Hi nytimz! Thank you for the pdf files, really help me create my own mod. I have a question looking on your files I did not understand if I want to change set parameters from the game like for example offensive ability to work with range weapons is this possible?
Not absoultely sure what you mean Goldenduck1, but if you are referring to changing parameters in a particular skill, you can indeed increase any of the abilities specified in that skill. For example, on page 9 of my DIY PDF in section 5 for the woodlore.dbr skill, I changed characterDefensiveAbilityModifier from ZERO back to the original TQIT values of 10%,14%, 18%, 24%, etc... for levels 1, 2, 3, 4, etc... since I did not like how the TQAE developers nerfed that skill for the Anniversary Edition. You could (if you wish) also modify this skill to increase the characterOffensiveAbilityModifier by putting in whatever percentage increase you'd like in the skill. The difference between characterOffensiveAbility and characterOffensiveAbilityModifier is simply a direct +NUMERICAL increase in Offensive Ability vs. +PERCENTAGE increase in Offensive Ability (modifier), respectively. Hope this answered your question.
Also to answer your question about using offensive ability with a range weapon skill, yes this is also possible. However, I would think changing something like attack speed, or adding fragments (additional missiles that break up on hit) to the skill may be a better strategy for ranged weapons.
Is there any way to add a section on Art Manager for how to get Database Editor to display DBR files to View/Edit?
Currently I can double-click DBR files in Art Manager, but no actual DBR file is displayed when the Database Editor windows pops up.
nargil66 from Skin Mods made a good suggestion to add an additional source directory for the 4th line to the same path used for Tools. I am gonna test that tonight. Very helpful person and I'm very grateful!
I'm hoping others using the tutorial don't get stuck like me if they run into same issue. I spent way too much time trying to resolve it haha.
Thanks in advance and if not possible, still thank you anyway. :)
Not sure exactly what you mean. Are you saying in ArtManager, after you open a mod and select it, and you go to the Database tab (not Sources or Assets tab), then go to the Database -> Import Record menu item, then nothing shows up on the RIGHT panel after you select at DBR record/file? If so, it may be because you have not opened up the LEFT panel menu tree to the same folder you imported the DBR record from in order to see the imported DBR file.
Example: Lets say you want to modify the flamesurge.dbr skill in Earth mastery. In ArtManager, first go to menu option Database-> Import Record. A "Select File" popup window should open with a folder tree. Open the Records-> Skills-> Earth folder then choose the flamesurge.dbr file and press OK. This record should now be imported and it can be seen if you open up the LEFT panel under the Database TAB below (where there are 3 tabs called Sources, Assets, and Database). In the LEFT panel of this Database tab, open up the DIYmod\database -> records -> earth folder and you should see flamesurge.dbr on the RIGHT panel. Double-click on the file in the RIGHT panel, and it should open up the editor.
I may have explained it incorrectly and this new explaination may be bad too lol.
Art Manager opens up w/o issues and I can Build w/o issues. It can also display the mods that are selected and the DBRs can be displayed from the Database (I think? well the 3rd tab from assets/sources) tab. I've used it plenty of times to Build after manually merging mod folders or files.
So DBRs will show up on the right side window pane, when selecting the individual folders in the left window pane. So for example, I select the records\xpack\game\ folder from the mod I just loaded and now can see the gameengine.dbr file in that folder displayed on the right-side window.
However, double-clicking it or right clicking it to select View or Edit only brings up a blank Database Editor window. The gameengine.dbr file never actually opens and there are no error messages or any msgs to say if something went wrong.
I can ofc create a new dbr file from the newly opened Database Editor. This new dbr file is ofc empty of any data. So technically I can create a new DBR file. But saving it pointless for me, as saving and re-opening the new dbr file brings up the same issue of an empty Database window where no dbr file was loaded.
Bottom line, I can't display DBR files using Art Manager, since Database Editor is built into it rather than being a seperate program it seems. I never had problems using the Art Manager that came with Grim Dawn and I wish the TQAE Art Manager didn't give me such problems.
Anyway, I am giving up on it. I'll be using Notepad++ and WinMerge to create my stuff. Not ideal, but better than losing my sanity lol.
Thanks for your guide, though I won't get much use out of it w/o a functioning Database Editor.
Sounds like you may have an issue with the ArtManager itself... the only 2 suggestions I have are to delete the game (except the save game data) then re-install the game again to see if that fixes the problem with ArtManager (which I know is a total pain). The other suggestion is to create a new mod from scratch, using the directions in my DIYmod, to see if the editor works in that particular instance. If it does, then just merge all the files into the new mod you just created and rebuild it. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful to solving your problem with ArtManager, and good luck.
It's all good. Surprisngly, between WinMerge and Notepad++ (w/ Compare++) is actually faster than I realized. I just miss out on the organized way a DBR editor can display files. Which is what made the Grim Dawn modding a nice experience. Either way, I'm almost done with my merging and gonna take a break from any type of modding.
I've been doing 95% modding and 5% playing lol, time to change that for a bit. :)
I found out the issue and how to fix it. It turns out (for me at least) that Art Manager (or rather Database Editor that is part of AM) is case sensitive. After I changed the names of a few DBR files (from CAPs to lowercase) while in Art Manager, I was able to view/edit them in the DbE window after double-clicking the file.
This is so wierd, cause I've browsed the fan sites quite a bit and no one has ever mentioned this as an issue before. Just out of curiosity, nytimz, the DBR files you edited, were they in CAPs or lowercase?
I used ARZ Explorer from the TQ Fan site and it extracts all "records" in CAPs. Extracting files 1 at a time puts the fle names in lowercase though. I wonder if there is a way to tell ARZ Explorer to only use lower case for all extracted files lol.
I'm on Windows 7, using Art Manager 1.4 that comes with TQAE 2.9H (GOG version).
Right after I posted, I was checking out your Master Mages mod and I see you have all dbr files in lowercase. Can you please let me know what program you used for that to happen?
I used ARZ Explorer that comes with TQVaultAE_4.4.0 from github.
I found a solution to naming all files from CAPs to lowercase from a superuser site post. This won't change folder names, just all files in Root folder and all sub-folders. It also doesn't need a 3rd-party program. Just needs Windows Command Prompt.
In Windows 7, Command Prompt I believe can be found in All Programs> Windows Accessories (I'm in my Windows 10 SSD atm) In Windows 10, Command Prompt can be found from Start> Windows System In Windows 11, not sure, I don't have that OS yet.
Spoiler:
Show
Here are the steps if anyone needs: 1. Start Command Prompt 2. Navigate to the folder you want to start renaming files in. The first folder with the ALL CAPS files. 3. Enter the following in the command line: for /f "Tokens=*" %f in ('dir /l/b/a-d/s') do (move /y "%f" "%f")
This will rename all files in Main folder and all sub-folders to lowercase. For example GAMEENGINE.DBR to gameengine.dbr will be the new name.
4. For a batch file (a .bat file), you can use the following line: for /f "Tokens=*" %%f in ('dir /l/b/a-d/s') do (move /y "%%f" "%%f")
I have not tested the batch version though, but it should work. It was posted by the same commenter. All credits go to them. I forgot who though, but the post was like 8 years old or something. :(
Yeah, it was a really strange issue. I tried the ARZ Explorer (ver 1.0, I think) that was packed part of the tools package on the TQ fan site (I believe modder nargil66 put together the package((?), good package btw) and that one unpacks everything in lower case. But it's an older version and may be outdated now, cause it reorders the lines in the DBR files. I.e. it's a nightmmare to use Notepad++ or WinMerge to compare unpacked files files vs Nexus modders files after using it.
The one that caps the files is the ARZ Explorer that comes with latest TQVault (ver 2.0 I think). It's possible the ARZ Explorer config file is the one responsible for the caps, but I don't know how to tell from reading the file. And not sure who to ask to see if that can be identified as a cause lol. Hence my new option to use the CMD line to lowercase the files.
You said you could read DBR files even if they are in caps right? Are you using Art Manager 1.4 that comes with TQAE or some other version? If it turns out that you're using 1.4 and want to verify this, try changing a couple files to all CAPS and see if the Database Editor will allow the files to be viewed. I'm curious, though only if you're interested in testing it. :)
I just tested on ArtManager, and changed the names of files (as well as the mod) to CAPS and it does not seem to matter. I can read the files fine, either way (caps or lowercase). The version of ArtManager I am using is the one that comes with the latest version of TQAE. I have the GOG version, not Steam version, and it says (under Windows properties) it is ArtManager version 1.0.0.1 with a file size 1.02MB.
That's strange, I wonder why mine is 1.4, but I will double check tonight, maybe I misread it. If it is different than yours (since mine is also GOG version, though 2.9H), it's possible maybe they changed it when they released EE DLC. Either way, I'll confirm it (and maybe take a pic of it too) rather than further speculation on my part lol.
18 comments
Thank you for the pdf files, really help me create my own mod. I have a question looking on your files I did not understand if I want to change set parameters from the game like for example offensive ability to work with range weapons is this possible?
I have a request if possible.
Is there any way to add a section on Art Manager for how to get Database Editor to display DBR files to View/Edit?
Currently I can double-click DBR files in Art Manager, but no actual DBR file is displayed when the Database Editor windows pops up.
nargil66 from Skin Mods made a good suggestion to add an additional source directory for the 4th line to the same path used for Tools. I am gonna test that tonight. Very helpful person and I'm very grateful!
I'm hoping others using the tutorial don't get stuck like me if they run into same issue. I spent way too much time trying to resolve it haha.
Thanks in advance and if not possible, still thank you anyway. :)
Not sure exactly what you mean. Are you saying in ArtManager, after you open a mod and select it, and you go to the Database tab (not Sources or Assets tab), then go to the Database -> Import Record menu item, then nothing shows up on the RIGHT panel after you select at DBR record/file? If so, it may be because you have not opened up the LEFT panel menu tree to the same folder you imported the DBR record from in order to see the imported DBR file.
Example: Lets say you want to modify the flamesurge.dbr skill in Earth mastery. In ArtManager, first go to menu option Database-> Import Record. A "Select File" popup window should open with a folder tree. Open the Records-> Skills-> Earth folder then choose the flamesurge.dbr file and press OK. This record should now be imported and it can be seen if you open up the LEFT panel under the Database TAB below (where there are 3 tabs called Sources, Assets, and Database). In the LEFT panel of this Database tab, open up the DIYmod\database -> records -> earth folder and you should see flamesurge.dbr on the RIGHT panel. Double-click on the file in the RIGHT panel, and it should open up the editor.
I may have explained it incorrectly and this new explaination may be bad too lol.
Art Manager opens up w/o issues and I can Build w/o issues. It can also display the mods that are selected and the DBRs can be displayed from the Database (I think? well the 3rd tab from assets/sources) tab. I've used it plenty of times to Build after manually merging mod folders or files.
So DBRs will show up on the right side window pane, when selecting the individual folders in the left window pane. So for example, I select the records\xpack\game\ folder from the mod I just loaded and now can see the gameengine.dbr file in that folder displayed on the right-side window.
However, double-clicking it or right clicking it to select View or Edit only brings up a blank Database Editor window. The gameengine.dbr file never actually opens and there are no error messages or any msgs to say if something went wrong.
I can ofc create a new dbr file from the newly opened Database Editor. This new dbr file is ofc empty of any data. So technically I can create a new DBR file. But saving it pointless for me, as saving and re-opening the new dbr file brings up the same issue of an empty Database window where no dbr file was loaded.
Bottom line, I can't display DBR files using Art Manager, since Database Editor is built into it rather than being a seperate program it seems. I never had problems using the Art Manager that came with Grim Dawn and I wish the TQAE Art Manager didn't give me such problems.
Anyway, I am giving up on it. I'll be using Notepad++ and WinMerge to create my stuff. Not ideal, but better than losing my sanity lol.
Thanks for your guide, though I won't get much use out of it w/o a functioning Database Editor.
It's all good. Surprisngly, between WinMerge and Notepad++ (w/ Compare++) is actually faster than I realized. I just miss out on the organized way a DBR editor can display files. Which is what made the Grim Dawn modding a nice experience. Either way, I'm almost done with my merging and gonna take a break from any type of modding.
I've been doing 95% modding and 5% playing lol, time to change that for a bit. :)
Keep up the good work on guides and mods. :)
I found out the issue and how to fix it. It turns out (for me at least) that Art Manager (or rather Database Editor that is part of AM) is case sensitive. After I changed the names of a few DBR files (from CAPs to lowercase) while in Art Manager, I was able to view/edit them in the DbE window after double-clicking the file.
This is so wierd, cause I've browsed the fan sites quite a bit and no one has ever mentioned this as an issue before. Just out of curiosity, nytimz, the DBR files you edited, were they in CAPs or lowercase?
I used ARZ Explorer from the TQ Fan site and it extracts all "records" in CAPs. Extracting files 1 at a time puts the fle names in lowercase though. I wonder if there is a way to tell ARZ Explorer to only use lower case for all extracted files lol.
I'm on Windows 7, using Art Manager 1.4 that comes with TQAE 2.9H (GOG version).
Right after I posted, I was checking out your Master Mages mod and I see you have all dbr files in lowercase. Can you please let me know what program you used for that to happen?
I used ARZ Explorer that comes with TQVaultAE_4.4.0 from github.
I found a solution to naming all files from CAPs to lowercase from a superuser site post. This won't change folder names, just all files in Root folder and all sub-folders. It also doesn't need a 3rd-party program. Just needs Windows Command Prompt.
In Windows 7, Command Prompt I believe can be found in All Programs> Windows Accessories (I'm in my Windows 10 SSD atm)
In Windows 10, Command Prompt can be found from Start> Windows System
In Windows 11, not sure, I don't have that OS yet.
Here are the steps if anyone needs:
1. Start Command Prompt
2. Navigate to the folder you want to start renaming files in. The first folder with the ALL CAPS files.
3. Enter the following in the command line:
for /f "Tokens=*" %f in ('dir /l/b/a-d/s') do (move /y "%f" "%f")
This will rename all files in Main folder and all sub-folders to lowercase. For example GAMEENGINE.DBR to gameengine.dbr will be the new name.
4. For a batch file (a .bat file), you can use the following line:
for /f "Tokens=*" %%f in ('dir /l/b/a-d/s') do (move /y "%%f" "%%f")
I have not tested the batch version though, but it should work. It was posted by the same commenter. All credits go to them. I forgot who though, but the post was like 8 years old or something. :(
Yeah, it was a really strange issue. I tried the ARZ Explorer (ver 1.0, I think) that was packed part of the tools package on the TQ fan site (I believe modder nargil66 put together the package((?), good package btw) and that one unpacks everything in lower case. But it's an older version and may be outdated now, cause it reorders the lines in the DBR files. I.e. it's a nightmmare to use Notepad++ or WinMerge to compare unpacked files files vs Nexus modders files after using it.
The one that caps the files is the ARZ Explorer that comes with latest TQVault (ver 2.0 I think). It's possible the ARZ Explorer config file is the one responsible for the caps, but I don't know how to tell from reading the file. And not sure who to ask to see if that can be identified as a cause lol. Hence my new option to use the CMD line to lowercase the files.
You said you could read DBR files even if they are in caps right? Are you using Art Manager 1.4 that comes with TQAE or some other version? If it turns out that you're using 1.4 and want to verify this, try changing a couple files to all CAPS and see if the Database Editor will allow the files to be viewed. I'm curious, though only if you're interested in testing it. :)
I just tested on ArtManager, and changed the names of files (as well as the mod) to CAPS and it does not seem to matter. I can read the files fine, either way (caps or lowercase). The version of ArtManager I am using is the one that comes with the latest version of TQAE. I have the GOG version, not Steam version, and it says (under Windows properties) it is ArtManager version 1.0.0.1 with a file size 1.02MB.
That's strange, I wonder why mine is 1.4, but I will double check tonight, maybe I misread it. If it is different than yours (since mine is also GOG version, though 2.9H), it's possible maybe they changed it when they released EE DLC. Either way, I'll confirm it (and maybe take a pic of it too) rather than further speculation on my part lol.