Dragon Age Hex Editing
by Minuos
Required
- The ability to get saves from your HDD. I use Xplorer360.
- The ability to extract and inject internal files from and into that save. I use Horizon, since Modio doesn't seem to work properly for Dragon Age.
- The ability to hex edit those files. I use Hex Workshop.
- The ability to fix the checksum you break when you hex the files. Provided by unknown v2.
- The ability to double-check the save is fine. Hash Block Calc - Provided.
Most of what you need can be found in this file.http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YOJSN03D
The Basics
A. I only mod offline. I can't say for certain whether or not you'll be banned for playing modded saves whilst Live.
B. You need to hex edit. I'm happy to provide tuts for doing that, but I won't do it for you directly, or indirectly by creating a program to the legwork.
Types of save:
0x7c4020b5_1_u!0 - the suffix 'u!0' means Usersave 0
0x7c4020b5_1_a!0 - The suffix 'a!0' means Autosave 0
If you're looking for a game you saved manually, use the u.
1. Connect your HDD/MU to the computer.
2. Extract your save.
3. Open the save in Horizon, and hit the Contents tab. Extract savegame.das and savegame.das.x to somewhere you'll remember.
4. Following one of the tuts in the second or third post, open savegame.das in your hex editor and make the changes you want.
5. Run dragon_age.exe, the checksum fix included in the linked .zip file. Click Resign, and open savegame.das when prompted. Open savegame.das.x when prompted a second time. Give it a few seconds, then close the app.
6. Go back to your save in Horizon, and to the Contents tab. Right click and overwrite the savegame.das and savegame.das.x files with those you've modded. Save your changes in the first tab.
7. Optional: Run Hash Block Calc and open the full save, for example; 0x7c4020b5_1_u!0. Check all the instances are True, and the save should work, unless you did something wrong. You don't have to rehash with this program, just check everything's True.
Item Modifications
Note: When modifying items, have them equipped.
Item Swapping
This is simple enough. Basically, what you're doing is making a text change to swap one item for another. For example; Studded Leather Armor to Scale Armor.
Note: Don't change clothes to armour, and vice versa. If you want a certain piece of clothing, mod another piece of clothing. I've yet to test tier editing clothes, but I'll do that soon.
Required: Item List (Temporarily incomplete) http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ULF0T8U0
Tutorial
If you change a common item, such as Studded Leather, all instances that already exist in your save will most likely change too. But their stats won't - just the appearance, name and base stats. Rare or unique items are best to modify.
1. Open savegame.das in a hex editor.
2. Find the item you want to change in the item list (above) and what you want to change it to, also.
3. Search (ctrl+f) under Text String for your item. Since I'll be looking for Studded Leather, I'll search for gen_im_arm_cht_lgt_rlr.
4. I've only modified early saves, so multiple search finds isn't something I've dealt with yet. Find your item, and change it to what you want it to be. In my case, I'd change gen_im_arm_cht_lgt_rlr to gen_im_arm_cht_med_scl.
5. You can change multiple things in one session, but once you're done, save the changes and refer to step 5 in the first post for what to do next.
Tier Editing
More complicated, but simple once you know how. You just replace certain hex values with others that correspond to a list of materials.
Required: Material List http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9UBPSMCQ
Tutorial
You have to know exactly which value is yours before you change it, because there are a lot of similar values involved with this one and changing a bad one is, well, bad. Before you begin, take note of the materials of the equipment you're wielding. For example, my character is wearing Tier 1 (Rough) Studded Leather, and wielding a Tier 2 (Grey Iron) Family Sword and Shield of Highever. There are different material numbers for for weapons, armour and shields.
1. Open savegame.das in hex.
2. Hit Ctrl+F, refer to the material list and search for the hex value of the tier you're wearing most of. I'm wearing three items of Rough leather, so I'll search for 003C00030D40. If you modify a different material, replace 3C with the right hex value.
3. Now, go to the very last instance found, and go upwards through them until you find the number of same-tiered items you have equipped, right above each other. Above the very last one there'll be more values before another '030D40' value. Check this is the same tier as your off-hand weapon/shield. If not, check the next value up.
Note: The tiers I have equipped are Rough (3C), Grey Iron Weapon (29), and Grey Iron Shield(30). Here is an image of what my Tier values look like in hex. Note that my Weapon, Shield and Armor are in order.
4. Once you've recognised the locations of your equipment, choose which tier you wish to change it to, and simply replace the values as desired. Most values (meaning some of the 'OLD' ones and clothing/colour only values) have the stats of Tier 1 equipment, but having gold armour is awesome - you can make Chevalier Armor look like the royal version. Also, the bad stats can be countered with effect editing.
5. But once you're happy with your Tier changes, save the file and refer to step 5 of the first post for what to do next.
Effect Editing
Not the most simple of modifications to make, but that really can't be helped. For this, you need to be quite aware of certain hex locations. You need to be wearing an item with any effect shown in the Effect List you can grab below. Onward, then.
Required:Effect List http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JU230MHV
First item (Family Sword)
Black
1st - Number of effects = 04 (start).
2nd - No. of effects = 04(separates effect type from effect amount).
3rd - Number of effects = 04 (end).
Red
1st - First effect ID in hex (04B0 - Increase Damage).
2nd - Effect amount = 01
Green
1st - Second effect ID in hex (177F - Required: Warrior or Rogue).
2nd - Effect amount = 01
Note: 'Enabled' effects such as requirements only need a value of 01.
Blue
1st - Third effect ID in hex (17D3 - Increase Attack - 1 point = +2).
2nd - Effect amount = 02
Orange
1st - Fourth effect ID in hex (2710 - No Effect).
2nd - Effect amount = 01
Second item (Shield of Highever)
Brown
1st - Number of effects = 01 (start).
2nd - No. of effects = 01(separates effect type from effect amount).
3rd - Number of effects = 01 (end).
Pink
1st - First effect ID in hex (17D3 - Increase Attack - 1 point = +2).
2nd - Effect amount = 02
Tutorial
This will be explained in a situational way. I'll detail how I changed the effects on my Family sword from Damage +1, Attack +4 to Damage +50, Damage vs. darkspawn +50, and the effect on my Shield of Highever from +4 Attack to +50 Armor.Using that info, you should be able to figure out how to modify things by yourself.
1. Follow the steps in the Tier Editing tut (above) until you've found the location of your equipment.
2. Using the Effect List, find the hex value of the effect on the item you want to edit. I'm wielding the Family Sword (+1 Damage, +4 Attack) and the Shield of Highever (+4 Attack). So in the hex editor I scroll down from the Tier locations of my equipment until I find 04B0 (+x Damage) followed shortly by 17D3 (+x Attack).
3a. If you want to change an effect, refer to the Effect List and choose which. To change my sword's +x Attack to +x Damage vs. darkspawn, I change 17D3 (1st blue box on the screenshot) to 05E7.
3b. To change my shield's +x Attack to +x Armor, I change the second 17D3 (1st pink box on the screenshot) to 0455.
4a. To increase how much the effect raises my Damage vs. darkspawn I change the 02 (2nd blue box) to 32. Now it'll be +50 in-game.
4b. To increase how much the effect raises my Damage, I change the 01 (2nd red box) to 32. Now it'll be +50 in-game.
4c. To increase how much the effect raises my shield's Armor, I change the 02 (2nd pink box) to 32. Now that'll be +50 as well.
5. Once happy with the changes, save the file and refer to step 5 of the first post for what to do next.
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Dragon Age: Awakening Hex Editing
by AoshichanX
I've been playing Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening a bit, and found the values for white steel/volcanic.
Took me 20 minutes to find just these values! I can only imagine how much work went into the massive/comprehensive lists Minuos made. I didn't particular care about the other values...high dragon.. and the "drake skin" equivalent of the higher tier ones.
Armor
4E2A - white steel (tier 8)
4E2B - volcanic (tier 9)
Weapons
4E49 - ancestral (bow) (tier 9) - untested but most likely works
4E52 - white steel (tier 8)
4E53 - volcanic (tier 9)
Example:
Dragonbone Armor --> Volcanic Armor:
000600030D40 --> 4E5300030D40
Tip for Effect Editing
Per Minuos' guide, one would have to methodically search from the bottom of the save upwards to locate the character and then edit the desired effects. This method is certainly feasible, but extremely time consuming, although can be mitigated by equipping a full set of same tiered armor to help with search.
On the other hand, instead of hunting down far and wide for your character when effect editing, simply note all the effects the particular character's weapon has and search for the entire string.
Example 1:
One of my mages had the Staff of the Lost, which included
+10 magic (03EB)
+15% Spirit resistance (05E6)
+15 Spellpower (05EC)
Mage Restriction (177A)
+75 Stamina (17D8)
+50% spirit damage (2718)
so I would search for "00000006000003EB0000005E6000005EC..."
That narrows it down to the exact area where the character is located, or if not, at least within 3 instances. From there, you can simply work your way up to modify the armor/weapons etc.
Example 2:
If your character has an Imperial Edge, the stats are:
+2 Damage (04B0)
+3 Melee Critical Chance (04B3)
+6 Attack (17D3)
which would translate to the code below
Code:
00000003000004B0000004B3000017D3000000030000000200 0000030000000300000003
Explanation of AboveReferenced Code:
0000[number of effects]0000[effect #1]0000[effect #2]0000[effect #3]0000[number of effects]0000[modifier for effect #1]0000[modifier for effect #2]0000[modifier for effect #3]0000[number of effects]
Modifying Code:
Changing the above code to something like "00000003000003EE000005E6000017D800000003000000640 00000320000002800000003"
would give you
+100 to all attributes
100% Spell Resistance
+1000 Stamina
Note:
Because the search strings can get rather long, you may want to cut it shorter to avoid mistakes. Mess around with it and have fun!
Thanks again to Minuos for making all this possible!
Sorry for bad quality the pics...they were SUPER dark and I had to mess with brightness/contrast settings to make them show.