[MOD] Western, Muslim, Mediterranean, Turkish Portraits Fix

[ahhheygao]

I've noticed quite a few complaints about the glitched/misaligned facial feature graphics for Western and Muslim portraits, so I've decided to whip up this quick fix for the masses.

This fix basically restores the former graphics files for Western Muslim eyes, nose, mouth, and ears as well as their portraits.gfx interface file. It now also restores the Mediterranean's interface broken by Patches 2.1.2 and 2.1.3. No more double noses, weird marks next to noses/mouths, messed up mouths, floating Muslim mouths, etc.

I recall reading on multiple occasions that it's okay to share modified vanilla graphics (not DLC ones), so there shouldn't be any issue in that regard. These old graphics file are obviously uncompressed, but I could care less about memory usage. Modifying graphics and interface files do not change checksum and should not disable Ironman and achievements, though I wouldn't know for sure because I don't care about Ironman or achievements.

Western, Muslim, Mediterranean Portraits Fix (Updated 04/11/2014)



For those of you who are ACTUALLY using the potato-head Mediterranean Portraits DLCs, download THIS alternative version instead:
Western, Muslim, Mediterranean Portraits Fix (for Mediterranean Portraits DLC) (Updated 04/11/2014)



For those of you suffering from oversized Turkish Portrait DLC glitch (female head gear, male cheeks), here's the fix as well. Do NOT download this fix if you do NOT have Turkish Portrait DLC active!
Turkish Portrait Fix



Background information:

The noses themselves haven't changed a bit. They dimensionally "compressed" all the Western and Muslim facial graphic files (eyes, mouth, nose, and ears) in an attempt to squeeze free some memory usage, but this rush job has unwittingly caused some of the noses not to match up perfectly with the rest of the features. I expect some more polish will resolve the mismatch/misalignment issue by the time of the official release, but in the mean time, I'll restore the old graphics files and portrait interface faces.

Since this quick fix is actually completely different from the one I'm personally using (I use heavily modded portrait sets), I haven't playtested it extensively. Please let me know if I screwed up somewhere. This mod should hopefully be obsolete by the time patch 2.1.2.1 goes live. Good job PDS, not only did the issue NOT get fixed, but now Mediterranean Portraits got broken because they got "compressed" without proper playtesting. C'mon guys, step it up.

NOTE: If the hotfix doesn't work for you, try the following:
1. Open up settings.txt in your "\USER\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Crusader Kings II\" directory and change low_res_textures=yes to low_res_textures=no. Now play the game on high resolution. This low_res_textures bug is usually the cause of the oversized DLC portraits.
2. Make absolutely sure none of your other mods modify portraits--if they do, they may conflict with this mod.
3. Try verifying your CK2 game cache again. Open up your Steam Game Library -> Right Click "Crusader Kings 2" -> "Properties" -> "Local Files" tab -> "Verify Integrity of Game Cache"
4. The last thing you can try is to put my mod files directly into your CK2 directory ("\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Crusader Kings II\") and OVERWRITE the vanilla files, but PLEASE backup your vanilla files first before you overwrite anything.

 

[Aardvark Bellay]

Thanks and...downloaded.
Will see if i miss these clowny noses though. I begin to like them .

 

[cybrxkhan]

I'm sure a lot of folks will find this handy.

I've restored the old vanilla portrait stuff myself in my local, working build of VIET, and it appears there aren't really any issues when I'm testing the build so I don't think your fix would cause problems either.

 

[DarkReborn]

Well, the new positioning feature at the portrait's interfaces files is also rather useful; at least all those misaligniement issues when mixing parts from different portraits (like for example... Norse beards on Western faces) can be easily fixed by positioning the layer there instead of going through other methods (like manually editing the dds).

 

[ahhheygao]

Well, the new positioning feature at the portrait's interfaces files is also rather useful; at least all those misaligniement issues when mixing parts from different portraits (like for example... Norse beards on Western faces) can be easily fixed by positioning the layer there instead of going through other methods (like manually editing the dds).

Yes, that is true; this feature is a welcomed addition, as manually editing the DDS is tedious and time consuming--even for something as simple as "nudging a pixel to the left"--because of the three young/midage/oldage copies, plus the alpha channels for each.

I'm not faulting this feature; I'm blaming the sloppy execution. Presently, it's far easier for me to just revert back to the older files than to fix the facial graphics files in the current format (which would require the aforementioned tedious manual edit of the DDS anyway).

 

[Vityviktor]

Downloaded, and it works, thanks!!

 

[yezhanquan]

Gao, how much memory does the compression actually save? So far, I've not noticed anything unsettling to me, but I might give this a go.

 

[ahhheygao]

Gao, how much memory does the compression actually save? So far, I've not noticed anything unsettling to me, but I might give this a go.

No idea, as it's never a concern of mine. Give it a shot and let me know how it goes for you.

RoI unmodded with all DLCs ran like butter for me in 2.1.1... but since I add a ton of graphics mods to my game, it doesn't matter whether PDS optimizes--I'm getting slightly slower speed (at 4x) regardless due to all the stuffs I add in mods.

 

[FieldMedic]

Just gave this a try and it works really well! A big thank you! It's really unacceptable that Paradox hasn't fixed this bug given how badly it fouls up the portraits.

 

[ahhheygao]

Downloaded, and it works, thanks!!

Glad to help!

Just gave this a try and it works really well! A big thank you! It's really unacceptable that Paradox hasn't fixed this bug given how badly it fouls up the portraits.

The ruined portraits would've made this game unplayable for me... but thankfully, this was something I knew how to fix via modding.

 

[Zireael]

Good to know, might be grabbing it tomorrow!

 

[yezhanquan]

2.1.4 supposedly fixed this. Might need to test it out.

 

[ahhheygao]

2.1.4 supposedly fixed this. Might need to test it out.

Can't test it out right now, but supposedly Western and Muslim portraits are fixed.
Don't know about the Mediterraneans.
Turkish ones still aren't fixed though... PDS pls.

 

[Liir]

Hi there -- I've posted about this on the Bugs forum, but the Western men are NOT fixed. The "middle age" stage still has completely messed up mouths.

Still using your mod until they get their act together.

 

[Svo]

Wow these look great! I am using this mod now!

 

[ahhheygao]

Hi there -- I've posted about this on the Bugs forum, but the Western men are NOT fixed. The "middle age" stage still has completely messed up mouths.

Sigh, Groogy pls...

Still using your mod until they get their act together.

Wow these look great! I am using this mod now!

It can't be helped, then. Please help spread the word whenever you see someone else complain about glitched portrait graphics.

 

[jebezt2]

Can sombedy post screenshots of the mod?

 

[ahhheygao]

Can sombedy post screenshots of the mod?

Err, you can just open up your CK2 screenshot folder and view any screenshot taken prior to 2.1.2 (which was when glitched compressed graphics were first introduced).

This mod simply reverts the gfx and interface files back to the way they were before the graphics were ever glitched... so all you'll see are normal portraits without the glitches. You know, how things used to be.

 

[yezhanquan]

I'm now playing Blizzard games.

"And you thought Blizzard games didn't have any bugs in them..."

Yes, Anub'arak, PDS bugs makes you small by comparison.

 

[McGreans]

Problem is back again for me... Was using this until the update today. When I loaded in, all the facial features had been teleported outside the portrait box. Had to restore my game files and now I'm stuck with the crappy compressed portraits.

Any chance of an update for the recent patch?