Just got TWEE and TW2EE...

[Neovalen]

Just got TWEE and TW2EE...

So far I have been playing TW1 and progressing through nicely. As I am new to the witcher games/community I want to pick your brains a little.

Are there any "essential" mods/texture packs that I should get to get the most out of my playthroughs? I know from Dragon Age, Skyrim, etc there are always texture packs and such that really improve the visuals/gameplay and while I have found a few mod lists, I haven't seen a "must have" list anywhere. For now, I'm obviously more interested in TW1 mods.

Thank you in advance.

 

[tommy5761]

Well there aren`t any "must have" texture replacers but there are a few . They do sort of tax your system though . What video card do you have and does it have at least 1 GB of vram ?

 

[volsung]

That's because there are no "must have" Witcher mods, the games are already quite good. Depending on your playstyle you might be interested in combat mods (equipment overhaul, rebalancing, etc.) and item modifications. But honestly, you don't *need* any to have a great experience.

The other "mods" you might like are fan-made modules that play separately from the main game.

 

[Neovalen]

I am running a pretty beast system right now, I don't think performance should be an issue.

Processor: i5-3570K @ 4.5Ghz
RAM: 16GB
Video: Pair of EVGA 670GTX 4GB

Max visuals is a plus if available. I think the base game is only using 600mb vram at this point.

 

[GuyNwah]

For TW2, get The Witcher 2 Tweaker and use it instead of the Options dialog from the Launcher. This gives you a better ability to make settings that are suitable for very high-end GPUs, such as Texture Memory Budget in excess of 600MB.

(Remember that with an SLI pair, the memory available to you is the memory on one card, not the combined memory of the two cards. 2x2GB may equal 4GB, but because the data must be replicated on both cards, the effective memory is 2GB.)

For TWEE, if you find combat becomes unchallenging, get FCR. This totally overhauls combat, in the direction of making "don't get killed, witcher" a significant challenge requiring careful preparation and total alertness.

For Witcher 2, there's Better Combat and Complete Equipment Overhaul (CEO) for when your pursuit of the Kingslayer has become too much of a walk in the park.

Because the construction kit for TW2 is still in beta, there aren't new adventures for it yet. But for TWEE, there are numerous superb add-on adventures. IMO the best of these are Corylea's Medical Problems Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. But play TWEE all the way first, so you'll properly appreciate the genius of these mods.

 

[tommy5761]

For Textures I recommend these for Witcher 1
Perfect Rain
http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-witcher-perfect-rain-mod/downloads/the-witcher-perfect-rain-full-dl
Perfect Blood
http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-witcher-perfect-blood-mod/downloads/the-witcher-perfect-blood-full-dl
The Witcher Texturen Mod
http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-witcher-texturen-mod/downloads/the-witcher-texturen-mod

Hi-Res Character Models
http://www.moddb.com/mods/witchercharactermodels/downloads/the-witcher-hi-res-character-models

 

[Neovalen]

Thanks, I'll be sure to pick those up. Flash Mod or FCR for a first playthrough? I'm thinking Flash Mod gives more fixes whereas FCR adds much more difficulty?

 

[Garrison72]

Thanks, I'll be sure to pick those up. Flash Mod or FCR for a first playthrough? I'm thinking Flash Mod gives more fixes whereas FCR adds much more difficulty?

FCR adds more difficulty, makes the HUD minimal like TW2's, and includes a bunch of tweaks. I recommend it. But it's definitely harder than Vanilla.

 

[tommy5761]

Thanks, I'll be sure to pick those up. Flash Mod or FCR for a first playthrough? I'm thinking Flash Mod gives more fixes whereas FCR adds much more difficulty?

FCR - 1st playthrough....if you are an experienced gamer then maybe . Inexperienced gamer then no not for a 1st run . The easiest setting for FCR is harder the the hard setting on the vanilla game . I will say that if you`re playing the game on hard and it`s still too easy then FCR may be the ticket you`re looking for . It is recommended that FCR be installed for a new game as the skill tree is aligned differently so the skills you select for a vanilla game probably wouldn`t work so well with FCR .

 

[Neovalen]

Alright, so FCR not recommended for first playthrough. What about Flash Mod? I've heard really good things about both. I do play a lot of games, so not THAT worried about difficulty unless it's to the point where it is no longer fun.

 

[chromie92]

Isn't Flash's mod also FCR? I'm confused.

 

[Neovalen]

Flash mod is the original, and FCR is an updated/expanded version from what I've read. I could be wrong though, thats why I asked.

 

[Garrison72]

FCR is by Flash, his most extensive and latest rebalance mod. I recommend FCR over his earlier effort.

 

[AsTheDeath]

EDIT: I ran across a helpful forum post over at GOG that includes a very neat list with pretty much any TW1-mod information you might want: LINK

You are correct in that "Flash's mod" contains bug fixes (and perhaps one or two optional adjustments), whereas "FCR" completely overhauls the combat system. In short, you can't go wrong with installing Flash's Mod, whereas FCR is only if you want a different and more difficult combat experience.

In the graphics department, I can recommend the TextureN and Hi-Res character mods that Tommy mentioned, those are basically just higher resolution textures.

Also, if you like a minimal HUD, there's a mod for that as well, though I'm afraid I don't remember the name at the moment... you should be able to find it at Moddb as well. (EDIT: "Extreme Immersion, it's in the other link as well)

 

[tommy5761]

EDIT: I ran across a helpful forum post over at GOG that includes a very neat list with pretty much any TW1-mod information you might want: LINK

You are correct in that "Flash's mod" contains bug fixes (and perhaps one or two optional adjustments), whereas "FCR" completely overhauls the combat system. In short, you can't go wrong with installing Flash's Mod, whereas FCR is only if you want a different and more difficult combat experience.

In the graphics department, I can recommend the TextureN and Hi-Res character mods that Tommy mentioned, those are basically just higher resolution textures.

Also, if you like a minimal HUD, there's a mod for that as well, though I'm afraid I don't remember the name at the moment... you should be able to find it at Moddb as well. (EDIT: "Extreme Immersion, it's in the other link as well)

But , but , we have a couple of lists too
FAN MADE ADVENTURES
http://en.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?/topic/19893-list-of-fan-made-adventures-for-tw1-links-updated-20-april-2012/
MODS
http://en.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?/topic/19890-list-of-mods-for-tw1-updated-12022011/

 

[Geralt_of_bsas]

Be careful, the texturen mod does NOT WORK for 1.5 version, i used it with 1.4 prefectly though.

The texture mod for characters still work and im using it

 

[Corylea.723]

There are a lot of mods to fix annoyances, but we aren't all annoyed by the same things, so some people find a particular mod essential, and others don't.

Personally, I'd play TW1 the first time exactly as is, with no mods at all. For second and subsequent plays, I'd use

Stuff That Makes Geralt's Life Easier

Han Gives Han, Not Berbercane

Teleportation Scrolls

Stop the Rain

Fair Kalkstein Mod

I've heard great things about FCR, but I don't use it, because I like TW1's combat exactly the way it is, which goes back to the point I started with -- different people like different things, so there are no "must-have" mods, only ones that some people like and others don't. You can read the mod descriptions and experiment.

 

[Neovalen]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I've installed the following and going to give it a run through for my first playthrough.

Bug Fixes:
Fair Kalkstein Mod
Han Gives Han

Overhauls:
Full Combat Rebalance - Extra's Only (does not shake up the difficulty/combat, just new features/fixes)

Textures:
Texturen Mod 1.1 (moved files manually)
Witcher High Res Characters
Perfect Rain
Perfect Blood (with Perfect Blood Fix from nexus)
Scabbard Mod (people say don't use with Texturen but seems ok so far...)

UI:
Witcher Alchemy Mod - Better Color Coding

So it plays the same as the original for the most part, with some of the tedious inventory problems gone away.