Hi,I've been plying through LE n XboxSX and ME1 looked great. Just started ME2 and the contrast is all out, looks like the blacks are being seriously crushed and can't see any detail in the darker scenes. The scenes in the shuttle look horrendous. It seems much darker than it did originally.Have tried adjusting all of the image options (hdr contrast and peak brightness) and nothing makes the slightest difference. Thought it may be a hdr issue as I dont have the best tv so turned off hdr and if anything it looked even darker. Will try to take some screenshots later when I get the chance as the one I have is too large to upload.Anyone ran into this or has a possible fix?

Thanks for the response. Glad to see its not just an issue on my end at least. Looks like bioware/ea haven't acknowledged the issue at all. Hopefully they patch it ASAP because I can't believe its gone unmentioned for this long. The second game looks terrible which kind of defeats the point of LE.Unfortunately on xbox I have no options to change the depth of field. I only get 3 calibration options and they are useless. Tv settings havent helped either. Fingers crossed this gets picked up soon.

Hi, here’s a copy-paste of my previous comment from another thread: « Yes gameplay IS affected as well in ME2 and ME3 to a lesser extent. I play on PC in SDR and the blacks are crushed in many areas, resulting in less details and difficulty to see our character, armor and general environment. The issue comes from the DephtOfField shader which has a too low black entry point.It could be an easy tweak but we cannot modify the shader files ourselves because that makes the game crash. Even adding single a character to a comment line and saving does it (probably because of copy protection). And reshade is inefficient because the problem comes directly from the engine, so even if you manipulate curved levels, gamma, etc. it wont do anything. The only workaround at the moment is disabling depth of field. But you loose so much of the color grading, art direction and fx effects that its not worth it.Please Bioware, do something (or at least give us the possibility to do it ourselves) »And yes ser, I agree: ME1 colors were absolutely perfect.Cheers

Mass Effect 2 Dark Shadows FixHere's a quick fix for the insanly dark shadows in ME2.Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Mass Effect Legendary Edition\Game\ME2\BioGame\Config or C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Mass Effect Legendary Edition\Game\ME2\BioGame\ConfigOpen GamerSettings.ini and add this line under [systemsettings]DepthOfField=Falseand with that the game shouldnt look like it was filmed in a dark alleyway. Hopefully that helps 🙂

On PC and i definitely don’t remember ME2 Omega being this dark. I think their HDR is broken.

I'm linking some pictures here that I believe show the same problem. I'm playing on PC, no HDR (my monitor does not have the capability).This male Shepard has either the darkest or second darkest skintone (code 221.2EK.GCJ.471.I5T.IEW.WDL.6WV.WD1.8WN.14B.91)Mordin's lab, vanilla lighting: https://flic.kr/p/2mfqL7fMordin's lab, "DepthOfField=False" added to gamersettings.ini: https://flic.kr/p/2mfscFL CIC, vanilla lighting: https://flic.kr/p/2mfqL5XCIC, "DepthOfField=False" added to gamersettings.ini: https://flic.kr/p/2mfiaDj This female Shepard has a medium skintone. I don't have any depth of field examples here because I only learned about this workaround a few days ago and I already finished her playthrough. But look at the disparity in lighting between her and Jack, even though they should be lit by the same light source here. https://flic.kr/p/2m2NAzw And here's where I tried raising the brightness of the image using photo mode. As you can see, this blows out all the highlights (as expected) but does next to nothing for those detail-less deep shadows. This cannot be what was intended, I would hope. https://flic.kr/p/2m2Tk54 As you can see, adding the depth of field line washes the image out, but at least Shepard's face is visible, and Nvidia's in-game filters help to bring contrast and saturation back to the image (not pictured, but I screenshot that if anyone wants). But I shouldn't have to fiddle with workarounds like this, and console players don't have that option at all.

Mass effect legendary edition me2 too dark?

25 Replies

Kierkenstein
5 years ago
Hi, here’s a copy-paste of my previous comment from another thread:
« Yes gameplay IS affected as well in ME2 and ME3 to a lesser extent. I play on PC in SDR and the blacks are crushed in many areas, resulting in less details and difficulty to see our character, armor and general environment. The issue comes from the DephtOfField shader which has a too low black entry point.
It could be an easy tweak but we cannot modify the shader files ourselves because that makes the game crash. Even adding single a character to a comment line and saving does it (probably because of copy protection). And reshade is inefficient because the problem comes directly from the engine, so even if you manipulate curved levels, gamma, etc. it wont do anything.
The only workaround at the moment is disabling depth of field. But you loose so much of the color grading, art direction and fx effects that its not worth it.
Please Bioware, do something (or at least give us the possibility to do it ourselves) »
And yes ser, I agree: ME1 colors were absolutely perfect.
Cheers
BurntOatsSG
5 years ago
Thanks for the response. Glad to see its not just an issue on my end at least.
Looks like bioware/ea haven't acknowledged the issue at all. Hopefully they patch it ASAP because I can't believe its gone unmentioned for this long. The second game looks terrible which kind of defeats the point of LE.
Unfortunately on xbox I have no options to change the depth of field. I only get 3 calibration options and they are useless. Tv settings havent helped either.
Fingers crossed this gets picked up soon.
WildCardHoney
5 years ago
I’ve been having this same issues too tried fiddling with the settings nothing has changed it.Even messed around with my tv settings nothing has helped.
Paperchasedude
5 years ago
Mass Effect 2 Dark Shadows Fix
Here's a quick fix for the insanly dark shadows in ME2.

Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Mass Effect Legendary Edition\Game\ME2\BioGame\Config or
C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Mass Effect Legendary Edition\Game\ME2\BioGame\Config

Open GamerSettings.ini and add this line under [systemsettings]

DepthOfField=False

and with that the game shouldnt look like it was filmed in a dark alleyway.

Hopefully that helps 🙂
WildCardHoney
5 years ago
Sadly I play on Xbox right now so I can’t do that fix but thanks for replying.
omarm88
5 years ago
While that does have the intended effect, it also has unintended ones. You'll notice that DoF doesn't just control that feature, but also screen vignette and bloom (the latter being the only real loss there). Also, the color spectrum completely changes when disabling DoF. All in all, it really comes down to what one is willing to put up with...at least until modding gets into a full swing.
WildCardHoney
5 years ago
And I also don’t have HDR and I’m finding it way to dark in areas. Sometimes the lighting just stops working in some cutscenes then I’m left with shadowed characters. And it just looks off.
N7NYj
5 years ago
On PC and i definitely don’t remember ME2 Omega being this dark. I think their HDR is broken.
WildCardHoney
5 years ago
I don’t either I’ve been having issues like this in cutscenes with Shepard being overshadowed in darkness. I can’t even see their face at times.
dkeerl
5 years ago
I'm on Series X with an HDR10 monitor. Just started ME2 this morning. I first really noticed it in the drop ship to meet the Illusive Man. At Freedom's Hope now, there are places where my armor almost completely disappears into black. Corners, under tables, etc, are detail-less voids. I've messed with HDR settings on the Xbox, in game, and monitor. Doesn't matter how bright I make it or how much I change contrast, those areas have no detail at all.