How to make your LE2 Coal Edits into the more compatible DLC Mods

Whether you're updating your coalesced edits into the DLC mod format or someone just wanting to make their own DLC coal edits. I hope this tutorial will help you. This page is for LE2 though will work for ME2 OT too.

First we have to make our DLC mod using ME3 Tweaks Mod Manager

1. Go to tools > Generate new DLC Mod Starter Kit > Pick the game you're making it for. (See Figure 01 example used is LE2)

Figure 01

2. Fill in the DLC mod form (See Figure 02) further explanations can be found by hovering over the red exclamation points
   • Right side shows used Mount Numbers from the games as well as Mount Numbers used by mods.
   • Remember the list needs updating for mods, so may be a good idea downloading others mods to make sure that you know what mount number they use
   • So you can use a unique number

Figure 02

3. Now to quickly go to your DLC mod folder Right click on your mod in the left panel and click open Mod Folder (see Figure 03)

Figure 03

LE2 DLC Coal Mods

1. First you want to unpack the games Coalesced_INT.bin so you have a base to go off of.
   • For me it is in C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Mass Effect Legendary Edition\Game\ME2\BioGame\CookedPCConsole
2. Copy it into a folder preferably not your DLC folder
   • For example I put it in D:\MELE\Coalesced Edits
3. Rename the Coalesced_INT.bin just so you know which one it is. So I renamed mine LE2Coalesced_INT.bin
4. Now we want to use ME3 Tweaks Mod Manager to unpack our Coalesced_INT
5. Drag and Drop your LE2Coalesced_INT.bin onto ME3 Tweaks Mod Manager (See Figure 04)

Figure 04

6. Now go back to your folder and you should now get a folder called LE2Coalesced_INT (see Figure 05)

Figure 05

7. Look through the unpacked data to find what you want to edit, remove or add to (see Figure 06)

• I will be showing editing/adding to the BioGame.ini

Figure 06

8. Create a new text file in your DLC folder and rename it BioGame.ini (see Figure 07)

Figure 07

9. Copy the header of the info you are editing or adding to, to your DLC BioGame.ini (see Figure 08)

10. For this example I am using [SFXGame.SFXPawn_Player] (see Figure 08)

    • This is an area you will find clothing, armour, tints, scars for example

Figure 08

11. For this tutorial we will add one outfit to Casuals under [SFXGame.SFXPawn_Player]

So copy and paste one from the vanilla BioGame.ini. For example

[SFXGame.SFXPawn_Player] CasualAppearances=(Mesh=(Male="BIOG_HMM_ARM_CTH_R.CTHb.HMM_ARM_CTHb_MDL",MaleMaterialOverride="BIOG_HMM_ARM_CTH_R.CTHb.HMM_ARM_CTHb_MAT_7a",Female="BIOG_HMF_ARM_CTH_R.CTHb.HMF_ARM_CTHb_MDL",FemaleMaterialOverride="BIOG_HMF_ARM_CTH_R.CTHb.HMF_ARM_CTHb_MAT_6a"),Id=0,PlotFlag=-1,Type=CustomizableType_Torso)

Now first before we go editing it, I want to explain each section we have here.

(Mesh=(Male="BIOG_HMM_ARM_CTH_R.CTHb.HMM_ARM_CTHb_MDL",MaleMaterialOverride="BIOG_HMM_ARM_CTH_R.CTHb.HMM_ARM_CTHb_MAT_7a",Female="BIOG_HMF_ARM_CTH_R.CTHb.HMF_ARM_CTHb_MDL",FemaleMaterialOverride="BIOG_HMF_ARM_CTH_R.CTHb.HMF_ARM_CTHb_MAT_6a")

• This section shows what mesh it is and what material the mesh uses. Casual appearances are the only ones material override works on
• So for other things such as fullbodyappearances a material override will not override the base material the mesh uses

Id=0,PlotFlag=-1,Type=CustomizableType_Torso

• ID= should be a unique number so it won't clash with another outfit
• PlotFlag=-1 should remain -1 unless you plan on users having to buy your outfit from the store
• Type=CustomizableType_Torso this just defines it is a torso/fullbody piece

12. So now we have copied the chunk above under [SFXGame.SFXPawn_Player] if we were to edit, save and try our mod it would work, however if we were to add more outfits only one would work. So in order to add more we need to add a + sign in front of our lines.

If removing a line from the coal files then we would use - before our lines

For outfits I don't think we'd really have use for the minus but we definitely have use for the + which even when having one line is better to use just in case.

So this as my BioGame.ini would add these two outfits as armour. These are examples from my from my Casuals as armour mod

[SFXGame.SFXPawn_Player] +FullBodyAppearances=(Id=140001,Mesh=(Male="BIOG_HMM_ARM_CTH_R.CTHa.HMM_ARM_CTHa_MDL",Female="BIOG_HMF_ARM_CTH_R.CTHa.HMF_ARM_CTHa_MDL",bHasBreather=False,bHideHead=False,bHideHair=False),GameEffects=("SFXGame.SFXGameEffect_Gear_N7Torso"),PlotFlag=-1,Type=CustomizableType_Torso) +FullBodyAppearances=(Id=140002,Mesh=(Male="BIOG_HMM_ARM_CTH_R.CTHb.HMM_ARM_CTHb_MDL",Female="BIOG_HMF_ARM_CTH_R.CTHb.HMF_ARM_CTHb_MDL",bHasBreather=False,bHideHead=False,bHideHair=False),GameEffects=("SFXGame.SFXGameEffect_Gear_N7Torso"),PlotFlag=-1,Type=CustomizableType_Torso)

• As you might notice there are a few additions here bHasBreather=False,bHideHead=False,bHideHair=False
• bHasBreather=False means my outfit won't act like it has a helmet/breather/radio
• bHideHead=False,bHideHair=False means the outfit won't hide the head or hair.
• and again Id= has to be a Unique number

So if I was happy with these I would save my BioGame.ini and then Deploy

another example editing other lines is the ones for my Increased Distance for Photo Mode

[SFXGame.BioPlayerController]

-PhotoModeTetherDistance=1000.0

-VehiclePhotoModeTetherDistance=2500.0

+PhotoModeTetherDistance=100000.0

+VehiclePhotoModeTetherDistance=100000.0

• The first line is the Section/location in BioGame.ini
• The second and third are removing the vanilla lines from the game
• The fourth and fifth are adding them back in with my edits

So

• minus sign = delete an existing entry

• plus sign = add a new entry

Using both together allows you to first remove a value and then replace it with your edited value As long as you use minus first with vanilla entry and then plus to add in your edited entry

13. Now we are ready to test our mod in game before we think of releasing it (see Figure 09)
    • Refresh the list in ME3 Tweaks Mod Manager
    • Highlight your mod in the left panel
    • Click on Apply Mod
    • Click on start game and test your changes

Figure 09

14. If all is working, you are now ready to deploy your mod into a .7z so you can release it (see Figure 10)
    • Right click your mod in the left panel
    • Click Deploy mod to 7z file for distribution

Figure 10

15. If everything is green and ticked on the window that pops up you are good to go and hit Deploy to .7z (see figure 11)

Figure 11

16. Save the zip to your desired location and click save (see Figure 12)

Figure 12

17. Click yes on this pop window to take you to the pop up window that will let you upload the Mount Number, Mod name etc to the database (see Figure 13 + 14)

Figure 13

Figure 14

18. Congratulations your mod is now ready to be uploaded to Nexusmods. Can't wait to see what you make

Common things you will find in the Coalesced files

True

• whether an action is active

False

• whether an action is inactive

If you are adding Armours/Casuals these values will come in handy:

bHideHead=True or bHideHead=False

• If false the head is not hidden, if true the head is hidden.

bHideHair=True or bHideHair=False

• If false the hair is not hidden, if true the hair is hidden.

bHasBreather=True or bHasBreather=False

• If false the breather or better known as the radio is not on. If true the breather/radio is on.

PlotFlag=-1

• when the PlotFlag is -1 it dictates to the game that the item/outfit should be in the locker as soon as you can access the locker

CasualAppearances

• This is where Casual Appearances get referenced

TorsoAppearances

• This is where Torso armour Appearances get referenced

ShoulderAppearances

• This is where Shoulder armour Appearances get referenced

ArmAppearances

• This is where arm parts of armour Appearances get referenced

LegAppearances

• This is where leg parts of armour Appearances get referenced

HelmetAppearances

• this is where helmets get referenced

FullBodyAppearances

• this is where full body armours get referenced