User:Neovalen/Origins Revisited - Ultimate Edition

Origins Revisited: Ultimate Edition
A STEP hosted mod guide created and maintained by Neovalen.
Last Update: 7:48:33 11 September 2014 (UTC)

Introduction and Summary

Origins Revisited: Ultimate Edition is a STEP hosted mod guide designed to mod Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition. Key tenets of this mod guide include:

• Maintained Lore Friendliness meaning remaining true to the majority of Dragon Age lore - but not in a purist sense - some liberties will be taken.
• Maintained Stability with Maximum Functionality including proper installation and resolving conflicts between mods.

The system used for the creation of this guide is as follows:
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K @ 4.5Ghz
MOBO: Gigabyte G1.SNIPER 3
RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600Mhz
GPU: EVGA 670GTX Superclocked 4GB (SLI)

Prerequisites

Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation. --Robert H. Schuller

To use this guide to it's fullest extent, the following software must be installed and configured as specified.

Official EA/Bioware Content

• Origin
• Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition v1.05

Tools

• 7-Zip v9.20

The function of this tool is to open archives manually when not using other tools as it handles most modern compression schemes and is free to use.

• Beyond Compare v4.0 or other comparison tool

The function of this mod is to compare folders for conflicts and easily resolve them by either merging or deleting a conflicting file. File conflict lists have been provided in the guide but Beyond Compare will make the job a lot easier. Use "Diffs - No Orphans" and "Ignore Folder Structure" options to easily delete conflicting files between mods.

• CharGenMorph Compiler v1.2.3

The function of this tool is to merge all the various CharGenMorph.xml files in your override directory into a single xml file for use by the game.

• DAO-Modmanager v1.9d

The function of this tool is to manage mods and is the mod manager of choice for this guide.

• Large Address Aware v1.0.4

This function of this tool is to modify the Dragon Age: Origins executable to be aware of memory greater than 2GB.

All Journeys Begin With The First Step...

The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days. --Voltaire

The road of the Warden begins slowly and with purposeful resolve.

Configure Dragon Age: Origins

Upon downloading Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition from Origin there are no ini files pre-generated. Thus, it is imperative to run the game to generate the initial set of ini files and do basic setup.

Start Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition through Origin.
Click "Options".
On the game tab, in the Feedback section select "Conversations and Ambient Dialogue" in the Subtitles drop down.
On the video tab, in the Screen section select your monitors native resolution in the Resolution drop down.
On the video tab, in the Detail section max out all the sliders and ensure both frame buffer effects and Vertical Sync are enabled for maximum graphic fidelity.
Click Ok then exit the game.

Next, the large address aware tool will be used to allow the game to use greater than 2 gigabytes of memory.

Start Large Address Aware.
Under step 1, select the daorigins.exe located in the bin_ship folder where the game was installed.
Under step 2, check the box.
Under step 3, click [Save].
Close Large Address Aware.

Your settings have now been saved into the ini files and the game can now address greater than 2 gigabytes of memory which will be important for modding. These settings have accomplished the following:

• Setup the ini files with a high quality graphic baseline.
• Enabled subtitles to help with making sure no dialog is missed.

Configure Graphics Driver

Dragon Age: Origins (henceforth referred to as DAO) uses an old engine and needs help in the graphic department from your systems video driver.

ATI

Unfortunately, the author does not have an ATI card to test with but the important settings are the following:

• Anistropic Filtering: 16x
• Transparency AA: 4x

Nvidia

Using Nvidia Inspector some life can be brought back into this old game engine. The settings should be as follows:

• Antialiasing Compatibility: 0x004010C0
• Antialiasing - Transparency Supersampling: 4x Sparse Grid Supersampling
• Anistropic Filtering Mode: User Defined/Off
• Anistropic Filtering: 16x
• Texture Filtering - Quality: High Quality
• Ambient Occlusion Setting: High Quality
• Ambient Occlusion Usage: Enabled

Using DAO-ModManager and Resolving Conflicts

In DAO there are two types of mods, DAZIP and loose files. DAZIP is a complete mod packed using the Dragon Age Origins Toolset from Bioware. Originally, these mods were installed using the supplied DAUpdater.exe in the main game folder but due to various bugs found it is recommended to use a mod manager such as this one. These types of mods are generally gameplay or new content mods. Loose file are as expected - loose files. These types of mods are used to modify dialog, facial morphs, and/or textures. DAO-ModManager additionally introduces an override format file (.override) which may contain an installer or simply be a pack of loose files with mod information attached such as author, description, web address, etc. DAO-ModManager only handles DAZIP and override format mods and it includes a tool to convert loose file mods into override files for use in the manager. Upon installation of an override mod, file conflicts are checked and a message box will pop up stating if a newly installed mod is compatible with the currently installed overrides. It should be noted that in DAO the file path does not affect the usage of a file, however load order in your override folder is very important. Basically, the game reads files and folders (which take precedence over files) from bottom to top (for example, from Z to A or 100 to 1). An example: There are two files named alistair.utc. Both serve the same function (they modify the character), but contain different modifications. We put these files into two different folders, which we will call "1. Alistair Diff Clothes" and "2. Alistair Diff Clothes & Stats". Notice that this put the file which modifies more to be loaded first. That way all of the modifications will be used and there will not be a need to delete or modify anything since the game will load the desired file first and won't bother with the other. This makes things a bit easier to manage. Keep this in mind before modifying the contents of a mod or before installing other conflicting mods. However, the only absolute way to be sure you have eliminated conflicts is to remove one of the offending files.

DAO-ModManager should automatically set itself up with the proper game and mod paths on startup. This can be verified on the "Options" tab. Inside the folder where DAO-ModManager is installed there should be a mods folder with two sub folder DAZIP and override. These will be where your base mods are to be stored. DAZIP mods can be directly placed into the mods/DAZIP folder and .override mods can be placed directly into the mods/override folder. To process a loose file mod, perform the following:

Extract the loose file mod to a temporary folder.
Open DAO-ModManager and click [New Override Packet] on the "Override Creator" tab.
In the resulting pop up box, type the name of the mod you are installing and click [OK].
Fill in any mod information available such as author, description, url, etc. as desired.
Click the packages/core/override/<Mod Name> folder in the bottom left pane then drag and drop the extracted loose files into the right pane.
Once all files have been added, click [Create Override Packet] to finalize.

This process creates a <Mod Name>.override file in the mods/override folder which you can install using DAO-ModManager. If for any reason you want to edit an override (such as resolving a conflict), simply select [Edit Override Packet] then select the override file to repeat this process. Note that it may take a few minutes to create large overrides.

The Warden Comes

TBD --TBD

With the basic foundation of the journey complete, the Warden strides strongly into the main quest of his journey. The important points to remember when installing mods are as follows:

• Mods should be installed in the order presented. Any deviation from a standard installation will be clearly marked such as removing conflicting files.
• Loose file mods may be separated into conflict groups so they are combined prior to creating the .override for DAO-ModManager.
• The recommended options and/or texture sizes will be specified next to the version number.
• Backup a copy of the original mod archives on your computer in case a mod is ever taken down or you need to reinstall.

Generally, any documentation or extraneous files do not need to be included in the override.

Character Mods

This section is dedicated to mods that affect global character looks and character creation.

Character Creation

Conflicts found for chargenmorph.xml within this section should be ignored as it will be fixed using the CharGenMorph Compiler tool.

Eyebrow Presets

Author: lastofthecouslands
Version: 1.0
Mod Notes: This mod changes the default eyebrow presets. The new presets will allow for more flexibility in lowering the eyebrow height in the character creator and toolset. Some changes are more subtle than others. A more obvious difference can be seen with the thin eyebrow setting which changes the arch and fills in the brow slightly (so no more tadpole brows). The PC will no longer look sad when a thick brow is set to the lowest height setting.

More Hairstyles

Author: kzelsama
Version: 0.51
Mod Notes: This mod adds new hairstyles available at character creation. Included are some of Ren's and idkrrr's hairstyles, as well as the Lady of the Forest hair.

Pineappletrees Vibrant Colors

Author: Pineappletree
Version: 1.31 (Light)
Mod Notes: This adds 48 new hair/eyebrow colors, 40 new skin tones, and 30 new eye colors to the character creator.

Tucked Hair

Author: tmp7704
Version: Latest (Main File + CharGenMorph)
Mod Notes: Additional character hairstyles. Modfication of longer default styles, with hair tucked behind ears.

Body Replacers

Natural Bodies - All In One

Warning! This mod contains nudity.
Author: NewByPower, adriangi, Rebel o Conner, Horrid, Gray and mutantspicy
Version: 3.0
Special Installation: Edit the override to remove the NBaio/Default/Qunari Male folder to retain compatibility with Qunari Update.
Mod Notes: Resculps the various bodies in the game to a better shape and makes them naked when wearing no clothes because love scenes with undies in the way offend my sensibilities.

Creature Mods

Retextures

Lady of the Forest and Desire Demon Retextures

Warning! This mod contains nudity.
Author: DariusBlack
Version: Latest
Mod Notes: This mod retextures the Lady of the Forest and Desire Demon to the default intent, removing the obvious censorship to get a lower game rating.

Dialog and Story Mods

Dialog Fixes

Morrigan Restoration Patch Dialog Fixpack

Author: Terra_Ex
Version: 1.1.0 (Manual)
Special Installation: After extraction, delete the following file(s) and/or folder(s):

• Morrigan_Denerim_Gate_Fix folder (Conflicts between ZDF and MRP as identical but this is simply to remove the error message.)
• Morrigan_Epilogue_Slidefix folder (Conflicts between ZDF and MRP as identical but this is simply to remove the error message.)
• Restored_Party_Banters folder (Conflicts between ZDF and MRP as identical but this is simply to remove the error message.)
• Terra_Ex_Bann_Fix folder (Conflicts between ZDF and MRP as identical but this is simply to remove the error message.)
• ZDF_MRP Shared folder (Conflicts between ZDF and MRP as identical but this is simply to remove the error message.)

Mod Notes: This mod restores several missing and fully voiced scenes to the game relating to Morrigan in addition to fixing innumerable issues with various parts of her dialogue not triggering correctly. These scenes were always intended to be in the final game but were likely cut due to scheduling issues. The mod also restores several new party banter dialogs involving Morrigan, Leliana & Alistair.

ZDF Dialog Fix

Author: ejoslin
Version: 2.1
Mod Notes: This mod fixes a multitude of dialog issues in the game, especially pertaining to Zevran.

New Story Content

TBD

Equipment

NPC Equipment

Clothed Prisoners

Author: danscott84
Version: 2.0
Optionals: King Cailan Clothed, Ser Friden
Mod Notes: When using mods such as Natural Bodies - All In One to fix the underwear issues during romance scenes, various prisoners and corpses are naked. This fixes the issue.

New Equipment

Kossith Add-On

Author: makara5656
Version: 2.0
Optionals: Missing_Script, vfx_fixed
Special Installation: The original mod is a DAZIP but the optionals should be made into an override.
Mod Notes: This mod adds Qunari specific armor imported from DA2 for use by Sten.

Gameplay Mods

TBD

Overhauls

This section is for overhaul mods which change large amounts of game files. Due to the large number of conflicting mods, these are installed last to easily identify files conflicting with more specific mods.

Elf Update

Author: tmp7704
Version: Latest (Main File Only)
Special Installation: Do not extract the following file(s) and/or folder(s):

• da2_elf-morphs/addon-utc folder (Replaced by Ferelden Elves.)
• da2_elf-morphs/morph-brecilian forest folder (Replaced by Ferelden Elves.)
• da2_elf-morphs/morph-denerim folder (Replaced by Ferelden Elves.)
• da2_elf-morphs/morph-origin_city folder (Replaced by Ferelden Elves.)
• da2_elf-morphs/morph-origin_dalish folder (Replaced by Ferelden Elves.)
• da2_elf-morphs/morph-origin_noble folder (Replaced by Ferelden Elves.)

Mod Notes: Updates most elves faces and features to DA2 style elves.

Mages of Ferelden

Author: TommyIrianto
Version: 1.0 (Tranquil Brand - By Dracomies Optional Only)
Mod Notes: As configured, adds the DA2 tranquil brand to mages in DAO.

Ferelden Elves

Author: danexuslurker
Version: 1.0 (Main File + Immersion Fixes)
Optionals: Immersion Fixes Patch for Improved Atmosphere
Special Installation: Do not install the following file(s) and/or folder(s):

• Ferelden Elves/REQUIRED Textures/ef_har_mora/ef_har_mora_0.mmh (Included with More Hairstyles.)

Mod Notes: Updated DA2 style elves for Origins, Awakening, and all DLC! Ferelden Elves was made for those of you using the awesome Elf Update by TMP7704, and requires Elf Update to function. Ferelden Elves attempts to give elves a unique and lore-friendly look to separate them from humans, to provide more visual continuity between DAO and DA2, and to make them a little more attractive overall. As Zevran said, “The crows recruit elven assassins because we are considered beautiful by humans.” Ferelden Elves 2.0 includes new eye and skin textures. An alternate version using the default skin is also available.
Mod Dependencies:

• Elf Update
• Eyebrow Presets
• Mages of Ferelden
• Pineappletrees Vibrant Colors
• Tucked_Hair

Dragon Age Redesigned

Author: Dracomies
Version: 7.3c
Optionals(Via Installers):
Dragon Age Origins / Non-Companion NPCs:

• Dracomies True Textures VI (First Installation)
• Recommended Setting (Second Installation)

Dragon Age Origins/Companion NPCs for Origins/Leliana:

• Leliana Version 11 (Original Hair)

Dragon Age Origins/Companion NPCs for Origins/Morrigan:

• Morrigan Version 15 v2

Dragon Age Origins/Companion NPCs for Origins/Oghren:

• Darkkammi Oghren

Dragon Age Origins/Companion NPCs for Origins/Wynne:

• Wynne Version 6 (Lore Version 2)

Dragon Age DLC- Awakening:

• Recommended Version

Special Installation: This mod is installed via executable files found in the archives file structure. The install target should be a temporary folder. All executables with the exception of Sten, Zevran, and Awakening Companions should be installed. After installation, remove the following files:

• All conflicting files with Ferelden Elves.
• All conflicting files with Mages of Ferelden.
• All conflicting files with More Hairstyles.
• Uninstall*.exe

Mod Notes: This mod will redesign all of the NPCs in Dragon Age to fix skin issues, face proportions, personality mismatches, gender identification, race identification, etc. in an attempt to make each character fit better with the the lore of Dragon Age. This mod makes changes to the NPCs within Dragon Age Origins and it's expansions and DLCs. Many of these were done from scratch as no source files are provided for DLCs and/or expansions and the Dragon Age Toolset was used to replicate and make adjustments to Bioware's original renditions. This project encompasses nearly 1241+ NPCs (within the three versions Lore, Aesthetics and Recommended).
Mod Dependencies:

• More Hairstyles
• Pineappletrees Vibrant Colors

Improved Atmosphere

Author: SpaceAlex
Version: 2.0 (Main File + Fixes)
Special Installation: After extraction, remove the following file(s) and/or folder(s):

• 2. Modules/2.2 Characters/bhm600cr_valor.utc (Fixes invisible body bug with Valor in the mage origin.)
• 2. Modules/2.6. Merchants/Modified Buy from Player Values folder (This leaves intact default buy from player values)
• 7. Extras/7.4. Bodies Stay folder (Annoying Bugs)
• 8. Compatibility* folders (No need for any of these patches.)
• All conflicting files with Clothed Prisoners
• All conflicting files with Ferelden Elves.
• All conflicting files with Morrigan Restoration Patch Dialog Fixpack.
• All conflicting files with ZDF Dialog Fixes.

Mod Notes: When you played Dragon Age, were you disappointed by the lack of life in towns? Were you bothered by the fact that most ambient NPC's after Ostagar refused to move a muscle, and were instead just hopelessly standing in one place? Did you want more party banter triggers? How about more variety when it comes to your own equipment and also to that of the NPC's? Wanted the bodies of your victims to remain after you slew them? This mod attempts to take care of all these shortcomings, and more.

Retextured items for DAO

Author: Elelith
Version: Latest (9/2/2014)
Optionals: Environment
Mod Notes: This mod gives the game new, worked from the ground up textures for various objects in the game.

JB3 Textures

Author: reative
Version: 3.1
Optionals: Armors, Creatures, Environments, and Props
Special Installation: After extraction, remove the following file(s) and/or folder(s):

• All conflicting files with Eyebrow Presets.
• All conflicting files with Improved Atmosphere.
• All conflicting files with Lady of the Forest and Desire Demon Retexture.
• All conflicting files with Retextured Items for DAO.

Mod Notes: This mod gives the game new, resized textures (Using fractal method, fake HDR and my own photoshop methods) and many textures are reworked.

Qunari Update

Author: temp7704
Version: 04/19/2011 (dazip)
Mod Notes: This mod replaces default models of the Kossith race (better known as the Qunari) matching appearance from DA2.

Final Steps

TBD

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