Naked NPCs after uninstalling IA elements *and* starting a new game

[Bejog87]

Hi all,

 

Hope that someone will be able to offer assistance. Between wanting to install Qwinn's terrific Ultimate DAO Fixpack - which allegedly conflicts with elements of Improved Atmosphere - and finding some of the new IA equipment slightly overpowered, I recently uninstalled all parts of IA except the following:

 

• 4.1. Dialog Changes (party-barks.dlg only)
• 7.3. Optional Campaign Mods
• 7.5. Weapon VFX Remover

After doing this, I started a new game.

 

I'm now at Redcliffe, and surprised to find Bann Teagan naked except for a sword, shield and underpants. I'm aware that installing some IA assets during a playthrough would result in naked NPCs, among other problems, but surely starting a new game would circumvent this. For further info, Bann Teagan is - I think - the first naked NPC I've encountered. He was also clothed during the first Denerim cutscene (where he berates Loghain and Anora.)

 

I have a handful of questions, answers to any or all of which would be greatly appreciated:

 

1. Any idea what might be causing this issue?
2. Is it possible to either restore some assets or edit the save game file to preserve the Bann's modesty, without conflicting with Qwinn's fixpack or other mods?
3. When are Bann Teagan's resources loaded - upon selecting Redcliffe as a destination on the world map, entering Redcliffe, or entering the Chantry? (I ask so as to determine how far back I need to reload if I can get a potential fix in place.)

Thanks in advance!

[theskymoves]

I've never used either Improved Atmosphere or any of Qwinn's packs, but I have modded my game extensively and can offer some general observations and responses.

 

The Denerim Landsmeet chamber cutscene is pre-rendered and unaffected by mods.

 

1. Naked or partially equipped NPCs can result from could be any number of things... an error in a UTC, missing assets required for the NPC gear, or multiple conflicting UTC files editing the same NPC are the usual suspects.

 

2. The is no way I know of to retroactively alter or give gear to NPCs once a map has been entered.

 

3. IIRC from my tests of some gear swaps and fixes for Bann Teagan, the gear bakes in on first entering Redcliffe via the world map. (It's been a while, though, and I may be mis-remembering... hopefully one of the real modders who frequent the board will be better able to advise you on this point.)

 

And some pedantry and over-explaining because that's what I do:

 

Teagan has three distinct UTC files assigning his equipment at various points in the game.

 

arl110cr_teagan.utc is the UTC for the main part of the campaign, and the one which governs his gear in Redcliffe's chantry. (The first thing I'd do to triage a 'naked Teagan' issue is look for this file my installation.)
cli300cr_teagan.utc is used post-Landsmeet in Redcliffe, prior to the Battle of Denerim.
epi200cr_teagan.utc is used for the epilogue. (Warden's funeral, and, I believe, by some mods that add post-boon ceremony content.)

Edited December 26, 2017 by theskymoves

[Bejog87]

Hi theskymoves,

 

Thanks for your reply, and those useful pointers. Much appreciated.

 

Reinstating the .utc files from IA, and the 'Materials', 'Tints' and 'Items' files on which they're dependent, and loading a save from the random encounter on the Bloody Plains on the way to Redcliffe, seemed to do the trick. It's not the ideal solution, but presumably I can minimise the number of NPCs dependent on the files by reinstating them as required on a case-by-case basis.

 

Do you know where in the installation I can find the base (i.e. non-override) .utcs? It would be good to know in the event I need to troubleshoot any more of Ferelden's naturists.

 

Thanks again!

[theskymoves]

Glad the information was helpful! It's odd that it affected a new game, but good that you got it sorted! :D

 

The base game NPC UTCs are located in the game install directory... it will vary according to exactly what version of the game is being used, but as an example, my Origin-installed GOTY copy has the file in \Program Files\Origin Games\Dragon Age\modules\single player\data, and it's the 'designercreatures.erf'. Base game assets can be extracted from ERF archives with pyGFF.

[Bejog87]

Fantastic, thank you! I'm looking at Act 1 Teagan's equipment assignment now, which if I'm not mistaken would have him in generic noble clothing (as per vanilla) with ceremonial armour gloves and boots. I don't know if the gloves and boots are part of his unmodified gear, but the clothing would hide them if they were, so they could well be.

 

 

 

Sorry to keep coming back with more questions, but this is all new to me. Do you know if files in the override folder modify the base game data directly, or if they simply provide the game with an alternate source to read?

 

My guess would be the latter, as a) designercreatures.erf doesn't seem to have been recently modified, and b) the former would strip the game of its base assets pretty quickly if one frequently installed and uninstalled mods.

 

Unless I botched the uninstallation, or there's another mod somewhere causing a conflict, there's no reason to my mind that Teags should be naked after my starting a new save. I guess this will have to remain a mystery. Hopefully there won't be many more surprises like this...

 

Thanks so much, this has been a good learning experience. :smile:

Edited December 27, 2017 by Bejog87

[theskymoves]

Your guess is correct: files in override do just that: they override the base game/DLC (and DAzip-installed mods in AddIns). The original Bioware files remain intact.

 

The engine will load and use only one version of a file, and other files with the same name will be ignored. (Some blather and nonsense about what would usually be called 'load order', as best I understand it.)

 

If there are no 'arl110cr_teagan.utc' files in your override, it may be that a DAzip installed mod is editing him; unfortunately, I don't know of any good way to easily determine what is in a DAzip without 'disassembling' the archive entirely: manually decompressing to a folder, and extracting the ERF contents. (It may be possible to grep the contents of DAzips with something like TextCrawler, but I've never had reason to try.)

 

Re that unequipped Ceremonial armour, it's not unusual to find extraneous items in non-playable character inventories, and I've long suspected that in that instance, there was some waffling by the devs as to what Redcliffe!Teagan would be equipped with... he actually has the full Ceremonial set, with the chest in the unequipped ItemList, along with a piece of Studded Leather light armour. :ermm: (If you think I've spent too much time pondering Teagan's UTCs, you are right, and I eventually ended up overhauling all three, so bothered was I by Bioware's choices and the inconsistencies across them.)

Edited December 27, 2017 by theskymoves