What is the "alternative balance" in community patch and what exactly it changes?

[Pr.Jitterskull - best bug fixer]

Just managed to finally update my gothic 3 game, so I'm curious what exactly it changes and if I really should get it. I wanted to test certain things so I started a new game, but I didn't found anything, and by far I couldn't even open the console for some reason... Anyone know how to enable TestMode as well?? After match, the ini file didn't help!!...

[Carver]

You can find the manual for the Community patch here.
Starting from page #4 it describes what Alternative Balance changes, and it provides most of the details.
http://s.g3cpt.de/manual/CP_1_7x_Manual.pdf
(TL;DR: AB prevents you from easily getting overpowered early in the game)

As for the console, there should be a file called ge3.ini in the Gothic3/ini folder, with the following line; ''TestMode=false''.
Setting TestMode to true in there doesn't works?

[Pr.Jitterskull - best bug fixer]

Originally posted by Carver:

You can find the manual for the Community patch here.
Starting from page #4 it describes what Alternative Balance changes, and it provides most of the details.
http://s.g3cpt.de/manual/CP_1_7x_Manual.pdf
(TL;DR: AB prevents you from easily getting overpowered early in the game)

As for the console, there should be a file called ge3.ini in the Gothic3/ini folder, with the following line; ''TestMode=false''.
Setting TestMode to true in there doesn't works?

Well, I checked the ini file, and it was on false... Looks like it was just patched as well, but now it does work. :P

"The attack frequency of almost all opponents has been reduced. The
only exceptions are Mummies and Zombies. The lightning fast storm
of attacks from wolves, wild boars, temple guards, etc. are over now."
Sounds like it gets rather more easy instead. And I'm pure mage user only anyway.

Anyway, I'm new in this patch, so I want to ask a question... Is the magic improved here?? Can I finally aim my spells where ever I want without it aim for me?? Like can I aim meteor and summing lightning where I want without aimbot, or atleast for projectile spells like fireball, lightning bolt and ice bolt??

Oh, and what I got annoyed\pised off most about Gothic 3 is that Hail Lightning was soooooo hard and long to obtain, sooooo hard to learn, wastes tooooooo much mana, but barely does damage to anyone and in most case it bugs (?) and barely even hit anyone, and even if it, it does really crap damage... So I want to ask, did Hail Lightning got fixed and/or upgraded to be actuality some fearsome powerful ownaging spell of End-Game as it supposed to be, or is it still worthless?

Oh, also, bonus question.

How do I adjust my ancient knowledge?? Writing that command and giving random number to it like "Teach INT 666" doesn't change anything... What exactly I do wrong??

Extra question: is there a way to DISABLE autoaim for spells, so I could aim all the spells manually and place them where I WANT them to place??

[hinti21]

I can't really help you with the magic or the cheats, since I play swords and havent used cheats. But the new balancing does NOT make the game easier^^
It decreases the value of learning points (you either get less per level up or skills cost more to learn, I cant remember)..apart from that it does nothing major as far as I know.
So you will not be able to get so strong so soon in the game (normally you could one or two-hit-kill a snapper, for example, before you even left myrtana for varant or nordmar...if you want to do that with rebalancing activated, you will have to grind heavily or totally stick to your strength and sword fighting skills while doing every quest available).

[Pr.Jitterskull - best bug fixer]

Originally posted by hinti21:

I can't really help you with the magic or the cheats, since I play swords and havent used cheats. But the new balancing does NOT make the game easier^^
It decreases the value of learning points (you either get less per level up or skills cost more to learn, I cant remember)..apart from that it does nothing major as far as I know.
So you will not be able to get so strong so soon in the game (normally you could one or two-hit-kill a snapper, for example, before you even left myrtana for varant or nordmar...if you want to do that with rebalancing activated, you will have to grind heavily or totally stick to your strength and sword fighting skills while doing every quest available).

"It decreases the value of learning points" huh??? What you said doesn't ring any bell for me, what is the "learning points"?? Experience itself, or the amount of experience you need in oder to level up??

From what you said later, it looks like it means experience? So you're saying, the leveling gets even far more annoying than it already was?? Hell no, I don't wanna be a gringing and waste my IRL life playing this skinner box simulator just to level up to the point that I want to be. Guess I'll need to play the original balance if I want to have more fun of game and be lesser annoyed at monotonous grind, i.e. skinner box gameplay. You know, there are better games out there that I'd like to play as well than being tryhard or grinding slave, or that video game beyond the misterious window that is not even installed on my PC, which some people call "real life" :P

So far, still not much questions are answered from this topic. :( So far, I really want to disable damn aimbot that only ruins all the experience of game and just make me think of generic bad RPG with thirdperson only game. No I don't wanna use sword, it is really boring, if I wanted sword I probably liked mount and blade, which I don't. :P

[Serchine]

Dude if you have no idea what learning point is maybe you should at least finish the initial battle at Adrea,after that you will be promoted to level 2 and know what learning point is.

[Pr.Jitterskull - best bug fixer]

Originally posted by Serchine:

Dude if you have no idea what learning point is maybe you should at least finish the initial battle at Adrea,after that you will be promoted to level 2 and know what learning point is.

did it a while back and probably didn't even notice it. And then again, to know what is it, I need to get my game fixed anyway.

[hinti21]

Originally posted by Pr.Jitterskull - best bug fixer:

From what you said later, it looks like it means experience? So you're saying, the leveling gets even far more annoying than it already was?? Hell no, I don't wanna be a gringing and waste my IRL life playing this skinner box simulator just to level up to the point that I want to be. Guess I'll need to play the original balance if I want to have more fun of game and be lesser annoyed at monotonous grind, i.e. skinner box gameplay. You know, there are better games out there that I'd like to play as well than being tryhard or grinding slave, or that video game beyond the misterious window that is not even installed on my PC, which some people call "real life" :P

Noone forces you to play it. Just leave it if you dont like it^^

[Pr.Jitterskull - best bug fixer]

Originally posted by hinti21:

Originally posted by Pr.Jitterskull - best bug fixer:

From what you said later, it looks like it means experience? So you're saying, the leveling gets even far more annoying than it already was?? Hell no, I don't wanna be a gringing and waste my IRL life playing this skinner box simulator just to level up to the point that I want to be. Guess I'll need to play the original balance if I want to have more fun of game and be lesser annoyed at monotonous grind, i.e. skinner box gameplay. You know, there are better games out there that I'd like to play as well than being tryhard or grinding slave, or that video game beyond the misterious window that is not even installed on my PC, which some people call "real life" :P

Noone forces you to play it. Just leave it if you dont like it^^

So what is "learning points", is it the experience?

[hinti21]

Originally posted by Pr.Jitterskull - best bug fixer:

Originally posted by hinti21:

Noone forces you to play it. Just leave it if you dont like it^^

So what is "learning points", is it the experience?

Have you ever played this game?^^
When you kill monsters and do quests, you earn experience. When you have enough experience, you level up. When you level up, you get learning points which you can spend in skills and perks.
Normally you get 10 learning points per level and a perk usually costs 5 learning points. The rebalancing does either decrease the learning points you receive per level or increase the learning point costs of perks and skills, I don't remember exactly.

[Pr.Jitterskull - best bug fixer]

Originally posted by hinti21:

Originally posted by Pr.Jitterskull - best bug fixer:

So what is "learning points", is it the experience?

Have you ever played this game?^^
When you kill monsters and do quests, you earn experience. When you have enough experience, you level up. When you level up, you get learning points which you can spend in skills and perks.
Normally you get 10 learning points per level and a perk usually costs 5 learning points. The rebalancing does either decrease the learning points you receive per level or increase the learning point costs of perks and skills, I don't remember exactly.

Hmm, not that bad, afterall not really make the game too much grindy for higher level plays.

[alation13]

The rebalancing increases the cost to learn many skills, you still get the 10 LP per level as you did before the rebalancing. Also you can no longer keep block up permanatly, after a few seconds you automattically drop your block, while this affects both the hero as well as the enemies you fight, generally the enemies block MORE than they did in the origional and are MUCH more effective at fighting. Also many of the stat requirements have been massively increased meaning that to be good at one thing you need to not be good at another eg, to be a good sword fighter you can't also be good at magic. By combining the increased stat requirements as well as making many skills more expensive forces you to specialise as you can no longer learn all the skills in the game like the origional. Plus lots of other tweeks.

If this is a wall of text,
When you download the patch there is a manual you can read that explains it in much more detail.

READ IT IT HELPS.

[Pr.Jitterskull - best bug fixer]

Originally posted by alation13:

The rebalancing increases the cost to learn many skills, you still get the 10 LP per level as you did before the rebalancing. Also you can no longer keep block up permanatly, after a few seconds you automattically drop your block, while this affects both the hero as well as the enemies you fight, generally the enemies block MORE than they did in the origional and are MUCH more effective at fighting. Also many of the stat requirements have been massively increased meaning that to be good at one thing you need to not be good at another eg, to be a good sword fighter you can't also be good at magic. By combining the increased stat requirements as well as making many skills more expensive forces you to specialise as you can no longer learn all the skills in the game like the origional. Plus lots of other tweeks.

If this is a wall of text,
When you download the patch there is a manual you can read that explains it in much more detail.

READ IT IT HELPS.

Well, I guess that wall of text had enough information to convince me to not bother to play it, thx.

[alation13]

Originally posted by Pr.Jitterskull - best bug fixer:

Originally posted by alation13:

The rebalancing increases the cost to learn many skills, you still get the 10 LP per level as you did before the rebalancing. Also you can no longer keep block up permanatly, after a few seconds you automattically drop your block, while this affects both the hero as well as the enemies you fight, generally the enemies block MORE than they did in the origional and are MUCH more effective at fighting. Also many of the stat requirements have been massively increased meaning that to be good at one thing you need to not be good at another eg, to be a good sword fighter you can't also be good at magic. By combining the increased stat requirements as well as making many skills more expensive forces you to specialise as you can no longer learn all the skills in the game like the origional. Plus lots of other tweeks.

If this is a wall of text,
When you download the patch there is a manual you can read that explains it in much more detail.

READ IT IT HELPS.

Well, I guess that wall of text had enough information to convince me to not bother to play it, thx.

Your loss. The devs have already got your cash.

[hinti21]

If you ever have a PC where you have admin rights, be sure to check the game out. It might not be an easy game, but it's definitely a good one :)

[Pr.Jitterskull - best bug fixer]

Originally posted by hinti21:

If you ever have a PC where you have admin rights, be sure to check the game out. It might not be an easy game, but it's definitely a good one :)

Most people seems to hate gothic 3 the most anyway, and claim it to be the worst and poorly done of all gothic series, even between gothic fans. I don't even see it just correct to always be log in as administrator in order to play a video game, it just feels so wrong. :/ Can't see how exactly "administrator rights" help the game goes, as I could play it without the admin rights before I got it patched. Some of the files are really just play on my nerves.