Heroes III custom hero portraits

[Zamolxis]

Hi. Sorry if answers to the below were already given - a search didn't return any such thread for H3 (I only searched topic titles).

1. Where can I find on the net custom H3 hero portraits for downloading? Or if sb has some cool ones in their collection, maybe they are willing to share via mail.

2. I also used some few years ago and found them again in a zip file (.pcx files inside). I don't remember though where exactly do I have to put them in the game folder to work. Anybody can help?

3. And most important: Is there a way to associate these custom portraits to a certain hero? This would be most useful, as there are some heroes I wouldn't want their portrait replaced, while for others I already have a certain portrait in mind, I just don't know how to associate it.

Many thanks for your answers.

[Pol]

Yes, they are still packed in zips though And I have somewhere additional thread about my patch of remastered portraits - which has index already - but it still not completed for download. It will be in the Forgotten Heroes thread

Easiest way how to associate portrait is to put it into game data directory and rename it according the index. That is in our archive, in the pictures section, or in my thread.... ah, or here:



Details about other how tos are in archives or in the thread

[Zamolxis]

Yes, they are still packed in zips though ...

Thanks! No problem that they are packed. I'm happy I found out it's the data folder where I have to unpack them.

[Pol]

Addendo note importata: the small portraits must be kept in one pixel width black frame to prevent artifacts.

I will add it into official portraits creation recipe soon. Right now I don't know how I could possibly missed that

[ByteBandit]

If you want to make your own, I would recommend Adobe Photoshop. That's what I used to produce what's on that site. Right off hand, I forgot the sizes of the 2 files but you can find out on the ModHomm site for sure. I never did much alterations on colors, just resizing things so that the images looked close to authentic as possible. After you found your sizes and sized up your images, it is most important that everything be in .PCX format or it won't play.

[bobdodoro]

...if i may,theres also ifran view-but i guess its not as important as the measurments themselves to make these work(im drawing scanning and gonna color meh own portrais x) )


Choose photo, make second copy of it and resize the first photo to 48x32 pixels and second (copy) to 58/64 (IMAGE --->
Resize/resample) and edit it so they both will have max 256 colors (Increase/Decrease color depth --> 256 colors).


ive been doing my own digging so i found this too



Even if you aren't an ERM script writer, you may wish to include custom hero portraits in
your WoG map. The following are some simple instructions for doing so.

a) First you need to create a large and small portrait of the correct size and graphic type.

A portrait consists of two differently-sized graphics files in PCX format (256 colours only)
so you will need a graphics program capable of exporting files in this format. One file is
used for the larger portrait picture, and the other for the smaller one (such as the one that
appears in the list of heroes opposite the list of towns on the main display).

The large file must be 58x64 (58 pixels wide and 64 pixels high).
The small file must be 48x32 (48 pixels wide and 32 pixels high).

Both files should have names that are a maximum of 8 characters long plus the extension.

Place both files in your Heroes3\Data folder and zip them together with your map before
sharing it with other WoG players or sending it to a web site. Make sure you include a note
telling players to copy the files to the Data folder! (You may even wish to put a reminder
into a Day 1 Event in the map so that nobody accidentally misses it.)

For this example, we'll name the large file "sylvia.pcx" and the small file "sylvia-s.pcx"

b) Create a timed event in your map (you can name it anything).
c) Set the event so it won't trigger for any players and set the event day to 600.
d) Look up the Internal Hero Number of the hero whose portrait you'll be customizing.
There's a list called "Format H" in the ERM Help. Hero numbers go from 0 through 155.
For this example, we'll use Sylvia, whose hero number is 3. This number goes immediately
after the !#HE command and before the colon, e.g,. !#HE3:L1^sylvia-s.pcx^;
If the hero number was 17, we would put !#HE17: instead.
e) In the event body, put the following (assuming we're changing Sylvia's portrait):

ZVSE
!#HE3:L1^sylvia-s.pcx^; [Set small portrait for Sylvia]
!#HE3:L2^sylvia.pcx^; [Set large portrait for Sylvia]

f) Click OK to save the event.
g) Save your map.

If you want to set multiple custom portraits, you can add additional lines to the event.
You only need a single "ZVSE" at the top of the event.

Important: If you edit a hero that will be using a custom-designed portrait image, do NOT
click on "customize" next to the portrait as that will override the ERM command and your
customized portrait will not be used.

get the hero number used in !#HExx:L1 and !#HExx:L1 from my second post with hero numbers
try it if you are still eager to do so.