Wizardry 8 Expanded 1.1 file

“Wizardry 8 Expanded” mod 1.1

Please, check out the ReadMe file inside the archive. :)

Yes, this file is much smaller than the previous one, but that's because the mod was optimised and .zip no longer has some unnecessary files.

Patch notes

• All of the textures were compressed and now they are 256x256 by default. Sadly, this game's engine doesn't like the high res textures, and most people had serious problems with the mod as a result: CTDs, freezes, insane loading times, etc. However, you can still download the high res textures on moddb as a different file, if you really want to keep them. This mod might run fine with high res textures on the best machines, for example, it worked alright for me even with them, however, based on the feedback I was receiving, the high res version just can't be the main version.
• Some of the items that were unobtainable in 1.0 like Zoo Shed Key, Mummy Dust, Spider Silk and some others are back.
• You are no longer soft-locked on Ascension Peak if you don't have an artifact and don't have a Portal spell.
• Fishing was completely redesigned.
• Fixed some objects that had no actual triggers, but were clickable for no reason.
• Early locations, especially Arnika, should have less spawns.
• Early casters, especially Pigmen and Deers, should not be as oppressive as before.
• Some enemies were nerfed or buffed, when needed.
• Some of the protective spells were buffed. Missile Shield still has a low duration, but not as low.
• You're not supposed to have it all the time in this mod, you should cast it when it's needed, like
• Elemental Shield (but you can pre-cast it before the combat).
• Some traders and classes were rebalanced.
• Bards and Bishops should be a little stronger than they used to be. Same for hybrids.
• Vanilla Dungeon should a bit more interesting now.
• Some new scripts and surprises, especially at the boss fights.
• Some of the classes had wrong starting equipment – fixed.
• Traveling between Winterlands and Umpani Base Camp is no longer possible without Ticket.
• Slime spawner in Deckard's tower is no longer gamebreaking. Works as intended now.
• Myles' dagger no longer gives an insane bonus to Pickpocket.
• Some new items and monsters.
• Adrian's quest lines should be more obvious, although you could previously find them out as well if you've tried to talk with him about new topics.

Known bugs

• If you have a character that was created before installing the mod, and they had Stealth, you can recruit this character and he/she can continue to get Stealth points in combat and on level ups. It's not intended, Ninja, Monk and Rogue should only get Stealth by wearing certain items. To prevent this bug, just create a new character before starting a new game – it should have no Stealth skill.
• Sometimes lighting could look a little unnatural. It should be less of a problem in this version, but there are probably some spots where it looks weird. If you find these spots, you can send me screenshots, I'll try to fix it.

What's new?

• 17 new locations + additions to the existent locations
• More than 600 new monsters/NPCs
• More than 500 new items
• Re-balancing of classes, magic tree, spells, items, monsters
• New textures
• New monster models and skins
• Every item in the game has a unique icon
• Several new spells. Some are only usable by enemies, but some can be used by player via items
• Several new side-quests
• New NPCs and traders, and they even have voice lines J
• Some new sounds (mostly for monsters and new spells)
• New loading screens for all locations

How to Install?

Just put the content from Wizardry 8 folder in this archive to your Wizardry 8 folder. J If there are conflicts, replace files.

How to Play?

Now there are 2 ways to play this mod.

1. You need to use the injector (W8LaunchWithAgent.bat in Launcher folder), because this mod uses a lot of Cosmic Forge's Advanced Capabilities.
   How to do it? A quote from Cosmic Forge manual:
   To be able to enjoy the Advanced Capabilities in the Game you need to launch the Game with the help of CFInjector.exe. To assist you in that there is a batch file W8LaunchWithAgent.bat which you should execute in order to launch the Game with the help of CFInjector.exe.
   You need to edit this batch file in order to make it work. In this batch file you need to specify the path to your W8 exe file two times ("C:\Wizardries\W8\Wiz8_v124_nocd.exe" "C:\Wizardries\W8\Wiz8_v124_nocd.exe" is there by default, just replaces it by your full path to the W8 executable).
   To sum it up, edit W8LaunchWithAgent.bat with, for example, the notepad, and specify the correct path to your .exe two times.
2. You can use the fan patch 1.28. To use it, you need to launch one of the 2 .exe files in the Wizardry 8 folder: Wiz8_v128_eng.exe or Wiz8_v128_rus.exe. This patch was developed by a Russian author, so there are 2 versions of it. If you use the Wiz8_v128_rus.exe, some of the text will be translated to Russian, however, all of the new items, dialogs, etc. will remain in English, however, it might help to navigate, if Russian is your first language. Wiz8_v128_eng.exe is an English version of this patch. This patch has a lot of the changes to gameplay, engine, bug fixes, extra capabilities, etc.
   If you want to, you can play with this patch. If you have problems running the game with injector (error messages, CTDs, freezes), you might try to play it with 1.28, it could work better for you.
   Both ways of playing this mod should work and both are legit. 

What is the story of this mod?

I've been playing Wizardry 8 since very young age (in single digits, pretty much), and it has always been one of my favorite games. However, we all know that this game has flaws, and was, ultimately, unfinished. Even as a kid, I thought that some locations were too empty, and late game was a bit too easy once you leveled up enough. I always wanted to add something to the game. So, when I first learned about Cosmic Forge back in 2007, I've started to add a lot of random stuff to the game. It was mostly just for me, to have some fun, and most of that stuff was really bad. No real balance, just adding stuff to have more stuff.

Over the years, surprisingly, I've been editing these old mods from time to time, and in the end I just had more and more unfinished stuff, but didn't want to make a complete mod, because I thought it will take too much time and nobody will play it anyway.

The result was… interesting: I had a lot of different ideas, a lot of new stuff, including imported textures, models, some scripts, quests, etc., but everything was unfinished. Why would I finish it, if it's just for me? But, in the end, it didn't feel right. I didn't know what to do with all of that material.

Especially considering that, for example, I had an insane amount of monster models imported from different games, a lot of new textures, scripts, ideas, etc. I wanted to share. But just didn't have time…

I didn't really use any message boards for years, so I didn't know if there are any active Wizardry 8 communities. However, I've been watching Biogoo's youtube channel since 2018, because I'm a (casual) fan of speedrunning, and I found him because I wanted to see if someone tried to speedrun this game. Through his channel (later DFortae helped as well) I've learned that there are still people who love this game, community is still there and active, new mods are being developed, so I thought… why not to finish it? J

But my material was very chaotic and unfinished. I've deleted and benched a lot of ideas, and still it has this amount of new stuff. I was “polishing” this mod for about 5 months, deleting some old stuff, replacing poorly done old ideas with less poorly done new ideas, etc. It was hard! But it's finally done.

I don't know if this mod ends up being good, but I've tried to make it at least interesting.

Content of the mod – important points

Main story is the same. You don't have to go into new locations (except for very few and briefly – but not gonna say more, that would be a spoiler), and you don't have to do new quests. But if you like exploration, there's a lot of new stuff to do. A lot of new options for different classes. Harder fights. New random loot. I've tried to add something for every type of player.

New textures could be not for everyone. I've decided to change them, so new locations wouldn't look too different from the rest. Some of the new monsters would look weird with vanilla textures as well. Also, I've started doing that years ago, so I kept some of the new textures from past years and added even more. Anyway, I don't know, if you will like them, but new textures are there.

I've tried to make new enemies, mostly, not very annoying and more or less balanced. Not too many attacks and swings, not too much HP (not a big fan of these kind of enemies), but they're still dangerous. J All missiles are sped up, most of the new animations are fast, but there might be some slow fights – that's Wizardry for you. Magic seems more effective in late game. Some previously useless or weak spells are buffed.

New NPCs are there mostly for the quests, but also some new traders. Usually traders have some unique items. Some new gimmicky ideas like new kinds of ranged weapons for certain classes and new summoning mechanics.

Voice lines were done by AI based on voices of movie actors and VG voice actors. They're not perfect, but better than no voice lines, I think.

Stealth can only be gained through the items. Also, fighters should be not as OP as they've been before.

Also, please do not open Cosmic Forge before playing the mod. It will ruin some surprises for you.

Potential bugs. How to report bugs?

Please, contact me at wizardry8expanded@gmail.com with subject “Wizardry 8 Expanded Bug Report”. I'll try to check other places where this mod is going to be discussed, but it's better if you send your report on that e-mail so I wouldn't miss it. It's only for this mod, as you can tell by the name.

Can I use stuff from this mod for my own mod?

Yes, sure. I would actually love if this mod inspires someone to do something new with Wizardry 8. And I'm ready to help you with your mod, if you're making one. So, if you need something, you can take it. I just don't recommend using stuff from this mod for any commercial purpose, because there's a lot of stuff imported from other games. I'm also planning to make some tutorials about Cosmic Forge on youtube (and other videos related to this game).

Credits

Some of the stuff was made / imported many years ago, so I might miss something.

If you have found your contribution and it's not credited, or you want an extra credit, or maybe even a removal of your content, contact me at wizardry8expanded@gmail.com

This mod is distributed for free, I'm not making any money from this content. You need to have a copy of Wizardry 8 to play this mod.

Most of the content from resources below was modified and transformed in order to fit Wizardry 8. Some of the textures were changed to completely original ones.

Games:

• Morrowind
• World of Warcraft
• Warcraft 3
• Diablo 2 and 3
• Final Fantasy X
• Chrono Cross
• Heroes of the Storm
• Starcraft 2
• Might and Magic 6-8
• Dota 2
• League of Legends
• Quake 1/2/3

Other mods:

There is some old stuff influenced by Dodd the Slayer's mod, old versions of mods by Orachin and Deathstalker's mod. Also, some influence from Biogoo's mod (not the nightmare one).

Other resources:

• Pinterest
• graphicriver
• DeviantArt
• Tumblr
• Hiveworkshop
• wc3-maps
• turbosquid
• sketchfab
• uberduck