Listed here are the commonly used acronyms for Mass Effect. This page is intended to allow users who are unfamiliar with the terminology used by the community to quickly understand what is being discussed.
When contributing to this list, please keep to the following guidelines:
| Term | Full | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ALOT | A Lot of Textures | A exhaustive graphical overhaul mod for Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3. Comes with it's own installer, which can be used to install custom textures. |
| ALOV | A Lot of Videos | A mod by Audemus and Mellin that remasters all pre-rendered cutscenes in the Mass Effect Trilogy. |
| DLC | Downloadable Content | Extra content released after the release of the game. Most content mods for the Mass Effect Trilogy are loaded into the game as DLC |
| LE | Legendary Edition |
Common abbreviation for the 2021 remaster of the original 3 Mass Effect games. LE1/LE2/LE3 abbreviations are commonly used to refer to the individual games within the Legendary Edition (as opposed to ME1/ME2/ME3 referring to the original games). |
| LE1 | Mass Effect (Legendary Edition) | The Legendary Edition release version of Mass Effect. |
| LE2 | Mass Effect 2 (Legendary Edition) | The Legendary Edition release version of Mass Effect 2. |
| LE3 | Mass Effect 3 (Legendary Edition) | The Legendary Edition release version of Mass Effect 3. |
| LEC | Legendary Explorer Core | The core library used by Legendary Explorer and many other modding tools to work with the game. Developed by ME3Tweaks |
| LEX | Legendary Explorer | A community-made modding toolset for both the LE and OT. |
| LOC_INT | LOC_INT | An internationally localized file, in English. These files typically contain audio and dialogue. Each game localization will have its own set of these files with a different suffix. |
| M3 | ME3Tweaks Mod Manager | A community mod manager/modding tool for Mass Effect 1, 2 and 3 |
| M3M | .m3m file | A file for use with ME3Tweaks Mod Manager to merge changes into the game files without fully replacing them. |
| ME1 | Mass Effect (2007) | The original release version of Mass Effect. |
| ME2 | Mass Effect 2 (2010) | The original release version of Mass Effect 2. |
| ME3 | Mass Effect 3 (2012) | The original release version of Mass Effect 3. |
| ME3C | ME3ExplorerCore | The core library for ME3Explorer, the precursor to LEC. |
| ME3X | ME3Explorer | A community-made modding toolset for the Original Trilogy games. |
| MELE | Mass Effect Legendary Edition | The 2021 remaster of the original 3 Mass Effect games |
| MEM | Mass Effect Modder | A tool for installing textures into Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 |
| MEM File | .mem file | A texture mod that can be installed by Mass Effect Modder. |
| MEUITM | Mass Effect Updated/Improved Texture Mod | A mod by Catachrism that updates textures for Mass Effect 1 and 2. Installable with the ALOT Installer. |
| MODDESC | Mod Description | The INI file format used by ME3Tweaks Mod Manager to determine how a mod gets installed |
| OT | Original Trilogy | A collective name for the original releases of Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 |
| PCC | Package file | The basic “package" file format for the Mass Effect games. Can contain models, scripts, levels, audio, etc. |
| SFAR | .sfar file | The file format used to compress DLCs in OT Mass Effect 3. May need to be unpacked when developing mods. |
| TLK | Talk Table | A file format that stores localized text. Mass Effect 1 has TLK files embedded in it's package files, while Mass Effect 2 and 3 store them in .tlk files. Any text in the trilogy will be in a TLK somewhere |
| TOC | Table of Contents file | A file in ME3 and all three LE games which lists every game file and it's size. Must be updated with a tool like AutoTOC after any mod is installed |
| TPF | .tpf file | Contains texture data that can be installed by MEM v500+. |
| UE3 | Unreal Engine 3 | The game engine that all three Mass Effect games, both OT and LE, run off of |