Dragon Age Toolset Wiki - User contributions [en]

Feature request: Deleting a module

2010-03-01T20:43:38Z

Talk:How-tos

2009-11-20T17:37:21Z

Adaram: /* Deleting modules from toolset/database */

== How-to's that might be nice to add ==

Add a custom area to the main campaign world map (like how DLC locations are added)

Equip the player with a custom item in the main campaign (see [http://social.bioware.com/5339/blog/576/ http://social.bioware.com/5339/blog/576/] )

[[User:Avantoreon|Avantoreon]] 18:23, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

== Deleting modules from toolset/database ==

Okay, maybe it's just me and however my SQL Server Management Studio Express is set up (default settings), but I found ripping module info out of it nowhere near as easy as the how-to made it sound. I had one module (Demo_1) with two areas; an area transition door/waypoint combo in both areas, a start waypoint and a firepit/sound object in one of the areas.

Followed the instructions to open the Modules table (called dbo.t_Module for me), found the row with Demo_1 on, selected it and pressed delete...wham! Error message effectively saying 'can't delete this, another table refers to it'.

Ookay...so off I go to find that table (dbo.t_ModuleResRef). Sure enough, there's a few rows at the bottom with Demo_1's ID number in the ModuleID column. Fine; select the bottom-most row, pressed delete...wham - again! This row <i>also</i> has another table referring to it.

Off I go again, this time to table dbo.t_ModuleResRefVersion Once more there's a handful of rows at the bottom with Demo_1's ID number in the ModuleID and matching ResRefIDs for the rows in the table before that I'd just tried to delete. By this point I'm actually considering praying before selecting a row and hitting delete... Maybe I should have. Yep, you guessed it - off to find another table.

So this time the table is dbo.t_Placeable, which gives me some hope that maybe, just maybe, this is the end of the reference chain (I prayed, just to be on the safe side!). Not as easy to find what I was looking for, the rows here I had to cross-reference with the ModuleResRefVersion IDs from the previous table - no simple module IDs to help here. Find a row that matches, select, (pray), delete... Success!

Up the table I go, carefully checking ModuleResRefVersion IDs and deleting the rows associated with the module I'm exterminating. Once they're all gone, it's back to the ModuleResRefVersion table itself. Select the row that wouldn't let me delete it before, aaand... another 'can't delete this, another table refers to it' error...

So, in the epically long dbo.t_StringVersion table, seek and destroy all the relevant rows with ModuleResRefVersion IDs that I no longer want...only to find, yep, need to weed them out of dbo.t_StringText first. dbo.t_StringText weeded successfully, I go back to dbo.t_StringVersion and breathe a sigh of relief when that now lets the rows be removed. Take 2 for the ModuleResRefVersion table.

And this time that works as well...to a point. That point being (if you have resource names you can identify easily) where I'd managed to delete all the placeable information and tried to delete the area information. Unsurprisingly (by this point), this sent me off to dbo.t_Area which sent me to dbo.t_AreaInstanceAssociations - I only had one entry in this table, possibly because I'd only created the one module at this point. Back to dbo.t_Area, only to find that I needed to edit dbo.t_AreaWaypoint (3 rows corresponding to each of my 3 waypoints), and then dbo.t_AreaObject which sent me to dbo.t_AreaObjectVariable (4 rows; two for each area transition door). Finally back to dbo.t_Area again aaand, off to dbo.t_AreaSound (the firepit's sound object) - another table with just the one row.

Fiiinally, dbo.t_Area is free of ModuleResRefVersion IDs for my Demo(n) module! Back to the ModuleResRefVersion table and delete the last references in there. Back to the ModuleResRef table and delete all the appropriate module references in there. And finally, finally, back to the table that started it all, the Module table, and delete the module reference in there.

All that, just to delete a basic module consisting of 2 Areas, 2 (transition) Doors, 3 Waypoints, 1 Firepit and 1 Sound Object. Why oh why could there not be a simple 'delete' option for modules within the toolset itself? [[User:ZGold|ZGold]] 10:53, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

: Just to add; I'd already deleted the resources (placeables, areas etc.) from the module in the toolset before I went rooting around in the SQL. [[User:ZGold|ZGold]] 10:55, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

:Hmm oddish. Worked fine for me and I didn't even bother to delete anything. I'll poke around some more. Might be a moot point as I am working on a Stored Procedure to remove all the references. [[User:Languard|Languard]] 14:33, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

:: like I said, it could be something in the default setup of the SQL manager *shrugs* - a couple of additional notes; I found the string editor in the toolset was still refering to a talk table for my deleted module, I had to go back into the SQL and delete the appropriate reference from the dbo.t_String and dbo.t_StringTable tables; also, after the first round of deleting things from the SQL tables when I tried to load the editor it threw up a series of errors - whether that had anything to do with the module I deleted having been the last open (and thus 'open by default') module, or not, I'm not sure, but after agreeing that the toolset could open the default module (single player) and trying to run the editor again, it ran fine. Thought I'd mention that just in case anyone has the same thing happen and panics :P [[User:ZGold|ZGold]] 17:19, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

:: You guys are scaring me. There has to be a better way, doesn't there? --[[User:Adaram|Adaram]] 17:37, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

Source directory priorities

2009-11-12T20:07:51Z

Adaram:

The Dragon Age toolset exports resources to a set of directories that varies depending on the module's settings, and the game reads these resources from various directories with a certain order of priority. Resources with the same name can override each other by being placed in directories with greater priority, and may or may not be loaded depending on which module the game is currently playing.

This list is the order from top priority to bottom:

*My Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\packages\core\override
*Program Files\Dragon Age\packages\core\override

*My Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\AddIns\<module UID>\core\override
*My Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\AddIns\<module UID>\core\patch
*My Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\AddIns\<module UID>\core\locale
*My Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\AddIns\<module UID>\core\textures
*My Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\AddIns\<module UID>\core\audio\VO
*My Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\AddIns\<module UID>\core\audio\Sound
*My Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\AddIns\<module UID>\core\env
*My Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\AddIns\<module UID>\core\data

'''Note:''' There is currently a bug in the game preventing it from reading resources in the "My Documents Module" locations. This is a bug which has been WNF'ed for initial release. The toolset does read from here, however, so there is some possibility for confusion if you're working on resources that are located here. Until the patch correcting this comes out, users are advised to [[creating a module|create modules]] as "addin" type even when they're stand-alone.
*My Documents Module Override
*My Documents Module Patch
*My Doucments Module Locale
*My Documents Module Data
*My Documents Module Toolset
*My Documents Module Patch
*My Documents Module Local
*My Documents Module Data

*Module Override
*Module Textures\Patch_<Med/High>
*Module Patch
*Module Locale
*Module Data
*Module Toolset
*Module Audio\VO
*Module Audio\Sound
*Module Root

*Program Files\Dragon Age\packages\core\Patch
*Core Locale
*Core Env
*Core Textures\<Med/High>
*Core Data
*Core Audio\VO
*ENV_LAYOUT??? - Doesn't seem to be used
*ENV_CHUNK??? - Uses for env rims somehow
*Core Audio\Sound
*RESMETRICS??? - Doesn't seem to be used

'''Note:''' end-users will not be able to create functioning offers, this is a feature used by official BioWare-produced post-release content.
*Offer Textures\Patch_<Med/High>
*Offer Override
*Offer Patch
*Offer Locale
*Offer Audio\VO
*Offer Audio\Sound
*Offer Env
*Offer Data

== Overriding base campaign resources ==

Currently resources with the same name and type as an existing resource in another module can't be
created in the same database as that module. Since the database that comes with the toolset has a set of core resources and the base campaign already in it, this makes overriding base campaign resources tricky.

One possible approach to overriding a core resource would be to open a local copy (not checked out), make your edits to it, then export it.

Another possible approach could be to create a new resource with a similar name, and then after exporting it (but before doing a builder to player packaging) go into the toolset export directory where it's been exported and renaming it to match the resource you wish to override.

These approaches have not yet been tested and may or may not work. Experiments remain to be done.

== Overriding engine resources ==

Note that it is possible to override resources that are used by the game engine. For example, the "fade" framebuffer effect uses the material object "fade.mao"; if you were to create your own material object with this name and put it in override the game would use that instead. This can cause unexpected effects and should be done with care.