OVERVIEW

The primary purpose of this mod is to grant the player the ability to use all humanoid NPC combat animations available in the game.

The NPC animations are organized into 8 unique extra movesets:

• Olgierd + 1-Hand Sword

• Spear + Staff + Halberd

• Eredin + Shield + 1-Hand Sword

• Gregoire de Gorgon + 2-Hand Sword

• Imlerith + Caranthir + Caretaker

• 1-Hand Hammer + 2-Hand Hammer

• Dettlaff + Bruxa

• 1-Hand Axe + 2-Hand Axe

Geralt's default moveset/behavior/animations are available for use at any time.

Each ACS moveset comes with:

• Its own unique combos, special abilities, counter-attacks, attack ranges, VFX, SFX, and weapon arts.

• Its own set of dodges, rolls, parry animations, hit animations, death animations, and weapon-holding/passive behavior animations.

Additionally, the mod allows for higher vampire claw combat and abilities while the player is unarmed.
Can be toggled on or off in the mod menu, or set to apply only when the player has certain items equipped.

Also adds bow/arrow combat with special arrows and abilities, though is limited by weapon mode.

All extra animations included within ACS allow for animation canceling, meaning you can start another dodge/roll/evade/attack before the current one finishes.

This is by design, since some NPC animations are too long in duration to be used properly by humans without this feature, and I see no need to append the animations when they can be canceled.

This does not mean, however, that the animations were completely suited for human use, and to that end I had to modify them somewhat.

That being said, the animations are still quite complex and require timing as well as practice to use them effectively, especially for certain movesets.

Easy to perform, hard to master.

Key Inputs/Combos

There are seven main key inputs to perform different attacks for each ACS moveset:

• Light attacks

• Forward (W Key) + Light Attacks
• Heavy attacks

• Forward (W Key) + Heavy Attacks

• Special Attacks (Hold Light Attack) *
• Forward (W Key) + Special Attacks (Hold Light Attack) *
• Forward (W Key) + Parry

* To use Special Attacks, the player must have the combat skill Whirl unlocked and equipped in the character tree.

There are two combo modes to choose from, available for selection in the Main Settings menu. Applies to all seven key inputs:

• Sequential: Where attacks follow a set sequence/order. Attacks gradually become more complex the further along the sequence, as well as deal more damage to enemies. Resets upon reaching the last attack of the sequence, upon being damaged by enemies, or upon performing a finisher.
• Randomized/Distance-based: Where the player will perform different sets of attacks based upon how close or far away the player is from the target. The attacks for each distance category are pseudo-randomized, and will not repeat themselves until the player has performed all of them.

There are also key inputs for multiple Parry Skills, Special Abilities, Weapon Arts, and Special Movements, with each having their own specific combination of keys to activate.

Key inputs of various abilities are written directly within the in-game mod menu.

Weapon Modes

Depending on which weapon mode option is selected through the mod's Main Settings menu, the player may choose to play the game using any of the following modes:



Weapon damage for Armiger Mode, Focus Mode, and Hybrid Mode is determined by the weapon the player currently has equipped in hand.

The transforming weapons for Armiger Mode, Focus Mode, and Hybrid Mode have different versions for silver and steel weapons, with the player being able to select the option in the mod menus if they want the weapons' appearance to stay more conventional and the same as always (Static Weapons), or if they want the weapons to take on different, more fantastical appearances according to the level and/or rarity of the equipped weapon in hand (Evolving Weapons).

Weapon appearances are purely cosmetic. 

The player may switch to whichever weapon mode they desire at any given time.

Additional Features

Additionally, the mod:

- As mentioned in the key inputs section, comes with a whole host of different offensive and defensive abilities / combo systems, which include the:

   - Elemental Combo System **
   - Elemental Rend System **
   - Special Abilities **
   - Armor System ***
   - Parry Skills ***
   - Weapon Arts ***

   ** Can be disabled through the mod menu
   *** Cannot be disabled through the mod menu

- Allows the player to use special Movement Systems to traverse the world of The Witcher 3, either on the ground or through the air, available both in combat and out of combat. Can be enabled/disabled through the mod menu.


- Incorporates my own personal list of combat bugfixes, such as fixing weapons not making impact sounds when applying debuffs to enemies.

- Adds a slider to adjust fall damage from extreme heights. Normal fall damage is completely removed. Compatible with other mods that edit fall damage.

- Through Equipment Mode, is able to interface with vanilla game weapons (Iris, Winter's Blade, etc) and other potential weapon DLCs (Shades of Iron, Exotic Arsenal, and more) that you may have installed, applying the appropriate animations to certain weapons when they are equipped (Olgierd's animation for Iris, spear animations for spear weapons, etc.).

- Also through Equipment Mode, adds additional special ACS weapons into the game as enemy loot, in which you may equip to gain access to the movesets.

- Adjusts itself accordingly to various overhauls that add a stamina requirement to attacks/parries/dodges, and applies the stamina settings of these overhauls for ACS moveset attacks/parries/dodges. Stamina drain for all combat moves is the intended design of ACS, but for the sake of vanilla users who just want to have fun, I have decided not to enforce stamina drain except for the strongest abilities within ACS.

- Includes a Taunt System activated through a key input, which performs a taunt specific to whichever moveset the player is currently using, while also applies a buff to surrounding human type enemies. Can be enabled/disabled through the mod menu.

- Enhances the AI and behavior of human enemies carrying one-handed weapons, with a Dynamic Enemy Behavior System that changes enemy behavior and attack patterns drastically as the fight progresses.

- Adds a variety of custom monsters and bosses into the game world with their own mechanics and systems in place. These are spread throughout the various maps of The Witcher 3, with the exception of the White Orchard maps.

- And more.

Miscellaneous Information

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

REQUIREMENTS

Both Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine DLCs are required.

DO NOT use Vortex or any other mod manager for installation.


Manual Installation

Alternatively, if you wish to install the mod manually, open the text document MANUAL_INSTALLATION_INSTRUCTIONS.txt and follow the instructions inside.


INSTALLATION (1.32)

DO NOT use Vortex or any other mod manager for installation.

Automatic Installation

ACS comes with an automatic installer for Windows OS.

1. Download ACS_INSTALLER_1.32 in the Old Files section.

2. Extract and place the file ACS_INSTALL_SCRIPT_RIGHT_CLICK_TO_RUN_WITH_POWERSHELL_1.32.ps1 directly in your installation folder for The Witcher 3.

3. If your game is on Steam, then the folder path might look something like: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Witcher 3

4. If your game is on GOG, then the folder path might looking something like: C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt GOTY

5. If you see the folders bin, content, and dlc, then the file is in the correct place.

6. Right click the file and click Run with PowerShell.

7. Follow the installer instructions.

Manual Installation

Alternatively, if you wish to install the mod manually, open the text document MANUAL_INSTALLATION_INSTRUCTIONS_1.32.txt and follow the instructions inside.


AFTER INSTALLATION

1. If you're on Next Gen, check the files

bin\config\r4game\user_config_matrix\pc\dx11filelist.txt

and

bin\config\r4game\user_config_matrix\pc\dx12filelist.txt

If

modACS.xml;

does not exist in either of the files, make a new line and add it to the very bottom of the file.

2. Run script merger and merge the scripts if you have other script mods installed. It should auto-merge in most cases.

3. If not, always pick and include the code from ACS.

4. If you don't know how to use the script merger, please read through this guide by Aeltoth, author of RER.

5. Attempt to start the game. Use either mod limit fix or mod limit adjuster if your game does not start.

6. Start the game.



UPDATING THE MOD

Run the automatic installer again, or go into mods\mod_ACS and click on the file CLICK_ME_TO_UPDATE.bat and follow its instructions.


UNINSTALLATION

Delete the following:

modACS.xml located in bin\config\r4game\user_config_matrix\pc

dlc_ACS located in the dlc folder

mod_ACS located in the mods folder



CREDITS
Special thanks to:
Amasii for the constant support from the very beginning, and constantly giving me assets to use which are gradually being implemented.
Defalt for giving me custom animations to use, namely the VGX swordwalking animation.
Aeltoth for letting me lexar some of the code from his RER installation script,
WileCoyote68 for helping me rebuild the strings when my old hard drive died and the original copy got nuked,
+ N E R O × for designing the amazing banners, 
And everybody else at Wolven Workshop who has given me various suggestions, advice, and support, especially my testers.
(Dragos Mahuev, bb-daddy, Tasarruflu Fare, Tahm Kench, Svetikjazz, Solaire, ¤Artemis¤, ImmaterialCat, and countless more unnamed individuals who downloaded various versions of the mod)