There are three elements to a character: the sounds, the portraits, and the character file itself. In order to make the character file, you need to gather and format the first two elements first.
First, the sounds. These are the things your character says. You can use the sound sets that come with the game, but if you're like me, then you want something a little more unique. You can download, rip, or record your own, but make sure they are 22kHz, 16-bit mono. Otherwise they won't be recognized by the game. (I use Windows Sound Recorder to convert files as necessary) The following list defines what each sound is used for. For example, when your character goes into battle, he/she will say whatever is in Xa.wav. The "X" can be anything, up to seven (7) characters long, with no spaces or special characters. Whatever you put for X has to be the same in each file. i.e. if you use Buddy, your files should be named buddya.wav through buddyw.wav. However you decide to make them, put them in the [sounds] directory, inside the Baldur's Gate directory. (note that you do not have to have all of the listed sounds)
| Xa.wav | battle cry | |
| Xb.wav | becoming leader | |
| Xc.wav | tired | |
| Xd.wav | bored | |
| Xe.wav | badly wounded | |
| Xf.wav | selected 1 | |
| Xg.wav | selected 2 | |
| Xh.wav | selected 3 | |
| Xi.wav | acknowledgement 1 | |
| Xj.wav | acknowledgement 2 | |
| Xk.wav | acknowledgement 3 | |
| Xl.wav | being hit | |
| Xm.wav | dying | |
| Xn.wav | in forest | |
| Xo.wav | in city | |
| Xp.wav | in dungeon | |
| Xq.wav | daytime | |
| Xr.wav | nightime | |
| Xs.wav | rare selected 1 | |
| Xt.wav | rare selected 2 | |
| Xu.wav | rare selected 3 | |
| Xv.wav | rare selected 4 | |
| Xw.wav | party member dies |
Next, the portraits. You need two: one small, one large.
The small one needs to be 38x60 pixels, and 256 colors (8-bit).
The large one needs to be 110x170 pixels, and 16 million colors (24-bit).
Put both in the [portraits] directory, inside the Baldur's Gate directory. (note you may have to create the portraits directory if you don't already have one)
Last, but not least, you need to create a character. The game itself walks you through this, so I won't go into it.
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last modified 4 January 2002