you so far maybe testing the file integrity might help.

• From the Library section, right-click on the game and select Properties from the menu.
  
• Select the Local files tab and click the Verify integrity of game files button.
  
• Steam will verify the game's files - this process may take several minutes.

After this is finished try repeating the previous solutions again.

[Untested #2]
The 4GB patch[ntcore.com] has worked well with older games that have weird requirements. Quoting the developer, "this very little tool patches x86 executables in order to let them have 4GB (instead of only 2) of virtual memory on x64 platforms."
To install this fine piece of work:

• Extract the 4gb patch anywhere accessible and open it.
  
• Find the ME3.exe which should be located in Program Files(x86) > steam > steamapps > common > Mass Effect 3 > Binaries > Win32 > ME3.exe
  
• Experience the magic of a perfectly executed and patched .exe

Mgamerz says "the 4GB patch doesn't do anything to this game. It's already LAA and the process will use up to 3.5GB (before it just dies)."