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91rrbbueo4bm's avatar
91rrbbueo4bm
3 years ago

Re: ME2 achievements already unlocked?

I have a possible one-time permanent fix that doesn't require the game to be played offline.

Mass Effect 2

  1. Start the Launcher
  2. Alt-Tab out of the Launcher and disconnect your internet
  3. Navigate to Documents/Bioware/Mass Effect Legendary Edition/Save/ME2
  4. If you have an existing GamerProfile file present, delete it now
  5. Alt-Tab back to the game
  6. Start Mass Effect 2
  7. Confirm at the start menu that all Achievements are locked in Extras>Achievements
  8. Alt-Tab out of the game and reconnect your internet
  9. Begin a new game of Mass Effect 2
  10. Progress through the game until you gain control of Shepard on the Lazarus Research Station. You should receive the Missing in Action Achievement during character creation. Exit the game and Launcher to update your cloud with the new file.

Mass Effect 3

  1. Start the Launcher
  2. Alt-Tab out of the Launcher and disconnect your internet
  3. Navigate to Documents/Bioware/Mass Effect Legendary Edition/Save/ME3
  4. If you have an existing Local_Profile file present, delete it now
  5. Alt-Tab back to the game
  6. Start Mass Effect 3
  7. Confirm at the start menu that all Achievements are locked in Extras>Achievements
  8. Alt-Tab out of the game and reconnect your internet
  9. Begin a new game of Mass Effect 3
  10. Progress through the game until you reach the Normandy. You should receive the Driven Achievement during the cutscene. Exit the game and Launcher to update your cloud with the new file.

These steps work because we are forcing the games to generate new files where the achievements are stored and then we are updating that file by beginning a new game and unlocking an achievement, making the EA cloud service think the new file is the most up to date version, replacing the old one in the cloud that has all the achievements unlocked for some reason. It cannot replace the new file with the cloud backup while the game is running, which is why we can reconnect the internet at the start menu of each game.


This process would be obsolete if we simply had more control over our own cloud data.

3 Replies

  • TheCakeMachine's avatar
    TheCakeMachine
    New Scout
    3 years ago

    @91rrbbueo4bm I just tried your steps for Mass Effect 2, was working, no achievements were shown when I checked on the main menu. However as soon as I left character creation all of my achievements were immediately unlocked again.

    (This is proven wrong, see 2nd edit) Edit: With further testing I have found the issue with your steps. It will not work if you do Step 8. "Alt-Tab out of the game and reconnect your internet" when I did this step it created the file incorrectly again when I went to start a new save.

    HOWEVER, if you do all the steps EXCLUDING STEP 8, and wait to reconnect your internet until you've saved and closed the game, then this works and keeps the achievements locked when you restart the game with internet.

    2nd Edit: Nope, just played a bit, saved, relaunched game with internet connection, immediately have all achievements unlocked again. I'm not sure if you can avoid this bug, it seems to reset the file every time the game is launched with internet connection, I do not understand why. It honestly seems like the only way you can possibly avoid it is to delete that file and never launch the game with an internet connection, which is extremely frustrating.

  • 91rrbbueo4bm's avatar
    91rrbbueo4bm
    3 years ago

    @TheCakeMachine I was going to return and update the thread. The process seemed to resolve the issue but the next day, it had returned for me also. I don't get it. It seemed straight forward to me that the EA cloud was replacing our local profile, but it may not be the case. I overlooked the fact that none of us have issues with the first game, this is unique to the 2nd and 3rd game so it must have something to do with how those games handle achievements with the EA app itself, because no-one seems to have reported issues with Origin. 

    Things I have tried

    • Cleared existing Origin cache in AppData/Local/Origin
    • Full uninstall of EA App including removal of all residual EA app and old origin files
    • Full reinstall of EA App
    • Full reinstall of MELE

    I have been on this for days and I am pretty sure that this is something we cant fix ourselves unless you resort to playing offline. First they remove multiplayer, then they cant even get achievements to work. What is the incentive to use legit copies of games if they don't offer any benefit over cracked copies?

  • PufPufPufPuff's avatar
    PufPufPufPuff
    3 years ago

    I confirm that this is a functional work-around, and that the issue has not been fixed yet on the latest EA Launcher. Thank you for putting in the work EA didn't.

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