Help : How to edit a mod?

[Question2]

I have the mod source files, but i have no idea how to open them in the toolset (or which ones to open actually). Im trying to edit talent/spells, just changing some numbers around and the description. How do i do this?

 

(Also if anyone knows how to edit engineevents.gda like tinman said here : http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/229926-dragon-age-single-fixes-endorsements/page-53 that would be great)

[mcgoy]

http://social.bioware.com/wiki/datoolset/index.php/Main_Page

 

The link is to the DAO toolset wiki. It is the best source of information for general questions.

[theskymoves]

You don't need the toolset to edit a GDA, in fact, as far as I can recall, the toolset doesn't even know how to open one.

 

Google 'GDApp' for a small utilty that can be used to open and edit GDA files (it shoulld be on BSN), or see the toolset Wiki linked above for information on how to use the ExcelProcessor.exe packaged with the toolset to generate a new GDA from a spreadsheet.

Edited January 3, 2015 by theskymoves

[Question2]

mcgoy : the problem is, the wiki tells you nothing about how to edit a mod, if you look in the tutorial section it only has tutorials on how to create something from scratch, but not how to edit an existing mod. For example i have a mod's source code here, which is a folder of .xls files and a folder of .nss files. The wiki doesn't say anything about what file i am supposed to open or using what option in the toolset.

 

theskymoves : Thanks, i opened up the engineevents.gda file for the two conflicting mods. But it just shows three columns, ID, EVENT_TYPE and string. It doesn't tell me what does what exactly. How am i supposed to make the two of them compatible then?

[mcgoy]

question2: the principles of creating a new mod will help you figure out how to edit the existing mod. If you look at the toolset wiki and read about excel/gda files and read/learn the scripts about .nss files, you will be able to determine which files to open/edit. You want something that says "to make Change X, open file Y and make the following changes. There is no tutorial that I'm aware of that will go to that level of granularity."

 

http://social.bioware.com/wiki/datoolset/index.php/Adding_a_new_spell_tutorial This tutorial answers all of your questions about "changing some numbers and the description" that you mentioned in your original post.

[Question2]

Thanks, but the scripting tutorial doesn't even mention the word "compile" for some reason. There would probably be a lot more mods if there had been better tutorials.

 

To start off with, I created a new resource in the toolset titled "additem.nss". In the notepad like window, i copy pasted the script, which is the additem script modified with one extra line to spawn the amaranthine guardhouse key, and then clicked compile script.

 

The toolset then tries to save the script, but it always hangs midway. What am i doing wrong? Nothing in scripting overview or the scripting tutorial says anything about the toolset hanging when you click compile.

 

Edit : Language setting might be an issue here, testing now.

 

I'm looking at the tutorial you linked btw, and it helped a lot, thanks. But what do i do when i already have the source code files for an existing mod, and am not trying to modify the core resources? Is there a quick way to compile all the .nss files other than individually adding new resources for them then compiling? I can't seem to open the .nss files in the toolset for some reason...

Edited January 8, 2015 by Question2

[Question2]

Okay apparently the toolset cant compile anything if its set to anything other than english for non-unicode programs, weird.

 

Anyway i think i managed to compile and export without any problems, thanks.

 

Now im trying to edit spell tooltips in the combat tweaks mod. This tutorial (http://social.bioware.com/wiki/datoolset/index.php/Adding_a_new_spell_tutorial#Updating_your_ability) only talks about creating an entirely new tooltip...not how to edit an existing one. I found the string reference from the mod's source files (ABI_ct.xls), but the string editor refuses to let me edit that string, saying that it belongs to a resource that is already checked out? I can't find out what resource it is as it doesn't actually tell me and i didn't check out anything.

 

To complicate matters, i had to go to the single player module to find that string because i can't see any way to import the source code for the mod in as a module...i want to edit the tooltips that are already present in the mod's source files, not the default single player ones. How do i do this?

 

In regards to aura of pain in talent_aoe_duration.nss :

 

case ABILITY_TALENT_PAIN:
{
// if hostile
if (IsObjectHostile(oCreator, oTarget) == TRUE)
{
ApplyEffectDamageOverTime(oTarget, oCreator, nAbility, PAIN_INTERVAL_DAMAGE, PAIN_INTERVAL_DURATION, DAMAGE_TYPE_SPIRIT, Ability_GetImpactObjectVfxId(nAbility));
}

break;
}
}

 

If i wanted to make aura of pain not deal damage to the reaver using it, do i simply remove the oCreator lines?

Edited January 8, 2015 by Question2

[Question2]

Another thing which i am trying to do is modify a mod's .gda file so that it only increases the out of combat movement speeds (the mod itself increases combat speeds as well).

 

Heres what the .gda file looks like : http://i.imgur.com/xLpFFBK.png

 

I should be able to delete pretty much everything except the races used by the player characters (as it doesnt matter whether NPCs move fast out of combat or not). The problem is that i dont know how to reverse the combat speed changes the mod did....elf combat speed is set to "5.59999990463257" for example and i don't know what hte original value is. How do i use the toolset to find that? I'm guessing i need to change the animation combat speeds to default too...

[mcgoy]

 

Thanks, but the scripting tutorial doesn't even mention the word "compile" for some reason. There would probably be a lot more mods if there had been better tutorials.

The DAO toolset wiki is written for those who know/understand the principles of programming. It is not meant to teach someone the basics of programming. There are books, college courses, on line courses, on line tutorials, etc to teach someone the basics of programming. There are youtube tutorials that are an introduction to the toolset and how to use it (high level, don't teach the principles of programming.) These are only a couple of the reasons that I ALWAYS suggest starting with a small and simple project so that the person can learn the basics of programming when starting their first modding project.

 

Per the toolset and the suggested naming convention. Even though you don't need to use the Bioware naming convention, you should use a naming convention that will result in unique file name. If someone else creates another script with the same name bad things can happen. I would also suggest trying to add an item to DAO/main campaign and then an item for Awakening when you have the item working for DAO.

 

 

As for 'hanging', there 'should' be an error message or warning message in the toolset log window if there is a syntax issue with the script. Other than that, yes it could be an issue for a setting associated with the toolset. I'm not good with setting up the toolset so I really can't give you any guidance there (when I install the toolset it usually involves a lot of swearing :woot:). For a warning or error message, the exact wording of the message is needed to determine the problem.

 

I typically open the nss file in wordpad and copy/paste into an nss file in my module in the toolset. Based on the mod that you are trying to alter, it is still possible that it is a Core resource. As far as I know each script (only .nss files need to be compiled) must be compiled individually.

[mcgoy]

 

I found the string reference from the mod's source files (ABI_ct.xls), but the string editor refuses to let me edit that string, saying that it belongs to a resource that is already checked out? I can't find out what resource it is as it doesn't actually tell me and i didn't check out anything

Create a new string id and change the string id in the gda file to your new string id.

 

 

If i wanted to make aura of pain not deal damage to the reaver using it, do i simply remove the oCreator lines?

No, the oCreator is needed for syntax reasons. If you just remove it, the code probably don't compile.

 

 

How do i use the toolset to find that? I'm guessing i need to change the animation combat speeds to default too...

I don't believe it is in the toolset, you'll need to look in the original (not modified) excel file to find the original value. I don't remember where I downloaded the excel files from - they may have even been included with the toolset install. Or you can check on BSN projects.

 

 

I'll be offline for the next 10 hours (at least).