Dragon Age Origins

Date of this guide

This guide was published 19 January 2025.

Setup tested

This guide was tested using:

  • 64-bit architecture
  • 21.2 Victoria (Ubuntu 22.04 jammy)
  • MATE 1.26.0 desktop
  • Nvidia driver v535
  • Steam client version: 1733265492, Build Date: 2nd Dec 2025
  • Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition from Steam
  • Getting mods working across the DLC was tested with No Helmet Hack v1.6

Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition runs straight from Steam without needs to force the use of a specific version of Steam.

To get Nexus Mods working in Dragon Age: Origin

  1. Download your chosen mods from Nexus Mods
  2. There are two types of addons, ones that only have an override folder, and others that have contents and a manifest.xml file
  3. Open up File Browser on your Linux system
  4. Click View > and choose Show Hidden Files

Installing override mods

  1. Navigate to where Dragon Age: Origins is installed, which is likely to be in home/.steam/steam and you should see a folder named steamapps
  2. If you have some games stored on a different drive or storage area, navigate to that area, click SteamLibrary and then steamapps folder
  3. Once you have located the steamapps folder you want to navigate to the following path: steamapps/compatdata/47810/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Documents/Bioware/Dragon Age/packages/core/override
  4. Extract the contents of the mod zip file into this folder

Installing content and manifest.xml mods

  1. Navigate to where Dragon Age: Origins is installed, which is likely to be in home/.steam/steam and you should see a folder named steamapps
  2. If you have some games stored on a different drive or storage area, navigate to that area, click SteamLibrary and then steamapps folder
  3. Once you have located the steamapps folder, extract the .erf file in the mod contents folder into the following path: steamapps/compatdata/47810/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Documents/Bioware/Dragon Age/packages/core/data
  4. Open up steamapps/compatdata/47810/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Documents/Bioware/Dragon Age/Settings
  5. Copy Addins.xml and paste it into the same folder and rename it to backup_Addins.xml
  6. Open up the manifest.xml in the mod folder and copy everything between the tags <\AddInItem> and <\/AddInItem>
  7. Open up Addins.xml and paste the contents from the mod *manifest.xml" into addins.xml file at the bottom, after any installed dlcs and before \

To get Nexus Mods working in Dragon Age: Origin - Awakening DLC

  1. Backup Addins.xml as described in 5. above in "Installing content and manifest.xml mods"
  2. Edit Addins.xml to change the value of the tag of each mod to edit ExtendedModuleUI="Single Player" to ExtendedModuleUI="DAO_PRC_EP_1" e.g.\

To get Nexus Mods working in Dragon Age: Origin - Witch Hunt DLC

  1. Backup Addins.xml as described in 5. above in "Installing content and manifest.xml mods"
  2. Edit Addins.xml to change the value of the tag of each mod to edit ExtendedModuleUI="Single Player" to ExtendedModuleUI="DAO_PRC_STR" e.g.\

Disclaimer

Please note that all the information on this site is based on my personal experience. While I strive to provide accurate and helpful tips, I can’t guarantee that every method will work for you. Additionally, I’m not responsible for any issues that might arise from following the instructions here. Always back up your system and data before making changes, and proceed at your own risk.

I use Timeshift to take regular backups of my system.