Intuitive Controls Mod for The Witcher 2 [Final]

Now The Witcher 2 gets the special treatment. The game is good enough but suffers from messy combat gameplay, which my mod improves.

Summary

Geralt now turns, moves and attacks consistently, making gameplay skill-based instead of luck-based. It also fixes some bugs and includes convenience medallion/looting features.

Combat Gameplay

Locking on to enemies now actually makes a difference. Unless you activate the locking key/button Geralt stays in Manual Attack Mode. In this mode:

• Geralt stays in the same place and doesn't jump at random, regardless of the enemy automatically selected by the game.
• Geralt turns to the camera orientation. This applies to all combat actions: parrying and attacking with fists, sword, magic or throwable items.
• Attacks affect all nearby enemies where the camera is facing, but with reduced damage (sword ability bonuses still apply however).
• It is not possible to perform ripostes or instant kills.

Activating the locking key/button with a selected enemy enables Locked Attack Mode. In this mode:

• Geralt turns, moves to (if necessary) and attacks that enemy when possible. This applies to all combat actions: parrying and attacking with fists, sword, magic or throwable items.
• It is possible to perform ripostes and instant kills to the locked enemy.
• The camera tracks the locked enemy, to make it more intuitive and clear that this mode is active.

During boss fights it may be necessary/useful to use the new locking features.

Fixes

• The game is missing animations for long-range strong sword attacks. This mod replaces them with alternative attacks. Correct animations are triggered according to the attack direction and distance.
• Fixed an incorrect calculation of frontal group attacks damage when the respective sword ability is disabled.

Convenience Features

I don't consider these cheats since they don't give any noticeable advantage, but if others disagree I can remove these changes:

• Medallion recharge time reduced to 4 seconds.
• Reduced damage received when fighting with fists (Geralt still receives much more damage than normal though).
• Fast looting mode. It is possible to pick up items by focusing on nearby objects. This feature is disabled by default. To give Geralt this ability add the following line to the [Gameplay] section of the User.ini file:
  GarrettGloves=1
  This file is located at: <Documents folder path>\Witcher 2\config\User.ini

Installing

Copy the file base_scripts.dzip to the game CookedPC folder. Example path for Steam version:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\the witcher 2\CookedPC\

Uninstalling

Reverse the installation steps. The file base_scripts.original.dzip is a backup of the original in case you need it. The mod can be (un)installed at any time without interfering with game saves.

Advanced Tips

• In Manual Attack Mode, initiating fast/strong sword attacks while holding the Move forward key/button performs a medium-range attack: a combination of moving forward and attacking.
• Sword attacks can be chained by initiating a new attack when the previous one is ending. Correct timing requires some practice because different attacks have varying durations. This is the most effective way of dealing damage quickly. Enemies can still interrupt you however, so don't chain attacks blindly. Any combination of sword attacks can be chained: Manual/Locked Attack Mode, fast/strong, any distance or direction.
• An alternative way of dodging is to double-tap a movement key/button.

Since balancing is an important objective of the mod, I'm including some information about base sword attack damage (before additional modifiers like backstabs and armor are applied).
For the original game:

• The first enemy receives full damage: 100% from fast attacks and double from strong attacks.
• Additional enemies in front may receive 50% damage.
• Enabling the Whirl level 1 ability allows to deal 50% damage to additional enemies: left/right/back or at any direction for attacks that affect all directions.
• Enabling the Whirl level 2 ability upgrades the damage to all additional enemies from 50% to 100%.
• There is a bug that makes the damage done to additional enemies in front higher when Whirl is disabled than when it is enabled at level 1.

For the mod:

• In Locked Attack Mode, damage is the same of the original game, with the exception of the bug fix.
• In Manual Attack Mode, the first enemy receives 75% damage from fast attacks and double from strong attacks. Additional enemies in front receive 50% damage.
• The benefits of the Whirl ability are the same of the original game, for both modes.

What this means in practice is the following. Use Locked Attack Mode to:

• Deal maximum damage to a single enemy.
• Move towards the target when attacking.
• Automatically point the camera, for example to make backstabs easier.

Use Manual Attack Mode to:

• Trade mobility in favor of full control over positioning/movement.
• Deal consistent damage to all enemies in front.

For both modes:

• Fights against several enemies of different types usually involve switching modes several times, taking advantage of the different characteristics (mobility, camera, damage).
• It is recommended to get the Whirl level 1/2 ability as soon as possible. This applies to the original game and the mod.
• With the Whirl level 2 ability all group attacks do full damage, so only the remaining factors become relevant.

Mod Compatibility

Mods that modify the file base_scripts.dzip are not compatible.

Download

Follow this link to download the mod archive.

Nexus Mods Page

Link to page with additional information at Nexus