[Information Post] How to change a missed plot point in a DAI save file (romance, leliana, a missed convo etc) - Inquisition

[Frances River]

DAI can be pretty unforgiving about a player missing a single conversation choice, and sometimes you don’t find out you made a decision that mattered until fifty hours later, so I just wanted to put this info here for anyone considering modifying their save file for a missed plot point, so you can a) make a more informed decision in deciding if you want to do the work, and b) know how to do that if you decide to. It does work, and right now all this information is scattered in hard-to-find-places on the internet, so I wanted to save future folks from the hours I spent learning everything by posting this all here.

First, note that this can only be done for a *single* plot point at a time. E.g You missed the convo with Leliana in Haven, or you didn’t kiss Solas in the Fade, not a series of them (e.g. you missed multiple important conversations or decisions or behaviours. Starting a romance with someone is not a single plot point, though the one particular conversation where you say yes or no after flirting and doing their quests is). The whole process can take 5hrs, but that might be worth it to you if it saves you 30-90hrs in game. First, of course, check that no one has found and shared the codes for that plot point online already (very few people have done this process to find them) -- an exception is that the codes for Leliana’s Haven convo is here: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/3734470-tutorial-softening-leliana-in-your-save-game-in-hex-its-easy/

1) Go back to the save file right before you made the mistake. Make the right choice this time, and save again. Ideally these save files are very close together (like the 5min of one conversation.) We’ll call these saves 1 (before) and 2 (after)

2) Open DAI Save Editor twice (download the DAI Save Editor via the Google Drive here https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/10609668-save-editor-no-longer-available/#entry100556878), so you can simultaneously open saves 1 and 2. Put the two windows side by side so you can easily compare the strings of letters and numbers.
(If you want more help with DAI Save editor, here's a Youtube vid I found which shows how to use it to import a custom World State mid-game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLH3sjJSjzw&feature=youtu.be )

3) Begin the long process of looking back and forth for differences between the save files. It’s faster to be looking at the Trues and Falses than the number/letter string, and only looking at the numbers when you notice a discrepancy. Record all differences in the Boolean list between the two save files. Some differences will be a simple True to False or False to True switch, but some differences will involve an actual line being added to the new save file.

For example, discrepancies may look like this: (these are made up numbers)

Save File 1
3A9900AABC31020332 TRUE
3B9900111901BBB102 FALSE
3C000110023BB112212 TRUE

Vs
Save File 2

3A9900AABC31020332 TRUE
3B9900111901BBB102 TRUE
3BB0099222993844800 FALSE
3C000110023BB112212 TRUE

In this example, a whole line was added, and another line was also switched from False to True.

This step took me 3.5hrs for a 30hr game save file -- the further along in the game you are, the more rows there are in a save file, and the longer this will take.

At the end of this step you should have a list you've saved in a word doc, e.g.
3B9900111901BBB102 change to True
3BB0099222993844800 was added, and marked as False

I found about 55 differences between my save file 1 and 2, in part, I think, because it was one of my first saves in Skyhold and lots of unrelated things were happening right then.

4) Now open up the more recent save file that you want to change. We’ll call this Save 3. Compare your table of differences to Save file 3. This shouldn’t take very long because all the number/letter strings are in order, so you can just scroll down to the right point. (I didn’t write down how long this took, but prob no more than half an hour.) Again, you’re looking for differences. Ignore any lines where the Save File 2 line is identical to Save File 3. Also, differences where a line was added in Save File 2 and marked as False, and is also present in Save file 3 but marked as True, are probably quests that were added at the same time that you have now completed. Instead, what you are looking for are a) Any lines that were added between 1 and 2 that don’t exist in 3, and b) Any lines that were switched from False to True between 1 and 2 that are still marked False in 3 (or vice versa). These are the most likely lines that you need to change to affect your save.

In the end, there will probably be 2-4 lines that need to be changed for any one convo/decision.

5) If all you need to do is switch a couple Trues to Falses or vise versa, skip down to step 8- That’s great news! If you need to add a line, you will need to download (for free) Hex Workshop. Don’t download a different Hex editor, as Hex Workshop will do block shifting for you and you’ll need to do that. Open Save File 3 (after backing it up) with Hex Workshop.

6) Choose a line of code to change into the new line you need. You cannot *add* a new line, you can only *change* an existing line, which means you need to sacrifice a line to input your new one. The good news is that many of those lines of data you just skimmed through aren’t important and are left over from earlier games.

For example, if you didn’t Romance Zevran in DAO, then this line can be changed/removed without issues:
3BC3E7F9CB37F54E9002A2F89AB9016A FALSE
As it is the code for romancing Zevran. A few more codes you can change are found at the block shifting link below.

7) Next, you need to find the code you want to change in Hex editor. In order to do this, you will need to block shift. Go to Customize Toolbars, and select Data Operations so that you can see the block shift option. This page has visuals and more details on how to block shift: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/3734470-tutorial-softening-leliana-in-your-save-game-in-hex-its-easy/

Basically, you block shift once, then use the Find feature, and if the code you want to change can’t be found, then block shift again and again until it can be found. Then just use Replace to replace it with the new code you want. In my case, I had to block shift 6X to the right, found the code, replaced it, and then block shifted back 6 times, and saved it. This whole process probably took 15min and almost all of it was because each block shift took a few minutes to load. If this step is confusing, check the link above for more detail.

If you get this error code the first time you block shift: "The Undo Buffer (256K) is too small to hold this 734443 byte change on the document. Continue with Operation?" then go to Options > Preferences > Configuration > General, and change the “Undo Buffer (KB)” to 2048.

8) Now open your hex edited save file with the DAI Save Editor again. Change any booleans you need to just by double clicking - this changes Falses to Trues or Trues to Falses. You will probably also need to change the True/False on your new lines of code -- (also confirm that those lines are there). Ignore the popup when you save and just click OK.

9) Open your save file. If you did everything right, your save should open and work fine, but your decision way back when was changed. If it won’t open, you may have missed a line that you need to change. Many plot flag decisions change other ones in DAI, so you need to get all the changes right or it might revert back to how it was before you edited it automatically.

Mine worked first try, apart from this: You will also get the option, either in step 6 or 7, (I forget) of allowing the program itself to backup your save file. If you allow it to do this rather than manually backing it up yourself, just make sure you remove the .bak backup file from the DAI saves folder, or your game will run that backup file rather than your newly edited file, and you’ll wonder why nothing changed.

Hope this helps you decide whether this is worth it, and tells you how to make the changes if you do decide you want to. The whole thing took me maybe 5hrs, if I remove the research required to figure out how - what I’m sharing in this post. If you’re someone who isn’t interested in repeating large parts of the game, this might be just what you need - and it can work for any one individual plot point.

Happy gaming :)

[Karlmeister]

Thank you.

Just gonna say, people should live with their decisions

[Frances River]

Well ya know...sometimes there's enough of that in life :P

[Henryy]

Hey, thanks for your post!! I don't know if you still look at this post's replies, but it happened to me too. In my case, i refused josephine and regretted many hours later, do you think it's solvable? If so, would you be willing to help me?

EDIT: I got it right, thank u soooo much!!!

[Uhuru N’Uru]

A GUI tool to exists, over on the DAI Modding Discord

Plot Flag Save Editor[discord.com]

You need to sign up to channel for link to work, DIY go to the
#daitools_downloads Channel

[Desert Orchid 1]

Nice

[Manadol]

Does'nt read my save file.

[Frances River]

Originally posted by Manadol:

Does'nt read my save file.

Did you have to do the block shifting step, How many lines did you change, and is there a .bak file in your save files folder?