Toolset can't save .are files

[DagonSeaGod]

I extracted some .are files from the .rim files in order to make some changes (mostly to boost difficulty by changing some creature ranks). The problem is that when I try to save the toolset crushes.

 

I tried it with 3 different areas many times and the result was always a crush.

 

One observation I have made is that the first time it tried to save the area I was hearing the HD working for some good seconds. After the first attempt however, the crush was almost instant.

 

Any ideas?

[LadyHonor]

i am assuming you are trying to make changes to an exiting core resource....one of the vanilla areas. be very careful when you are doing that because when you begin do that, you can pretty much damage your game to a point only a new install will fix it. as for the extracting areas from .rim files, i have no idea what you mean there. if you want to make edits to an existing area, i would suggest opening a local copy of the area resource, make your edits, export it, then close it. it won't save your changes, but if they are small, easy changes, like changing ranks, then it doens't really matter. plus you run less risk of bugging up your game. the exported area would most likely be in your module/core/override folder. just move it to your override and try it out in the game.

Edited August 8, 2018 by LadyHonor

[DagonSeaGod]

No, I don't try to edit an existing resource. What I do is very close to what you propose. All .are files are inside .rim files and you can easily extract them with the toolset. However, I don't seem to be able to change and save the extracted files, it always crushes. I don't know why.

 

By the way, .are files are not present in the toolset database. When I open the area tag there is nothing there, so I manually browse into the data folder of the game and export .are files from the various .rim ones.

[LadyHonor]

Really? I see a boat load of them in my palette window right now.

[theskymoves]

@DagonSeaGod - LadyHonor has it right... the area files are an asset should be visible in the toolset, if you've set things up correctly. (And if things aren't done correctly, you will break your game.)

 

Have you both created a new module and made Single Player assets available to the new module? If not, I recommend reviewing the creating a module page on the DA Toolset Wiki and the related tutorials on Beyond Ferelden.

 

To your original query, there are other extracted assets that can't be edited and saved with the toolset... UTC files, for one. And really, that's not surprising... a developer toolset isn't designed or meant for making hack-y edits to extracted assets, especially when the asset can be edited properly.

 

But if you really are determined to string edit extracted .are files, you can do that with either pyGFF or TlkEdit... it's been a long time since I mucked around with that kind of edit, so I cannae recall which utility worked for that task.

Edited August 9, 2018 by theskymoves

[DagonSeaGod]

I checked what you said, played around with the toolset a bit and easily managed to figure out how to do it!

 

Thanks!

 

Another question is if there is anyway you can edit DLC .are files since they don't appear in the toolset. Is there a workaround?

[YaraC]

The datebase includes only resources of the OC. Therefore no DLC or Awakening resources can be displayed in the palette.

But the resources are available. You can even create new areas (.are) by using the area layouts .(lvl) of Awakening and DLCs in the toolset:

 

Using DLC areas in your mods tutorial: http://www.datoolset.net/wiki/Using_DLC_areas_in_your_mods_tutorial

Awakening resources: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/223468-awakening-resources/page-2?p=1970294&do=findComment&comment=1970294

 

Area layouts used in the Awakening module: http://www.datoolset.net/wiki/Area_layouts_used_in_the_Awakening_module

Area layouts used in DLC: http://www.datoolset.net/wiki/Area_layouts_used_in_DLC

 

Additional, in case of interest:

Area tutorial (and more info) on the wiki: http://www.datoolset.net/wiki/Area_tutorial

Mod Awakening in the OC: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/920