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Tasmian's avatar
Tasmian
3 years ago
Solved

[EA app] Mass Effect - Legendary Edition - Achievements don't unlock

Hi, I've recently started my adventure with ME: Legendary Edition. I had absolutely ZERO issues with first version of the game whitch is ME : 1, but when I started playing the second part ( ME: 2) I ...
mass effect legendary edition
  • LiannaDrake's avatar
    LiannaDrake
    2 years ago

    You can get it to work with the EA App. There are justa a couple extra steps. 

    EA Offline Mode:

    1. Make a copy your uncorrupted GamerProfile file on Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect Legendary Edition\Save\ME2

    (if its already corrupted, you'll have to delete this file, game will recreate it, but all achievements will be black, although a few might sync up.)

    2. Have EA App open and visible.

    3. Launch ME LE and while it’s launching open the EA App menu and click Go Offline. Then confirm.

    4. (Optional but recommended) when you are done playing: close the game and backup the GamerProfile file

    5. you can then put EA App in Online Mode again if you want to play another game. Just repeat steps 2-4 whenever you wish to play ME LE.

    (This method also works for ME 3 Local_Profile)

    This works for me and I like it better than messing with my Firewall. However it isn’t perfect. The EA App may eventually error and require you to restart and login. If this happens you should save and exit the game and do so because you won’t unlock any achievements while it’s in that state.

left0vert0ast's avatar
left0vert0ast
2 years ago


Is there any update on this? I know that since the app came out ME2/3 achievements don't unlock in Steam. I was able to use the work around for one achievement, however now when I open the game it defaults back to the EA app. I really don't want to have to bother with a work around if a fix in process I can just wait.

LiannaDrake's avatar
LiannaDrake
2 years ago

You can get it to work with the EA App. There are justa a couple extra steps. 

EA Offline Mode:

1. Make a copy your uncorrupted GamerProfile file on Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect Legendary Edition\Save\ME2

(if its already corrupted, you'll have to delete this file, game will recreate it, but all achievements will be black, although a few might sync up.)

2. Have EA App open and visible.

3. Launch ME LE and while it’s launching open the EA App menu and click Go Offline. Then confirm.

4. (Optional but recommended) when you are done playing: close the game and backup the GamerProfile file

5. you can then put EA App in Online Mode again if you want to play another game. Just repeat steps 2-4 whenever you wish to play ME LE.

(This method also works for ME 3 Local_Profile)

This works for me and I like it better than messing with my Firewall. However it isn’t perfect. The EA App may eventually error and require you to restart and login. If this happens you should save and exit the game and do so because you won’t unlock any achievements while it’s in that state.

  • EA_Shepard's avatar
    EA_Shepard
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    2 years ago

    @LiannaDrake Nice! I love it. Come together to help each other out! Teamwork makes the dream work.

    I will add this to my report for the team. I still have this on my radar, so it has not been forgotten about by any means.

    • LiannaDrake's avatar
      LiannaDrake
      2 years ago

      @EA_Shepard It’s still a temp workaround and has to be done every time you want to play. It is simply a friendlier  process then playing with your pc’s Firewall or cutting you entire pc off from the internet.

      • EA_Shepard's avatar
        EA_Shepard
        Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
        2 years ago

        @Bearded_Assassin I am afraid that there has not been an ETA on these. I follow up daily with issues like this, so I will ask again. 

  • vaping-D3V1L's avatar
    vaping-D3V1L
    2 years ago

    First things first, it's a shame that EA still hasn't been able to fix this bug while we are forced to use the buggy EA-App.

    And yes! That's my first Mass Effect playthrough. Somehow I missed playing this great game until now. shame on me...

    Nevertheless, taking the EA App offline to unlock achievements in Steam as described worked for me so far. So, thanks for sharing.

    With storyline achievements though, it doesn't seem to work:


    After completing the Reaper IFF mission, i unlocked the ghostship achievement in-game, but the EA app crashed (unsurprisingly), so the achievement wasn't unlocked in either the EA app or Steam.


    No problem (i thought), just play the mission again (as usual):

    • delete GameProfile file before...
    • start launcher...
    • Switch EA App offline...
    • start ME2...
    • load savegame before mission completetion....
    • complete the mission again...
    • close debriefing with the illusive man...
    • and, this time...  NO ACHIEVMENT, DAMN....

    However, the achievement Friend or Foe, which is also obtainable in this mission unlocked and consequently there was no problem with the EA-App offline workaround.

    1. Restoring GamerProfile files and savegames from backups i did before the IFF-Reaper mission didn't work either, because by then the ghostship achievement was already unlocked in the game.
      different sync? not related to GamerProfile or savegames? i dont know...
    2. If I delete the GamerProfile file before launching the game (and therfore no achivements at all are unlocked in-game), the ghostship achievement can't be unlocked despite successful IFF Reaper mission.
      Why? With any other achievement, I missed due to crashed EA-App, temporarely deleting the GamerProfile file and replaying till achievement worked to unlock those afterwards.

    After several hours of playing this mission again and again (also the entire mission, several times), gettting more and more frustrated, I've also lost motivation to solve it for now.
    Maybe someday I'll try to unlock this achievement with a replay of ME from scratch.

    Furthermore I'm afraid that trilogy-wide achievements such as Insanity or Paramour will also not be unlockable via EA-App-offline-workaround.

    Despite being unlocked in ME1, Paramour 1 for example isn't shown unlocked in ME2 (in-game).

    Good that I didn't try an Insanity walkthrough for my first playthrough. Without achievement rewarding, that would have upset me even more.

    And, since I don't expect EA to fix this bug at all, I probably won't even attempt this challenge. Too bad!

    For now, i'll enjoy the game itself and especially the good story without worrying about achievements any longer to delve even deeper into the fascinating mass effect universe.

    • LiannaDrake's avatar
      LiannaDrake
      2 years ago

      @vaping-D3V1L Hmm… I haven’t had any issues unlocking story achievements. I just finished ME3 last night and unlocked Insanity III with this method. I will be playing ME2 again soon to get the paramour III achievement so perhaps I’ll wipe out my profile again and see what happens. 

      I do make sure that when EA App crashes I stop playing immediately, save, and exit at the first opportunity because triggering the achievements in-game and then fixing the app will not sync them to Steam/EA App. They have to be triggered with a profile that doesn’t have them unlocked while the App is offline and not in an error state.

      It sounds like you have done this. All I can say is, double check that the achievement isn’t unlocked in-game, make sure you switch the EA App offline after launching the ME Launcher but before it finishes launching. If the EA App crashes, stop play, save, and fix it.  I have finished the last part of ME2 and all of ME3 in this manner.

      Even if the achievement give you trouble I hope you will focus instead on the game and story. It is very goods and it’d be a shame to let EAs silly app ruin your first experience. 

      • vaping-D3V1L's avatar
        vaping-D3V1L
        2 years ago

        @LiannaDrake Thanks for reply

        Now I just want to share:
        I just finished ME2 and against all odds unlocked paramour II. I.e. trilogy achievements do not seem to be affected by this for now.

        Regarding the Ghostship achievement (still missing...):
        I have already tried to restore the profile and savegames state before the start of the IFF Reaper mission from a backup of the entire Bioware directory. However, the Ghostship achievement is then already unlocked in-game, so I can't unlock it again. Most strange...

        Deleting the GamerProfile file as well as the TrilogyGamerProfile before starting the game has the effect that all achievements are reset in-game. But in this state, I wasn't able to unlock the ghostship achievement. I've tried several times. Something seems to be different with this achievement that I don't understand.

        No matter. It does annoy me that this bug is causing unnecessary frustration. Nonetheless, the EA-App certainly won't ruin the game for me and I'm already looking forward to the third part...

        Thanks again for your support.

  • DXSvlex's avatar
    DXSvlex
    2 years ago

    https://answers.ea.com/t5/Mass-Effect-Legendary-Edition/Mass-Effect-Legendary-Edition-EA-App-Achievements-don-t-unlock/m-p/12492198#M16677

    > Thank you LiannaDrake for this well-written solution.😉

    As you mention it, we have to be careful about connectivity errors with EA App. I experienced this after the mission on Rannoch on ME3... "lost connection" while I was playing so an achievement only pop-up for EA app.

    (Luckily I had backup the TrilogyGamerProfile / launcher_profile / local_profile... now I have to save more often and play in windowed mode to keep an eye on EA App... ! 🤒)

    • 7thDementia's avatar
      7thDementia
      2 years ago

      Oh that's simple. There's a button with three lines in the top-left corner of the EA App, click that, then you should see the option to go offline.

      Also, I find it slightly ridiculous that we're being asked to reinstall Steam, the EA App, and Windows when the problem has been shown to be with the EA App. Sorry to be a little snippy, but we've all pinpointed it to the EA App, as it for some reason gives us all "all achievements unlocked" GamerProfile files, as the workaround has shown. The suggestion, personally, seems like the "Have you tried Scandisk and Defrag?" "solution" from the '90s so it's a little disheartening. ☹️

      • Zefnoly's avatar
        Zefnoly
        2 years ago

        I have to agree... I wonder why we have yet to get an answer as of why it is so difficult for them to fix the problem, and to STOP the EA APP from downloading gamerprofile saves that are either corrupt or 100% completed from their cloud service. I am not gonna install the EA APP as long it messed with the savefiles of my games in this manner. I am speculating it is remains of a botched attempt at making some kind of anti-cheating system for archivements for the game to prevent people from tampering with the savefiles to unlock the archivements. Why would it otherwise forcefully download the gamerprofile files and replace them in the save folders? This is really Sketchy behavoir. EA APP clearly is utterly unfinished. Everything I heard about the EA app made me uninstall the game as soon as playing through origin was impossible... In case the EA app ever gets completed I backed up my saves. It is disheartening that I cant finish my game without installing a broken launcher that will brick my save without workarounds because EA themselves refuse to even acknowledge that the EA app does weird stuff like downloading complete savefiles for archivements in a game for no apparant reason... I think they need to look more closely at their "cloud" saving system in the EA app.

  • N3o4One's avatar
    N3o4One
    2 years ago

    Yo is this an actual solution ? Does this work ?

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