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The Protectors of Etheria is a stand-alone mod of the game Warlords Battlecry 3 (i.e. it can be run without having the original game installed - 100% free full game). It is an improved RTS/RPG game with new campaigns, quests, terrain, units, items, heroes, modding features and more. Beta versions available for download!

Post tutorial Report RSS How to add your own hero portrait

Are you bored of the available portraits or do you just feel like your hero looks different than what the game is offering? If so, then you will be happy to hear that any bitmap can be placed as your hero's portrait. Here's how:

Posted by on - Basic UI/HUD

This tutorial will explain how to replace a current portrait with yours. It works for any Warlords Battlecry 3 version or mod, but the images shown are from The Protectors version 0.8.2 (on a Windows 7 operating system).

What you need:

Before we start, make sure that your portrait is a bitmap (.bmp) file and has the exact size of 98x98 pixels. Optionally, it should be of 8-bit depth. To check, right click your image, go to 'Properties' and select the 'Details' tab.


Now that everything is set, we can start by finding what portrait we need to replace. Usually, the portrait must be of the same race (i.e. if you want a new undead portrait, you should replace an existing undead portrait), but some mods allow 'universal' portrait slots for any/all races. In this tutorial, we will insert a new dwarf portrait over TPC custom dwarf portrait slot.

1. Open the tiny xcr.exe editor and click the browse button.


2. Browse for The Protectors/Assets/Heroes/Portraits.xcr and open the file.


3. A list of portraits should now appear on the left side. Whenever you click on an item, the image will be shown on the right. Keep searching for the portrait you want to replace. Once you found it, remember its name (in this case 'Portrait90.bmp') and rename your bitmap likewise.


4. You can close the tiny xcr editor now. Open Unit Editor MFC and click the 'XCR editor' button.


5. Click the 'Load XCR' button and browse for the same The Protectors/Assets/Portraits.xcr.


6. Once you've opened it, a list of portraits will appear on the left side. Click the 'Import File' button and browse for your new portrait (in this example, we renamed it earlier as Portrait90.bmp).


7. If everything you've done so far is correct, then a suite of pop-ups should appear in sequence. Answer as shown in the images:




8. Now that our work is done, we just need to save our changes by clicking the 'Save XCR' button.


9. That's it! You can now enter your game and see the results.


If you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comment section below.

Post comment Comments
cordeirooo
cordeirooo

For some reason I can't use the Army Editor anymore. It loads up all the .XCR files but after 100% it simply not show up.
I can see it is still running, I tried Administrator rights and XP compatibility but nothing seems to work. Any ideas? :\

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Guest
Guest

Me too. Been using it for a while and now, suddenly, it crashes right after loading the various .xcr files.

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Patrick_Winekiller Author
Patrick_Winekiller

I have found some help on the old battlefield forums. It seems that the unit editor MFC (latest version is 1.05b) loads amongst others, HeroData.xcr and Items.xcr. The later is usually the problem.
"
I had the same problem but i propably know a solution: Rename your item.xcr (english folder of the game) to something (i have added a "B") and try to start the editor. If it will start search in the folder where your WBC3 is installed in my version was a weird WBC3 temp data. Erase it and don't forget to rename you Item.xcr." says Darq.

You can visit the topic in discussion yourself at: Archiv.the-battlefield.com

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chris_6713
chris_6713

Same for me. Seemed to start when I messed with one of the portraits using xrc.exe. If anyone has a clue about this let us know.

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Patrick_Winekiller Author
Patrick_Winekiller

Make sure you DO NOT install the unit editor in The Protectors folder. For some reason they don't cope well one with another. Either install the Unit Editor in the original game directory or use another xcr editor.

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chris_6713
chris_6713

I don't have the protectors mod I'm just trying to edit the portraits. It doesn't matter where I put the MFC editor, it always crashes now.

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LordofGilneas
LordofGilneas

You should draw some portraits of your own and include them in the game mate. That avatar looks like a mighty awesome dwarf!

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Guest
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Sintafury
Sintafury

good night, there is a tutorial to add more slots in portraits? thank you

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AƒƒÄ
AƒƒÄ

Adding portrait is simple, just click to insert without replacing an existing portrait, the problem cames with the mfc hero editor that don't reckognize the new portrait...

Can someone help us (Me and Sintafury) please?!?!?!?

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Patrick_Winekiller Author
Patrick_Winekiller

More custom hero portrait slots cannot be added by the end user, sorry. We could however get this done for the next version. How many slots per race do you think you need?

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Sintafury
Sintafury

Man...i like so much make portraits for this game and you facilitate too...I wanted a tutorial for personal use and not to bother you too but if you want to do in a next version the maximum of portraits you can add I would be grateful.I have a pack of images for this and is not sufficient for game xD

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Sintafury
Sintafury

It must be a very difficult job and i don't have knowledge but I like to know if is there any way to change the avatar? This would be very cool.I love editing but I don't have knowledge to this =/

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Guest
Guest

Is there a good place to find custom portraits for heroes in the requisite size?

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Patrick_Winekiller Author
Patrick_Winekiller

There is a fan made collection somewhere on the web... I'll see if I can find the link.

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Guest
Guest

Hey when i import an image (98x98px) it is always split into two pieces and set wrongly together any suggestions? ty.

here is a link how the image looks now.

directupload.net/file/d/4249/cgox3kiv_png.htm

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Patrick_Winekiller Author
Patrick_Winekiller

Try making a 24 bit image and repeat the process. Perhaps a dpi decrease would help too.

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Pepo92
Pepo92

I did all that and the portraint is replace in the Portraits.xcr if I open the archive I can see my custom portraint but don't show up in the game :(

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Shadow_EXTREAM
Shadow_EXTREAM

so i can run xcr.editor i have make the images 98x98 pixel But i still cant replace the potrait

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