Mass Effect 2 - Save game editor

Okogawa's Save Game Guide (1.2) using Gibbed's Mass Effect 2 Save Editor

How to open and edit Mass Effect 2 savegames

1. If you have not done so, download Gibbed's Mass Effect 2 Save Editor

2. locate and load the savegame you want to edit

Each Mass Effect 2 career have it's own unique directory. under Windows XP you can find the directory root folder here:
../Documents and Settings/YourComputerID/My Documents/BioWare/Mass Effect 2/Save

3. Make modifications and save the changes, then click on the 3rd icon (top left) that looks like an ancient 3.5" floppy disk, a window will pop up. Now you can change folder, overwrite or simply give your modified savegame a new name. If you give your save a new name, follow the naming restrictions to be safe i.e. if you do not want to overwrite your (example) Save_0001.pcsav save, then just save it as Save_0002.pcsav - when making major changes, try to not overwrite your original save if you messed up without knowing it.

How to locate and modify general aspects in a savegame

1. open Gibbed's Mass Effect 2 Save Editor and load the savegame you want to modify
2. click the "Raw" tab
3. under "[-] 2. Squad" click on "[+] Player" to expand the branch
4. Here you will find lots of good stuff to modify.

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How to change the name of your character:

1. Under the "Raw" tab, "[-] 2. Squad", and a expanded "[+] Player" located the "First Name" field.
2. Left click on the field that contains the actual name, and simply change it.
3. Save and load your savegame into the game to see the changes.

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How to change your class mid-game (and/or give yourself talent points):

1. In-game calculate how much "Talent Points" your character would have after a respec and write it up, then load the savegame you want to modify with Gibbed's Mass Effect 2 Save Editor.

2. Under the "Raw" tab, "[-] 2. Squad", and a expanded "[+] Player" located these two fields directly under [+] Appearance:
Class Friendly name
Class Name

3. In order to now change your class to a new one replace the actual class data in Class Friendly name and Class Name fields with this information:

To become a Sentinel:

Class Friendly name: 93951
Class Name: SFXGame.SFXPawn_PlayerSentinel

To become a Soldier:

Class Friendly name: 93952
Class Name: SFXGame.SFXPawn_PlayerSoldier

To become a Engineer:

Class Friendly name: 93953
Class Name: SFXGame.SFXPawn_PlayerEngineer

To become a Adept:

Class Friendly name: 93954
Class Name: SFXGame.SFXPawn_PlayerAdept

To become an Vanguard:

Class Friendly name: 93956
Class Name: SFXGame.SFXPawn_PlayerVanguard

To become an Infiltrator

Class Friendly name: 93955
Class Name: SFXGame.SFXPawn_PlayerInfiltrator


4. Your talent points will reset to "null" after a class change in the editor, so locate the field "Talent Points" and enter the memorized number of your actual character (or cheat away with a bigger number).

5. Save and load the savegame and then distribute the talent points to your new class. You have to re-drag most battle icons since your class change often use new ones.


How to save your face (this is important as you will NEED to know how to do this later):

1. open Gibbed's Mass Effect 2 Save Editor and load any savegame with a face you want to "store".
2. click the "Toolbox" tab
3. click the "Export" button.
Move out of the savegame directory and make a new folder in the Save-root folder called "Faces".

4. Save your "face" with an self-explanatory title so you know what it is.

How to "import" (i.e. replace) a face:

1. open Gibbed's Mass Effect 2 Save Editor and load any savegame where you want to "change" the face in.
2. click the "Toolbox" tab, and press the "Import" button.
3. Enter your "face directory" and load the face you want.
4. Save your changes.

How to get the vanilla hero male/female poster face:

1. open Gibbed's Mass Effect 2 Save Editor and load any savegame where you want to have the "poster face".
2. Under the "Raw" tab, "[-] 2. Squad", and a expanded "[+] Player" expand "[+] Appearance", locate the field called: "Has Morph Head", and change "True" to "False".

Interesting facts: to change the "poster face" back to the orginal "playermade" version, just change the "Morph Head" field back to "True" and/or import the old or a new face. Also, when turning "Morph Head" to "False", you MUST re-import a playermade face, failure to do so will lead to a CORRUPT SAVE and CRASH = do not forget to *import* a face before you save in this case!

3. Save and load the savegame to see the changes.


How to change your in-game gender (important feature to know if you want to get "extra" in-game romances):

1. open Gibbed's Mass Effect 2 Save Editor and load any savegame you want to genderchange.
2. Under the "Raw" tab, "[-] 2. Squad", and a expanded "[+] Player" locate the field called "Is Female".
3a. If you are a "male" in game, change "Is Female = False to True"
3b. If you are a "female" in game, change "Is Female = True to False"
4. Save and load the game.

Interesting facts: You might encounter "head" glitches" when changing gender! If you only changed your gender to just "activate" a romance flag (I'll explain more about that later) don't worry about it. Activate the romance, save the game, then load the editor and gender change back.

Important facts: *IF* you receive a headglitch and plan to play "a bit" longer or "permanently" as a new gender, just fix the glitch with the instructions above on "How to "import" (i.e. replace) a face" and "How to get the vanilla hero male/female poster face". Remember that player generated faces are different for male/female so make sure to have some alternatives in the "face" directory, or simply use the vanilla poster faces.


How to romance same gender crew members NOT intended by Electronic Arts/BioWare:

1. In Mass Effect 2 go to Options/Gameplay and turn on: Subtitles
The only "same gender" romances which have full recorded voice (Jennifer Hale) is the Morinth and Kelly Chambers ones. All other "non-intended" romances lack Mark Meer/Jennifer Hale voice-overs. In order to be able to "experience" a non-intended romance (F/F or M/M) you MUST turn on "Subtitles" in the game.

You can romance these characters as a female Shepard:
Tali'Zorah nar Rayya
Subject Zero
Miranda Lawson

You can romance these characters as a male Shepard:
Garrus Vakarian
Thane Krios
Jacob Taylor

Route 1 (the most easy one):
Play the game as a male or female and simply change your gender when you have an "active and on-going" romance with a "crew member" (don't forget to turn on Subtitles).

After lot's of testing here is my latest findings: Route 1 is the most SAFE way to do this. To avoid nasty BioWare gendercheck issues do as follows: Play the game with the "BioWare intended gender" for a romance i.e. male for Tali, then when you get mission to cross into the Omega-4 relay do NOT do it, instead SAVE THE GAME and "genderchange", then load the genderchanged savegame and open the galactic map, now manually enter the Omega-4 relay. Now you will get a "same gender" 100% problem free GAME. Actually, now you can "perma stay" as that gender too, becouse when you "beaten" the game, you can keep playing Mass Effect 2 and get even more "romance" options.

To understand what I talk about, download my F/F Tali romance savegames and read the readme:

URL: http://www.mediafire.com/?nzj1hmutmmn


Route 2 (Advanced):
Due to the complicated nature and crash issues many people have had with it, please follow Route 1 if possible, else do as this:

Play the game with the gender you want, then do NOT click on the "personal topic selection" when talking to crew members you plan to romance UNTIL you have done their personal quest. Also, you MUST save your game before you actually (do NOT overwrite it) talk to this person. Now, change your gender to the BioWare INTEDED one for the romance i.e. if you want to romance Tali, be a MALE when you talk with her. When the romance is triggered, change back to your (in this case female) gender and keep playing. Repeat this step when needed i.e. most romances force you to "genderchange" at least 2 and 3 times to "advance it". In Tali's case it's two times. Failure to genderchange at proper time WILL lead to nasty issues. If you think this is to messy, then go Route 1 instead.


Here you have some eye-candy images from my F/F Tali romance:

http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=g1fj0qyjtmu&thumb=6
http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=ig4lznyy3mo&thumb=6
http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=zmy42dgmwiz&thumb=6


To see Tali's real in-game face browse my Tali-face image folder:
URL: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=268769152ad51fa7ed24a2875c7fa58ef48d2c4dcdf11e6f597b5d7f10aaff85