This tutorial will take you step-by-step through the process of downloading mods from Nexus Mods.
- Finding mods can be done in various ways found in the Files drop-down menu on the top of the site. From here you can browse the categories, new or newly updated files, top files, use the advanced search, search by tags, or browse the Files of the Month.
- Once you've found a mod read the description, then click the Files tab.
- You will now be presented with one or more files, categorized as Main files, Updates, Optional files, Old files, and miscellaneous. Which file(s) to download varies from mod to mod, so be sure to read the installation instructions! Now you have two ways to download the file. You can either download it through Vortex (recommended), or you can download it manually.
- Vortex: Click the Mod Manager Download button on the file you want to download. This will open Vortex and begin the download.
- Manual: Click the Manual Download button. A small window will open, where the download will either automatically start, you will be prompted with a donation request, or the required files will be listed. If it does not automatically start the download, simply click the Download button.
- You have now downloaded a mod. If you need any help installing the mod you just downloaded, check out the 'How to install mods' tutorial for Oblivion, Fallout 3, or Skyrim
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If you think it is time to bring out the mods on Dragon Age: Inquisition, chances are that you’ve spent hours searching for the official mod manager online. Even though DAI runs on the Frostbite Engine that’s well known for its toughness to cracking and modding, the developers of Dragon Age Inquisition cut us some slack and let us use mods in the game.
How to install addons in eso. How do I install an AddOn? To manually install your AddOns: 1. Download your chosen addon 2. Extract the files to a folder on your desktop. Open your ESO folder. The addon downloads as a ZIP file, just extract if to some folder, and go to Elder Scrolls Onlineliveaddons and move the extracted contents to a folder there. But yeah, I agree that the simplest way of handling addons is to use Minion. Files need to be placed in the ESO Add-ons directory that can be found in Documents/Elder Scrolls Online/live/AddOns on your computer. The easiest way to do this is to right-click the file and click extract files. A new window will pop up that will ask for specifics.
Before we teach you how to install Dragon Age Inquisition mods, we are going to show you how to backup your game and ensure that you can retrieve your saved game progress once you are done modding DAI.
There’s only one catch; You have to use the official DA-I Mod Manager. The mods will work but there’s still the risk of breaking your game hence the need to first backup your game saves before venturing into DAI mods.
How to Backup Your DAI Game Saves
You can find your game saves in your Documents > BioWare folder. You will find a couple of files here if you have more than one BioWare games. Open the Dragon Age Inquisition folder and copy the Save folder. Save it at another location in your PC or cloud storage service for safe keeping.
Downloading Dragon Age Inquisition Nexus Mod Manager
A while ago, the developers of the Mod Manager had a direct link to the file. They have changed this, taken down the link and only lets you download the mod manager through their more useful DAI Tools Suite Loader.
The manager lets you receive updates for the Mod Manager and the Modding tool automatically meaning that you don’t have to constantly look for the latest Dragon Age Inquisition mod manager updates. The tool will take charge of all the updates. All you have to do is keep on modding.
If you don’t have the Mod Manager installed, the tool will display the latest version and avail it for download.
You can download the DAI Tools Suite here
How to Use Dragon Age Inquisition Mod Manager
Once you have the mod manager installed, you will need to create a folder where you will be saving your mod files. You will then have to launch the Mod Manager from within DAI Tolls Suite and use the Browse option to point it to the mods folder you just created.
Use the other Browse tab on the manager and navigate to the DragonAgeInquisition.exe in your program files. That’s all you need to install Inquisition mods.
That’s all. You’re now set to start implementing the mods your find at the Nexus or others you gather on the web. A good place to get individual developer DAI mods would be on Tumblr. Look for Tumblrs tagged ‘DAI mods.’
So, now that you know how to use Dragon Age Inquisition mod manager, what are your favorite mods going to be? Please let us know in the comments section below.
How to Mod DAI (Video Guide)
Related
Our love for PC games is matched only by our love of changing PC games. And modders have been changing PC games almost since the first moment they arrived, then uploading their modifications so others can enjoy them.
Mods can do something small: fix a bug, correct a typo in on-screen text, add a new item of clothing for your character, adjust how a weapon works, and a million other little tweaks and changes. Mods can also be massive projects, completely transforming how a game looks or functions, and can provide all new quests, adventures, and in-game systems. Mods, be they big or small, add to our the enjoyment of PC games, provide completely new ways to play them, and influence the entire landscape of the games industry.
With thousands of mods for hundreds of games, it can be hard to know where to begin. If you're new to finding, installing, and using mods for PC games, we're here to help. Here's how to get started.
Steam Workshop
The Complete Guide to PC Gaming
PC Gamer is going back to the basics with a series of guides, how-tos, and deep dives into PC gaming's core concepts. We're calling it The Complete Guide to PC Gaming, and it's all being made possible by Razer, which stepped up to support this months-long project. Thanks, Razer!
If you've never used mods before, a great place to start is the Steam Workshop. There you'll find hundreds of Steam games that support mods, and thousands (and sometimes hundreds of thousands) of mods for games like CS:GO, No Man's Sky, Cities: Skylines, Portal 2, Prison Architect, Civ 5, Stellaris, and lots more.
Typically the mods in the Workshop are categorized by type, and you can use keyword searches to look for something specific. Mods are also voted on by users so you can see what's most popular and what's been downloaded the most by other players.
The best part is that installing mods in the Workshop is almost always a one-click process. Just click the subscribe button on any mod you'd like to install, and they'll be added to your game the next time you launch it. To remove a mod, you just need to click unsubscribe. Some games, such as recent Civilizations, have in-game menus where you can activate and deactivate mods you subscribe to. It's an easy way to add and remove mods from your games, and there are new mods added all the time.
Nexus Mods
The simplicity of the Steam Workshop is great, but when mods are bigger and more complex they may need more than a single click installation. The Nexus Mods site hosts both simple and complex mods for over 600 games, probably most notably for Bethesda RPGs Skyrim, Oblivion, and the Fallout series. You'll also find lots of mods for series like The Witcher, Mount & Blade, Mass Effect, XCOM, and many others.
You need to create a free account to download mods, but if you're into modding it's absolutely worth it. Nexus Mods has its own mod manager, which helps you manage the mods you download, makes installation much easier, and lets you know when there are new versions available for updating. Once installed, it'll even detect which games you own that it supports, making it easy to get started with modding them. Nexus Mods is also developing a new mod manager called Vortex which is now in beta, featuring more intuitive controls and new features, though it currently doesn't support most of the games Nexus Mods hosts files for.
Nexus Mods has a massive and highly enthusiastic community—there are over 15 million members who have collectively downloaded nearly 3 billion files. The site also publishes mod spotlight features created by the staff, and even has a rewards system for modders that can earn them a bit of money for their hard work (paid by the site, not by the users). If you want to really get into modding your games, get familiar with Nexus Mods. It's an outstanding and reliable resource of the best mods ever made.
Mod DB
Mod DB is a long-running modding community website, first established in 2002. Since then it's amassed thousands of mods and over a million downloads. There you'll find mods for games like the STALKER series, the original Doom, Half-Life, Total War, Command and Conquer, and lots more. It's an excellent resource to hunt for mods for older games that might not turn up at the Steam Workshop or Nexus Mods.
Mod DB provides a voice for modders, and there are many who post developer blogs and news about mods in progress. It's also the site of the Mod of the Year Awards, a contest that's been running for the past 17 years, where users can vote on their favorite mods.
Other mod sites
The three sites listed above should provide you with mods for just about every game you're looking for, but there are still other places to look for mods for specific games. CurseForge hosts mods and addons for MMOs like World of Warcraft. Minecraftforum.net is a great place to find Minecraft mods you might not see elsewhere. For Grand Theft Auto 5, you should look at GTA5mods.com, and GTAxScripting, and keep in mind there's quite a lot involved in getting GTA mods to work since the game doesn't technically support them. You can find some No Man's Sky mods at the Steam Workshop, but there's also a dedicated site to browse for more.
And if you're looking for a place to jump in, we cover mod news every single week here on PC Gamer, and we've got lots of articles to point you at some great mods for great games:
The best total conversion mods
The best Skyrim mods
The best Skyrim Special Edition mods
The best Minecraft mods
The best Kerbal Space Program mods
The best Divinity: Original Sin 2 mods
The best XCOM 2 mods
The best Fallout New Vegas mods
The best Fallout 4 mods
The best Ark: Survival Evolved mods
The best No Man's Sky mods
The best Witcher 3 mods
The best Kingdom Come Deliverance mods
The best Stardew Valley mods
The best RimWorld mods
The best Skyrim mods
The best Skyrim Special Edition mods
The best Minecraft mods
The best Kerbal Space Program mods
The best Divinity: Original Sin 2 mods
The best XCOM 2 mods
The best Fallout New Vegas mods
The best Fallout 4 mods
The best Ark: Survival Evolved mods
The best No Man's Sky mods
The best Witcher 3 mods
The best Kingdom Come Deliverance mods
The best Stardew Valley mods
The best RimWorld mods
Modding tips
While we wish modding were always a simple affair, it can often be complicated and require a bit of work on your end. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Back up your saved games
Using mods can have an effect on your saved games, and you may run into problems further down the line. Sometimes when a game is patched, the mod will also need a patch to be compatible with the new version of the game, and that might not happen immediately (or, in some cases, ever). That means you may start playing your game and find your modded save isn't working. Always be prepared for the fact that a modded game may stop functioning, you may lose your progress, or your save may no longer be compatible. Make a clean save of your game before you mod it, and keep it somewhere so you can restore it if you need to.
Using mods can have an effect on your saved games, and you may run into problems further down the line. Sometimes when a game is patched, the mod will also need a patch to be compatible with the new version of the game, and that might not happen immediately (or, in some cases, ever). That means you may start playing your game and find your modded save isn't working. Always be prepared for the fact that a modded game may stop functioning, you may lose your progress, or your save may no longer be compatible. Make a clean save of your game before you mod it, and keep it somewhere so you can restore it if you need to.
Be very careful modding online games
Modding a singleplayer game is a lot different than modding an online game. There are a lot of multiplayer games that support mods, like Team Fortress 2, Ark, Rust, and many others. Not all do, however. It's hard to predict how developers and publishers will react to mods for online games, so you are taking a risk of being banned for using mods in a multiplayer atmosphere. Be extremely careful the mod you're using isn't regarded as a cheat.
Modding a singleplayer game is a lot different than modding an online game. There are a lot of multiplayer games that support mods, like Team Fortress 2, Ark, Rust, and many others. Not all do, however. It's hard to predict how developers and publishers will react to mods for online games, so you are taking a risk of being banned for using mods in a multiplayer atmosphere. Be extremely careful the mod you're using isn't regarded as a cheat.
Notepad++ is useful for editing ini files
Sometimes you're required to do a little modding yourself to get a mod to work. This may require you to edit an ini or text file. Notepad++ is great for this, much better than the Notepad software in Windows.
Sometimes you're required to do a little modding yourself to get a mod to work. This may require you to edit an ini or text file. Notepad++ is great for this, much better than the Notepad software in Windows.
Always read everything on the mod page
Before you download any mod, fully read what the mod author has written. Installation may require more than simply extracting a file and putting it in the right folder. Sometimes mods can conflict with one another, or need to be ordered a certain way for them to work, and these details are usually noted by the author. If there is user feedback or reviews, make sure to read them too: if you're having trouble getting the mod running, someone else may have provided a solution.
Before you download any mod, fully read what the mod author has written. Installation may require more than simply extracting a file and putting it in the right folder. Sometimes mods can conflict with one another, or need to be ordered a certain way for them to work, and these details are usually noted by the author. If there is user feedback or reviews, make sure to read them too: if you're having trouble getting the mod running, someone else may have provided a solution.
There's not a one-size-fits-all way to install and run different mods for different games. Carefully following a mod author's instructions and seeing what the community is saying about the mod is the best way to insure you'll be able to get it up and running.
Overview
This document describes how to get modifications (mods) for BioWare's Dragon Age (DA) to work in your game. While they are considered 'unofficial', BioWare produced and released the 'Dragon Age Toolset' specifically to allow and promote the creation of these mods. This Guide does NOT provide instructions for any particular mod, or contain any discussion of how to use the 'Toolset' or the in-game 'Command Console'. Others may have different tips, but with these you can get enough of the basics to figure out what you're doing. At the end are some links to places for finding, evaluating, rating, and discussing the thousands (yes, thousands!) of DA mods. Happy Modded Gaming!
Why use a mod? To customize your game to be more of what YOU want it to be, and to add hours of exciting new adventures beyond the amazing experience BioWare provided!
Assumptions
While mods for DA are fairly easy to use, one thing that may not be clear to new players is that they come in a variety of forms, each of which requires certain steps to get working in your game. These tips are designed to get you started, but they presume you already understand basic PC file and folder terms and activities (downloading, saving, copying, etc.)
NOTICES AND DISCLAIMERS
Copyrights. Electronic Arts (EA) is the copyright holder for the DA game and the materials it contains. Please respect the intellectual property rights of EA, BioWare, (the game's developer) and the authors of any mods.
Safety. Legitimate mods for DA aren’t executable files and can’t introduce malware or alter your computer system's basic operation. They are quite safe, (subject to the usual precautions regarding files obtained from any internet source.) Mods do not make any changes to the game's basic files. Mods are placed in completely different folders, and can easily be deleted entirely to return your DA game to its original state. Please be sure to make back-ups of your saved games before installing any mod. This Guide does not endorse any specific mod, nor are the authors responsible for a given mod's behavior. Any files mentioned in this Guide are examples for illustrative purposes only.
What Are Mods?
The term 'mod', in gaming, can used to mean either 'modification' or 'module'. The more commonly used sense is when referring to a FREELY DISTRIBUTED, player-created, file (or files) modifying something about a game. Very large and complex mods that create whole new sections, adventures, characters, or areas within the game are often called 'modules'. (And technically, the Developer also creates modules. In fact, BioWare often refers to their official Downloadable Content (DLC) for DA as 'expansion modules'. So all Community- or Player-Created modules are 'mods', but not all mods are 'modules'!)
While a mod(ule) can affect anything and everything within the game, most mods only do one, or a very few things. And most of those things fall into a few obvious categories:
- a) Appearances. Changes to the way existing elements of the game look. Within DA, 'facemorphs' (called so because they change a character's face) are probably the single most common appearance mod. When used directly in the game, this type of mod usually consists of just a '.mor' file.
- b) Items & Equipment. These mods add one or more items to the game. These may simply be items in the game the author thought needed some 'small tweaks', or they may be things that have characteristics, attributes, or abilities ('stats') very different from anything in the original.
- c) Bug Fixes. As the name would imply, these correct things the author believes to have been mistakes or problems with the original game.
- d) Improvements & Enhancements to Play. This kind of mod makes changes in the way the game actually functions. These go beyond 'Bug Fixes' to introduce new actions or effects.
- e) Full Modules. As mentioned above, modules can add new sections, adventures, characters, companions, and whole areas. These are some of the largest mods.
How Are Mods 'Packaged'?
Most DA mods are distributed in one of the common compressed forms ('.zip', '.rar', '.7z', etc.) You'll need the appropriate utility, ('WinZip', 'WinRAR', '7-Zip', etc.) to unpack them in order to have the mod itself. Many players download and unpackage their mods in a separate location (to a folder named 'My DA Mods', for example) in order to determine what type they are and what to do with them.
- NOTE: See here for a table of various compression formats and their associated utilities; List of file archivers.
Within those compressed files, mods are usually found in one of three formats; '.dazip', '.override', 'everything else'.
See the next section for a discussion of each of these.
See the next section for a discussion of each of these.
Installing Mods
Once you have the mod unpackaged, (if it needed to be) then each type needs to be treated slightly differently.
- a) '.dazip' files. A '.dazip' is a collection of files specially structured to be handled by the built-in program 'DAUpdater.exe'. DAUpdater is a standalone executable found in the following location: 'C:/[program files)]/Dragon Age/bin_ship'. Once you have started it, point DAUpdater to the location of the '.dazip' file you want, and chose 'Install dazip'.
- NOTE 1: The progress bar will reach 100%, but the status message never changes to 'Completed'. It's OK, the mod is installed.
- NOTE 2: This is the same procedure used to install the 'official' BioWare DLC if you download it directly from the EA servers rather than using the in-game process.
- NOTE 3: You can also use either of the two 'manager' utilities:
- DAO ModManager (DAMM), or DA Modder (DAM).
- These two manager utilities help with the housekeeping chores associated with some specific mod file-types.
- b) '.override' files. These are mods specially created to work with DAMM. They are often ones that interact with OTHER mods and are highly configurable. See the DAMM user's guide for information on how to install the program and use these mods. Only a very few mods are '.overrides'.
The vast majority of DA mods fall into the next category.
- c) 'Everything Else'. A mod might be a '.mor' for a new face, or a '.cut' for a new animation scene. It might be a '.dlg' with new dialogue, or a '.ss' with new voices.
- If the mod's instructions say, 'Place in your override folder.' it does not need to be 'installed'. As the instruction indicates, simply place it in the folder named 'override' located under: 'C:/[user's documents]/Bioware/Dragon Age/packages/core'.
- NOTE 1: If this folder does not exist, (which may be the case if this is your very first mod) just create it.
- NOTE 2: Players often place each mod in their '/override' folder into its own sub-folder (named whatever they choose) so that it can be easily identified, (since some mod's file names aren’t much help) and so the entire mod can be deleted without hunting through lots (potentially hundreds!) of other files to find all the pieces.
- NOTE 3: Steam and D2D installs use slightly different folder structures than the retail disc version. Adjust accordingly.
Changing a Character's Appearance
Changing the appearance of the Player-Character (the 'PC', aka 'Your Warden') works differently than changing the appearance of any Non-Player Character (NPC).
- a) Your Warden. When a DA mod is designed to work with the Character Creator (CC) element of the game to add new looks (e.g. hairstyles, eye colours, tattoos) for a new, player-made protagonist, it must interact with the CC using an '.xml' file named the 'Character Generator Morph Configuration' ('chargenmorphcfg.xml'.) If you want to use more than one of these mods at the same time, you must merge the contents of the multiple 'chargenmorphcfg.xml' files into a single one. This can be done manually, and the article 'Installing cosmetic mods for Dragon Age' describes the process. Also TerraEx, (a fellow player and modder) has made an excellent utility program, 'CharGenMorph Compiler', to do this for you automatically.
- b) Changing your Warden's appearance after you've started a game also requires a new '.mor'. One that has the look you want. Several mods make the process of substituting one face for another fairly easy. All of them, (e.g. NewByPower's 'DA Face Replacer') work by having you create the 'right' face on a new character, then replacing your current PC's face with that one.
- NOTE: More sophisticated 'plastic surgery' on an existing face is possible using the Toolset, but that is beyond the scope of this mini-tutorial.
- c) All NPCs. One of the most common types of mod is the 'facemorph'. (The ones for Morrigan and Leliana seem to be particularly popular… wonder why?) If you want to change an NPC's appearance then you need a '.mor' file with the new face. If you unpack a facemorph mod and get a '.mor', just put it in your 'override' folder. Once there it will be used to replace the named character's face in-game (presuming the author gave it the correct filename.)
- NOTE: A new '.mor' will not change the NPC's look in any of the '.bnk' movies (the ones in Denerim with Loghain are this type.) Unlike any cutscenes in which your PC appears, those are static files which a mod doesn't affect.
Uninstalling Mods
- a) Any mod installed with the DAUpdater program can be disabled within the game simply by 'unticking' the box next to that mod in the 'Installed Content' screen found under 'Downloadable Content' from the main menu. These mods can’t really be uninstalled except by manually finding all the pieces and deleting them.
- b) Any mod installed with either DAMM or DAM (see above) can be disabled by unticking the box next to the mod's name, (just like for DAUpdater) and removed by right-clicking on the mod within that program's menu and selecting 'Uninstall'. (DAMM has a further 'Delete' step, but use the 'Uninstall' first.)
- c) Any mod placed in your '/override' folder is uninstalled simply by removing it from that folder.
- Either delete it, or cut-n-paste it elsewhere. Both ways work.
Compatibility and Conflicts
Not all mods work and play well with others. Be sure to make a 'Named Save' before installing a new mod. (And if you’re especially paranoid, make a backup of your saved games and characters folder: 'C:/[user's documents]/Bioware/Dragon Age/Saves')
- a) The rule is 'Only one mod can change the same part of the game's content at a time.' So if you install two mods that both change conversations with Zevran, unless they are made to be compatible with each other you'll only get the new lines of dialogue from one of them (or in extreme cases, if used together they might cause the game to crash.) This is especially important to understand with any 'romance' mods. Read the Readme for your mods!
- Fix: Delete one or both of the conflicting mods. Always presume that a new problem is due to the mod you just added, conflicting with the mod you most like!
- b) Missing Items. Ever since game patch 1.03, (which changed the way a brand new game loads for the first time) many (most?) mods that ADD ITEMS to your inventory will fail with a BRAND NEW game until after you've made your first save.
- Fix: Disable/Remove the mod until you’ve played your new game to the point where you can make a save. Save, Exit, Re-Enable the mods, Re-Start the game and Load the Save you had just created. The items will now be added to your inventory as expected.
- c) Some mods don't react well to some of the official BioWare DLC. The best known conflicts are with 'Leliana's Song' and 'Witch Hunt', (and that one stupid hot spot on the Alienage gate in 'The DLC Which Must Not Be Named'.)
- Fix: Disable (untick) these on the 'Installed Content' menu unless actually playing them. Disable/Remove the mods if you have conflicts when playing any of these DLC.
How Do I Install Mods For Dai
Links to More Information
Now that you have an idea of how to use mods in Dragon Age, here some links to mods and other resources you might like:
BioWare Continuity Network (BCN). This is listing of, and a repository of some (most?) of, the mods that used to be hosted on the BioWare Social Network (BSN) before that site was shutdown. If you see a reference to a mod as being found on the BSN, it might now be preserved here.
How To Install Mods For Dai Di
Dragon Age Nexus. Independent site for DA mods and discussions. Requires requires a (FREE) registration to download files. Players new to modding might begin by using the 'Categories' search function, as well as the links for 'Top 100', and the 'Most Endorsed - All Time'. This will give a good overview of the kinds of mods available.
How To Install Mods For Dark Souls
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