These textures are great. After some testing, I decided to use it together with Manually Optimized Textures, additions from The Deck of Many Mods and the reshade from Old Gods (not their textures, because it's too much for the engine).
That's probably the most you can get out of DA:O's textures without crashing in Lothering.
For anyone coming across this I can highly recommend this mod, probably the best textures for the game at this point in time. Some suggestions:
Create an empty folder in your override and download Old Gods and drop all the files from that into it. This is a stable AI upscale of a lot of textures this mod doesn't cover.
Download Theta HD and place it in the same folder, overwrite anything it asks.
Now download this mod, the first file and the optional enviroment textures. Take all the files from those two files (out of their subfolders) and place them into the folder you made, overwrite anything it asks you too.
Finally grab Satina for an lore friendly and improved Moon texture. And congrats! You have a mostly fully retexture DAO that isn't overdone or overly grainy.
Thanks for making me aware of Old Gods. A good foundation mod upon which to build everything else.
I'm going to be posting a guide on how to do this without overwriting for those who don't mind using up the storage space and already have a complicated setup (so they can keep clearly defined folders for each mod which I like to do so I know if a mod is causing a problem and have fallback if it is), but for ease of editing and to keep this reply concise I will do that on the Old Gods page.
at this point I went crazy and use "Dragon Age Redesigned" (for many npc's) + overwrite with Theta HD + overwrite with "Dragon Age Origins Unofficial Remaster" + overwrite with this mod XD
just in case these three cover some different details lol
Thanx for "Satina" recommendation as well. with those 5 mods I think all the general textures will finally be covered lol
Hello! Thanks for the useful guide. I have tried this setup, but my game crashed when I try to reload a save after closing and reopening the game. Any idea why that might be? Weird thing is it had no problem loading and exiting as many times as I want when the game is still open, but once I close the game entirely and launch it again, it is no longer able to load the save without crashing (crashed immediately in the loading screen). Any tips will be greatly appreciated!
EDIT: Neverming, I hadn't used the 4GB patch (fixes LAA)! That solved it for me! Leaving the comment here in case it helps someone.
The LAA Patch does the same thing as the 4gb patch. However even with these you will still crash in Lothering and sometimes Denerim with most high resolution texture mods. That's just a limitation of the games engine unfortunately.
yep it still crashes but not like i feared of i thought the crashes are very consistent but after hours of mingling around the lothering i only had 1 crash and it happened when i was leaving the chantry and it never crashed during looting , speaking and combat all around the place so the game became inconsistent but the chances are not that bad and it still playable at least for me
also other than the mods you mentioned i also used some parts of unofficial remaster ( i only overwrote the andresta statues and didn't overwrite anything else but also didn't use morphs , bodies , eyes and hairs ) and qwinn's fixpack
I was trying this for about an hour.. and the game would crash every time, even with the 4gb patch. Apparently the steam version is encrypted and needs a pre installed version instead. Here is where I got it. Now it works, no problemsteamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=233222451
Thanks for the guide. I tried this but I was getting a lot of weird texture popping and it did not play well with the reshade I was using. In the end I choose to stick with the reshade since it looks nice and doesn't cause as many problems. FYI to anyone else who wants to use this, you'll probably be fine, I have a lot of mods, probably a conflict or something.
Do not overwrite Dragon Age Origins Unofficial Remaster with anything, it should supersede all textures since it adds its own props and the other textures will seem out of place with those. So always install it last for maximum compatibility.
This setup was causing my game to crash after completing the race origin and moving onto Ostagar.
Going to try and reinstall everything, maybe I did something in the wrong order.#
edit 1: ok so it turns out that Old Gods just wont work at all. I've tried messing with the load orders but nothing would work. Going to try the other mods next individually.
edit 2: turns out no retexture mods seem to work, or atleast all the ones that were in the OP's suggestion... probably an incompatibility somewhere but I honestly can't be bothered figuring it out at this point.
edit 3: found that it was improved atmosphere. removing that mod caused a bunch of errors in my save which couldn't be rectified. even after removing that mod the save was still corrupt and wouldn't allow me to make any kind of changes including adding retextures. thankfully it was a relatively fresh save because i had to start over. op's recommendation is working good so far.
As for now, the mod works almost perfectly. However, I discovered that tombstones from the quest "The Mage's Treasure" have an incorrectly placed texture, I think. It's a minor thing and does not inhibit the gameplay, but I thought you might want to know.
What great textures!I can't get enough of all this beauty and I want to endlessly create screenshots and save them.This is, of course, a huge job and I can't imagine how everything can be done so delightfully.Endless gratitude and praise to you! I will enjoy the beautiful views.
I love these retextures and want to make sure I install correctly; when paired with a mod like Improved Atmosphere do I need to dig through IA's files and replace their textures with these? I like having the npc's behavior changed but at this point, I prefer the textures of this mod and other armor mods on the nexus.
There's a few ways to play around with priority without deleting things.
For your purposes the simplest solution is to put any mods you want to override Improved Atmosphere straight into a folder called toolsetexport within your override (create one if you don't have one),
That isn't a guarantee all mods will play nicely by any means, especially if scripts are involved, but if a file goes by the same name the one in this folder (or any of its subfolders) will load instead. Generally you should be okay with the stuff you're looking to replace.
Keep in mind though that textures can be swapped out at will, whereas armour mods can be an issue because they often edit character files (.UTC's) rather than just .dds files to get the characters to wear the armour. This is is not the case for simple replacers (like Retcon's light armour). Improved Atmosphere has a lot of UTC's, if it's randomly changed mid-game you will have issues with naked NPCs in the areas you have already visited (//edit: or at best nothing will change because they've already been loaded), so a new save will be needed.
I've been modding games for years, read all 18 pages here and still feel like idiot, completely unclear instructions! and no answers in comments. Which files do we need?
Elelith_textures_DAO - does this improve all textures, if not which textures?
Teaser Normals Textures and Spectrals - what does this file do and do I need it? what about sub-folders? what are "unsure" ones? Should we use them or not, very confusing name... there are multiple same files across subfolders and no explanation which ones are right and which ones should be rewritten!
Elelith_textures_DAO_Enviroment - why is this under optional files? It say it improves ground textures, walls etc. isn't this the point of whole mod? is that already included in the main file? if I dont install this option file, will ground textures and walls not be improved??
Do I just manually drop all these downloaded stuff into override ?? Some people here are talking about Chargenmorph Compiler, do I need to use that?? I wish description page was shorter but more precise and clear.
Just downloaded this today so came across your recent comment. Like you I'd been modding other games for years and DAO has definitely been a different experience. I don't like tons of loose files in my override to make it easier to find and delete later if I want to, so I often create folders if there isn't one (unless I specifically want to overwrite other files to take priority).
Here is what I've done and I could tell the texture differences immediately so I know it worked fine. I created a folder called Retexturing DAO and extracted the first download in there since it was not already in a single folder. I did not download the the teaser folder since it seemed to be just for a couple starting areas and had too many pick and choose sub-folders, so I just left it alone. I did download the optional environment textures. It was already in its own folder so I put the Env folder in override. So I have two new folders in my override. Doesn't seem to matter what you name folders. The game seems to detect them as long as they're in override. Or just use the Env folder and put the first download in there. Just depends how you want to organize it.
Honestly, these are the best textures I've come across here. The grass and environment textures are so much better than others that just made the vanilla textures grainy. I don't use the chargenmorph compiler.
Thank you for response. I gave up on Teaser Normals folders and subfolders because there were too many confusing duplicates. I dropped the other two in and I think it's working well :)
First off, I Need to deeply apologise to all who still look and waited for this mod to be updated. I am so sorry! I literally fell off the world for a few good years, both mentally and health wise. Only recently due to nightmares I was reminded this project was even a thing on my subconscious!
The original idea was a cloud folder would be updated and I would apply some parallax tricks to it via ReShade. Things have changed with ReShade so much that even Parallax textures may not be required anymore, and I will have to start at stage one again to test new methods.
So why did things go bad? Short version I got a job to earn money to buy better equipment, that turned into a huge tribunal case for many reason, including harassment to myself. This nearly broke me, but then my Doctor decided to prescribe me experimental medication. This on the last day of the court case did the equivalent of resetting my brain. I could not speak and let alone stay conscious. I lost all my projects, websites projects everything. Taking me years to be able to even understand most of the stuff I used to excel at.
The other side was the Dragon Age remasters being rumoured recently and was kind a hoping something would have been shown by now if the case, but obviously Covid hit. Also related to Covid I lost 2 family members at Christmas/New Year (When I originally wanted to write this message).
The plus to all above? As long as I am conscious, I am pretty much house bound and now able to work on things with a functional PC. I need chase up original author to see where things stand.
Again I apologise for vanishing, but as said, I was pretty much gone from the world, family, friends, everyone for a few years. Now I feel the need to finish many original projects for mental clarity.
it's sounds like you've been through a lot these past few years but I'm happy to hear you're safe and ok now! thank you so much for updating us and returning to this project :)
this game came out 10 years ago....... yet you are still communicating to the community why you didn't finish it even apologizing.. I dont know you but this really shows that you are a caring person!
there's no need to apologize, thanks for the great work!
Oh, wow. I am so sorry to hear all of that. I genuinely hope that your life gets better from here on out. You have absolutely nothing to apologise for. I and many others will be absolutely thrilled if you continue work on this mod because your stuff is gorgeous, but there is no need to feel like you owe us anything. <3
Thank you for your hard work! As others have said there is no need for apology. Hopefully things will get better and many of us still enjoy your work. This is the best texture mod on dao. Remaster would be perfect for dao. Hopefully that happens. Remake would most likely be too much work for Bioware but one can always hope...
ps. It makes me so happy you actually answered this thread after so long time:)
I'm so sorry bro. Know that you've brought much joy to many gamers. Good luck with your recovery, the brain is a plastic organ. It can almost always adapt.
Hi it's been over a year I know but I still feel the need to say I am so grateful for what you've already done. Please focus on yourself and your health. Do what needs to be done, but the priority should always be you. I've not had as an intense experience as you have, but I, too, lost many years. In my case, it was related to mental health. It sucks big time but all you can do is focus on the next right step. Please be kind to yourself and I hope you have as lovely a future as your textures. :) Wishing you all the best.
Please read at least the first two or three sections of the description, I know it's ramble-y but it sort-of answers your question. In short, this is not a completed overhaul, but many people like installing these textures over Theta HD - as in taking the files that ARE done in this pack and replacing the versions in Theta HD. This is because the texture packs actually go pretty well together, and putting Theta underneath RDAO as a base is to supplement for what isn't completed here, so you can have a fully retextured game.
I only ever used Improved Atmosphere before, but this time I installed this for the upgrade and it looks amazing! I'm almost at the end and I've had no issues. I was tempted to get the JB3 texture upgrades, but believe me this works very well and it's a great alternative for those that don't have much space in their hard drives to get JB3
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That's probably the most you can get out of DA:O's textures without crashing in Lothering.
Create an empty folder in your override and download Old Gods and drop all the files from that into it. This is a stable AI upscale of a lot of textures this mod doesn't cover.
Download Theta HD and place it in the same folder, overwrite anything it asks.
Now download this mod, the first file and the optional enviroment textures. Take all the files from those two files (out of their subfolders) and place them into the folder you made, overwrite anything it asks you too.
Finally grab Satina for an lore friendly and improved Moon texture. And congrats! You have a mostly fully retexture DAO that isn't overdone or overly grainy.
I'm going to be posting a guide on how to do this without overwriting for those who don't mind using up the storage space and already have a complicated setup (so they can keep clearly defined folders for each mod which I like to do so I know if a mod is causing a problem and have fallback if it is), but for ease of editing and to keep this reply concise I will do that on the Old Gods page.
Sending a kudos though.
Also go to The Deck of Many Mods at Dragon Age: Origins - mods and community (nexusmods.com)
Download "Retexturing DAO Fixes"
+ overwrite with Theta HD
+ overwrite with "Dragon Age Origins Unofficial Remaster"
+ overwrite with this mod XD
just in case these three cover some different details lol
Thanx for "Satina" recommendation as well. with those 5 mods I think all the general textures will finally be covered lol
@iagsouls thanx for Retexturing DAO fixes info :)
EDIT: Neverming, I hadn't used the 4GB patch (fixes LAA)! That solved it for me! Leaving the comment here in case it helps someone.
so i decide to give LAA a shot (large address aware)
i will let you know if it works or not
i thought the crashes are very consistent but after hours of mingling around the lothering i only had 1 crash and it happened when i was leaving the chantry and it never crashed during looting , speaking and combat all around the place
so the game became inconsistent but the chances are not that bad and it still playable at least for me
also other than the mods you mentioned i also used some parts of unofficial remaster ( i only overwrote the andresta statues and didn't overwrite anything else but also didn't use morphs , bodies , eyes and hairs ) and qwinn's fixpack
steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=233222451
Going to try and reinstall everything, maybe I did something in the wrong order.#
edit 1: ok so it turns out that Old Gods just wont work at all. I've tried messing with the load orders but nothing would work. Going to try the other mods next individually.
edit 2: turns out no retexture mods seem to work, or atleast all the ones that were in the OP's suggestion... probably an incompatibility somewhere but I honestly can't be bothered figuring it out at this point.
edit 3: found that it was improved atmosphere. removing that mod caused a bunch of errors in my save which couldn't be rectified. even after removing that mod the save was still corrupt and wouldn't allow me to make any kind of changes including adding retextures. thankfully it was a relatively fresh save because i had to start over. op's recommendation is working good so far.
Screenshot: https://ibb.co/Zzd8DQh
Any help is appreciated! Thank you :)
For your purposes the simplest solution is to put any mods you want to override Improved Atmosphere straight into a folder called toolsetexport within your override (create one if you don't have one),
That isn't a guarantee all mods will play nicely by any means, especially if scripts are involved, but if a file goes by the same name the one in this folder (or any of its subfolders) will load instead. Generally you should be okay with the stuff you're looking to replace.
Keep in mind though that textures can be swapped out at will, whereas armour mods can be an issue because they often edit character files (.UTC's) rather than just .dds files to get the characters to wear the armour. This is is not the case for simple replacers (like Retcon's light armour). Improved Atmosphere has a lot of UTC's, if it's randomly changed mid-game you will have issues with naked NPCs in the areas you have already visited (//edit: or at best nothing will change because they've already been loaded), so a new save will be needed.
Hope this helps.
Which files do we need?
Elelith_textures_DAO - does this improve all textures, if not which textures?
Teaser Normals Textures and Spectrals - what does this file do and do I need it?
what about sub-folders? what are "unsure" ones? Should we use them or not, very confusing name... there are multiple same files across subfolders and no explanation which ones are right and which ones should be rewritten!
Elelith_textures_DAO_Enviroment - why is this under optional files? It say it improves ground textures, walls etc. isn't this the point of whole mod? is that already included in the main file? if I dont install this option file, will ground textures and walls not be improved??
Do I just manually drop all these downloaded stuff into override ?? Some people here are talking about Chargenmorph Compiler, do I need to use that?? I wish description page was shorter but more precise and clear.
Here is what I've done and I could tell the texture differences immediately so I know it worked fine. I created a folder called Retexturing DAO and extracted the first download in there since it was not already in a single folder. I did not download the the teaser folder since it seemed to be just for a couple starting areas and had too many pick and choose sub-folders, so I just left it alone. I did download the optional environment textures. It was already in its own folder so I put the Env folder in override. So I have two new folders in my override. Doesn't seem to matter what you name folders. The game seems to detect them as long as they're in override. Or just use the Env folder and put the first download in there. Just depends how you want to organize it.
Honestly, these are the best textures I've come across here. The grass and environment textures are so much better than others that just made the vanilla textures grainy. I don't use the chargenmorph compiler.
I literally fell off the world for a few good years, both mentally and health wise. Only recently due to nightmares I was reminded this project was even a thing on my subconscious!
The original idea was a cloud folder would be updated and I would apply some parallax tricks to it via ReShade. Things have changed with ReShade so much that even Parallax textures may not be required anymore, and I will have to start at stage one again to test new methods.
So why did things go bad? Short version I got a job to earn money to buy better equipment, that turned into a huge tribunal case for many reason, including harassment to myself. This nearly broke me, but then my Doctor decided to prescribe me experimental medication. This on the last day of the court case did the equivalent of resetting my brain. I could not speak and let alone stay conscious. I lost all my projects, websites projects everything. Taking me years to be able to even understand most of the stuff I used to excel at.
The other side was the Dragon Age remasters being rumoured recently and was kind a hoping something would have been shown by now if the case, but obviously Covid hit. Also related to Covid I lost 2 family members at Christmas/New Year (When I originally wanted to write this message).
The plus to all above? As long as I am conscious, I am pretty much house bound and now able to work on things with a functional PC.
I need chase up original author to see where things stand.
Again I apologise for vanishing, but as said, I was pretty much gone from the world, family, friends, everyone for a few years. Now I feel the need to finish many original projects for mental clarity.
Again Sorry.
this game came out 10 years ago.......
yet you are still communicating to the community why you didn't finish it even apologizing..
I dont know you but this really shows that you are a caring person!
there's no need to apologize, thanks for the great work!
PS: Take care of yourself!
Remaster would be perfect for dao. Hopefully that happens. Remake would most likely be too much work for Bioware but one can always hope...
ps. It makes me so happy you actually answered this thread after so long time:)
I love this mod, so a belated thank you very much for all your work.
In short, this is not a completed overhaul, but many people like installing these textures over Theta HD - as in taking the files that ARE done in this pack and replacing the versions in Theta HD. This is because the texture packs actually go pretty well together, and putting Theta underneath RDAO as a base is to supplement for what isn't completed here, so you can have a fully retextured game.