Cosmetic Fix - Updatable Paperdolls and Avatars (and BG2 Collector's Edition Items)

g314

Some time ago, when replaying BG, I downloaded a nice mod (sorry, can't remember the name, please post it here if you can).

EDIT: Here, thanks! http://www.gibberlings3.net/bg2tweaks/index.php

This is a purely cosmetic mod that 'updates' a character's paperdoll and in-game avatar whenever she changes type of armor. Unless your PC is a pure mage/sorcerer, the game won't show robed avatars for other classes; you will just see the character's base armor changing colors and that's it. This mod allowed the game to display a robe whenever you wear one, and change it back to armor at pleasure. Very cool for bi- or multi-class characters!

In BG2, Aerie and Nalia avatars are set (recommended?) to look like mages, so when you make them wear a chainmail armor and a leather armor respectively, you will just see color changes. Same problem if Imoen wears a mage robe.

This shouldn't be like asking for additional art, but just fixing one issue that always annoyed me. Since I always wanted to wear robes to cast spells, I had to use third-party apps like ShadowKeeper to fix it. Which leads to a side question: will there be Collector's Edition items, like the Robe of Vecna, in BG2EE when it's out? Pretty-please!

Tanthalas

I expect the CE vendors to be included with BG2EE.

AndreaColombo

@g314 - the author of that mod hit "Agree" on your post. I'll give you a hint: it's not Tanthalas ;-)

MooseChangerPat

I was about to hit agree with this post, but I didn't want to throw off Andrea's hint xD You still get a like though.

g314

Tanthalas said:

I expect the CE vendors to be included with BG2EE.

Me too. In the same way BG1EE includes Tales. But let's remind devs of this, shall we? ^^

MooseChangerPat said:

I was about to hit agree with this post, but I didn't want to throw off Andrea's hint xD You still get a like though.

Thanks! Don't worry, I got it anyway! I guess the board system is based on 'most recent.' Good to see the author here on the community!

Chromatic5

As I usually play a Mage, many times dual classed, the paper doll mod is always a install for my games. I hope it's included in BGEE.

DiscoCat

I foresee a small problem with this kind of avatar changing. Suppose you're wearing a helmet and you decide to put on the Robe of archmagi (which gives you the mage-in-a-hooded-robe avatar). Now you see the head of your character being hooded and having a helmet overlaying it. It looks ugly.

It's not a big issue but it's one that bugged me when I installed this mod for my fighter/mage. The game would have to take into account that you're wearing a helmet and either change your avatar to a non-hooded one or not display your helmet. I don't think either of these options can be done without changing the engine. The best option would probably be to give the player an option to turn off helmet animations at will (say, from within the options menu or in the inventory screen) which is a good feature in and of itself.

g314

@DiscoCat To me it looks even uglier a mage running around without any kind of armor at all. Probably, being a fighter/mage you're most likely to wear an elven chainmail to cast spells, so that shouldn't be a problem for your class. But consider this: thieves also look hooded by default, but they can wear a helmet when using the "Use Any Item" HLA. And Aerie also has a default mage appearance but she is allowed to wear a helmet nonetheless.

So, you see, the 'problem' is already there even without the mod. It just gives the option to wear also a robe if you want to. It seems a good trade-off after all. But yeah, if archmagi/thieves can take off their hood when wearing a helmet, that would be the icing on the cake!

DiscoCat

@g314 For a fighter/mage in BG1, the robe of archmagi is the best armor. I'm spending the majority of my playtime with this robe on. But I do see your point that the problem already exists (though somehow I haven't encountered it in any circumstances other than my abovementioned fighter/mage scenario). In BG2 the Robe of Vecna is the best robe and it doesn't have a hood so the problem is less conspicuous there.