ive installed Mass Effect but it wont play! can anyone help?

sorry this isnt a massive discussion but i hope someone will have already solved this problem.

my computer has all the power, graphics etc, needed to play this game and ive even installed it. however, once i click play on the menu, the game chooses to shut off and forces me to close the programme. i know this is because im using a vista and the security is too tight. ive tried reinstalling and cahnging firewalls but they not worked. ive tried installing on an XP and it worked but the graphics card on that comp wasn't powerful enough. ive found lots of advice on the internet to go on the properties and change its Compatability to XP but there is no Compatability tab for mass effect even though ive found it on other games. does anyone know why it is different for mass effect and have any way to change it? thanx for reading

Are you..... Logged-on as administrator !

Are you..... Logged-on as administrator !

--Anna--

It seems that the most common problem is that the game cannot create a certain registry entry the first time you play, and therefore you need to run as an admin, but that is only needed the first time. You will probably be good with just this.

It seems that another possible problem could be that some packages weren't installed, and you wpuld have to run an installer from the disk yourself. This is less common than the former.

thx for the feedback, but so you know, i am logged in as admiistrator, and while other games on the same computer do have an option to run as administrator, this game doesnt. it doesnt have a problem getting to the menu box with play, and uninstall options etc, its once i click play on that, that it stops working. ive also tried reinstalling the game but not maunally so that seems my last option, unless there are any other ideas.

i took your tip on C:\Programe Files and found the compatability tab and eventually got it WORKING!!! HOORAY :lol:

Massive thanks to bignick217

if you have any tips to help the game to run abit smoother as well would be greatly appreciated.

but thnks for solving my problem, everyone who also posted.

"... know this is because im using a vista... "

Great, you know what to do

Glad to hear you found the file I was talking about and got it working. Now for anyone else who is having the same issue, here is the more detailed instructions now that I'm home and found the exact paths.

Go to My Computer

Got to where you installed the game and go into the Binaries folder. If default install path, it should be C:\Program Files\Games\Mass Effect\Binaries\ or if you have Vista 64bit (as in my case) it is C:\Program Files (x86)\Games\Mass Effect\Binaries\

Right-Click on MassEffect.exe and click Properties

Click on the "Compatability" Tab

Tick the box "Run this program as an administrator" and then click Apply and OK.

Then you can close the window and run the launcher again.

Click Play

Vista will ask for permission... Click Continue.

Game will run properly now.

As for running the game smoother... That's kind of between you and your system. You could try messing with the shadow settings as they can put a pretty heavy load on many cards. But I couldn't tell for sure with this game as I run everything maxed out with perfect frame rates. Hope you guys find this useful... Enjoy.

i took your tip on C:\Programe Files and found the compatability tab and eventually got it WORKING!!! HOORAY :lol:

Massive thanks to bignick217

if you have any tips to help the game to run abit smoother as well would be greatly appreciated.

but thnks for solving my problem, everyone who also posted.

robyer2