Daoforge

DESCRIPTION

DaoForge is a standalone modding tool for Dragon Age: Origins. It reads your game install directly and gives you the full modding round trip in one place: browse every model, item, creature, and level by its real in-game name, preview it in 3D exactly as the game shows it, recolor gear and creatures through the game's own tint system (including armor that never shipped with a tint mask), edit meshes in Blender through a glTF round trip, build brand-new models and items with their own names and descriptions, export whole levels, and build, deploy, and pack your changes as an override mod. Since 0. 9. 1 it is one workbench: a library on the left, the thing you are working on in the middle, everything about it on the right, and one activity feed for every job. No official toolset required.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

1. Unzip the archive anywhere you like. There is no installer.

2. Run DaoForge.exe.

3. On first launch, the Setup sheet looks for your Dragon Age: Origins install under the usual Steam, GOG, and EA folders and offers what it finds; if it finds nothing, choose the install folder (the one containing packages\core\data) with the folder picker. The tool validates it and builds its index once; this takes a minute and is cached afterward, and the sheet closes on its own when the index is ready.

4. Open the Mod tab (the "Open a mod" button in the top bar) and choose a mods home folder once. New mods you create become subfolders there.

5. Read README.txt for the quick tour. The docs folder next to the exe holds eleven step-by-step guides, one per feature, each a worked end-to-end example.

Your settings and index cache live in your user profile (AppData\Roaming\DaoForge), never in the game folder. Uninstalling is deleting the DaoForge folder.

MAIN FEATURES

- Browse everything by name: creatures, items, areas, and raw assets, with duplicates folded, namesakes told apart, and model variants listed individually.

- True 3D preview: items and creatures open assembled and wearing their actual in-game tints. With a mod active, the preview shows your mod's version.

- Recolor: edit tint zones on tintable gear with live preview, or convert untintable armor (Blood Dragon style) with an auto-generated mask, glow color control, and per-item scoping so only the item you chose changes in game.

- Mesh editing: export a part to glTF, edit in Blender, drop it back, and Build. Untouched geometry is preserved byte for byte.

- Face editing for head morphs.

- New models and new items: import a glTF as a model of your own under its own name, then turn it into a weapon, shield, or armor piece with its own name and description, optionally sold by a shipped merchant. Both run as guided step-by-step forms that say exactly what is still needed.

- Level viewer and export: load a full level with rooms, props, lights, trees, and scenery, then export it as one instanced glTF, with your choice of the game's standard trees or SPT-grown geometry.

- Mod workspace: every entry shown as a track from exported to edited, built, and deployed, one Ship section to deploy loose files to the override folder (with exact one-click removal) or pack a single .erf for distribution, and a passthrough slot for files from other tools (GDA tables, scripts).

- One workbench: a top bar with search from anywhere (Ctrl+K), a library that stays open beside your work, a 3D stage with a view gizmo, an inspector with Parts, Mod, and Activity tabs, and a status strip. No typed paths: every file and folder is chosen with a picker or dropped onto the window.

REQUIREMENTS

- Dragon Age: Origins installed (the tool reads the install's own archives; all official DLC content is supported where present).

- Windows 64-bit for this build. A Linux build exists as well.

- Blender (with its standard glTF support) only if you want to edit meshes; nothing else is required for browsing, recoloring, or packing.

- No other mods, frameworks, or the official toolset are needed.

This is a beta. Everything listed is tested against the full shipped game data, but expect rough edges; issue reports with the item or area name are very welcome.

https://discord.gg/YZyXWUmDK