Baldur's Better Aesthetics 1.0 — Baldur's Gate 3

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SniperChris
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Baldur's Better Aesthetics 1.0 — Baldur's Gate 3

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Overview
Baldur's Better Aesthetics is an attempt to make Baldur's Gate 3 look more like Faerûn as we know it. More Dwarves will have beards, more Duergar will be bald (including the women!), and fewer Githyanki will be sporting big ol' whiskers. You will also notice fewer people from Chult, but more from Calimshan, and there will no longer be ANY Half-Orcs with pink hair. Please note, these changes aren't universal. A couple of Dwarves have assimilated and gone clean-shaven, and a few lore-accurate descendants of Chultan foreigners remain (like the legendary Duke Ulder Ravengard). But you will certainly notice a difference!

Dwarves of Faerûn


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If you are like me, I trust you made a double-take or two at the sheer number of shaved Dwarves wandering around the city as if they were not by their very presence in public bringing great and lasting shame on their ancestors. Babyface Dwarves? This mod addresses this scandalous situation. With this mod installed, most of the male Dwarves you encounter across Baldur's Gate will now be sporting big, bushy beards, as one would expect of the Dwarves across Faerûn and other fantasy worlds.

In addition, fans new to Dungeons & Dragons and Faerûn may not know that the Duergar (or "Grey Dwarves") are famous for being almost universally bald - both men and women! And while the team at Larian largely kept true to this vision, there were still plenty of Duergar sporting voluminous manes of bouncy, breezy hair. Simply unacceptable! Most of the Duergar you encounter in the Underdark (and elsewhere) will now be bald.

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Figaro actually looks like he could be named "Figaro," now.


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Thadwick as a proper Dwarf.


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Githyanki of the Astral Planes


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I've made some other less noticeable changes, such as reducing the amount of beards on Githyanki men (according to the source material, Githyanki men have sparse facial hair) and reducing the amount of normal hairstyles among Githyanki, in general - topknots and fauxhawks abound!

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People From Far-Away Lands


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First she's from Kara-Tur! Then, she's from Chult! Now, she's a Baldurian.

There will also be decidedly fewer people who look like they are from Chult (the southern jungles) or Kara-Tur (basically China). Baldur's Gate may be a trading metropolis, but the Sword Coast is still largely a Renaissance + Magic level of technology. There is no ubiquitous and cheap international travel to bring all of these people here. While they have not been removed entirely, you will certainly see fewer of them.

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Ulthred now looks like an "Ulthred."


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Jeorna the Druid no longer sticks out like a sore thumb.

And there are many other changed NPCs that you will notice! There will also be fewer pink-haired Half-Orcs.


Downloads
FilesVersionTypeAuthorDescription
📥 Better Aesthetics 1.0Main@orinEsqueMain version of the mod, packed for use in Mod Manager.
📥 Better Aesthetics - Even Whiter 1.0Main@AlbertHeinousAlternative version of the mod that makes more humans white.
► Old Versions


Installation Instructions
  1. Install a mod manager for BG3
  2. Simply drop the zip file onto the right hand panel of the BG3 Mod Manager.
  3. Once there, drag to the left hand panel.



Reporting Bugs
To report any bugs, please submit a post in the Mod Support section and mention the file author's username.



Compatibility
The mod shouldn't have any compatibility conflicts, as it only overrides certain character visual banks.

If you have mods that change NPC visuals then put BBA below those mods. Remember: to give a mod higher priority, it needs to go LOWER on the mod manager list.


Last edited by SniperChris on September 3rd, 2024, 02:52, edited 24 times in total.

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The_Mask
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Post by The_Mask »

@rusty_shackleford - I'm not sure if this is legit, or not, I just approved it just now. But if it is, and this user is serious, they may need access to the Vault, and so on... :)
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Post by SniperChris »

The_Mask wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 00:53
@rusty_shackleford - I'm not sure if this is legit, or not, I just approved it just now. But if it is, and this user is serious, they may need access to the Vault, and so on... :)
I am serious. I was provided a link to this forum by a DM from a supporter on Nexus after my mod was placed under review there. I am currently appealing the review, noting that this is not a "whitewashing" mod as several prominent Chultan NPCs remain Chultan (such as Ulder Ravengard and Wyll Ravengard). I just do not have a lot of hope for that appeal. :(
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Post by rusty_shackleford »

The_Mask wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 00:53
@rusty_shackleford - I'm not sure if this is legit, or not, I just approved it just now. But if it is, and this user is serious, they may need access to the Vault, and so on... :)
Vault invite sent, using the site should be self-explanatory(I hope!) Welcome, @SniperChris.
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Post by Shillitron »

SniperChris wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 01:04
The_Mask wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 00:53
@rusty_shackleford - I'm not sure if this is legit, or not, I just approved it just now. But if it is, and this user is serious, they may need access to the Vault, and so on... :)
I am serious. I was provided a link to this forum by a DM from a supporter on Nexus after my mod was placed under review there. I am currently appealing the review, noting that this is not a "whitewashing" mod as several prominent Chultan NPCs remain Chultan (such as Ulder Ravengard and Wyll Ravengard). I just do not have a lot of hope for that appeal. :(
Gondians up to their old tricks again.
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Post by General Reign »

HQ enters a new era.
I respect people that appreciate lore.
Mad props.
:salute:
► Show Spoiler
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Post by Luckmann »

This is just fucking amazing.

10/10
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Post by ArunnyE »

Welcome! ^^/ I love the premise and promise of this mod, this all looks amazing!
SniperChris wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 00:48
Going forward, I've had several people suggest that I make Drows darker.
I would absolutely love this! One thing that immediately hit me when starting the game and after seeing a lot of screenshots was how dusky and pale all the drow looked. Drow are supposed to be obsidian stone, black sapphire, pitch tar resin, and truly charcoal ebony, sometimes with faint hues bordering on blue-to-violet - and almost invariably with white or light grey hair, and red eyes.

But for some reason a lot of them in BG3 are... just grey, a dusky pastel purple, or a muddy sky blue. It is very odd. It honestly bothers me more than a strange dwarf without a beard, because a dwarf can theoretically just cut their beard if they for some reason would want to, but Drow are supernaturally cursed as an entire race. They can't just choose not to be black.
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Post by Reichspepe »

SniperChris wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 01:04
The_Mask wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 00:53
@rusty_shackleford - I'm not sure if this is legit, or not, I just approved it just now. But if it is, and this user is serious, they may need access to the Vault, and so on... :)
I am serious. I was provided a link to this forum by a DM from a supporter on Nexus after my mod was placed under review there. I am currently appealing the review, noting that this is not a "whitewashing" mod as several prominent Chultan NPCs remain Chultan (such as Ulder Ravengard and Wyll Ravengard). I just do not have a lot of hope for that appeal. :(
Hey there,

it's the guy from Nexuscucks HarrySmierleb here.Great to see you here! And looking forward the the Drow :salute:
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Post by Tweed »

In a few years Baldur's Gate 3 might be something you'd show in public.
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Post by SniperChris »

ArunnyE wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 08:02
Welcome! ^^/ I love the premise and promise of this mod, this all looks amazing!
SniperChris wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 00:48
Going forward, I've had several people suggest that I make Drows darker.
I would absolutely love this! One thing that immediately hit me when starting the game and after seeing a lot of screenshots was how dusky and pale all the drow looked. Drow are supposed to be obsidian stone, black sapphire, pitch tar resin, and truly charcoal ebony, sometimes with faint hues bordering on blue-to-violet - and almost invariably with white or light grey hair, and red eyes.

But for some reason a lot of them in BG3 are... just grey, a dusky pastel purple, or a muddy sky blue. It is very odd. It honestly bothers me more than a strange dwarf without a beard, because a dwarf can theoretically just cut their beard if they for some reason would want to, but Drow are supernaturally cursed as an entire race. They can't just choose not to be black.
The reason for this is baked into D&D's development as an IP. There is no lore explanation - it was just a retcon over time; partly driven by the fact that it is hard to paint people who are black as midnight and still retain detail. In addition, with the popularity of Drizzt, D&D's policing of its IP was pretty relaxed. At first, Drizzt isn't even dark - he's just brown. Then he's a dark purple. Then he's black. Then he's a light grey. And now he's dark grey/black again. You will find exceptions to the "black as midnight" skin as far back as 2e. But they are exceptions.
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Drizzt in D&D's Dark Alliance promotional material.

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A dark elf from 2e.

Nevertheless, I agree that most Dark Elves have always been shown to be black as midnight or some slight variation, so I will see about changing that in future releases.
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Post by Reichspepe »

Many of these have been changed to men. In the future, I would like to change them all to men, but some of them have voiced lines of dialogue, meaning I will have to wait until I have more experience with generating AI voices and can replace the lines entirely.


Didn't even know that. And that's a great idea, "war is the province of men", after all. Do you plan on explanding this to others like the harpers, as an example? Or basically any that would fit, like goblins perhaps, if they way they're portrayed in the game is a "modern" depiction and hasn't been this way before.

And about the drow, luckily there are good options in the game, somehow they're just not really used at all. I'd argue an exception for very few could maybe be made, like Minthara from the top of my head being a bit lighter, with the rest looking more like this at least, if not darker.

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Post by J1M »

I also thought the drow looked pastey and there were a lot of dwarves that looked like they were imported from Dragon Age.

The point where the gender split became too jarring was the criminal guild showdown. It felt gross helping 20 women murder each other so I reloaded the save and avoided the area.
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Post by GhostCow »

Regardless of lore, I have to say that inkies look pretty sexy with blue or ash grey skin so I always though it was a great change
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Post by SniperChris »

@GhostCow, I have to agree, which is why I didn't bother with fixing this inconsistency. I like Night Elf-colored Dark Elves. Big whoop! Wanna fight about it?

@J1M, this is true for the Zhentarim, but concerning the Guild - it was obvious that they were going for a "thing," where the female leader of the Guild, Nine-Fingers Keene, only used female bodyguards. It reminded me of Gaddafi hiring an all-female ninja bodyguard in real life.

@Reichspepe, as I do not want to play the entire game over again for a third time... if someone could start compiling a list of Dark Elf characters to change (as well as examples of Dark Elf characters with skin colors you like), please do so!
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Post by Norfleet »

ArunnyE wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 08:02
Welcome! ^^/ I love the premise and promise of this mod, this all looks amazing!
SniperChris wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 00:48
Going forward, I've had several people suggest that I make Drows darker.
I would absolutely love this! One thing that immediately hit me when starting the game and after seeing a lot of screenshots was how dusky and pale all the drow looked. Drow are supposed to be obsidian stone, black sapphire, pitch tar resin, and truly charcoal ebony, sometimes with faint hues bordering on blue-to-violet - and almost invariably with white or light grey hair, and red eyes.
I've always figured this to be an art thing: Nothing black-black is ever black-black in art. Everyone "knows" Batman dresses in black, but in the comics he's a sort of dark blue or purple. This is ilkely because drawings and vidya are incapable of rendering a proper black, at least not without completely destroying all visible detail. Between the fact that monitors suffer a restricted spectrum, especially noticeable in the red range where the NIR range is totally absent (people can see NIR, but this range is normally drowned out by the much stronger presence of the more normal visible spectrum), yet this range is particularly important for the perception of very dark things, and the fact that monitors are typically being viewed in an environment with high ambient light levels, you just can't see anything when the game tries to render darkness.
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Post by rusty_shackleford »

Wonder if the cost of ink had anything to do with not representing drow as dark black in printed media.
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Post by Reichspepe »

SniperChris wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 14:01


@Reichspepe, as I do not want to play the entire game over again for a third time... if someone could start compiling a list of Dark Elf characters to change (as well as examples of Dark Elf characters with skin colors you like), please do so!
Off the top of my head I'd say True Soul Nere, Minthara is a bit light as well (though I don't find it too bad), the drow prostitutes Sorn Orlith and Nym Orlith . But I think Viconia DeVir, Ver'yll Wenkiir the hireling, "asian drow" Dhourn and Araj Oblodra the "we wuz drow" alchemist are examples of characters having a fitting colour, and I'd say going from the character creator that these in general are good colours: Lichen 6-10, Dawn 6-10, Ash 6-10, Ice 6-10. Perhaps they could also be used on the more generic drow enemies, like the ones in the spectator fight in the underdark?

If I find new examples, I'll post them.

Something I also wondered about is elf hair length. Is it normal for elves in the lore to also run around with short hair and weird combed back locks like Sorn Orlith has, or is this a Larian thing? If so, all elves having long hair in the future would be great ( at least shoulder length ).
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Post by J1M »

No, it's a dyke developer thing. There are some decent hairstyles in the character creator, but not really present on NPCs.
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Post by SniperChris »

@Reichspepe, I looked into the Dark Elf prostitutes when you DM'd me on Nexus, and I think the reason why the man has neck-length hair is because his outfit has a huge collar on it. Long hair would clip through the collar. It's the same reason I couldn't put big beards on the Flaming Fist Dwarves wearing helmets. The facial hair would clip through the cheekguards.

Given the division of opinion (and lore) on the Dark Elves, if I add darker dark elves, I think it will be as a separate file.

With regard to the generic drow enemies - do they have names? It's easier to find their Visual Data in the files if they have names that I can cross-reference with the localization file.
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Post by Reichspepe »

SniperChris wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 15:09
@Reichspepe, I looked into the Dark Elf prostitutes when you DM'd me on Nexus, and I think the reason why the man has neck-length hair is because his outfit has a huge collar on it. Long hair would clip through the collar. It's the same reason I couldn't put big beards on the Flaming Fist Dwarves wearing helmets. The facial hair would clip through the cheekguards.

Given the division of opinion (and lore) on the Dark Elves, if I add darker dark elves, I think it will be as a separate file.

With regard to the generic drow enemies - do they have names? It's easier to find their Visual Data in the files if they have names that I can cross-reference with the localization file.
Fair enough about the drow, it's not a must, but would be great nonetheless, the hair is bugging me more, with so many short haired elves around especially in Baldur's Gate. About the long hair, I'd say ponytails/shaved sides with ponytail hairstyles and even knots should be fine for elves as well, to avoid clipping, too.
Concerning the generic drow I sadly don't have a save file with which I could look this up anymore. If someone else could provide this info, that would be great.
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Post by General Reign »

junior wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 17:19
Best look for the Drow is on this box art:
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Just because it is old does not mean it is right.
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Post by junior »

General Reign wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 18:00
junior wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 17:19
Best look for the Drow is on this box art:
Image
Just because it is old does not mean it is right.
Pretty sure it was made by the same artist who was also responsible for official ad&d artworks back then. You may not like it but this is how Drow used to look like :eyebrows:.
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Post by Reichspepe »

@SniperChris I think I found something else that could be changed. When Aradin ambushes your camp with his gang to catch the Nightsong ( god I hate that character ) , out of 7 lads ( he even calls them that ) 3 are female gnome berserkers, one female tiefling fighter and some kind of cloth wearing woman. Don't know about you but I found that bizarre and funny at the same time, especially the 3 midgets. They're called Bearclaw, Lobo Denysse, and I think Baff Elk- or Moosehorn. I say I think because I don't play the english version of the game and sadly couldn't find the english name online, so I tried translating it.
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Post by SniperChris »

@Reichspepe Don't hate the Nightsong. We all thought she was cool as hell when we saved her and she started speaking in archaic English like Thor from the comics. We only started to dislike her when her first priority after defeating Ketheric Thorm was announcing to the world how much she wants to eat box. If that singular cinematic could be deleted (she never mentions it again), she would be a great character. I tried to do this in the mod, and succeeded in eliminating almost all of the lines, but couldn't eliminate the last line about "taking succour from each other's bodies." I am hoping someone else here will be able to help me with this going forward.

About Aradin's gang - I have never actually seen that fight and did not know it existed until you told me just now.
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Post by Reichspepe »

SniperChris wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 20:43
@Reichspepe Don't hate the Nightsong. We all thought she was cool as hell when we saved her and she started speaking in archaic English like Thor from the comics. We only started to dislike her when her first priority after defeating Ketheric Thorm was announcing to the world how much she wants to eat box. If that singular cinematic could be deleted (she never mentions it again), she would be a great character. I tried to do this in the mod, and succeeded in eliminating almost all of the lines, but couldn't eliminate the last line about "taking succour from each other's bodies." I am hoping someone else here will be able to help me with this going forward.

About Aradin's gang - I have never actually seen that fight and did not know it existed until you told me just now.
I just can't bring myself to overlook it, she exemplifies all that's wrong with the games (romantic) writing. But thank you for your service with trying to rectify that, the "lesbian moment" is probably the worst, cringiest part of writing I have ever witnessed in video games, only followed close at second place by shirtless Illithid emperor wanting to bang you out of nowhere.
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Post by SniperChris »

Reichspepe wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 21:35
SniperChris wrote: September 2nd, 2023, 20:43
@Reichspepe Don't hate the Nightsong. We all thought she was cool as hell when we saved her and she started speaking in archaic English like Thor from the comics. We only started to dislike her when her first priority after defeating Ketheric Thorm was announcing to the world how much she wants to eat box. If that singular cinematic could be deleted (she never mentions it again), she would be a great character. I tried to do this in the mod, and succeeded in eliminating almost all of the lines, but couldn't eliminate the last line about "taking succour from each other's bodies." I am hoping someone else here will be able to help me with this going forward.

About Aradin's gang - I have never actually seen that fight and did not know it existed until you told me just now.
I just can't bring myself to overlook it, she exemplifies all that's wrong with the games (romantic) writing. But thank you for your service with trying to rectify that, the "lesbian moment" is probably the worst, cringiest part of writing I have ever witnessed in video games, only followed close at second place by shirtless Illithid emperor wanting to bang you out of nowhere.
I don't think it's out of nowhere. If you reject him, the Emperor reveals that he never had a relationship with Duchess Belynne Stelmane. He was possessing her and mindbreaking her (which explains Wyll's lines about how she seemed ill and is supported by the sourcebooks that say her mind was broken by a Mindflayer and she was suffering from debilitating strokes). His "seduction" angle is just an attempt to turn you into a willing thrall.
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