Eye of the Beholder Textures [Released]

[Mithloraite]

Oh man, that's very cool... and very disappointing. It doesn't work with my GoG copy of EoBIII. ...

Another disappointment (although irrelevant to me), apparently the entire trilogy was free on GoG yesterday but, as far as I can tell, the offer is now closed.

No wonder, GOG versions are quite different... Exchanging resources with original DOS version might not work. What IS good though, GOG could hardly make any changes in the EYE.RES structure. It should be still read, replaced and indexed by daesop.exe.

So you might just take the portraits (in the correct EoB-III format as .bin files) and push them into EYE.RES, to their respective resource number places, with daesop.exe.

Whatever else GOG changed in the other resources packed into EYE.RES should not be touched at all by this operation.

It will be just the same "GOG-type" resource with new portraits. AFAIR you worked a lot with daesop and it should be no problem to try pushing in a portrait or two.
I think I will just upload the portraits pack also where the patched EYE.RES download is! (20.06.2020 message)

It is done. The portraits are uploaded. Perhaps it will work!

P.S.
One good person warned me about this free offer, I got it and warned some others when it was still 24 hours before offer expiration... Fortunately you have it So, no-one lost?

[Enjay]

Thanks. I didn't actually realise that the GoG version was different. I'll see if I still have my original floppy install zipped up somewhere but, IIRC, one of the files was corrupted on the original disk and I'm not sure that I was ever able to sort it out.

I don't think I have actually used daesop.exe but I've downloaded a copy and I'll see if I can figure it out.

EoB-wise, I've actually been playing the Amiga version using ScummVM. So far so good but I'm taking my time simply because of other priorities. I did have the Amiga version on my old Amiga 500+ back in the day but I no longer have the machine. I hope that the closing video works when I eventually get to the end. The text-then-dump-to-DOS ending of the PC version still ranks as one of my biggest gaming disappointments.

[Mithloraite]

Replacement command is:

daesop.exe /r EYE.RES 0058 0058cr24.bin EYE2.RES

EYE.RES is the original resource, 0058 here is the number of the resource/portrait in it.
0058cr24.bin is my .bin file for portrait number 58.
EYE2.RES is a new resource file produced by daesop. (Daesop doesn't change the original file!)
So the new file needs renaming to EYE.RES... 12 times for 12 portraits.

Other than that, no problem at all.
FAR and Total Commander rename things quickly

(And they can repeat long command strings, leaving only 2 digits to be edited, in the corresponding numbers.
No need to re-type anything.)

I also have 4 boxed Beholder games... Somewhat safer than GOG modified versions. Patches sometimes check the file they work with to be "original" and they may reject a GOG or Steam version.
(And you might need that patch!)

Amiga is great in its colors... and it should have the final movie. Yes.
(Though I have certain questions about the text there. Maybe SEGA CD is better.)

The big caveat here is, after EoB-1 and EoB-2 the party is stuck. No way to get to their top potential.
There is no transfer utility from Amiga to Beh-III DOS.
EAB authors did not do it yet.

And up to the latest time there were -only- terrible portraits for EoB-3...

As for stuttering and slowness, 32-bit aesop engine might correct that. But that's in DOS.

[Enjay]

Thanks, I had the file names in the wrong order, so that sorted me out. However, something seems to be up:

Code: Select all

C:\Users\enjay\Desktop\Ae>daesop.exe /r EYE.RES 0059 0059cr24.bin EYE2.RES
AESOP decompiler version: 0.850
Public domain software made by Mirek Luza
Processing AESOP resource file: EYE.RES ...
The resource file EYE.RES was opened in the mode "rb".
Reading the directory block 0 from the position 36
Reading the directory block 1 from the position 241976
Reading the directory block 2 from the position 1957069
Reading the directory block 3 from the position 2586827
Reading the directory block 4 from the position 4017823
Reading the directory block 5 from the position 4056388
Reading the directory block 6 from the position 4061842
Reading the directory block 7 from the position 4066478
Reading the directory block 8 from the position 4070735
Reading the directory block 9 from the position 4088517
Reading the directory block 10 from the position 4111123
Reading the directory block 11 from the position 4193632
Reading the directory block 12 from the position 4204736
Reading the directory block 13 from the position 4230360
Reading the directory block 14 from the position 4243111
Reading the directory block 15 from the position 4255543
Reading the directory block 16 from the position 4274031
Reading the directory block 17 from the position 4294588
Reading the directory block 18 from the position 4311038
Reading the directory block 19 from the position 4385681
The total number of directory blocks read: 20
Reading resource name array ...
The reading of the resource name array finished.
The length of the added resource file is 1199
Opening the target file: EYE2.RES
Finished copying of the original into the file: EYE2.RES
The resource file EYE2.RES was opened in the mode "r+b".
Reading the directory block 0 from the position 36
Reading the directory block 1 from the position 241976
Reading the directory block 2 from the position 1957069
Reading the directory block 3 from the position 2586827
Reading the directory block 4 from the position 4017823
Reading the directory block 5 from the position 4056388
Reading the directory block 6 from the position 4061842
Reading the directory block 7 from the position 4066478
Reading the directory block 8 from the position 4070735
Reading the directory block 9 from the position 4088517
Reading the directory block 10 from the position 4111123
Reading the directory block 11 from the position 4193632
Reading the directory block 12 from the position 4204736
Reading the directory block 13 from the position 4230360
Reading the directory block 14 from the position 4243111
Reading the directory block 15 from the position 4255543
Reading the directory block 16 from the position 4274031
Reading the directory block 17 from the position 4294588
Reading the directory block 18 from the position 4311038
Reading the directory block 19 from the position 4385681
The total number of directory blocks read: 20
Finished OK.

I take it that looks OK?

but:

old images show in character generation and


blank images in game.

[edit]
In this test, only the final character was using an altered image, so the un altered ones do still show in game.

[Mithloraite]

Thanks, I had the file names in the wrong order, so that sorted me out. However, something seems to be up: ...
Reading the directory block 19 from the position 4385681
The total number of directory blocks read: 20
Finished OK.

Oh my. I normally see exactly these lines, "The total number of directory blocks read: 20 Finished OK".

I think I know what happened. GOG as I have heard has already included the updated Aesop-32 bit engine into their version. It includes re-coding of fonts, pallettes and portraits.

So, "old" 16bit coding for portraits doesn't work. Black boxes are what the game does when the format is not correct.

Converting the portraits to proper 32 bits (as well as all other resources) was discussed here.

https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=41127

daesop might do that. Too bad I never used these commands. If you don't see it in daesop command list... (Is it there?)
It might need some further thought.

[Enjay]

OK, some interesting results.

Running /eob3menupatch and /eob3conv both created a file that crashed. I tried them on a fresh file and on a file that had the new graphics inserted. All crashed.

However, I got some success after inserting all your files then running my new eye.res through /convert_old_bitmaps. This gave the following strange hybrid result:

Chargen - old pics:


in game - new pics:


Obviously a result like this leaves me wondering if there will be problems elsewhere but at least it is some kind of success.

Looking at those pictures side-by-side, how on Earth could that have thought their EOB3 pictures were an improvement over the originals? They spent time and effort making them look significantly worse.

[Mithloraite]

Indeed!
That command, convert "old" bitmaps, must be the key to adapting 16-bit portraits (my restoration and eotb-3 official) to GOG 32-bit game version.

Your in-game result looks 100% correct! Now in 32-bit format? Great!

I'm just happy to see the Paladin not darkened, the Mage not Chinese Red (what on earth was that..), the Sorceress not swollen, aged or censored. And, of course, the Green Girl!
She is no longer ugly and even looks sort of cute, under her heavy green garments and veil.

And she is nearly (99%) the same as EoB-1!
At last!

As for the Chargen unchanged part, that's OK for now. Chargen has a special set of portraits, all packed in one file. The file can be viewed by XWE but I am not sure daesop can place something inside it correctly.

Even if it does it, all portraits in this set have another(!) color palette than the in-game portraits from EYE.RES.

Why they did it, nobody knows. To bust Chargen, one has to find a quick way to replace colors between two pallettes.
Than place the results inside Charpics.bmp packed file. Then Character Generation will have the portraits changed.

I did not give it much thought though because nobody really starts the game with Part III. Mostly people ~continue~ the Trilogy and find their characters badly changed.

So, I have developed a patch to counter this particular effect. Just change the file, not to be shocked by your characters' appearance in Game III

As for Chargen... Maybe, if palette manipulation/conversion can be organized easily. I am not re-drawing it all again pixel by pixel.

So I would say this is mainly a win. For someone who ~continues~ a game from EotB 1/2.

What is a mystery is indeed the fact that EOB-III authors took their time to heavily alter the best known portraits, spoiling it in many aspects. Or ALL important aspects. Like hobbits' height and faces.

They even did not change all portraits - about 1/2 are left like EoB 1-2 originals - so their work was just creating more weirdness and inconsistent results.
Like "3 characters are nearly the same but the Mage is Red in EoB-III."

Or "The Golden Girl is nearly the same but the Green girl is Reptile now".

Simply put, I could NEVER stand it

Now it is fixed, no more ignominy for the gaming community.

[Enjay]

Ah, I didn't realise that the character generation portraits were in a different location. To be honest, EOBIII is the one that I have poked around inside the least simply because I like it the least (both the game and the Aesop engine used to run it). Presumably the whole character generation process uses a different palette. That would explain the need for an extra set of portraits.

I fully understand your logic for prioritising the game portraits. It certainly makes sense and what you describe - the shock of seeing my EOB, then EOB2 party suddenly change appearance - and not for the better - was horrible.

Anyway - brilliant! It looks like I have managed to successfully patch the file then. Thanks for your help and, of course, for making the updated portraits in the fist place. Much appreciated.

[Mithloraite]

Thanks a lot! Hope I could correct a couple more of EotB-3 portraits. But these would be ones already ~less~ spoiled in this game. (But still unpleasant and hardly usable in their EoB-3 versions).

What would be really a big target is assembling the final movie for EoB-1... CFOU! has uploaded the graphic files but one needs animation and music for these.

Also the only Helm +1 from EoB-2 is not(!) transfered to EoB-3 and they work there perfectly and very useful. So charcopy.exe or charcopy.dat files from EoB-3 package are faulty perhaps, and need correction.

What we do is slowly fixing the troubles found in the Trilogy

What surely needs mentioning, the conversion riddle of making good .bin files was solved by an unknown coder dim568 who just joined the forum and offered help without any conditions. And succeeded!
Well, he had that old format description made by JackAsser from EAB but nobody else could use it... He has saved us all from these awful portraits.

[Enjay]

What would be really a big target is assembling the final movie for EoB-1... CFOU! has uploaded the graphic files but one needs animation and music for these.

Is there somewhere to get those graphics? I'd love to be able to look at them properly in a graphics editor. I thought it was quite a cool little movie and a much better way to end things than the unceremonious dump to DOS of the PC version.

It's really cool that you guys are doing so much to support this great old game.

Have you tried playing it through ScummVM? EoB and EoB2 are supported and seem to run well (though I haven't been right through yet). It's a nice convenient way to play for those who don't want to mess around with DOSBox etc. And it also gives you basically unlimited save slots too.

[Mithloraite]

Is there somewhere to get those graphics? ... a much better way to end things than the unceremonious dump to DOS of the PC version.

Sure, that would be great. The "OUTRO" graphics pack is here as attachments for downloads:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=24436&page=5

And some tools like UnCps-AGA are here:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=24436&page=9

Hope it might give some ideas as to how to use it...

Well it might be not quite "supporting" the game but removing the biggest troubles about the game as Trilogy. The Stone Gem and EoB-III portraits were just the most shocking.
Yes, the "Outro" movie seems to be the third in this list... Hope this "ancient curse" might also be undone

ScummVM is not yet known to me as I have found a very non-messy way to use DOSBox.
It's through D.O.G. program that provides window menus for all games as regards their CPU settings, Video and screen settings, Sound settings, Drives, etc. All DOSBox settings in 2 clicks! Just point the .exe and play. Settings for setup .exe are available too.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/dogfrontend/

I just use the "settled" technology... DOSBox did great so I cared about improving the game rather than finding another way of emulations. DOSBox is very powerful. Does ScummVM include scalers to show Dos games on big screens? Is aspect ratio correct?

[Enjay]

Thanks for those links. All interesting stuff. I love the outro graphics. Very nice.


I usually play the GoG versions of EoB at the moment, and GoG sets them up with a shortcut that runs them under DOSBox. So there was no need to configure anything there. I have heard of D.O.G. (but had completely forgotten about it). I'll have to check it out.

ScummVM does allow scaling of screen size to a certain extent and aspect correction.

I don't suppose there was ever a mapping tool that allows the creation of EoB maps in as simple a way as is possible with something like Wolf3D was there? That would be interesting. I guess that with so many specific and unique scripted events it's not something that could easily be done for a generic editor though.

I assume that you are familiar with ASE. An interesting tool to have open when playing.

[Mithloraite]

AFAIR the more advanced versions of ASE do allow EoB maps edits. The author says one can even add scripted events! Of many types. Like adding comments to runes (when clicked upon) etc. So it seems the tool is already here.

"Encounter" scripted event allows cutscenes with graphics. Nearly all things are claimed to be possible. Details:

https://www.gog.com/forum/forgotten_rea ... vel_editor

That's the in-depth editor.

[Mithloraite]

Much appreciated.

Just noticing I updated 3 portraits and did 9 more! So, a pack with 21 portraits is available.

The links for discussion
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=100055&page=2

and download
https://www.old-games.ru/forum/threads/ ... st-1646334

are valid, all files (including separate portraits) are updated.

I wonder if your old characters, perhaps, are included in this pack... And how is the impression.

What I know for sure, they all were spoiled in EoB-III more or less. I hope I did it all better. But how much better

[Enjay]

I wonder if your old characters, perhaps, are included in this pack... And how is the impression.

Very cool - much improved over the pointlessly ruined EOBIII versions.

If I'm playing a game, then my party will highly likely be made up from a selection of these faces:

with the ones in red being most likely.

Obviously the last row is NPCs but I tend to allow the same ones to join my party and, Anya in particular, always has a place in my party. Indeed, one of my first ever forays into game hacking was to use a hex editor so that I could have Anya's portrait on a character right from the start of EOB. I don't remember what I did when I got the chance to resurrect the real Anya. I think I probably brought Tod Uphill back that time.