Changing species portrait of AI empire in ongoing game?

[Lumpy]

Is there any way to modify an existing save game in that regard? Two of my neighboring empires, that also border each other, have the exact same portraits, and this is not only off-putting immersion wise, it is also really hard to tell them apart at first glance.

I really wonder how this happens in medium galaxies. I can understand that there are simply too few portrait sets to ensue that every species got it's own portrait in larger galaxies, but shouldn't this be a non-issue in the smaller ones?

 

[TheDeadlyShoe]

It's just random chance that theres two of the same.

 

[Ilanin]

Well, or it's a nearby set of Federation Builders launching liberation wars...

 

[Lumpy]

It's just random chance that theres two of the same.

I'm aware of that. But if there are less species in a galaxy than portrait sets available, galaxy generation should cycle through them and only assign a portrait double if there are no others left. Quite obviously, if you ask me.

Well, or it's a nearby set of Federation Builders launching liberation wars...

In that case, the species would have the same name. In my case, they have different names and different homeworlds, so they are definitely two species.

Nobody with experience in save game editing here? All I want to do is assign one of the species another portrait. Although it is unfortunate when species look the same in a big galaxy, it is something I can cope with. Two directly neighboring species looking the same is another thing, though.

 

[Kamakaze Panda]

I believe in 1.4 they don't repeat portraits unless they have all been used, but there are exceptions, with primitives and stone age civs which can sometimes spawn the same one.

Of course with the sheer number of primitive civs you usually get duplicates on a 1000 star galaxy.

You can always edit the save game file and change it that way if it's a big problem, I too find it immersion breaking to have separate species with the same portrait.

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

Is there any way to modify an existing save game in that regard? Two of my neighboring empires, that also border each other, have the exact same portraits, and this is not only off-putting immersion wise, it is also really hard to tell them apart at first glance.

I really wonder how this happens in medium galaxies. I can understand that there are simply too few portrait sets to ensue that every species got it's own portrait in larger galaxies, but shouldn't this be a non-issue in the smaller ones?

You can go into the savegame and manually edit it- you'll need to not only figure out which species you're trying to change (they're categorized by ID number and "historical" versions are saved- i.e. events or techs that change you traits are usually creating new species and you'll have to find the "modern" one), then change its portrait ID and the portrait ID for every POP and leader for that species already in-game.