new game folder? after Vortex mods lost DLC

[ladaienai]

hello Friends and Fellow Gamers,

I have just re-purchased DAO after being unable to recover my DLC after using Vortex mods.

Word is: this is a known issue and being worked on. :geek: :cool:

Meanwhile, .....

...after the hours of troubleshooting a 'fix' where nothing worked because Bioware no longer monitors DAO, I guess? :wallbash:

 

My fresh version, DRM-free from GoG, works beautifully :dance: :wub:

... but I feel a bit anxious about putting mods into the game folder previously used for the Steam and Origin versions! :ohdear:

 

Dumb Q no doubt, but:

I see the game folder made by GoG, which I want to keep pristine as there should be someplace to fall back to, right?

But this other DAO folder in my documents... might it be tainted? :unsure:

Should I make a brand new folder? like maybe copy the new 1.05 updated game into a new folder and then use that for the override folder?

 

BIG Love to the Best Modding community! :wub:

And thanks for any redirection! xoxox :happy:

 

[theskymoves]

No matter whether the game is installed via disc, Origin, Steam, or GOG, it will always use the same folder location for installed mods and game settings ([user]\Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age, with applicable subfolders within). With a very few oddball exceptions, mods should not be installed into the game install folder, so that will typically remain, as you say, 'pristine'.

 

If Vortex ruined your install (which it would, since it doesn't work properly for DAO at last report), then IMO your best course of action is to re-mod from scratch, as there is no way to determine if the files from prior installs are compromised. Just run the newly installed game at least once to create the needed folders and settings files... at that point I generally create a back-up of the entire Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age folder, so I have a 'known good' fall back, should anything go wrong in the modding process or for easily doing a fresh and newly modded setup. (I either duplicate the 'Dragon Age' folder and name it something like Dragon Age.NEW or Dragon Age COPY, or make a zipped archive copy.)

 

I recommend DAO-Modmanager as the best option for mod management, and installing DAzips either via that utility or with the native Bioware-provided daupdater.exe.

Edited January 11, 2019 by theskymoves

[Thandal]

Hey there, @ladaienai;

 

Sorry you went through all that. It really wasn't necessary. :pinch:

 

It's just that Vortex doesn't handle DAO mods very well. (Basically, it can only handle the very basic ones.) And the current version especially doesn't like ".dazip" mods. It messes with the "addins.xml" file in a way that confuses things and makes the game act as if none of the DLC is present. If one simply reverses ("uninstalls") any changes made with Vortex the DLC will reappear! :thumbsup:

[theskymoves]

Hey there, @ladaienai;

 

Sorry you went through all that. It really wasn't necessary. :pinch:

 

It's just that Vortex doesn't handle DAO mods very well. (Basically, it can only handle the very basic ones.) And the current version especially doesn't like ".dazip" mods. It messes with the "addins.xml" file in a way that confuses things and makes the game act as if none of the DLC is present. If one simply reverses ("uninstalls") any changes made with Vortex the DLC will reappear! :thumbsup:

 

Urgh. OP, you have my sincere apologies for the bad advice and any associated problems... with how difficult it is to keep up with all the Vortex information, it's probably time for me to 'retire' for good from the DAO modding advice-and-help thing. :sad:

[Thandal]

@tsm; No! No!!! Great advice. And ladaienai had already done the whole GOG thing before even posting the topic.

 

So please don't "retire". We need your depth of DAO modding experience around here. :thumbsup:

[ladaienai]

Gosh, you two, I sincerely appreciate your help! :kiss: :kiss: :kiss:

I may give this another try. I just let the DAOModManager forum know that Windows 10 does not want to install it

[some dangerous source alert issue..great Windows take over my decision-making for me :huh: :rolleyes: ] ...

 

but, even though my understanding is that the old Nexus ModManager is no longer supported?

I may try it just to open a few of my fave mods again.

 

Well, it is Monday now though. Off to work!

I will make sure this thread is ticked to follow in case you think of anything else I should understand.

And Again, always, thanks for being the massively supportive community that Nexus really Is. xo

[Thandal]

@ladaienai; The old NMM never did support the Dragon Age games, so that's not an option.

 

No idea why you're getting error messages when trying to install/use DAMM. I'm using it on my Win10 machine with zero problems. Maybe tell Windows to shut-up and install anyway? That's all I got because it works fine for me... :unsure:

 

[EDIT: Or is it your anti-virus program? Are you running AVG or Avast? They are notorious for false positives with any download that contains an ".exe" file.]

Edited January 15, 2019 by Thandal
Added an afterthought.

[ladaienai]

Good thoughts there, Thandal. :happy:

Yes, I get those error messages :nuke: and I do, also, tell it to shut up and install anyway. Maybe I should go all the way back to the earliest version...? I do not even know if that makes sense.

I use the Windows Defender... and this would not be the first time I received questionable advice from Windows or the Defender. But usually I can add things to my exceptions rule. :ohdear:

 

However, this brings up another angle of investigation into the issue... :yes: :sweat: ...a lot of work this ends up being! But I am willing to give back to the community...if I can possibly find out the source of the problem. And I suppose I could always temporarily turn off all the protective mechanisms. ...one by one... See what happens.

 

Someone in one of the threads said that it is not safe to just directly add a mod into the override folder... others say that is the only way they do it. Obviously not a dazip. I recall that Vortex did not lose the DLC with my simple mods added. Only after mods of more complex? makeup were added.

And this also makes me wonder... GoG's version of the game is DRM-free. Could the DLC be lost anyway? :psyduck: :unsure: :ermm: Too bad GoG's forums are not very active in the DAO threads anymore.

Well, Thanks honestly, Thandal. I do appreciate your presence in these forums!

[Thandal]

@ladaienai;

 

Ho-kay...

 

Have you read "Using Dragon Age Mods for Dummies"? It explains about the various types of mods that exist for this game.

• Vortex "gets" that most mods should simply be placed in the player's "\override" folder. That's how they're designed to work, and they do.
  
• But... Some (many) mods work differently. The next most common type are the ".dazip" mods. These get installed just like the official DLC, which means running the built-in "DAUpdater.exe" utility on them. And that's where Vortex messes things up. It REPLACES a certain file ("addins.xml") with the version from the mod, rather than integrating the two.
  
• Then there are all the hair/skin/tattoo/etc. mods designed to work within the Character Creator (CC). Those require integrating the contents of the mod's "chargenmorphcfg.xml" file with the player's existing one. As I don't use Vortex, (yet) I'm not sure if it understands this process correctly. If it does, it could replace TerraEx's "CharGenMorph Compiler". (But based on its behavior with ".dazip" mods, I'm thinking it doesn't!)
  
• And no manager other than DAMM can handle ".override" mods at all.

Lastly, NO, do not try to use an older version of DAMM. Somerhing else is going on there. Please provide a DXdiag report after experiencing whatever it is that happens when you try to run DAMM. There should be useful crash data in it.

 

[EDIT: Oh, and nothing at all prevents you from installing your mods manually. If all you want to do is play the game with them, just follow each author's instructions and have fun!]

Edited January 15, 2019 by Thandal
Added an afterthought.

[ladaienai]

Thank you, Thandal.

Yes, I have read through the "Using Dragon Age Mods for Dummies " but I have to be able to actually get things to work before any of what I read makes sense to me.

I am Aspien and so I have a differently wired brain. Once I put the read material together with experiential knowledge, I become more like an encyclopedia on it!

But yeah... since I cannot get the bloody thing to open, I have been rather occupied by resolving THAT problem first. I only mentioned these comments on other ways to add mods, because this is way too much work for someone who works full-time! not in the gaming industry (as in I am not getting paid for this time) :D . I just hoped to spice up a game that I have actually played countless times already. ...but still love to enjoy.

So, no worries. You certainly do not have to reply to me! I always muddle through.

You go make your day perfect for you alone :woot: :dance: