Nebulous

If you have the PC version of Mass Effect 2, you can rename a few .BIK video files to skip some of the repetitive movie sequences such as the BioWare/EA intro screen and the mass relay game sequence.

Edit: I just realized I had previously entitled the article “Deleting .BIK Files…” when deleting them is NOT what you want to do! My bad!

Do not delete the files! You can move them to a temporary directory inside the game installation directory or you can just rename the files by altering the file name slightly, such as adding one or two characters to the end of the file name. I simply added a “_1″ to the end.

BioWare/EA Intro Video

Renaming the following movie file will get rid of the BioWare/EA intro video so the game starts more quickly. Yes, I realize pushing a key will skip the video, but it’s nice having the game start instantly without requiring any player interaction.

\mass effect 2\BioGame\Movies\ME_EAsig_720p_v2_raw.bik

If you have the Steam version of Mass Effect 2, the location will be in:
\Steam\steamapps\common\mass effect 2\BioGame\Movies\ME_EAsig_720p_v2_raw.bik

Mass Relay Gate Sequence

This video sequence always plays every time you use the mass relays to travel to different star systems. Upon jumping to a new star system, you’ll still hear the mass jump relay sound track but you’ll pop up instantly in the destination star system!
\mass effect 2\BioGame\Movies\GLO_01_Relay.bik

Again, if you have the Steam version of Mass Effect 2, the location will be in:
\Steam\steamapps\common\mass effect 2\BioGame\Movies\GLO_01_Relay.bik

Arrival/Departure Sequences

I don’t recommend renaming/moving all movie sequences entirely, especially if you’re on your first play-through! Removing any more sequences will ruin the game experience.

However, if you’ve already completed Mass Effect 2 once or twice and are going to do subsequent play-throughs, removing these sequences can speed things up a little.

Any movie file with the string “arrival” or “depart” in its file name is an arrival/departure sequence. As mentioned, I’d recommend leaving them in during your first play-through. If you’re on subsequent play-throughs, removing them is a consideration.

You definitely want to leave any end game sequences alone. The end game sequences are easy to differentiate. They have the “EndGm” text string in the file name.

Roll Your Own…

There are also a tonne of loading screen sequences too. Unless you like staring at a black screen while stuff loads up, I’d suggest just leaving those alone.

However, if you go to Rad Game Tools and download the Bink player/encoder suite, you can make your own loading screens from existing videos or still image sequences.

The game is designed to play audio from audio files independent of the video files to facilitate localization so your custom video’s audio track won’t play.

If you’re the mischievous type and have a roommate, sibling or friend with the PC version of Mass Effect 2, you could try replacing the loading screens with looping porn video sequences when they’re not around.