jwvanderbeck

Gee thanks for the spoilers :(

Black helicopters and Julia Roberts!

Hope you're feeling better!

you can name the readme anything you want as long as "readme" is in the name. DAModder is smart :) Readme and Description are two different things and displayed in two different spots. Its up to you. I think most people put only a subset of the readme into into the description. In a "standard" mod, the description is what you see in game when you are looking at your installed content.

"readme and changelog" refer to files you may distribute with your mod. For example, if you package your mod with a file named readme.txt, DAModder will display it to the user. Same with "changelog.txt". These files can use the DAMarkdown as well. As for "Mod Description" it is referring to the "Description DefaultText" field in the XML.

No don't use HTML. It is plain text, but you can use DAMarkdown to "spice" it up. See here: http://damodder.tenderapp.com/faqs/builder...iptions-readmes

I am happy to announce that DAModder, which has been in development for about 2 weeks and in a closed beta testing, is now officially moving into an Open beta phase. That means anyone who wants to can now download the application and use it, and hopefully help report any issues you find. While it is very important to be aware that DAModder is not finished, I can say that it is rather solid in its current version. Installation and Uninstallation of most all mod packages is very easy to use. To get started, please go to this link: http://damodder.tenderapp.com/faqs/beta-te...s-a-beta-tester You can also join us on the DAModder discussion forum: http://damodder.tenderapp.com/discussions/...me-to-open-beta The bug tracker is located here: http://damodder.lighthouseapp.com/projects...modder/overview So come on over, grab the latest beta (which at the time of this writing is Beta 1.9.5) and join in the fun! I think you will find DAModder to be a nice easy to use mod manager that is growing very fast, with lots of new features to come.

Hmm in re-reading what I posted, I have to say say I probably should have waited a bit to cool down before posting. Its just that i've poured so much effort into this DAModder.

I have to say i'm a little upset and personally hurt to see a mod manager released, even though i've been working on DAModder for a couple weeks now and i've not hidden the fact that it was coming, yet apparently the community couldn't wait :( I didn't want to release it to the "public" until it was really rock solid, so I was working through a more closed beta with people willing to help out. But now I see that was a mistake. I don't know what will happen now, but I will release DAModder into the open within the next day or two. It is pretty solid, but I wanted it to be close to perfect before it went out. Oh well.

I love 7zip as well. Its something I might be able to handle, and would like to, but I have to essentially write all the code for handling them because a library isn't (that I know of) available .

Just to follow up on this a bit. If your mod is a standard mod, that is currently installed by DAUpdater, then chances are pretty good its already compatible with DAModder. If you are just distributing the .DAZIP file, or you are ZIping it up along with a Readme file, it will work fine with DAModder. The user can simply drag and drop the .DAZIP file or the .ZIP file into the application, and hit install. No problem. About the only way a standard mod would be incompatible right now is if you're doing something like zipping it up, but hiding the DAZIP in a subfolder or something. Core Override mods is where the real crux is. By definition these are not "modules" by the game's standards, and as such there is no module data for DAModder to parse. In other words, DAModder has ZERO information on the mod. The instructions in the sample show some small changes you can make to how its packaged so DAModder can essentially be "told" the mod's details. This will make the end user experience for your mods much better, as users will be able to see details like Mod Name, author, version, URL, description, etc. Oh and if you do ensure your mod is compatible, let me know or post it here, and i'll be sure to highlight it once we go into open beta :)

DAModder - A full replacement for DAUpdater, and more! The upcoming mod manager, DAModder, will be moving into an "Open Beta" very soon, and such i'm hoping to get as many modders as I can to ensure they are distributing mods in a format that is compatible with DAModder. DAModder is designed to allow mods to be packaged in such a way that they are compatible with the application, but the user can still easily install the mod with DAUpdater or by hand if they desire. Small tweaks to how modders are currently packaging their mods will allow DAModder to work with them in a player friendly manner. There are two types of mods in general. Standard mods and Core Override mods. Standard Mods are those that are released in a .DAZIP file and can be installed with DAUpdater. Core Override Mods are mods that aren't technically a "module" by the game's standard, but instead simply drop files into the players "Core Override" directory to change the behavior of the game. DAModder allows players to easily install and uninstall both Standard and Core Override mods. You can get the sample packages here: http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=250 And Thank You!

Its been a fun road through Beta 1.0, and with the help of all the testers we've gotten the core functionality, Installing and Uninstalling both "standard" mods and "Core Override" mods, to be pretty much rock solid. Tomorrow a completely new Backup & Restore system, which is really quite amazing, will go into place and once the kinks are ironed out of that we will be moving to Beta 2.0! The focus of 2.0 is providing Builders with the ability to easily package their mods in such a way as to be compatible with both DAModder and DAUpdater (in case you have a crazy player who just refuses to use DAModder.. silly them!) I would LOVE to get more modders on board for 2.0 so we can really give the packaging system some good testing. If you are at all interested, please just drop me a PM here, and I will send you the link to get started.

I think you mean ERF and DDS, not BBS. ERF files are just packages of other files. You don't load that into Photoshop. You load the DDS files. NVidia makes a plugin for DDS files. If you are running CS4, and have 64bit Photoshop installed, what you need to do is when installing the NVidia plugins, change the install path to the 32bit version of Photoshop. The installer will by default install them to the 64bit version but the plugins don't work in the 64bit version. They work fine in the 32bit version.

Yes you can, it is just a standard ZIP file renamed. However installing it by hand requires editing a game data file by hand, so be very careful and back it up. If you extract the .DAZIP you will have a contents directory and a Manifest.xml file. The Contents directory is basically the same as My Documents\Bioware\Dragon Age\, so copy all files into the same folder from there down. Lastly open My Document\Bioware\Dragon Age\Settings\AddIns.xml and manually insert the data from Manifest.xml. Only insert the <AddInItem> data Or more simply, you could come help beta test DAModder which will do all that for you :P http://dragonagemodding.wordpress.com/damodder/

M2DA's are overrides for the games 2DAs were are essentially compiled spreadsheets. For more info: http://dragonagemodding.wordpress.com/2009...ding-2da-files/ Most mods are designed so that they don't keep giving you the item over and over since that is rather tacky :)

This is a common problem that is caused by the toolset's broken plot flags. http://social.bioware.com/wiki/datoolset/i...p/Plot_GUID_bug

With that said, DAModder will eventually allow updates :)

I would like to get more testers on board for the beta of DAModder. Beta 1 has rapidly matured and we will be moving into Beta 2 here VERY soon. If you are interested in beta testing, please see this page: http://dragonagemodding.wordpress.com/damodder/

DAModder is currently in beta testing. Beta 1 is coming along nively, most of the initial issues have been ironed out. Only one major feature left holding up beta 2, so things are moving nicely. At the link above you can find information on testing if you want to help.

Most likely you have corrupted your AddIns.xml file. Is there an error showing up in the log in the toolset? I bet there is. Been there :) Hopefully you backed up up the file before hand editing it. Currently it is not possible to delete a module from the toolset without hand editing the database itself, and even then its not a clean deletion. Best to just ignore it. You can always disable a mod in the game menu. Have you tried any of my tutorials? Best one to get started on is: http://dragonagemodding.wordpress.com/2009...player-an-item/

Sounds to me like at least some people have tried hand editing their AddIns.xml file (very bad!) and it got messed up, causing DAUpdater to crash. Defintely something you need to be careful with. ALWAYS backup your file first. I'm sorry if I missed it, but for those on Steam, are your mods installed to the same place as non-steam, or is it to a different place? For non-steam they get installed to: My Documents\Bioware\Dragon Age\AddIns Also you all might be interested in a new application i'm working on called DAModder which is a replacement for DAUpdater. http://dragonagemodding.wordpress.com/damodder/ Beta 1 just started tonight.

I will be sending out the first round of Beta emails either tonight or tomorrow. I'm wrapping up some last minute UI connections and writing basic instructions in the wiki, then we'll be good. If you would like to help test in this first round, then please see the link below for information on how to sign up. http://dragonagemodding.wordpress.com/damodder/

Um.. I can't find time to actually PLAY this game. You're so silly!

The social site sucks horribly. I still can't register my game their, which is why I don't use the site. It just refuses to take my key, and typical EA won't help me at all. DAMods has the toolset available for download. Just download it there.