Getting Started, Installation & Preparation for the RJali-Mod Options

[Seewead]

Hello everybody!

If you have never played the RJali-Mod before, then this thread could be for you. I hope you interested. This thread shall be dedicated to hints, ideas and suggestions about the installation of the mod and the first steps to take.

No need to tell you, that am a big fan of the Rjali-mod. Otherwise, why would I write here? The Rjali-mod is unbelievably vast and extensive (so many aspects that I couldn't even begin to tell about all of them). And it brings the game to a whole new era in that it gives us multi-romance possibilities that were unheard of before. With this thread I would like to give you a few pointers, so that you can enjoy the mod as much as I do and - maybe - become a fan as well.

So - getting started!

Hope it helps you, Seewead


Postscript: Be advised that this thread will bring you some little meta-knowledge (e.g. minimal spoilers).




A.
Do I have to play PSTEE and BGEE first before I should use the Rjali-mod (with BG2EE)?

1.
Well, it is true, that the Rjali-mod reminisces a lot about the content of PSTEE. So if you have played PSTEE before, it will be fantastic in that you will meet a lot of people again and see a lot of the old places. That is one of the many intriguing parts of the mod. And it is - as far as I know - truly unique in its kind: Where else can you meet Ravel, Annah, Fall-from-Grace and all the others again? And what is more: The Rjali-mod incorporates 3 different elaborate romances with these ladys of PSTEE. So you even get the chance to kiss them - if you can believe that.

I myself have never played PSTEE. But because of that, I might be in the position to evaluate and I can assure you: There is really no need to play PSTEE prior to the Rjali-mod (with BG2EE). Right, on a few occasions I didn't understand everything "right off the bat", because I simply had not the corresponding background information. But that didn't turn out to be a problem. Most aspects you catch on pretty quick, because it really isn't that complicated. And the few aspects that I didn't understand in their whole extend posed no hindrance at all.

2.
Same goes for the Jini-mod (written by the same author), which takes place during BGEE. I am sure it is great, but I have not had the opportunity to try it out yet. And though it finds its continuation in the Rjali-mod, it is not _nesessary_ to know it in any way. But it seems reasonable to assume that you would enjoy the story of Jini and Fay even more so if you had the prior experience of the Jini-mod in BGEE. So while it is not a requirement at all, one should guess that the Rjali-mod becomes even better when you have played the Jini-mod before.


Edit: small change in thread-title and formulation and added content about PSTEE and BGEE


This post has been edited by Seewead: Jul 30 2017, 08:10 PM

[Seewead]

G.
Portraits

Well, some of us enjoy it to bring in portrait pictures of their own choice into the game. If you are one of these guys, you should look at this in the README:
"Q: When I use EEKeeper to change an NPC's portrait, some of your dialogues revert to the game portrait. Is this a bug?
A: No. You will also find that the epilogues revert to the game portrait, as well. To avoid this, do not use EEKeeper to change portraits. I know, it is convenient. To do the thing properly, you must move your portraits into the game OVERRIDE folder under the appropriate name.bmp. This will change the portrait wherever it is accessed in the game."

Meaning, when you change a certain portrait of the romanced girls via EEKeeper, that only works partially. Essentially you will get a mixture of pictures then: Sometimes you will still be confronted with the old, original picture as well. That doesn't feel good. Breakes the immersion, as you can imagine. That happens not only during the epilogues, but especially - very annoying - when the Rjali-mods lets you (like an overview) take a look at all your loved ones. Just the latter possibility is one of the many new inventions the Rjali-mod is bringing to you. It is awesome, so we should make sure that it feels great all the way. Mind you, this is no "bug" of the Rjali-mod, but - as far as I understand it - depends on the programming of the vanilla game.

So changing portraits via EEKeeper is not doing the trick. This is what you need to do to remedy the problem:
a.
You have to take the pictures that you want to asign to a certain NPC and give it the right name.
b.
Then you have to copy this new-named picture in your override-folder (in the game directory).


Here are the right names, you have to use (for BG2EE):

Aerie: NAERIES, NAERIEM, NAERIEL
Amber: m#ambers, m#amberm, m#amberl
Annah: RJPSTAS, RJPSTAM, RJPSTAL
Branwen: BRANWES, BRANWEM, BRANWEL
Dace: t#daces, t#dacem, t#dacel
Fade: E3FadeS, E3FadeM, E3FadeG
Fall-from-Grace: RJPSTGS, RJPSTGM, RJPSTGL
Fay: RJFAYBS, RJFAYBM
Imoen: NIMOENS, NIMOENM, NIMOENL
Isra: rh#isras, rh#isram, rh#isral
Jaheira: NJAHEIRS, NJAHEIRM, NJAHEIRL
Jini: RJINIS, RJINIL
Nalia de'Arnise: NNALIAS, NNALIAM, NNALIAL
Neera: NEERAS, NEERAM, NEERAL
Ninde Amblecrown: lk#ninds, lk#nindm, lk#nindl
Petsy Chattertone: L3PetsyS, L3PetsyM, L3PetsyL, L3PetsyV
Ravel: RJPSTRS, RJPSTRM, RJPSTRL
Rjali: RjaliS, RjaliM
Saerileth: saerileS, saerileM, saerileL
Sky Silvershield: SKIES, SKIEM, SKIEL
Tashia: tashias, tashiam, tashial
Tyris Flare: G#TYRISL, G#TYRISM, G#TYRISS
Viconia DeVir: NVICONS, NVICONM, NVICONL
Yvette: YvetteS, YvetteM, YvetteG

I hope, I have catched everyone of them. For the romance-mods they are usually quite easy to find. Just look in the corresponding mod-folders for some "portrait" or "picture", "media" or the like.

Of course, they all share the appendix ".bmp". And naturally your pictures must have the dimensions and depth, that are necessary for all portrait pictures in "Baldur's Gate".


Supplemental
As far as I am informed, with the last patches of the Enhanced Editions, all you really _need_ is the largest form L. Unless you want different views/angles of the same NPC, of course. Then (and only then) you would need different pictures. But then you could go for M (not S) as well; at least make sure that the dimensions are 210x300 and not any smaller. There is no need for smaller pictures. Besides, if the game should need anything, it can downsize your picture on its own. Actually, the game should even accept custom portraits up to 652 x 1024 pixels.

Read here for more: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/42915...-portrait-sizes



This post was written concerning RJali-Mod version 8.4; look out for the changelog of future versions of the mod, because there could be changes.


edit: small spelling error and change of formulation

edit2: small error in the portrait file-names.


This post has been edited by Seewead: Sep 12 2017, 02:06 PM