NPC Helper 2/Docs

Create an NPC

Portraits

Image size and face layout for an NPC portrait sheet, higher-resolution portraits, and the wedding portrait.

A portrait sheet is the face shown during dialogue. It is a PNG file in the NPC's portraits/ folder, chosen by file name. Nothing about it is set in TOML, except PortraitScale for larger images. The walking character is a separate image: see Sprites.

text
NPCs/Rei/
└── portraits/
    ├── Default.png
    ├── Marriage.png
    └── Hospital.png

Default.png is the main portrait sheet. Marriage.png is the wedding portrait (below). Every other file is a variant that changes by place, season or festival: see Image variants.

Step 1: Make the portrait sheet#

  • The sheet is 128 pixels wide: 2 columns of faces, each 64 by 64.
  • Add rows below for more expressions. The first face is neutral. The order of faces matches the portrait tokens used in dialogue ($h happy, $s sad, and so on); see Dialogue.

Higher-resolution portraits#

To draw portraits larger than the game's 64 by 64, set PortraitScale = 2 in the pack's mod.toml (Pack structure). Each face is then 128 by 128 and the sheet is 256 pixels wide. NPC Helper 2 scales every selected portrait down to the game's size. The setting applies to every file in portraits/, including Marriage.png and all variants.

The wedding portrait#

An optional portraits/Marriage.png is shown while the NPC says the wedding vows. Without it, the normal portrait is used. It is never shown anywhere else. The wedding outfit on the walking sprite is drawn in the sprite sheet instead: see Sprites. For the vows, see Marriage.

Step 2: Check your portraits#

  • Save as PNG. Use transparency where the face has none.
  • Check the size: 128 wide with faces 64 by 64 (or double with PortraitScale = 2).
  • Talk to the NPC and check each expression.

Translating#

Images are not translated. Only text and data are. See Localization.

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