Following the guidelines of Scott Bilas (http://www.postudios.com/blog/forum/index.php?topic=15186.msg363899#msg363899) and the examples of BradDaBug (http://gk3tools.sourceforge.net/myfirstmod.php), it is possible to change almost everything in Gabriel Knight 3: textures, 3D models, animations, scenes, lines of dialogue, music, ....
Right now I'm working on my first little MOD, wich I will publish soon in this thread.
Is this your first mod for any game, or just your first mod for this game? Is it as easy as Brad's website makes it look?
I've never tried making a mod for anything before, aside from altering a shirt texture for The Sims 2 (that must have been 10 years ago at this point, jeez.)
My first mod for any game. I usually make mods for my jeans and car: heat adhesive patches. :)
The textures (.BMP) are too easy (only MS Paint). The music/dialogues and subtitles are a little bit more difficult. I only missing a small detail to publish the MOD at Wednesday. :D
My first MOD: A little homage to Dr. Bonny Ploeg (http://bonny.ploeg.ws) and Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast/Beak Within.
I've recorded a video with the MOD (https://youtu.be/9CV5hS4ny7o). Sorry about the low quality and the 'black' frames. The Screen Recorder, my old Windows Vista and GK3 work too bad together. :(
If you want to play the MOD in-game, download the .ZIP file from Google-Drive (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_nakSX0fVysLTlfQThtenkyS1E), extract the files to the GK3 folder and run the game. There's no need to make a security-copy because the MOD doesn't replace anything, it's only an add-in.
You can replace the resources that I've used with your own ones. The resources are in the 'BONNYGK2' subfolder and there are 4 types of resources:
- Textures (Paintings): *.BMP
- The music of the main menu: THEME.WAV (format: 64kbps, Mono, 44KHz, Lame MP3)
- Subtitles of the remarks/dialogues: E*.YAK (English) or S*.YAK (Spanish); they are 'camouflaged' .TXT files.
- Voices of the remarks/dialogues: A*.QR1/561; they are 'camouflaged' .WAV files (format: 64kbps, Mono, 44KHz, Lame MP3)
If you want to recover the original paintings/music/dialogues, rename or delete individual files or the 'BONNYGK2' subfolder.
Next MOD: HI-RES Paintings with author, title and year in plaques near the paintings.
Tasks:
1.- Find the author, title and year of all paintings. Done by Dr. Bonny Ploeg (http://bonny.ploeg.ws/gabriel/gkgal1.html).
2.- Download Hi-Res images of the paintings from Internet. Done by me at 2015.
3.- Replace the original textures (.BMP) with the Hi-Res textures.
4.- Add plaques with the author, title and year. See the attached image (manipulated).
Big problem:
At this moment, I don't know how I could add the plaques to the .BSP files (room geometry). So, I'll start with the big problem. If I am unable to add the plaques, I'll put the author, title and year over the frames or paintings; see the 2nd attached image (true screenshot).
There's a very nice MOD at https://www.gog.com/forum/gabriel_knight_series/little_high_res_texture_test_for_gabriel_knight_3 (https://www.gog.com/forum/gabriel_knight_series/little_high_res_texture_test_for_gabriel_knight_3) . It replaces the original textures with Hi-Res ones at Gabe/Gracie's bathroom (all the textures) and room (the ceiling and the dumpwaiter's door).
There was a more ambitious MOD project by Nico Sels (http://sidney.fwheel.net/GK3RP/ (http://sidney.fwheel.net/GK3RP/)), but unfortunately all the efforts came to nothing. Words of Nico himself at Pinkerton Road Forums:
""Too bad all those textures ended up on a hard drive that I dropped on the floor... fixing the broken hard drive would cost me about 2000 dollars or so.. they have to open it in a dustfree room, reassemble it.; and then they MIGHT be able to restore the data.. so 'nough said, unless I strike it rich.. I'm afraid all that data is lost..""
It's a crying shame! It looked too wonderful ... :( :(
MOD: Hi-Res Bathrooms & Paintings (1st version)
This 1st version includes:
- New Hi-Res textures for all the surfaces of all the bathrooms, plus the ceiling at the Room 25 and the doors of the dumpwaiters. Thanks a lot to Tomint (https://www.gog.com/forum/gabriel_knight_series/little_high_res_texture_test_for_gabriel_knight_3) for these textures.
- New Hi-Res paintings of the whole ground-floor of the hotel and the Room 25 (Grabriel & Grace's room). Each painting also includes the author, title and year of the works of art. Thanks a lot to Bonny Ploeg (http://bonny.ploeg.ws/gabriel/gkgal1.html) for the information about the paintings.
If you want to play the MOD in-game, download the .ZIP file from Google-Drive (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_nakSX0fVysb0M5dnRJUEZuTTQ), extract the files to the GK3 folder and run the game. There's no need to make a security-copy because the MOD doesn't replace anything, it's only an add-in.
In this folder (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_nakSX0fVysVlRJU2FyTDBUTWc) there are several screenshots with the original textures (* Normal.jpg) and others with the new Hi-Res textures (* Hi-Res.jpg). Don't overlook the ceiling of the Room 25.
MOD: Hi-Res Bathrooms & Paintings (2nd version)
Added the paintings of the kitchen and the rooms 21 (Buchelli), 23 (Wilkes), 27 (Emilio) & 33 (Mosely).
Zip file at Google-Drive (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_nakSX0fVysTlFYYWJxR3hpUkU): Install like the previous version.
Comparison screenshots in this folder (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_nakSX0fVysVlRJU2FyTDBUTWc).
I'm working on Hi-Res paintings for GK3 (previous posts), but there are 5 unidentified images (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_nakSX0fVysNG5QdGtxR2N3NE0). See the attached image.
The Lady-Harp is an emblem of the Irish people and it is labeled as tapestry in the game.
The sword must be a famous/hitorical one, because the hilt is too peculiar and has an inscription on the blade.
Does anybody know anything about them?
MOD: Hi-Res Bathrooms & Paintings (3rd version)
Added the paintings of the hallway and the rooms 29 (Madeleine) & 31 (Howard and Estelle).
Zip file at Google-Drive (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_nakSX0fVysb0M5dnRJUEZuTTQ): Install like the previous versions.
Comparison screenshots in this folder (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_nakSX0fVysVlRJU2FyTDBUTWc).
MOD: Hi-Res Bathrooms & Paintings (4th version)
Added the paintings of Larry Chester, Villa Bethania, the Museum and Rennes-les-Bains. I've recorded a video with the changes of the four versions: https://youtu.be/bfBU93zUKek (https://youtu.be/bfBU93zUKek)
I've also added some HTMLs of the Mystica Encyclopedia that contained wrong links and other mistakes.
Zip file at Google-Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_nakSX0fVysWHp3V09nVWtVSGs (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_nakSX0fVysWHp3V09nVWtVSGs)
Download the .ZIP, extract the files to the GK3 folder and run the game. There's no need to make a security-copy because the MOD doesn't replace anything, it's only an add-in.
Comparison screenshots in this folder (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_nakSX0fVysVlRJU2FyTDBUTWc).