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Highfantasy Mod System

INSTALLATION- Is fairly normal and automatic. When choosing mods during world generation, additionally uninstall "Vanilla creatures","Vanilla Materials","Vanilla Bodies" . Don't worry, these items aren't gone. Highfantasy support assumes you are not using any other mods, as this mod system changes some of the very basics of creatures and systems.

CIVILIZED CREATURES GRAPHICS -
Before playing highfantasy, copy the file "graphics_creatures_layered" from the download
and place it in root-data->vanilla->vanilla_creatures_graphics->graphics.
You are overwriting the vanilla file. But this can be done UNDONE at any time.
Doing this will take immediate effect in a highfantasy world.
Probably best to save the original vanilla file somewhere nearby so you can swap.

UPDATING YOUR SAVE FILE- Happens automatically. When you go to load your save, a newer compatible version will be detected. Select "update" when prompted. Wait for the long load.

YOUR SAVES ARE SAFE. Adding graphics does not harm existing saves.

SPRITE ARTISTS- if you would like to work on highfantasy, and be credited, please get in touch here or on the forums (www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=178840.0)

RECENT CHANGES-
-fixed: Serpentfolk clothing, plant gathering, empty traders, pickaxes and woodcutting
-graphics: to follow graphical development, check the "graphics changelog" discussion

Q/A
"I see something that seems unusual or noticed something out of place." Before doing anything else, check the creature's description via Units -> Health -> Description. Descriptions will tell you when you're looking at a creature that is not entirely what it seems.

"Help! How do I- actually, how does any of this work?" Highfantasy includes extensive ingame tutorialization via descriptions for positions, workshops, menus, and reactions. Many readme files are also provided, including one for cilization gameplay differences.

"What is Highfantasy compatible with?" Highfantasy is not designed for compatibility, and is balanced around its own internal systems. Almost every vanilla file is modified. Errors are to be expected when using any mod that adjusts vanilla raw files. Some of them will be serious.

"I don't really like a certain part. How can I remove it?" Modularity is provided within the mod. Please see here - www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=178840.msg8438809#msg8438809

"Hey, did you consider adding classes like Paladin and Druid?" Considered and discarded. Classes, in things like DnD or your favorite MMO, are actually magic systems, and they're actually super limiting. Dwarf mods that add classes usually work either by introducing secrets which teach a bunch of magic interactions (even for non-"magic" things like barbarians having battle rage), or by introducing fake "races" like "Dwarf that's a Druid." Neither of these systems are elegant, and it doesn't make sense to me to call "perfect archer arrow shots" and "barbarian rages" spells. Instead, Highfantasy - like Dwarf Fortress itself - enables each character to be completely free to study whatever they want. You can be a Dwarf Sorcerer who uses magic with a pyromancy focus and is a damn fine archer and crime scene investigator, all in one - no fake races or extra secrets required!

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more consistent general gameplay
14 new and completely unique civilizations
better civilization-level gameplay
better systems and vertical progression

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Highfantasy is a mod layered atop of vanilla Dwarf Fortress that expand the vertical and horizontal scope of the game.

We incorporated elements of Tolkien-esque – and more modern – high fantasy, while remaining true to the vision of vanilla Dwarf Fortress. It’s balanced and bug-free, with each feature is designed to play well with every other feature.

Highfantasy focuses on 4 additions- Polishing, Balancing, Adding Horizontal and Vertical Progression Systems.

More of the consistent dwarf fortress gameplay you love, including 20 new semi/megabeasts
14 unique, balanced, different-feeling civilizations trading and competing in 4 fleshed-out factions
Better endgame hazards ranging from toxic materials and diseased creatures to siege machines to disguised impostors and powerful bloodlines
Balanced, rewarding vertical progression systems that D.F. hasn’t reached yet – guns, magic, and more

In total, the features are-
   1. "Raw changes you can't do without"
   2a 14 Classic high-fantasy civilizations with factions and distinct features
2.b More interesting underground civs
2.c Reorganization of the caverns; Dinos; Eldrazi horrors; More fantasy creatures everywhere
2.d Make animal-people above-ground more interesting/rarer
2.e A Divine civ to make divine language and materials see usage
2.f Yokai invasion and defense system, with mononoke (pokemon) training and evolution
   3a Flesh out existing civ gameplay
3.b lineage system for playable tieflings, aasimar, etc without ip-specific names
3.c Catapults, Gunpowder, Orc Sieges
3.d Better adventure mode (coming soon!)
3.e Hazardous materials, disguised creatures, and virulent diseases
   4. A complete and consistent magic system to complement Necromancy

Inspired by D.F., this mod feels a little more mysterious than others.

There are no I.P. based creature or ability names! You don’t “Cast the Fireball spell”, which is inherently DnD, you “stretch out your hand and project a ball of magical fire. You aren’t a “Tiefling”, you’re a “human with touches of fiendish ancestry.” There aren’t “Gold Dragons”, there are just Dragons, and you won’t know what they do until they’re eating your corpse. And so on. Dwarf Fortress eschews limiting I.P. based names in favor of procedural generation, so we eschew I.P based names until D.F. can out-do us. When D.F. adds procedural magic, we’ll take ours out. When D.F. adds procedural dragons, we’ll get rid of ours.

There’s one more thing. This mod promises to not invalidate the information you can get just by reading the wiki. There are almost no changes to existing creatures, items, or even systems that would make it so that reading a wiki article about that thing is not helpful to you. Short swords still have edged cuts, giant giraffes are still in the savage biomes, and candy still comes with the circus. (Two exceptions- animalmen have been moved to good biomes, and the third cavern layer has been squeezed up to layer two.)

A Balanced Magic System like No Other
Magic in Highfantasy takes inspiration mainly from the Dark Souls series and in part from popular fantasy ideas. Highfantasy divides magic into multiple “sources” and “schools.” You can learn magic as a 'wizard,' studying one of the schools slowly through a vertical progression system, or as a sorcerer with a special name by discovering the relevant secret. ...

If you want to actively follow the development of highfantasy, please join the dwarf fortress forum page at- www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=178840.0

Graphics Artist Portfolio
Lead Kiiranaux
Coordination Craig553
Highfantasy creatures Roux
Weapons Fuzz
Dwarven Domestic Creatures vettlingr
Dinosaur Placeholders EnemyPost