We've been working on some new features.

Rather than create a separate sticky post for each of my mods regarding this issue, I'm going to create a single article. Comments are disabled, as I've already answered all the questions I'm willing to answer on the topic. Do not come into the main mod thread and post more discussion on this -- your post will be deleted.

A playthrough built on Rondeeno's Same Sex Romance mods is incompatible with all of my mods for the trilogy. They cannot be used together. Period. Full stop.

There will not be compatibility patches.

Here's why:

1. Vanilla romances.
All of my mods for ME2 and ME3 assume BioWare's default, vanilla romance options (with the exception of Thane's romance fully being carried over into ME3 from ME2 via ThaneMOD). They assume this for changes to existing content and for new content additions. This is something that makes our mods inherently incompatible.

2. Importing saves.
I have several large mods for ME3, and now a very large mod for ME2. All of these mods have been carefully designed to work together and require various patches. Some of the mods even require each other. All assume vanilla romance options. Attempting to create compatibility is not a feasible goal and isn't something I'm willing to spend development time on.

In addition, now that ME2Recalibrated exists, it's possible that in the future I'll require a save built on ME2Re for at least some of my ME3 mods. That would allow me to create changes in ME3 that will depend on *new* player decisions in ME2. This would be very cool and could lead to even more differences for the VS, for example.

3. Philosophical.
BioWare's strength is character writing, and as a result, ME characters have deep histories and backgrounds. A character's sexual orientation is either implicitly or explicitly designated the moment they are are created. Implicitly, by which gender of Shepard is capable of romancing them, or explicitly by the game disclosing their orientation during a dialogue. I disagree with the concept of changing this for any character. Imo, a character's gender, race, and sexual orientation should be left alone. I wouldn't want to see Sam made straight, Garrus made gay, Jacob made white, or Tali made male. These are fundamental aspects of who these characters are, and BioWare shaped their personalities, attitudes, voices, background, and more, with these details in mind.


That's pretty much it, but first, a reminder for those of you with twitchy fingers:

There is no such thing as "optional" files for content/story mods.

It is extremely important for folks to understand that you *cannot* pick and choose which files for a mod to use. Content/story mods are not like mesh/texture mods. None of my files are optional and none of SSR's are optional. All files, for each mod, are required. Attempting to create compatibility yourself will only result in breaking different aspects of both mods.

I will not provide answers, comments, or technical support for folks who refuse to heed my warning and attempt to use my mods in a way they weren't designed. I also won't allow discussions of how to "safely break" my mods, since there is no safe way.

Finally, players should recognize that thus far, they have been very, very lucky when it comes to using mods with the Mass Effect trilogy. When using mods with other titles -- like Skyrim -- you quickly discover that not all mods are compatible, nor will they be made compatible. Mods are not official DLC and compatibility with everything should never be assumed. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide what's most important for you.

If you're having a hard time deciding, then I encourage you to try separate trilogy runs, each sticking to one set of mods. You might even find that you enjoy both and want to switch between them depending on your LI and playthrough :]

Hope that clears things up!

Article information

Added on

Written by