Made for Patch 7, but probably works for other patches! It's just mesh edits, no code was touched. Working with Patch 8!


Hi, so, uh. Something that's always made me pretty uncomfortable about the game is the designs for Sceleritas Fel and Ethel's Hag form. Specifically, they utilize design tropes that have a pretty long history in the context of villain designs in art, animation, and games—and that history is steeped in bias and hatred against people like...Well, me! And my community! And like, I do want to clarify that this mod is not actually about real-world issues, and is meant to fit within Nexusmods' policy about those issues. The mod itself is just edits to their models for my own personal comfort, and there's nothing included in the mod beyond those mesh edits.

But, at the same time, I do want to point out the reasons I made these edits in the first place. And it's because looking at the designs for those characters stings a bit, honestly—these design tropes were originally used to villainize my people. I don't think doing the same was Larian's intention; again, these design elements have a very long history, and that history often goes under the radar. I was actually taught in university that these tropes mark good villain design, and that they're related to audience expectations and the concept of appeal in animation, from teachers I still really love and respect. Not everyone is aware of that history!

...But that doesn't mean I can't be uncomfortable with it, or that we can't critique these design elements. I actually think it's really, really important that we do.

Again, ultimately, this is just a personal comfort mod. And I'm releasing it for anyone who might want it for their own comfort, too.

But I am going to link this breakdown of these tropes in the context of fantasy/goblin designs, just, to give some context on why these designs make me uncomfortable, and why I made these edits.

...And now, let's talk more about the mod itself.



This mod is just mesh and icon replacements! Specifically, it replaces the following head meshes:

\\Data\Generated\Public\Shared\Assets\Characters\_Anims\_Creatures\Hag\Resources\HAG_Green_NKD_Head_A.GR2

\\Data\\Generated\Public\SharedDev\Assets\Characters\_Anims\_Creatures\Bhaal_Butler\Resources\BHAAL_Butler_Head_B.GR2

It also overrides their character portraits to match the meshes. The PAK version of the mod doesn't technically override the original files, but will still update them, but the loose file version will override the existing portrait image files, which can be found at these file paths:

\\Data\Mods\\Gustav\GUI\Assets\Portraits\603c60bf-179c-616f-00e5-aebe32713b49-_(Icon_Hag).DDS
\\Data\Mods\\Gustav\GUI\Assets\Portraits\75034383-d952-784e-6298-0b32907448a3-_(Icon_Hag).DDS
\\Data\Mods\\Gustav\GUI\Assets\Portraits\be6efede-b3ee-88db-45f6-52fe03be836b-_(Icon_Hag).DDS

\\Data\Mods\\GustavDev\GUI\Assets\Portraits\64c65b46-916e-4eb4-0c8d-57e684bb9aa6-_(Icon_Bhaal_Butler).DDS
\\Data\Mods\\GustavDev\GUI\Assets\Portraits\603c60bf-179c-616f-00e5-aebe32713b49-_(Icon_Hag).DDS
\\Data\Mods\\GustavDev\GUI\Assets\Portraits\be6efede-b3ee-88db-45f6-52fe03be836b-_(Icon_Hag).DDS

\\Data\Mods\\Shared\GUI\Assets\Portraits\0797903d-f96a-2ad2-2760-2b840f3f01b4-_(Icon_Hag).DDS
\\Data\Mods\\Shared\GUI\Assets\Portraits\75034383-d952-784e-6298-0b32907448a3-_(Icon_Hag).DDS

\\Data\Mods\\SharedDev\GUI\Assets\Portraits\e74088bb-a723-9ab0-4af2-6437d306859f-_(Icon_Bhaal_Butler).DDS


...Which, is a lot of files! Because of that, the character portraits for the loose file version of the mod has been provided in a separate .zip, just in case you don't want to manage so many loose files. The character portraits are in the Hag and Sceleritas Fel Icons - Loose Files .zip on the downloads page.

It will conflict with any other mod replacing those meshes and their portraits, but shouldn't conflict with anything else; those are the only files the mod includes!



Installation:

The mod comes in both PAK and loose file format!

Install the PAK file with BG3 Mod Manager. Install the loose files by dragging the Generated folder in the .zip file into your BG3 Data folder, which can usually be found here:

\\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Baldurs Gate 3\Data\

Only install either the PAK or loose file versions, NOT both!

To get updated character portraits when using the loose files, make sure to download both the Mesh Edits and Icon files from the downloads page.


Uninstallation:

Uninstall the mod by deleting the loose files at those file paths in your Data folder, or by deleting the PAK file, depending on the version you installed. The mod should be safe to uninstall, even mid-playthrough. Any changes made should revert on deleting the mod!


...And that's about it! Take care everyone, and please, be kind. 🌷



Before you go, though, please check out these resources I've compiled.

I do link them on pretty much all my mod pages, but considering everything going on in the world, I wanted to highlight them. Please, do what you can to help, and take care of yourselves, ok?