This page was last updated on 28 July 2015, 3:44PM
Changelogs
Version 1.072
Fixed a rare occurrence in which in-game camera settings would be altered without user consent. For example, in an instance where Geralt opens a door and nearly immediately enters a dialogue cutscene. In this instance, the in-game camera settings (Not ini settings) would be saved with the transitional offsets as opposed to anything that was input by the user.
Version 1.071
Added a minor check to sprint activation while in exploration mode
Some changes I forgot to mention from 1.07 also included changes to bow wielding NPCs. Bow wielding NPCs can no longer block while switching weapons. Also made some changes to AI dodging (Things like Wraiths and Bruxa's) so that they wouldn't get stuck in loops depending on the animevents of certain attacks.
Furthermore, I made it so that their dodges have to actually avoid your strike to negate damage.
Version 1.07
I know this is a wee bit late (About 2 years too late, not to mention Witcher 3 came out ... o.o...), but I was working on it and I figured I'd share the finished project before diving back into the Witcher 2 story. Before I start, I'd like to say that the ultimate goal with these changes has never been increased difficulty, but rather increased fun and immersion to a certain extent. Alright, where do I start.
Camera Features General:
A lot of the camera options that alter camera positioning now does so in an incremental fashion as opposed to the instantaneous fashion it used to do so before. This is to keep things as immersive as possible.
The reverse side key (Reverse shoulder/shoulder switch) key has been altered slightly so that each side feels symmetrical. Before I'd say it was a wee bit biased towards the right side with the left side getting the short end of the stick.
Fist fighting static (The one with quick time events) now reverts the camera to it's base offsets as to prevent weirdness when one has a zoomed in camera and then enters fist fighting static. Once one exits fist fighting static things revert back to normal.
Meditation now reverts the camera to it's base offsets, again, to prevent weirdness when one has an unusual camera set. FOV should be kept if it's above a set number. In any case, once one exits meditation it reverts back to normal shortly.
When Geralt enters aiming mode when throwing daggers and bombs, the camera reverts back to it's base offsets. Same motto as before.
When Geralt is undergoing traverse exploration (Climbing up things, climbing down things, going through doors), the camera reverts to it's base offsets. Same motto as before.
Customizable Combat Camera:
I remember this was a requested feature, so I decided to introduce it into the mod. You have the ability to enable it or disable it via the ini file. I figured some people might not care for it so I added the option. Essentially, when one draws his weapons or goes into fist fighting dynamic (Pulls out his fists), the camera will incrementally shift into the combat camera settings if the user has enabled the combat camera and customized it as such.
Then when one goes back into exploration, the camera shifts to whatever the user has set those settings to. So you can have a zoomed out camera when you whip out your sword, and a zoomed in camera when you put it away. It should all happen smoothly and is hopefully satisfactory.
Combat general:
The ability to run out of attacks was a last minute thing I did after releasing the mod, and while it wasn't completely bad, I felt it wasn't as polished as it should've been. A lot of work has been done to ensure that this ability is as polished as possible.
The ability to run out of "actions" has been polished and placed in a lot of areas to give the user more choice. Areas that it has been polished in would be casting a sign, setting a trap, blocking, taking a hit, blocking stance, the end of a riposte attack, etc. (I could be missing a few things, but you get the picture).
Furthermore, I've ensured that one cannot prematurely cancel a block animation (Whether it was via dodge, running out of an attack, or some other action).
Combat range:
I've increased the range Geralt has on some enemies to ensure that what should be a successful hit is successful. Before it was a wee bit frustrating to hit things like Arachas because I didn't want to make the range completely ridiculous to address the ability to hit an Arachas but then you have ridiculous range for everything else. I've made enemy checks to that specific enemies can be singled out.
I've also decreased the range of the long range weapons (Like the Operator's staff). It was a wee bit ridiculous before.
Combat finishers:
It was always rather annoying to me how one wasn't granted immunity to damage when going into cutscene finishers in which the player has no manual control and can essentially be exterminated by invisible enemies. I made sure to ensure that the player cannot be hit when in finisher cutscene.
I've also added distance checks to combat finishers because it felt a little tacky that they could be triggered when you were two football fields away from your enemy. Fixed some spontaneous telepathic type deaths you could execute with adrenaline/combat finishers on certain enemies (Like Endregas, for example).
Combat Rotation:
In general combat rotation should feel better overall for things like throwing daggers/bombs, sign casting, and throwing punches.
Combat blocking:
Blocking has been changed so that you can now block while dodging, attacking, casting a sign, setting a trap, throwing a dagger/bomb, casting axii (With blocking animation this time). This is all provided you meet the requirement sides requirement (I.e. you can't block from behind if you don't have the block all sides talents) and you have at least 1 point of stamina.
Now I know you guys might feel that this is a little extreme, but I always felt like parrying was so useless when compared to Quen. And it still is made redundant in certain situations (Some attacks are impossible to block). I mean, essentially with Quen you can dive in and trade kills/hits for hits that won't do damage to you. It also has the damage reflection properties depending on how you have it skilled.
What I'm trying to get at is, seeing as how good Quen is, I didn't feel too bad making this change. From a thematic and immersive standpoint, it made sense that Geralt could parry when performing actions. Other NPCs do so as well (While doing things like casting a sign and attacking).
With that being said, I also made changes to the actual blocking of a hit so that every enemy at least reacts in some way after you've blocked them. In addition, I've made it so that you don't bleed when you block a hit, even when you take damage. Only the final blow will make you "bleed."
Combat Axii:
A slew of Axii bugs were fixed and the minimum time required to be in Axii was removed. Also, if you get hit during an Axii cast, Axii is interrupted as opposed to Geralt being able to tank explosions to his face while concentrating his Axii. Axii rotations should now work correctly. (Hotkey axii will rotate towards the targeted enemy and use ability key will rotate a single time towards the crosshair/camera direction)
Dodging:
Replaced the dodge roll of footwork 1 with the pirouette animation already included in the game. I know some people wanted it, so I figured it wouldn't hurt. Those who don't care for it would just move on to footwork 2 and get the superior dodge roll instead (Moves a lot farther with a lot more burst movement). Made some changes on detecting when one is dodging and fixed dodging on impossible to block hits.
I mean essentially the scenario was that if you "dodged" a hit that was labled impossible to block, you would get hit. However, if you had Quen, you would get "hit" only Quen wouldn't take any damage so it would emulate a dodge (Short of one noticing the combat log). Impossible to block to me doesn't mean impossible to dodge, so I fixed that little problem once I identified it.
Combat sprinting:
The mod introduces sprinting into the game. Perfect for those who don't care for dodges or pirouettes. To prevent sprinting from overshadowing all the other options too much, I made it so that you can only sprint forward (Camera direction). Essentially, if you're holding your forward key and you tap or hold the sprint key, you will begin sprinting provided you're in a position to do so (Any position where one can dodge, one can sprint).
Once you perform an action that takes priority over sprinting, you stop sprinting and move onto that action. On the other hand, if you stop holding your forward key, you also stop sprinting. Stopping sprinting meaning coming to a full stop when one was running at a considerable speed. To kind of rectify the situation from a thematic standpoint, I made it so that electric particle effects play once sprinting ends.
You can also sprint when you don't have your sword drawn (When you're in exploration mode or have your fists out, but not in Sneak mode).
Ripostes:
I changed the ending of a riposte so that it feels like a far smoother transition if one is not to dodge out of it or run out of it. Fixed some bugs regarding it's start up (Starting it up multiple times while a riposte is in progress, things of that nature). To riposte, now one has to be in the blocking stance animation.
With that being said, I altered the riposte blocks that occurred at a riposte's start. Riposte now functions more like a tornado of doom for anyone unfortunate enough to be caught inside of it. Riposte blocks are now fired off at regular intervals during a riposte clashing anyone who is in the tornado or approaches the tornado. Riposte blocks and the riposte attack itself has had their ranges slightly altered to ensure it's a more round method of collision.
Combat sounds and shakes:
Sounds and shakes have been added where appropriate to make sure that sounds are not missing where they shouldn't be (Like when striking a foe there would be circumstances when sounds would not play) and to ensure that hits feel more impactful when they should. Should not be to the ridiculous level of the game's base Arena Golems ( :| :Shrugs: ), so don't worry.
New Utility to combat attacks:
I felt like some attacks were naturally more useful than others given their animation and animation events. So I decided to spice things up. I've given certain attacks different qualities.
Guard breaker attacks:
These attacks break through an opponents guard if they are blocked and if they are blocked, it ensures that the opponent cannot block for a short period.
Bleed attacks:
If one has finesse level 2 and violence level 2, these attacks are guaranteed to perform bleeds on their opponents provided they're not immune.
Freeze attacks:
If one has finesse level 2 and Enhanced Aard Sign level 2, these attacks are guaranteed to perform freezes on their opponents provided they're not immune.
Fire attacks:
If one has finesse level 2 and Enhanced Igni Sign level 2, these attacks are guaranteed to perform incineration on their opponents provided they're not immune.
Stun attacks:
If one has finesse level 2 and Whirlwind level 2, these attacks are guaranteed to perform stuns on their opponents provided they're not immune.
Knockdown attacks:
If one has finesse level 2 and Whirlwind level 2, these attacks are guaranteed to perform knockdowns on their opponents provided they're not immune.
Extra damage attacks:
These attacks perform extra damage.
I'll see what I can do in terms of relaying which attacks are what ... (Perhaps Readme Extra details file in the zip file)
Player Throwing:
Geralt should no longer be able to throw daggers into himself...
Combat Fist Fighting:
I know combat fist fighting isn't supposed to be super cereal, but I always felt it was a bit underwhelming. It's function left a lot to be desired because of what lie in the behavior files, and I really did not want to dive into them at the time of this mod's initial release. Well, I dived into them.
I added the ability to dodge roll in combat fist fighting. That's right, you can now dodge roll when fist fighting. You can also sprint. Hit animations have been expanded to fit the exploration and combat sword modes.
Attacking has been modified so it no longer feels sluggish and unresponsive. You can now run out of attacks and signs just like you can when you have your sword out.
Adrenaline no longer drains to 0 when switching to fist fighting. You can't perform adrenaline combat finishers but you can still perform the Heliotrop sign and the Alchemy berserk adrenaline buff.
Overall, you don't feel as naked when you have your fists out now. You can't block and you don't have a sword, but you're still Geralt. You still have mobility, access to your signs, and acess to more responsive fists to ensure your enemies fear even an unarmed Geralt.
Misc:
Ensure that the death animation always plays when Geralt dies instead of him just idling as the Game Over screen comes into view (Which could happen if Geralt died while in Exploration mode). Taking a hit has been made more consistent across all three modes (Combat fist fight, exploration, and Combat sword).
Added turbos for sword switching keys, fist fighting mode key, and the sign hotkey keys. Axii also now utilizes the turbo method, albeit slightly different as to not Axii your face off (Blind effects because of failure). Essentially, you can now roll and hold the axii hotkey or use ability key with axii selected and come out of that roll with a proper axii.
Added an ini setting to toggle the crosshair on or off by default. The crosshair toggle key will now change that setting as well so if you toggle it off while playing and load a game, your crosshair will default to off.
Added an ini setting to enable or disable dark weapon effects. Options is the name of the game, and I became aware that some people actually liked those effects O.O ... :P
Added ini settings to customize how many talents one receives per level and specific to a specific level. (I.e. level 2 get 3 talents, level 3 get 4 talents, etc.). You can also set how many talents you start out with. Look at the installation instructions for more details.
Traversing exploration should no longer occur when you're attacking. I'll paint a picture. Essentially you're fighting new a door passageway. You're punching a guard's face in, but then the game decides, "Oh hey, you look like you want to go through that door." and then forces you to transition into traverse exploration mode to go into the door. This should no longer happen when you're attacking.
You should no longer be able to prematurely kill a stunned or knocked down opponent before entering the finisher cutscene. Essentially before you were able to "kill" your enemy and then proceed into the finisher cutscene to "kill" them again. This normally didn't cause problems, but in some instances it did.
*Edit: Made it so that the move left and move right keys function in the Arm Wrestling mini-game. While it's not exactly "perfect", I'd say it fits as a nice alternative to what is the sluggish mouse movement in the Arm Wrestling mini-game. Some might prefer it, some might not. Completely optional to utilize those keys. :)
I might be missing a few things, as I just went with the flow and wasn't keeping a formal internal change log anywhere, but this should cover most of it.
Version 1.06
Made some changes to Axii aiming. Also made some changes to the crosshair. I had to make the difficult choice of having the crosshair not collide with enemies on extreme close distances, in order to keep the crosshair from colliding with Geralt and his weapons. This does not apply to combat fist fighting's crosshair, which has been slightly changed for a better experience overall.
Essentially, for the player it means that they can no longer aim Axii (And only Axii, all other projectiles work fine at close distances) at EXTREME close distances with a sword drawn, but they have a more consistent means of aiming Axii. They also have a more consistent crosshair.
Furthermore, I've made some more changes to the ability to run out of attacks to make sure that you reach your desired movement direction quicker. It was previously slightly interfering with some dodge code.
I've also made some changes to the camera behavior file to remove how the camera automatically zooms in when entering doors and the likes, which was interfering with closely zoomed in customized cameras.
This is labeled experimental because I have not thoroughly tested it where I feel satisfied enough to say that I have thoroughly tested it. With that being said, I have tested it to a large degree and hopefully there's no glaring issues.
Version 1.05
Tightened up the code that allows Geralt to run out of attacks. A big thanks to Geralt_of_bsas for pointing things out which lead to me revisiting the code.
Removed the camera lock that happens at the beginning of an arena match. Essentially, in the original game when you first enter the arena grounds and the wave is beginning, enemies are already in play while your camera rotation is locked.
This change gets rid of that and now when you enter the arena, you have full camera control and you're ready to go.
Version 1.04
Added the ability to run out of attacks and signs when dodging is capable of doing so. This gives the players the option to either dodge out of an attack or run out of an attack if they so choose.
The method of implementation is seemingly devoid of bugs as opposed to implementing it via the AllowRun animation event code method. Other steps were taken to make sure that the player receives the best experience possible when it comes to running[cancel] out of attacks.
I've also made some slight changes to the vanilla code regarding knives/daggers, to ensure that they land correctly on enemies and that they don't leave their effects playing if they don't collide with enemies.
Version 1.03
Modified projectile aim for Igni and Aard to ensure that those projectiles don't end prematurely
Version 1.02
Added the ability to toggle the quasi crosshair on or off
Version 1.01
Minor performance change regarding the quasi crosshair
