Modding.

[Anirv]

Which modding tool should I use to instal DAI mods?

Nexus is not working and the DAI mod manager isn`t supported for a long time.

[Dmitrias]

There are 2 mod managers available, DAI tools mod manager from here or frosty mod manager from here.

 

Dai tools mod manager is the older mod manager, it isn't being updated anymore, hence the "abandoned" in the mod title, but it does still function. Frosty mod manager is the newer mod manager, the creator of it recently got a job in gaming but I believe the tool will continue to be updated by other people on the team.

 

Dai tools mod manager can only load mods with the .daimod extension, as well as older daimods which were made up of multiple folders as opposed to one file with the .daimod extension. It cannot load .fbmods.

 

Frosty mod manager can load both mods with the .daimod extension and ones with the .fbmod extension, which are frosty mods designed for that mod manager. It can't load the older daimods that were made of folders instead of the .daimod extension, and it can struggle with loading daimod retextures and configurable daimods (i.e ones that have a configure button in the dai mod manager, where you can customize the mods settings yourself.) However it should load most other .daimods fine. Older frosty mods also came with .archive files.

 

Dai tools mod manager has more mods available for it being the older mod manager, but as I said you can load some daimods through frosty, provided that you unzip them first with a program such as winRar, peazip, 7zip.

 

Dai mod manager retextures are more likely to cause infinite load in DLCs, however I do have a mod that fixes companion and inquisitor complexions infinite loading and not showing in DLCs here. As you can gather from the title of that mod, some daimod hairs do not show in DLCs, that mod also remedies that issue.

 

Frosty mod manager textures are less likely to infinite load in DLCs, however do seem more prone to visual glitches, and depending on what the mod is retexturing, some resources when edited can cause infinite load into places like the hinterlands and other general oddities. This is prevalent in complexions for various races of the inquisitor, with complexions you can solve this by using a bundle edit that adds the character generation bundle to each area, such as Aileani's hair bundle edit. You can find it under the "download" button of that tumblr post, then in the google drive navigate to qunari replacer hair pack > hair replacer bundle file. This knowledge is courtesy of Kittentails!

 

Companion outfit retextures can also struggle with frosty like Solas', and I believe Cassandra's, maybe more.

 

Frosty mesh/3d shape edits are more likely to show in DLCs than daimod mesh edits. Frosty also allows for more capabilities in the modding scene because we can do stuff we couldn't do it with dai mod manager, and the mod maker is laid out in a way that IMO makes it easier for modders to understand how to create mods and makes it a simpler process.

 

Modders can also port meshes/3d models from other games (with permission, ofc) with frosty, this is not possible with dai mod manager as with dai mod manager you could only work with the mesh you already had. However many modders have made beautiful creations with the dai mod manager ofc! It was just a little bit more limiting in what we could do as modders with the older mod manager, with frosty we can do more.

 

Do note though that the one thing I think people hesitate on when choosing between the 2 mod managers is that dai mod manager does not require you to launch your game from the mod manager every time you want to see your mods, and frosty *does* require you to do this. So you decide which suits you best.

 

Also you can use both mod managers together in a workaround detailed in the second post of this forum here, it's not recommended by the authors of the mod manager to do this, but it is an option should you decide to.

 

There is a tutorial of how to use dai mod manager here, I recommend joining the dai modding discord server if you want further help with installing mods as there is many stuff documented there and people able to assist.

 

Also dragon age inquisition mods can't be installed with the nexus or vortex mod manager, I just thought I should note that.

 

I hope that helps!

Edited March 17, 2020 by Dmitrias

[Anirv]

Thanks for the anwser :D