Mass Effect will not launch - I seem to have tried EVERYTHING
Hello all,
I'm starting to near my wit's end as I try to fix my problem. It appears that every time I launch Mass Effect 1 (whether through the launcher or via the executable itself), it pops up in the Task Manager for a few seconds, and then dissapears, with the actual program never appearing on my screen. It seems loads of people are having the same issue as I, with varying solutions offered. I've tried most all of these, and none have seemed to work.
First, to be clear, I did not buy this game on Steam or Origin (although I do have both installed and running); I bought it as a download via Amazon, and it does not appear to be tied to either download service. Secondly, I am running Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit, which appears to be a running theme throughout these issues. Months before (when I was running Windows 8), the game ran fine with no issue. Unfortunatly, this problem has been cropping up, and I haven't been able to solve it.
I have tried setting the game (and subsequent utilities like the launcher and config) to run as administrator, and in compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 3). I have patched the game to 1.02 without issue; The installer found my launcher and had no problem patching my game. The configuration utility reads v1.02 for both the game and the config utility, v1.01 for the launcher, and v1.03 for the uninstaller. I have not touched the Bring Down the Sky expansion or any config files (the ones found in My Documents), as I think the game needs to be run at least once before I do any of those. Regardless, I doubt touching them would fix my issue. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the game, only to come across the same exact issue. I have tried placing the PhysX DLL in the appropriate folder, I have downloaded and installed the legacy drivers, and I even tried editing the registry to add my MAC address (although this has since been reset; I'm not quite sure if I did it correctly, but it didn't appear to fix anything). I have added a firewall exception through the utility configuration, and tried deleting the local shader cache files (although this appeared to do nothing).
My system specs are as follows:
Intel i5-2500k quad-core at 3.291 Ghz
8 GB of RAM, dual channeled
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 with 1.25 GB of RAM; Driver version 331.82
On-Board audio card via Realtek with Driver version 6.0.1.6662
Windows 8.1 Pro, 64-bit
Direct X 11.2
I am willing to try ANYTHING; I very much enjoy tinkering with games and settings, but I appear to have tried everything listed. If I need to provide any more information, I'm more than willing to cooporate; I'd love to just get this game running again! Thanks much for all your help!
