Help with DAMM

[sinr88]

Hi guys,

 

I'm new here and new to modding (using mods really...) for PC games. i read the instructions on both the dummies guide for using the mods and the description on the DAMM itself and i still don't quite understand how to install the "override" mods... (i feel like an idiot ><)

 

The dazip files seems to be easy to use as it goes straight into the dazip folder in the DAMM directory, but the overrirdes are confusing the crap outta me.

 

Could someone put it into a simpler set of instructions please?

 

*edit* Also, can some one tell me where to put the CharGenMorph files after i use the compiler? Thanks *edit*

 

 

Cheers,

 

sinr88

Edited February 5, 2011 by sinr88

[Thandal]

Hi guys,

 

I'm new here and new to modding (using mods really...) for PC games. i read the instructions on both the dummies guide for using the mods and the description on the DAMM itself and i still don't quite understand how to install the "override" mods... (i feel like an idiot ><)

 

The dazip files seems to be easy to use as it goes straight into the dazip folder in the DAMM directory, but the overrirdes are confusing the crap outta me.

 

Could someone put it into a simpler set of instructions please?

 

*edit* Also, can some one tell me where to put the CharGenMorph files after i use the compiler? Thanks *edit*

 

 

Cheers,

 

sinr88

Welcome, sinr88!

 

I think you'll understand things better by taking a look at the Dragon Age "individual player's profile" folder structure.

 

I'll lay out the "normal" picture for the issues you raised. To keep from repeating it every time, unless identified otherwise, all of these are found as sub-folders under: "C:\[user's documents]\Bioware\Dragon Age"

 

1. If you followed the instructions for TerraEx's "Chargenmorph Compiler" utility, you know it does NOT go in the "\packages\core\override" folder, but it will take care of merging any CGM.xml files you have and putting the ONE instance the game can recognize in that folder. If you're doing the merging manually, that's where you want to put it; ("\packages\core\override".)

 

2. When correctly installed, DAMM will create two subfolders of its own UNDER its install folder; "dazips", and "overrides". When you put a ".dazip" mod in the "\[DAMM]\dazips" folder, it will appear in the BOTTOM panel. You can right-click on it and use DAMM to "install" it into the game. (Which really just means that DAMM puts a copy in the "\addins" folder. At that point, you can see it in the LEFT Panel of DAMM; "Installed Dazips" (and also on the "Installed Content" screen in-game.)

 

3. A DAMM ".override" mod works much like a ".dazip", except that you have to extract the ".override" file itself from whatever packaging it was in, (usually a ".zip" or a ".rar" compressed file) and then place it in the "[DAMM]\overrides" folder. At that point it will appear in the BOTTOM panel of DAMM. Like with a ".dazip" using DAMM, you still have to right-click and "install" it. Then, with many ".override" mods, you will want to right-click on the the newly appearing instance in the "Installed Overrides" CENTER Panel of DAMM, and "configure" it.

 

Hope this helps! :thumbsup:

[DarkeWolf]

Heyas Sinr, welcome to the nexus!

Yeah, I hate to say it, but they didnt do a great job of explaining override files.

basically, all you have to do is drag and drop (DnD) the .override file into the Installed Overrides panel of DAMM. And from there, it should install it on it's own.

 

This of course, after you extract the .override file from the .rar .zip or .7z file that you downloaded it in.

 

I wrote an article explaining how to configure and install NBAIO in the DAMM, http://www.dragonagenexus.com/articles/article.php?id=38 and that tute may help you out, even if you are dealing with a different mod than NBAIO.

 

Welcome again, and dont hesitate to ask if you are still having trouble ;)

[sinr88]

Hi guys,

 

Thanks for all the help! Just another quick question, if there isn't any .override files that came with the mod, how do you use the override creator?

 

*edit* I think i finally got the hang of making the .override files ^^ only problem is that i can't DnD into the window lol... but another question... for mods such as the ones requiring a CGM.xml file, do i still need to make an override and if so do i do it before i have compiled the files or after or do i even need to make an .override? *edit*

 

 

Cheers,

 

sinr88

Edited February 5, 2011 by sinr88

[Thandal]

Hi guys,

 

Thanks for all the help! Just another quick question, if there isn't any .override files that came with the mod, how do you use the override creator?

 

*edit* I think i finally got the hang of making the .override files ^^ only problem is that i can't DnD into the window lol... but another question... for mods such as the ones requiring a CGM.xml file, do i still need to make an override and if so do i do it before i have compiled the files or after or do i even need to make an .override? *edit*

 

 

Cheers,

 

sinr88

Glad you got things working!

 

You don't have to "drag-n-drop" files, you can "copy-paste" 'em just as well. (Well, as long as you know what folder they go in." :laugh: )

 

Regarding your other question, mods that are used to change the appearance of a brand-new Player Character (PC), aka "Your Warden", (which are the ONLY kind that use the "Charcater Generator Morph Configuration" (chargenmorphcfg.xml) file) CANNOT be made into a ".override". There's nothing to override. The CGM.xml file is just a table of entries that tie the slider positions in the Character Creator (CC) to specific resources in the file the modder provided. (Which, in case it wasn't clear, isn't made into a ".override" either. :tongue: )

[DarkeWolf]

Yup, not a problem, and glad to hear that you got some of it figure out :)

Oh, and sorry for missing your question about the chargen compiler. What I recommend doing with that, is to have it set to merge all the existing chargen xml files into one file. Have it set to make a backup copy, and have it set to remove the files that it merges after the merge. The backup copy will be stored in folder that you've got the compiler located in.

 

As for creating .override files.... I'll be blunt. Why would you want to?

The instructions for that are included mostly for modders who are creating mods that have multiple choices associated with them. Such as say... an armor that has different textures that you can choose to use. So that you can go in and configure which choices that you want to use. Or, like Natural Bodies All in One (NBAIO) which has several different body types that you can pick and choose which one(s) you want to use in your game. Essentially, the only time that you want to create an override file, is when you have options that you need to configure.

I REALLY wish that they'd have stated that this was only for creating your own mods. NOT for installing mods, as this has confused a LOT of people.

 

Unfortunately, I'm really afraid that I can't help you out any, with creating an override file, as that's something that I havent ever tried :( Sorry about that :(

 

There is basically three programs that you can use to actually INSTALL the mods. DAupdater.exe which ships with the game. It can handle .dazip format files ONLY.

DAM (not to be confused with DAMM) http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=286 which can handle .dazip and .zip format files

and then your DAMM which can handle .dazip and .override format files.

 

You can use ANY of the three for .dazip files. THo I prefer DAMM for it, since it has the checklist, so that you can DEactivate any mods that you might need to. And you WILL need to, if you have mods that add items to the character's inventory at the start of the game when you go to make a NEW CHARACTER. Due to the bug with patch 1.03 and 1.04 that doesnt allow the items to spawn the way that they should. To avoid that, you deactivate those particular mods, BEFORE starting the character up. Play the new toon til you get to a save point, save the game, then go back and reactivate the mods that add to your inventory.

 

IF they are a mod that is just "copy and paste to your override folder in c:/documents"... those I usually just zip up into a .zip file, and then DnD them into DAM, and let it install them. Just so that I can have a list of the mods, and an easy way to uninstall them, if need be.

OR when I wanna get REALLY tricky about it, if I want to install it with DAMM, then if it's a .zip file, I check to make sure that there's not any .zip .rar or .7z files INSIDE the .zip file, and then just change the extension from .zip to .dazip and then DnD it into DAMM. That works MOST of the time, but there's been one or two exceptions. And that WILL NOT work with .rar or .7z files. Those have to be extracted first, then repacked as a .zip

 

Hope this helps! :)

-DW

[sinr88]

Hey guys,

 

Thanks for all the help, I took your advice and used DAM to install most of my mods... working great, tho there were some that said that DAM was incompatible with so i did those manually... problem is getting rid of the mods ><

 

 

P.S. This is a little off topic but you wouldn't happen to know why the face replacer is shutting itself down every time i open it right?

 

Cheers,

 

sinr88

[DarkeWolf]

Cool, I'm glad that we were able to help you get the majority of it sorted out :) :thumbsup:

Yeah, thats why I prefer to have a prog. Much easier to manage them that way :(

 

Did you install python script engine? Thats required for the replacer to run. www.python.org

or if you had python before, what version of it do you have?

Will work on 2.4 and more Python version ( tested on 2.6, may have troubles with 3.0 version )

taken from NewbyPower's description.

[sinr88]

Hi,

 

Yeah i installed Python 2.4 but when i click on the face replacer, it just pops up and then disappears straight away lol

 

 

Cheers,

 

sinr88

[naomis8329]

You could try updating Python to 2.7 as that is the most stable version recommended for the face replacer. It has the most up to date libraries apparently (I asked the creator as I was confused myself lol).

 

Hope that helps you somewhat. Short but sweet, but I haven't used it yet myself and can only come up with that for now lol.

 

Naomi