Dragon Age: Origins = Modding Hell

[Andronovo]

Not that this will get any good replies, considering I'm the only person here who likes DAO and isn't retarded, but what the hell I'll give it a shot.

I started DAO many years ago., completed most of it, but never finished it all. Rather enjoyed the voice acting and certain characters, thought the combat was mundane but pleasant, so I decided this year to come back to it. The problem is DAO is very clearly an unfinished game. Ugly NPCs and broken dialogue trees abound. So I ended up going on a modding spree to try fix all the things that irritate me about it. I thought it was going well at first, but I eventually figured out that the mod support for DAO is garbage. Compatibility issues are difficult to detect, there are practically no useful modding tools, really the only way to check for conflicts is to boot up the game and play through it. So what I have ended up having to is tedious play this shit over and over to find out specifically which mod is causing the problem. My guess is with my current set of mods it will take me days to sort everything out.

I figure I can save a little time by coming on here and asking for good modpacks if anyone has any. Mainly stuff involving better textures, dialogue fixes, minor flavor, stuff like that. At the very least hopefully I can get some advice on bashing mods together so they don't crash the game.

 

[Neanderthal]

Yeah played it awhile ago and couldn't believe how unfinished and still broken it was, I trawled youtube and followed this tutorial which seemed to work out alright:

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

I don't remember it being a modding nightmare at all. It's been almost ten years since i played and mod this game, but i remember it was as easy as downloading a mod manager and letting that handle the mods for you.

 

[Ismaul]

I'm the only person here who likes DAO and isn't retarded

I started DAO many years ago., completed most of it, but never finished it all.

If you didn't even bother finishing it, did you really like it?

Maybe you're the retard for not realizing you don't actually like the game enough.

 

[Nano]

Not that this will get any good replies, considering I'm the only person here who likes DAO and isn't retarded, but what the hell I'll give it a shot.

I would've tried helping you, but I can't with you being so high up your horse. I'm only 5'9".

Seeing that you're getting mod conflict troubles that I, and most people, never got, it looks like you're the retard here.

The More You Know.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Didn't have any issues whatsoever when I played it again a year or two ago, was very easy to mod.

 

[Andronovo]

Everyone who plays DAO is either a purple haired female landwhale that indulges in way too many ridiculous fantasies, or a numale cuckold that only likes it because it was made by a company as progressive as Bioware. Except me. I am the one exception. This is 100% fact.

Jokes and ensuing butthurt aside, I'm pretty sure I'm using WAY more mods than most people. I'll probably figure it out eventually.

I stopped playing the game years ago because believe it or not I had MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO THAN PLAY VIDEO GAMES. I know such a situation may be alien to many people here, but it has happened to me several times over the years.

 

[Roguey]

The only mods I needed were a mod manager, the unobtainable item fix, the Shaperate reward fix, two spec Sten, and Madd Gift Guide.

 

[biggestboss]

[Mods in New Vegas]

 

[Falksi]

One of the few games so good in it's original form that it doesn't require modding.

 

[Dodo1610]

Modding Origins and even DA2 is pretty simple just drag and drop files into C:\Users\xxxx\Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\packages\core\override
Unless you install mods that change the same files there really isn't much you can do wrong. You should allways use subfolders and not just dump all mods into Override to make debugging easier. Of course don't forget to read the readme or mod description .
Though I have no expierence with the toolset.

 

[Roguey]

Additionally, for what it's worth, these are the only mods Lilura considers worth using. She's an authoritative source. https://lilura1.blogspot.com/2014/10/modding-dragon-age-origins_26.html

Dragon Age Rules Fixpack (aka GT Core Rules Fixpack)
(Core fixes and the two haste bug fixes; auto-loot functionality)
Slink's Slightly Skewed (s3) RAVAge
Advanced Tactics
Origins Faster Combat
Origins Faster Runspeed

Other stuff you may like:

Extra Dog Slot: Another unit to control in combat? Sign me up!
Qanari and Mabari update: Just visual mods to improve their look to the DA2 style.
Skip The Fade: I'm a fan of skipping a tedious segment that plays exactly the same each time you play, regardless of your character. A truly idiotic design decision, an embarrassing example of devs masturbating over their own "creativity". The Fade is so tedious that the mere thought of it kills people's desire to replay what would otherwise be a highly replayable campaign. This mod is just a 26 Kb *.ncs file that you throw into your override. You will receive all stat bonuses and Codex entries without having to slog through The Stupid Fade.
DLC in Awakening & Awakening Fixes: Gives you all your DLC gear in Awakening (import or new character).

 

[Nines_Anarch]

It's the best game ever.

Sten approves.

Btw when I played this game I installed over one hundred mods. Game did not crash a single time so you must be doing something wrong. Or maybe you need to change your PC.

 

[Fedora Master]

I have no idea where you would even GET 100 mods, let alone why anyone would need so many. All you need is the combat rebalance. Compared to later Bioware games, DAO was polished as hell.

 

[Ninjerk]

Is this the Bioware Sailor Woedica?

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Bless your soul. A willing Sysiphus. Please do announce when you get that boulder to the top of the hill.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I have no idea where you would even GET 100 mods, let alone why anyone would need so many. All you need is the combat rebalance. Compared to later Bioware games, DAO was polished as hell.

Extra dog slot mod is mandatory.

 

[Nines_Anarch]

I have no idea where you would even GET 100 mods, let alone why anyone would need so many. All you need is the combat rebalance. Compared to later Bioware games, DAO was polished as hell.

Nuff said
https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/trendingalltime/

I am refering to visual mods and those which add content to the base game. We all know DAO was a polished game but mods made it even better.

Extra dog slot mod is mandatory.

Skip the fade mod is mandatory too.

 

[oldmanpaco]

https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/1176?tab=description
https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/548

These are the only two mods that anyone needs as they best enhance biowares vision for the game.

Also maybe that one that adds the dog as an extra companion.

 

[Chippy]

The Winter Forge was probably the best crafting mod out there, and beats vanilla crafting in most games hands down.

 

[Fedora Master]

I have no idea where you would even GET 100 mods, let alone why anyone would need so many. All you need is the combat rebalance. Compared to later Bioware games, DAO was polished as hell.

Nuff said
https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/trendingalltime/

Retarded weeb waifu mods hardly count.

 

[Andronovo]

I'm at Redcliffe currently on nightmare, and I really don't remember the game being this easy. I hope it gets more difficult later, because I'm hardly even using lyrium potions.

 

[Daidre]

DA:O has some really good mods like Combat Tweaks, that fix lots of problems with combat system, makes all talent trees viable (like under-performing Archery) and even makes game a bit more difficult since most of an humanoid enemies use the same update versions.

 

[Frozen]

Not that this will get any good replies, considering I'm the only person here who likes DAO and isn't retarded, but what the hell I'll give it a shot.

I started DAO many years ago., completed most of it, but never finished it all. Rather enjoyed the voice acting and certain characters, thought the combat was mundane but pleasant, so I decided this year to come back to it. The problem is DAO is very clearly an unfinished game. Ugly NPCs and broken dialogue trees abound. So I ended up going on a modding spree to try fix all the things that irritate me about it. I thought it was going well at first, but I eventually figured out that the mod support for DAO is garbage. Compatibility issues are difficult to detect, there are practically no useful modding tools, really the only way to check for conflicts is to boot up the game and play through it. So what I have ended up having to is tedious play this shit over and over to find out specifically which mod is causing the problem. My guess is with my current set of mods it will take me days to sort everything out.

I figure I can save a little time by coming on here and asking for good modpacks if anyone has any. Mainly stuff involving better textures, dialogue fixes, minor flavor, stuff like that. At the very least hopefully I can get some advice on bashing mods together so they don't crash the game.

I haven't touched DA:O for ~ 5y but yeah, modding was hell.

Visually find HD textures there were couple of packs back in the day, dont know how it is now. The thing is you have to install a bunch like "preset" mods for skins etc. that are a must for most specific mods to work. Luckily there is description so read a lot of them to see what needs what and what is compatible to what or not.

There was something called "Dragon Age Redesigned" its a must and it has in depth instructions depending on what you want to do.

Regarding quests I wouldn't touched anything besides "Alley of murders", its a nice side quest in Denerim that doesn't brake the difficulty curve (other new quest do).

For characters its a preference but I always change main characters to look like in Sacred Ashes trailer, so find good Morrigan, Lilliana, Wynn etc. mods for that. There is also mod for Isabelle and that elf girl to look like in DA:2

 

[DayofBlow]

modding was easy, modding so everything works perfectly was terrible

Rules Fixpack's buff reapply shit is fucked beyond belief, Dog Slot fucks up if you are captured and taken to Fort Drakon, Faster Combat disables the dex damage bonus to daggers from the official patch, every one of the worthwhile mods are buggy if you track them, etc, except for the sex mods, those are mint

stick to quest and bug fixers, morphs and a couple of the big mods where the issues are mapped out so you can bypass them

Origins:
Qwinn's Fixpack (even though it has some weird bug with things like the Scrolls of Banastor that happens completely randomly and the creator hasn't been able to reproduce it, which might just be because the engine is a piece of shit)

Awakening:
Law and Order Fix
Baroness Reward Fix
Silverite Mines Fix
Blackblade Armor Dragon Drop Fix
Endgame Cutscene Fix
Joining ritual fix
Armor Rune Drop Fix
Bombs Away Quest Fix

I think those are all the quest, item drop and scripting bug fixes you'd need, there's also DLC transfer to Awakening which I'm sure has issues I can't recall, as far as item and combat fixes, Dain's Fixpack I think is safe, and then you have to pick and choose stuff from Rules Fixpack for it to not be a piece of shit
additionally enable console, and the visible console mod is good