DA:O Toolset Tweak: How to Add a Missed Quest to Your Later Game

[mackenzy]

Ok, Im not sure if this is the correct forum heading to put this under, so pls feel free to move it to the right place. I happened to miss picking up the Blackstone Irregulars quests from Lothering on one of my many jaunts and resaves there, only to discover AFTER the Broken Circle that I didnt have the Blackstone quests from Lothering. Lothering is, of course, destroyed at that point, so no dice on getting the quest without restarting from Lothering, and re-playing all the way through Broken Circle. I googled for quite a while trying to find out how to activate these 2 quests by console or toolset - no dice. So, I played around with the toolset myself, and here's how to do it:

 

[Note: I will give you the Blackstone Irregulars Lothering quests, however you can probably apply this method to any missed quest.]

 

1. Open a save from Lothering and go to Dane's Refuge and get the quests from the box. Save the game under a special save.

 

2. Open the special save and the current save you want to change on your hard drive and back them both up. Check C:\Users \USER_NAME \Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\Characters\YOUR_CHARACTER_NAME\Saves\Slot_?\YOUR_[CURRENT/SPECIAL]_SAVED_GAME.das Bolded items are specific to you and your computer. Once you've backed it up you should have both YOUR_[CURRENT/SPECIAL]_SAVED_GAME.das and YOUR_[CURRENT/SPECIAL]_SAVED_GAME.das.bak in the Slot_? folder.

 

3. Open the DA:O Toolset, and open the YOUR_SPECIAL_SAVED_GAME.das file.

 

4. Expand SAVEGAME_CAMPAIGN

 

5. Expand SAVEGAME_JOURNAL

 

6. Expand SAVEGAME_JOURNAL_ACTIVE_LIST. This is a complete listing of all your active quests. You will now need to expand each of these quests to find out which quests correspond to the Blackstone Irregulars quests. When I expanded the number 8 and number 9 quests (the numbers are unimportant, they were just the order for my game) the key line was the SAVEGAME_JOURNAL_RESREF line, which described the quests with the words "conscripts" and "deserters."

 

7. Copy every line under the quest 9. I found it easier to just Print Screen and save it to the Desktop for future reference.

 

8. Now exit that file, and open your YOUR_CURRENT_SAVED_GAME.das file in the Toolset, and browse to SAVEGAME_JOURNAL_ACTIVE_LIST. Obviously your quest isnt there, so we need to add it - line by line.

 

9. Right-click on SAVEGAME_JOURNAL_ACTIVE_LIST, and select "Insert." Insert the type described on the first line of the print screen of your savegame file. [Note: It doesnt really matter what type you choose, since you can change it later. What's most important is that you are creating a new quest by doing so.] You should now have a new numbered quest at the bottom of your numbered quests.

 

10. Double click each field and change them to match the fields that they should be - as depicted by the screenshot of the correct journal entry. Keep "inserting" fields and changing them until you have an exact replica of the correct journal entry.

 

11. Save the .das file and exit the toolset.

 

12. Open the DAO game and load your shiny new up-to-date savegame file.

 

13. Check your journal - VOILA! You now have a incompleted quest notation in your journal.

 

14. Rinse. Repeat for the next missed quest.

 

CAVEAT: I have not tried this on any quests that are MAIN STORY quests, nor on any quests that drastically change the direction of any companions, or personal skills, etc. Additionally, I wasnt that far along in the main story so this tweak would not have affected my character/companions in any great way.

 

Alrighty then. Hope this helps!

[DarkeWolf]

Nice! Kudos given! :thumbsup:

 

I do want to mention tho, that for the quests in Lothering there is a much much simpler method ;)

Alternate Lothering portal item from MetaItems mod. Lets you revisit the town after it's locked out of the map ;)

 

But this will be really good info for others that might want to try to add quests their savegames. :thumbsup: