Editing in Game Appearence or .BAM Files

[Flame Outlaw]

Heya I'm new to editing Baldur's Gate files and I'm currently creating a new character for the 6 way lan party that I'm going to.

The character I'm making is Red Sonja, the npc Sirine is very similar but their are many diffrences. I would like to create a new one completely because I dont want to overwrite the Sirine and have her look exactly like my character.

I have acouple of programs I've been useing to edit it, very tediously I might add, I've been useing Sword Coast Keeper to select the character appearence to the Sirine after I was done editing it, DLTCEP to extract edit and reimport the files when I was completed and BAMWorkshop to edit the animation frames Pixel by Pixel.

Their in lies one of the problems I can't see myself editing 450 some odd frames. Is their some other way I can edit these? Maybe a program could create a 3D render and be able to select the joints for movement? Or is their another way altogether?

Also when I'm done with that is their a way I can make my character link to it without overwriting an existing .BAM file? Ex. I can make my character look like any other NPC and PC in the game but I don't know how to make it look like one I created.

Another problem is I would like to have a picture in the inventory area as well if you could tell me that also I would greatly appreciate it.

Basicly I would like my own completely custom character =).
As of right now the situation looks hopeless so if anyone could provide some insight I would greatly appreciate it.

If someone wants to help over msn messenger, please just send me a private message saying your msn or yahoo address and I will add you.

[Avenger_teambg]

Well, no one made new avatars from the scratch so far.
The closest to this was made here: http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?showforum=83

[Flame Outlaw]

Well, I'm beggining to work with 3DS Max, and since I have a bmp of the character from 8 diffrent views, I hope I'll be able to create it as a 3D-Render. If I do manage to accomplish it I will need help inputting it into the game so the avatar will look like it.

I will also need help creating an inventory avatar as well, if youd be willing to guide me I'll be extremely grateful and I'll post a guide on how to do it.

P.S. Do you have any idea how Black Isle made the animations?

[jcompton]

Legend has it that Lightwave was the program of choice for Infinity sprites, but you could use any 3D animation/rendering package you're comfortable with.

However, rather than hammering at a 3D program, I'd suggest you first get your feet wet importing an existing framesequence to Infinity to see if you think it's worth your time to go ahead trying to design a completely new equippable avatar. http://reinerstileset.4players.de/englisch.htm has a number of free sprites which would be suitable with only minor alterations for use in an Infinity game. That way you can deal just with the engine side of it first, then be ready if you decide to forge ahead with the animation and rendering.

[Flame Outlaw]

How exactly would I make the character look like it without overwriting an existing monster?

With Sword Coast Keeper I can make my character look like any other default character in the game but I don't know how to import a new one.

[devSin]

Well, no one made new avatars from the scratch so far.

There was that minotaur PC avatar that was floating around once, no?

[jcompton]

That's always been the $64,000 Question of Infinity sprites, since so much is governed by hard-coded tables. Someone else who's done more research will have to step in and tell you whether and how to pull this off, I vaguely seem to remember that there are a few precious empty slots in the core game.

[Flame Outlaw]

Well I've always said that if youv'e thought of it, someones already done it. I geuss it's just a matter of time to wait for that person eh?

[Sir-Kill]

as everyone has said no one has made a sucsessfull new avatar. yes the minitor was made but it was not succesfull the clown colors were off. to bad too that was a lot of work. I still have those files (2d bmp images)and even tried to correct them but even with the thing half done it is still not worth the effort.

however if you have some 3ds questions I can try to answer them.
tho I am usaly at blackwyrmlair

[Avenger_teambg]

As JC said, there are very few empty slots in the game. The best slots are the IWD style slots, i think you can find a list of those somewhere.

And he is also right in that you first better try to import an existing animation into the game (and use an empty slot or overwrite another).
That is the easiest, but still the most important step.
It is easier to create real coloured animations. The minotaur was intended for player characters, thus it was fake coloured intentionally (but the colour positions were not right). This caused some extra problems which are not fixable yet.