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Dragon Age Origins(PC)

Spell Shaping MOD

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Jan 06, 2010
Version: 2.0

http://social.bioware.com/project/1470/

Written by: Dheu
Email: [email protected]
Use subject: Spell Shaping Version 2.0

_____________________________________SUMMARY___________________________________

Spell Shaping is a new skill for Dragon Age Origins that allows spell casters
to shape and direct wide-area spells in a manner that does not hurt allies.

Level 1:

Spell Shaping Toggle is added. When active, the caster will shape and direct
wide-area spells to avoid friendly-fire damage. Only party members are
protected.

Mana Drain:

Easy : No Mana Drain
Normal : 15% of avoided damage is drained from casters mana pool
Hard : 30% of avoided damage is drained from casters mana pool
Nightmare : 60% of avoided damage is drained from casters mana pool


Level 2:

Spell Shaping Toggle now provides Party members protection from the
secondary effects of friendly spells such as knockdown, freezing and slow
movement.

Mana Drain:

Easy : No Mana Drain
Normal : 10% of avoided damage is drained from casters mana pool
Hard : 25% of avoided damage is drained from casters mana pool
Nightmare : 50% of avoided damage is drained from casters mana pool

Level 3:

Spell Shaping Toggle now provides friendly-fire damage protection
to all allies on the battlefield. Only Party members recieve protection
from secondary effects.

Mana Drain:

Easy : No Mana Drain
Normal : 5% of avoided damage is drained from casters mana pool
Hard : 20% of avoided damage is drained from casters mana pool
Nightmare : 40% of avoided damage is drained from casters mana pool


Level 4:

Spell Shaping Toggle protects allies and party members from all
friendly-fire damage and secondary effects.

Mana Drain:

Easy : No Mana Drain
Normal : No Mana Drain
Hard : 15% of avoided damage is drained from casters mana pool
Nightmare : 30% of avoided damage is drained from casters mana pool

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I. Installation (Zip distro)
II. Installation (DaZip distro)
III. Notes
IV. Disabling Spell Shaping Mod
V. Uninstalling Spell Shaping Mod
VI. Known Issues
VII. Reporting Bugs
VIII. Release Notes
IX. Credits

===============================================================================
I. > > > > Installation (Zip Distro)
===============================================================================


1) Start\Exit Dragon Age Origins:

The first time you run the game, it sets up an area for AddOns in your
"My Documents" area. However, this area is not setup until you run the
game at least once.

2) Extract dao_spellshaping_2.0.zip file to:

"My Documents"/BioWare/Dragon Age/addins

3) Start Game and when you reach the main menu, goto "Downloadable Content"

4) Go to the "Install Content" tab and ensure that "Spell Shaping" is checked.

5) Verification:

- Select "New Game"
- Create a Mage
- Continue till you get to skill selection. Look for Spell Shaping
as an option. If you see it, then the mod is installed.
- Click "Previous" and exit out of character creation. (Do not
finish the character creation or you may find it harder to find
your old save games)

6) Favor:

This mod is free. if you like it, all I ask is that you visit my project
page at Biowares site and give me a positive vote:

http://social.bioware.com/project/1470/

or an edorsment at the dragonagenexus is also welcome

http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=483

===============================================================================
II. > > > > Installation (DAZip Distro)
===============================================================================


1) Start\Exit Dragon Age Origins:

The first time you run the game, it sets up an area for AddOns. However,
this area is not setup until you run the game at least once.

2) Execute DAUpdate.exe

Typically found in the games bin_ship directory.

IE:

C:\program files\Dragon Age\bin_ship\daupdater.exe

3) Hit [Select DAZips] and browse to the location of the file
you downloaded (dao_spellshaping_2.0.dazip)

4) Highlight the file you just identified by clicking on it with the mouse.
Then select [Install Selected]

5) Verification
- Start up the game
- Once you reach the main menu, select "Downloadable Content"
- Go to the "Install Content" tab and ensure that "Spell Shaping" is checked.

[optional]
- Select "New Game"
- Create a Mage
- Continue till you get to skill selection. Look for Spell Shaping
as an option. If you see it, then the mod is installed.
- Click "Previous" and exit out of character creation. (Do not
finish the character creation or you may find it harder to find
your old save games)

6) Favor:

This mod is free. if you like it, all I ask is that you visit my project
page at Biowares site and give me a positive vote:

http://social.bioware.com/project/1470/

or an edorsment at the dragonagenexus is also welcome

http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=483

===============================================================================
III. > > > > Notes
===============================================================================

1) In Nightmare mode, damage protection stops when mana pool is depleted.
All other modes continue to provide damage protection even when mana pool
is depleted, so long as the mage is alive.

2) Several spells such as inferno cause creatures to catch on fire. Once
an ally is on fire, activating Spell Shaping to prevent further damage
from the spell will not blow out the fire. Party members who are on fire
will continue to take fire damage until it goes out.

3) Once the mod is installed, it will check certain game aspects when you
load up a save game. If anything seems incorrect, you will see a message
"Warning : Spell Shaping has detected an issue with another mod. Spell Shaping
may not work properly".

This message normally indicates an incompatibility issue with another mod
you have installed. You can try disabling other mods until the message
goes away, or you can disable Spell Shaping. I do not recommend playing
with the Spell Shaping Mod if this message appears.

4) Mod incompatibility happens. No need to write and tell me about every
mod that Spell Shaping is not compatible with. However, if you detect an
issue with any official patches or modules, please let me know. Just go
to the website above and make sure you have the latest version first.

5) This game is huge and there are lots of abilities. This is version
2.0, so I suspect some abilities have escaped my notice and may still
impact allies/party members. If you notice this happening, let me know.

6) Grease + Fire creates a combo, however officially, DAO fireballs explode
above the ground and do not ignite grease. The grease is ignited by a
creature who catches fire while inside the grease pit (Typically because
of a fireball) or a creature who is on fire who enters the grease pit.

If the SOURCE of the fire that ignites the grease is hostile, you and your
party members will still be damaged by the fire. However, if a caster
with spell shaping active ignites the grease using Inferno, then you
should not recieve damage from the grease fire.

===============================================================================
IV. > > > > Disabling Spell Shaping Mod
===============================================================================

You can disable Spell Shaping by doing the following:

1) Start the Game
2) Go to the Main Menu
3) Go to "Downloadable Content"
4) Go to the "Installed Content" Tab
5) Uncheck "Spell Shaping"

NOTE: If you load a game where Spell Shaping was enabled, you will get a
warning. However, this mod makes no changes to plot or other internal
game elements, so the only thing that will "break" if you force load
a save game will be that you will lose any skill points you spent on
Spell Shaping.

These can be regained by using cheat codes or even installing other mods.

===============================================================================
V. > > > > Uninstalling Spell Shaping Mod
===============================================================================

1) Using Explorer, goto the directory:

"My Documents"/Bioware/Dragon Age/addins

2) Right Click "Spell_Shaping" and select delete

===============================================================================
VI. > > > > Known Issues
===============================================================================

None as of yet, but I am sure this will be updated soon enough.

===============================================================================
VII. > > > > Reporting Bugs
===============================================================================

Before submitting a bug, be certain you have the latest version of the
Spell Shaping installed.

When you submit a bug, provide clear instructions on how to reproduce it
and do not forget to include:

- Version of Spell Shaping.
- Version of Dragon Age
- Any purchased mods you have installed.
- Any other mods you have running with Spell Shaping. Note: If you
recieved the Incompatibility in game message, I do not support
mod integration beyond telling you when I am not compatible with
something.
- OS : Windows XP, Vista 32, Vista 64, Windows 7
- Bug Severity:

REALLY BAD : Crashes the game (back to desktop) in a predictable fashion.
BAD : Bug prevents me from being able to finish game period.
Normal : Bug causes a problem, but I can get around it by
reloading a previous saved game.
MILD : Unexpected behavior, but not necessarily broke.

Do not send reports for bugs that you can not reproduce.

===============================================================================
VIII. > > > > Release Notes (Recent to oldest)
===============================================================================

1) Version 2.0

- Fixed bug where Blood Sacrifice would not drain allies of blood when
caster had invested in Spell Shaping.

- Updated so that Friendly fire protection ends if mage dies.

- Updated rules and mechanics to help prevent skill from making
characters too powerfull on higher difficulty settings.

a. Spell Shaping must now be toggled to activate.

b. When active, there may be a mana drain penality based on the
number of allies in the spells target area. The mana drain
decreases significantly with each rank in the skill. (See
summary above for details)

- Updated Nightmare Mode so that Friendly fire protection ends if
the mage runs out of mana.


2) Version 1.2

- Fixed Cone of Cold so that caster is no longer frozen with only
1 skill point in Spell Shaping

- updated readme


3) Version 1.1

- Re-packaged archive using Winzip (instead of 7-zip) to ensure
fewer compatibility issues.

- Added "Publisher" and "Description" string to mod when viewed in
game.

- Updated readme, summary and description

4) Version 1.0

- First release. Basically a Beta so that it could "bake" a few days
and I could get some error feedback.


===============================================================================
IX. > > > > Credits
===============================================================================

Spell Shaping Mod:

Dheu

Testers:

Dheu

Scriting Advice:

Magic
Rolenka
DeepImpact