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About this mod
Alchemy
/ˈalkəmē/
noun
The seemingly magical process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value.
A process of transformation, creation, and combination.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
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Translations
- Spanish
- Polish
- Mandarin
- Changelogs
~Primer~
An introduction of alchemy into the world of the Witcher 3;
because whatever is there bears little resemblance to the mythical science.
because whatever is there bears little resemblance to the mythical science.
Those who seek simplism, inevitably learn to distrust it.
Once upon a time, talented Polish developers poured out their hearts and souls into a magical game. Taking as inspiration the brilliant work of Andrzej Sapkowski, they managed to bring to life the essence of his prose in rich detail and nuance. The game came to be known as The Witcher; this is my attempt to recreate one of its most interesting and celebrated aspects:
Introduction
If you’ve ever thought of alchemy as tedious, you’re not alone. Yet, as popular games exclusively dedicated to the task of potion making can attest, alchemy itself isn’t inherently dull or boring. The issue is the manner in which it’s portrayed here; so diluted, so simplistic, so stripped of its essence it might as well be nonexistent. This mod aims to rectify that; I urge you to consider it before you dismiss the craft entirely.
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Overview
Core
• Alchemy items do not refill.
• Alchemy items do not have an arbitrary limit or “charges” (configurable).
• Alchemy items are single use. Each item used will be deducted; when none remain, the item is removed from inventory.
• Alchemy recipes for normal, enhanced and superior items dynamically share a single menu entry, greatly decreasing clutter.
• Alchemy recipes for substances and mutagens have been reorganized into separate, logical categories.
• Alchemy recipes aren’t static; their ingredients can be replaced with any other that shares the same composition.
• Alchemy ingredients aren’t infinite anymore. Some have multiple uses but eventually will be spent and need reacquiring.
• Alchemy mutagens taken from monsters can be transformed into plain mutagens by dissolving them in alcohol.
• Alchemy is only possible while sitting in meditation (Configurable).
• Alchemy is only possible when near a fire source (Configurable).
• Alchemy takes time by default (configurable).
Skills, items, and effects
• Potions’ duration and toxicity have been universally increased (configurable).
• Potions' duration is incremented when more than one of the same is consumed.
• Potions don’t manifest instantly, but require a few seconds to metabolize (configurable).
• Potions have additional beneficial effects if created with certain ingredients.
• White Honey’s Enhanced and superior tiers are restored, each having different toxicity purging abilities.
• Toxicity isn’t applied all at once but gradually.
• Toxicity elimination speed varies according to toxicity levels (configurable).
• Toxicity from all sources and types has been unified into a single mechanic.
• Toxicity damage thresholds have been eliminated.
• Toxicity damage is significantly deadlier at higher levels.
• Alchemy items display additional internal stats in the alchemy menu.
• Alchemy skills incompatible with the mod’s mechanics have been redesigned.
• Alchemy items’ effects and magnitude are intentionally left unchanged. They can remain vanilla or be replaced with a
gameplay overhaul. Toxicity and duration changes always prevail in case of overlap.
Economy and balance
• Alcohol prices have been adjusted to match the quality hierarchy introduced by the mod.
• Alcohol loot tables have been adjusted to remove unimmersive inconsistencies plaguing the vanilla game.
• Alcohols can’t be created in alchemy (with the exception of White Gull); they must be purchased or looted.
World
• Plants aren’t shown in the minimap (configurable).
• Plants spawns are significantly reduced in all areas, take longer to regrow, and won’t all regrow at once (configurable).
• Plants yield considerably more herbs when harvested (configurable).
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Details
Substances
Ingredients are comprised of one of six elemental substances: Aether, Rebis, Quebrith, Vitriol, Hydragenum or Vermilion. These substances are innate in all matter. Every alchemical concoction can be created by combining different ingredients containing these substances. Their combination and exchange constitute the whole basis of alchemy and the antithesis of the vanilla game, where each recipe was static and immutable. That is not the case anymore. You are free to replace any ingredient in a recipe with another that shares the same composition.
Besides that of their fundamental composition, Ingredients can contain one of three secondary substances, Albedo, Rubedo, or Nigredo. These serve no purpose on their own, but have useful side effects when combined in a potion brewed with ingredients containing the same substance:
- Albedo dominance — Reduces toxicity of all consumed potions by 20%.
- Nigredo dominance — Increases damage inflicted by 20%.
- Rubedo dominance — Regenerates vitality based on a percentage of missing health.
Bases
Alchemical bases -solvents, catalysts and spirits- are used throughout alchemy to dissolve, stabilize or mix ingredients together. In potions they constitute alcohols, greases, in the case of blade coatings, and catalyst powders when it comes to bombs. They can be categorized as standard, high or top quality. It’s possible to use top quality bases instead of high or standard, but not standard quality if the recipe requires a better type. If using a base of higher quality than that required by the recipe, the amount required will decrease. The quality of the base required will depend on the quantity of ingredients used; recipes with many ingredients will need the best bases in order to stabilize the mixture.
Bases can’t be created in alchemy with the exception of White Gull, the only craftable base. Stronger than other alcohols, this unique base can inherit the properties of the secondary substances with which it’s brewed, allowing it to be imbibed like a regular potion and grant the benefits the substances provide. White Gull can be used multiple times before being depleted, a property it shares with Alcohest, although three times in case of the former and only twice the latter.
Brewing
Brewing is necessary every time you want to create a potion or decoction. With few exceptions, brewing a recipe will require ingredients, an empty bottle and a base. These are not everlasting, they’re consumed after use and will need to be replenished -although pure alcohols and monster mutagens can last multiple times.
By default, to brew or craft alchemy items it’s necessary to meditate near a fire source. The mod includes a real-time meditation mechanic entirely independent from the vanilla game and compatible with other meditation mods; it allows the creation of a campfire (if there’s enough firewood), the acceleration of time and access to the alchemy menu. When brewing recipes within this state, a time lapse animation will trigger, the screen will fade to black, the camera will spin and time elapse. Disabling the ‘Alchemy Takes Time’ menu option disables these features. It’s worth noting that, while in the meditation position, toxicity is eliminated 3 times faster and toxicity damage is reduced by 25%.
Distillation
When creating items, it is possible to use raw ingredients or to distill them to obtain their primary substance. Using the pure substance affords the benefit of needing less measures to fulfill the ingredient requirements and, if using a strong or pure alcohol, allows to create enhanced or superior versions of an item. Distilling ingredients will require the purest of alcohols and two empty bottles.
Recipes
Enhanced and superior recipes for oils, bombs, and potions were eliminated, giving a much needed de-clutter to the alchemy menu. These items are now created from the same basic recipe by using ingredients with higher concentration of primary substances -or the raw substances themselves- in addition to a high-quality base. In each case, visual indicators will be shown in the alchemy menu whenever the item to be created is enhanced or superior. When creating items, the result will be:
Enhanced:
- If all ingredients are primary or rich sources of a primary substance, and a high-quality base is used.
- If the majority of ingredients (ingr / 2 + 1) are primary, rich or a combination of primary and rich, plus a top-quality base is used.
- If all ingredients are primary substances and a top-quality base is used.
Since the only way to obtain superior items is to use primary ingredients directly, it isn’t possible to create superior potions with secondary substances; this is by design. Players will need to consider their options and determine whether they need the large boost superior potions offer, or enhanced’s more moderate bonus combined with the added utility of secondary substances. If compromising is not an option, there is always the possibility of ingesting White Gull brewed with secondary substances, although that incurs additional toxicity and resource investments.
Toxicity
Toxicity was redesigned -from the manner it is acquired, its severity to how fast it’s eliminated- and unified into a single homogeneous mechanic; toxicity offset as a concept was eliminated. Applied gradually while a potion is being metabolized (30 second period by default), toxicity manifests slowly, it’s damage ticking from the onset rather than after an artificial threshold. Insignificant at first, the damage will increase in cubic fashion reaching 3.84% of total health per second at 100% toxicity. A seemingly high figure which can be overcome by investing in dedicated skills and preparations designed with the purpose to reduce toxicity damage and duration.
Toxicity will slowly be eliminated throughout a potion’s life yet some will linger after all effects have run out. This lingering toxicity is eliminated much faster though, without remaining toxins hindering recovery. On the other hand, toxicity purging will slow down when above 75%, a point at which the witcher’s system gets overwhelmed. Toxicity parameters, including purge rate, damage, duration and amount remaining, can be adjusted within the mod menu.
Skills
With the re-imagining of the alchemy system, many skills were left in an obsolete or entirely broken state. To address this, the affected skills were entirely redesigned and reimplemented. For compatibility, the new skills exist outside the vanilla environment, my system merely hacks into it to inject itself. The obvious benefit is minimal conflicts with other skill changing mods; the downside being the system will always override any change other mods make to these skills. Since mod induced changes to these skills would most likely be made with an incompatible alchemy model in mind, I see this as a positive side effect.
Skills: (These are all passive abilities and need not be equipped in order to work)
- Half Life Potions duration is increased.
- Catalysis Potions are metabolized faster.
- Equilibrium Potions induce less toxicity but last less time.
- Alembic Primary substance distillation generates greater yield. Chances of obtaining lesser mutagens in the process.
- Proficiency Monster mutagens can be used additional times before being consumed in alchemy.
- Mitogenesis Attack Power is permanently increased.
- Angiogenesis Vitality is permanently increased.
- Frenzy Slows time on any dodgeable melee or ranged attack thrown at the player. The effect depends on toxicity levels.
- Metastasis Maximum toxicity is increased.
- Adaptation Toxicity damage is decreased.
- Autophagy Toxicity is eliminated faster.
- Metabolic Boost Potions are metabolized, their toxicity is eliminated, and they expire, 33% faster.[/size]
- Efficiency Two bombs can be created from the ingredients of one.
- Heavy Artillery Bombs cause 3x as much damage, but weigh 3x more.
- Manticore Armor Reduces toxicity damage by 10%.
- While I’ve tried to cover all items that reference now irrelevant alchemy effects, some may have escaped my eye. Please, report if you find any.
Plants
The extreme overabundance of herbs in the game is both puzzling and troublesome. The fact that the simplistic vanilla mechanics only require acquiring ingredients once, leads one to question why they added so, so many herbs. This causes quite a problem once the depth of the alchemy system grows beyond skin deep. It is imperative, in order to have a balanced and engaging alchemy system, that the issue be addressed. To achieve this, the mod removes between 1/3 to 7/8th of all plants on a map -depending on the total- in addition to increasing the plant regrowth time from a default of 24 to a random value between 17-136 minutes. This ensures plants don't regrow all at once, and that it takes them enough time to do so. The plants are only removed once, upon first map load; no further adjustments are made until 33% of the culled plants have regrown, after which all plants are forced to spawn (on next map load) and a new adjustment cycle begins.
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Information
Plants & mod menu settings explained
Spoiler:
-Min Similar Plants Spawned
The minimum amount of plants of the same type that will always spawn regardless of spawn chances. e.g if there are 10 Celandine plants in the map, and this setting is set to 4, four of them will always spawn, while the other six will be subject to spawning chance.
-Max Similar Plants Spawned
Maximum number of plants of the same type that will be allowed to spawn. Any more than this number will always be eliminated, regardless of the spawn chances.
-Min Herbs Per Plant
Minimum amount of herbs each plant can yield when harvested.
-Max Herbs Per Plant
Maximum amount of herbs each plant can yield when harvested.
-Plants Spawning Weight
Affects the chance that any single plant in the map will be allowed to spawn. Subject to the min and max settings above.
-Hide Plants On Minimap
If enabled, plants will not show up on the minimap.
-Disable Plant Adjustments
If enabled, plant spawns will not be adjusted by the mod and all plant related settings will be ignored.
-Allow Build Campfire
Enables or disables the construction of campfires when performing alchemy. If enabled Geralt will be able build a campfire by long holding the corresponding key.
-Allow Build Interior Campfire
Like the previous option but this one controls building campfires in interiors.
-Timber Required
Amount of timber or hardened timber needed to make a campfire. You can have a combination of both to meet this value and the right amount of each will be correctly deducted from your inventory.
-Potion, bomb and oil limits
For those that would like to simulate the vanilla imposed limit on these items. The default value of 0 imposes no such restriction.
-Potions and decoctions duration settings
These control the duration of potions and decoctions respectively. The 'Override' setting ignores the vanilla value and uses the number specified in it as an absolute. 'Added' settings add the figure you specify to whatever the default potion duration is. These two are self exclusive, either one or the other will take precedence(override wins). Finally multiplier settings multiply whatever the duration is by the number specified, even it was modified by any of the previous settings.
-Toxicity Degeneration Rate
Rate at which Geralt normally clears toxicity from his system. With a value of 1.0, toxicity will last exactly as long as the potion does.
-Alternate Degen Rate
Rate of toxicity purging when toxicity surpasses the specified threshold. When that's the case this setting will take precedence over standard degen rate.
-Alt Degen Threshold
Threshold in percents of total toxicity after which Alt Degen Rate will start working.
-Combat Degeneration
This setting controls whether or not toxicity degeneration changes while in combat.
-Combat Degen Rate
When Combat Degen is enabled and the player is in combat, this takes precedence over any other toxicity degeneration set.
-Residual Degeneration Rate
This setting controls the rate at which toxicity is removed after all potions have lost their effect -in other words, left over toxicity- or when toxicity is applied from sources other than potions. It represents a percentage of total toxicity lost per second.
-Potion Toxicity Multiplier
This setting directly multiplies the toxicity value of potions, but not decoctions, whatever that value might be.
-Alchemy Takes Time
Dictates whether or not creating alchemical concoctions takes time.
-Minutes Per concoction
Time that passes for each potion brewed, oil mixed or bomb created.
-Minutes Per Distillation
Time that passes when distilling primary substances.
-Metabolization Time
Time it takes after drinking potions or decoctions before they start to have an effect.
-Alcohol Reuses
Amount of times top quality alcohol will last when used in alchemy. Alcohest uses the value specified here, while White Gull will always be this + 1.
-Yield Per Recipe
Amount of items obtained when something is created in the alchemy menu.
-Standardize Substances Recipes
Modifies the recipes for distilling primary substances, to make the distillation process make logical sense and fit the rest of the mod's changes.
-Standardize Mutagen Recipes
Adds top alcohol as a requirement (to act as solvent) when using monster mutagens to create regular mutagens of the same color.
-Recycle Bottles
If this is enabled, every time you use an alcohol bottle in alchemy you save the empty bottle instead of discarding it.
Show
A note on plant settings
Except for the herb yield settings, which are dynamic and take effect immediately, all herb settings require reloading the map from the load menu. If the game is saved after the plant spawns has been adjusted, reloading the map won't work since the game bakes the plants state on the save file (sort of). In this case, waiting for the plants to respawn will be necessary.Trivia: There are over 16,000 plants in the Velen/Novigrad region!
-Min Similar Plants Spawned
The minimum amount of plants of the same type that will always spawn regardless of spawn chances. e.g if there are 10 Celandine plants in the map, and this setting is set to 4, four of them will always spawn, while the other six will be subject to spawning chance.
-Max Similar Plants Spawned
Maximum number of plants of the same type that will be allowed to spawn. Any more than this number will always be eliminated, regardless of the spawn chances.
-Min Herbs Per Plant
Minimum amount of herbs each plant can yield when harvested.
-Max Herbs Per Plant
Maximum amount of herbs each plant can yield when harvested.
-Plants Spawning Weight
Affects the chance that any single plant in the map will be allowed to spawn. Subject to the min and max settings above.
-Hide Plants On Minimap
If enabled, plants will not show up on the minimap.
-Disable Plant Adjustments
If enabled, plant spawns will not be adjusted by the mod and all plant related settings will be ignored.
-Allow Build Campfire
Enables or disables the construction of campfires when performing alchemy. If enabled Geralt will be able build a campfire by long holding the corresponding key.
-Allow Build Interior Campfire
Like the previous option but this one controls building campfires in interiors.
-Timber Required
Amount of timber or hardened timber needed to make a campfire. You can have a combination of both to meet this value and the right amount of each will be correctly deducted from your inventory.
-Potion, bomb and oil limits
For those that would like to simulate the vanilla imposed limit on these items. The default value of 0 imposes no such restriction.
-Potions and decoctions duration settings
These control the duration of potions and decoctions respectively. The 'Override' setting ignores the vanilla value and uses the number specified in it as an absolute. 'Added' settings add the figure you specify to whatever the default potion duration is. These two are self exclusive, either one or the other will take precedence(override wins). Finally multiplier settings multiply whatever the duration is by the number specified, even it was modified by any of the previous settings.
-Toxicity Degeneration Rate
Rate at which Geralt normally clears toxicity from his system. With a value of 1.0, toxicity will last exactly as long as the potion does.
-Alternate Degen Rate
Rate of toxicity purging when toxicity surpasses the specified threshold. When that's the case this setting will take precedence over standard degen rate.
-Alt Degen Threshold
Threshold in percents of total toxicity after which Alt Degen Rate will start working.
-Combat Degeneration
This setting controls whether or not toxicity degeneration changes while in combat.
-Combat Degen Rate
When Combat Degen is enabled and the player is in combat, this takes precedence over any other toxicity degeneration set.
-Residual Degeneration Rate
This setting controls the rate at which toxicity is removed after all potions have lost their effect -in other words, left over toxicity- or when toxicity is applied from sources other than potions. It represents a percentage of total toxicity lost per second.
-Potion Toxicity Multiplier
This setting directly multiplies the toxicity value of potions, but not decoctions, whatever that value might be.
-Alchemy Takes Time
Dictates whether or not creating alchemical concoctions takes time.
-Minutes Per concoction
Time that passes for each potion brewed, oil mixed or bomb created.
-Minutes Per Distillation
Time that passes when distilling primary substances.
-Metabolization Time
Time it takes after drinking potions or decoctions before they start to have an effect.
-Alcohol Reuses
Amount of times top quality alcohol will last when used in alchemy. Alcohest uses the value specified here, while White Gull will always be this + 1.
-Yield Per Recipe
Amount of items obtained when something is created in the alchemy menu.
-Standardize Substances Recipes
Modifies the recipes for distilling primary substances, to make the distillation process make logical sense and fit the rest of the mod's changes.
-Standardize Mutagen Recipes
Adds top alcohol as a requirement (to act as solvent) when using monster mutagens to create regular mutagens of the same color.
-Recycle Bottles
If this is enabled, every time you use an alcohol bottle in alchemy you save the empty bottle instead of discarding it.
Default Control Scheme
(M & K) : (Controller)
L L2+R3 -> Tap to enter meditation position.
L L2+R3 -> Hold ~0.5 seconds and release to enter the meditation position AND build a fire.
L R3 -> while on the meditation position, tap to enter the alchemy menu.
L R3 -> while on the meditation position, hold to stand up.
Space R2 -> while on the meditation position, hold to accelerate time.
Shift L2 -> Hold and tap L/R2 to open the alchemy menu without meditating.
Shift N/A -> Hold while using the R Mouse when at an alchemist to buy an ingredient.
R mouse Digit Up -> While in the alchemy menu, opens the menu to choose another ingredient.
L mouse N/A -> While in the alchemy menu, click on an ingredient to display its information.
Dot R2 -> While in the alchemy menu, tap to only show ingredients of a particular substance.
Comma L2 -> Same as above, but goes to the previous substance (most useful with filters applied).
Installation & Removal
Instructions are included inside the mod’s root directory, follow them thoroughly. Do NOT use Nexus Mod Manager to install, if you dislike installing manually, try W3 Mod Manager. To properly remove the mod from a save file, the removal option must be used from the mod menu. More details in the ReadMe.
Compatibility
- For compatibility reasons, the mod focuses on reinventing the manner in which alchemical items are created. The balance and usefulness of such items is unchanged. You can use other mods that touch these areas without issues, even if they’re dubbed alchemy overhauls, as long as this mod’s scripts win any ensuing conflict.
- XML edits were done to a few vanilla files for balance reasons, but these are not essential for the mod’s correct functioning. You may let other mods overwrite them if you so wish at risk of upsetting the mod's intended ingredient/economy balance.
- The alchemy menu swf file was changed to allow new filtering behavior. In case of conflict, you can give priority to other mods swf files if you prefer; just be aware that filtering won't work correctly in the alchemy menu.
Credits
Thanks to rmemr for the w3string encoder mod.
Thanks to traderain for the WolvenKit.
Special Thanks to MegaBound2500 for his invaluable help in making the next-gen release a possibility.
ACHTUNG!!! you made it to the credits!
Special thanks to ACHTUNG!!! from CDPR, whose constant presence throughout the code kept me amused, my hacks honest and my code clean. A bastion of stalwartness, an icon of hope, a true inspiration to others, giving them confidence, showing them if he could, they certainly can as well.
I thought him the biggest idiot in the world, until I learned ACHTUNG is not a name, but the German word for warning…