Wizardry 8 Expanded 1.1 (a new mod)

[mlspirit]

Hello!

I've made a new mod for Wizardry 8.

The patchnotes and description of this mod are in the ReadMe file (located inside .zip file, also you can download it here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wMUgcUK-cvtZx7BSYd9JeB2N_LHlzAGA/view?usp=sharing) or in the description on Moddb. It's highly recommended to read that file if you're interested in the mod. :)

1.1
Download it here:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/wizardry-8-expanded/downloads/wizardry-8-expanded-11


If anyone wants to keep the high res textures, it's still possible, you can download them here, but for most people they were laggy, so be cautious:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/wizardry-8-expanded/downloads/wizardry-8-expanded-high-res

[Zergs]

Ok, this looks awesome. This might be my go-to Wiz8 mod from now on.

Thanks for posting dude.

Edit - and a fellow Morrowind enthusiast! You are a man (woman?) of culture, truly.

[biogoo]

I have not finished the mod playthrough yet, but it is definitely worth playing. It has some quite difficult fights, so better make a propper party :)

[vysionier]

Is there anything that shows what kind of class rebalancing there is? And I’m curious about its new magic system.

[kaymarciy]

This sounds amazing.

[Mardoin69]

Originally posted by vysionier:

Is there anything that shows what kind of class rebalancing there is? And I’m curious about its new magic system.

This is all I could find about it in their reading;
Some traders and classes were rebalanced.
Bards and Bishops should be a little stronger than they used to be.
Same for hybrids.
Re-balancing of classes, magic tree, spells, items, monsters.
Stealth can only be gained through the items.
Also, fighters should be not as OP as they’ve been before.

So....stealth is no longer a skill from what I can tell. Aside from that....not sure 'HOW' fighters would be less OP and Hybrids stronger? Trader's I imagine just have better equipment selection maybe? Spells have been tweaked / edited--which is pretty common in most mods--as well as monsters. But, nothing I could find on exact details. I did have issues trying to run it with the cfinjector bat file. So, maybe just running the 1.28 exe would work better. Downloading it was kind of a pain....out of 10 download tries 8 would fail--I'm figuring it's due to it's file size being kind of large.

[malkavius77]

Yeah wish more information was given to how classes were "rebalanced". For one thing I find bards bishops and fighters balanced pretty well in vanilla game. Honestly all classes are fairly balanced, it just depends on how you build your party! I typically keep fighters and rogues out of parties that have melee hybrids, due to fighters and rogues tending to hog the kills. Sure fighters hit like trucks but that's the trade off of having no utility and almost guaranteeing your party is wiped out if they ever get turncoated/insane before you can sane mind them.

[vysionier]

That stuff written there looked more like version notes to me. I could be wrong.

[Mardoin69]

I could be wrong but, I'm pretty sure the whole thing is based off the 1.28 project. From what I've read online....the 1.28 project used to be called Wizardry 8 Expanded. This author may have just re-worked / added to it from there so, maybe some of the version notes on the early days of the 1.28 project would give us more details?

[mlspirit]

Originally posted by vysionier:

Is there anything that shows what kind of class rebalancing there is? And I’m curious about its new magic system.

Not yet. But I can do it, if it's needed.
Overall, I just didn't want to provide major spoilers. Yes, it's a vague description of the chages.
Patchnotes are at the top, the description of the mod is below it.
Also, the development of the mod was very slow with tons of ideas getting scrapped, and I was developing it by myself, so combining a full spreadsheet could be hard, but I can consider doing it, if it's important. Tbh, no one before asked me to do it, so I had absolutely no idea that it's needed. :)

Mod is mostly not about re-balancing, but rather about a new experience, with more variety. Emphasis on variety. A lot of new items for different classes, new spells, new monsters, textures, locations, etc.

Fighters have less health and less great armor, they're more of a damage dealer class now. Lords and Valkyries are more tanky, with better armor. Overall, every class has some special items to make them more interesting.

Also, I'm ready for some feedback, and could consider patching it further, if some things are poorly balanced.

Originally posted by Mardoin69:

I could be wrong but, I'm pretty sure the whole thing is based off the 1.28 project. From what I've read online....the 1.28 project used to be called Wizardry 8 Expanded. This author may have just re-worked / added to it from there so, maybe some of the version notes on the early days of the 1.28 project would give us more details?

This is untrue, this mod was developed by me alone and I wasn't even aware of patch 1.28's existence before biogoo mentioned it in one of his videos. I've added it in my mod because author of the patch suggested it, and it was a good idea, since for some people it runs better with this patch, with less lags, also, it fixes some of the engine bugs, it's a really good patch. But there's a way to play the mod without it - you can just use the injector. This name is just a name. :D It expands the game with new locations and other stuff, that's why it's called this way.

Originally posted by Mardoin69:

I did have issues trying to run it with the cfinjector bat file. So, maybe just running the 1.28 exe would work better. Downloading it was kind of a pain....out of 10 download tries 8 would fail--I'm figuring it's due to it's file size being kind of large.

I need to know more about these injector issues to fix them. Did you follow the instructions? Any error messages?
As for problem with downloads, it's either a connection problem, or, most likely, a moddb-related problem - I had problems uploading one of the files on their server yesterday too.

[Mardoin69]

Originally posted by mlspirit:

Originally posted by Mardoin69:

I could be wrong but, I'm pretty sure the whole thing is based off the 1.28 project. From what I've read online....the 1.28 project used to be called Wizardry 8 Expanded. This author may have just re-worked / added to it from there so, maybe some of the version notes on the early days of the 1.28 project would give us more details?

This is untrue, this mod was developed by me alone and I wasn't even aware of patch 1.28's existence before biogoo mentioned it in one of his videos. I've added it in my mod because author of the patch suggested it, and it was a good idea, since for some people it runs better with this patch, with less lags, also, it fixes some of the engine bugs, it's a really good patch. But there's a way to play the mod without it - you can just use the injector. This name is just a name. :D It expands the game with new locations and other stuff, that's why it's called this way.

Originally posted by Mardoin69:

I did have issues trying to run it with the cfinjector bat file. So, maybe just running the 1.28 exe would work better. Downloading it was kind of a pain....out of 10 download tries 8 would fail--I'm figuring it's due to it's file size being kind of large.

I need to know more about these injector issues to fix them. Did you follow the instructions? Any error messages?
As for problem with downloads, it's either a connection problem, or, most likely, a moddb-related problem - I had problems uploading one of the files on their server yesterday too.

Awesome. I knew you had put a TON of your own work into the whole thing and guess it was just a misconception on my part....due to name I came across in old threads and use of the 1.28 exe. No offence meant at all though.

I'll rework through using the launcher / bat file and see if I can reproduce my results. Was just crashing with some message about failing to load something....I'll post back on that.

And, yeah....have no doubt it's on moddb's end....I've had success downloading much larger files from other site's.....but...do see some failures with files over 1GB sometimes. Was a real pain downloading a 3.4GB file while back. So...maybe something to do with my ISP end of things....idk.

Love the mod so far though.
Running it using the 1.28 exe and have to disable 'High Res' texture's or else it gets choppy looking around outside monastery in start area. On a GTX 1060 6GB gpu for reference.

[Mardoin69]

Ok, so dropped all the files from the launcher folder into my Wiz8 folder (or else the batch won't work) and edited the batch file's Wiz8 exe path accordingly. This is what I get;

Edited batch file with correct path;

echo off
cls
CFInjector.exe "C:\MyApp\SirTech\Wizardry8\Wiz8.exe" "C:\MyApp\SirTech\Wizardry8\Wiz8.exe"
pause

Error msgs getting;

Launches, see SirTech logo, get black screen, then minimizes and get console showing;

CFInjector v 1.08

Windows Version: WINDOWS_NEW

Launching 'C:\MyApp\SirTech\Wizardry8\Wiz8.exe'
Successfully executed 'C:\MyApp\SirTech\Wizardry8\Wiz8.exe'

Looking for the process with module 'c:\myapp\sirtech\wizardry8\wiz8.exe'
........................................................................................................|

It then continues for awhile trying....

An error window is also open with msg shows this;

ERROR: You are viewing a msg intended for dev....Please report..blah blah..etc.

Debug assertion in module C:\ProjectsWizardry 8\Local Screens\MainMenuScreen.cpp line 135 failed:

Expression gXStatus.uiMonstersInDatabase <= MAX_MONSTERS_IN_DATABASE evaluates to false.

What's the solution for this? Thx in adv. for reply.

[mlspirit]

Originally posted by Mardoin69:

Awesome. I knew you had put a TON of your own work into the whole thing and guess it was just a misconception on my part....due to name I came across in old threads and use of the 1.28 exe. No offence meant at all though.

Thanks! No problem at all, of course, I understand. :) Just clarified it.

Originally posted by Mardoin69:

Ok, so dropped all the files from the launcher folder into my Wiz8 folder (or else the batch won't work) and edited the batch file's Wiz8 exe path accordingly. This is what I get;

You can use a separate folder for launcher, but it should work from Wiz8 folder too.

Originally posted by Mardoin69:

...
Debug assertion in module C:\ProjectsWizardry 8\Local Screens\MainMenuScreen.cpp line 135 failed:

Expression gXStatus.uiMonstersInDatabase <= MAX_MONSTERS_IN_DATABASE evaluates to false.

What's the solution for this? Thx in adv. for reply.

This issue is usually solved by running .bat file as an admitistrator.
Could you try to do that?

[Mardoin69]

Sure enough.....works if given Administrator priviledge but.......I have to first start console as administrator....go to the wiz dir and then start it. Or else, console will say it's not an internal command. I'm sure there's a way to change some settings so I'd not have to work through all that every time but, haven't dug into it yet. Nice to know it will work though.

[mlspirit]

Originally posted by Mardoin69:

Sure enough.....works if given Administrator priviledge but.......I have to first start console as administrator....go to the wiz dir and then start it. Or else, console will say it's not an internal command. I'm sure there's a way to change some settings so I'd not have to work through all that every time but, haven't dug into it yet. Nice to know it will work though.

Try right-clicking on CFInjector.exe, select Properties in the context menu, under the Compatibility tab, check the “Run this program as an administrator” box and click OK. Then, double-click on .bat. It should work this way.

[Mardoin69]

@mispiritt........sure enough, that resolves the issue. Can run straight from the bat file now. Thx for the tips.