[MODDING TUTORIAL] Player Outfit / Kain Models - Blood Omen 2: Conceptual Edition mod for Blood Omen 2

This tutorial will guide you through changing Kain's outfit throughout the levels. First of all it is important to understand the science behind this, so let us begin.

Within the game's "data" folder there are 5 specific files which contain Kain's texture and model for all outfits:

• kain.big (Armored Shoulder - Slums / Den* / Lower City)
• kainc.big (Golden Pads - Upper City* / Sarafan Keep / Industrial Quarter*)
• kaind.big (Red Hood - Canyons / Eternal Prison* / Device)
• kaine.big (Spike Armor - Wharves / Hylden City*)
• kainf.big (Iron Armor - Cheat Mode / Hub World)

This is the default setup for our main character's outfit throughout the whole game. Each and every level and its boss room is being told what ".big" file to read by another file within the "data" folder, named "Code.big" (The file we are going to work with).

NOTE: Levels containing an asterisk (*) include a boss room.

In order to modify the "Code.big" you will require a hex editing software. I personally use HxD which can be downloaded from this link.

For the purpose of this tutorial, I will use a scenario in which I want to make Kain wear the Spike Armor instead of the Golden Pads during the Upper City* level:

• Open the "Code.big" file in your hex editing software (Make sure you also have a back-up, just in case).
• Press "Ctrl + F" and search for the following line: savedgame_name_uppercity (Continue the search until the result matches the one from the image below).

• Next to your search highlight you will see "kain/kainc" (This is the command that tells the level what costume to load).
• Replace the "c" with an "e" (As you can see, we are now telling the level to load the Spike Armor).

NOTE: Once you've replaced the letter you will see the new one highlighted in red. The equivalent of the "e" letter is number "65" which is also highlighted in red. Replacing the "65" with "00" would remove the "e" after "kain", thus telling the level to load the Armored Shoulder. If you are modifying the "Conceptual Edition", you will notice that most of the lines look as such, which means you can simply replace the "dot" next to "kain" with the desired letter. Also be aware that the Slums / Den* / Lower City levels cannot be modified. Since these levels use the "kain/kain" command line, adding an extra letter will modify the size of the "Code.big" file, making it unrecognazible to the game.

Boss rooms (wink-wink*) have their own separate command for loading the costume even if they are part of a specific level. In our case, the Upper City has a boss room which, if not synchronized with the same information as its parent level, will load a different costume if the character dies in a boss fight and respawns in the midst of it:

• Search for the following line: bossrooms/charmvampirearena (Continue the search until the result matches the one from the image below).

• Repeat the same process (replace "kain/kainc" with "kain/kaine"), save your file, launch the game and load your Upper City save.
• If you do not have an Upper City saved game, go to the "data" folder, open "game.erg" with Notepad, search for "slums/sl01" and replace it with "uppercitynew/uc01a".
• Start a new game and enjoy playing with your favorite outfit.

LIST OF SEARCH LINES:

(Search for these lines / levels in order to modify their specific outfit)

savedgame_name_uppercity
bossrooms/charmvampirearena

savedgame_name_keep

savedgame_name_industrialquarter
bossrooms/speedvampirearena

savedgame_name_canyons

savedgame_name_eternalprison
bossrooms/madvampirearena

savedgame_name_device

savedgame_name_wharves

savedgame_name_hyldencity
bossrooms/sarafanlordarena