Playing without mods

[ahlewis32]

I've been happily playing with a modded DAI game since the Mod Manager was released. Today I got the dreaded "white screen after talking to Solas " issue and can't advance my game to Skyhold after losing Haven.

I remerged the mods using the new method as I've done each time I've added or removed mods since the last patch. Now I can't get any of my saves to load and get the "later version of the game" message each time. I tried renumbering the patch in the package file but that won't work either.

I've repaired the game, updated it again, deleted the Patch.daimod file and remerged the files using the new method and I still can't load the saves. I've done this a dozen times today as administrator.

The MM appears to be working and I get no error messages when I use it. The mods are in a folder outside the game. I've turned off security software, all with no joy.

 

There used to be instructions that allowed you to remove all the mods allowing you to create a dummy file so you can play modded saves without the mods. Those instructions have disappeared and are nowhere I can find them. Is it possible to load modded saves without the mods installed with the latest patch?

If so, how or am I screwed? I have hundreds of hours of games that will become essentially useless if I can't.

 

[theskymoves]

There used to be instructions that allowed you to remove all the mods allowing you to create a dummy file so you can play modded saves without the mods. Those instructions have disappeared and are nowhere I can find them. Is it possible to load modded saves without the mods installed with the latest patch?

If so, how or am I screwed? I have hundreds of hours of games that will become essentially useless if I can't.

 

 

My game is very lightly modded and having experienced no issues with that aspect of it, I've not need to do this (so be aware that this is conceptual rather than hands-on knowledge), but I believe the procedure is

 

• remove the 'merged' folder (the one that we've been re-named to 'Patch' since the last update)
• restore the official patch folder to its vanilla state (i.e., as 'Patch')
• re-merge with JUST the vanilla patch ticked in the mod manager
• rename the folders as usual ('Patch'>'VanillaPatch'; 'merged'>'Patch')

 

and if it were me, I'd probably do a 'Force a rescan of Patch' before merging, just to cover all my bases.

 

I seem to recall mention of the white-screen-when-talking-to-Solas being linked to a hi-rez eye texture mod... which one or exactly why it is happening escapes me, but if there is such a thing in your load, you might also want to try remerging without it. /not helpful sorry

[ahlewis32]

I had the white screen before when I used an eye mod about a month ago. I removed the mod and you are right, it fixed the game. I haven't used an eye mod since. I do have makeup textures in at this time. I've tried playing without them but still get the white screen. Systematically removing and remerging mods until I have none has resulted in no joy. I did try your method but I couldn't get any games to open with that either. I still get the "later version of the game" warning. Renumbering the version in the package file didn't work again either.

 

At this time, I'm guessing my only recourse is to play only vanilla and start a new game that actually loads or uninstall and reinstall the entire game. Reinstalling will take a day just to download a new copy on my slow rural internet. So the verdict is that I'm screwed. I backed up the game saves in a file and I'll keep them for posterity. Thanks for your time Mrs Grumpy Girdle. (love that name!) :laugh:

 

Edit: I made a last ditch effort to get this all to work. I removed all aesthetics mods except a pajama mod and Cullen makeover, leaving the game play mods in. I repaired and updated the game, downloaded a new copy of MM after deleting the old one and it's info, remerged the mods using the post Patch 5 method and I can load all but the two most recent saves. Oddly, I can load game saves from before those game saves and a game made after those saves. I changed the version number in the package file but I keep getting a message that those 2 game saves were created with a later version. Any ideas out there why this would happen? There are no indications that the saves are corrupted.

[Thandal]

Those saves probably aren't "corrupted", but they contain flags indicating they were made with content that is no longer installed. BioWare didn't do a good job of writing the error messages for a failed load. I think there are only a couple of generic notices, none of which cover your exact situation. And unfortunately there's no "Force Load" routine, which (I think) is a significant oversight!

 

As a patch beta tester, I've already had to abandon an IQ who was about half-way through a Nightmare playthrough for this very reason. I won't be able to load those saves until the "missing" content is available again. But of course with mods there's no guarantee that they'll ever be made compatible.

 

First Rule of Modded Gaming: "Caveat Lusor!" :cool:

[ahlewis32]

After all this I sort of figured that the problem was just me and that BW left something out, Thandal. I've noticed the pop up warnings seem a bit generic and vague. I loved the force load ability in DAO but then DAO was a modder's game, intended to be modded with the toolset. I'm still playing and I have started a new game that's working fine so far. I'll keep trying to get those saves to work and figure out what content is missing. I really want to finish my Qunari mage playthrough. She's awesome!

 

Thanks Thandal and Mrs Grumpy Girdle! You both rock!

[ahlewis32]

Today I remerged all the mods that were in the folder and one of my games that wouldn't load had begun loading! I still can't figure out why the other one won't load. I have all that same mods in that were there when the game was played. It's all so hit and miss that it could be one problem or a million that's causing it. I'll just have to keep trying. But at least I got my Qunari mage back. I missed her!