17 replies to this topic

[Zireael]

Did you put it in the correct folder?

[Sasha Al'Therin]

From the BG2 manual.

APPEARANCE
Select a portrait for your character. To import a custom portrait, you
must follow the instructions below:
The measurements for player portraits are 38X60 pixels for the small
ones (8-bit color only) and 110X170 pixels for the large ones. Create a
directory called Portraits (including the capital "P") in the root directory
where you installed BGII: SoA. The default is C:\Program Files\Black
Isle\BGII - SoA. You will have to add an S to the end of the small
portrait name and an L to the end of the large portrait. The names
must be 1-7 letters long, maximum.
For example:
XXXXXXXS.bmp for small (38x60, 8-bit)
XXXXXXXL.bmp for large (110x170, 24-bit)
For multiplayer, each player must have a copy of the portraits,
otherwise they will see a silhouette with a question mark where the
other player’s custom portraits would be.

It's pretty clear there how it all needs to be set up. If you are getting the silhouette with a question mark then you need to re-examine your files and make sure that they are saved in the correct bit size. If still unsuccessful try reducing to 256 color depth as well.

[Eric P.]

Not to mention making sure the filename is the one the game will reference

The small portrait can be 24-bit with no problems, so that's entirely a matter of personal choice.

If you want to shave a little off file sizes, remove any custom portrait icon from the .bmp file, so it will just use your computer's standard icon for it. I've noticed a difference after saving image files in Photoshop, then getting information on the file and deleting the custom icon.

Edited by Eric P., 15 April 2012 - 06:18 PM.

[LancerChronics]

Same issue though I think figured out the issue...just not sure how to fix the problem.

Found some images online that I'd thought would make a great portrait... (JPG...)..Resized it perfectly, renamed it perfectly, changed to BMP.....and.....didn't work.

Okay.......check everything, maybe i had to save as bmp rather than changing the extension....redo....some work, some don't.....GRRRRRRR.

Look online... Someone says "Durrr, it's your installation, uninstall and redo everything." Considering I'd done this twice before.... (BGT in Program Files, then forgot a patch)...that was not an option.. Plus I think the guy was an idiot. Some random guy necroing the thread said "I unchecked read-only on the portraits folder and that fixed everything for me!"....Eh, made more sense and took less time.....didn't work. Turns out, unchecking read-only on Windows 7 is impossible, it just redoes it immediately....

Look at the files...."This file is being blocked to protect your computer cause it came from somewhere else.." Okay, maybe that's it.. Clicked "Unblock"......nope...nothing...

After slowly going insane for the last 2 hours, I checked it again..... All the images that don't work are 32-bit... and BMP.....
Huh, thought I fixed that....

Open paint, save as 24-bit.....check image....32-bit....

Repeat 10 times...... still 32-bit....

This is my problem and it is driving me insane....Anyone have any solutions?

That or a Functioning portrait set of Imoen/Viconia/ and a sexy Female Wild Mage?

[Almateria]

What, you installed BG in Program Files?

[LancerChronics]

What, you installed BG in Program Files?

Yah, apparently that's a no-no if your converting to BGT..it did make a few things screwy for me, so I started over.

Solved the 32-bit issue...when I converted the jpeg to bmp while changing the file name...it got locked in...I had to change the file name BACK to jpg, Open paint, and then try to save as a BMP...That did it.

Now I just have to find an old NWN portrait of a blonde monk/mage with her wrists crossed in front of her and a cool snarky sneer/smile. And I'ts like hidden somewhere in a zip file off 200 TGAs which I can't open...yay.....

[Dakk]

When (not if) you find them, please post them here - they sound really cool!

Is your problem solved by the way, or do you need any more help?

[LancerChronics]

I'll say "solved" though if anyone just happens to randomly know the image i'm talking about, and have a copy to save me a search, i wouldn't say no.

[Almateria]

Yah, apparently that's a no-no if your converting to BGT..it did make a few things screwy for me, so I started over.

It's a no-no if you want to do anything at all with the installation afterwards. My Arcanum install folder is still forever plagued with horrible mods that stay even after folder purge.

[LancerChronics]

Oh and here...this took WAYYYYYY longer to find than I wanted. So many nice portraits out there, but I'm damn picky. Gotta match the others...faces taking up about 50% of portrait, looking straight at you, while some small aspect sybolizes who the character is.... BG2 portraits were always great about showing a lot through a little, and I always remembered thinking this one did the same while playing NWN. Bit less of a sneer than i remember...

Anyway, as requested, here's this one...though now I know how to pull out several if needed...I feel as if there's a lot one can do with this if they were skilled with picture editing.

Edited by LancerChronics, 26 September 2012 - 06:36 AM.

[The Imp]

It should just be as simple as copying your Baldurs Gate folder to another area of your computer (except Program Files x86). I did this then all of a sudden my custom portraits worked.

Well, you have the also change the baldur.ini's [Alias] -paths to the current directory so the BGMain.exe actually starts the game in the correct directory... and failing to do mention that.. well.
 

I moved my folder and the large ones worked and not the small ones. I don't understand.

Erhm, you did use the editor(MSPaint) to resize the s-picture to be =18% from the 210x330 ? While the m-picture should be about 50% from the 210x330 one.
And then save it correctly*.

As far as I can tell, it's not a 32 bmp, but I've heard that paint will save it that way even if you tell it not to.

*Well if you go with MSPaint and edit the file, and use the "Save as..." -> "JPEG picture" and then when it shows the "Save as type" to be JPEG(*.jpg; *.jpeg; *jpe; *.jifi), you can then change that to be the format you need; 24-bit bitmap(*.bmp....), which you need to have for the *s- & *m-pictures. Ha, good luck with that.

Edited by The Imp, 15 January 2015 - 10:14 AM.