The Picture Standard for BGEE 1 & 2
Utopolyst
Member Posts: 29
The Picture Standard for BGEE 1 & 2
This mod provides you with higher resolution pics for NPCS and for followers (BG1&2) including (!) for some mods:
For BG1EE: BG1NPC, Dark Horizons, Dark Side of the Sword Coast, Drizzt Saga, Rogue Rebalancing, T'was a slow Boat, Finch, Gavin, Indira, Isra, Valerie
For BG2EE: Eilistaee's Song, Innerhade, I Shall never Forget, Sellswords, Tales of the Deep Gardens, The White Queen, Isra
These pics are true to the content. Because some pictures aren't true to lore (I'm looking at you mods) I address this problem with "Lore - Alternative" which replaces some of the immersion breaking pics and add to overall coherence. In other words: The alternative pack is highly recommended. This mod is or should be the picture standard for BGEE. If you find something better, then by all means: use that. But don't fall below this standard.
Pics optimized: 500+!
Download
Note to other modders: If you're planning a story/mod with pics, please consider these points:
a) Use the right file sizes (see below)
b) Use new pics for characters that haven't been used.
c) Use same pics for characters that have been used.
Using same pics insures continuity, using new pics for new characters also helps avoid breaking game immersion. If you use pics that are already designated it can ruin the fun of your mod. So what is the point in releasing it in the first place? So for both b) and c) please refer to The Picture Standard and see where you stand.
So what's the problem?
We start here with a misconception: the ol' BG had three files (L, M, S,). Accordingly you also need to provide three file sizes for BGEE.
WRONG. BGEE can scale any picture size down or up.
Let's say you're playing BGEE on a 1080p monitor like me, you'll realize your eyes start to bleed whenever a npc portrait pops up. That's because BGEE upscales the smallest files to fit the screen resolution, instead of downscaling larger files. This results into blurry portraits, which can cause, by merely looking at them, permanent eyesight reduction.
What to do?
Not to play BGEE is out of the question. Warriors and barbarians will not mind damaging their eyes, as long as treasure huntin' and fun is to be
had. But we're not all warriors. Some are already half-blind like me, and worry that further exposure will lead to the need of a blindman's
stick and worst of all, not being able to play games anymore.
So I've taken up the liberty in providing you with higher resolution npc pics and the standard follower pics. Please note that although I did find almost all pictures, some evaded me and therefore I was forced to use an upscalling method in photoshop (including some tweaks). The outcome is better than the original, but not as optimal as I would want it (which would mean that they had to be perfect...). Check out the difference in the screenshots.
Installation
1. Make a backup of portraits in the override folder.
2. Install The Picture Standard - Vanilla by dropping the pictures from the 'Override'-folder into your 'override'-folder (wherever you installed the game).
3. I recommend installing the TPS - Follower folder also, since you probably don't have seperate pics for all others. Over this you can then install - if you want to - your own party pics. This step makes sure that, all pics are the higher versions. Just make sure the M and S pics are 210x330.
4. Optional but highly recommended: I also provided the TPS - Alternative, which gives you some new lorefriendly pics. BUT ALWAYS INSTALL THE TPS - VANILLA FIRST!
5. Updating: First drop the new Vanilla content into your override folder, click 'yes' to let it overwrite. Then - if you want to - do the same with the
alternative.
6. Uninstall by deleting them.
OR
Use manually WeiDU. Place the folder thepicturestandard in your BG game folder and then run the WeiDU installer setup-thepicturestandard.exe in your game folder.
OR:
Use Big World Setup! It comes as an option!
Will you offer further assistance?
Probably not as much as I'd like to. Firstly, I created this mod for my own pleasure and (!) health. Secondly, I work a lot and would like to use my time for gaming. This picture pack works. Although here is some advice for gamers as well as modders:
1. Any pic you plan to use, that means all L, M and S, make sure they have the size 210x330 because the game by itself can and will downscale. Otherwise the format is: 24bit .bmp
2. LARGE pics are for character creation, MEDIUM for character record and SMALL for the right sidebar and speech popups.
3. Again: Always make sure your L, M, S pics have this resolution: 210x330.
4. For best perspectives try this: L = almost full body; M = Torso; S = Portrait. Because of mostly low picture quality I was not able to always do this and had to use the torso perspective for S, except for a few like: GARZOM*. So that could be your reference pic.
5. Quick'n'dirty would mean: Copy your large follower pic (the 210x33) and rename the ending to M and S. So you will have always clear pics.
Changelog:
v. 0.7.1 - Added Siege of Dragonspear, Tortured Souls and Tower of Deception. Also some small changes.
v. 0.7.0 - Added The Darkest Day. Also made some small changes, better pics, etc.
v. 0.6.9 - Edited the original BG1Edwin and added it as Alternative A. Added bhaalspawn pics, as those eluded me. Minor changes.
v. 0.6.8 - Alternative Valygar, Vicionia and Xan pics! New Korgan! Alternative Lore for T'was a slow boat. Edited some backgrounds of the pics.
v. 0.6.7 - Changed some pics! Found a few better pics.
v. 0.6.6 - There is a WeiDU! agb1 helped me compiling one. Also: more pics for more mods!
v. 0.6.4 - Somehow found more of the ones that have been eluding me.
v. 06_3 - Added some more BG2EE content, updated others
v.06_2 - As ikonomov rightly stated, I forgot some follower pics, all redeemed.
v.06_1 - Added 'Dark Side of the Sword Coast' pics
v.06 - found more and better quality
v.05 - Changed from .7z to .zip - seems to better for BWS
v.04 Updated more vanilla pics and new alternatives. Deleted some other alternatives, as they are redundant.
v.01a Updated vanilla and added new alternatives. Finally got more info on some of the corresponding characters.
Credits: To all who actually drew or otherwise made these pictures and to agb1 for helping with the WeiDU installer.
This mod provides you with higher resolution pics for NPCS and for followers (BG1&2) including (!) for some mods:
For BG1EE: BG1NPC, Dark Horizons, Dark Side of the Sword Coast, Drizzt Saga, Rogue Rebalancing, T'was a slow Boat, Finch, Gavin, Indira, Isra, Valerie
For BG2EE: Eilistaee's Song, Innerhade, I Shall never Forget, Sellswords, Tales of the Deep Gardens, The White Queen, Isra
These pics are true to the content. Because some pictures aren't true to lore (I'm looking at you mods) I address this problem with "Lore - Alternative" which replaces some of the immersion breaking pics and add to overall coherence. In other words: The alternative pack is highly recommended. This mod is or should be the picture standard for BGEE. If you find something better, then by all means: use that. But don't fall below this standard.
Pics optimized: 500+!
Download
Note to other modders: If you're planning a story/mod with pics, please consider these points:
a) Use the right file sizes (see below)
b) Use new pics for characters that haven't been used.
c) Use same pics for characters that have been used.
Using same pics insures continuity, using new pics for new characters also helps avoid breaking game immersion. If you use pics that are already designated it can ruin the fun of your mod. So what is the point in releasing it in the first place? So for both b) and c) please refer to The Picture Standard and see where you stand.
So what's the problem?
We start here with a misconception: the ol' BG had three files (L, M, S,). Accordingly you also need to provide three file sizes for BGEE.
WRONG. BGEE can scale any picture size down or up.
Let's say you're playing BGEE on a 1080p monitor like me, you'll realize your eyes start to bleed whenever a npc portrait pops up. That's because BGEE upscales the smallest files to fit the screen resolution, instead of downscaling larger files. This results into blurry portraits, which can cause, by merely looking at them, permanent eyesight reduction.
What to do?
Not to play BGEE is out of the question. Warriors and barbarians will not mind damaging their eyes, as long as treasure huntin' and fun is to be
had. But we're not all warriors. Some are already half-blind like me, and worry that further exposure will lead to the need of a blindman's
stick and worst of all, not being able to play games anymore.
So I've taken up the liberty in providing you with higher resolution npc pics and the standard follower pics. Please note that although I did find almost all pictures, some evaded me and therefore I was forced to use an upscalling method in photoshop (including some tweaks). The outcome is better than the original, but not as optimal as I would want it (which would mean that they had to be perfect...). Check out the difference in the screenshots.
Installation
1. Make a backup of portraits in the override folder.
2. Install The Picture Standard - Vanilla by dropping the pictures from the 'Override'-folder into your 'override'-folder (wherever you installed the game).
3. I recommend installing the TPS - Follower folder also, since you probably don't have seperate pics for all others. Over this you can then install - if you want to - your own party pics. This step makes sure that, all pics are the higher versions. Just make sure the M and S pics are 210x330.
4. Optional but highly recommended: I also provided the TPS - Alternative, which gives you some new lorefriendly pics. BUT ALWAYS INSTALL THE TPS - VANILLA FIRST!
5. Updating: First drop the new Vanilla content into your override folder, click 'yes' to let it overwrite. Then - if you want to - do the same with the
alternative.
6. Uninstall by deleting them.
OR
Use manually WeiDU. Place the folder thepicturestandard in your BG game folder and then run the WeiDU installer setup-thepicturestandard.exe in your game folder.
OR:
Use Big World Setup! It comes as an option!
Will you offer further assistance?
Probably not as much as I'd like to. Firstly, I created this mod for my own pleasure and (!) health. Secondly, I work a lot and would like to use my time for gaming. This picture pack works. Although here is some advice for gamers as well as modders:
1. Any pic you plan to use, that means all L, M and S, make sure they have the size 210x330 because the game by itself can and will downscale. Otherwise the format is: 24bit .bmp
2. LARGE pics are for character creation, MEDIUM for character record and SMALL for the right sidebar and speech popups.
3. Again: Always make sure your L, M, S pics have this resolution: 210x330.
4. For best perspectives try this: L = almost full body; M = Torso; S = Portrait. Because of mostly low picture quality I was not able to always do this and had to use the torso perspective for S, except for a few like: GARZOM*. So that could be your reference pic.
5. Quick'n'dirty would mean: Copy your large follower pic (the 210x33) and rename the ending to M and S. So you will have always clear pics.
Changelog:
v. 0.7.1 - Added Siege of Dragonspear, Tortured Souls and Tower of Deception. Also some small changes.
v. 0.7.0 - Added The Darkest Day. Also made some small changes, better pics, etc.
v. 0.6.9 - Edited the original BG1Edwin and added it as Alternative A. Added bhaalspawn pics, as those eluded me. Minor changes.
v. 0.6.8 - Alternative Valygar, Vicionia and Xan pics! New Korgan! Alternative Lore for T'was a slow boat. Edited some backgrounds of the pics.
v. 0.6.7 - Changed some pics! Found a few better pics.
v. 0.6.6 - There is a WeiDU! agb1 helped me compiling one. Also: more pics for more mods!
v. 0.6.4 - Somehow found more of the ones that have been eluding me.
v. 06_3 - Added some more BG2EE content, updated others
v.06_2 - As ikonomov rightly stated, I forgot some follower pics, all redeemed.
v.06_1 - Added 'Dark Side of the Sword Coast' pics
v.06 - found more and better quality
v.05 - Changed from .7z to .zip - seems to better for BWS
v.04 Updated more vanilla pics and new alternatives. Deleted some other alternatives, as they are redundant.
v.01a Updated vanilla and added new alternatives. Finally got more info on some of the corresponding characters.
Credits: To all who actually drew or otherwise made these pictures and to agb1 for helping with the WeiDU installer.
Post edited by Utopolyst on
10
Comments
Did you read that the EE won't be using the S size in 2.0?
Thank you! And: oh, they won't use the S-designation anymore? But M is only 110x170, still will need the 210x330. And a alot of mods use the S size so everything stays the same for current mods... But for future mods it could mean, that I finally can sit back and enjoy playing, without having to hunt hi-res pics. ^^
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/724138/#Comment_724138
Another reason for keeping the hi-res s-files would be to also offer a mod for people who don't use the EE series. So... no work for me!
Character Sheet = L
Party Rooster = M
Dialog Box = S
I've already posted this issue here: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/48616/on-portraits/p2, but not really sure if anybody is listenting at all...
Where's the new melissan portrait from please?
I accidentally overwrite some of your HQ pictures when reinstalling a mod and when I noticed that the first thing I did was quit the game and make sure your mod got reinstalled
Keep up the great work!
@Nildar: Hehehe.
The game is not officialy compatible with EET.
Does anyone use this mod any more ?
Do you have any feedback about using it with last versions of EE games ?