New user to Mods, can't figure out a problem

[lord_equinox]

Before you direct me to any 'DA Mods for Dummies' thread, first hear out my situation... I think it might be a bit of a special case, but maybe not. Maybe I really am just overlooking something. But I really do think I know what I'm doing... And I have no clue what's going on here.

I am using the steam version of DA.

 

A long time ago, about 8 months, I downloaded and installed "Extra Dog Slot" with no problems. I am using DAModder, and when I did this, I figured out exactly what to do, installed it, and in-game, I clicked on "downloaded content", and "checked" it so that it would show up in-game.

 

I forgot how I did this originally. All I know is I did SOMETHING right when I installed Extra Dog Slot.

 

Now I'm getting back into DA, and wanted to install these 3 mods: Pineappletree's Vibrant Eyecolors, Kzelsama's More Hairstyles, and Improved Atmosphere. I opened up DAModder and tried to install these using it, but improved Atmosphere didn't exactly work for it, but Vibrant COlors and More Hairstyles did. Apparently they are both recognized by the program and installed.

 

Here's what gets me though. I open up the game and look in my "downloaded content" area on the menus, and I DO NOT see it listed there, I can't check it off, it's not there like my Extra Dog Slot mod is. This is seriously bugging me because apparently it is downloaded and recognized by DAModder just as Extra Dog Slot. But in-game, I can't check it off, and I can't see any changes in the chargen.

 

With Improved Atmosphere, I went into My Documents/BioWare/Dragon Age/Packages/core/override and put it in there, just as the readme told me, but I don't see it in-game and can't check it off or anything. I also see that the DAModder program might have put Vibrant Colors and More Hairstyles in this folder, but NOT Extra Dog Slot. However, Extra Dog Slot DOES show up in-game.

 

I guess I'm just confused, I don't know why these don't show up and how to get them to work like I did Extra Dog Slot a long time ago. I don't even know where Extra Dog Slot ended up in the grand scheme of things. Can someone please help me?

 

 

NOTE: I did a bit more research and realized that Extra Dog SLot was installed to DAmodder as a "dazip" file, while I simply installed the .zip archives of Vibrant Colors and More Hairstyles to the program, apparently the program recognized it and it worked, but still can't check it off in-game and the content in-game does not exist.

 

As far as Improved Atmosphere goes, I did exactly what the readme said to do as far as dragging the folder into the specified location, but, it didn't show up in-game.

 

 

 

 

ANOTHER NOTE: Aha. I found where Extra_Dog_Slot ended up: in yet another folder called "AddIns". And it shows up fine in-game when it exists in this "AddIns" folder. I'm gonna try something crazy now and stick the mods I want to work in here... see what happens.

[XTR3M368]

The mods you are talking about are "drop in your override" type mods. You do not use the modmanager with these types of mods at all and they don't show up in your DLC menu because the shouldn't.

 

Improved Atmospheres has some changes to the game that happen "automatically" once installed. (which means dropping the unzipped files into your override folder and NOT using modmanager to do it) It changes some of the town NPC activities and adds new weapon stats to some of the weapons you find in game, ect.

 

Pineappletree's mod adds options to the character generation and is required by some mods that change faces. This is also a mod that happens "automatically" after you install it by dropping the unzipped folders/files into your override.

 

More hair styles is pretty much the same scenario....no modmanager install....unzip and drop the folders/files into your override and the content automatically shows when you make your new character or install a mod that uses its resources.

 

There are basically 3 different kinds of mod installs that are out there. The 2 most common are DAZIPs and the "unzip this and drop it in your override folder" types. The other less common are override zips which install via a mod manager but install in the right window instead of the left but is installed like a DAZIP where you right click on a file you have dragged into the bottom window of the mod manager and click "install". You don't use any program to install the "unzip and drop in your override folder" type mods and they don't have a place to "uncheck" them. You have to delete their folders out of your override folder to "uninstall" them.

[lord_equinox]

Aaaah, thanks for explaining that- however, I am still confused because neither Vibrant Colors or New Hairstyles will show up properly in the Chargen right now. I don't see any new eyecolors or skin tones available and the new hairstyles don't show up at all, instead there is a "blank" slot where I can see right through the back of the character's head... So I have no clue what I'm doing wrong now. O.o Is it because I am running the Steam version of the game and need these override files in the Steam directory instead of My Documents?

[RustyBlade]

The Extra Dog Slot is not an override installed mod, it is a dazip. If the mod shows up in your DA modder, uninstall it from there. Then go to your My Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\packages\core\data folder and find the file called Extra_Dog_Slot_package.erf and delete it. Reinstall the Extra Dog Slot dazip and you should be good to go.

 

Everything else is as XTR3M368 said.

 

Edit: Your eyecolors and skin tones are not showing because the chargenmorph.xml files need to be merged. A good guide is All about the chargen and a good compiler is CharGenMorph Compiler

Edited November 19, 2010 by RustyBlade

[lord_equinox]

Ah, thanks. I'll get to work on that.

 

Though, I do notice that my PC has never shown eyecolors properly. They've always been black, and even now they're still black. Except Morrigan, apparently her yellow eyes are the only ones that have actually shown up properly in my game... Does this have to do with my monitor settings? Strange, it's only DA that this happens in. My laptop shows it just fine.

[Thandal]

Before you direct me to any 'DA Mods for Dummies' thread, first hear out my situation... I think it might be a bit of a special case, but maybe not. Maybe I really am just overlooking something. But I really do think I know what I'm doing... And I have no clue what's going on here.

I

Soooooo... Basically every single one of the issues is identified and addressed in "Using DA Mods for Dummies"

 

1. Mods which DAUpdater (or DAMM, or DAM,) can handle (".dazips") vs. the ones it can't.

2. Mods which just go in the "override" folder.

3. Mods which change PC and NPC appearance and so need to be merged into the chargenmorphcfg.xml file.

 

Just checking if I missed something... :whistling:

[lord_equinox]

My bad, then. :P I figured since I am using Steam that some of that might not have applied. I was figuring that I had to 'check' these mods to enable them for use in-game, and adding to the confusion was the fact that my computer has never displayed eye colors properly even in vanilla game, even now with all the "vibrant eyes" added, there is no change whatsoever to the eye color my computer displays. I did read the guide, I just sort of got confused and wasn't sure it meant what I thought it meant... if that makes any sense.

 

Anyway, yeah. The mods "work" now, but I'm still a bit miffed at the eyecolor issue... trying to figure out what's going on with that.

[Thandal]

Anyway, yeah. The mods "work" now, but I'm still a bit miffed at the eyecolor issue... trying to figure out what's going on with that.

Yeah, those Steam users do sometimes have "special" problems... :tongue: (Sorry, couldn't resist!)

 

The "all eyes are black" problem is well known. (And you're right, Morri's are a special case. In fact, all Shapeshifter NPC eyes are pulled from a completely different file than the others.)

 

If either a) you're graphics settings aren't high enough, or b) you haven't got everything correctly established in the chragenmorphgcfg.xml file, (in other words, you've specified some setting for eye color that can't be found) the eyes will default to black. (Interestingly, if you do the same for hair color, it defaults to white.)