Larian Studios Forums Divinity II The Dragon Knight Saga / Flames of Vengeance (English) Divinity II - The Dragon Knight Saga Divinity 2 Mods

Hello.

I've been playing Divinity 2 for a while and there are some little things here and there that I would like changed for a better gaming experience. I was wandering if anyone would like to share their personal mods so that other people might benefit from it. For instance I hate the fact that the merchants don't restock items and run out of gold quickly, the fact that good charms are extremely scarce or how the helmet on the Black Ring armor sets looks like. I've been searching the internet for Divinity 2 mod sites but found nothing except for a graphic improvement mod that my computer can't handle (Please refrain from posting a link to that mod in this thread). Send me a link via pm or this thread to a site that has Divinity 2 mods.

PS: If you're gonna upload your mod you should refrain from uploading it on this site for if you do that it will allow Larian.com to use it in any way they want without giving you any credit or royalty.

Alas, like you I've only seen texture-improvement mods, though frankly I don't they'd benefit this game much; it looks great at ultra settings. (Now with Oblivion I use hi-res texture mods, and they make a big difference.)

I usually can't be bothered with using the save/reload tactic for mining, so by the end of the game if I don't have level 10 enchantments Larian gets the blame.

According to in-game text, the Black Ring originate in a desert so that's why they have breathing filters. Probably also helps with the poison they like spreading around.

I agree with you on vendor coin limits; if they're going to go that route might as well force us to carry a torch or wander in darkness, eat food or starve, and relieve ourselves or suffer a dirty underwear debuff.

Ah well, have to post in suggestion threads and bug reports, and hope for the best.

I'm not sure if there's all that much in the way of mods; I looked around and didn't find anything other than the sort of retextures you mentioned. I looked at modifying the game myself just to see if it was even possible but although dv2 unpackers exist, most of the data is stored in rather impenetrable NIF files and even those containing fairly straightforward 3D meshes seem very tricky to customise. Changing the game mechanics seems harder still. I hasten to add that I'm strictly an amateur when it comes to modding so just because I can't do it, it doesn't mean nobody can; but if it can be done, the methods for doing so eluded me.

I guess perhaps a request for Divinity 3 would be to release an Elder Scrolls-esque "Construction Set" type of thing so that fan made content was a possibility. The intellectual property issues in doing so can be a bit hairy, but I think it's the sort of thing that could help strengthen Divinity's position.


Even if they wished to do so (which I haven't seen much indication of) they can't just assume copyright (though "I am not a lawyer", etc); they may have rules about third parties not being able to sell derivative works, but original content will still be the property of its creator. Even where not enforceable, most places such as this tend to have some sort of code of conduct anyway so as not to alienate contributors.

Sadly, as I stated in another topic, Divinity 2 is not moddable, because... yep, you guessed it right, SecuROM.
Although we translated the whole game into our own language, it only works with.. khm, not the *original* version =(

Yeah it's a shame Larian didn't make a modding tool for this game. I know I'd be playing a lot more like in Oblivion and Fallout where my mods added loads of game time to an already great game. Maybe Larian will add a modding tool later on, one can only hope. Then if not, maybe some professional modder will make an easy mod tool for everyone to use but I don't have my hopes up for this



Another case where SecuRom stands in the way of progress and fun

Fallout 3 also has SecuROM but it's one of the most modder-friendly games around. That said, I think the SecuROM infestation is only part of the launcher rather than the game executable proper, so perhaps that's why.

I do not know about Fallout 3, but typically games you can mod look for the mods somewhere other than the installation directory which could be why SecuROM does not cause issues with mods for them. If that is the case then we would just need a way to tell the game to look elsewhere when loading stuff.

I'm mostly familiar with Bethesda's games when it comes to modding, but in all cases the mods go into the main installation directory. Which can be a bit of a menace if one doesn't keep track of one's own changes, but that's how it is.

On the other hand, looking at the likes of Sims, the mods tend to go into the user's own documents/settings/whatever directory, so I guess it depends on the implementation. I don't think it's related to the type of DRM, though. At least that's not something I've heard, which admittedly could mean something else entirely...

You can launch Fallout 3 without running into SecuROM. If you use the Fallout3.exe directly, it loads the game straight away. The launcher, I believe, asks for the disc.

In regards to modding; It depends on how the developer has used the engine. Divinity 2 uses Gamebryo, which is used in many moddable games (Oblivion, Fallout 3, Civilization IV, Freedom Force), none of which are reduced in "modability" by DRM measures. If Larian have changed the way the engine functions to disallow mods, then it would require someone of talent to be able to make either a doorway for the mods or a tool in which to make them.

This is indeed the case. The information was also supplied by one of the Bethesda devs, so it's not any sort of illicit work-around, fortunately.


I suspect it's not a case of them trying to prevent modding, just that the tools don't exist in the public domain as far as I know. I guess one can remain quietly optimistic that Larian may rectify this either with Divinity 2 or when Divinity 3 is released. I'd like to think so, anyway.

Larian does have the tools, they were just not made in such a way that they would be useable by modders. They were going to look at changing that, but given they have not said anything since then I take it that it would be too much work.

Of course, if Larian have left the capability for the game to be modded then it's possible that mods will one day be available for it if they release a toolset, or if one can be created for it.

Modding is, generally, seen as a good thing with PC games so I don't think RPG and RTS developers are against it as such, but if you take Dragon Age as an example then the existence of a toolset might not necessarily be a good thing. The DA toolset is utterly terrible compared to previous toolset releases for games that use BioWare engines, and it's had a grand total of 0 support since release. At least you can understand it with, say, Unreal Engine 3 as it's a commercial engine with a lot of limitations attached to it, plus I understand it's not the easiest thing to mod (Can't think of a commercial UE3 game with a toolset, personally. Well, GoW PC has a "game editor" but I've no idea what it does).

As Larian are a smaller developer, they might not be able to promise the resources needed for creating a user friendly toolset (They're often, if not always, released for free to the community - Don't forget that, and as such development/support is at the developer/publisher's expense) and for providing support for it and its users. They'd also, potentially, have to provide support to those who install mods and somehow "break" their copy of the game (Come on, we've all done it).

That said, I don't really see what could be done with Divinity 2 in the way of modding. Beyond gameplay tweaks and item creation/adjustment, it seems pretty limited. Bethesda's titles, the NWN games, Civilization and Total War - They were built with modding in mind, but something about Divinity 2 tells me it wasn't, and perhaps for that reason alone Larian won't support it.

Here is a quote about the last thing they had to say about modding:



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It sounds like the problem is it was made to run on their network rather and on a single machine.

Indeed. Thanks for the quote, however, I'm fairly new to following Larian and what they do/don't do, so my above posts were just speculation.

The reason Bethesda games are so easily moddable is because they come with a SDK(Software Development Kit) and this evades SecuRom. SecuROM is only active in any Bethesda game if it has achievements which requires LIVE, which is protected by SecuROM. Almost any downloadable game is protected by SecuROM, so shut up about it being in DKS, as it has achievements and, unfortunately SecuROM. DKS is easily moddable if we all think back to TES: Daggerfall. I made mods for that game before any SDK was available and so I can maybe work around all the linear coding and finally MOD THIS GAME. Until then, you will just have to wait. Sorry guys but we are looking at 1-2 years of SDK-free modding for me and right now I dont have the time. I say we make a new thread and turn it into a petition for a SDK. If so, PM me and I will start one. with enough signatures I'm sure Larian will distribute one.

Uh, no it doesn't. SecuROM has nothing to do with the modding of the game at all.

Btw, not so long ago I posted a thread that explains how to unpack dv2-files and extract audio-tracks from the game.

Thread got deleted by ForkTong with the reason: Don't link to a dv2 unpacker.

You asking why there is no mods? Well, now you see all the hypocrisy in the situation: first, devs cancel the modding tools, second, they BLOCK all user-made tools for that. Go figure.



And what if ModKit was released and those changes was made with official tools? Where is the difference, if it ends up with the same result?
Sigh...

P.S. made http://www.peeep.us/ copy just in case the post will be deleted.