The mod balances the crossbow damage, bolts' effects and crossbow related skills, so that the crossbow is useful also without the Blood and Wine's Cat Eyes mutation. Features also some improvements to ranged combat logic and a new bolt type.
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Changelogs
Version 1.33.1
Fixed a bug where crossbow critical damage increase would also apply to petards with Manticore set bonus 1.
Version 1.33
Unnerfed a bit burning effect from bolts damage scaling - logarithmic scaling start set to 2.5 attack power, instead of 2.0. This value was more appropriate for combination with Grand Balance Repair, where burning resistances are reduced.
Version 1.32
Lightning Reflexes skill now increases also manually aimed bolt base dmg by 3% per skill level.
Touissant crossbows adrenaline gain bonus raised to +5%, +10%.
Version 1.31
Adjusted Cat Eyes mutation and other small balance fixes. Cat Eyes mutation full health reduction reduced to 0.12. Critical chance on auto aimed shots reduced to 18%. Now double that for manually aimed.
Burning effect damage from bolt has now logarithmic scaling on attack power > 2.0. Duration scales
lineary as it was. Damage should scale with logarithm to avoid overpower on very high attack powers.
Precision skill with manually aimed shot crit chance bonus increased to 5% per skill level.
Version 1.30
Very small changes around per level bolt damage scaling above level 40
Version 1.29
Balance adjustment for explosive bolts with Cat Eyes. Since the extreme power up those bolts get with Cat Eyes because of possibile multi explosions per one bolt, following the explosion radius decrease on explosions after piece, now also the direct damage is reduced in geometrical progression after pierce(s). Burning damage from effect is unaffected by this change though.
Version 1.28
Cold Blood skill adrenaline gain raised to 0.03 per skill level
Steady shot perk now additionally raises the aimed shot base damage from +10% to +20%
Very slightly lowered burning effect damage from explosive bolts
Version 1.27
- Another blunt bolts rebalance following the previous update. Made the logic more consistent. All blunt bolts have now heavy knockdown chance (although small except heavy blunt bolt) and greater light knockdown chance. Cat Eyes mutation increases heavy knockdown chance. Changed maximum base heavy knockdown chance from 3 to 4 secs. As there is progressing force resistance in vanilla, so that needs to be countered by longer average knockdown time.
Version 1.25
Heavy blunt bolts (yellow ones) rebalance. Heavy blunt bolts have now basic 45% chance of causing heavy knockdown. If the roll fails, there is another 65% of causing light knockdown. With Cat Eyes mutation there is 70% chance of causing heavy knockdown, if the roll fails, standard effect of Cat Eyes that applies force wave to bolts applies.
Version 1.22
- Small optimization - cache extra per level bolt damage instead of summing up array of floats all the time
- Bolt base damage per level small adjustments (mostly between 30-60). Above level 60 put a constant value up to level 100.
- Slightly stronger per level base damage for legendary explosive bolt
Version 1.20
- Explosive bolts rebalance. Simplified logic greatly, which dates back to the time when I didn't know how to adjust buff effects easily. Explosive bolts no longer have special damage modifier (1.0 by default). Base damage is aligned proportionally to other bolt types based on vanilla damage. Direct hit by explosive bolt now benefits from manually aimed shot. Burning effect from explosive bolt is moderatelly weakened to counter the direct damage great increase. Also slightly raised the chance of applying burning at all. For explosive bolts 0.25 -> 0.30, for legendary explosive ones 0.30 -> 0.37.
- balance shift between silver and non silver base bolt damage derived from Geralt's level. Silver slightly weakened, non-silver slightly raised.
Version 1.17
For vanilla 1.22
Version 1.16
Minor balance adjustments. +5% attack power for Touissant crossbows, very slightly lowered silver per level factor, minimal adjustments in damage per bolt type factors. Aligned the BaW "vampire" bolt type close to Bodkin Bolt, basing on the vanilla damage. Not sure if it is even a bolt type that Geralt can use.
Version 1.15
Balance adjustments between damages of different bolt types. Added bolt type related factors that affect per Geralt's level bolt base damage and Cat Eyes full health enemy reduction. Most important changes concern basic Bodkin Bolt, which was weakened greatly and Legendary Target Point bolt which was strengthened significantly. Legendary Broadhead Bolt bleeding damage slightly stronger. Silver damage per Geralt level lowered very sligthly. Small bolt prices adjustments.
Version 1.13
Balance fix for explosive bolts with cat eyes mutation. Since this bolt keeps exploding after pierce, that makes real mayhem. To counter that, now after pierces, the explosion radius get reduced in geometrical progression.
Version 1.12
Fixed a bug that would unjustly weaken explosive bolt damage when target is immune to burning buff
Version 1.11
Cat eyes mutation description has now additional info with unlocalised string.
Cat eyes mutation is a bit stronger - in vanilla it is intended to be killer, as a lot of skill points have to be spent. Let's keep the idea.
Version 1.10
Fixed the bug with too low bolt prices - they should be more-less as in version 1.00 for vanilla 1.12.1
Touissant crossbows update for compatibility with the mod
Lowered a bit per Geralt level bolt base damage gain between levels 30-50
Small fix and adjustments in split bolt hitting the same target logic
Version 1.05beta
- Added initial Blood and Wine compatibility. That is a new bolt type damage adjustment, but mostly cat eyes mutation adjustment. This mutation now no longer gives any base damage bonus. Instead it gives a 50% crossbow attack power bonus. Critical chance changed to 15% increase and 30% for aimed bolts. The bolt stops being aimed after first pierce. All the other stuff from that mutation remains as in vanilla.
- Slightly increased steel bolt damage (piercing, blunt, fire) gained from Geralt level progression
- Adjusted the crossbow mean damage on left side of the stats screen to better match the real damage
Version 1.01
1.21 compatiblity
Version 1.00
- Improved split bolt damage calculation logic
- Slightly increased explosive bolts damage
- Slightly increased heavy blunt bolts damage
- Minor bolt prices and weights adjustments
- Target point small balance change - more point armor reduction, less percent damage resistance reduction
- Mod no longer modifies actor.ws file
Version 0.68beta
Increased point armor reduction of target point bolts and legendary target point bolts
Version 0.67beta
Griffin Merchant in White Orchards sells bolts only in NG+. In base game that would be an exploit, because of very low prices in his store.
Version 0.66beta
Added all bolt types to Griffin Merchant in White Orchard. So that in NG+ there is a bolt supply right away.
Slightly weakened bleeding effect of broadhead bolts
Increased Heavy Blunt Bolt heavy knockdown effect chance to 0.60, so that it matches stronger blunt bolt from base game.
Version 0.65beta
bolt prices adjustments
broadhead bolts bleeding effect slightly weakened (only less important params lowered)
introduced new bolt type - Heavy Blunt Bolt (req. level 25, causes heavy knockdown, available for purchase in Kaer Trolde blacksmith and Hatori in Novigrad)
Version 0.60beta
Crossbow critical hit chance and damage adjustments:
- Fixed a strange issue (bug?) from base game, where sword's fast attack critical improve skill affects crossbow
- Precision skill now also increases critical hit damage by 20% per skill level
- Alternative battle trance perk now increases critical chance for crossbow by 6% per adrenaline point.
Version 0.55beta
Adjusted alternative battle trance perk for balance - it now gives 5,5% critical chance increase per adrenaline point instead of original 8% for crossbow shots (melee attacks unaffected).
Small balance tweaking - slightly raised the damage progression over lvl30 and slightly lowered the silver damage factor for Geralt's level bolt base damage.
Version 0.51beta
Fixed a terrible bug - missing " in xml file caused certain memory overwrites which resulted in random strange behavior in game.
Version 0.50beta
1) Adjusted the damage progression curves. The damage = f (bolt, crossbow, geralt skills, geralt level, mutagens, etc...) and that had to be changed to achieve certain gains and better scaling. Generally the points at level 1 (or when you get first crossbow with basic bolts) and level 30 with e.g. cat or bear crossbow and strongest bolts are more-less the same. What is most important is that:
- red mutagens have stronger effect
- critical crossbow hits are stronger
- damage progression is more "steppy" to match what happens with swords until level ~30
- differences between bolts are more significant
- crossbows damage bonus now ranges from 1% to ~125%, instead of previously 101%-225%, which is more reasonable and even matches the damage displayed in inventory on the crossbow
2) keen eyed skill now increases bolt combined damage by 12% (note: to counter the significant increase of bolt damages)
3) similarily steady shot percentage is lowered to 40%
4) precision crossbow skill is now adjusted to match the new damage calculations: increases critical hit chance by 2% for quick shot and 4% for aimed shot per level
5) strengthened bleeding damage of broadhead bolts even more
Version 0.43beta
Compatibility with 1.12
Version 0.42beta
Made recipe for explosive bolts more demanding - requires now two more ingredients
Lowered price of ordinary blunt bolts
Version 0.41beta
reduced the chance of knockdown from 100% to 60% (legendary blunt bolts) and 40% (ordinary blunt bolts)
Version 0.40beta
strengthened bleeding effect of broadhead bolts
legendary broadhead bolts have even stronger bleeding effect than ordinary ones
blunt bolts now cause knockdown (kind of logical, but missing in base game)
slightly rised prices of all blunt and broadhead bolts to counter the power gain
Version 0.36beta
- split bolts slightly weakened if more than one projectile hits the same victim (very close range case) - in such case only the central projectile deals the full damage, the others receive a /2 penalty. They are still very powerfull in very close shots - advantage over other bolt types
- minor edits in config file
Version 0.35beta
New Feature: mod is now configurable (see config instructions)
mod no longer modifies baseAction.ws file
Version 0.31beta
- aimed shot at flying target removes the ~/2 silver damage penalty
BUGFIXES:
- bolt damage was calculated improperly (actually it was too high), but don't worry I have a plan to make the mod configurable in a single file, so that anyone can adjust all the damage factors easily
- the flag whether the bolt is aimed was not set when it should in many cases (like aiming at moving target, when it was not in crosshair during shot - this is naturally still valid aimed shot in most cases - after all if the victim is not hit, no damage is dealt except special bolt types)
Version 0.30beta
- bolts now deal randomized damage +-10%
- introduced aimed shot damage bonus. Aimed shot regardless if critical or not always deal maximized damage from randomized interval. Explosive bolts can't benefit from being aimed. From split bolts, only first, central projectile can be aimed.
- balance adjustment - slightly decreased silver damage and slightly increased non-silver damage (piercing, fire, blunt)
- adjusted silver damage in def_item_bolts.xml, so that it matches the combined bolt damage better (less magic in scripts)
Version 0.21beta
explosive bolt now always deals full damage when the target is already burning
Version 0.20beta
explosive bolts adjustment - they became too powerful, so I countered that. Don't worry, they are still very powerful.
explosive bolts prices moderatly increased
split bolts prices slightly increased (I've noticed the close shot can be very powerful, when more than one projectile hit the same enemy)
Version 0.11beta
New Game Plus support added. From what I see this was just a matter of replacing the "plus" versions of xml files with copies of the ones not in plus, since they don't differ in base game. Damage seems to be as expected in the beginning of NG+.
Version 0.10beta
Updated Keen Eyed skill description with unlocalised string
Precision crossbow skill now increases critical hit chance by 4% per level, instead of 5%. With more overall crossbows damage, this perk might be overpowered, so countering that
2x silver damage modifier is not applied to monsters that are flying at hit time (knockdown is enough strong effect)
Version 0.01beta
Initial functionality:
-bolt damage ~2x
-bolt damage increasing with Geralt's level. That is because the bolts and crossbows scale rather poorly with witcher's level compared to swords or armor parts. The bolt base damage is increased for all bolts by a constant that grows with Geralt's level (not linear) - gives combined bolt damage. This way that weaker bolts are gaining more damage relatively to stronger ones, however the bolt power order is always maintained.
-silver damage for combined bolt damage - 2x (combines with all bolt damage boosted 2x, so gives ~4x). This is not in xml file, because the silver bolt modificator is also applied to the Geralt's level bolt base damage.
-Keen Eyed skill (second one from crossbow column) now increases the bolt combined damage by 20% per each skill level (not yet in skill description). To turn profit the adrenaline/focus gain was reduced from 0.04 to 0.02 per skill level.
-Steady shot now increases the bolt combined damage by 60%
-Bolt prices reduced drastically, so that they are now reasonable, especially for a witcher who uses like 3+ crossbow skills and perks, so the bolts become essential for him.
-Bug fix from base game - on stats screen the silver damage from fire bolts is calculated and shown properly
Player crossbow logic in the great Witcher 3 is very weird. On one hand there is a killer Cat Eyes mutation, on the other hand, without that mutation, crossbows are extremely weak with no proper bolt damage scaling with Geralt's level. This mod fixes that by making the player's crossbow logic normal and balanced. That includes changes to bolt damages, scaling with level, balancing the bolt effects, balancing the crossbow skills, perks and Cat Eyes mutation. Features also some improvements to ranged combat logic and a new bolt type.
I recommend switching to Witcher 3 Enhanced Edition, my line of the mod: Less Hardcore Witcher 3 Enhanced Edition. I'm gradually adapting my ideas from this mod there.
Crossbow attack power bonus now scales from 1% to ~160%, instead of 101% to ~300% (strongest crossbow in vanilla, which is now 160% with the mod).
Bolt damage increasing with Geralt's level. That is because the bolts and crossbows scaling with witcher's level is not enough compared to swords or armor parts. The bolt base damage is increased for all bolts by a value that grows with Geralt's level (not linear) - gives combined bolt damage. Combined bolt damage takes bolt types and bolt damage types treatment into account.
Bolt prices adjusted, namely reduced. For some bolts the reduction is greater, for some lesser.
Cold Blood skill now increases the crossbow attack power by 12% per each skill level. Adrenaline/focus gain was reduced from 0.04 to 0.03 per skill level.
Bug fix from vanilla - critical hits fast style sword skill no longer affects critical damage for crossbow.
Anatomical knowledge skill adjustment - now increases critical chance by 2% per level and 5% per level for manually aimed shots. Also increases critical hit damage by 20% per skill level.
Toned down alternative battle trance perk for crossbow shots - increases critical chance by 6% per adrenaline point.
Explosive bolts balancing. Their burning effect is moderately weakened due to the fact that their direct damage is greatly increased in comparison to vanilla. The duration of burning scales with total crossbow attack power as in vanilla. Increased also the chance of applying burning to the victim. Explosive bolts: 0.25 --> 0.30, legendary explosive bolts: 0.30 --> 0.37. Recipe for explosive bolts is now more demanding - require two additional ingredients. With Cat Eyes mutation the direct damage and explosion radius is reduced in geometrical progression after pierces, namely divided by 2 (damage) and 2.5 (radius) after each pierce, so on about 3rd hit the radius is minimal.
Bolts deal randomized damage in +- 10% interval
Quick shot at flying target suffers /2 damage penalty - knockdown is an effect strong enough.
Manually aimed shot is now promoted over unaimed one. It always deals maxed damage from random interval (+10%) or if a creature is flying during hit, the flying damage penalty is removed. Also aimed shot gives strong benefit to precision skill and cat eyes mutation. For explosive bolts only direct hit (not radius explosion damage) benefit from being aimed and from split bolts, only the central one can.
Steady shot now increases the crossbow attack power by 40% and raises the base damage for manually aimed shots by 10% (that 10% damage bonus stacks multiplicatively with crossbow attack power bonus).
Lightning Reflexes skill now increases also manually aimed bolt base dmg by 3% per skill level. Like Steady shot this damage bonus stacks multiplicatively with crossbow attack power bonus.
Bug fix from vanilla - on stats screen the silver damage from fire bolts is calculated and shown properly
Added a new bolt - Heavy Blunt Bolt. Required level 25. Available for purchase from Hatori in Novigrad, Kaer Trodle blacksmith and Touissant blacksmiths.
Blunt bolts now can cause a knockdown, both light one and heavy knockdown lasting 1-4sec, prolonged by total Geralt's crossbow power modifier (like the base bolt damage is increased by that value). Even if the heavy knockdown is not applied, there is another roll for standard (light) knockdown. With Cat Eyes mutation blunt bolts' heavy knockdown chance grows up by 25% and light knockdown chance by 40%. Even if both rolls fail, there is the Aard like effect of Cat Eyes mutation like with all bolts. Blunt bolts knockdown chances (from weakest one): - Blunt Bolt (blue): heavy knockdown: 5%, light knockdown: 35%. Any knockdown probability then: ~38%. - Legendary Blunt Bolt (blue): heavy knockdown: 15%, light knockdown: 45%. Any knockdown probability then: ~53%. - Heavy Blunt Bolt (yellow): heavy knockdown: 45% (Cat Eyes 70%!), light knockdown: 75%. Any knockdown probability then: ~86%.
Griffon Merchnant in White Orchard sells now all the bolts in NG+. So in NG+ you have a supply right away.
Broadhead bolts have stronger bleeding effect. It lasts shorter, but is much stronger and the duration is still very long (5s base) and naturally scales with crossbow attack power.
Target point bolts have higher point armor reduction, but sligthly lower percent armor reduction. Legendary target point bolts maintain the strongest direct damage from all the bolts with the per level scaling.
Crossbow damage displayed on inventory screen is now better matching the real gain. However bolt damage calculations are now more complex, so you should only rely on the damages displayed on stats screen.
Blood and Wine cat eyes mutation adjustment. This mutation now no longer gives any base damage bonus. Instead it gives a 60% crossbow attack power bonus. Critical chance increase changed to 18% and 36% for manually aimed bolts. The bolt stops being aimed after first pierce. Increases also critical damage by 50%. Enemies at full health health reduction value depends on a bolt type, with default value of 12% (vanilla was 15%). Piercing and force wave effect as in vanilla.
Blood and Wine Touissant crossbows params adjusted. There are two basic new crossbows (others are just visual modifications). Weaker one: attack power +140% (in vanilla its equivalent to +240%, see point 2), point armor pierce +10, critical chance +3%, adrenaline gain +5%, required level 35, Stronger one: attack power +160%, point armor pierce +20, critical chance +4%, adrenaline gain +10%, required level 40.
Touissant crossbows are available in the Beauclair blacksmith and its clones, but have a lot higher price than vanilla.
The blacksmith in the Beauclair and its clones have now also a supply of better bolt types.
Compatible with 1.31*, Hearts of Stone, Blood and Wine and NG+**. Compatible with The Enhancement System*** mod (see friendly mods list).
* Both GOTY and non-GOTY. ** The bolt damage per Geralt level scaling should be ok until level ~70 (tested). Values above level 70 are filled more-less. This can be adjusted in config file. *** TES version 3.0 has CDBaB version 1.29 integrated, but with no BaW support.
The mod is incompatible with any other that modifies crossbows/bolts damage, unless see below.
Must be used with caution with any other mod that tweaks combat calculations or Geralt's skills or stats due to possible balance failures.
Must be used with caution with any other mod that adds new crossbows/tweaks existing ones. If the new crossbows' stats are reasonable, the mod will be compatible.
Most probably incompatible with mods that adds new bolts/tweaks existing one, since that won't take the calculation changes from this mod into account.
Installation (manual): Unzip the archive into: <game_installation_folder>/Mods/ If you update, delete the previous mod folder first: <game_installation_folder>/Mods/modCrossbowDamageBoost
After installation (manual or NMM) or update, remember to use script/file merger to check for conflicts (unless you don't have other mods): File merger After update, make sure you delete all merges of files modified by this mod and make them again. This way you can make the mods that modify the same file work. Also you can more-less see whether those mods are compatible - if there are heavy conflicts, there is high chance they aren't.
Configuration:
Go to <game_installation_folder>/Mods/modCrossbowDamageBoost/content/scripts/mod
Open file 'crossbowDamageBoostData.ws' in any text editor
Follow the instructions in file
Make your edits and save file
Restart the game
Note: Every time you update/install the mod again, reedit the config file, as new version might update it.
Recommended mods: Grand Balance Repair (Combat Speeds module especially for light armor build, increased roll speed helps in keeping enemies at distance, thus improves crossbow usage possibilites) No instant kill on knockdown (no instant kill on knocked down enemy with hp > 40%, this works good with strong knocking down by blunt bolts that this mod introduces)
Friendly Mods: No Infinite Crossbow Ammo (use the version compatible with CDBaB) The Enhancement System (by Mangekyoumadara1987). This mod is integrated into The Enhancement System. So if you choose to use it, you shouldn't install mine separately. If you endorse it, please consider endorsing also mine (to improve my stats :P).
Recent updates:
Version 1.33.1 Fixed a bug where crossbow critical damage increase would also apply to petards with Manticore set bonus 1.
