The Witcher mod for Crusader Kings 2

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The Witcher mod for Crusader Kings 2

Interested people can try the test build:
https://steamcommunity.com/linkfilt.../download/ssa1wxziqekk7gg/WitcherKings_0.4.7z

Please post feedback / suggestions in the SteamGroup: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/WitcherKings


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Hi guys!

I'm both a big fan of the Witcher series and of the Paradox game Crusader Kings 2.

For those who don't know it, Crusader Kings is a strategy game set in the Middle Ages in which you control a dynasty rather than a country. It is a grand strategy game that incorporates many elements of a role playing game. Here's a great review of it: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/23/wot-i-think-crusader-kings-ii/


At the moment there are already many awesome mods for this game out there, the Game of Thrones mod even garnered some media coverage.


So why not make a Mod based on the worlds of the Witcher? The source material is thorough enough to build a unique Witcher-scenario upon that (The major cities, castles, kingdoms, rulers are known from the books / the games!).
There's even place for unique Witcher-gameplay like doing an Elven restoration (far fetched I know) or playing as a dryad.

As of now I have set up a basic mod based on the Ortelius map in which I've properly mapped out Temeria, Brugge, Kerack, Brokilon, Cintra and Verden.
I could provide screenshots if someone is interested but as of now I haven't completed height and terrain meaning everything is flat grassland ;)



Everyone who's interested, post in this thread or write me a message!

Be assured: Any help would be very much appreciated. You don't necessarily need to be a Crusader Kings 2 modder or even player. If you could provide me with (possibly lore friendly invented) place and people names I would be happy as well. If you have a witcher-y name in mind I'll put it in somewhere.
I would also very much appreciate suggestions of any sort. There's just so much that isn't 100% clear about the Witcher world (e.g. what religion does Foltest follow?).

P.S. If there is someone experienced in drawing (landscape) maps willing to help, it would be most awesome thing ever. I would bake a cake right away and send it whereever he lives ;)
 
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I'm very interested in this mod, since I love both The Witcher universe and Crusader Kings II. I'll be eager to test it when there will be something to test! Unfortanately, I cannot help with the development, since I have no skills in CK2 modding.

Please, post the screenshots />/>

P.S.One small plea: please when adding files to the mod make shure that the filenames are correct in terms of the case (and that these filenames appear with the correct case when referred to inside the files). Otherwise we poor Linux users won't be able to run the mod, since Linux filesystems are case-sensitive.

BTW, why don't you start a thread on Paradox Plaza as well?
 
Csszr said:
My Gods! How did I not know about this Paradox game?! I read that review and was f*cking sold!

It's amazing indeed, especially with all the additional content they released since the initial launch.

BTW, if you intend to get into Crusader Kings II, I suggest installing the CK2+ mod right away, it enhances the vanilla experience greatly.
 
I wanna help! not good with landscapes as much though still working on that but I wanna try. I'm pretty okay with characters and stuff though but watching let's plays of mods not very useful. WIP http://25.media.tumblr.com/90ec8222e7f3f659a4b46759acff4869/tumblr_ml49nnOrau1rbwchzo1_500.jpg
 
Just as I heard of the Game of Thrones mod for Crusader Kings II, I wondered why nobody had come up with one with The Witcher's world. With all the intricate political plots we loved, it could be great fun to experience those first-hand.

Even if I'm not at all familiar with the game's mods, you have my complete approval and support. I'd be curious to see any screenshot as well.
 
@jerf
Even if you have no skill in modding you *could* help. First of all research is also important secondly I don't really have experience as well. Making new characters for instance is pretty easy. You just have to copy a block of text and think about which personality trait a certain person might have and write that in. A big amount of CK2 modding is tedious but not really difficult.
If the mod some day reaches a certain point in development I will of course make a thread at the Paradox Plaza. Sadly a witcher mod has failed before because the mod creator didn't find enough support. That's why I have to do the thread over there "right". Most of the people seemed to prefer making an Elder Scrolls mod back then o_O

@Cs
 
I could definitely help somewhat in the research department. And with some hand holding I might be able to help in the modding. I'll have to wait til' an off day though, looking at next Tuesday, no guarantees though. Shoot me a pm with an email address I can reach you at and I'll contact when I might have some free time to work on it.
 
As for the map,there is this guy that did a really good map of TW world.
Dunno if youve already seen it http://en.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?/topic/32889-new-the-witcher-worldmap/
 
redog44 said:
As for the map,there is this guy that did a really good map of TW world.
Dunno if youve already seen it http://en.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?/topic/32889-new-the-witcher-worldmap/

Personally I prefer the Ortelius map done by folks from the Polish forum:
http://pl.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?/topic/15918-mapa-orteliusa/

Google Translate was my friend ^^
 
Well, in regards to maps, I think you should also consider following CDPR's one, since it's the official one used in the games. At least not to confuse people too much.

Then I'd cross-reference it with the Ortelius map that seems very accurate, especially where the others lack (like the southernmost parts of Nilfgaard). I don't like its strictly vertical structure but appreciate the fact that the whole Empire is depicted as smaller than the Northern Kingdoms, whereas in CDPR's one it's more than twice their size, something that would be quite unpractical for gameplay purposes. What do you say?


As for my contribution, I'd be happy to give a hand with the research or with those tedious tasks you mentioned, if you need it... and if I can find some time. Remember that the Wiki is a great help in reconstructing the world, rulers and important people, events, coats of arms and everything. ;)
 
For all those interested, I've set up a public Subversion server. From there you can get the last version of my files.
The SVN checkout URL is "https://subversion.assembla.com/svn/witcher-mod/". If you want to browse the files in your browser go to "https://www.assembla.com/code/witcher-mod/subversion/nodes".

Here's how you can access and modify the files:

FIRST TIME DOWNLoAD:
- Download and install TortoiseSVN
- Make a free account at assembla.com
- Right click in one of your local folders, select "SVN Checkout"
- Were it says "URL of repository" put "https://www.assembla.com/code/witcher-mod/subversion"
- Were it says "Checkout directory" put the path to a local folder of yours
- Click OK and wait until everything is downloaded

NEW FILES ON THE SERVER:
- If the files on the server were changed by someone else, right click on your checked out folder and click update

UPLOADING CHANGES
- You can edit your copies of the files locally
- If you want to upload your changes, select the files / the folder and select "SVN Commit", enter a comment a click "ok" at the bottom
 
@Fixer
Using the "official" map of Witcher 2 would've been a good idea, I admit that. Firstly people only familiar with the game would (as you said) be more familiar with it and secondly I could've reused parts of the map work a fellow modder created. He stopped working on it and moved on a while ago but shared his stuff with me a couple of days ago. But at this point I already put a considerable work in my map, scrapping it altogether is something I don't really want to do. Those maps are rotated by ~20 degrees to each other and not really compatible.
If you give the subversion thing above a try, you can look at my files and the ones of the other modder. There's a rar file that contains (most) of his work: RESSOURCES\witcher mods\piemaster.rar

Balancing Nilfgaard is one of reasons I decided to use the Ortelius map. It would be pretty boring if Nilfgaard always easily takes over the whole map. And yes, the vertical-ness of the Ortelius map is something I don't really like myself either. Especially the mountains are way to "ordered".
 
JonStryker said:
@Fixer
Using the "official" map of Witcher 2 would've been a good idea, I admit that. Firstly people only familiar with the game would (as you said) be more familiar with it and secondly I could've reused parts of the map work a fellow modder created. He stopped working on it and moved on a while ago but shared his stuff with me a couple of days ago. But at this point I already put a considerable work in my map, scrapping it altogether is something I don't really want to do. Those maps are rotated by ~20 degrees to each other and not really compatible.
If you give the subversion thing above a try, you can look at my files and the ones of the other modder. There's a rar file that contains (most) of his work: RESSOURCES\witcher mods\piemaster.rar

Balancing Nilfgaard is one of reasons I decided to use the Ortelius map. It would be pretty boring if Nilfgaard always easily takes over the whole map. And yes, the vertical-ness of the Ortelius map is something I don't really like myself either. Especially the mountains are way to "ordered".
I just thought that I'd be odd for people to see a map so different from the most common one, since the map will be the most important part of the game, and basically all those who'll play it will have CDPR's one in mind.

By the way, the URL above doesn't work.
 
Which URL does not work?

This should link you if you open it with your browser: https://www.assembla.com/code/witcher-mod/subversion/nodes

This works only if you use it to check files out via Subversion: https://subversion.assembla.com/svn/witcher-mod/
 
Okay, I gave a look at the stuff. I actually read something and looked at some images since I can't really do much more :p

Well, I think the other modder did a pretty nice job, but I can't really understand how much work you'd have to do to take over his map (or how much you've already put into yours). I really do prefer its structure over Ortelius's one, but still, the choice is yours.

On another note, what do you think about the scale? Does the world of The Witcher look a bit small compared to all of Europe or is it just me?
 
I will be glad to help, never worked with CK modding but can try. I think, I will be able to make normal map for you.

So far I came with some questions on how things will be done:

1.Time line - what period mod will feature?

2.Mages and magic - how that can be implemented? May be as unit or a character trait?

3.Monsters and other sphere stuff?
 
@Fixer
The structure of it? Piemaster's map only consists of the northern kingdoms. I really want to have Nilfgaard because otherwise the world would be pretty small. Even with Nilfgaard Europe is much larger than the Witcher world. I'm really considering to redraw provinces (I have 150 of those so far), rivers and coastline just to please you. The problem is that it would bring Nilfgaard to twice the size of the rest of the world. I even started with that ... there should be a file called map3.psd in the map folder.
The scale of the map is 2048x2048. That's the standard map size (which is used for vanilla's Europe map). Of course much of it is lost at the west and east sides of the map as there isn't anything useful there. It would be possible to use a bigger map but I'm not planning to do so as there isn't enough information to fill all of it with proper counties.
Of course, if at any point everything else is done, some crazy addition like Haakland, Zerrikania, etc. can be added to make a proper continent out. This would of course need to be completely invented.


@Yurtex
CK modding isn't all that difficult (most of it). You just need to have other mods like AGOT and Elder Kings handy to see how things are done. In my repository most map related things are in the map5.psd inside of the map folder.
For map modding this youtube video is pretty good and explains the basics: youtube .com/watch?v=fFtGv0iMYAY
If you have any questions, write me a PN.

Your questions:

1) At the moment I'm planning to make a bookmark for the start of the Witcher 2. It would be set at 1.1.1274 and everyone is still alive: Foltest, Demavend, Henselt. Crusader Kings 2 allows you to start from any date but I'll focus on that date for a first version. A Nilfgaardian War bookmark would be cool but for that I/we would need to find a way for the northerners to win the war. With the standard CK2 mechanics Nilfgaard would wipe the floor with them. Powerful mage units would be cool but I'm not sure if it's doable.

2) Like I said above, mages fighting in battles would be pretty sweet (Battle of Sodden Hill!) but I'm not sure if it is doable.
I'm planning to eventually add a mage advisor for rulers. If the current one dies, a new one can be ordered from the academy in Thanedd. I just need to think about actions they could perform. The GOT has a mechanic for Maesters that I am going to copy part of it to get this done. A mage will get special traits. If your child has a talent for magic you might want to send him to a mage school. If you don't the child will most likely go insane. After some years the child will be a proper mage. Being a mage makes a person sterile but allows him to live much longer than an ordinary human being.
Of course actual magic would be awesome, spells, potions and other cool stuff. The Elder Kings mod has something like that maybe part of it will work for the Witcher world as well.

3) Monsters could be included with events and/or province modifiers. If you don't do anything about them, they might spread. You could try to hire a witcher to make it go away. If you acted bad towards the witchers they of course won't help you. If you can't pay a hired witcher he might ask for the law of surprise (and there goes your long awaited heir).
Those are my ideas regarding monsters, I am very much open for any suggestions!
Other sphere stuff: Occasional wild hunt events maybe. An Aen Elle invasion would be very, very unhistorical but maybe fun. If you reach the 1350ies there is going to be a chance for a Haak invasion.
In my current version Dryads are already (somewhat) represented: They are green and female only. They only get children by event to avoid having male / different cultured children. This of course needs fine tuning and flavor but the cornerstones are in place.
I'm still not quite sure how the other Elder races should be represented. Many people (me included) might want to play with Iorveth. Still I can't really think of good ways to do that.
Another things that's bugging me: What to do with druids? They are not priests of Melitele, they are not followers of the eternal fire (duh!) but what are they then? They seem to be a fourth force besides the nobility, the burghers and the clergy.
 
JonStryker said:
@Fixer
The structure of it? Piemaster's map only consists of the northern kingdoms. I really want to have Nilfgaard because otherwise the world would be pretty small. Even with Nilfgaard Europe is much larger than the Witcher world. I'm really considering to redraw provinces (I have 150 of those so far), rivers and coastline just to please you. The problem is that it would bring Nilfgaard to twice the size of the rest of the world. I even started with that ... there should be a file called map3.psd in the map folder.
The scale of the map is 2048x2048. That's the standard map size (which is used for vanilla's Europe map). Of course much of it is lost at the west and east sides of the map as there isn't anything useful there. It would be possible to use a bigger map but I'm not planning to do so as there isn't enough information to fill all of it with proper counties.
Of course, if at any point everything else is done, some crazy addition like Haakland, Zerrikania, etc. can be added to make a proper continent out. This would of course need to be completely invented.
I'm sorry, I meant the structure of CDPR's map over Ortelius's. For the Nilfgaard matter, couldn't you just use CDPR's Northern Kingdoms and slap Ortelius's Nilfgaard below the Yaruga? Just rotate and adjust it with a bit of creative freedom. ;)

I'm flattered by the fact that you're even listening to my suggestions, but I really think that a familiar map would at least help in sparking some interest in the already limited pool of possible future users of this mod (are there really so few people who're at least intrigued by such a project?). Still, we wouldn't even be talking about this if it weren't for you, so it really is your call. :)
 
theFixer said:
I'm flattered by the fact that you're even listening to my suggestions, but I really think that a familiar map would at least help in sparking some interest in the already limited pool of possible future users of this mod (are there really so few people who're at least intrigued by such a project?). Still, we wouldn't even be talking about this if it weren't for you, so it really is your call. :)/>

I think that there not a lot of people who would like to make such mod, not of those how would like to play it. ;)
 
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