Mass Effect 3 Modding resources and guides for ME3 - for developers

[Mgamerz]

Hi all. Mgamerz here. You might know me from many different things - ME3Explorer ME3Tweaks Fork, Mass Effect 3 Mod Manager, ME3Tweaks... :wink:

 

This post is for mod developers.

 

On my site, ME3Tweaks, I have a bunch of modding guides if you're looking to get into modding Mass Effect 3. They go from basic Coalesced editing into SWF editing where you're doing assembly code for SWF. Some of them are bit dated - I'm working on rewriting some of them, to bring them into the age of new tools. It's a lot of work and the issues I have with my hands prevents me from typing tons up so it's a slow process.

 

I added a new one that I just realized many devs don't know about: Using the in game profiler to debug the game. You can use this guide to debug mods with cool things like this:

 

 

 

 

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I have also been dabbling in native code mods (aka ASI mods). I have written a new one called Kismet Logger, which allows you to trace the sequence flow that unreal engine 3 uses (ME3 only). This is a very useful tool depending on what kinds of sequences you're editing, because I doubt you want to solve the flow of logic of this:

 

This produces a console window that also logs to disk the activations of sequence objects and their timestamps. Importantly, it also includes the calling file.

...
[23.391] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqAct_Toggle PersistentLevel.Main_Sequence.SeqAct_Toggle_1005
[23.391] (BioD_Nor_203CIC) SeqAct_Gate Main_Sequence.GalaxyMap.SeqAct_Gate_486
[23.391] (BioD_Nor_203CIC) SeqAct_Gate Main_Sequence.Comm_Officer.SeqAct_Gate_477
[23.391] (BioD_Nor_203CIC) SeqAct_Gate Main_Sequence.Comm_Officer.SeqAct_Gate_477
[23.407] (BioD_Nor_203CIC) SFXSeqAct_StartAmbientConv Main_Sequence.Comm_Officer.SFXSeqAct_StartAmbientConv_925
[23.407] (BioD_Nor_203CIC) SeqEvent_RemoteEvent Main_Sequence.Prefabs.SeqEvent_RemoteEvent_597
[23.407] (BioD_Nor_203CIC) SeqAct_ActivateRemoteEvent Main_Sequence.Comm_Officer.SeqAct_ActivateRemoteEvent_413
[23.407] (BioD_Nor_203CIC) SeqEvent_SequenceActivated Prefabs.Random_Hologram_CIC_Seq.SeqEvent_SequenceActivated_648
[23.407] (BioD_Nor_203CIC) PrefabSequence Main_Sequence.Prefabs.Random_Hologram_CIC_Seq_409
[23.407] (BioD_Nor_203CIC) SeqAct_Interp Prefabs.Random_Hologram_CIC_Seq.SeqAct_Interp_494
[23.860] (BioP_Nor) SeqAct_FinishSequence SequenceReference.REF_FadeFromBlack_ME3.SeqAct_FinishSequence_-1
[23.860] (BioP_Nor) SeqAct_Log SequenceReference.REF_FadeFromBlack_ME3.SeqAct_Log_-1
[23.860] (BioP_Nor) SeqAct_Log SequenceReference.REF_FadeFromBlack_ME3.SeqAct_Log_-1
[23.860] (BioP_Nor) SeqAct_FinishSequence SequenceReference.REF_PlaceOnceInPersistent_ME3.SeqAct_FinishSequence_-1
[23.860] (BioP_Nor) SeqCond_CompareBool PersistentLevel.Main_Sequence.SeqCond_CompareBool_833
[23.860] (BioP_Nor) SeqCond_CompareBool PersistentLevel.Main_Sequence.SeqCond_CompareBool_834
[23.969] (BioP_Nor) SeqCond_CompareBool PersistentLevel.Main_Sequence.SeqCond_CompareBool_832
[25.391] (BioP_Nor) SeqAct_Log SequenceReference.REF_FadeFromBlack_ME3.SeqAct_Log_-1
[29.344] (BioD_Nor_203CIC) SeqAct_Gate Main_Sequence.Comm_Officer.SeqAct_Gate_477
[35.610] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqEvent_Touch Prefabs.GUI_Terminal_02_Prefab_Seq.SeqEvent_Touch_1016
[35.625] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqAct_Gate Prefabs.GUI_Terminal_02_Prefab_Seq.SeqAct_Gate_995
[35.625] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqAct_Gate Prefabs.GUI_Terminal_02_Prefab_Seq.SeqAct_Gate_996
[35.625] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqAct_Toggle Prefabs.GUI_Terminal_02_Prefab_Seq.SeqAct_Toggle_1003
[35.875] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqEvent_Touch Prefabs.GUI_Terminal_02_Prefab_Seq.SeqEvent_Touch_1016
[35.891] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqAct_Gate Prefabs.GUI_Terminal_02_Prefab_Seq.SeqAct_Gate_996
[35.891] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqAct_Toggle Prefabs.GUI_Terminal_02_Prefab_Seq.SeqAct_Toggle_1004
[35.891] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqAct_Toggle Prefabs.GUI_Terminal_02_Prefab_Seq.SeqAct_Toggle_1003
[35.969] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqEvent_Touch Prefabs.GUI_Terminal_01_Prefab_Seq.SeqEvent_Touch_1015
[35.985] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqAct_Gate Prefabs.GUI_Terminal_01_Prefab_Seq.SeqAct_Gate_993
[35.985] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqAct_Gate Prefabs.GUI_Terminal_01_Prefab_Seq.SeqAct_Gate_994
[35.985] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqAct_Toggle Prefabs.GUI_Terminal_01_Prefab_Seq.SeqAct_Toggle_1001
[36.329] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqEvent_Touch Prefabs.GUI_Terminal_01_Prefab_Seq.SeqEvent_Touch_1015
[36.344] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqAct_Gate Prefabs.GUI_Terminal_01_Prefab_Seq.SeqAct_Gate_994
[36.344] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqAct_Toggle Prefabs.GUI_Terminal_01_Prefab_Seq.SeqAct_Toggle_1002
[36.344] (BioA_Nor_210CIC) SeqAct_Toggle Prefabs.GUI_Terminal_01_Prefab_Seq.SeqAct_Toggle_1001

 

 

You can install this through Mass Effect 3 Mod Manager's ASI Mod Manager window (under Mod Management). You can get Mass Effect 3 Mod Manager on NexusMods.

 

I have made a project on my github for my ASIs that includes this logger as a header file. It includes a very easy to modify template to log function calls, and with a bit of tweaking you can log almost anything the game does. I used it to log my character's location every time I pressed back on my controller, and used it to build a pathfinding network without having to do it all by hand (required a bit of ME3Explorer code, but saved hours of work). The power of ASI mods is still untapped in the scene.

 

Anyways, these are some tools for developers. I've seen on this forum a few users asking things I've covered before on my site, so I thought I'd help out some newer devs and share some of the work I've been doing to make modding this game easier.