~Description~

UPDATE 1.2: As requested, added drawn weapon casting for Arcane Warriors. These should replace the original Improved Shapeshifting and Witherfang Version files. The versions for Combat Tweaks actually already included this feature (as a part of Combat Tweaks), so this does not affect the Combat Tweaks versions.

These files fix the irritating glitch where certain spells force the Arcane Warrior to sheathe his/her weapon before casting. This repairs the following spells:

Flame Blast/Fireball
Stonefist
Winter's Grasp/Cone of Cold/Blizzard
Lightning/Shock/Tempest
Rejuvination
Heroic Offense/Heroic Defense/Haste
Antimagic Burst
Walking Bomb
Mind Blast
Paralyze/Mass Paralysis
Vulnerability Hex/Affliction Hex/Death Hex
Horror/Sleep/Waking Nightmare
Drain Life
Bloody Grasp

Apologies for the delay. Due to time constraints I've had less time to test everything than I'd like, so feel free to let me know of any issues. Most importantly, enjoy!

UPDATE 1.1: Now with Witherfang! Finally (it took forever, I know, blame university) uploaded a Witherfang version. It is otherwise identical to the original mods, but instead of the blight wolf to healthy wolf progression in Wolf Form, it has been switched to healthy wolf to white wolf (using the Witherfang model). The only problem I've encountered so far has been that the Witherfang model doesn't fit in the character portrait at the side of the screen. As always, if there are any issues, please let me know.

This mod arose out of my personal desire to make the Shapeshifting specialization less...well...useless. I had tried several other Shapeshifting mods, but none of them really suited my needs. Some of them were too extreme; I didn't want access to dozens of new forms, I just wanted the few forms available to be more useful. This mod makes it practical to use the Shapeshift forms in battle. It also makes them more pleasant to look at - the Spider Shape has been changed to a Wolf Shape, and the Bear Shape upgrades to a black bear instead of the rotting ickyness of the beresekarn. (I'm fine with those things as enemies, but I really don't want to stare at them for long periods of time. Now I can happily scurry about shapeshifted without needing to look at spiders and zombie bears all day). The Wolf Shape progresses from the blight wolf to a normal wolf instead of the other way around like the summoned wolf from the Ranger specialization does (it just makes more sense to me for the taint-infested sick ghoul of a wolf to be weaker than the healthy, majestic natural one). Flying Swarm isn't addressed by this mod (except for the instant transformation) since I thought it was alright. If there is any interest, I can make a version that restores the original spider and/or upgrade shapes.

I realize this mod comes a little late for a game that's a little old, but I was truly annoyed by the Shapeshift fail during a recent replay and thought I would share my personal solution I haven't had a chance to do extensive testing, so please let me know if you encounter any problems. I have included both the original version and a version that should (theoretically) be compatible with the extremely popular and awesome mod, Combat Tweaks.

If you like it, please endorse!!!


Overview of Changes:

Spider Shape:
- Spider Shape swapped out for Wolf Shape
- Wolf Shape has access to Dread Howl and Shred abilities, gaining access to Overwhelm with Master Shapeshifter
- Wolf Shape starts out as a blighted wolf, upgrading into a healthy wolf with Master Shapeshifter

Bear Shape:
- Bear Shape starts out as a black bear, upgrading to a great (brown) bear with Master Shapeshifter

General Shapeshifting:
- Shapeshifts are now instant (closer to Morrigan's transformation in the trailer)
- Wolf and Bear Shape should have no mana cost to activate (making them an useful alternative for a mage out of mana)
- Wolf and Bear Shape should no longer automatically deactivate when out of mana
- Wolf and Bear Shape base attributes have been altered to make them more useful in melee combat (these attributes should scale appropriately with level gain); they have also been made more reflective of the animal they represent (higher dexterity for the wolf, higher strength and armor for the bear, etc.)
- Cooldowns have been reduced for Wolf and Bear abilities (with only three abilities, it's only fair that they can use them more often)

NOTE: Occasionally the PC may get "stuck" in Wolf Shape even after deactivating. This has only happened a couple of times for me, but all you need to do is deactivate Wolf Shape, make a save and reload the save and the PC model will be restored to normal. Entering into a conversation also seems to fix it (after the dialogue animation ends). I'm not sure what's causes it (it seems entirely random and probably has to do with some bug lurking in the game's scripts). At any rate, don't panic if this happens.

NOTE 2: There was a bit of a glitch in the initial upload that caused Flying Swarm animation to not appear and one of the abilities specified to be wrong for the Wolf Shape, but the correct files have now been uploaded.


~Installation~

Vanilla Mod:

Extract the Improved Shapeshifting folder and place it in your override folder (/Documents/Bioware/Dragon Age/packages/core/override in Windows 7).

Combat Tweaks Compatible Mod:

Extract the Improved Shapeshifting for Combat Tweaks folder and place it in your override folder (/Documents/Bioware/Dragon Age/packages/core/override in Windows 7).

Locate the Combat Tweaks folder in override (by default denl_combattweaks).

Delete ABI_ct.GDA and shapechange_ct.GDA from this folder.


~Compatibility~

Not compatible with any mod that modifies Shapeshifting in any way. If you use Combat Tweaks, make sure you download the Combat Tweaks compatible version (it should be fully compatible, but I haven't done much testing. Feel free to point out any problems or conflicts).


~Rules for Use~

Please do not take my stuff and repost it without my permission. Please do not claim it is your work. Please do not be a troll.

If you do any of these things, I will hex you.

The end.