Incline Wizardry 8 Enhancements - A Call to Arms!

[Achebur]

Hey Achebur, I seem to have a problem with some of the changes you made.

Game crashes when going from lower to upper monastery on all working renderers, might have to do with the map changes I applied, no crashes before that.

Thanks for letting me know, the game was crashing because I didn't include some of the necessary files for the map changes like you guessed. If you redownload and install the new files it should work for you now.

 

[Black]

By the way, is it possible for you to add the Quetzalcoatl flying serpent that either got cut out or never added in? Cosmic Forge says it's in the game files, apparently it was supposed to be one of the mini bosses at Ascension Peak but for some reason never got in.

 

[Achebur]

By the way, is it possible for you to add the Quetzalcoatl flying serpent that either got cut out or never added in? Cosmic Forge says it's in the game files, apparently it was supposed to be one of the mini bosses at Ascension Peak but for some reason never got in.

I took a look and it would definitely be possible to add it in, but I don't want to have to do all the testing and everything to try and get it working properly at the moment. If you or someone else wants to take a crack at it and send me the files when you're done I'd be happy to include it though. I found a good spot at ascension peak that would be perfect for it - https://ibb.co/mOQsgk

You could replace MonGen004 at X:75 Y:567 Z:6 with the Quetzalcoatl, then maybe move it back a little bit and make sure it stays in place and faces the right direction. Then you'll need to try actually fighting it and make sure everything goes ok there.

Also there's another monster patrol nearby, MonGen011 at X:79 Y:471 Z:-3, that you'll want to make sure doesn't move back towards the Quetzalcoatl and potentially interfere with the fight.



I went ahead and implemented most of the ideas I had in the earlier post I made, along with a few others:
Bela no longer sells Ankh of Might (too useful when you deck out your whole team with them)
Ferro no longer sells Platinum Greaves/Snakeskin Boots, you'll find the items as a guaranteed drop from the Rapax King's chest in his room in the castle

Improved Ninja daggers (Ninjato, Sai) so that specializing in daggers is a more viable option for Ninjas
Improved the remaining Axes that Kaucukovnik didn't touch
Improved Boomerang Shuriken, Steelhide Breastplate, and Featherweight Armor
and a small handful of other tweaks

Full changelist in next post.

 

[Achebur]

Location changes - Placed Ankh of Might in Anselm's cave in Mountain Wilderness (northeastwilderness.sts)

 

[cvv]

Goddamn it, started a playthrough with Achebur's mod but ran into the Vi Domina bug. Apparently if you release someone in Arnika before saving her she'll disappear forever. And of course all my saves are either too old or too new. Is there a workaround? Have I just borked my game or she isn't an essential character?

 

[Black]

You don't need her.

 

[Achebur]

I've got one more update and it's a pretty big one. I didn't intend to change so much when I started, but one thing lead to another and I ended up going through pretty much everything in the game. That being said, most of the changes I made are very small- like boosting weapons by a few points of damage, but I could see how it could be too much for some people.

This will be the last jumbo post I plan to make, otherwise I would put this in its own thread. Compared to the last update I've made some bigger changes in an attempt to balance the game better, and I think I've done a pretty good job. The Fighter class is the only thing that stands out as overpowered to me with its Berserk ability, but it's up to the player whether or not to use it, and the class itself offers no other utility outside of fighting so I feel like the small nerfs I made were enough. If I did get rid of berserk and set the class back to fast XP gain then I'd be willing to call everything balanced but the berserk icon would still exist in the combat menu and no one would be able to use it, so I didn't want to go there since it seemed like kind of a lame "fix".

I didn't want to really nerf anything when I started out, but it ended up seeming like the best thing to do in a few cases. Overall, the changes I made were about making less useful stuff more useful though.

Big changes since last time:

Made it so Rogues can't use swords - there was no way to prevent the backstab mechanic from what I could see, so making this nerf ended up seeming like the best way to balance the class, in addition to having them acquire their Thieves Daggers a little later into the game

Reworked loot somewhat - No more level sensor that prevents you from getting the good stuff, you already have a low % chance anyways. Removed storebought items from the important chests and added a few more useful items to their loot lists, you shouldn't ever feel cheated after opening one of these now.

Spells - Went over the entire spell list, and I'm glad I did. Kaucukovnik gave out some buffs, but he only improved some spells and the way he did it seemed kind of random. I gave every spell a flat damage boost based on its spell level and it seemed to work quite well from my test playthroughs, and the changes came out close to what Kaucukovnik had already done for the spells that he did change. I also took into account an earlier suggestion by Black and made it so all the duration buffs can be cast by 2 schools of magic, you shouldn't feel like you have to have wizardry/divinity that much more than psionics/alchemy now.

Items - Went through allll the items and gave out (mostly) small buffs where they seemed appropriate, as well as making a few fixes. For the most part this involved giving early weapons a few extra points of damage so that they weren't so outclassed & useless. Bloodlust and Diamond Eyes were the biggest nerfs I made, otherwise I reduced the initiative on a few weapons and that was about it. Like I said I didn't want to nerf anything really, so I was mostly handing out damage buffs. Every weapon should now have some kind of use, or have a level of power appropriate to where you can find it at the very least.

 

[Achebur]

Install the most recent version of the enhancements (http://www.mediafire.com/download/u8o91pl2b77c28c/Wizardry8_Enhanced_v0.9_RC.exe) and extract these files to your Wizardry8 directory afterwards if you want to use them.



Minor Update: 8/5/2018 - Small typo fix (data\strings\stringdata.dat)

Tantris uses his unique character portrait that was available in the game's files, but unassigned to him (data\databases\npc.dbs)



Class Changes - Remove Data\classesabilities.cfdat or Data\classesexpgroup.cfdat or Data\classesitems.cfdat or Data\classesskills.cfdat to prevent some/all changes

Fighter - XP Group changed to Elite, same as Bishop. Removed Stamina Regen.
Lord - Removed AC+2 and +5% Magic Resist, added Stamina Regen.
Ninja - Given cloth starting armor as Kaucukovnik intended.
Rogue - Cannot use swords, skill removed.



Monster Changes - Remove data\databases\monsters.dbs to prevent changes

Dark Savant - Now has 80% Physical Damage Resist

Brekek doesn't give any XP, so if you have OCD and like to keep all your characters at the same amount of experience then it's easier to manage now



Vendor Changes - Remove data\databases\npc.dbs to prevent changes

All vendors will always have their entire stock of items available, no more RNG involved.
Vendors carrying daggers/nunchaka will have 2 of each in stock for dual wielders.
Reworked the way Ammunition is sold, Ta-Li Stones & Armor Piercing Arrows come earlier and Medusa Stones later.
Cut down on amounts sold so that vendors don't get overloaded with normal ammo quite as fast, they will have more throwing weapon ammo available though.

Burz & He'Li - 4 sets of Arrows, Bullet Stones, and Quarrels, and Burz has a set of Musket Balls

Antone - 4 sets of Precision Arrows, Spike Stones, and Fear Bolts, no longer sells Thieves Dagger

Anna - 4 sets of Shrike Arrows, Barbed Arrows, Spike Stones, and Hunter Quarrels

Fuzzfas - 4 sets of Barbed Arrows, Spike Stones, and Hunter Quarrels

Sgt. Kunar - 4 sets of Barbed Arrows, Impaling Stones, Hunter Quarrels, and Musket Balls, and a set of Rockets

Sadok - 4 sets of Viper Arrows, Impaling Stones, and Fear Bolts

Crock - 4 sets of Armor Piercers, Ta-Li Stones, and Hunter Quarrels, no longer sells Thieves Dagger - Now sells Ninjato

Ferro - 4 sets of Mystic Arrows, Medusa Stones, and Lightning Bolts, no longer sells Platinum Greaves or Snakeskin Boots - Now sells Thieves Dagger and Hi-Kane-Do (L) as well as (U)

Don Barlone - Now sells Sai

Bela - No longer sells Ankh of Might



Loot Changes - Remove data\databases\itemtables.dbs to prevent changes

Removed the Level Sensor from anything that had it, no need to be high level to receive the best loot

Life Chest/Chaos Chest/Knowledge Chest/Rapax Queen Chest/Bayjin Nessie Chest/Marten Chest - Removed storebought items from loot lists, ensuring more worthwhile rewards.
Ring of Power/Ring of Stars added as potential drops to Rapax Queen Chest/Marten Chest.

Rapax King's Chest - Platinum Greaves and Snakeskin Boots added as guaranteed drops, removed storebought items from loot list



Spell Changes (See Wiz8_Enhanced.pdf for accurate comparison) - Remove data\databases\spelltables.dbs to prevent changes

All duration buffs can be used by at least 2 schools of magic now:

Enchanted Blade - Divinity users can cast
Missile Shield - Alchemy users can cast
Armorplate - Wizardry users can cast
Magic Screen & X-Ray - Psionic users can cast


Magic damage boosted by Spell Level:

Acid Splash - Damage from 1-7 to 1-8
Frost - Damage from 1-7 to 1-8
Make Wounds - Damage from 2-6 to 2-7
Mind Stab - Damage from 2-8 to 2-9

Holy Water - Damage from 2-10 to 3-11
Razor Cloak - Damage from 4-6 to 5-7
Shrill Sound - Damage from 3-4 to 2-6

Fireball - Damage from 4-8 to 3-10
Noxious Fumes - Damage from 1-6 to 2-8
Psionic Fire - Damage from 4-12 to 3-12
Whipping Rocks - Damage from 4-10 to 3-12

Acid Bomb - Damage from 3-6 to 3-8
Crush - Damage from 12-30 to 4-32
Ego Whip - Damage from 2-14 to 4-16
Fire Bomb - Damage from 2-10 to 4-12 (Removed added duration)
Iceball - Damage from 2-12 to 4-12
Ring of Fire - Damage from 1-6 to 3-8
Whirlwind - Damage from 3-12 to 4-10

Dehydrate - Damage from 2-38 to 4-41
Psionic Blast - Damage from 2-14 to 4-17
Toxic Cloud - Damage from 1-6 to 3-7

Banish - Damage from 3-27 to 6-30
Blizzard - Damage from 4-20 to 5-21
Boiling Blood - Damage from 2-38 to 5-41
Draining Cloud - Damage from 3-9 to 4-8
Firestorm - Damage from 1-12 to 5-11
Lifesteal - Damage from 4-16 to 7-19
Lightning - Damage from 6-18 to 5-19
Might to Magic - Damage from 3-27 to 6-30
Prismic Ray - Damage from 3-18 to 5-19

Cerebral Hemorrage - Damage from 16-44 to 5-52
Concussion - Damage from 2-48 to 5-52
Earthquake - Damage from 5-30 to 6-25
Falling Stars - Damage from 1-24 to 5-20
Mind Flay - Damage from 3-21 to 6-25
Nuclear Blast - Damage from 4-24 to 6-25
Prismic Chaos - Damage from 6-30 to 6-31
Tsunami - Damage from 4-36 to 6-31



Item Changes (See last page of Wiz8_Enhanced.pdf for accurate comparison) - Remove data\databases\items.dbs and data\databases\itemdesc.dbs to prevent changes

General Fixes - Some of the new item images wouldn't fit in the secondary slot, so I swapped these images out and gave them to other weapons as a fix.
There was also one staff that was causing the game to crash while looting the Rapax King's chest that was fixed by swapping the icon out.
Some items with no spell attached were listed with 0 charges, these (non)charges were removed.
Trying to merge 2 Daggers will no longer create a glitched dagger.

Ninjas can use all of the armor that the Monk can.

Rogues can't equip any swords.

Mace/Stun Mace/Blade Cuisinart/Demonsbane/Ivory Blade/Ankh of Sanctity - Kaucukovnik's changes removed, items are back to their original stats

Bastard Sword - Damage from 4-10 to 5-11
Rapier - Damage from 1-7 to 2-8
Wakizashi - Damage from 1-6 to 2-7
Katana - Damage from 2-7 to 3-8
Bloodlust - Initiative from +6 to +3, bonus swing removed
Enchanted Katana - Damage from 4-9 to 5-10
No-Dachi - Damage from 5-25 to 7-23
Vorpal Blade - Damage from 4-18 to 6-20
Sword of Fire - Damage from 5-23 to 11-29
The Avenger - Initiative from +2 to -1
Excaliber - Initiative from -5 to -2

Bearded War Axe - Damage from 2-12 to 4-10
Hatchet - Damage from 2-9 to 4-12
Hand Axe - Damage from 1-12 to 5-11
Battle Axe - Damage from 2-8 to 6-12, Initiative from 0 to -2
Beastslayer - Damage from 8-20 to 7-21, To Hit from +3 back to +1
Plague Axe - Damage from 4-12 to 8-20, Initiative from -2 to 0, Uncursed
Woodsman's Axe - Damage from 3-17 to 6-20
Crusader's 2H Axe +1 - Damage from 7-29 to 10-32
Axe of Many Runes - Damage from 6-30 to 9-33, Initiative from -14 to -6, To Hit from -3 to -1
The Ripper - Damage from 10-28 to 9-30, Kill% from 10% back to 5%
Blades of Aesir - Damage from 10-36 to 8-38

Spear - Damage from 1-10 to 3-10
Halberd - Damage from 5-18 to 6-18
Naginata - Damage from 4-19 to 7-22
Spear of Death - Damage from 9-17 to 11-21
Dread Spear/Mystic Spear - Initiative from +2 to -1
Faust Halberd - HP Regen -3 to -1

Flail - Damage from 3-8 to 3-11
Bullwhip - Damage from 1-7 to 2-8
Maiden Head - Damage from 3-18 to 9-24
Vulcan Hammer - Damage from 8-20 to 12-24
Diamond Eyes - Damage from 7-22 to 3-18
Zizka Star - 20% KO (from 10%), HP & Stamina Regen +1, To Hit +3 (from +4), Initiative 0 (from +1) - Removed turncoat, stat requirements, and Iron Will/Senses changes
Vampire Chain - Damage from 9-21 to 10-22

Dagger - Damage from 1-4 to 1-6
Main Gauche - Damage from 1-5 to 1-7
Baselard - Damage from 1-7 to 1-8
Poignard - Damage from 1-8 to 2-9
Poison Dagger - Damage from 4-8 to 4-10
Doublestrike Dagger - Damage from 1-4 to 1-6
Stiletto - Damage from 3-7 to 3-9
Serpent's Tooth - Poison strength from 0 to 7 (fix/buff)
Ninjato - To Hit +2 (from +1), Initiative +3 (from +2), 4-12 damage (from 3-9) - Price: 2800 (from 700)
Sai - To Hit +3 (from +1), Initiative +4 (from +2), 5-19 damage (from 3-11) - Price: 12500 (from 2500)

Short Staff - Damage from 1-4 to 1-6
Faerie Stick - Damage from 1-5 to 1-7
Shillelah - Damage from 1-6 to 1-8
Stave of Silence - Damage from 2-7 to 3-8
Staff Pro Paralysis - Damage from 3-8 to 4-9
Wand of Winds - Damage from 6-10 to 7-11
Winterwand - Damage from 4-8 to 5-9
Thunder Stick - Damage from 4-10 to 5-11
Wand of Static - Damage from 1-8 to 2-9
Cane of Corprus - Armor -3 to Armor -1
Quarter Staff - Damage from 1-5 to 1-7
Bo - Damage from 1-8 to 2-9
Monstrance - Damage from 2-9 to 3-10, removed Piety +5
Staff of Blessing - Damage from 1-10 to 2-11
Spirit Staff - Damage from 2-11 to 3-12
Staff of Charming - Damage from 1-10 to 3-12

Omnigun Mk 6 - Supposed to have 5% KO instead of 5% Kill, fixed
Flamethrower - Firestorm from power 1 (5-11) to power 3 (15-33)

Throwing Stiletto - Damage from 3-7 to 3-9
Boomerang Shuriken - Damage from 2-7 to 5-11

Steelhide Breastplate - Strength +5
Featherweight Armor - Stamina Regen +1
Kabuto - Price from 700 to 3000
Doll's Gloves - Mage and Psionic can equip

Necklace of Endurance - Faerie and Android can equip
Aeromancer/Geomancer/Hydromancer/Pyromancer Ring - All classes can equip
Amulet of Nebdar - All classes can equip
Ankh of Might - Price from 4000 to 5000
Amulet of Healing - AC+3 to AC+1

Book of Death - Psionic and Monk should be able to use, fixed
Book of Armorplate - Mage and Samurai can use
Book of Enchantment - Priest, Lord, and Valkyrie can use
Book of Barriers - Alchemist, Ranger, and Ninja can use
Book of Screens & Book of Insight - Psionic and Monk can use



Location Changes - Remove the entire Levels folder to prevent changes

View Distance increased by 50%, going too high can reduce fps and let you see stuff that you aren't supposed to in some areas, but a small 50% increase didn't make anything stand out to me and it makes the game much more playable in my opinion

X-ray chip correctly added to Mt. Gigas Caves in place of Ptorch (mtgigas1.sts)

Placed Ankh of Might in Anselm's cave in Mountain Wilderness (northeastwilderness.sts)



http://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-TnaqZbcqAvcnF0Y29tS1o1RnM

Feel free to leave feedback.

 

[dopefisher]

Downloading and testing now.
BTW, I have been playing Wiz 8 off and on since 2001. It's really great people are still working on it!
As for the view distance, I set it to 2000 in the editor when I was messing around in it. What exactly do you mean by "stuff you aren't supposed to see?" Like, could it cause early fights and such?

 

[Black]

Kaucukovnik was last seen:
Sep 24, 2017
That's some good news at least.

 

[Achebur]

Like, could it cause early fights and such?

I think it can actually, according to what someone else said. If I remember correctly, the patrol type mobs are able to see you from farther off and slowly hone in on you. That being said I did my first playthrough with view distance set to 1000 everywhere I think and I got through the game just fine.

And by "stuff you aren't supposed to see" I mean you can literally see parts of certain levels that you shouldn't be able to. Lower Monastery is the easiest place to see it happen. If you go through the water to where the battle axe and potions are and look back over at the Monastery itself, you should be able to see a hallway sticking out of the side of the mountain if your view distance is set high enough.

 

[dopefisher]

Been playing since I last posted, using your mod, and it's been working great. Thanks!

 

[Piotrovitz]

Not sure if Kaucukovnik is still here, but just wanted to drop by and say that this mod had made me actually finish wiz8 for the first time.

Rebalancing, new item icons etc are all cool, but what takes the cake is the increased speed of all projectiles. Even with wizfast, ranged fight were taking forever and I always lost steam around swamp/bluff cause of that shit.

Since Achebur seems to keep the mod rolling and rebalancing more stuff, I'll just drop one suggestion - make bloodlust usable only by fighting classes.

In the party I strolled through expert, high speed/dex/str melee bard with bloodlust was OPd as fuck, and was probably the MVP in terms of overall usefulness.
After starting fights with rousing drums, with multiple berserk swings she dished out dmg almost comparable to fighter with ivory and rogue with fang. Cursed status doesn't cut it, since's she's playing cellos and shit anyway.

Christian Coder's mod i used earlier does this restriction (also for samurai) and it made sense. IMO bard should be an utility class with mediocre melee/ranged potential, not a fighter/mage powerhouse.

 

[Endarire]

The readme lists info for 1.0 RC, but the download is listed as 0.9 RC. Which version is newest and how to get/use it?

 

[Endarire]

Greetings, Achebur!

I like some of your Wiz8+ tweaks, most notably:
-Increased draw distance.
-Shop inventory derandomization.
-Decluttered loot lists.

However, I would like to be able to play with the Christian Coder's Wiz8 Mod from JeffLudwig.com. How compatible are these mods? What would be necessary for them to be compatible?

Thankee!

 

[Achebur]

Not sure if Kaucukovnik is still here, but just wanted to drop by and say that this mod had made me actually finish wiz8 for the first time.

Rebalancing, new item icons etc are all cool, but what takes the cake is the increased speed of all projectiles. Even with wizfast, ranged fight were taking forever and I always lost steam around swamp/bluff cause of that shit.

Since Achebur seems to keep the mod rolling and rebalancing more stuff, I'll just drop one suggestion - make bloodlust usable only by fighting classes.

In the party I strolled through expert, high speed/dex/str melee bard with bloodlust was OPd as fuck, and was probably the MVP in terms of overall usefulness.
After starting fights with rousing drums, with multiple berserk swings she dished out dmg almost comparable to fighter with ivory and rogue with fang. Cursed status doesn't cut it, since's she's playing cellos and shit anyway.

Christian Coder's mod i used earlier does this restriction (also for samurai) and it made sense. IMO bard should be an utility class with mediocre melee/ranged potential, not a fighter/mage powerhouse.

Super late reply here but I nerfed the Bloodlust in my last update, it's still really good and is the bard's dream weapon for most of the game but it won't steamroll everything the way it used to.

The readme lists info for 1.0 RC, but the download is listed as 0.9 RC. Which version is newest and how to get/use it?

0.9 RC on the first post is the newest, I also did an unofficial update that probably has enough changes to be its own mod in one of the bottom posts on the last page. You would still need to install 0.9 RC before using it if you're interested.

Greetings, Achebur!

I like some of your Wiz8+ tweaks, most notably:
-Increased draw distance.
-Shop inventory derandomization.
-Decluttered loot lists.

However, I would like to be able to play with the Christian Coder's Wiz8 Mod from JeffLudwig.com. How compatible are these mods? What would be necessary for them to be compatible?

Thankee!

You should install CC's mod and then use the Cosmic Forge editing tool to make these specific changes that you want. Given the scope of CC's mod, I'm sure that it probably changes the same files that mine does so I doubt the 2 mods are compatible. I do list which changes go with which files on my last update post though, so you can copy over those specific files if you don't mind them potentially overwriting some of CC's changes. Using the levels folder to increase the draw distance would probably be fine at least.

 

[Shadenuat]

new Lords holy shit

flat AC bonus equal to another jewelry slot, regen hp, mace specialization, bonus resists, even regular starting mace viable as off-hand
Valks can rest now. early enemies can't even wound the dude, even Expert Gregor.

also should have added musket ammo at least to Crock since he seems to have lots of random shit anyway. and buff bows and some other ammunition like low level arrows.

Gadgeteers should be able to use T'rang shock/stun staves at least! they're tech stuff

 

[Roqua]

I just installed Wiz8 and this mod and Archebur's mod on top of it - I put it on the hard difficulty and I am having a very decent challenge. Is melee guys supposed to miss 90% of the time? I'm pumping 3 points into their main weapon skill and close combat and still missing melee attacks like there is no tomorrow.

I kind of fucked myself on the Arnika Road with the Rattkin bank robber guy. I have one save and the three QS slots and used them all to set up a fight with seven bats (that hit like fucking trucks) right after I used all my MP on a different pat of them, but a ton of those knife-hand guys and a magic lady showed up too. This isn't going to be easy to get out of.

Edit - Seriously though, does anyone know if I installed something wrong or is missing 90% of melee attacks the way it is supposed to be with both these installed on hard difficulty? A reply with words would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Achebur]

I just installed Wiz8 and this mod and Archebur's mod on top of it - I put it on the hard difficulty and I am having a very decent challenge. Is melee guys supposed to miss 90% of the time? I'm pumping 3 points into their main weapon skill and close combat and still missing melee attacks like there is no tomorrow.

I kind of fucked myself on the Arnika Road with the Rattkin bank robber guy. I have one save and the three QS slots and used them all to set up a fight with seven bats (that hit like fucking trucks) right after I used all my MP on a different pat of them, but a ton of those knife-hand guys and a magic lady showed up too. This isn't going to be easy to get out of.

Edit - Seriously though, does anyone know if I installed something wrong or is missing 90% of melee attacks the way it is supposed to be with both these installed on hard difficulty? A reply with words would be greatly appreciated.

Get strength and dexterity to 100 asap and look for weapons that increase your hit rate. I don't recommend playing on hard because this is exactly how the game makes things harder for you, enemies hit you more often and you have a harder time hitting enemies. It's more of a tedious annoyance than an interesting challenge imo.

If you're using my patch then the Fighter class was the only one I left unbalanced with their berserk ability, if you want a challenging game I suggest just not using any Fighters (or their berserk ability) and playing on normal instead.

 

[Roqua]

I just installed Wiz8 and this mod and Archebur's mod on top of it - I put it on the hard difficulty and I am having a very decent challenge. Is melee guys supposed to miss 90% of the time? I'm pumping 3 points into their main weapon skill and close combat and still missing melee attacks like there is no tomorrow.

I kind of fucked myself on the Arnika Road with the Rattkin bank robber guy. I have one save and the three QS slots and used them all to set up a fight with seven bats (that hit like fucking trucks) right after I used all my MP on a different pat of them, but a ton of those knife-hand guys and a magic lady showed up too. This isn't going to be easy to get out of.

Edit - Seriously though, does anyone know if I installed something wrong or is missing 90% of melee attacks the way it is supposed to be with both these installed on hard difficulty? A reply with words would be greatly appreciated.

Get strength and dexterity to 100 asap and look for weapons that increase your hit rate. I don't recommend playing on hard because this is exactly how the game makes things harder for you, enemies hit you more often and you have a harder time hitting enemies. It's more of a tedious annoyance than an interesting challenge imo.

If you're using my patch then the Fighter class was the only one I left unbalanced with their berserk ability, if you want a challenging game I suggest just not using any Fighters (or their berserk ability) and playing on normal instead.

I don't have a fighter. I made it our and went to Arnika and mobs there are way easier. Thank you for the reply.

 

[Lagi]

i suppose to play Wiz&War, but find out I have Wiz8 already. So... I install the stuff from here (fast combat/anim...).

any tips how to adjust keys? [i use keys a lot, i play wiz7 without mouse]

Spoiler

i put 1,2,3 for guys on left side of screen and 4,5,6 for right
below is my current testing setup

for casting spells is there a way to set amount of mana, without mouse click? [i know 'last spell' is handy]
seems to me casting panel is a 'decline' compare to wiz7

Spoiler

 

[theSavant]

I have tried to use keyboard controls as well, but ended up frustrated. Exactly because of the issues in spellcasting or selecting specific enemies to attack

 

[wolpak]

Just saw this thread (been a while since I played Wizardry, though I used to mess around with modding quite a bit). I love the direction of this mod. I installed and then added some of my own changes. I'll mention them here as they dramatically change a few classes but makes a little more interesting balance.

Valkyrie moved from Hybrid to Elite and turns into a Bishop light. She can now cast from all 4 schools at a -4 level hit.

Ninja loses alchemy and moves to hybrid (as it's really a hybrid fighter/MA and rogue).

Lords get shield as their primary and get 8.0 hp per level.

Lastly, I was debating removing ranged weapons from fighters to balance them.

Anyway, not sure if anyone plans on moving on more with this, but I like it.

 

[Urthor]

So tl;dr, first playthrough of Wizardry 8, definitely use this mod because if fixes the game, move on to other stuff after right?

 

[Strange Fellow]

So tl;dr, first playthrough of Wizardry 8, definitely use this mod because if fixes the game, move on to other stuff after right?

Yes and no. Definitely use the faster combat component, as well as wizfast, because it fixes the speed of combat animations. Don't use the rest of the mod, because the game itself doesn't need fixing.