Possible to add your own racial pictures to the game?

yea, theres several racial image and racial symbols and image packs and symbol packs up for download in the library, I don't know the code for doing that. although you could look at CariElf's modding guide.

link to the thread about the modding guide: https://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=162&AID=118797#916814

Adding race photos should be quite simple, from what I can tell, the photo may need to be .PNG extension, other than that, just place it within your mods folder. To clarify, look in your game options to see where your mod folder is located (usually within my documents/games/galciv2) and then inside the mod folder will essentially be folders like what you will find within your actual game directory. One of which will be Portraits. Just put the file in there, and you'll be able to select it as your race portrait. As the above poster mentioned, there are a few portraits found in the library area here, which you may also like. Hope that helps a bit.

so, Citizen rubberchicken1971....

can u make animated gifs?

They need to be in png format, so no animated gifs possible.

All you have to do is open them in PAINT and save it as a .png file. Worked for me.

The one thing I hate about PNG, no animated graphic files, otherwise it is a far superior format.

There are the MNG and APNG formats, but then you need to code an application that recognizes them, otherwise you get an error in the case of MNG and just the first frame in the case of APNG.

actually, it is possible to add your own gif's. as well as its possible to add your own pic to a race. i did it, and it worked fine. heres what to do:

lets say, you want to change the humans tooooo... lets say "ANTS" for the sake of example. next, you'll want to make an extra folder to put backups in in case you want to return it to default. these are the files you'll want to copy and past to this folder, lets call this folder "BACKUP"; go to: C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Data\English, and copy: "Mapraeinfo.xml", "RaceConfig.xml", and paste these files to "BACKUP". then go to C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Movies. there, you'll want to actully MOVE (notice:NOT copy and paste) the following files to "BACKUP" (keep in mind, we're editing the terrans): "0_small", "0_trade00", "0_trade01", and "0_trade02" next, go to C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Gfx\Race and MOVE the following to "BACKUP": "Raceimage00", and "Trade_Race0_Neutral"

also, heres a legend to denote what each number means in what:
0=terran
1=Drengin
2=Altarian
3=Arcean
4=Torian
5=Yor
6=Dominion of Korx
7=Drath
8=Thalan
9=Iconian
these are therace numbers found first in the gif's and the last numberin the PNG's. the following numbers are the second number found in GIF name, and denotes the following:
00= neutral
01= pissed
02= happy
next, these are the ship types for changes in the xml:
0= terran
1= torian
2= yor
3= Drengin
4= Altarian
5= Dread lords
now, with all of that out of the way, its time to start the REAL fun;

first off the pic you want to add must be in PNG format (as everyone else has said already) then, move that pic to C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Gfx\Race. to make it simple, name it ANT1 (where changing the terrans to ANTS, remember?). now, this is wehere the directions split; if you can make your own GIF, go to "A". if you can't, and just want to add a pic for the trade screen, go to "B"

A) move your chosen GIF to C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Movies. (you might want to make 4, one small potrait which isn't necessary, one neutral ppotrait, one happy and one pissed off potrait) if you bhave 4 GIF's, move them all to that path. now, its time to rename them: if you have just one GIF, rename it: "0_trade00" if you have 4, denote appropriately (0_small for small potrait, 0_trade01 for pissed, and etc) after renaming these files, the GF part is done, but stay tuned to make the potrait wrok for ya and how to change the name of the species

B)move your chosen PNG to C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Gfx\Race, and name it "ANTS2" next, go to C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Data\English and right click on "RaceConfig.xml", and open with "notepad". go down to the partr where it says: "". replace "Trade_Race0_Neutral.png" with "ANTS2.png" save trhe note pad, and close it. to double check the change, open the xml and check the changes.

now, its time to blacken my lungs with a cancer stick, so i'll be right back and finish this.

ok, back.

next, time to change the potrait. follow the steps in "B", except use the png "ANTS1" instead of "ANTS2", and you want to change "" instead of . (replace "RaceImage00.png" with "ANTS1.png")

do the same if you want to change the logo. (look for and change the logo to what you want, as well as )

to change the name, go to the same xml (RaceConfig.xml in case you forgot) and open it with notepad again. look for the part that says