34 replies to this topic

[veteran_gamer]

damn, looks like i'll have to write up a quick guide, its quite simple but takes time like anything else
give me a few hours to write it up then trim it down so it doesnt end up being a fifty trillian word post

gonna start on it now

[veteran_gamer]

alright friends, here's what you need to do - follow these steps and i assure you everything will work fine

Green = essential core resource, will have a permanent place in our resource directory
Orange = non-essential, but could prove handy down the line & harmless to keep around (says the guy smoking next to the gas pump)


STEP 1 - GET AWAKENING INTO THE OVERRIDE


a.) Create a folder in your mydocs\dragonage\packages\core\override... & name it _rsrc (or whatever you'd like to name it). we will be dumping a massive amount of content/archives into it shortly & in the future as well...stuff for DLCs or favorite mods, etc

b.) Navigate to c:\programfiles\dragonage\packages\core_ep1\data - you should now see the ERF archives everywhere, go ahead and copy the following archives


anims.erf - animations
designerscripts.erf - stuff a lot of the daa talents will call for, area of effect, spells, status modifiers, etc....you know...the scripts :]
face.erf – Optional, but it's nice to be able to select from the .mor files in awakenings to bring new life into your campaign setup, again - optional
materialobjects.erf - maos, if you plan on using any mesh or pretty much any visual content in the editor from daa, you need this
designerplaceables.erf - maybe you want to mess around with some portals or props exclusively found in daa, this is for you. don't worry, i'll include it with the gda package
modelhierarchies.erf - cannot do very much without the mmh side of things now can we?
modelmeshdata.erf - msh, need it
tints.erf - defines any tints the additional mounted content calls for/uses....so......we can see the tints
resmetrics.erf - res-who? sounds like a bad techno song i agree, but you'll probably want this if you plan to milk as much of the content as you can aside from the talents/meshes
textures.erf - preferably the high quality bundle (199MB) if you run your game on high, either will do though

here's a quick screen shot so you have an idea



c.) paste the copied archives into your "_rsrc" or equivalent of what you named it, then RENAME them ALL with the following (or similar) _prefix

anims_gxa.erf
designerdiapers_gxa.erf
modelhierrrsohiiigh_gxa.er

here's another screen shot so you get an idea



well done my invisible friends!!
download & extract the package below, launch the toolset & look at what santa brought!!

;]

(feel free to skip, looks like a buncha psycho-babble from here on)

STEP 2 - GDA FUN...COMPILING/CHART ASSEMBLY

in my experience...(judging from my bad luck with posts & the inability to....post lately), when trying to patch together a quick m2da base to have basic content inject itself into the toolset/game..., the head variations were not recognized whatsoever, but the _apr (appearance base for bodies etc) seemed to function as normal. it could have been the forest gump box-o-chocolates in me (user/client-side error), but i overcame this quickly after compiling a fresh m2ad_base from the "source" directory located within the toolset itself stripping away all but accessible/applicable content - in other words, removed the "hungry_howe/andy the mage packages, approval stuff, etc to have a "clean" list that wont possibly interfere with standard dao behavior...

that being said (wtf -did- i just say? god bless you people), i certainly do not wish to put the reader but most importantly myself through further psychological abuse that is the result of following this abomination-of-a-tutorial. you know, this just isn't my thing - which is why i have offered/decided to simply hook it up with the gdas so you can at least get a feel for all of this without having to deal with my constipated-in-tone monologues

nice one jesus...that scramble-post trick seriously does its job - you got me good you did (high five big jeezy baaaaybeh!)

i will now return to the original task...expect em .. soon

please let this post submit error-free
cmon....

[veteran_gamer]

post moved to last reply to conserve reading space

Edited by veteran_gamer, 30 July 2010 - 03:23 AM.

[veteran_gamer]

edited to conserve space, updated attachment with 'full' package below

Edited by veteran_gamer, 30 July 2010 - 12:43 PM.

[veteran_gamer]

Alright, here's a pretty nice package to get you guys goin!

with this attachment extracted into your override & assuming you've done the above, you will now be able to

-access all daa weapon model variations within toolset, has daggers, a staff or two, armor variations, etc
-access (working) daa item properties/enchantments, such as haste (is actually weapon haste), decrease fatigue, etc
-access to daa creature bodies, heads & related attachments such as architect, mother, lightning dragon, blighted were wolves, you name it!
-access to daa props, from bones on the ground, to pedestal/anvil lookin things, and so forth
-access to daa tints that you can apply to your items or whatever

*does the ritual hand motion of the holy cross*
let us pray all are satisfied and no further inquiry on my behalf is required

enjoy!

Attached Files

•  _gxa_toolset_ext.zip   22.16KB   213 downloads

[chibievil]

right on, this is some cool stuff here, i have done the instructions and it worked 100% of the time. and also worked if u want the items in origins game too

[DarkeWolf]

WOW~! Right on bro! THAT definitely deserves kudos!
(Aw crap, you've already got them from me )

[Thandal]

WOW~! Right on bro! THAT definitely deserves kudos!
(Aw crap, you've already got them from me )

Hey, I'm not a modder, but I can sure appreciate what V_G has done for all of us by posting this!
(So DW, I gave him kudos on your behalf.)

[danscott84]

V-G, thanks for this and kudos. However, and this may just be my system, but I still cannot find the utc files for Wynne, Anora, or Alistair. Has anyone else located them using this method? and if so what is the name of the utc for Wynne?

[veteran_gamer]

no no you are most welcome, please

you know i wrote this when i was tired, anxious to finish other stuff, and eventually frustrated when my post got scrambled and i was foolish enough to not save it in notepad even after the 2nd time in a row that it happened haha, i appreciate the karma points its a kind gesture ;]

only wish you guys had a better "guide" to lead the way. i feel like owen the drunken smith, but hey since i'm what you've got for now we'll make the best of it heh
just hope im not confusing more than informing

also should of taken better screen shots as some of those may indicate its safe to copy gui.erf which you do not want to do
point is this needs to be revised, plus i also left out certain things and additional mountable content from within main folder regarding awakening, and issues with "encrypted" dlc, more like my uncertainty if standard unedited erfs will show up as resource rants

- i really should have been more thorough rants
i messaged dwolf asking him how to approach this, didnt wanna make further mess of thread/unorganized, and didnt want to create a new one rants

you know what i should ask you guys, heh, i mean, since we're all here right?

What Exactly do you want out of the toolset?
maybe you could make a reply like..

-want to be able to do this
-want to be able to access that
-want you to do a backflip that lands on your neck without breaking it etc

then i can compile the best "guide" possible from that so long as its within my knowledge

yeah, lets start over - lay it on me & i'll do what i can
this may sound weird or creepy

but treat me like an information database, or an ATM machine
ask a question, treat my username as if its a "search" or "inquiry" based interface

no question is stupid, anything is allowed except asking me to hurt myself (.....heh?), im patient and easy to deal with (chill out with self promoting propaganda) so you guys dont have to worry
my offers to help are genuine or i simply don't offer, so in case we do expand upon this, make sure you take me for my "word" ;]

when we're done, i bet we can ask the admins to tidy up (deleting my null posts mainly) so the thread may even serve as a little pool of knowledge especially if others join in, but we wont count on that for now

danscott84 buddy - are you trying to access the creatures within Toolset? and is it coming up empty?
the UTC filenames are as follows as ive worked with most of them

gen00fl_alistair
gen00fl_dog
gen00fl_leliana
gen00fl_morrigan
gen00fl_oghren
gen00fl_sten
gen00fl_wynne
gen00fl_zevran

is there a reason they arent there?
was it the sheer massive size of npc folders etc just hard to navigate/find them?
i know too little to jump off with sudden tips, let me know know what it is yeah?

so ..i dont know what to do, iw as gonna update post with "proper/updated" info....but if you guys have specific questions or toolset desires, probably better to gather alllllllllllll the info then sandwich it into an post?
yeah this feels like a massive post, will end for now and await replies

edit - making a mess, sorry