15 Essential MODS for Dragon Age Origins in 2024 (DAO Best Mods List)

In this video, we're going to explore 15 of the best mods you should try for Dragon Age Origins. Links for each mod are in the pinned comment and bottom of description box.

Dragon Age Origins is 15 years old at this point and modders have made some cool stuff over the years to improve various aspects of quality of life, immersion, aesthetics and more.

0:00 Introduction
0:11 1) Qwinn's Ultimate DAO Fixpack
0:54 2) Skip the Fade
1:50 3) Extra Dog Slot
2:30 4) Lock Bash
3:11 5) Equal Love
3:29 6) Dalish Mage Origin
3:51 7) Banter Now
4:31 8) Improved Atmosphere
5:02 9) Anders in the Circle
5:37 10) More Hairstyles
5:47 11) Duncan's Dark Armor
6:04 12) Lothering Hawke of Ferelden
6:48 13) Dragon Age Redesigned
7:10 14) King Calenhad's Tomb
7:37 15) Character Respec

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FULL MOD LIST
Qwinn’s Ultimate DAO Fixpack

Skip the Fade

More Hairstyles

Dragon Age Redesigned

Lock Bash

Equal Love

Improved Atmosphere

Dalish Mage - Origin

Duncan’s Dark Armor

King Calenhad Tomb

Anders in the Circle

Lothering Hawke of Ferelden

Extra Dog Slot

Character Respec

[BigDanGaming]

FULL MOD LIST
Qwinn’s Ultimate DAO Fixpack

Skip the Fade


More Hairstyles

Dragon Age Redesigned

Lock Bash

Equal Love

Improved Atmosphere

Dalish Mage - Origin

Duncan’s Dark Armor

King Calenhad Tomb

Anders in the Circle

Lothering Hawke of Ferelden

Extra Dog Slot

Character Respec

[MrHildebrand]

As an avid fan of DAO since release, I would have to recommend against improved atmosphere. It's a great mod don't get me wrong but it will cause you more headaches than it's worth, especially if you're using other mods. Broken character meshes, can hard lock your save in specific areas if you don't have one prior, and the memory leak bug with the game does not like all the extra models, textures, and NPCs. Even with the 4gb patch you will always need a backup save before doing anything in Denerim since you will crash after a few minutes in the area.

[ngc]

Some essential mods that I think you missed:

- 4gb patch from NTCore: this makes DA:O (and other older games) run better on modern systems. Without it, the game can randomly crash, especially when you are on Denerim.

- Unobtainable item BUGFIX: mod that restores some items that already exist on the game, but are unobtainable due to programming issues.

- Many, many mods needed to fix the plethora of bugs on the Awakening expansion.

- And, of course, the Sera in Denerim mod ;-)

[WolfheartFPS]

thanks Dan! Might use a few of these soon.

[standhaftgarithos]

I have a much shorter list but we share some overlaps.

1) the unofficial patch which fixes most of the known issues (crashing and stuff).
2) the dog mod which allows you to have dog all the time without taking up a party slot just like God intended.
3) Grey Warden armor since that's just about the best thing DA2 ever did.
4) the mod that lets you look like you are actually related to your family so you can pick presets that look like the Cousland and stuff.

[jgj]

I must be the only DA fan out there that actually likes the Fade.

[qbgabe]

I am here ready to revisit the good old DAO day after reading all the review of DAV

[Blackinght]

Without watching I already know skip the fade is essential lol

[pillgrxm]

I didn't know there was a 'Skip the Fade' mod until I found this video. I've been dragging through it. Thank you so much for sharing!

[rose.i]

One extra mod I would add to this list for veterans looking to spice up their next playthrough is the class and specialization pack. It adds two new classes to the game and a whole slew of specializations that open up some wild new playstyles. The classes are really cool and genuinely well balanced. One is the ritualist whose talents are basically spell modifiers. They combine a whole bunch of these picked modifiers together in order to craft tailor made spells on the fly. The drawback of this flexibility is that the spells they create tend to lack the raw oomf of the mages more powerful spells. The other class is the warlock which is a gish type character that plays a lot like the dnd 5e warlock. The specializations are also well balanced. They include things like the daggerspell mage who gets a big damage buff to daggers and gets to make free extra attacks when casting certain spells. They can also imbue their daggers with magic allowing them to cast free spells from a selected list every few seconds when they make a successful melee attack. Another cool one is the wilderness stalker. A rogue who gets a bunch of bonuses to their stealth allowing them to scout ahead and litter a battlefield with traps before ambushing with their bow which they get a big attack speed buff for. The only real drawback is a lot of these aren't lore friendly with many of them being references to other popular fantasy games and settings. If you can get around that though it's an exciting and well balanced mod that can add a lot of color to the games class and specialization system.

[ErtaiCZ]

I only play with warden armors. From those mods I used the dog slot and that is it. I might be the only one who likes Fade

[maesde]

I would add the Morrigan romance fix for those who like her storyline. It actually fixes some stuff, re-adds some other and also fixes something about the ending. At least as far as I remember...it's been a while.

[Linkforlife]

Forgot the Morrigan Restoration patch mod, which fixes a lot of Morrigan's banter and even post-Flemeth cutscene when you return to camp, however, if you use Improved Atmosphere, you need to remove the Morrigan parts of that mod to make this one work, but it is worth it.

Let's not forget about the Awakening Silverite Mines Bugfix mod as well, which fixes the bug where you lose the equipment the Warden is wearing in the Silverite Mines after being captured upon first entering.

The LAA 4GB patch mod is a huge essential mod for anyone playing the game on Steam, it fixes a lot of the crashing issues (not all) to help the game run much more smoothly on modern PCs.

Improved Atmosphere is great, but I wouldn't call it essential, there are mods which are incompatible with it and if you are not running the LAA 4gb patch, it can cause huge headaches when you go to Denerim.

Extra Dog Slot is a nice mod since I love using the mabari, but there are cutscene glitches that can occur as a result of having him as a 5th party member. I love the idea of having him in the party since he is so underrated, the mabari is an absolute powerhouse. I wouldn't call the mod essential though, it is more of a quality of life thing to make breaking into the harder difficulties easier.

[ZrodyApo]

It's been years since I played Origins but I would add the DA2 style elves, it makes the elves better looking imo without being fully weird alien looking like in DA2

[DZMaven]

You what would be great for this video?

Actually showing the mods off instead of just talking about them with random B-roll footage.

And really, #1 should the LAA enabler.

[zomking]

There is a mod that will place Hawk, Carver and Aveline in Ostagar at the same time the Warden and Alistair are there.

Hawk and Carver will be the two soldiers talking to one another near the sergeant explaining what a Genlock is. Aveline will be the woman Daveth is trying to hit on upon the Warden first meeting him.

[omnikte]

I never expected this video and never knew it's just exactly what I needed

[renedamasio]

Other interesting options are Qunari racial stats, Hide Helmet, Arcane Warrior Weapon Drawn Casting, Extra Spec for Sten and Madd Gift Guide

[JazmineKhanOfficial]

you should give B Tier Mutineer a shout out cause he's making some amazing DAO content that seems to take up a LOT of his time, and the videos are so detailed and useful! He has less than 1k but is still consistent and killing it imo. Share the love <3

[AbhishekNag]

Skipping the "Skip The Fade".
That's one of the best challenges in the whole genre of RPG.