GameBanshee Forums

Every time I try to change someone's portrait in Shadow Keeper, it just doesn't work. SK opens me a menu, where I can find only vanilla BG portraits, and, weirdly, some pics that come from mods, but small-only. What kond of strange directory do they come from? There is no 'browse' button, or something, so I can only choose from what's already there. Generally I just ignored that, and put the new pics in the override folder, but recently I downloaded Xan, and for him, that does not work.

As a sidethought, can I modify items in SK?

I'm a little foggy on the details, but I think this is how it works. There is a folder named PORTRAITS in your BG2 directory. You should be able to access any of the portraits in that folder when you create your own character. I think that ShadowKeeper can also access them.

However, whenever I want to change the portrait of an NPC permanently, I don't bother to use ShadowKeeper. All you have to do is to take the portraits you want to use and rename them correctly and then place them in the /OVERRIDE directory. For example, to replace Anomen's portrait with one of your own, you can name his new large portrait NANOMENM.bmp and his new small portrait NANOMENS.bmp. The next time you start the game, he will have the new portait. This also works for NPC mods such as Kelsey (I can't stand his original portrait or his voice).

If don't bother to use any setup programs that come with portrait mods; all I do is copy the files I want to use to the /OVERRIDE directory. For example, I like to use some of the NPC portraits from NightMare's Beautification Pack, so I put them in my /OVERRIDE directory. I use alternative portraits from other sources for Imoen, Jaheira, Aerie, and Viconia.

To answer your last question, ShadowKeeper does not have the ability to edit items. I use an editor called Infinity Engine Editor Pro, which is a package of utilities that includes an item editor. Again, all you need to do is to put the new item file in the /OVERRIDE directory once you have found or created the item you want. If you want to make some simple changes to some existing items (for example, making them useable by a character who cannot currently use them), then I could probably help you.

I hope this helps.

Yes, I know about NwhateverL in the override, I think I mentioned that. It used to work on about everyone beautifully, mod or not, but Xan seems to be different. There is no Xan portrait in the override, I've checked twice, and putting any sort of picture in is ignored by the mod. My SK seems not to enter "Portraits" folder, because it showes things that were never there, like BG1 Garrick portrait. Weird.

Thanks for the info on the items, but i'm not that determined to make new ones. I just wanted to know.

I'm sorry for not being clear, but I meant to put the emphasis on using the "correct" file name in the /OVERRIDE directory. (I was being too polite to say you might not have been doing that.) It always works for me.

However, now that I think about it, I remember a couple of mods that use their own special directories instead of putting files in the /OVERRIDE folder. For example, I think the Kelsey mod stores the files for Kelsey's spells in a special folder. Perhaps the Xan mod does the same thing. Why don't you look in directory from which the Xan mod was installed and see if his portrait is stored there. If you find it, maybe all you have to do is replace it with the portrait you want. (Make sure the file name is spelled correctly, hehe.)

Hmmm...
This is interesting because I also have Xan installed, and I wouldn't mind changing his portrait if I could.
As per VonDondu's suggestion, I just checked my directories, including Xan's folder, and I can't see anywhere that would store portraits.
I'd suggest going to Xan's official forum and contacting the mod's author.

Just out of curiosity, I downloaded and installed the Xan mod. I didn't have any trouble changing Xan's portrait (but I do have a bit more skill at that sort of thing than a beginner).

First of all, I investigated the installation directory just to see what was in it. It appears that the mod uses existing portraits and animations instead of adding any new ones. A quick look at Xan's .CRE files revealed that he uses the default portrait of Xan from BG1, which is stored inside a file called PORTRAITS.BIF located in the main /DATA directory. (The game automatically extracts the portrait when called upon to use it.) I did a quick Google search for an alternative Xan portrait and downloaded the first one I came across. (It's a nice one based on Jared Leto.) I renamed it to XANM.JPG and then used Microsoft Paint to convert it to a .BMP file called XANM.BMP just to make sure the .JPG format wouldn't cause any problems. Then I copied it to a new file called XANS.BMP and used Paint to shrink it to 35% of the original size. Then I put both files in the /PORTRAITS directory (not the /OVERRIDE directory) and started the game. I "teleported" to the Government District, found Xan, and added him to my party with CTRL-Q. (I'm not ready to meet him yet if I ever decide to play a game with him in my party, so I didn't want to see any of his dialogue.) His new portraits (large and small) appeared on my screen just like I wanted them to. I don't see why it wouldn't work in your game.

I hope this helps.

Yeah, I think we both weren't clear, but since you're doing it out of politeness, you win. And, I'm coping perfectly with spelling, thank you

I did search the mod for Xan's portrait, and found nothing, but now I see I would have probably found a golden nugget in my left boot sooner. Thanks for all that hard work, and I guess that answers where do the pics in SK come from, too.

@VonDondu,
in order to distract myself from a nail-biting RL matter, I have just spent several hours searching out an image I might like to use for Xan, and resizing with Paint. Now I have two appropriately sized BMP images...

I know I'm going to sound really dense, and I have read your above post several times.... but I'm not technically inclined at all..
In step by step, layperson's terms, where do I go from here?

I have tried searching for the PORTRAITS Directory you mention, but other than the folder I use for regular custom portraits that I give to my PCs (and I doubt this is the one you mean), I can't find anything like what you mention...
Or at least, I went to a folder named "data" and I did find something called "25Portrt.bif" but I have absolutely no way of opening it....

I also attempted to name my portraits "XANS.BMP" and "XANM.BMP" and placing them in my normal custom portraits directory... but that does nothing. Presumably there is a file somewhere overriding my selections, but I don't have the foggiest how to proceed.

*sigh* Sorry about this... I know I sound like a dolt

DW, on my computer, my BG2 directory is located at D:\GAMES\BG2. There are many subdirectories from there, including D:\GAMES\BG2\DATA, D:\GAMES\BG2\OVERRIDE, and D:\GAMES\BG2\PORTRAITS. The file called PORTRAITS.BIF is sort of like a .ZIP file that contains all of the standard portraits. Other .BIF files serve a similar purpose (they contain items, spells, etc.). The game automatically extracts portraits from the .BIF file as needed. Portraits that are not contained in the PORTRAITS.BIF file (custom portraits, for example) are loaded from the \PORTRAITS directory as needed. I assume that whenever a file is extracted from a .BIF file or called upon from the \PORTRAITS directory, it is automatically replaced by a file with the same name if it exists in the \OVERRIDE directory.

When I did my own thing (as I described above), I was surprised to find that the Xan portrait found in the PORTRAITS.BIF file was overridden by a custom portrait that I placed in the \PORTRAITS directory but did NOT place in the \OVERRIDE directory. Apparently, the \PORTRAITS directory also acts like an "override" directory. I had assumed that the "overriding" file was supposed to be placed in the \OVERRIDE directory, but as it turns out, that was not necessary, at least not in my case.

As for "what you should do next", all I can suggest is that you place your custom portrait files in the \PORTRAITS directory and then restart the game and see what happens. That's what worked for me.

In my current installation, there are many different mods installed, including other NPC mods besides Xan, such as Tsujatha, Yasreana, Saerileth, Keto, and Kivan. The only thing that makes my installation a bit "unusual" is that I'm playing the game from a backup copy; the game was not actually "installed" on my current hard drive. Therefore, there isn't any information about the game in my Windows Registry, such as the "path" (which is the only important piece of information the game stores in the Registry; the rest is trivial). My BALDUR.INI file specifies the "path" to the game directory on my hard drive (which eliminates the need for a Registry entry). Since I copied all of the data files to the \DATA directory where they can be loaded from the hard drive instead of from CD, I eliminated the "path" to my CD drive. Therefore, my installation does not try to extract portraits from the PORTRAITS.BIF file that is stored on the CD (it doesn't know where to find the CD since the "path" is not specified). That's the only difference I can think of when it comes to the issue of NPC portraits. I also consolidated all of the data files into one \DATA directory instead of leaving them in separate directories for each CD (CD2, CD3, etc.), so there is only one "path" to all of my data files (D:\GAMES\BG2\DATA). Otherwise, I don't know why your game acts differently than mine.

If you want to try to set up your game the same way I've set up mine, I can give you instructions, but I don't know how easy they would be for you to follow.

dragon wench wrote:I have tried searching for the PORTRAITS Directory you mention, but other than the folder I use for regular custom portraits that I give to my PCs (and I doubt this is the one you mean), I can't find anything like what you mention...
Or at least, I went to a folder named "data" and I did find something called "25Portrt.bif" but I have absolutely no way of opening it....

I was referring specifically to the \PORTRAITS directory, which in my case is located at D:\GAMES\BG\PORTRAITS.

.BIF files can be opened by an Infinity Engine game resource viewer such as ShadowKeeper, Infinity Explorer, or NearInfinity. Those programs extract files from the various .BIF files transparently (meaning that as far as the person using the program is concerned, all of the individual items, creatures, spells, etc. can be seen individually), and they have the ability to "export" individual items to a separate file on your hard drive. For example, if I want to edit a weapon, I can extract the original file with ShadowKeeper and then proceed to edit it with another program. In the "old days", people used .BIF "extraction programs" to export individual files, which was sort of a brute force approach.

I used NearInfinity to look at Xan's .CRE file, which told me that he uses the portrait that is located inside the PORTRAITS.BIF file. But I did not actually open the PORTRAITS.BIF myself per se.

By the way, which portrait did you select for Xan? Can you upload it for us?

@VonDondu,
thanks for the detailed reply! When I am more awake, hopefully tomorrow, I will try to do it justice and see if I can't figure out this portrait business.

In addition to the uploads, [url="http://www.epilogue.net/cgi/database/art/view.pl?id=15207"]here[/url] is the original image. I'm not sure yet if I'll use these, but it is one of the few I've found that fit somewhat... Even if he doesn't have robes.
I'm just not wild about Xan's BG portrait, so I'll see how it goes.