Hi folksI have just finished ME1 and ME2 legendary editions and have moved to ME3. I thought the difficulty was extremely hard and then noticed that my shields were charging at an extremely slow rate. I looked online and people stated this bug from the original (non-legendary edition) that high refresh monitors caused a bug. I used the game settings to lower the refresh rate cap to 120Hz and my shields are working again.Can the developer team please take note of this and fix the bug. It's a disgrace that such a noticeable and game-breaking bug that was there in the original game made it into a remaster of the game for modern hardware.(Playing on a Dell 1440p 165Hz Monitor)Thank you.

This issue was also present on the OG version of ME3 and it is not present neither on the LE games. See here: https://answers.ea.com/t5/Mass-Effect-3/Shields-don-t-regenerate-in-single-or-multiplayer/m-p/10371703Bug cause: It seems the issue shows up when the game runs at framerates ABOVE 144 fps.If someone owns a 240hz monitor and can test would be great.If setting the fps limiter to 240 fps on a 240hz display fixes the issue => we change the description of the bug to "shields won't recharge or will recharge slowly if the framerate does not match the available thresholds on the in-game fps limiter (i.e., 60, 120, 144, 240).I own a 165hz display so I can't test all the 240fps scenarios (if I disable vsync and allow the game upto 240fps on my 165hz display the shields won't reload at all, see Scenario 5)Video depicting the issue:Test scenarios:Scenario 1:Setup:In-game FPS limiter: 240In-game vsync: DISABLEDNvidia control panel FPS limiter: DISABLED. Nvidia control panel Vsync: ENABLEDNvidia control panel G-sync: ENABLEDResults: FAILURE. Shields do not work properly (slow regeneration)Scenario 2:Setup:In-game FPS limiter: 240In-game vsync: DISABLEDNvidia control panel FPS limiter: DISABLEDNvidia control panel Vsync: ENABLED Nvidia control panel G-sync: ENABLEDResults: FAILURE. Shields do not work properly (slow regeneration)Scenario 3:Setup:In-game FPS limiter: 240In-game vsync: DISABLEDNvidia control panel FPS limiter: ENABLED (162 frames max) Nvidia control panel Vsync: ENABLEDNvidia control panel G-sync: ENABLEDResults: FAILURE. Shields do not work properly (slow regeneration)Scenario 4:Setup:In-game FPS limiter: 144In-game vsync: DISABLEDNvidia control panel FPS limiter: ENABLED (162 frames max) Nvidia control panel Vsync: ENABLED Nvidia control panel G-sync: ENABLEDResults: FAILURE. Shields do not work properly (slow regeneration)Scenario 5:Setup:In-game FPS limiter: DISABLEDIn-game vsync: ENABLEDNvidia control panel FPS limiter: N/ANvidia control panel Vsync: ENABLED (application controlled)Nvidia control panel G-sync: ENABLEDResults: FAILURE. Shields do not work properly (slow regeneration)Scenario 5:Setup:In-game FPS limiter: DISABLED (i.e. set to 240 fps since it is the only possible setting for "disabling" it when vsync is off)In-game vsync: DISABLEDNvidia control panel FPS limiter: N/ANvidia control panel Vsync: ENABLED (application controlled)Nvidia control panel G-sync: DISABLEDResults: FAILURE. Shields do not work properly (shields DO NOT RELOAD at all). In this case the game will Scenario 6:Setup:In-game FPS limiter: DISABLEDIn-game vsync: ENABLEDNvidia control panel FPS limiter: N/ANvidia control panel Vsync: ENABLED (application controlled)Nvidia control panel G-sync: DISABLEDResults: FAILURE. Shields do not work properly (slow regeneration)Scenario 7:Setup:In-game FPS limiter: 144In-game vsync: DISABLEDNvidia control panel FPS limiter: DISABLEDNvidia control panel Vsync: ENABLEDNvidia control panel G-sync: ENABLEDResults: PASS. Shields regenerate properlyScenario 8:Setup:In-game FPS limiter: 144In-game vsync: DISABLEDNvidia control panel FPS limiter: DISABLEDNvidia control panel Vsync: ENABLEDNvidia control panel G-sync: DISABLEDResults: PASS. Shields regenerate properlyScenario 9:Setup:In-game FPS limiter: 240In-game vsync: DISABLEDNvidia control panel FPS limiter: ENABLED (144 frames max) => this one will cause the game to render at 144 (same as setting the limiter in-game)Nvidia control panel Vsync: ENABLEDNvidia control panel G-sync: ENABLEDResults: PASS. Shields regenerate properlyConclussions so far:Going above 144 fps will cause the shields either to reload slowly (any case where I allowed the framerate to be in the 165 fps neighborhood), or to not reload at all (when I allowed the framerate to cap at 240fps using the in-game limiter).Whether you use G-SYNC or not seems to be irreleavant. As long as I go above 144 fps the shields issue shows up.Workarounds:If you are playing with in-game VSYNC OFF (to force vsync in the driver level, useful when using a G-SYNC compatible display) => limit the framerate to 144 fps. You can either do it using the in-game limiter or your graphics card tool (example: nvidia control panel for Nvidia cards), the result is the same.If you are playing with in-game VSYNC ON and you own a display that works at 144+ hz (tested with my 165hz display) => you need to limit your framerate using your graphics card tool (example: nvidia control panel for Nvidia cards).In either case you need to limit the framerate to 144fps, otherwise you will experience the issue.

Figured I'd chime in and say that this bug is still also present in ME2.. I was hoping this issue with high refreshrates was fixed with HFR being a selling point.. but I guess not.

I've noticed while playing my shields aren't recharging, which is making my insanity playthrough substantially harder. Turns out an old bug from Mass Effect 3 PC version is still in the code, having high framerates keeps shields from rechargingTo "fix" this issue - all you have to do is cap your framerate to 60 FPS. It's a real bummer though, not being able to play at high FPS because a decade old bug didn't get fixed.

Same issue for me. I'm playing on a 165Hz G-Sync monitor, and my shields are broken.Enabling V-Sync does not solve the issue. The only workaround at the moment is to limit the framerate to 120FPS with the in-game option.What a shame in 2021.I hope Bioware will still provide some support and bugfixes.

Would be nice to be able to play the game at 144 FPS and still get my shields back.

BUG - Mass Effect 3 Shields not Recharging when playing at high frame rate.

20 Replies

christian_39
New Adventurer
5 years ago
Will only fix it if you display does not go above 144hz. Turning Vsync on won't fix the issue if you have a 165hz display (see the scenarios I posted above 🙂)
darthwilson
5 years ago
Nice 🙂
darthwilson
5 years ago
@HuskyRa1n I capped mine to 120 and it's fine
Wallart
5 years ago
Same issue for me.
I'm playing on a 165Hz G-Sync monitor, and my shields are broken.
Enabling V-Sync does not solve the issue. The only workaround at the moment is to limit the framerate to 120FPS with the in-game option.
What a shame in 2021.
I hope Bioware will still provide some support and bugfixes.
christian_39
New Adventurer
5 years ago
@Wallart Vsync won't fix it because it will attempt to match your display refresh rate (165hz). Try setting the limiter to 144, you should have no problems with that (works for me at least, also using a 165hz monitor)
pra_viilon
5 years ago
I can confirm that this issue is still present after the June 7 update in ME3 (I haven't observed it in ME2 in my system).
I was playing on PC at 300 Hz monitor with Vsync on.
I had to disable the Vsync and limit refresh rate to a value below 144.
This is really a let down, I hope this issue gets fixed in the future.
Wallart
5 years ago
@pra_viilon I downclocked my monitor to 144Hz and with the June 7 update, I’m now able to play without the shields issue.
StonedVorlon
5 years ago
This also happened to me when playing with vsync on while playing on a 60 hz monitor
planr
4 years ago
THANK YOU for reporting this. It took me a while to notice the bug 😳. I just thought this game was crazy difficult!
TheRHUMMER
4 years ago
Wow we are in february 2022 almost march and the bug still there. Thank you for the fix, but these devs are the worst. I will not talk about how much squadmates are so useless. I really loved the Mas Effect series but I'm glad I waited for this game to be on gamepass. I'm not paying for an half-finished game.

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BUG - Mass Effect 3 Shields not Recharging when playing at high frame rate.

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