Incline Wizardry 8 Enhancements - A Call to Arms!

[Black]

I don't like the idea of out spells becoming combat spells only.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

I like that idea the most, actually. I'm ADHD like that and will re-cast everything all the time to skill it up.

Just like "bunny hopping" in Morrowind.

 

[DraQ]

I don't like the idea of out spells becoming combat spells only.

Why?

As it is you wake up after resting, cast all the spells and just happily derp around until the next camp-out.

Detect Secrets, Chameleon, Light, X-Ray - those are out of combat spells.
Stuff like Enchanted Blade or Missile Shield very clearly isn't.

 

[Black]

Because re-casting the same shit every battle is tedious.

 

[DraQ]

Because re-casting the same shit every battle is tedious.

Whether or not to cast a spell in battle is a tradeoff, a tactical decision.
Casting those spells out of battle is just something you do when you wake up, like brushing your teeth and taking a piss.
Do you want Wizardry 8 to be a morning piss simulator?

 

[Black]

I'm not the one wanting it to change in this case, bruv.

 

[DraQ]

I'm not the one wanting it to change in this case, bruv.

Do you want Wizardry 8 to stay a morning piss simulator, then?

 

[Kaucukovnik]

I like the class suggestions, but not the spell changes.
They would add needless tedium for the sake of not letting the player get away with anything that might feel cheap-ish. Which is a design direction I don't like. I enjoy games with depth and breadth of choices, not with a tight leash around them to ensure I'm playing exactly like the designer envisioned.

And my aim is to make the gameplay smoother, not more convoluted.

Also, the game already strongly favors multiple spell casters instead of a bishop taking care of everything. A bishop has the arsenal, but not the cadence of separate casters. Your suggestion would turn bishop into a full-time buff bot for 90% of the game.
Note: I almost never have a bishop in my party, and never had a 4-school one, so this isn't me defending a favorite OP class.

How many battles are there that you say "damn, this is so unsatisfyingly unfair to my adversaries, if only I had to cast my defenses first and give them time to quicksand me a bit." How many needlessly prolonged battles would take place for those few moments of newly arisen tactical brilliance?
When dangerous enemy casters are involved it merely prolongs the initial combat phase of "can they instakill/debilitate me before I get my defenses up, or not?" If the enemies weren't such meatbags, there would be a viable choice between disposing of them quickly while risking being unshielded, or playing it slower, but safe.

Anyway, Wiz8 is a big bag of cheese if you want that, and getting rid of it all would take complete butchering of the original gameplay, I think.

In any case, any changes like DraQ's suggestions above will be a separate sub-mod, like the previous ones have been handled.
The spell edits may end up as a sub-mod too, if people are interested in playing that way.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

Anyway, Wiz8 is a big bag of cheese if you want that, and getting rid of it all would take complete butchering of the original gameplay, I think.

This nails it, p much. Dodd's mod pushed the envelope really far as far as tactical possibilities go but IMHO well-designed, comfy locations / quests / npcs >>> balance. Also considering you're very talented in this regard and what we've seen of the new areas and items is p incredible, spending hours on balance tweaks would waste your time (unless you're enjoying it...). Personally, as far as Wiz8 goes, I'd prefer more quality gameplay content (aka adventure!) over spell tweaks and such.

 

[Whisper]

Also, the game already strongly favors multiple spell casters instead of a bishop taking care of everything.

?

 

[Kaucukovnik]

Also, the game already strongly favors multiple spell casters instead of a bishop taking care of everything.

?

Well, it's no dedicated mechanic or anything, just the fact that one person can only cast one spell per round, so multiple casters will have higher cadence than a lone super-bishop.
And, of course, you can have multiple bishops too, if you have the patience.

 

[DraQ]

I like the class suggestions, but not the spell changes.
They would add needless tedium for the sake of not letting the player get away with anything that might feel cheap-ish. Which is a design direction I don't like. I enjoy games with depth and breadth of choices, not with a tight leash around them to ensure I'm playing exactly like the designer envisioned.
(...)
Your suggestion would turn bishop into a full-time buff bot for 90% of the game.

Can't agree with that, just like it doesn't happen due to already existing combat buffls.

What would happen would be weighing whether to waste turn casting given buff or do something else, which is already the case with other spells. It might also make some spells, like Silence, more attractive.
This amounts to increased depth and breadth of choices, always casting travel combat buffs after camp-out does not.

Plus, even if a 4-school bishop is your sole dedicated caster, you are unlikely to have no samurai, valkyrie, bard nor gadgeteer in your entire party to cater to your low-level buffing needs, freeing bishop for serious casting.

In any case, any changes like DraQ's suggestions above will be a separate sub-mod, like the previous ones have been handled.
The spell edits may end up as a sub-mod too, if people are interested in playing that way.

What do you think about the nu-lord?

 

[Kaucukovnik]

Thanks for the praise of the new locations, it actually made me open the latest WIP map and finally make some progress.

The earlier call for assistance still stands. Modeling a big, all new area takes me weeks and that's only the start - now populate it, write quests and dialogue, create required triggers, draw icons for new items...
I'd love to have a full-fledged expansion pack one day, but it's gonna take more than one guy with too many hobbies.

DraQ:
If anyone should be a dedicated defender, it's the Lord. And I really like the praying and uncursing instead of magic, it would now actually make sense to use them with some class.
The class should also work well with samurai now being good with spears, as all melee classes other thatn the Lord have the means to keep behind a dedicated armored meatbag and poke enemies with a strong extended weapon. It's a natural fit.
I'm actually looking forward to playing your variation of Wizardry 8. I'll definitely update the DraQ sub-mod for the next version.

As opposed to the combat-only buffs, but implementing them as an option shouldn't pose a problem at all, so whatever.

 

[DraQ]

The class should also work well with samurai now being good with spears, as all melee classes other thatn the Lord have the means to keep behind a dedicated armored meatbag and poke enemies with a strong extended weapon. It's a natural fit.

Well, you could give your Lord some nice polearm but anyone they might want to hide behind is probably going to be squishier.

As opposed to the combat-only buffs, but implementing them as an option shouldn't pose a problem at all, so whatever.

I still think deciding whether you need enchanted blade or armorplate in given fight badly enough to waste entire turn(s) of casting is better than no-brainer "wake up, cast daily buffs" that leaves you near impervious to much of the stuff enemy can throw at you.

 

[WaltC333]

Is the 1.0RC mentioned in the read.me out yet--have I missed it somewhere on the site?

knock-knock...anybody home?

 

[Zdzisiu]

DraQ

Hmm guys, I have a problem. I'm on windows 7, I installed Wizardry 8 from GoG, but it kept crashing on startup so I downloaded the wizfix application from GoG. It worked and I could play vanilla wizardry.

Then I downloaded the Wizardry Enhanced 0.9RC from here, installed it, and the game crashes at startup again when I click on Wiz8+.exe
Tried to run the wizfix application again, doesnt help.

Any ideas? Tried compatibility and running as an administrator too.

 

[Kaucukovnik]

The link in the OP contains the newest released version.

No new progress directly towards next version, but good advance with the dwarven area for the future "new content" variant.

Spoiler

New house tileset, was badly needed to avoid too much repetition:

Hydroponics, from the outside. The structure to the right of the greenhouse is a ventilation system unit There are two of those across the town.

Interior, the lowered middle will be a pool containing plants and algae. Some mosses are already covering the wall.

Zdzisiu
I couldn't find anything about wizfix (except for the old, wireframe Wizardry games editor), so I'd need some more info on what it does.

If it patches the game executable, you could try moving Wiz8.exe away from the game dir and rename Wiz8_v1261.exe to Wiz8.exe. Then wizfix might fix the unofficially patched executable too, and after renaming and moving everything back the mod could theoretically run.

If I acquire a specimen of wizfix, I'll try to reproduce your problem on someone's Win7 machine and do something about it.

 

[Zdzisiu]

The link in the OP contains the newest released version.

No new progress directly towards next version, but good advance with the dwarven area for the future "new content" variant.

Spoiler

New house tileset, was badly needed to avoid too much repetition:

Hydroponics, from the outside. The structure to the right of the greenhouse is a ventilation system unit There are two of those across the town.

Interior, the lowered middle will be a pool containing plants and algae. Some mosses are already covering the wall.

Zdzisiu
I couldn't find anything about wizfix (except for the old, wireframe Wizardry games editor), so I'd need some more info on what it does.

If it patches the game executable, you could try moving Wiz8.exe away from the game dir and rename Wiz8_v1261.exe to Wiz8.exe. Then wizfix might fix the unofficially patched executable too, and after renaming and moving everything back the mod could theoretically run.

If I acquire a specimen of wizfix, I'll try to reproduce your problem on someone's Win7 machine and do something about it.

Ok, I did as you suggested. I moved the original wiz8.exe away, renamed the wiz8_1261.exe to just wiz8.exe and used the wiz8_fix.exe that I got from GoG. The game now runs when I click on wiz8.exe and shows version 1.27 in the menu, I also seem to have the new graphics for armour and potions so I believe that the enhancement is working.

If you want to have a look at that wiz8_fix.exe, here it is on the gog site:
http://af.gog.com/support/wizardry_8/wizardry_8_does_not_launch?as=1649904300
Towards the bottom, in the "Solution" section.

 

[Kaucukovnik]

Glad to hear that it worked. I should probably include the fix in some easy to use fashion.

 

[Zdzisiu]

Glad to hear that it worked. I should probably include the fix in some easy to use fashion.

Ok, I found a different problem. I can play the game when I run it with wiz8.exe the one without icon but I dont get the class changes with it. When I try to run Wiz8+.exe It still crashes.

Edit: After some investigation the problem seems to be, that when I try to run wiz8+.exe then it tries to start wiz8_v1261.exe and it just crashes. Even when I just renamed it to wiz8.exe applied the fix from GoG and renamed it back to wiz8_v1261.exe and left a copy of wiz8.exe there too.

Maybe I should not delete the original exe or something. Let me try that.

Edit 2: Did not help. I tried just applining the wiz8_fix from GoG to wiz8_v1261 renamed as wiz8.exe then renaming it back to wiz8_v1261.exe but it is still crashing when I try to run wiz8+.exe.

Here is the error I get on windows.

Nazwa zdarzenia problemu: APPCRASH
Nazwa aplikacji: Wiz8_v1261.exe
Wersja aplikacji: 0.0.0.0
Sygnatura czasowa aplikacji: 3c26eee6
Nazwa modułu z błędem: StackHash_27eb
Wersja modułu z błędem: 0.0.0.0
Sygnatura czasowa modułu z błędem: 00000000
Kod wyjątku: c0000005
Przesunięcie wyjątku: 7a69575c
Wersja systemu operacyjnego: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
Identyfikator ustawień regionalnych: 1045
Dodatkowe informacje 1: 27eb
Dodatkowe informacje 2: 27eb358fe674a6f15dafe56d42bb9bf3
Dodatkowe informacje 3: 2f06
Dodatkowe informacje 4: 2f06c18113e6d7c00e6b91fa1fde84b6

 

[Kaucukovnik]

I don't think the original Wiz8.exe is used by the unofficial executable, but I always keep it there anyways.

It looks like the unofficial .exe didn't get patched after all. Create a file "whatevername.bat" in your wiz8 dir and put this in it:

CFInjector.exe "Wiz8.exe" "Wiz8.exe"

And then run it. You won't get the unofficial .exe patch (losing the speed wrapaound bug fix), but class changes and everything else will work.

I'll look into it further, hopefully there is something better than this workaround.
At worst I'll include the option to go with the regular Wiz8.exe.

 

[DraQ]

Glad to hear that it worked. I should probably include the fix in some easy to use fashion.

Ok, I found a different problem. I can play the game when I run it with wiz8.exe the one without icon but I dont get the class changes with it. When I try to run Wiz8+.exe It still crashes.

Edit: After some investigation the problem seems to be, that when I try to run wiz8+.exe then it tries to start wiz8_v1261.exe and it just crashes. Even when I just renamed it to wiz8.exe applied the fix from GoG and renamed it back to wiz8_v1261.exe and left a copy of wiz8.exe there too.

Maybe I should not delete the original exe or something. Let me try that.

Edit 2: Did not help. I tried just applining the wiz8_fix from GoG to wiz8_v1261 renamed as wiz8.exe then renaming it back to wiz8_v1261.exe but it is still crashing when I try to run wiz8+.exe.

Here is the error I get on windows.

Nazwa zdarzenia problemu: APPCRASH
Nazwa aplikacji: Wiz8_v1261.exe
Wersja aplikacji: 0.0.0.0
Sygnatura czasowa aplikacji: 3c26eee6
Nazwa modułu z błędem: StackHash_27eb
Wersja modułu z błędem: 0.0.0.0
Sygnatura czasowa modułu z błędem: 00000000
Kod wyjątku: c0000005
Przesunięcie wyjątku: 7a69575c
Wersja systemu operacyjnego: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
Identyfikator ustawień regionalnych: 1045
Dodatkowe informacje 1: 27eb
Dodatkowe informacje 2: 27eb358fe674a6f15dafe56d42bb9bf3
Dodatkowe informacje 3: 2f06
Dodatkowe informacje 4: 2f06c18113e6d7c00e6b91fa1fde84b6

Might be of interest:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/my-wiz8-playing-ability-has-declined-tech.80981/

 

[Kaucukovnik]

May the Microsoft die skewered on a giant barbed dick.

How the hell can NET Framework update interfere? Framework 1.0 was still in development when Wiz 8 was released...
This is the kind of shit that makes me hate computers at times.

 

[DraQ]

Zdzisiu
Was it helpful (Y/N/KC)?

 

[Zdzisiu]

Zdzisiu
Was it helpful (Y/N/KC)?

Thanks but it did not fix my problems. I already had .Net 4.5.1 installed. I even uninstalled it and reinstalled a fresh copy from MS, the same error still occurs when I try to run the wiz8+.exe

And for a fun fact: When I try the .bat Kaucukovnik suggested, I get "Please insert the CD-Rom" and Im playing the GoG version.