Editing NPC Morphs AND Importing PC Morphs into Toolset

[Bananasaurusy]

I am tearing my HAIR out over these two semi-related problems. I thought I was fairly computer savvy, but then I started messing about with the DA Toolset and after 4 days and countless hours I seriously cannot understand how this thing works.

 

FOR THE FIRST PROBLEM:

I used "Core and Single Player Morphs" (http://social.bioware.com/bw_projects_file_download.php?project_file_id=1755) to get the MRH (which is the editable morph file format, I'm gathering) of the NPCs, and then attempted to use varying tutorials (not the least of which was the super vague wiki tutorial), but after editing the morph I have no idea what I need to do.

 

This is what I have been doing:

 

1) Open toolset

 

2) Change the module to single player

 

3) Click 'Creatures' in the Palette Window

 

4) Search for 'Leske' in the Palette Window

 

5) Find his file, named bdc200cr_leske (I made a copy of it and changed it to bdc200cr_leske2 because everyone keeps saying I need to make copies).

 

6) I edited the given morph to my liking

 

7) And this is where I get lost. No matter what I click, and what the tutorials say, I CAN'T edit the file name in the Palette Window OR Object Inspector window. Where, exactly, am I editing the filename to change it to dm_bdc200_leske (which is what the top tutorial says to do on this page:http://social.bioware.com/wiki/datoolset/index.php/Morph#Beards_and_facial_features)?

 

8-?) Then there's a whole bunch of business with exporting to the override folder (the folder with all my lovely mods, and one I am very familiar with), but I never get past step 7, so attempting to do any exporting leaves me with a bunch of .mop or .mor files in my override which do absolutely nothing to the game itself. Leske still looks fugly every time I load up the game to check.

 

[Bananasaurusy]

Now, for the PC morphs.

Is it possible to import a savegame morph into the toolset to edit it? I want to add one of the Avvar tattoos, which only appears in the toolset, along with a few other mods that also only appear in the toolset.

 

After doing a ton of research, I found that a folder entitled "Single Player" is involved, but now I am far too exhausted and frustrated to find the tutorial I was attempting to follow in order to access the single player character appearance head morph. Apparently it is in binary or hex code and, using the hex code converter a forum poster suggested, I convert it to the other and paste it somewhere. The only problem is that when I tried to copy the converted code in the converter, it wouldn't let me select it. Beyond that, I have no idea where exactly to paste it or how to do so.

 

I really hope at least one person will ready my newbie struggle and try to help, because this has pretty much ruined the game for me. :/

[mcgoy]

1st problem. With the file closed, right click file name in the palette window, check it in, right click file name in palette window, open 'properties', change the name of the file there.

 

Or you can save some time and just change the name of the .mor file to whatever file name you want.

 

For the PC, there is a mod on Nexus that will let you change the head morph any time. Altering the current head morph is harder and I don't know how to do it.

[theskymoves]

 

8-?) Then there's a whole bunch of business with exporting to the override folder (the folder with all my lovely mods, and one I am very familiar with), but I never get past step 7, so attempting to do any exporting leaves me with a bunch of .mop or .mor files in my override which do absolutely nothing to the game itself. Leske still looks fugly every time I load up the game to check.

 

 

If your exported morph has a different name than the original morph, it won't override the original.

 

One way to work with morphs:

 

Open the MRH in the toolset. The original Bioware MRH files are read-only, IIRC. So save the MRH, with the same name, but to a different folder. (I like to create a WIP folder on my desktop, for ready, drag-and-drop access.) Close the file, and open the new, identically named copy in the toolset. Edit that one, save it when you are done editing, and export it using the original file name. Stick it in your override (if that's where the toolset didn't dump it; that part is always an adventure) and it should work.

 

Another approach is to use differently named copies whilst making the edits (as with your 'bdc200cr_leske2')... this is how I deal with either/or comparisons, as I'm trying to decide between one version and another. The final morph, though, should be saved and exported with the same name as the original MRH (again, to a folder other than where the original file is). Otherwise, the internal name won't match the file name; I've occasionally encountered morphs the game barfs on when the internal/file names aren't the same. /clear as mud and just as useful

Edited April 29, 2014 by theskymoves

[Thandal]

One doesn't edit a ".mor" file directly. Although it's possible to change the associated values for certain elements (which I have done for "haircolour", for example) within one's saved game ".das" file, which then makes that change in the PC's appearance, those changes are limited to things that are mapped to the existing resources already available.

 

So if you want to swap the PC's facemorph for a completely different one, then in DAO/DAA the usual way is to generate a NEW ".mor" via the Character Creator, play long enough to be able to "Save", then exit, extract the the ".mor" from the ".das" for that game and use it to replace the one in your original game. I use the "Dragon Age Face Replacer" mod to do the extraction/insertion for me.

 

NOTE: DA2 and (we hope DA:I) saves your PC's facemorph in a format which can be edited later. In fact, if you have the Black Emporium DLC, that's done in-game via the "Mirror of Transformation". :thumbsup:

[Bananasaurusy]

 

 

So if you want to swap the PC's facemorph for a completely different one, then in DAO/DAA the usual way is to generate a NEW ".mor" via the Character Creator, play long enough to be able to "Save", then exit, extract the the ".mor" from the ".das" for that game and use it to replace the one in your original game. I use the "Dragon Age Face Replacer" mod to do the extraction/insertion for me.

 

I use that same program, but as there are certain tattoos (like the Avvar ones and a few of my custom content ones) and complexions that only appear in the toolset and not the Character Creator, I was hoping there was a way to import my character's .mop in the toolset. I guess I kinda had an airhead moment and forgot one can't edit .mor, or maybe I thought there was a way to convert it to an .mrh temporarily for editing. :c

 

So in essence, editing an already-made PC face in the toolset is impossible for DA:O? That's poopy. ;-;

[theskymoves]

 

So in essence, editing an already-made PC face in the toolset is impossible for DA:O? That's poopy. ;-;

 

It's certainly possible to make very minor edits by opening the MOR/MOP as a data file, and editing the information in various fields (like changing the hairstyle or eye/hair tint colours), and it's probably possible to exchange one tattoo for another, by the same method, though I'm just guessing at that... I've never done it, myself.

 

But no, there's no way to change a MOR or MOP to an MRH for more extensive WYSIWYG alterations. (And as an aside, the toolset is overkill for those small edits; pyGFF has a much smaller footprint and does the job just fine.)

 

ETA that I have a vague memory of editing the tattoo field in one of my morphs... something to do with a freckle tattoo that I later renamed, and needing to 'correct' the info in the MOR after extracting it from a game file... but even if my recall is correct, that hack won't help you, since I didn't add a tattoo, it was already part of the morph.

Edited May 4, 2014 by theskymoves

[Thandal]

... it's possible to change the associated values for certain elements (which I have done for "haircolour", for example) within one's saved game ".das" file, which then makes that change in the PC's appearance, those changes are limited to things that are mapped to the existing resources already available.

 

Yup, this is exactly what TSM is talking about! :thumbsup:

 

But for what you're trying to do, well... The custom tattoo would have to have been made into an appearance mod (resource with its associated ".xml" file.) You could incorporate it into the game's chargenmorphcfg.xml, and could then reference it when editing your ".das".

[DwainDibley]

Extract "Core and single player head morphs.zip" to your override folder.

1) Open toolset

2) Change the module to single player

3) Click 'File' then 'Open File', browse to the 'All Head Morphs' folder in your override folder and pick an 'mrh' file to load, edit to your heart's content.

4) when done, click 'File' then 'Save' and it will save your edited mrh file in the same folder, renaming the original mrh as a'*.bak'.

or click 'Save As' and you can name your edited creation to whatever you like.

4a) While the .mrh is still open, go to the 'Object Inspector' scroll to '14. Export Settings' and check to see if 'Export .mop file' is set to 'False' if you want a '.mor' file.

5) Next, click 'Tools' then 'Export' then 'Post to Local' and it will save your creation.

Because you used the 'single player' module it will probably save it in '*\Documents\Bioware\Dragon Age\modules\Single Player\override\toolsetexport\'

*Do not change the *.mor file name if you intend for it to replace the original. No original *.mor or *.mop files will be harmed in this process.

Hope this helps...

**ADD: Create a "ZZ_Morphs" folder in your override folder and place your altered morphs in it to ensure they load.

Edited June 30, 2014 by DwainDibley