Portraits for non-joinable NPCs

Heindrich

I know that the BG1NPC comes with a component to add portraits for non-joinable NPCs like Gorion. However, I am quite keen for my ingame art to be of a consistent style and quality, and I am not a fan of some of the pictures that comes with BG1NPC, so I am wondering if it is possible to manually add portraits for certain NPCs like Gorion and Sarevok?

Unfortunately the following package is not currently compatible (as far as I am aware) with BG:EE.

http://www.shsforums.net/topic/55677-paintbg-introduction-and-samples/

But if there was a relatively easy way to insert pictures into the game, then I can just resize and insert portraits for select important NPCs.

swit

dummy comment, to see if my posts are really modereted. I've written a quick weidu template for you to add new portraits to cre files, but received a message that it need to be approved before it will be shown.

edit: it looks like it is some automatic forum feature to block posts with weidu code (probably some bizzare anti spam algorithm). Wait a little until my last post is approved by moderator.

swit

yep, it's very easy. Just read about the weidu and use this template for your tp2 file. All you need to do is expand the below "cre_portrait" table with new entries.

BACKUP ~Heindrich/backup~
AUTHOR ~Heindrich~
VERSION ~1~

BEGIN ~Heindrich portraits~ DESIGNATED 0

ACTION_DEFINE_ASSOCIATIVE_ARRAY "cre_portrait" BEGIN
"nameOfTheCreFile" => "nameOfThePortrait"
"nameOfTheCreFile2" => "nameOfThePortrait2"
//and so forth, for example: "EDWIN" => "EDWINS"
END

ACTION_PHP_EACH "cre_portrait" AS "cre" => "portrait" BEGIN
COPY_EXISTING ~%cre%.cre~ ~override~
WRITE_EVALUATED_ASCII ~0x34~ ~%portrait%~ #8 // Small portrait
END

Heindrich

@swit‌
Thx for that, it is rather convenient that I am a moderator xD ... so done!

Ok I haven't looked into Weidu before, so I'd be lying if I said I completely understood the above. However I don't expect a Weidu tutorial as well, so I'll look into it myself, I'm sure the above will make perfect sense then.

swit

no problem.

Just read Wisp's tutorial: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/15010/short-introduction-to-weidu-and-simple-mod-template/p1
And swap the code. When I said expand the table I meant add new "nameOfTheCreFile" => "nameOfThePortrait" lines in a way I've shown it in the example: "EDWIN" => "EDWINS" (where EDWIN represents edwin.cre file that will be modified and EDWINS is the name of the portrait (edwins.bmp). You just need to know file names of the creatures that you want to add portraits to. You can use Near Infinity to view these files, or use a cheat button (ctrl+q? not sure) to add creature to the party and than view his file name by pressing ctrl+m when clua console is opened (or just save the game and view your party in EE Keeper if it is easier for you).

edit: one more thing - portrait name should not be longer than 8 characters (engine limit)