Mass Effect 3 ME3 Explorer: Tried 109k Tocbinupdater and I got Assertion Failed?

[pyrosushi]

Anyone got a solution for this?

 

I switched from 3.0 ME3 Explorer since the damn thing doesn't work for mods. Keeps crashing my saves and I reinstalled this game for the 3rd time already.

 

I followed the tutorials on girlsplaygames and even looked at the instructions. Nothing works ever.

 

This was by installing a hair mod using gibbed and me3 explorer.

 

Or does anyone have updated steps to using me3 explorer? I am still trying to figure how to replace the hair, headmorph, and skin textures.....This is like alien stuff compared to skyrim modding which I mastered lol

[rubydorje]

Hey there,

...very frustrating indeed...

 

Look, I donât know too much, but from experience

I think what might work, either vanilla your game or just those .pcc files you modded; along with use a new ME3Explorer file, like anew an unpack and perhaps create a new tree...

 

Also GPG Mods I think mainly made to work with Textmod.

There is a way to make (some of) them to work with ME3Explorer (I think). Perhaps provide a link to which specific mod you are trying to install.

 

If I got you right, at saves (or otherwise) the game crashes because there is something it cannot load, like a texture is incompatible...

 

At first just install your Mod on only 1 .pcc file and test how that works... Or just make a note of what .pcc files you altered, this way normally you only need to replace that with an original and the textures, etc. go back to normal...

 

Good luck.

[Wisegal]

Modding ME3 isn't hard, but there's definitely a learning curve involved.

 

First, if you can't get anything to work, you'll have to vanilla your game and start from scratch. Also, for some reason my game freaks out if I try to start it from the .exe on my desktop instead of through the Origin client, so if you have that version you may also run into that problem. There is a specific order that you want to use for installing mods. I know you said you were just trying a hair mod, but in case you decide to try other mods I'll include the short version of how to install all mods.

 

First, if you're installing ANY DLC type mods (and really any mods at all), you'll need WarrantyVoider's .dll patcher. It's a set of 2 files that just need to be dropped into your binaries/win32 folder. Allow any overwrite if asked, and you're good to go on that front. The patcher allows the game to bypass a check for legit DLC, and since your mods will change most DLCs you're going to want it. The files are included in the download for most mods, and all the big mods. But, if you can't find them let me know and I'll send them your way.

 

Next, install any DLC mods you want. This is the easiest way to mod your game, and many modders have formatted their stuff in DLC format. To install DLC mods, just take the folder and drop it into the BIOgame/DLC folder. All DLC mod folders will have names that start with DLC, .and there will be no spaces. That's the folder you want to install. Your hair mod may be in this format. If so, you're done after this step, as long as you auto TOC.

 

Content mods will almost always be packaged as DLC mods. Some of the bigger mods (EGM, backoff, MEHEM, etc) will have specific installation instructions, but the authors have helpfully provided detailed guides so the installs are usually easy.

 

Finally, you want to install any other independent texture mods. Some hair mods are in this format, which is where things like ME3Explorer and MEM come in. Personally, I like Mass Effect Modder (MEM) for installing. It's really simple, and its faster than ME3Explorer. Anything you can do with the explorer you can do with the MEM. Here's the download for MEM: https://github.com/MassEffectModder/MassEffectModder/releases

 

Once you have the tool, you need to build your tree.

 

IMPORTANT: make sure you have installed all other mods you want before installing textures. Also, make a backup of your game files (the BIOGame and Binaries folders) before doing this, so you can more easily revert if you want to add more mods.

 

Open the MEM tool and go to Mass Effect 3 -> extract DLC. This step will take a while, especially if you have a slow HDD. Don't worry if it takes 30 minutes or more, because it only has to be done once. Once it completes, go to Mass Effect 3 -> texture manager. The program may throw an error about the game being vanilla, but don't worry about this if your game is already modded. Allow the program to create your database, which includes all textures in your game. Next, you're ready to load your mods. Go to MOD -> load MODS, and then select your files. The files must be in .mem or .tpf format for the program to use them. If you have other file formats, let me know and I'll walk you through how to quickly convert them.

 

Once you've loaded your mods, they'll appear in the left hand panel. Right click on a single mod, or use "ctrl" and select multiple mods, then right click and select "apply mods". Let the program do its thing. This can also take a while, especially if you're loading up multiple textures.

 

After you're done modding, close the program and reopen it. Go to the "Mass Effect 3" tab again. Now, select "Update LOD settings", then "Optimize game's ini settings", and "Update TOC". These are housekeeping things that must be done when your game is modded, or the game won't open.

 

Now that you've modded the game, you can use Gibbed to apply your headmorph and you should be good to go.