Add new Portrait Display Icons problem to BGT (Classic)

[Vlan]

Hello there,

am using BG2 Vanilla and I am trying to add new portrait icons to my installation for spells which I created, but have a  very strange problem which prevents me from doing so.

So far I know that STATEDESC.2DA, STATES.BAM, and STATES2.BAM are responsible for Portrait icons showing up ingame. So far so good. 

STATEDESC.2DA has 190 entries.

STATES.BAM (for portrait icons ingame) and STATES2.BAM (portrait icons in the character sheet) have 254 cycles.

Now, the weird thing is, that STATES.BAM starts at the 64 cycle (Dire charm portrait icon) which would be entry 0 in the STATEDESC.2DA, whereas cycles 0-63 are empty, which means that the bam has reached its max amount of portrait icons if you add up the alraedy existing 190 (64+190) portrait icons. I tried moving the first 63 cycles to the end, but this did not work. I could rearrange all the entries in the STATEDESC.2DA by adding 63 new entries at the start, though I have no idea if this work PLUS even if it would work, I probably would have to check every "Display Portrait Icon" effect in each spell in the game, and change the value to the new one. VERY BAD. 

So, I obviously have questions.

Why does it start at the 64th cycle, and not on the first one (leaving me more space for new portrait icons for spells)? Is there a way to tell the game that STATDESC.2DA entry 0 should also be cycle 0 in the STATES.BAM?

Or do I have to use weidu scripting to automate the process? I am pretty sure that some older mods also add new display icons to the game, but I have not found one yet.

HELP WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED.  

 

 

Edited November 22, 2023 by Vlan