I suppose that we all agree that the Alliance's Ranks depiction in the Dress Blues outfits are a true mess. The progression between the ranks is not depicted properly and some different ranks share their symbols (something that really shouldn't happen). There are still a nasty bug, overlooked by bioware, that makes Shepard wears two different Dress Blues in ME3 (one in the squad screen, and other in the game itself). It happens that version worn by shepard in the game itself is less detailed (not the texture, but the uniform) than the one that appears in the squad screen, which has individual male and female versions by the way, and it is more often associated with lower ranking officers, a lot of them, for example, are seen wearing this uniform on the prologue (I don't think all of them were commanders). Fortunately, with simple modifications in the coalesced.bin it's possible to get rid of this problems. Here it goes the alliance's rank chart with my modifications explained. Note that some ranks didn't even appear in the games aside the codex, but including then in the explanation might get things clearer:
ENLISTED
Serviceman 3rd class/ Private 2nd class
Depiction: Dress blues without bars neither at sleeves nor in the shoulders
Serviceman 2nd class/ Private 1st class
Depiction: One black bar at sleeve's bottom; nothing on the shoulders
Serviceman 1st class/ Corporal
Depiction: Two black bar at sleeve's bottom; nothing on the shoulders
NCOs
Since the game sometimes mentions sergeants, despite the fact that this rank isn't mentioned in the original chart, I suppose they should be included here like this.
Service Chief/ Second Sergeant
Depiction: Three black bars at sleeve's bottom; nothing on the shoulders
Gunnery Chief/ First Sergeant
Depiction:Four black bars at sleeve's bottom; nothing on the shoulders
SUB-OFFICERS
Operations Chief/ Sub-Lieutenant
Depiction:Two black bars at sleeve's bottom; one black bar on the shoulders
JUNIOR OFFICERS
2nd Lieutenant
Depiction: Three black bars at sleeve's bottom; two black bars on the shoulders (by default this is the outfit seen in shepard squad screen in ME3 and there is a Male and a Female version of it)
1st Lieutenant
Depiction: Four black bars at sleeve's bottom; three black bars on the shoulder.
Known Officers that hold the Rank: Sanders
Sanders, so as Shepard (outside the squad screen), wears a Dress Blues depicting the rank described as above in ME3, and the Mass Effect Wikia states that HER rank is really First Lieutenant, while Shepard's rank is Commander (we all know that different ranks doesn't share the same symbols). And, since we can see a lot other officers wearing this uniform in the game, is much more likely that it represents the First Lieutenants instead of the Staff Commanders. There is also bug, mentioned above that makes Shepard be depicted with other dress blues version in the in the squad screen. Below there is a form to solve these problems and associate this outfit only to Sanders's rank.
INTERMEDIATE OFFICERS
Staff Lieutenant
Depiction: One gold bar at sleeve's bottom and one gold bar on the shoulder.
Known Officers that hold the Rank: Kaidan (ME1)/Pressly (probably)
Kaidan never wore a Dress Blues in any game and Pressly's rank is just being inferred by me. In ME1 Pressly is always referred as "navigator", however he is the one made the Executive Officer when the ship is given to Shepard, then I have assumed that his rank can't be lower than Kaidan's by the time. And, since Presly refers to Shepard as "sir" even before Shepard receives the Normandy's command, it is very likely that he was below him in rank. It's worth to remember that Shepard was Lieutenant Commander then. Given all this, my depiction of the Staff Lieutenant rank assumes that Pressly is one. And, as we can see in the picture below, his uniform in ME1 was exactly as I describe here.
SENIOR OFFICERS
Lieutenant Commander
Depiction: Two gold bars at sleeve's bottom, one gold bar on the shoulder.
Known Officers that hold the Rank: Shepard (ME1); Ashley (ME3), none of them is seen wearing a dress blues in either gamed, hence the picture beneath is a texmod trick only to ilustrate the respective rank symbols.
Staff Commander
Depiction: Three Gold Bars at sleeve's bottom, two gold bars on the Shoulder.
In ME3, by default, this outfit is seen only being worn by the male members of the alliance council (prologue) and in Shepard squad screen, what make it more exclusive and likely to be associated with higher ranked officers as them. Then, here lies the trick: with some changes in the outfit texture and in the coalesced.bin (explained below) Shepard's rank can be depicted like in the image and he no longer wears the same outfit associated with lower ranked officers, thus correcting the bug that made he be depicted with two different outfits, and is possible to follow a coherent rank progression.
Known Officers that hold the Rank: Shepard (ME2/ME3)/Kaidan (ME2)
Captain/Major Depiction: Three Gold bars at sleeve's bottom, three gold bars on the shoulders
Known Officers that hold the Rank: Anderson (ME1)/Kaidan (ME3)
Anderson's rank is depicted exaclty like this in ME1. Unfortunately, by the time of ME2, when he was, if Shepard choose Udina for the Council seat, an Admiral, his outfit was a re-used texture from ME1, hence depicting an outdated rank. The picture below, as all other pictures of him in a dress blues in this post, except the Admiral one, is again a texmod trick to ilustrate the progression.
GENERALS
No officer ranking under Rear Admiral/General portrays neither the two slim gold bars in the arm next to the shoulders nor the "winged-star" in the chest. These symbols are the distinctive emblems of general officers. Furthermore, one should notice that the only thing that differentiates the the captains/majors's uniforms from those of the rear admirals/generals are the referred emblems.
Rear Admiral/General
Depiction: Three Gold bars at sleeve's bottom, two gold slim bars in the arm next to the shoulders, three gold bars on the shoulders itself
Known officers that hold the rank: Kahoku and Mikhailovich, both in ME1.
This rank was never depicted correctly in any game, even if my corrections were not taken into consideration. Kahoku wears the same outfit as Pressly, and a bunch of other officers ranking below him as well, and Mikhailovich the same as Anderson. Since no Rear Admirals are presented at any point after ME1, their rank depiction can be overlooked. It is good, however, know that despite of this, it is possible to fit them into a coheren ranks progression.
Admiral
Depiction: Four Gold bars at sleeve's bottom, two gold slim bars in the arm next to the shoulders, three gold bars on the shoulders.
Known Officers that hold the Rank: Anderson (ME3, beginning)
Anderson's dress blues in ME3 is exaclty like described above.
Fleet Admiral Depiction: Four Gold bars at sleeve's bottom, two gold slim bars in the arm next to the shoulders, four gold bars on the shoulders.
Known Officers that hold the Rank: - Hackett (ME3); Anderson (not confirmed, but very likely, since in ME3, after Earth's invasion, his battle dress depicts four gold bars, emblem until them only seen in Hackett's uniform).
Hackett's dress blues in ME3 is exaclty like described above.
In order to make these changes work, open the coalesced.bin like this: biogame.ini > sfxgame > sfxplayercustomization > casualappeareances. Inside casualappeareances, on the second line, where is written "1a" (right after "Mat_"), replace for a "1b", in both instances that it appears. Also, in the same line, replace all instances of "HMF" by "HMM", and "hmf" by "hmm" (without the ""). IMO the ranks make more sense this way but it is up to you use them like this or not.
Fleet Admiral Hackett
www.mediafire.com/Alliance's Dres Blues - 2.1 (for male Shepard)
www.mediafire.com/Anderson's Dress Blues - 2.0
www.mediafire.com/
Modifié par Lyncoln-Ap, 04 juin 2013 - 07:05 .
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