More Expensive Crafting ?

[spaceweezle]

I'm on a mission to tweak the economy a bit more towards my liking. I would very much like to increase the cost of crafting gear at smiths, in an effort to give money a bit more importance. An increase in required materials would also be welcome.

Anybody found a mod that does this ? So far my search attempts have yielded nothing. :(

[eyecarrot19]

why, it’s already expensive if you spend money on other upgrades and don’t loot every village

[spaceweezle]

Originally posted by F31.58:

why, it’s already expensive if you spend money on other upgrades and don’t loot every village

Not enough money sinks. Can always afford everything I want. I don't even loot villages. Just selling those juicy monster parts and gear.

Plus I don't think a few hundred crowns is fair compensation for smithing special weapons and armour. This is the stuff of fairy-tales and legends. You could even say that some of these items are priceless. Oughta be worth a few thousand crowns.

[eyecarrot19]

Originally posted by spaceweezle:

Originally posted by F31.58:

why, it’s already expensive if you spend money on other upgrades and don’t loot every village

Not enough money sinks. Can always afford everything I want. I don't even loot villages. Just selling those juicy monster parts and gear.

Plus I don't think a few hundred crowns is fair compensation for smithing special weapons and armour. This is the stuff of fairy-tales and legends. You could even say that some of these items are priceless. Oughta be worth a few thousand crowns.

I was trading those mosnter parts too untill I had to buy it again for x5 more price for the smithing again, 6k quickly going into dust.

[spaceweezle]

Originally posted by F31.58:

Originally posted by spaceweezle:

Not enough money sinks. Can always afford everything I want. I don't even loot villages. Just selling those juicy monster parts and gear.

Plus I don't think a few hundred crowns is fair compensation for smithing special weapons and armour. This is the stuff of fairy-tales and legends. You could even say that some of these items are priceless. Oughta be worth a few thousand crowns.

I was trading those mosnter parts too untill I had to buy it again for x5 more price for the smithing again, 6k quickly going into dust.

Yeah. That's why I never sell all my parts. Only sell about half of my inventory at a time. Keep 20 of everything just in case I need to craft something.

Despite selling them frequently I'm currently sitting on a fat stack of Ghouls blood. Should be worth near a thousand crowns by the time I clear the rest of Velen. Should get plenty more from the respawns from all the nests I haven't destroyed.

The hard part is finding something to spend my money on..

[Yumeko]

Prices are a big issue in vanilla game: when you're charged with astronomical sum for some basic sword or crafting component you rarely even buy anything. On top of that there's loot system that generates rare and expensive ingredients like dimeritium plate inside a regular crate in some poor man's house. Ingredients having zero weight take it even further as you can loot virtually everything, so you never run out of crafting components or money.

Just install an overhaul mod, seriously.

[Bandy]

The economy rebalance mods available do not do what you want for smithing costs?
I've not come across a mod that increases crafting components either, some armor 'recipes' are just ridiculous. If you do mod one, let us know!

[spaceweezle]

Originally posted by Hi im Royeen:

Prices are a big issue in vanilla game: when you're charged with astronomical sum for some basic sword or crafting component you rarely even buy anything. On top of that there's loot system that generates rare and expensive ingredients like dimeritium plate inside a regular crate in some poor man's house. Ingredients having zero weight take it even further as you can loot virtually everything, so you never run out of crafting components or money.

Just install an overhaul mod, seriously.

It would be nice if the game came with economy options. At least very basic ones so that we could tune things like buying/selling and crafting prices. I half expected the difficulty setting would scale these things accordingly, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

Those economy mods all work on the same brute-force method of just completely removing items from loot-lists. The most obvious problem with that is it strips away the mystery and randomness of what you might find because now you know that you will never find item X inside container Y and so on. That type of system will also inevitably lead to loot boredom and/or dissatisfaction from continuously finding junk items even in areas that should rightly have a chance to have something decent.

Another issue, as expressed by users of those mods is that you can find yourself facing elite boss creatures guarding treasure and find little more than a pelt and a few crowns.

If I had it in me to create my own mod I would instead just reduce the spawn chance of items respective to each loot-list. So the player would still have the motivation to investigate all areas of interest with a hope that there is a small chance to find something special, even in the most humble locations. But alas, modding is not my strong-suit lol.

Originally posted by Bandy:

The economy rebalance mods available do not do what you want for smithing costs?
I've not come across a mod that increases crafting components either, some armor 'recipes' are just ridiculous. If you do mod one, let us know!

I'm not sure about Ghostmode as I didn't care to read through all the changes it makes, but the standalone mods don't appear to touch on buying/selling/crafting prices, only availability of loot.

I'm getting pretty desperate though, almost to the point I would pay somebody to make such a mod lol. I'm almost level 11 and very close to getting some Griffin pieces crafted. It's a very important upgrade for me and I'd like to feel that I've earned it. Parting away with a few measly scraps of leather and iron and a few crowns just doesn't seem right. This is Witcher gear after all.

[Bandy]

Originally posted by spaceweezle:

I'm not sure about Ghostmode as I didn't care to read through all the changes it makes, but the standalone mods don't appear to touch on buying/selling/crafting prices, only availability of loot.

www.rif.org

4. Economy, looting and crafting

Prices are a big issue in vanilla game: when you're charged with astronomical sum for some basic sword or crafting component you rarely even buy anything. On top of that there's loot system that generates rare and expensive ingredients like dimeritium plate inside a regular crate in some poor man's house. Ingredients having zero weight take it even further as you can loot virtually everything, so you never run out of crafting components or money.

The mod makes several adjustments to improve this system:
- merchant price modifiers were changed, so items no longer have 400% extra charge;
- loot tables were completely reworked to not have rare and expensive ingredients or magical items everywhere - they can still be found, but only at alchemy labs or inside treasure chests;
- all items have weight, so you can't carry hundreds of swords and armor anymore;
- due to changes to alchemy recipes and crafting schematics you won't need as many ingredients as in vanilla and due to changes to loot system you won't get that many of them anyway, so weight limitation won't create issues with alchemy and crafting;
- you are no longer able to gallop and fast-travel while overencumbered;
- merchant inventories were also reworked: more common items, generic food and alcohol were added as well as empty bottles (to support new cooking recipes and Preparations mod);
- negotiating monster contract price can now increase your reward up to 70% (if you're very lucky, average number will be around 30%);
- rare monster parts cost more than generic alchemy ingredients, so you can kill monsters and sell these ingredients for money.

Crafting was completely reworked and shifted much earlier into the game:
- crafted item bonuses are no longer random: no matter the quality, all crafted items have fixed set of characteristics you can view immediately while buying corresponding schematic;
- crafting schematics are more consistent now: you don't need monster parts to craft generic human weapon or armor, but witcher sets require a lot of rare materials;
- you now have wider variety of weapons and armors to craft early game;
- Lindenvale blacksmith now has journeyman level, so you can craft different swords early on without a need to go all the way to Oxenfurt (good for those not using fast travel).

https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/992

A problem might be you really need to start a new game if installing. Like you I started playing, saw the beauty and story, experienced many of the other crappy systems and went looking. Seriously, Ghost Mode (and some others) saved the game for me, I would have given up. Having to restart was just a warm up...

Modding W3 was a little different than other games, but I did not use a mod manager based on advice. As always, read read read and follow directions.

[spaceweezle]

Originally posted by Bandy:

Originally posted by spaceweezle:

I'm not sure about Ghostmode as I didn't care to read through all the changes it makes, but the standalone mods don't appear to touch on buying/selling/crafting prices, only availability of loot.

www.rif.org

4. Economy, looting and crafting

Prices are a big issue in vanilla game: when you're charged with astronomical sum for some basic sword or crafting component you rarely even buy anything. On top of that there's loot system that generates rare and expensive ingredients like dimeritium plate inside a regular crate in some poor man's house. Ingredients having zero weight take it even further as you can loot virtually everything, so you never run out of crafting components or money.

The mod makes several adjustments to improve this system:
- merchant price modifiers were changed, so items no longer have 400% extra charge;
- loot tables were completely reworked to not have rare and expensive ingredients or magical items everywhere - they can still be found, but only at alchemy labs or inside treasure chests;
- all items have weight, so you can't carry hundreds of swords and armor anymore;
- due to changes to alchemy recipes and crafting schematics you won't need as many ingredients as in vanilla and due to changes to loot system you won't get that many of them anyway, so weight limitation won't create issues with alchemy and crafting;
- you are no longer able to gallop and fast-travel while overencumbered;
- merchant inventories were also reworked: more common items, generic food and alcohol were added as well as empty bottles (to support new cooking recipes and Preparations mod);
- negotiating monster contract price can now increase your reward up to 70% (if you're very lucky, average number will be around 30%);
- rare monster parts cost more than generic alchemy ingredients, so you can kill monsters and sell these ingredients for money.

Crafting was completely reworked and shifted much earlier into the game:
- crafted item bonuses are no longer random: no matter the quality, all crafted items have fixed set of characteristics you can view immediately while buying corresponding schematic;
- crafting schematics are more consistent now: you don't need monster parts to craft generic human weapon or armor, but witcher sets require a lot of rare materials;
- you now have wider variety of weapons and armors to craft early game;
- Lindenvale blacksmith now has journeyman level, so you can craft different swords early on without a need to go all the way to Oxenfurt (good for those not using fast travel).

https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/992

A problem might be you really need to start a new game if installing. Like you I started playing, saw the beauty and story, experienced many of the other crappy systems and went looking. Seriously, Ghost Mode (and some others) saved the game for me, I would have given up. Having to restart was just a warm up...

Modding W3 was a little different than other games, but I did not use a mod manager based on advice. As always, read read read and follow directions.

I appreciate the effort you went though to dig up that excerpt. But as I have expressed before, Ghostmode comes packaged with too many other modifications that I really don't care for at all.

There are very few things on that list that actually appeal to me. And that's assuming the things I do want are correctly balanced. Just need some very basic economy alterations without all the realism fluff and combat skill overhauls.

Being that the modifications I need are so basic, I might put my game on hold and see what I can learn about modding. I don't like my chances, but seeing as though beggars can't be choosers, it's probably my best option. Cheers.

[Bandy]

Annnnnd yet you said you didn't read about Ghost Mode and what it can do for your perceived issue.

I'm out of here, good luck...

[spaceweezle]

Originally posted by Bandy:

Annnnnd yet you said you didn't read about Ghost Mode and what it can do for your perceived issue.

I'm out of here, good luck...

Actually the reason why I didn't care to read ALL of it was because I had already read enough that I knew it wasn't for me. There was no point reading further into it.

[Yumeko]

smh

[120 BPM]

Yes, the economy is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bad, congrats on realising how flawed this game is. You re going to have to swallow the economy overhauls or spend a lot of your time learning to mod files and meticulously adjusting every single recipe, which is an idiotic idea in the first place.

The problem with economy is not cheap recipes but the amount of money you earn at every corner. You are not playing a witcher here but a junk collector - an overlooked result of a rushed release. So the first thing you need to do is disable/lower enemy junk drops and then reduce selling prices of them. Not the perfect solution but a more reasonable one than bringing 20 swords to novigrad every 2 hours.
The next thing is the overabundance of premium crafting ingredients from looting, like alcohols/alchemy paste etc. This one is not mandatory but will defnitely help with the feeling of earning your proggress. I have made a mod that addresses that but it also has other features and isn't done yet. You might find something similar in the nexus.
The last one is increasing the money rewards for contracts and quests. Absolutely a must - what's the point in looking for a witcher job if you can earn quadruple of that by raiding a bandit camp. There is a mod for it, you can also customise it by changing numbers in a file.

Those are the "lite" changes you can do to w3's economy to make the game flow and feel a lot better. Then there are also ♥♥♥♥♥♥, imbalanced combat, overpowered character development and worthless alchemy - but that's another story.

[spaceweezle]

Originally posted by 120 BPM:

Yes, the economy is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bad, congrats on realising how flawed this game is. You re going to have to swallow the economy overhauls or spend a lot of your time learning to mod files and meticulously adjusting every single recipe, which is an idiotic idea in the first place.

The problem with economy is not cheap recipes but the amount of money you earn at every corner. You are not playing a witcher here but a junk collector - an overlooked result of a rushed release. So the first thing you need to do is disable/lower enemy junk drops and then reduce selling prices of them. Not the perfect solution but a more reasonable one than bringing 20 swords to novigrad every 2 hours.
The next thing is the overabundance of premium crafting ingredients from looting, like alcohols/alchemy paste etc. This one is not mandatory but will defnitely help with the feeling of earning your proggress. I have made a mod that addresses that but it also has other features and isn't done yet. You might find something similar in the nexus.
The last one is increasing the money rewards for contracts and quests. Absolutely a must - what's the point in looking for a witcher job if you can earn quadruple of that by raiding a bandit camp. There is a mod for it, you can also customise it by changing numbers in a file.

Those are the "lite" changes you can do to w3's economy to make the game flow and feel a lot better. Then there are also ♥♥♥♥♥♥, imbalanced combat, overpowered character development and worthless alchemy - but that's another story.

The way I see it is the solution to the problem can be approached on two separate fronts. On one end we have the abundance of loot and on the other end we have the demand or requirements of said resources. Both are directly proportionate to each other, in the sense you could achieve a better harmony by either reducing loot or increasing the demand and cost of services.

Being that I enjoy finding interesting loot on a regular basis, it would make more sense for me to make alterations on the demand/cost side of the equation. I could then enjoy all the splendour of pillaging countless containers and the loot management aspects that coincide with that, while ultimately not being in a position to buy and craft everything at any time.

I've been trying to get these modding tools going for the last 3 hours but I've hit a bit of a wall. I believe I have located the parameters inside my uncooked files and have modded them accordingly in a temp directory. Now I am having some troubles as to how I cook and pack those back into the game.

I think my biggest problem is I'm not sure which tool to use and for what. There seems to be at least several tools and methods for each modding process. So much confusion right now. :S

[Yumeko]

I guess, make sure you've read the description of witcher 3 enhanced edition mod. No more hobo gerry looting.