Can you replay with original character?

[dontxhide]

I finished Awakening (PC) and was left wanting to play again, not with a new character, but with the one I finished with. I wanted to try to solo it this time with all those new weapons and armor I recieved.

 

But... I couldn't. I even tried swapping out save files from Kallian1 folder to the Kallian folder (my characters name). But when I did that, Dragon Age Awakening removed her from the Import screen.

 

That is the extent of my computer skills.

 

I remember doing that on Balders Gate 1 and 2 and worked everytime. I get attached to a character and want to replay with all the cool gear, so I just switch saves and import my lvl 14 character and try to solo again.

 

Is there some way to do this with switching save files? Is there a mod that will let me keep all my characters gear, level, appearance, and let me replay over again?

 

Thanks for your help!

[DarkeWolf]

hrm. kind of a nasty cheat that we're talking about, here.

 

Ok, part of this, is simply an idea, the other is something that I tried, but havent tested.

 

The character that I took thru awakening the first time, was named Athena. I went thru her characters/saves folder, and found a folder called Athena and Athena1. I made a backup of the Athena1 folder (I backup my saved games on a fairly regular basis). And then Deleted that folder from my saves folder in characters. This allowed me to reselect her for transition to the expansion. So this is the part that was tested.

 

And this is the part that is idea. I havent been able to test it, because toolcrap gives me that damned memory error and crashes when I try to open a savegame in it.

 

What you might be able to do.... is to go ahead and move that folder from your characters/saves folder and then start the character over again, until you get to a point where you can create a savegame.

then open up the LAST savegame from your original runthru of awakenings in toolset. In your savegame is ALL the info from what your character had. Skills, inventory, money, etc.

 

So open up toolset, click file- open file. Browse it to your folder where you moved your original saves to, and then browse to the spefic file that you want to try to copy out. And have it open that file. Give it a minute or three to open it, even if it says "Not responding". Those files get very large for this thing to read, so it may take some time. IF you can successfully read this file, you'll get a treelist of the info that is in the save game.

 

Theres gonna be two files in there to note. .das and .das met. .das is the one you want.

 

The only part that I KNOW how to find, is the stuff that I BELIEVE is what your character is wearing.

 

Look for SAVEGAME_PLAYERCHAR and click the + next to it to expand that portion. First listing there, should be something like SAVEGAME_PLAYERCHARACTER_CHARACTER. That should be the name, trying to do this from memory, but it's the first entry under SAVEGAME_PLAYERCHAR, that much I DO remember. Click the + next to it if you have to, to expand it.

 

Scroll down that list till you get to listing that says SAVEGAME_ EQUIPMENT_ITEMS and expand it. You'll then get a list of I believe is 0-8. Each one of those has a + beside it. Start at 0, expand it, and copy down ALL the information that is in that listing. (I say copy down, because in my experience, with this program, you NEVER know when it's going to CRASH. You could either write it down on paper, create a notepad file that you type the info into, or screenshot it and create a picture of the screenshot ((screenshot is ctrl key + prt scr keys on the keyboard, then open a photo editor... file, create new, from clipboard, then paste the pic into the new pic file.)). And then do that for each of those 0-8 listings.

 

Now, IF you can find the skills listings, (I dont know what they are in that file, really sorry) you'll also need to do that for them as well.

 

Once you've got that info, and verified that it's all correct, try to open the savegame that you are wanting to transfer this stuff to. Myself, I would recommend closing the file that you're copying it from, as ToolCrap DOES NOT LIKE having two savegame files open. Can seriously increase your chances of a crash.

Then either manually enter in the info into those slots (if you have to have the info on a seperate source) or Copy and Paste them into the right slots (IF you can manage to run the program with two savegames open).

 

Then click File/save as and save it in your character/saves folder for the new savegame.

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Now, getting those skills and whatnot might be a big issue. I dont know for sure if you can get them or not. Like I said, I havent been able to experiment with that part of it.

So.... in case that you can't..... I dont normally recommend this program, because its a pretty big cheat. But we're already talking about a big cheat, so here it is.

Dragon age Beguiler-

http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=205 this mod, once activated (you have to spend a skillpoint to activate it) can give you additonal skill points, additional attribute points, more money, more more more.

If you have to go this route, I would recommend loading the mod on the character from ORIGINS, use the console command to give yourself a skillpoint to activate the beguiler skill, save the game, and then transition. (I say to do it this way, as console commands DONT WORK in Awakening.) Beguiler however, DOES still work in Awakening. Or at least, for me it does.

 

Another option for your gear, would be to create a script that adds the particular gear that you want, to a merchant that is there at vigil keep. The generic scripts are around, if you look for them on the net. the necessary changes that need to be made, for them to work with awakenings are listed here- http://thenexusforums.com/index.php?showtopic=190666

As for this option, that is all the information that I am really going to give you. Because when it comes to THIS particular subject.... I know Just enough, to know that I DONT know what I'm talking about... if you know what I mean. If I need to put that another way, lets say that I know the method exists, I just don't know enough to know how to implement it.

The really big issue, is going to be finding the filenames for the items. Toolset can't access a lot of the files from awakening, so that might be your biggest chore.

 

good luck!

[dontxhide]

Well,

 

I downloaded the toolset but it wouldn't let me open up any files. Out of Memory or some error like that. I guess you have to have 4gigs of memory to run something like that?

 

I may just have to use my work computer.

 

Thanks for your help. I'll let you know how it works once I install everything at work (I have a real lenient boss ;) )

[DarkeWolf]

I've heard of issues with people having 6 gigs, and still getting that error. So I dont think its so much as an issue with the amount of ram on the system, as it's an error with the program itself. most likely the same memory issues which Origins/Awakening has.

Today may be a good day for you though. There's been a few mods that have been added very very recently that may be able to help you out some. Tho from what I'm reading some of them are more what I'd call BETA STAGE as they still have some wrinkles.

 

http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=920 is supposed to allow you to get the skills in DA:O

http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=930 allows you to reach level 50, which you would need, since I think some of them have a level requirement

http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=906 add awakening items via console. tho there's a few that he missed.

 

now, looking at these, I think combined with beguiler which I linked to in my other post, you could build your character in origins, using these mods combined together, and then transit the character to awakening. Tho I'm not for sure if that console command is made to work in origins, awakenings, or both. And I havent tested any of these mods, just looked at the discussions for them.

If its made for awakenings, you could just put the character together there, using the console mod, and beguiler. Tho I'd still recommend adding beguiler to your character in origins, as the console command for adding xp to get your level up for the skill point needed to add beguiler to your skill list doesnt work in Awakening.

 

If you havent already activated the console, instructions for doing so, are here- http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Console

and if you dont want to risk making mistakes, you can load and install my wasd keyboard file, which has the console set for the `/~ key. (its the key to the left of the 1 key, without the shift key held down.) http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=813 tho it does also change the movement keys to WASD instead of QWEF but that's easy enough to change back in the options menu, if you want to.

 

 

I'm hoping that this will be a solution that will be much more viable for you.

[dontxhide]

!cheers!

 

All I needed was beguiler, the item creator, and the console.

 

I even used the console in Awakening to add exp to get beguiler talent and it still worked? I thought console didn't work in Awakening?

 

I somehow wound up with 5 more DEX points than I ended with in Awakening even though I swore I did the math right. So today I'm going to go back and fix that.

 

Thanks for your help! It feels weird cheating this way because I hate cheating in video games. For some reason I would have a much better feeling if I could just swap save files haha... but this works perfectly, thanks :)

[DarkeWolf]

Interesting... yeah, thats the information that I've been passed along was that console command cheats were disabled in awakening. Good to know that it still works tho, thanks VERY much for letting me know that! :thumbsup:

 

I'm glad to hear that you got a working solution going, without having to mess with the toolset. As this method will be much simpler. And as you and I have both pointed out, the toolcrap doesnt exactly work for everybody.

 

Odd that, with the dex points. LOL tho, I suppose that at least it didnt take those points Away, so it's not a bad thing, IMO, considering all the issues that people have had with awakening.

 

You're very welcome. Tho, to be honest.... if these new mods hadn't come out when they did, we'd have had a much, much more difficult time with this. So make sure to go back and leave endorsements for the mods, and kudos to the authors :wink:

(just make sure you dont give the kudos to sitebot by accident :wink: )

 

The problem with just swapping out the save files, is that those files also contain information which is contained in your player database. That info contains the flags and triggers that are involved with quests, journal and codex entries, etc. Which, I would imagine would be a royal she-dog to try to track down and get rid of. IF you knew what to look for, which I dont even have a clue.

 

I AM glad to hear that you got good results with this. Here lately, a lot of the things that we've tried to do with awakening, or stuff that has resulted from the patch or the expansion, hasn't turned out well. So figuratively speaking... this success is a breath of fresh air! :-)