Incline Wizardry 8 Enhancements - A Call to Arms!

[WaltC333]

Good job on .9....! Looks great so far...

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Kaucukovnik, my good man, it's already January and I didn't do my annual Wiz8 playthrough yet so I started with the latest version of your mod. First thing I noticed is that ninja still starts with full garb on. It's not that it's overpowered or anything, +15 crit skill is hardly mindblowing, but it's not what you had planned. He does level up as a hybrid though, which is a very welcome change in my book. Already noticed some new item icons, they're great as always!

 

[Black]

What's thing going on over there? http://steamcommunity.com/app/245450/discussions/0/616198900643611790/
I thought we had prestigious exclusives rights to pimping Wiz 8.

 

[Kaucukovnik]

Zboj Lamignat : Ninja garb was definitely not supposed to be starting gear anymore. Thanks for pointing it out!

Black : That page is all sorts of funny. Yeah, saturation through the roof is exactly what Wiz8 needs! Surprised by lack of bloom though.
And what about that "codex sux" reply out of the blue?

Particularly this screenshot is incredible:

Spoiler

He reports it as a bug, but still - fucked up colors, blurry and stretched UI, but now it's magically "HD", I suppose. Oh, the marvels of technology.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

My fucking eyes...

 

[Black]

And what about that "codex sux" reply out of the blue?

I had to protect the Dex from the unwashed masses. There's already enough of them here.
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?forums/jrpg-weaboo-discussion.60/

 

[DraQ]

My fucking eyes...

My eyes are fucking.

Judging by the blood they've just lost their virginity too.

 

[Bloax]

D A N G

I couldn't take the HD, I just couldn't.

Although I'm sure a cautious hand could make something that does look better than vanilla, but that implies being careful!

 

[Rochndil]

Good morning!

I've been testing RC 0.9, and while it seems to work OK on Win7 and Win8, on my old XP laptop, it throws a "Floating Point Division by Zero" error consistently. I'm also fairly sure that it didn't properly implement the "transparent compasses" mod the first time I ran it, but that was easy enough to fix. Once installed, I have yet to encounter any problems, but if I do I'll post.

Rochndil, once again playing the coolest game ever...but 20% cooler than that now.

 

[Rochndil]

Hello!

I've probably gone about as far as I'm going to for a while (to the point where I usually get tired of the game), and I have a short list of bugs and issues to report. Since my group has the first two artifacts and (should be) headed to Bayjin, I've completed a good chunk of the game - enough to turn up a lot of likely problems.

Overall, the actual problems are quite few. Here's a quick list:

1. The installer program wouldn't run on my XP laptop (though it ran fine on Win7 and Win8.1). It can be argued that most people won't HAVE XP to run it on, but most people won't be playing Wiz8 either. When the installer was run on a different PC and the files carried over, the game itself ran fine.

2. Have you given any thought to imported parties? I noticed that both the Kabuto helm and the Zizka Star are on the import items list - which could be unexpectedly unbalancing.

3. As reported previously, the Ninja started with full ninja-gear. Not the end of the world, but it defeats the need to have to seek it out and acquire it later.

4. When I arrived in Arnika, and went upstairs at the bar to clear the tenants from "my" room, they weren't there...which was a little odd.

That's about it, and a hearteningly short list! I checked the functionality of the changes made, and everything else seemed fine.

Rochndil, who always dreads the water caves and Bayjin...

 

[Kaucukovnik]

Thank you for the report!
1. Very odd, as I was building and testing the installer in XP. The final version will definitely have both .exe and .7z option.
2. Not really, since the import option is not that amazing. I'll probably redo the enhanced equipment as separate items from the imported ones. OR it may be better to provide upgrade items to merge with the normal ones, so imported parties could get the special equipment a bit earlier.
3. Will be fixed
4. Didn't change that, can someone else confirm?

 

[paxton676]

What's thing going on over there? http://steamcommunity.com/app/245450/discussions/0/616198900643611790/
I thought we had prestigious exclusives rights to pimping Wiz 8.

This is the Nvidia Color Bug. It swaps the red and blue color channels.

I just messed up the first try because of the Nvidia color bug. Nvidia fixed the bug in newer drivers. Also, it was blurry because I had DOF on and it was on top of the 2D parts. I made the corrections and posted the mod on the Steam forums. However, no one seemed interested so I removed it.

-------------------------------------------------------Widescreen Mod-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The shader mod is seperate from running Widescreen, the Widescreen fix is a different mod. It has correct FOV for 3D part only. The 2D is stretched.
Widescreen Mod https://www.sendspace.com/file/kdlqzz

--------------------------------------------------------------OpenGL----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The shader mod is nothing more than SweetFX applied to OpenGL. SweetFX previously only worked with Direct3D 9-11.

You have to run Wizardry 8 in OpenGL mode for the shaders to work. OpenGL Grid line fix http://www.zimlab.com/wizardry/wolfie/Wizardry8BUG-FIXES.html
Your 3DVideo.CFG file should look similar(except maybe the video resolution) to this:

OpenGL
1920
1080
32
Miles Fast 2D Positional Audio



--------------------------------------------------------The Shaders Mod---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is the mod to add shaders http://dropcanvas.com/53b34

It is just a generic tool but with the settings I tweaked for Wizardry 8. By default your game will look like my Shaders ON screenshots but you can tweak the settings to your liking.

I have Bloom Lighting, Tonemap, Vibrance(Saturation), Curves(Contrast), and Sharpening enabled.

Shaders ON

Shaders Off

Shaders ON

Shaders Off

You can toggle the MasterEffect effects on/off in game with the "Numpad ." key. Also, the sharpening effect is SweetFX and can be toggled with the PAUSE key. You can change the shader toggle key mappings in the config files.

If you want to know more about what made this possible http://reshade.me/. Reshade is the brilliant wrapper that makes it possible to wrap SweetFX, MasterEffect, and GEMFX to OpenGL.

Lastly, I am enjoying Wizardry 8 Enhanced Version 9

 

[Zetor]

I just finished a W8 'speedrun' (basically finishing everything on the critical path, but ignoring most side quests / areas... also avoiding almost all random encounters) using the v0.9 RC version. Overall I think this mod made the experience a LOT smoother and faster, so kudos!

Some random notes:

• Combat speed was fine for the most part. El-Dorado was a boring slog due to the "weapon hits light shield" sound effect (WAY too long!) playing on every hit, combined with insane damage reduction. I'd either assign a different armor material to that guy, or significantly shorten the sound effect (may also be relevant if a character uses a light shield).
• The new ninja robes offer some interesting choices later on (faerie cap vs ninja cowl, robes of rejuvenation / black gown of death vs ninja robes), I approve.
• There's a MASSIVE gear upgrade / power jump as soon as the party enters the Rapax Castle proper and finishes the trials. Full Canezou set (good for monks and such), Robes of Rejuv / Golden Circlet / Platinum Greaves / Mirror Armor / some other high-end armor from Ferro, the guaranteed Muramasa Blade and Blade Cuisinart (? I think so, anyway), a Cat-o-nine tails as well as other high-end cloaks / accessories that I forgot... plus a whole lot of high-end random loot from chests. I know that the castle is an endgame area (probably the penultimate area, actually), but I basically replaced all of my party's gear there without fighting. This isn't a huge issue, but it could be a bit less jarring if some of the loot was moved to side areas off the critical path (SE wilderness or Away Camp maybe?). Another approach could be to include more 'mid-power' gear somewhere so the upgrade isn't as significant overall.
• There was a similar lootsplosion in the Sea Caves: I remember my valkyrie going from a Stun Rod to a Maenad's Lance, replacing normal Plate Mail and Steelhide Armor with Plate Mail +2 and then almost immediately upgrading it with Ebony Heaume / Golden Armor / Ebony Plate. It was less pronounced than the Rapax Castle upgrade-fest, though.

Other observations on W8 in general:

• This was hashed out in this thread previously, but combat gets really samey and chore-ish by late midgame/endgame. The party is basically magic- status- and ranged-immune with all buff spells active and remembering to use Soul / Element Shield on turn 1. In fact, the only tension was whether the enemies would use a disabling or instant death effect on my sluggish casters before they could get these spells off -- and if they did that, I could just use the 'initiate combat from outside LOS, and have one of the hybrids hit them with a low-power AOE to get in combat' trick.
• Enemy melee gets really scary by the end of the game... however, no enemies actually use it even if they're in melee range (Lava Lord being one of the very few exceptions). Casting one spell that does single-digit damage (or results in UNAFFECTED) instead of using extended-range attacks 3-4 times a turn to gib a caster is a better use of a turn, or something.
• I'm not really a fan of out-of-combat buffs. Missile Shield in particular is really binary -- if you have it up at a decent level, you're pretty much immune to enemy projectiles... and if you don't, you get shredded. Armorplate and Magic Screen are similar. Has anyone done a successful W8 run (solo runs with stealth characters excluded) without having these three buffs up for 90+% of the game? Oh yeah, this is also apparent when fighting the rapax army with them having Magic Screen / Element Shield / Missile Shield / (maybe) Soul Shield running constantly.
• This ties into the previous point: I don't think I used any of the status clearing spells after Mt Gigas, with the exception of Smelling Salts when my valk got KO'd due to cheat death, and some cure poison potions when fighting Barlone. Magic Screen + * Shield spells are just too good!
• Enemy resistances have been talked about before, but it's really sad in the endgame when even my 66-powercast mage couldn't do more than single-digit damage to enemies, even if I used the correct element... and forget about instant death spells, especially if the enemies have the appropriate buffs up. I don't suppose there's a way to implement a "lower resistances" spell?

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Doing a no missile shield run is nothing uncommon, it's a wizardry only spell with no gadgets/instruments available so many parties have to do without it. Armorplate and Magic Shield are almost mandatory, true. I can imagine doing without AP, but no MS would be a huuuge pain. I never use Soul Shield and Elemental Shield much, MS and resistances are usually more than enough, but it's good to have them for some special occasion.

Direct damage spells were always mostly pointless, it's one of the biggest flaws of Wiz8. But debuffs are great and I did use instakill spells to much success, definitely better at actually instakilling stuff than most crit skill character builds.

 

[Black]

WHY WON'T WIZ 8 OR THIS MOD WORK ON WIN 8!!?!!?

 

[Rochndil]

I was able to play both Wiz8 and this specific mod on Win8.1 without trouble. In Desktop mode of course.

Rochndil, who can't say much more good about Win8...

WHY WON'T WIZ 8 OR THIS MOD WORK ON WIN 8!!?!!?

 

[Black]

I was able to play both Wiz8 and this specific mod on Win8.1 without trouble. In Desktop mode of course.

Rochndil, who can't say much more good about Win8...

WHY WON'T WIZ 8 OR THIS MOD WORK ON WIN 8!!?!!?

Which Wiz 8 did you use? Steam, GOG, other?

 

[Rochndil]

I've done various versions, both from my original CDs and GOG, but not Steam for two reasons. First, my 8.1 testing machine is at work, and the company firewall doesn't allow Steam's 37 different ports to work, and second, Steam (at least in my experience) is flakey as all hell and even at home with a wide-open connection it doesn't work half the time (Win7x64). If at all possible I source everything from GOG, and only use Steam when I have no other options.

All that aside, I've not had any real issues with Wiz8 on Win XP, 7, 8, or 8.1. I usually work from an install built on my Win7 box at home, and then picked up entirely and dropped on the other machine(s) for testing.

Rochndil, who does still have a WinXP Laptop, which runs Wiz8 just fine...

I was able to play both Wiz8 and this specific mod on Win8.1 without trouble. In Desktop mode of course.

Rochndil, who can't say much more good about Win8...

 

[Black]

Qwinn

 

[Whisper]

Magic rebalance
Direct damage spells were rather useless later in the game, compared to status effects and brute force.

Not true. Speaking from late-game experience (full bishop grp).

While DOT spells are bad in damage (agree), direct damage are OK dps if you build for them.

Status effects on Hard hardly stick, so usually waste of turn and mana (some exceptions).

 

[townltu]

You can increase the effectivity of spell dmg and side effects versus targets with high lvl or magic resistance
by increasing the required mana points.
Regardless of type(dot, cone or single target) 240 MP/PL ensured in tests
that LVL100 creatures with resistances >100 took the amount of dmg
that would be expected for targets of equl lvl with caster and moderate resistance,
i.e. dmg like assigned in CF

Unfortunately such high MP costs for spells in general would brake the magic system,
but you could use it to create a handful of unique high end spells for a mod in slot 102-112
To limit their use, deny learning from a spellbook/on lvlup,
and trigger "learning" with any interactive game entity, e.g. NPC script, and assign the spell to a pc with lua script.

Note that it also makes a difference if you rise MP costs for 25 or 50 %,
but keep i mind whatever changes you make on spells,
they will also be used by monsters who have no limited mana pool.
(PL of monster spells appears to be linked to "Casting power" in CF)



Regarding the incompatibility with WinXP,
the format of the background picture for the inno setup is the culprit.
Besides, i prefer archives.

 

[DraQ]

Kaucukovnik
I have some character classes ideas (some duplicates because I think I got drowned out the last time):

Lord (AKA it still bugs me to have two similar fighter/clerics):

• General idea - pious defensive fighter (no berserk) instead of second fighter/cleric
• Drop casting (but keep piety req)
• Artifacts skill as class skill
  • bishops can hardly spend points on that
  • questing knights should know their shit
  • HP regen predisposes them to using cursed items and they don't have much in terms of ranged capability with or without casting
  • I don't like pigeon-holing a knightly class that should have quite a few options instead of just maces
• some points in communication at start (flavour)
• Prayer, Remove Curse, maybe Dispel Undead too as active specials
  • Prayer makes sense for a really pious paladin dude and would be interesting on noncaster
  • Remove Curse is completely spurious for a caster like Bishop, but makes sense for Lord both mechanically and thematically
• HP regen stays, +AC (from faerie), +DR (from monk) as passive specials
  • Übertank
• XP reqs - either hybrid or basic, whatever works best
• Maybe disallow Bloodlust sword specifically
  • The goal is contrasting defensive Lord and mid-offensive Fighter/offensive Samurai and Rogue
  • There is nothing truly interesting Lord can do with BL, unlike Samurai (lightning strike eleventy million times!!!1) or Rogue (berskstab for elventy million HP), so no big loss

Bishop (complementary to Lord's changes):

• Divine Magic (elemental realm, not Divinity book) as class skill instead of artifacts
  • at least even 4-school Bishop will be using that
  • helps justifying the class name without limiting reasonable school selection, otherwise it might as well be "Archmage"
• no Remove Curse (spurious)

Ninja (in addition to implemented changes):

• General idea - super glass cannon assassin
• Don't drop alchemy (ninja tricks)
• Drop STR and VIT reqs
  • they make no sense for a Ninja who should be neither a tank nor a brute
  • they bog the class down in terms of development - dropping them will bring the reqs in-line with Bishop (4 attributes)
• add Backstab ability, but give the worst HP possible (Mage)
  • glass cannon
  • they are meant to be Über assassins, combination of backstab and Critical Strike as class skill fits them
  • they will still face the choice between stuff that lets them backstab and stuff that lets them auto-penetrate and crit at distance
  • should make moving a Ninja to the front and back an interesting tactical decision
  • should help make thrown weapons more attractive either as main attack option or to give ninja something to do while in the back
  • should help balance out the sheer killing power

Bard:

• 2WF as class skill
  • fits flashy Bard
  • is actually useful as Bard sucks at fighting in the beginning and has unique enough niche or wide enough spread that potentially wasted bonus won't matter
  • no class deserves communication as class skill, it's just inhumane

Also, make Armorplate, Missile Shield, Magic Screen and Enchanted Blade combat spells that need to be re-cast during combat like Bless instead of staying up while the party is exploring.

 

[townltu]

K, if you are really going to do such changes on classes,
pls add a tut how to revert them to default.

It would take me too much time to write a fix. :D

 

[DraQ]

Kaucukovnik Brofists this.

What do you think?

 

[I_am_Ian]

I like the ideas. I'd play a new game to try that.