Learning to Mod and the DA Modder: Learning how to install mods

[EvilElitest]

Me and some friends are going to start a review show where we review various video games, and I am the one who will do Dragon Age. I reinstalled it, and I had the idea of reviewing various mods, because as far as I know, nobody has ever done that beyond "top 10 mod" lists. Problem, I have no experience with mods. So I went to PC gamer's "18 essential dragon age mods" and they recommended something called DA modder, which apperantly meant that once I download the mod and put it into 7-zip, i need only drag it over to the DA modder and press install. I have not yet reached a point in my game where any of these mods kick in (I had to install it on a different computor, so I am currently in the watch tower), but I noticed that some of the mods had this message

 

This mod was installed by DAModder, but it was not distributed with a

DAModder compatible package. DAModder is able to install it, but can provide no

details for the mod. Consider asking the mod author to make the distribution

compatible with DAModder.

 

Not all of them did, but some of them and that is concerning. I haven't tested it yet, but I'm assuming that this means these mods will not work.

 

what should I do? Remember, I am absurdly stupid when it comes to computors, so explain this to me in the most easy to understand language possible.

 

Mods that seem to works

 

Ally of Murders

 

Mods that have that message

Return to Castle Cousland_v3

Extra Dog Slot

Lealion_Mage_Beta_3

Karmas Origins Story

Divine Spell School

Return to Kocari Wilds

Saarebas

Ser Gilmore

Storage Chest

The BloodWorks

Dark Times

Temple of Vulak

Any advice on how to download these so that they work properly? I have never modded before

 

From what I understand the vast majority of mods are no DAzip, and I need to download them specifically, most likely using the overide folder. So to go through my mods one at a time and try to figure out how to install them properly

 

Temple of Vulak: Unpack the .rar and install the .DAZIP with DAModder or whatever method you feel most comfortable with.

Conclusion: No Idea what that means, because it isn't working on the DAmodder

 

Storage: This is apparently already Dazip, so what am I doing wrong

 

Divine Spell School: "1. Open the DAUpdater.exe file located in the "[iNSTALL_PATH]\Dragon Age\bin_ship\" directory.

2. Drag and drop the .dazip file into the DAUpdater window (or use the "Select DAZIPs" button and locate the file manually).

3. Start the game and click "Downloadable Content".

4. Click on the "Installed Content" tab and make sure the mod "Lancerlot - School: Divine" is enabled."

Conclusion: I am so lost

 

Extra Dog Slot: no information

 

Return to Kocari wilds: "Download the Dazip from DAO NEXUS.

Go to your Dragon Age/bin_ship/ directory and double click the daupdater.exe, the tool to install dazips.

After the installation is over, go to the game and activate the mod.'

 

Conclusion: I feel like I should understand that, but I don't, most likely due to stupidity

 

Lealion the Mage: No installation instructions

 

Conclusion: I cry myself to sleep at night

 

Ser Gilmore: " Download the rar: Ser Gilmore NPC v3.1.1.

 

3- Unrar (right click - "extract here"). If for some reason it tells you a file is broken, use the WinRAR option to repair.

If you are a MAC user, download Ez7z and register it (cost $7) then extract both files.

 

4- The result is a file named Ser_Gilmore_NPC_v3.1.1.dazip, 428 Mb, and also a cc_core_200.dazip (Companion compatibility core v2.0) 564Kb. IMPORTANT! You may uninstall (or choose not to install) the cc_core_200.dazip if you are experiencing problems with the talk at the Gates.

 

5- Once you extracted the .dazip files, you can either use daupdater.exe (in your Dragon Agebin_ship directory) or DAModder (which I recommend, and you can download from the Nexus).

 

6- INSTALL BOTH DAZIPS. Once done, go to the game and activate both of them (usually, they are already activated.)"

Conclusion: Ok, I might be able to get this one, i should press extra here and the move it into DA modder

 

Karma's companions: Download, extract, and install the dazip (by double-clicking on it)

4. Download the latest Bug Fix file, and extract the contents into a new folder in ...\packages\core\override

5. If you have Bloodworks, Dark Times, Ser Gilmore NPC, Tevinter Wardens, Lealion, Cullen-Mage Romance Option, Quests & Legends/Valeria, Return to Korcari Wilds, or Saarebas, you need to download and install the Compatibility Plugin Pack. (See below for specific directions.)

6. Start a new game or load any save BEFORE Lothering. (Installing the new version and continuing from a save during or after Lothering could cause quests to become unplayable and areas to become unreachable.)

 

Conclusion: I thought I did this

 

 

Ultimate conclusion: I commit seppuku

[EvilElitest]

Ok I got to Lotherian and a bit more information. First off, the map allows me to travel to a city called Gwaren, which isn't in the normal game. Second, Lealia the mage and her Mabari Legion do appear and join my party, but once I allow them to they vanish and never appear again.

[Thandal]

Hey there, EvilElitest;

 

As I indicated in my response to your posts on the BSN, Dragon Age mods come in many flavours, each of which requires the player to do certain things to get mods of that type working correctly.

 

The article: Using Dragon Age Mods for Dummies describes the (three) major types in general terms, but it's up to you, the individual player, to read the instructions the mod author provides (either in the Description, or in a Readme) in order to use a given mod successfully.

 

Please review the article again. Then you'll be able to discuss particular problems with particular mods with a better chance of getting the help you need. :thumbsup:

[EvilElitest]

Hey there, EvilElitest;

 

As I indicated in my response to your posts on the BSN, Dragon Age mods come in many flavours, each of which requires the player to do certain things to get mods of that type working correctly.

 

The article: Using Dragon Age Mods for Dummies describes the (three) major types in general terms, but it's up to you, the individual player, to read the instructions the mod author provides (either in the Description, or in a Readme) in order to use a given mod successfully.

 

Please review the article again. Then you'll be able to discuss particular problems with particular mods with a better chance of getting the help you need. :thumbsup:

 

Thank you very much. On disadvantage I have is that I have no experience with mods or really computers of any kind, so the lingo is very confusing to me. But from what I understand, most mods are not in fact DA compatible, and I need to convert them to be DA appropate. The problem is that I don't understand these mod instructions, the impression I get is that I could just drop them in the override folder, but none of the instructions I posted seem to say that. Should I just go ahead and try that anyways and hope that works. For example

[EvilElitest]

Correction, I figured out how to check If a mod is working, turns out I have to go to downloadable content and check their. So the Storage mod, and the Alley of Murder is working just fine.

 

I"m trying to figure out the Spell school, because it seems to be the most straightforward,

Thanks a lot btw.

 

Edit: I got the Spell School Working, I think I am figuring this out, thanks a lot. I'm still not certain about all of them but I might be able to get through this

Edited June 7, 2012 by EvilElitest

[EvilElitest]

Ok, It turns out I need to go to DAuploader and that solves the problem. Ok, thank you so much, I have all of the mods installed except Karma's Companions (Which seems to be a special case) and Dark times

Thanks a lot

[StevoSegalovic]

Correction, I figured out how to check If a mod is working, turns out I have to go to downloadable content and check their. So the Storage mod, and the Alley of Murder is working just fine.

 

I"m trying to figure out the Spell school, because it seems to be the most straightforward,

Thanks a lot btw.

 

Edit: I got the Spell School Working, I think I am figuring this out, thanks a lot. I'm still not certain about all of them but I might be able to get through this

Seems to me you are so lost. First of all there is not any living person that has all mods installed and working. Imagine a game as a car. You cant upgrade all parts and still have all parts installed and working. Every mod changes some part of the game. There are many mods changing same parts of the game so that mods don't work well together - they are not compatible. For example one mod changes Alistairs hair to long and other mod changes his hair to short - both cant be installed and work together.

Now how to actually install different mods:

1. Drop downloaded files in override folder - some mods just tell you to do that. no aditional program is required

2. Mods that have .dazip suffix - install them by using daupdater or dao-modmanager or da modder

3. Mods that have .override suffix - install them by using dao-modmanager (just drag and drop them in override window area). Idk if da modder can install them.

[Thandal]

First of all there is not any living person that has all mods installed and working.

I think the OP meant "I got all the mods I was trying to get working, working..." :laugh:

 

(Oh, and in your list of how to make mods work, you left out CC appearance mods that require integration with the CGMC.xml... :tongue: )

[StevoSegalovic]

First of all there is not any living person that has all mods installed and working.

I think the OP meant "I got all the mods I was trying to get working, working..." :laugh:

 

(Oh, and in your list of how to make mods work, you left out CC appearance mods that require integration with the CGMC.xml... :tongue: )

 

I am under impression that he only installed .dazip files and now he thinks he got all mods installed. I downloaded almost 10 GB of mod files and maybe 10 of them use .dazip install. So if hes trying to review something he could try 99% of mods he didn't manage to install at all.

 

You can try to explain him how to compile CGMC.xml when hes back :P :D