Modding

[FluffyQuack]

I'm looking forward to modding the game when the PC version is out. If the game uses the same MT Framework version as the original, then most of the tools made for RE6 should be fully or almost fully compatible. I imagine texture edits will be possible from day one, and hopefully model edits will be possible quickly.

I can post some screenshots of some brief modding I did of the xbox 360 version when it came out (didn't do much as I'd much rather mod a PC version).

There's files defining NPC's appearance and replacing those is easy, so you could end up buying weapons and armour from Selene instead of Caxton:
http://abload.de/img/2012-07-02_00-14-051gs2u.jpg

And it's easy to edit specific parts of that NPC appearance file. There's one variable defining which outfit they're wearing, so if you really do feel Mercedes is more suited to a ring than rapier, you could dress her up like this:
http://abload.de/img/2012-07-02_02-15-50x8sug.jpg

Or you could edit the texture of her armour:
http://abload.de/img/2012-07-27_21-56-03s4sk0.jpg

Or edit the hair and hair colour variables for Caxton to make him a bit more fabulous:
http://abload.de/img/2012-09-15_20-41-55rqsfr.jpg

I briefly looked into some other things. Enemies seems to be defined the same way as in RE6, which is very possible to edit but a little bit fiddly. Text is super straightforward to edit. And a lot of formats in general seems to be easy to reverse engineer. I'm really curious to see how big of a modding community we'll get for the game.

[Lord Chrono]

Into free will be the first thing I mod into the game.

[Tenamor]

Literally all I want to mod in is Into Free

[Buff Beefbroth]

To he OP: what are your thoughts on the viability of some sort of save import utility to transfer saves from the console versions? It's my understanding that the files themselves are pretty simple, and similar things were possible in Skyrim/Fallout/etc.

[FluffyQuack]

The save file for Dragon's Dogma on consoles (on xbox 360 at least) was a compressed xml file. So if the format stays the game, it shouldn't be too hard.

[Buff Beefbroth]

Originally posted by FluffyQuack:

The save file for Dragon's Dogma on consoles (on xbox 360 at least) was a compressed xml file. So if the format stays the game, it shouldn't be too hard.

Damn it feels good to be a gamer.

[DD The Pumpkin King]

Not a modder at all but seeing the optimisim here has me excited for the future of this game.

[Showtime, Synergy!]

I'm really hoping someone can figure out a way to mod the pawns' AI a bit. So many of the inclinations are not-so-good and it's annoying to have a pawn keep switching when you'd prefer it stick with its current setup. Or alternately, make the not-great inclinations more useful.

[FluffyQuack]

I don't think it'll be easy to modify the actual pawn AI, but forcing it to stick to one inclination should be easy enough.

[Linblum]

Yes, absolutely, mod to force inclinations to stay as what you want.

[Showtime, Synergy!]

The title for an inclination mod might be: "Do As I Say, Not As I Do"

[FluffyQuack]

Just thinking out loud, here's a list of mods I'm considering to work on or hoping other people will work on for Dark Arisen.

Sprinting doesn't reduce stamina
I saw someone request this, and this should be easy. There has to be a line of code related to sprinting which reduces stamina and you just need to find that and replace it with NOPs.

Always bolide
I need my casual walk through Gransys with never ending bolide. I imagine this would be very doable too. Similar to sprinting, there has to be some kind of counter being updated, and you just need to find and change that command.

Automatically remember equipment and skill set up when changing vocation
Dragon's Dogma Online does this, and it would be extremely convenient to have this Dark Arisen too. It probably would be very hard to implement though.

Offset camera to the right
If I recall, Dark Arisen keeps the character in the middle of the camera all the time, but DDO has a bit of a "over the shoulder" style camera and I think I'd prefer that. If camera is defined the same way as in RE5/6 this will be easy.

Minimize pawn dialogue
I imagine many players will request this. Part of the pawn personality variables there's one which controls how often the pawn talks, maybe you can directly modify it it to access a wider range of talk frequency.

Freely choose any skills as any class
This wouldn't be balanced at all, but it would be a fun thing to play with. And should be an easy mod to make.

Let pawns play as the hybrid classes
I've always been curious if the pawn AI can handle the hybrid classes. Should be very easy to modify memory values to define which vocation a pawn is currently using. Actually, someone might have already done this on xbox/ps3 via savegame editing, but I've never looked into it.

Make an NPC always follow you around
You have the escort quest where an NPC follows you around, but they obviously stop following you once the quest is over. Might be fun to change that system so the NPC is always with you regardless of the quest.

Ability to shuffle attribute points around
Could be a work around to being forced to play as a specific class for those people who really want to min/max their stats.

More randomized enemy spawns
This is probably the biggest drawback with the design of the world in Dragon's Dogma, but it would probably be really hard to fix unfortunately.

Prevent pawn commands from affecting pawn inclination
Would be a small but very welcome change. Hopefully an easy thing to implement.

Change pawn inclination at any time
Should be easy and good for those who want to make sure your pawn is behaving a certain way.

No scar
No Arisen scar for the Fashion Dogma people. This is super easy as you just need to edit the alpha on one texture.

Xbox/PS3 to PC save file converter
Potentially easy. The save file for xbox 360 is just a compressed XML file. If the format is similar enough, this tool would be easy to make.

An Arisen or pawn with the same look as an NPC
Who wouldn't wanna play through the game as Mercedes? Or Fournival? No idea how hard this would be to implement though.

Importing animations from DDO
DDO has some pretty incredible animations (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlxCZDpgawM) and putting some of those in Dark Arisen would be fun. MT Framework games has had the same format for animations since RE5, so if the animation rig in Dark Arisen and DDO is the same, this will be very doable.

Importing models from DDO
There's some new spiffy outfits in DDO. Like Liz' outfit. I want her outfit for my pawn.

Balanced difficulty throughout the game
I'd like to see a mod which rebalances the game so you're always challenged in combat and you never become too powerful because you're thorough with quests. This would be a big undertaking though.

[Enrico Palazzo]

As if the default hype wasn't enough already! I'm really excited to see what the modding community can do with this great game.

[Wooph]

I have no idea if it's possible, but I'd like to see a mod that allows you to assign skills to either hand, regardless of weapon type. So you could, if you really wanted to, play a Fighter with 6 shield skills equipped. Of course, it should also allow the Warrior to equip 6 skills as well.

[Buff Beefbroth]

A mod that plays "Into Free" on loop throughout the whole game.

[FluffyQuack]

@Wooph: Getting some kind of mod letting you put any skill on either hand should be easy. I'm curious how Capcom made the Warrior limit. It's possible that's trivial to get around too.