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How to use custom portraits (BG1, BG:EE, BG2, BG2:EE, IWD, IWD:EE, IWD2)

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  • PeteAtomsPeteAtoms Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 140
    Does anyone else get a "thumb" entry in the custom portrait screen? I don't know what that is, and clicking on it causes a crash. I don't think it is a hidden file or anything though.
  • KilivitzKilivitz Member Posts: 1,459
    @KryptBeowulf the Portraits folder can't be on Program Files, it has to be on "My Documents\Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition"! Try that one and it should work.

    @PeteAtoms "thumbs.db" is a file Windows creates to cache the thumbnails you see when browsing through your folders, if I'm not mistaken. I crashed my game once by clicking on it, too, guess it wasn't supposed to be shown up by the engine.
  • DaelricDaelric Member Posts: 266
    @Kilivitz I don't have a My Documents, I just have Documents under Libraries, and the Baldur's Gate folder in documents is where I put Portraits.
  • DaelricDaelric Member Posts: 266
    Oh boy it was 9 characters long, lemme fix it.
  • DaelricDaelric Member Posts: 266
    @Kilivitz Ok man, fixed it thanks so much I'm just an idiot. lol
  • KilivitzKilivitz Member Posts: 1,459
    Don't be so hard on yourself - old habits die hard! Took me a while to figure out where to put the files this time around, too.
  • HawkshelatouHawkshelatou Member Posts: 2
    Alright, I do not think my problem is the same as the other's. I have everything saved in a /Portraits folder in My Documents, Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition blah blah. They are all saved as a 24bit BMP like this: archerL.bmp

    When I go in to the game, click Custom for portraits, I can see all the names and files saved, but as soon as I click on a portrait, the game instantly freezes and I have to shut it down by CTRL+ALT+DEL.

    So whyyy...???
  • DurlachionDurlachion Member Posts: 82
    edited December 2012
    @Hawkshelatou, can you upload one of those pictures somewhere? Lets see if there is something wrong with it... (of course you have to upload it in a way, where it does not get compressed or converted)
  • Minscandboo1987Minscandboo1987 Member Posts: 5
    Awesome! Google failed me on this but YOU SIR, you have succeeded. Thanks!
  • SedSed Member Posts: 790
    edited December 2012
    Are we sure about the dimensions, as it looks a bit wrong in the actual selection screen (not filling up the room)?

    Edit: nvm, they are correct, just the import screen that looks a bit jiffy
  • gereygerey Member Posts: 4
    Big thanks bro! It works perfectly.
  • KilivitzKilivitz Member Posts: 1,459
    edited December 2012
    Sed said:

    Are we sure about the dimensions, as it looks a bit wrong in the actual selection screen (not filling up the room)?

    Edit: nvm, they are correct, just the import screen that looks a bit jiffy

    Yeah, I thought the same thing! Maybe at a later update they could tweak the screen a little bit.



  • PeteAtomsPeteAtoms Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 140
    Sed said:

    Are we sure about the dimensions, as it looks a bit wrong in the actual selection screen (not filling up the room)?

    Edit: nvm, they are correct, just the import screen that looks a bit jiffy



    I think that may be where the large portrait is supposed to be. But apparently, after chargen you don't need the large sized portrait again. So I only bother making mediums and smalls.
  • PeteAtomsPeteAtoms Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 140
    So we can use custom port's for the NPCs? That's something I didn't know. What about the non-joinable NPCs? Is it possible to stick a portrait in there for Winthrop, for example?
  • scorpiovascorpiova Member Posts: 87
    Um hey guys... I've been fiddling with portraits as well. And replacing npc portraits with no issues... with the exception of certain npc's... I have been placing the named custom portraits in my portait folder, which has been overrriding the npc portraits.... but for certain npc's it does not work...

    So far Branwen, Montaron, Dynaheir, and Shar-Teel for certain I cant replace.

    Do these characters have a different name when it comes to their portrait?

    I have no problem replaced Imoen, Jaheira, Garrick, Rasaad, Neera, Kivan, Minsc, and Khalid. I find it strange that a few of them don't work at all... according to my create a character portrait list... Dorn, Safana, Edwin and many more have been successful as well.
  • DurlachionDurlachion Member Posts: 82
    edited December 2012
    @scorpiova: You put them in the Portraits folder in My Documents? And that worked? Strange... I thought, they have to be placed in the game install directory's Override folder...
    Anyway:
    Branwen: BRANWEL, BRANWEM, BRANWES
    Dynaheir: DYNAHEIL, DYNAHEIM, DYNAHEIS
    Montaron: MONTARL, MONTARM, MONTARS
    Shar-Teel: SHARTELL, SHARTELM, SHARTELS
    Mostly due to the 8 char restriction... (with exception of Branwen, maybe miscounted? :D)
    scorpiova
  • oldsch00loldsch00l Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 192
    Hello,

    I'm having a strange issue that I suspect is coming from the conversion of images. I have no problem with some custom portraits found already in bmp. I found a lot more in jpeg and started converting them. I get the blank screen with the question mark when I select the custom portrait.

    What I checked so far : the path and name of the folder are right, file names are correct, they're 24-bit bmp.

    I tried several settings when converting in bmp in Photoshop but none worked. Tried with other programs, no luck either. Crazier : I tried with the portraits @Aosaw posted on page 2, did the same blank screen... o_0

    Any idea on what's wrong ?
  • OperativeNLOperativeNL Member Posts: 146
    @oldsch00l I have the same problem. The portraits that I had that were .bmp originally work fine (which is most of them, luckily). There are however also portraits that I converted from .jpg to .bmp using paint and they give me the question mark guy. Weird. Thankfully my current portrait is one of the working ones
  • KilivitzKilivitz Member Posts: 1,459
    @oldsch00l and @OperativeNL

    I'm not sure opening up a JPEG and saving as BMP is what caused the issue, but you could try this:

    1) open the JPEG, select the whole image and copy.

    2) open a new file using the same dimensions as the image and paste.

    3) then save the new file as a 24-bit BMP.

    That way instead of converting you have a brand new BMP that should work.
  • oldsch00loldsch00l Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 192
    edited December 2012
    @OperativeNL and @Kilivitz :

    Tried to copy into a new file and it didn't work. Then I thought about restarting the game and boom! they appeared in the custom screen selection (I was trying methods and switching back to the selection screen without quitting the game). I still have some that don't work but the ones from Aosaw and the "copy-paste" ones definitely work ! :-D

    Now I just have to do that for the +100 custom portraits i downloaded... -_-'
    OperativeNL
  • OperativeNLOperativeNL Member Posts: 146
    Ouch... Tymora be with you, @oldsch00l!
    oldsch00l
  • RichieGroinstabRichieGroinstab Member Posts: 7
    Managed to get the to show up portraits fine, however I seem to share the sizing problems others seem to be having with a large gap showing along the bottom and right edge.
    Saved as 24bit bmp with correct filenames and the pixels stated in the OP. It's like the dimensions are incorrect but if these are the official dimensions then surely it should fit...

    Perhaps it's not scaling properly with the resolution? I don't know what BGEE is running at or if it's upscaling.
    I'm running a macbook pro (bootcamp) at 1680x1050.

    Any ideas?
  • KilivitzKilivitz Member Posts: 1,459
    Did you try looking at the portraits in-game? They do look weird on the selection screen, but if the dimensions are right, they look fine on the Character Record page and sidebar.
  • manchy69manchy69 Member Posts: 6
    What is Dorn portrait name, because DornL.bmp DornM.bmp and DornS.bmp not working?
  • DurlachionDurlachion Member Posts: 82
    edited December 2012
    manchy69 said:

    What is Dorn portrait name, because DornL.bmp DornM.bmp and DornS.bmp not working?

    Strange, tested it and it worked for me...
    • "Have you tried turning it off and on again" (I mean you have to restart BG:EE after swapping those pictures) :-D
    • Also keep in mind, that the mini pictures shown when loading your savegames are not altered afterwards! They are stored separately in -for example- "C:\Users\YOURNAME\Documents\Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition\save\000000001-Quick-Save".
    • Last guess: Invalid image: not a regular bmp, not saved with 24 bpp, RLE compression activated, inverted row data...
    Its actually pretty hard to make a good guess with an error description like "not working" ;-)
    Kilivitz
  • manchy69manchy69 Member Posts: 6
    If I rename same pictures with ImoenM etc, then it works for Imoen but if I rename with DornM etc then it's not working.
  • manchy69manchy69 Member Posts: 6
    edited December 2012
    maybe because my dorn don't have his picture, he have this http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110227132521/baldursgate/images/a/ab/1male2.jpg picture, maybe I need to change this picture?
  • DurlachionDurlachion Member Posts: 82
    edited December 2012
    Um... you put those pictures in
    C:\Users\YOURNAME\Documents\Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition\Portraits, right? That is the wrong place...

    X:\Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition\Data\00766\Override is the directory you are supposed to use!

    Edit: Actually I tried it too and I am surprised that it worked with Imoen using the custom portraits directory... and even stranger: It worked with Dorn as well o.O
  • DurlachionDurlachion Member Posts: 82
    manchy69 said:

    maybe because my dorn don't have his picture, he have this http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110227132521/baldursgate/images/a/ab/1male2.jpg picture, maybe I need to change this picture?

    Seriously? A jpeg file? Yes, you have to convert it to .bmp first...

  • manchy69manchy69 Member Posts: 6
    no jpg... I just posted picture he use instead of original Dorn picture.
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