[GUIDE] How to change your FOV (PC only. Sorry console owners.)

For the lazy, download this. It's at 100 FOV. Just back up your original coalesced.bin and put it in the folder Mass Effect 3\BIOGame\CookedPCConsole.

THIS INVOLVES EDITING COALESCED.BIN. DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Hey everyone. As many of you know, most PC games have an FOV slider or option that lets you increase or decrease your FOV as you see fit. Unfortunately, Mass Effect 3 does not. Your FOV is locked at 70 and to some, this feels claustrophobic and causes motion sickness.

Fear not my friends, for I have found an ancient relic of knowledge in the depths of the Bioware forums. You can indeed increase or decrease your FOV. However, this requires adjustments in coalesed.bin deep within the Mass Effect 3 files directory. Don't worry about reading the thread to find out how to do it: I made a guide for you. I'll just note that I didn't figure this out. I merely discovered it while googling.

Proof for those who demand it: SP Video, MP Video, Pic, and why would I make this guide and waste my time if it was impossible?

While so far no one seems to have been banned from using this FOV adjustment, it's still treading on grey area. Also, editing without backing up coalesced.bin may result in gamebreaking effects which can be repaired with a reinstallation (we will go over how to back it up in the guide). Do this at your own risk.

Steps on how to change your FOV yourself:

1. Download this nifty program. It will allow you to modify coalesced.bin.

2. Extract it anywhere you wish.

3. Navigate to your Mass Effect 3 directory, then open BIOGame, then CookedPCConsole. For me it's at C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Mass Effect 3\BIOGame\CookedPCConsole. You should have something pretty similar.

4. Make a back up of coalesced.bin. Just copy paste coalesced.bin with a different name.

5. Open ME3Coalesced.exe

6. Click File, then Open. For those with poor computer skills, it looks like this.

7. Go to your CookedPCConsole folder and open coalesced.bin.

8. After it loads, open bioinput.ini tree, then sfxgame, then sfxgamemodebase. Click on bindings = (multiple).

9. Scroll down the right side of the program until you get to the very bottom with an open space with an asterisk (* <- this guy) on the left side. It should look like this.

10. Click on the open space, then copy and paste this guy in: ( Name="Shared_Aim", Command="SwapWeaponIfEmpty | TightAim | FOV 0 | OnRelease FOV 90 | OnRelease StopTightAim" )

11. Change the "90" in that line to the desired FOV. I use 100. Press enter. Now it should look something like this.

12. Click File, Save. And you're done!

13. If the game stops behaving in a normal manner, such as being unable to move or fire in game, remove/delete coalesced.bin and restore the backup by renaming it to coalesced.bin.

What to do when in game: Right click (zoom) once. Now you're in a different FOV!

FAQ

1. Will I get banned for using this? For the last time, probably not. So far Bioware has not banned anyone using this adjustment. While higher FOV does give you an advantage in combat by letting you see more, it's not a huge difference that it warrants a ban. It can change, but it's highly unlikely.

2. Will it affect multiplayer matchmaking? Nope. I have read comments that say that no one can enter the lobby when they're the host, but I have not had that problem. People entered my game at the same frequency as before.

3. I messed up and now the game wont work. As I said before: restore your backup. If you don't have a backup, reinstall. If problems persist after reinstallation, it's not the coalesced.bin.

4. Is there any way you can bring this to the consoles? People have managed to mod Mass Effect 2 in Xbox360, but it was limited to editing save files. While it may be possible, I seriously doubt that it's possible to edit the coalesed.bin (or the equivalent in the consoles) in the Xbox360, Playstation 3, or the Wii U.