What is DAT modding

[Gawaine]

I have searched several sites and seen a lot I dont really understand. I see a big community for dat modding and was curious to know wheter or not it effects your in game play. I know for other games you can download files and upload into game so that you have the armor or weapons in the game but I was not sure wheter or not this was in FFXI too. If so how can I learn to install such files. Anyways just want to throw that out there to see if these dat files are just viewing or for changing the characters look in game. Thanks for any responses.

[Necropolis]

They don't change the stats at all, it just changes the look of various armor, weapons and whatnot.

Essential, you just replace the file that loads a certain weapon/armor/character, and have it load a different file that's been edited to give a more please (to some) look.

I'm assuming that there isn't anything in the ToS against .dat editing seeing as this forums locks all threads that don't comply with the ToS of FFXI, yet we have a .dat section of the forums.

Personally I don't .dat edit (mainly because I play primarily on Xbox), and I enjoy the look of the game as it is. But I've seen some that I've considered getting for my computer version of the game.

[Kilandor]

Actually Modifying the game in any way is Against the ToS.

But... The reason this is open is because these are used for non Cheating Purposes. There are cheating methods that can be used. But they are not allowed here, or on my site. And could possibly shut down the entire modding scene if peopel cheated widescale usign this method.

SE doesn't stop this cause we dont' cheat etc. They know about it. But they dont' care cause its not used for cheating. It was for a while, people deleted dats for mobs. And then SE patched it if a file doesnt' load, or load correctly, The game crashes for you.

You don't actually have to mod files yourself, you can always use what other people have made. OR request soemthign done, Usually insane hard complicated request never get filled (usually). But Simple stuff, and non major changes, are done usually always by someone.

I dont' have time tonight to go into depths of how you can swap, its really easy though, and goto my site here. www.ffximc.com and you can find alot of info, links, tutorials, and alot of dats, and posts people have made.

And i'll get back to you later, today hopefully, But if I can't If you post on my site, any help or q uestions you got, Usually somone, or especially Korith will reply and help you.

Enjoy

[Eohmer]

OR request soemthign done, Usually insane hard complicated request never get filled (usually). But Simple stuff, and non major changes, are done usually always by someone.

I'm still waiting for someone to fullfill my request. lol

[Kisshu]

Simply the way modding works is that the game sends your computer information about which models it should load on your screen, all the game models are stored on your computer, so basicly a .dat change is changing one model with another

i.g

Your face is model 1 but you want it to be model 2, you change the model .dat in the game folder so model 2 replaces model 1. Just remember to keep a back-up of model 1.

As for the modding itself I would say that there are two types: Recoloring and Remodeling.

Recoloring is just giving an old model a new paint job, this could be changing leather armor from gray to blue. This can be learned in a single day.

Remodeling is creating brand new models like the Odin set of elemental staves.

Hope it helps a little

[Zackur]

quick question, i dont wanna make a thread for a noobie thing like this, but

is there a guide somewhere on how to use DATs ive downloaded from someone else?

ive kinda figured it out but i wanna make sure im doing everything right


ive looked around a lot and couldnt find a guide that answered that

[Eohmer]

It's really not difficult to switch files. One thing to know though is to always BACK UP the original file somewhere else.

All you have to do is basically re-name the new file with the same file name as the original you want to replace.

Example:

Original file = "86"... Found in ROM folder, subdirectory 3... (1-3-86)...
Downloaded file = "rangerbow" or whatever.

Copy the new file and paste it somewhere, like your desktop, and rename it 86. Then cut and paste that into the folder the original "86" file is and overwrite it with the new one.

[Kilandor]

Or, you can use my Dat copier program to easily swap ^^