Played this game way back. Since then I dropped it (and several modules) from my computer but recently downloaded this from GOG. I want to go back and finish it and tackle the add-ons however I am not thrilled with the choice of portraits for my hero.

I downloaded several portrait packs and read somewhere to "just create a 'portraits' folder and dump them there". So I added a folder and did this but none of the new portraits are showing up when I start a new game. After dropping lots of 5-part portraits into the folder I created some went there and others went to a new folder the game tacked on to the portraits folder labeling it "ports".

The one game I created placed a "kinder.bic " (my character's name is Kinder) into the "localvault" folder which is filled with generic and named characters all with the .bic extension.

Should I attach my portraits folder to the localvault folder or what? How do I get the game to "see" this mass of new character faces? Thanks for any help you can render!

Portrait files (the _h, _l, _m, _s, and _t affixed files, though the _h one is optional as the game will use _l if _h is missing during character creation) should all be in the NWN\portraits folder in order for the game to detect them. If they are somehow being put into a different folder, I don't believe the game will be able to find them.

As a test, you may want to take a .jpg file and place it into your NWN\portraits directory, then ingame use the Convertportrait console (~) command (syntax: Convertportrait filename, with no .jpg file extension) to have the game convert the .jpg into the necessary portrait files. Once done with that you can see where the game is putting them and they should be usable with the next character you create.

This was the confusing part. All of the in-game portrait choices seem to be in the" localvault" folder and with the .bic extension (I need to look up what a .bic is) and lack the five required parts (the_h, _l, _m, _s and _t files) in that same folder. There was no "portraits" folder when the game was downloaded and installed. I created one and dumped a horde of the character portraits into it (each with the 5 files) but the game dosen't go looking for a "portraits" folder when you are asked to select your character. It just goes to the "localvault" folder. Should the "portraits" folder I created be attached to the "localvault" folder?

Ironically I stumbled across a CD I loaded up back in '02 crammed with character files (in the .bic extension and others in the 5 file layout) and modules for NWN. I'm going to copy the .bic characters into the "localvault" folder and see if they show up. If I can't get an answer on where to stick that portraits folder I will try attaching it to the "localvault" folder and see if that works. When all else fails I will try the Convertportrait option. Thanks Mattoco for your assistance.

localvault is a character vault local to your computer (servers will primarily use a server vault specific to the server for managing characters). Character files all have the .bic extension, which has a portrait specified within them but does not actually contain the portrait images. If you had a character that used a custom portrait but do not have that portrait available, the portraits for that character will all appear as the default (or as a white block). It does not make sense that the game would be looking for portraits anywhere other than NWN\portraits.

You are creating a new character to access these portraits, not just selecting from the list of characters available from your local vault (whose portraits have already been picked and would not reflect any changes made to your portraits folder short of removing custom portraits that any of the characters might be using)?

And yet upon installing the game there was no NWN/portraits folder created?!? Or is it attached to another folder I haven't expanded yet? I'm at work right now and can't wait to get home and do more research on this issue.

I looked up the .bic extension and so I now know it is a Bio Ware invention.

This is almost as convoluted as editing the old config sys files, autobat files and trying to expand memory on the old games to get them to run. Guess I'm showing my age.
Thanks again!

Electronicescape: Thanks for the link. I found it yesterday in my quest and it too mentions dropping your newly created portrait (made with 5 parts) into your" NWN portraits folder". But as I have already ranted, the newly installed game does not create this "portraits" folder for you. Frustrating!

I have found 55 characters with the .bic extension amongst my 2002 CD disk contents with 11 more with the 5 parts ready to be made into a .bic character.

Tonight I'll drop these into the "localvault" folder to see if they become available to me. I'll likely use the Convertportrait program to see what kinda of luck I have with that process as well. All this to get my favorite half-elf male character!

Yes, NWN does not by default create the portraits folder, though it will look there by default for any portraits not in its standard library. .bic files use portrait files, but .bic files are not made up of portrait files. The portrait files are simply another step in the process of character creation when starting a new character in a module. If, when you click on the portrait button as indicated in the attached screenshot, you do not see any of the portraits you have added to the NWN\portraits folder, then I would be at a loss as to why they would not show up unless they were incorrectly formatted.

Just where the heck is that Convertportrait program?
The loading of the many portraits (.bic) I found on my old CD is looking good. I also have a load of .bic characters in the NWN2 program. Its too bad I can't open the individual files to see what portrait was used.
Work, work work .........

Convertportrait is a console command accessed while playing NWN. After starting a game with any character, use the tilde (~) key to activate the console (indicated by the yellow > in the upper left corner) and then type Convertportrait filename, where filename corresponds to filename.jpg in your NWN\portraits folder.

I have prepared a guide to illustrate the process.

Mattoco: Again I appreciate the help but my game has no official "portrait" folder as shown in your example (nicely done by the way). I finally found that the "portrait" folder I had created has to be made plural, becoming "portraits". Now I can convert a .jpg and introduce it into the game, I hope. Going to bed now and I will go forth in the morning with a clear head.

Thanks!

Yes, this is expected as I mentioned earlier: If you want to use custom portraits you must create this "portraits" folder yourself (in the example, it is plural as that is what NWN is looking for) and put any portrait files you want to use inside of it. It's been a long time since I've done a fresh install of NWN, but this may also be the case for other custom content folders such as hak or tlk.