Vampire Portraits for ToEE

Discussion in 'The Temple of Elemental Evil' started by Joud, Nov 20, 2011.

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  1. Joud

    Joud Iuz took my orb...

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    I recently installed ToEE on my super-cool new laptop (game freezes after few secs when I disable intros... meh) and as always I'm not very satisfied with the given character portraits.

    I stopped a while ago playing Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, but the artwork of that trading card game is so great I made character portraits for ToEE featuring some of the toughest and/or illustrious vampires of the game.

    link to ModDb

    Co8 people, there is space for 28 more portraits at character creation. Any chance I can add more pictures to choose from? I have no idea how to setup the .mes file I always use the existing one as template.

    Also feedback is appreciated since I put some effort into this, although I only used Irfanview for .tga and the windose editor for .mes files. I check on this forum regularly.
     
  2. wizgeorge

    wizgeorge Prophet of Wizardy

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    This has been asked before but there are no vampire pc's so it wont happen. If your portraits are toee compatible you may be able to add them. Something like Nasty_b_vampire.tga, etc, etc. The name of the portrait in mes must match the name of the portrait. Try the first test line 9210 and see if it works. {9210} {Nasty_b_vampire.tga} Don't forget to do the mini's and small's also. Check the forums for more info. It worked for me, but I know I had a Toee compatible portrait.
     
  3. random1

    random1 Member

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    Are all the files in the rar a result of your editing and selection?
    I'm asking because I noticed Ronald portrait there.

    Personally I stick with the official ToEE portraits (no BG portraits, no Arcanum portraits, etc, etc).
    The problem with adding portraits from other sources is that you can really notice an artwork difference. While this is very subjective it does make a difference to me.
    Ironically I also don't like some of the portraits in ToEE, a couple of ones which seem they were made out of a real world photograph (eg, like fabF_BIG.tga).

    Regarding the pics in the rar. I've only looked briefly at them, but some do not belong to ToEE without a doubt!
    Examples: adanF_BIG, dolF_BIG.tga, feraF_BIG.tga, girl_BIG.tga

    I think some of them could effectively be made available like the other portrait packs and be used for PCs portraits. But I think most could only be used in some eventual undead/vampire quest.
    In any case I think that maybe half of the pics in that rar should be discarded.




    So let us imagine...
    After a certain point in the game when you talk to someone in the village they ask if you have already talked with the town Elder, if not then you should.
    mehhh... it's kind of cheesy and unoriginal but it could interesting :)
    An evil cult is infiltrating the town and you don't know who you can trust and who will set you a trap to get you dead. Why are they there? What do they want?
     
  4. Joud

    Joud Iuz took my orb...

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    Nice! Actual replies to my post I'm thrilled :p

    Wizgeorge, your whole post does not make any sense. You say this has been asked before but it won't happen 'cause there are no vampire pcs. What has the amount of available portraits to do with the kind of character you play? Your next sentence 'if' and 'may be' you say. Well, just replace your portraits folder with mine and you have cool new pics, there is no compatibility issue. I already edited the .mes file.

    No random1, I didn't bother to delete files that were not needed, so some of the pics are not my doing and I didn't change the cleric with the funky voice as far as I know. I figured the size of the whole folder is not a problem so I just left everything there. You can exchange the pics you don't like with ones you like just as wizgeorge describes if you don't like some, as you say. Yes there is a noticeable artwork difference! I hope so, and if you would discard half of the pics in the folder thats a matter of taste.

    And that is why I made those portraits, to offer a variety. Isn't that what fantasy roleplay is about? To have a choice?
     
  5. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    I'm a bit unclear on what you're asking here, but if your question is will we add your vampire portraits to the regular Co8 modpack, the answer is no. We only include ToEE originals and Co8 originals with the regular modpack in order to avoid copyright violations and aesthetic muddying of the waters. Players are of course at liberty to install separate portrait packs, some of which we have provided as a courtesy, and we also provide the means to make your own via the 'portraits made easy' portrait pack, which is essentially what I think you've done here with yours, after a fashion (though you seem to use your own mes files, etc.).

    If you wanted to make a V:tM portrait pack, we would consider hosting that here if it was of sufficient quality and if the theme, such as it is, was limited to V:tM. All our other hosted portrait packs (BG, IWD, JA) conform to those standards.
     
  6. Joud

    Joud Iuz took my orb...

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    Hey Gaear.

    There is space for 28 more pics on character creation. In other words you could have a choice of 28 more portraits to choose from. If you scroll down during character creation you find 28 blank spots. All could be character images, 28 more pics than there are already.

    Now is there any chance this wasted space can be used? Actually I'm not sure if haven't asked this 1 year ago already, but you guys know this game so well by now it should be possible. All those blank boxes just seem inappropriate to me, just like the racial division in the .mes file is inappropriate. The player does not see if he picks from the half-elf or the dwarf pictures, all they see is a half-elf or a dwarf.

    And thanks you would host my pack here if it was sufficient quality... That is kind of offensive. I offer to download the vampire custom portraits for a very long time now, over 4 of your ModPacks started with 5.7 then 5.8 then 5.9.1 and now 6.1 ... If you have to say something about insufficient quality then just spit it out.

    By the way aesthetic muddying over the waters is what the current portraits folder does. Some are photograph like, as random1 pointed out, some are comic, some are crude and some are detailed. Get real.
     
  7. random1

    random1 Member

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    You get offended way too easily man.

    I suspect Gaer said that even without looking at your portraits. He was just pointing out a general rule of thumb here.

    I recommend you to read Gaer's post again. :roll:
     
  8. emo_ome

    emo_ome Butcher Of Hommlet

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    Joud, I appreciate your vampire portrait packs and I've already seen them in modDb. But please lower your tone a bit. I think what Gaear's trying to say is that the co8 would hosts your portrait packs (which could be downloaded like the other portrait packs), but wouldn't and not probably be included inside the mods.

    I think the reason why there are separate downloads implemented is because some of us like those portraits and some of us don't. This would certainly eliminate the requests like "I want some WoW portraits in my game", so I guess the co8's best solution is this: "Portraits Made Easy" a DIY step-by-step guide in creating customized portraits.

    ...and please be reminded of these things
    Edit: This is for the Isometric maps but I guess this can be related to the portraits as well.
    Also, this will help you understand why.
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2011
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