.dat Swapping

So first off, this is highly at your own risk of corrupting either the file{s} you'll be swapping out or the entire installation of FFXI, resulting in having to uninstall and reinstall/update all over again! Do backup your files, cause if you don't and screw up....

Anyway, I originally had no interest in attempting to do this because of the intricate steps using the model viewer and all the different options. I figured it out to a point but didn't wanna mess with it until I found this other way of swapping out .dats! I've been playing with this all morning and it works flawlessly as long as you don't attempt to use a dat made for a Mithra on a Hume, or any other odd combinations....basically only swap .dats that are made for that race!

FFXI Dat Copier v0.4b ~ File DL

Quote :

Update: Verion 0.4b!!

Whats it Do You Ask?

This Allows you to easily copy dats from one location to the Game folders, without manually having to do so.

You set your Mod Folder/FFXI Instal/Backup Folder. When you copy over a dat it backs up the orginal. And you can later auto restore it to its orginal location With Just a Simple Click.

It loads the list files MV uses (modified slightly) and then you just select your race and which equipment part you want to swap. There are 9 Slots for Swaping. Or you can use the new List Swaping Functinality.

How to Use:
After Exteracting Dat Copier. Download the lists Upadte. And Overwrite the files in this list file

When you first run it, Select your FFXI Instal folder. (ex. C:\Program Files\SquareEnix\Final Fantasy\ )
Then select a Mod Folder (This is just a Generic Folder where you are likely to keep all your mods its just used for quick acess this can be anything (ex C:\ or C:\Folder\Where\I\keep\All\My\Mods ) ^^
Backup folder This is just where the program stores a back up of the orginal file (It works just like Model Viewer does when your Importing MQO's) (ex. anything (ex C:\ or C:\Folder\Where\I\keep\All\My\Mods\Backup , If this folder does not exist it will be created.)

From here this is the most simple way of copyign you will ever have.

Click "..." And Browse to the Mod file You want to use.

Select your Race you want in the bottom left, In the Top row, you can Click the Drop down on next to last on the right, to select what body piece you want to Copy your Mod to. Then select from the List Which Armor Piece you want to Copy the Mod to.

Repeate these last 2 steps, of choosing a mod file, and where you want to copy it to as many times as you need to.

After your done Just click "Copy Files" In the bottom right, when you do this It will create a Backup File for you in your backup folder automaticly you dont' have to do any thing.

If you want to Restore this Backup, Just Click the Backups Button, Refresh List, Select the fiel you want to restore, then click Restore.

And thats all you have to do.

It saves alot of time and effort ^^

I plan on one day getting back to working on it. But i'm so busy right now I can't :



Changes:
- More or less a total Overhall of Image/Functionality/Code.
- Now able to Load/Save/Copy List file sets for mass swaping (uses the same backup functionality as before If there is no existing backup one will be created, this backup method for list swaping will probally be changed in some way later on) *Please make suggestions for methods you may like for it to be backedup, ex A special list folder created each time in the backup folder.*

The files are saved as .fdcl (FFXI Dat Copier List) its just a comma delimeted text file so you do not have to use the program to create a list. Just create one first for an example

What does this mean? You can now easily Save a Backup List for the orginal files to swap back before a Patch, Then after the patch using another list swap all your mods back quick and simple!!!

- Added Menu's For Everything, So the Main Window Doesn't Look Cluttered.
- You can now Manually choose for each Import slot for the race you select Face/Head/Body/etc
- Haha The exe file size broke 1mb ^^

Upcomming:
- Version Checking Feature
- Automatic List File Downloads.
- A possible change in some way to the List Fiel Backup Method.
- Anything else anyone suggests if possible, and who knows what else

As usual I have tested it. But as always it can't hurt to manually back up your files. If something does freakisly happen to a file of yours and its not backed up right please let me know what happened. You can also just simply ask somone for a copy of the file. If you find any bugs at all please post them here or PM them to me.

Any Bugs found can now be Submited in the Project Tracker, for Easier Viewing and Public Viewing so Progress can be seen.

http://www.ffximc.com/plug.php?e=tracker

There are a multitude of websites that have .dat files for just about everything out there, but the one linked next is the best one I've found thus far!

Final Fantasy XI Dats



Here are the 4 hairstyles I like the best, so now to decide which to play with or swap them out every once in awhile:

Oh wow cool looking hair dos!

dont think i can do this on the 360 =(

Nope, PC only.... Decided to use the longer version of 6B in red as displayed above, and as in my Signature...

Is this for new chars or can you do it to your current char?

Changed to the black hair style....looks really good with PLD AF armor:

haha! i love dat swapping. i got tons of them. odin staffs custom clothing. however you do find some scary stuff floating on the nets! >.< scary stuff!

So I've been going through .dats again, to find a new hairstyle I wanna use this time, and I found some pretty sick looking PLD re-skins and 1 DNC outfit from FFT. These would replace the default AF gear for PLD and DNC on Mithra only. Its very tempting, but keep in mind that only I'd be seeing these in-game:

Majestic looks nice and do my eyes deceive me or is that a long skirt in FFXI?

I may have to try these out and see how they each look before I decide on one. I still love the original look, but these are pretty nice. I'm currently working on how to install a replacement animation pack for Mithra. It basically takes animations from other NPC Mithra during CS and other events and replaces the standard ones...