dragon age: origins is obviously a fantastic game. i like to enhance its fantastic nature by using some quality-of-life mods in my playthroughs!

extremely huge shoutout to my friend rachel for recommending me a BUNCH of these mods! i owe u my life rachel. rachel also makes awesome dragon age mods - many of which are included on this list - so be sure to go through their stuff on nexusmods!!!

• dragon age: origins mods go in either the game's override folder OR use a lil program called the da updater. the da updater is included with your installation of the base origins game!!


• the general rule of thumb is that mods which are dazip files need to go through the da updater while everything else makes use of the override folder. (be sure to read the modders' readme files to make sure, though.)


• for dazip files: like i said before, the da updater is included in your installation of origins. i play the steam version of the game, so, for me and other steam gamers, it can typically be found here: program files/steam/steamapps/common/dragon age ultimate edition/bin_ship. (please note that the DAUpdater.exe will be inside the bin_ship folder!) all you need to do is click open that program, then drag the dazip file into the updater itself. then you just click install.


• for mods which are NOT dazip files: the override folder is typically found here: documents/bioware/dragon age/packages/core/override. you just need to extract the mods from their zip file into this folder for them to work! (again, please remember to extract them from their containing folder when you download them!)

as promised, these are the mods which i use in my personal playthrough of dragon age: origins. mods for the awakening dlc follow this list, which you can jump to by clicking here.

- laa / large address aware fix: i'm listing this first because it prevents loads of crashes which exist in the base game itself. da:o is a pretty old game and a lot of its lil bugs were not entirely quashed; this fixes memory leaks and makes it an overall more stable experience. PLEASE note that this is for the steam version of the game!!!! people who use the ea version of it will use the 4gb patcher, which is a different process altogether. anyway, that 4gb patcher doesn't work with the steam version for some reason, so we use this instead. installing this fix does NOT use the standard mod rules; instead, once you've extracted the downloaded file, you move it to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Dragon Age Ultimate Edition\bin_ship\.

- make console commands visible by monkeysnest: another mod that doesn't follow the standard installation process; you put this one in the /Documents/BioWare/Dragon Age/packages/core/data/ folder. this mod lets you see what you're typing in the console commands zone if you choose to use it. (i highly recommend enabling the console so that you can use it to fix any potential bugs you run into. definitely not a requirement, but it can really help out if you hit a glitch or something.)

- additem script - console by hdhd: related to what i said above... sometimes items in dragon age: origins simply go missing or don't spawn, and this mod can save your whole playthrough. this page offers a helpful tutorial in using the item spawner, too.

- increased stack size to 9999 by jaedyn36: changes stack size for ammo and expendable items to 9999.

- no helmet hack by yonline2: lets you hide helmets and thank goodness for that. you can pick up the awakening file hosted on the downloads page too!

- eyebrow presets by marquiseondore: lil cosmetic mod which replaces the vanilla eyebrows with (subjectively) nicer ones.

- grey wardens of ferelden by neokingarthur: replaces all of the origins grey warden armor with the stylish da2 designs.

- neutral female armor (medium and heavy edition) by magpiedragon: makes the armor in the game a lot more unisex in appearance, because boobplate is ridiculous.

- extra dog slot by dheuster: (puts my hands on your shoulders) you want this mod. it adds your mabari war hound as a 5th member of your party so that you never have to leave pupy at camp ever again. HOWEVER!!!!! please note that this mod glitches out the fort drakkon quest (being vague here intentionally; you will know it when you get to it). this mod will result in one of your party members simply Not Existing for the quest's duration, though they will be talked to as if they're there. this is admittedly really funny but also deeply alarming. the fix for this is super easy. you just disable it via the 'installed content' sub-menu in the dragon age: origins main menu for the duration of that quest and re-enable it after the quest is complete.

- extended dog talents by zeruc: gives your faithful mabari hound some extra talents so that he's stronger in combat without being overpowered. it's what he deserves, truly.

- upgradable cousland family sword and highever shield by runeweaver: for wardens who are of the human noble origin, this mod makes the cousland family heirlooms upgradeable. i always headcanoned aiden as using his family sword + shield for the entirety of his journey, and this mod made that possible for his actual journey!

- better asala by rimahadley: similar to the above, this mod makes sten's companion quest sword upgradeable (and better!) so that he can use it for a full playthrough.

- hawke and carver at ostagar by lakia1250: this extremely cool mod adds most of the fereldan squad to ostagar! it's pretty small in the grand scheme of things, but i absolutely love the da:o and da2 timeline overlap, so it's an absolute must for me lol. it has a lot of requirements depending on the characters that you want to show up, so please take care and follow the modder's instructions on that page under the 'requirements' section. even though it says 'optional' for carver's da2 clothing, it was actually a requirement for me, as carver was simply a floating head otherwise - so i suggest picking it up!

- improved atmosphere standalone resources pack by harkseth: some bits and pieces of a larger mod called improved atmosphere. (i don't use the whole improved atmosphere mod myself, as many parts of it cause crashes - but other parts of it are useful and don't break anything... hence the existence of mod packs that pluck out specific features of it such as this one.) in terms of this file, i use the 'Party Ambient Dialog' (party_barks.dlg) file! this lets ambient banter trigger for all of the members of your party instead of just one person.

- meranne's camp storage by mcgoy: adds 4 storage containers to camp as well as the ability to upgrade items via an included altar. this mod is VERY useful as additional storage, i really recommend it.

- a good nug is a quiet nug by phaenan: i seriously love schmooples and nugs in general, but the constant snuffling at the party camp once you get him drives me slightly insane. this mod makes him nice and quiet :)

- complete bi overhaul by goesonghost: this mod is extremely useful even if you don't plan on romancing alistair with a male pc or morrigan with a female pc. it takes away a lot of weird gender locks on dialogue and offers a lot of fixes.

- bi tamlen and opening cutscene dialogue fix by mintflavoredwindows: absolutely iconic mod which allows male wardens to activate a romance with tamlen in the dalish elf origin, along with a scripting error fix.

- tamlen encounter for everyone by mintflavoredwindows: this mod lets you encounter tamlen regardless of your warden's origin.

- morrigan restoration patch by terraex: this mod restores a bunch of extra morrigan content. DO NOT USE THE DAZIP VERSION OF IT!!! the dazip causes a quest to break and, while this is fixable by simply disabling the mod in the main menu mods list and replacing it with the manual version, you're way better off just using the manual installation (aka the one that uses the override folder) from the get-go.

- isabela variation by tmp7704: gives isabela a new design which is more similar to her future da2 look.

- skip the fade by hdhd: lets you bypass the fade quest sequence during broken circle. the fade portion of this quest has a reputation in the fandom for being quite confusing and cumbersome, BUT. with that said. it is absolutely iconic and i seriously think that everyone should experience it at LEAST once. it's pretty much a rite of passage.

- two specialization sten by kend7510: lets sten have two specialization points like everyone else!

- qunari update by tmp7704: gives qunari their da2/lore-appropriate appearance.

- sten of the beresaad by untamedfuture: gives sten his lore-appropriate appearance. (please note that the above qunari update is listed as a required file for this mod to work!)

- qunari skintones by starrarte: for use in the toolset, this mod adds more lore-appropriate skintones.

- just us ghouls by mintflavoredwindows: revamps the four ghoul npcs in origins so that they're more lore-accurate.

- weapon enchantment and poison vfx remover by offkorn: removes the visual crust effect from the weapon enhancement spells and poison items.

- ghost elves by mintflavoredwindows: makes the elf ghosts actual elves instead of using the human character models.

- give robbed elves money patch by goesonghost: there's a minor bug which prevents you from giving some robbed elves in lothering some money; this mod squishes it and lets you help them out (if you have 50 silver on your warden's person).

- jowan's intention fix by theskymoves: a fix for the bugged quest 'jowan's intention.' you may also want the mod which makes the man who stands behind him in this quest use a different model from him (which you can find here, by the same mod author), but i personally think it's funny, so i leave it... dlkgdfh.

- tranquil tattoo - origins by msbarrows: adds the lore-appropriate tattoo to all of the tranquil you encounter in the game.

- the mystery of the missing kaddis by theskymoves: implements four kaddis designs for your lovely mabari hound. these kaddis designs were cut from the game, for some reason. you may also want to restore the missing kaddis store; the same mod author provides the files necessary to do so.

- zdf dialog fix by ejoslin: fixes a bunch of dialogues and animations for a bunch of different characters.

- lore-friendly epilogue rewrite by mintflavoredwindows: a must-have mod; it rewrites the epilogue slides with series continuity in mind while also fixing a bunch of epilogue-related stuff.

- awakening lore-friendly epilogue rewrite by mintflavoredwindows: another must-have mod by mintflavoredwindows. similar to the origins version, this mod rewrites awakening's epilogue slides with series continuity in mind and has a bunch of fixes which will keep your cherished world state immersion intact.

- awakening messenger bugfix by mintflavoredwindows: fixes a potential bug in the epilogue regarding a messenger character.

- colbert de-creeped by mintflavoredwindows: takes colbert's disgusting sexual comments away for female wardens.

- joining ritual fix for awakening companions by i9h: with this mod, you don't need to worry about the order in which you recruit the awakening companions; they can all do the joining ritual whenever without anything breaking.

- sigrun's roguish past and law and order fix by trylane223: fixes both of the questlines mentioned in its title.

- awakening silverite mines bugfix by terraex: fixes an absolutely brutal glitch that you can get in the silverite mines quest where you end up losing all of your equipment.

- vigilance fix and rescaled by ragnathul: prevents vigilance from incorrectly displaying with starfang's model. if you don't want the include rescaling aspect of the mod, go into the mod folder and delete the 'textures' folder within the greatsword folder as well as the longsword folder.

- awakening endgame cutscene fixes by i9h: BIG warning that the mod author included screenshots of the endgame cutscene as images for this mod. i tried to get around this by linking specifically to the file instead, but the images will still flash by for a bit when the page loads, so... tread carefully if you want this fix without being spoilt. (i don't think the glitches it fixes are guarenteed glitches, either, but i digress... i typically use this mod just in case.) the description for the mod can be found here for those of you who don't care about spoilers (or who already know how the cutscene plays out).