Balduran The Caucasian (statue restoral)

[baconsoda]

!	Message from: loregamer
	Split from BG3 Official Modding Toolkit - RELEASED & UNLOCKED

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installed v2 version and now its working, so grok was right to ask here
was this made in moonglasses ? not regular mod tool? cache issue is really aweful in moonglasses when mix match project files between editors.
if need any 3d remeshing / texturing lemme know
cheers

[loregamer]

Oh also if you're interested, we need to make the Balduran statue not gooky

See this thread:
Balduran Salutes Hitler 1.0 — Baldur's Gate 3

Holy shit. I just discovered that concept art. Balduran was supposed to be european look with a beard.


We go from a manly bearded European to a Chinese man trying not to shit himself.

Larian, i hate you. For licking the feet of LGBTs and for rushing act 3.

Any new blenderfags wanna appear out of the blue and make v2 Balduran Statue mod? I AI gen'd some files we could possibly use but I refuse to learn Blender any further

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I think more importantly we need his face less gooky, but if you're feeling extra ambitious then I could send the Balduran AI gen statue template

[Oyster Sauce]

love that you can painstakingly customize the appearance of 1200 NPCs but can't change the shape of some eyes on a statue

[loregamer]

love that you can painstakingly customize the appearance of 1200 NPCs but can't change the shape of some eyes on a statue

The CIA gave me a mental block on 3D modelling to keep me nerfed

[Makirige]

ELF_MS_NKD_Body yes?
is there lore reference for how much skinny ?
please send files/reference
and no surprises if Balduran resemblance to Ryan gosling in goatee

No, it's an M human or MS human I guess. You can see its shape without the cinematic before it turns into an octopus.

I found the concept art statue, that Lore sent. But on the statue actual he looks very chinese, not a baldurian etc.

I can't find any images other than this concept art

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Balduran

I'm going to investigate this afternoon.

[Makirige]

ELF_MS_NKD_Body yes?
is there lore reference for how much skinny ?
please send files/reference
and no surprises if Balduran resemblance to Ryan gosling in goatee

Oh also if you're interested, we need to make the Balduran statue not gooky

See this thread:
Balduran Salutes Hitler 1.0 — Baldur's Gate 3

Holy shit. I just discovered that concept art. Balduran was supposed to be european look with a beard.


We go from a manly bearded European to a Chinese man trying not to shit himself.

Larian, i hate you. For licking the feet of LGBTs and for rushing act 3.

Any new blenderfags wanna appear out of the blue and make v2 Balduran Statue mod? I AI gen'd some files we could possibly use but I refuse to learn Blender any further

---

I think more importantly we need his face less gooky, but if you're feeling extra ambitious then I could send the Balduran AI gen statue template

Now that I think about it, it would be more logical to revise the silhouette of the man shown in the cutscene. Currently, he appears as a frail, clean-shaven figure, hiding in the shadows, and in surprisingly good shape.


He seems like a generic NPC... From what I found, Balduran likely vanished (or was transformed into an illithid) around the age of 60–70. At that stage in life, he would logically resemble an older, more rugged man — not the character currently depicted:



I asked ChatGPT to generate a visual interpretation of what Balduran might have looked like at the time of his disappearance, based on his lore:


He probably shouldn’t be wearing a hood either — it gives off the impression of a wandering thief rather than a legendary hero who founded Baldur’s Gate.

Interestingly, there’s a common misconception online that Balduran was an elf, while canonically he’s a human.
This was confirmed by the setting's creator himself:
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1704515325910262226

Although I haven’t come across any official concept art, I believe a depiction of a bearded, battle-worn human — someone marked by age and past glory — would be much more fitting.

Therefore, for the cutscene, it might be worth updating his appearance and attire to better align with the lore and the character’s history — and above all, for the sake of consistency.

[orinEsque]

ELF_MS_NKD_Body yes?
is there lore reference for how much skinny ?
please send files/reference
and no surprises if Balduran resemblance to Ryan gosling in goatee

Oh also if you're interested, we need to make the Balduran statue not gooky

See this thread:
Balduran Salutes Hitler 1.0 — Baldur's Gate 3

Holy shit. I just discovered that concept art. Balduran was supposed to be european look with a beard.


We go from a manly bearded European to a Chinese man trying not to shit himself.

Larian, i hate you. For licking the feet of LGBTs and for rushing act 3.

Any new blenderfags wanna appear out of the blue and make v2 Balduran Statue mod? I AI gen'd some files we could possibly use but I refuse to learn Blender any further

---

I think more importantly we need his face less gooky, but if you're feeling extra ambitious then I could send the Balduran AI gen statue template

Now that I think about it, it would be more logical to revise the silhouette of the man shown in the cutscene. Currently, he appears as a frail, clean-shaven figure, hiding in the shadows, and in surprisingly good shape.


He seems like a generic NPC... From what I found, Balduran likely vanished (or was transformed into an illithid) around the age of 60–70. At that stage in life, he would logically resemble an older, more rugged man — not the character currently depicted:



I asked ChatGPT to generate a visual interpretation of what Balduran might have looked like at the time of his disappearance, based on his lore:


He probably shouldn’t be wearing a hood either — it gives off the impression of a wandering thief rather than a legendary hero who founded Baldur’s Gate.

Interestingly, there’s a common misconception online that Balduran was an elf, while canonically he’s a human.
This was confirmed by the setting's creator himself:
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1704515325910262226

Although I haven’t come across any official concept art, I believe a depiction of a bearded, battle-worn human — someone marked by age and past glory — would be much more fitting.

Therefore, for the cutscene, it might be worth updating his appearance and attire to better align with the lore and the character’s history — and above all, for the sake of consistency.

To be honest in the cutscene i thought Balduran was showing his prime adventuring days not the elderly one.

[Reichspepe]

The concept art was awesome. Looks like a fantasy-esque conquistador gigachad.

[orinEsque]

The concept art was awesome. Looks like a fantasy-esque conquistador gigachad.

Yes and it so matches the Mediterranean vibe of the city.

[Reichspepe]

The concept art was awesome. Looks like a fantasy-esque conquistador gigachad.

Yes and it so matches the Mediterranean vibe of the city.

Yup, it was basically perfect, forgotten realms Cortés.

[Demonic Fate]

In BG2 you can find his full plate armour and shield, and in BG3 his helm is medium armour and he wielded a greatsword, he's definitely supposed to be a John Baldur fighter type. That said:

1 - Nothing in his lore suggests that he was a great fighter - he was famous as a leader, explorer, and trader. He could have been, in D&D terms, a level 3 fighter / level 10 merchant who could just afford top-tier enchanted armour and weapons because he was filthy rich.

2 - Dark plain clothes with a face mask and hood are simply the correct outfit for dramatically brooding on a rooftop, regardless of your main class. You'd look like an absolute tool trying to strike a Batman pose in full plate or wizardly robes.

Also, I don't think he needs to be particularly old; Christopher Columbus did all his four trips to America between his 40th and 50th birthdays. Balduran is said to have started voyaging as a young man, and he only visited Fantasy Caribbeans once (the second time was his disappearance voyage). He also didn't oversee the building of the city or anything, he just donated a bunch of money to build a protective wall around his old village and then fucked off again. All in all, I think a late-40s Balduran is perfectly reasonable.

There is also key evidence that he was white:

Balduran held the memory of his mother dear. On his 18th birthday, she gifted him a set of cutlery that the man cherished. The butter knife of Balduran that was discovered in the mid–14th century DR was a part of the set, and the rest was stored in Balduran's lair underneath Baldur's Gate.[3][1]

Obviously he could not have been from a lactose-intolerant race.

(Also, interestingly, the FR wiki de-gays him as well. Good job, editors:

At some point in his life, Balduran befriended the glittering bronze dragon named Ansur. They formed an intense bond, marked by shared adventures like their quest for Yal Tengri's Great Spire. Ansur willingly endured hardships to stay by Balduran's side, cherishing their shared experiences. However, this bond was strained after Balduran's transformation into the Emperor. Ansur, seeking to cure Balduran's illithid condition, called upon various healers in a spirit-breaking effort, which ultimately soured their once-close relationship. Ansur became convinced that the Emperor needed to be "cured"—despite its insistence to the contrary, and ultimately tried to give it a merciful death. The attempt failed, and, in the ensuing fight, the Emperor cut Ansur's life short.

As of the Year of Three Ships Sailing, 1492 DR, the helm of Balduran resided in Wyrmway, beneath Wyrm's Rock, safely hidden behind the lifeless body of Ansur, Balduran's once close friend.[1]

)

[Makirige]

In BG2 you can find his full plate armour and shield, and in BG3 his helm is medium armour and he wielded a greatsword, he's definitely supposed to be a John Baldur fighter type. That said:

1 - Nothing in his lore suggests that he was a great fighter - he was famous as a leader, explorer, and trader. He could have been, in D&D terms, a level 3 fighter / level 10 merchant who could just afford top-tier enchanted armour and weapons because he was filthy rich.

2 - Dark plain clothes with a face mask and hood are simply the correct outfit for dramatically brooding on a rooftop, regardless of your main class. You'd look like an absolute tool trying to strike a Batman pose in full plate or wizardly robes.

Also, I don't think he needs to be particularly old; Christopher Columbus did all his four trips to America between his 40th and 50th birthdays. Balduran is said to have started voyaging as a young man, and he only visited Fantasy Caribbeans once (the second time was his disappearance voyage). He also didn't oversee the building of the city or anything, he just donated a bunch of money to build a protective wall around his old village and then fucked off again. All in all, I think a late-40s Balduran is perfectly reasonable.

The problem is that he looks very young — he looks like a homeless thief, lmao

[loregamer]

please send files/reference

Will upload the Blend files in a bit

Addon for Blender 4.4 — Baldur's Gate 3

[baconsoda]

Oh also if you're interested, we need to make the Balduran statue not gooky

i went with statue artbook drawing
ryan gosling too young as lore mention, so its mix of ethan hawk and Christian bale with van dyke facial hairstyle




i took impostor sword off and but it to better use

[Makirige]

Oh also if you're interested, we need to make the Balduran statue not gooky

i went with statue artbook drawing
ryan gosling too young as lore mention, so its mix of ethan hawk and Christian bale with van dyke facial hairstyle




i took impostor sword off and but it to better use

Wow … its AMAZING !!!
(do a salute nazi version for Mod Balduran Nazi V2.0 )

[ArcaneLurker]

Oh also if you're interested, we need to make the Balduran statue not gooky

i went with statue artbook drawing
ryan gosling too young as lore mention, so its mix of ethan hawk and Christian bale with van dyke facial hairstyle




i took impostor sword off and but it to better use

Although the top of the helmet is meant to be a lifted visor rather than a horn

[rusty_shackleford]

Oh also if you're interested, we need to make the Balduran statue not gooky

i went with statue artbook drawing
ryan gosling too young as lore mention, so its mix of ethan hawk and Christian bale with van dyke facial hairstyle




i took impostor sword off and but it to better use

skibidi baldur

[loregamer]

i went with statue artbook drawing
ryan gosling too young as lore mention, so its mix of ethan hawk and Christian bale with van dyke facial hairstyle




i took impostor sword off and but it to better use

baconsoda, you are a blessing to us :weeb:

My only critiques is that I loved his beard in the concept art, so if it's possible I'd love for that to be restored. Other than that, I love it

My other worry is that there is actually multiple variants of the Balduran statue that we must create

[Makirige]

i went with statue artbook drawing
ryan gosling too young as lore mention, so its mix of ethan hawk and Christian bale with van dyke facial hairstyle




i took impostor sword off and but it to better use

baconsoda, you are a blessing to us :weeb:

My only critiques is that I loved his beard in the concept art, so if it's possible I'd love for that to be restored. Other than that, I love it

My other worry is that there is actually multiple variants of the Balduran statue that we must create

Warning: the chess statue is broken. And the chess explode statue doesn't exist / has never existed, I believe.

I never managed to mod it in the game, it just disappeared. I think it was an export plugin that was broken. @ArcaneLurker , we talked about it and tried it. Do you remember what caused it?

[ArcaneLurker]

i went with statue artbook drawing
ryan gosling too young as lore mention, so its mix of ethan hawk and Christian bale with van dyke facial hairstyle




i took impostor sword off and but it to better use

baconsoda, you are a blessing to us :weeb:

My only critiques is that I loved his beard in the concept art, so if it's possible I'd love for that to be restored. Other than that, I love it

My other worry is that there is actually multiple variants of the Balduran statue that we must create

Warning: the chess statue is broken. And the chess explode statue doesn't exist / has never existed, I believe.

I never managed to mod it in the game, it just disappeared. I think it was an export plugin that was broken. @ArcaneLurker , we talked about it and tried it. Do you remember what caused it?

I'm sorry I don't remember the details about it, was it the one that wouldn't appear ingame?

[Makirige]

baconsoda, you are a blessing to us :weeb:

My only critiques is that I loved his beard in the concept art, so if it's possible I'd love for that to be restored. Other than that, I love it

My other worry is that there is actually multiple variants of the Balduran statue that we must create

Warning: the chess statue is broken. And the chess explode statue doesn't exist / has never existed, I believe.

I never managed to mod it in the game, it just disappeared. I think it was an export plugin that was broken. @ArcaneLurker , we talked about it and tried it. Do you remember what caused it?

I'm sorry I don't remember the details about it, was it the one that wouldn't appear ingame?

Yes, I made each statue in exactly the same way, I exported in exactly the same way. The chess statue is broken and doesn't appear. What's more, the explode/destruct statue doesn't exist, because no matter whether you solve the chess puzzle, check or not, it never explodes.

If I remember correctly, it was the armature that was broken during export. AND EVERY TIME, no matter how hard we try !

TL;DR : Don't bother with the destruct version. Explode is an explosion animation.

Chess solo, see if it's been fixed with the plugin today, maybe Lore would know?

[ArcaneLurker]

Yes, I made each statue in exactly the same way, I exported in exactly the same way. The chess statue is broken and doesn't appear. What's more, the explode/destruct statue doesn't exist, because no matter whether you solve the chess puzzle, check or not, it never explodes.

If I remember correctly, it was the armature that was broken during export. AND EVERY TIME, no matter how hard we try !

TL;DR : Don't bother with the destruct version. Explode is an explosion animation.

Chess solo, see if it's been fixed with the plugin today, maybe Lore would know?

Oh yeah, that was it.
Most of the other ones have a static armature with no animations, right?
This one is unique in having an animation where it falls to pieces.
So it was probably something to do with not being able to import/ export that kind of animation data/ armature in the same way as the others.

[loregamer]

It not exploding I suppose is better than being a Chinese man

[Makirige]

Yes, I made each statue in exactly the same way, I exported in exactly the same way. The chess statue is broken and doesn't appear. What's more, the explode/destruct statue doesn't exist, because no matter whether you solve the chess puzzle, check or not, it never explodes.

If I remember correctly, it was the armature that was broken during export. AND EVERY TIME, no matter how hard we try !

TL;DR : Don't bother with the destruct version. Explode is an explosion animation.

Chess solo, see if it's been fixed with the plugin today, maybe Lore would know?

Oh yeah, that was it.
Most of the other ones have a static armature with no animations, right?
This one is unique in having an animation where it falls to pieces.
So it was probably something to do with not being able to import/ export that kind of animation data/ armature in the same way as the others.

But the animation never happens in game

[ArcaneLurker]

Yes, I made each statue in exactly the same way, I exported in exactly the same way. The chess statue is broken and doesn't appear. What's more, the explode/destruct statue doesn't exist, because no matter whether you solve the chess puzzle, check or not, it never explodes.

If I remember correctly, it was the armature that was broken during export. AND EVERY TIME, no matter how hard we try !

TL;DR : Don't bother with the destruct version. Explode is an explosion animation.

Chess solo, see if it's been fixed with the plugin today, maybe Lore would know?

Oh yeah, that was it.
Most of the other ones have a static armature with no animations, right?
This one is unique in having an animation where it falls to pieces.
So it was probably something to do with not being able to import/ export that kind of animation data/ armature in the same way as the others.

But the animation never happens in game

Didn't we investigate it and find it was destructible? Or did we find the opposite?
Either way, it was made with that in mind, so it's probably something to do with that.

[Makirige]

Oh yeah, that was it.
Most of the other ones have a static armature with no animations, right?
This one is unique in having an animation where it falls to pieces.
So it was probably something to do with not being able to import/ export that kind of animation data/ armature in the same way as the others.

But the animation never happens in game

Didn't we investigate it and find it was destructible? Or did we find the opposite?
Either way, it was made with that in mind, so it's probably something to do with that.

We'd tried EVERYTHING, solved the puzzle, got the puzzle wrong, tried to destroy the statue
it NEVER exploded

But you know Larian, they rushed act 3 and coded everything with their feet

So I wouldn't be at all surprised to see an unused animation.

Otherwise, I challenge our modding buddies @ModdersHQ to try and trigger its animation.

[baconsoda]

My other worry is that there is actually multiple variants of the Balduran statue that we must create

Warning: the chess statue is broken. And the chess explode statue doesn't exist / has never existed, I believe.

I never managed to mod it in the game, it just disappeared. I think it was an export plugin that was broken. @ArcaneLurker , we talked about it and tried it. Do you remember what caused it?

oh i already took care of DEC_GEN_Statue_Balduran_Sword_A.gr2
he is in the toilet in image 2

[baconsoda]

once low poly retopology complete i will refine van dyke beard with pierce Bronson durian as hair card reference
in game helmet has no resemblance to concept helmet for the visor fix as arcanelurker clarified. halsin will starve more

My only critiques is that I loved his beard in the concept art, so if it's possible I'd love for that to be restored. Other than that, I love it

[orinEsque]

once low poly retopology complete i will refine van dyke beard with pierce Bronson durian as hair card reference
in game helmet has no resemblance to concept helmet for the visor fix as arcanelurker clarified. halsin will starve more

My only critiques is that I loved his beard in the concept art, so if it's possible I'd love for that to be restored. Other than that, I love it

That is perfect! reference wise.

[loregamer]

Once this is done, we will likely need a voice conversion @Lancaster