*Altered Campaign with:
- - -New & Altered Levels
- - -Many New Secrets
- - -Six Completely New Endings

*Seven Unique Classes
- - -Knight, Ranger, Assassin, Battlemage, Firemage, and Arcane Mage

*Updated Combat + AI Behaviors

*Focus on action sequences and randomness for improved replayability.
and

*** Note: You will find a more complete list of changes in this mod in the next section... but here are the big shiny ones.

Campaign/Levels/Maps

-Heavily altered campaign with 6 new endings (some of them are quite hidden/secret)

-The bell tower room from the original creators has been finished and exists in the campaign as a secret zone

-Many, many, many graphical/lighting/texture fixes


Gameplay/Combat

-Choose one of 7 fully equipped classes to play as from the start (or discover the way to unlock hybrid classes)

-Realistic (much higher) weapon and magic damage, for you and your enemies... armor type is very significant

-More aggressive and alert enemies, with new squad tactics

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This mod is made to be played at the highest difficulty - it's supposed to feel real, and immersive. You are the Dark Messiah... you're not here to be spoon-fed. Master the controls, use tactics, and prevail.
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==============
Class Breakdown
==============

Knight - Strong Melee Combat
Gear: Sword, Shield, Plate Armor
Abilities: Inspire (charm an enemy to fight for you... no more white glowy icon)

Ranger - Basic Melee Combat and Ranged Combat
Gear: Sword, Bow, Leather Armor
Abilities: Heal Wounds, Explosive Trap

Berserker - Advanced Melee Combat
Gear: Sword, No Armor
Abilities: Regenerate Health (passive), Overhead Chop, Charge Attack

Assassin
Gear: Poison Daggers (slow charging), Rope Bow, Stealth Leather Armor
Abilities: Backstab (doesn't work against armored necks), Lockpick, Sense Hidden

Battlemage
Gear: Firestaff, Light Plate Armor
Abilities: Dark Vision, Magic Shield, Freeze

Firemage
Gear: Robes, Staff that lessens fire damage taken while equipped
Abilities: Dark Vision, Fire arrow, Fireball, Inferno

Arcane Mage
Gear: Robes, Staff that absorbs a magic attack and shoots it back as lightning
Abilities: Dark Vision, Telekinesis, Lightning Bolt, Weaken

---------------------------------------------------
Some class are harder to play than others...

Easier:
Battlemage
Knight
Firemage

Harder:
Arcane Mage
Ranger
Assassin
Berserker


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Bonus Mod: Vexed
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I've also included a bonus mini-campaign where you get to fight as a necromancer during the invasion of Stonehelm.

Note: There are included Prologue text files for an introduction to the story of the Ready for Battle and Vexed campaigns

1. Combat & AI
2. Skill & Item
3. Graphical & Configuration
4. Map & Story
-------------------------------------

1. Comabt & AI
===
-Weapons do more damage. If a beefdick orc hits you with a sword or an arrow, you're probably gonna die.
-Magic does more damage. Yours and the enemies'.
-Armor is significant. Plate armor stops a lot of attacks. Cloth robes don't do much.
-Your kick is demoted, from God-tier to Horse-tier. Be deliberate, charge at your opponent, and kick when you are very close - and you shall succeed.
-Enemies respond differently at different ranges, have different grouping mechanisms, etc.
(these are minor ai parameter changes, all of the original code remains the same)
-Steel arrowheads are not ignitable in fire, sorry, I know it was so fun :D.
-Damage is not boosted by surprise attacks... them not having a dodge chance is enough.
-'Back'stabbing through chain-link armor is not going to happen...
-Your daggers are very important, so you no longer choose to throw them at plate armor from 20 feet away.
-More stamina.
-You have less health, because you have blood and organs and they get hurt by swords pretty easily.
-Your enemies also have less health, so you are equally very dangerous to them.
-Mana is now representative of both magic and physical abilities. For the non-magic classes, mana only recharges at checkpoints. If you choose a mage class it recharges constantly.
-Stealth is much harder, you really have to stay out of light/sight.
-No crosshairs.

2. Skill & Item Changes
===
-Instead of slowly gaining skill points through the campaign, you now start with 1 Class Point to choose a class.
(there is an in-game secret that activates hybrid classes)
-Combat is consistent throughout the whole game, so the early missions can be just as challenging as later ones.
-Once you choose a class, you can then equip weapons for that class (found in the starting zone).
-Other than your chosen class weapons and armor - all other weapons and armor are un-useable.
-Potions don't really exist. Some powerful sorcerers are known to dabble in alchemy and to produce such drinks, but you won't find them lying around.
-The ranger can heal wounds. So can Leanna. There are also Herbal Salves that will treat poison and heal you for a very small amount. Other than that, health and mana will be restored at the start of each new main level after a loading screen with a picture (unless you find out how to enable the secret hardcore mode).
-Eating bananas or slabs of meat will not heal your stab wounds.
-You come equipped with a pouch of coagulant... keep it in your inventory to prevent bleeding, and
to safely remove arrows from yourself (because they now stick in you, and stay there for a while).
-Spells and abilities have been altered. I'll let you discover the differences.
-Mages use magic often, while the 4 other classes have abilities that can be used only once or twice per mission.
-Your inventory is now practically useless. Grab your gear, set up your hotkeys, and go!
-Magic mushrooms change your vision for a short time.

3. Configuration Changes (inlcuding graphics)
===
-Saving is disabled other than checkpoints. You can disable saving altogether in the game settings, allowing you a sort of Ironman mode. When you die, pick the next class and start again, until you've run out of classes.
-Crouch/Walk toggle are in the autoexec.cfg file. I recommened playing with them on, but you can edit the file.
This includes the ability to sprint from a crouch without auto-returning to crouch (or walk).
-Effects are set to 'low', to disable weapon glow. If you know a way to remove weapon glow and to keep this setting on high, let me know.
-Night levels are darker, upping the danger, and the value of wizard eye + mushrooms.
-Draw distance increased, so objects don't fade.
-Much less distance fog.
-Less wet/shiny surfaces when there's no rain.
-More ragdolls!
-Arrows stick.

4. Map & Story Changes
===
-The story is altered... read the included Prologue text files to get the backstory.
-There are 6 possible endings, a couple of which are quite hidden.
-Many levels + parts of the game which I thought were a drag are now removed.
-Many of the remaining levels have altered zones, and new (or removed) routes.
-Stealth should always be an option, but may require some very advanced distraction + timing.
-Xana is no longer in your head. You can interact with her in a couple of ways in this campaign,
but it may not be what you expect...
-Leanna is in the game. She has a similar role, and must survive the Docks level.
-Spiders are now friendly. They are actually kind of cute.
-There are no more invisible explosive traps to worry about.

There are many other miscellaneous detail changes that may or may not go unnoticed.

After downloading from
ModDB
or
Nexusmods[www.nexusmods.com]

How to Install
--------------
Step 1
Extract the .zip file

Step 2
Place the mod folders ('mm', 'ReadyforBattle', 'ReadyforBattleVexed', and 'Reborn') into your main 'Dark Messiah Might and Magic Single Player' folder (wherever your mm.exe file is located).

Step 3
I have built a Mod Selector tool. Go into the 'mm' folder, and rename "Dark Messiah Mod Selector.txt" to "Dark Messiah Mod Selector.bat".
Then you can double click it to run it, and follow the prompts. (I recommend making a shortcut of this)
*Alternatively, you can do traditional methods of mod install (which I will describe at the very end of this guide, scroll down to find it)


**If you want to play the Reborn mod, Copy the 'media' folder from your current 'mm' folder, and paste it into the 'Reborn' folder.
======================================================================================================================================================

***PROTIPS***
-Install Reshade and use the FXAA or SMAA shaders... it's much easier on the PC than the in-game Anti-Aliasing
-To skip intro videoes, do one or both of the following:
--Create a shortcut to run the game with the path: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" -applaunch 2100 -novid
--Open Steam -> Right-click Dark Messiah -> Properties -> Add -novid to the lauch options

~Meant to be played in a dark room with no glare~

*For Hardcore, go into settings and disable autosave (checkpoints)
*For SuperHardcore, kick xana in the face
You must be closer to interact with, pickup, and kick objects, including doors. These actions are more deliberate now - and encourage fluid, engaged movement.
======================================================================================================================================================

Troubleshooting
-If your computer/graphics card is slow, this mod might give some difficulties, as some changes are suited for fast computers... still,
if you must disable HDR, you may encounter odd textures... if you do, search "building cubemaps valve developer community". It's pretty easy to do if you need to.

-Vexed has Deathknights and Necrolords as your allies... sometimes their AI is slow... if you wait for them to perform the death rituals of the recently
deceased, they should all get on the elevator afterwards. Source NPCs are wonderful, but not perfect.

-The loading screens are optimized for 1920x1080. Other resolutions may cause the text/loading bar to be off-center.
======================================================================================================================================================

~~~BUGS~~~
Ropebow:
-Climbing close to walls still causes issues
-Shooting close to walls (especially while crouching/leaning) causes the arrow to stick in yourself

Magic:
-Sometimes after casting Weakness, Lightning Bolt won't fire... It's a terrible bug.
>> switch to your staff quickly before switching to lightning (this can bypass the issue)
>> or mouse click really rapidly makes it fire... weirdness, I don't know what it is.

Crashes:
-Changing levels while reading a book/note/sign will require a restart.
-Sometimes on level changes the game will crash. A restart should fix this.
>>Particularly around level 10... there are extra autosaves there to alleviate this.

TRADITIONAL INSTALL FOR THOSE WITH BAT-PHOBIA
---------------------------------------------
**Method 1-Rename the included "mod".txt files ("ReadyforBattle.txt", or "Vexed.txt", or "Reborn.txt") to "gameinfo.txt".
You will have to rename these each time you change your mod though. That's why I built the Mod Selector.
***Method 2-Manually open up "gameinfo.txt", and add one line to the text above the following two lines:

Add here ------------>
Game mm
Game |gameinfo_path|.

Now, depending on which mod you want activated, it will look like this:

For Ready for Battle:
Game ReadyforBattle
Game mm
Game |gameinfo_path|.

or, for Vexed, you need 2 folders:
Game ReadyforBattleVexed
Game ReadyforBattle
Game mm
Game |gameinfo_path|.

or for Reborn:
Game Reborn
Game mm
Game |gameinfo_path|.






enjoy

Feel free to use any of this mod to your own liking, to make forks, edits, or a completely new mod.

You can find the .vmf files for these edited maps on ModDB.