Wolfie's Wizardry 8 Info Site

Wolfie's Wizardry 8 Spell Ability Spreadsheet

Index

This is where it all started...

What is the Wiz8SpellAbility spreadsheet?

Version History

Next Version Plans / Reported Bugs

How to Use the Excel version of the spreadsheet

What if I don't have a copy of Excel?

How to use the non-Excel version of the spreadsheet

Testimonials from other users

How does a character get to learn a spell?

Where can I get a spellbook from?

Wiz8SpellAbility Spreadsheet

	Click here to download the latest version (v2.01, 765Kb) Click here to download the latest non-Excel version (v2.00NE, 65Kb)
	For details on features likely to appear in the next version, Click here
	After playing Wizardry 8 for awhile (produced by Sir-Tech Canada Ltd), I was continually finding spellbooks and being offered them from merchants in the game, but when my spellcasters would try to use them, would get the message "Bloggs is not powerful enough to understand the writing". Then I found an old message that had been posted on VN Board's Official Wizardry 8 Board by one of the Wizardry 8 programming team (Alex Meduna, Wiz8 Lead Gameplay Programmer / Designer), I got the idea to make a spreadsheet to do the calculations for me. A copy of Alex's original message can be found here. All files are built and stored in Microsoft's Excel-97 file format. Once you've installed the latest version of the files, use the "Wiz8 Char Sheets" shortcut to start Excel and have it automatically load all the files. Note: If the shortcut doesn't work, refer to the README.TXT file for instructions on how to fix it. You should also read the Wiz8SpellAbility.txt file for information on how to use the spreadsheet and any last-minute updates. Attention Non-Excel Owners For those of you who do not have a spreadsheeting application at all, with the kind assistance of Persself (persself AT exis.net), there is now an adapted version of the Wiz8SpellAbility spreadsheet which has been made more friendly to non-Excel applications by removing many of the Excel-specific features this file, whilst you lose the functionality of being able to have multiple spreadsheets linked together to get on overall party summary, it still offers all the features of the original Wiz8SpellAbility spreadsheet. It has been tested extensively on Sun Microsystem's FREE-to-download OpenOffice package. Simply download OpenOffice from here (download size ranges from 64 to 87Mb depending in your O/S, there's support for Windows, Linux and Solaris), and follow the installation instructions supplied on their site. If you do have a spreadsheet application, would first suggest trying the Excel version, as it is possible your application may be fully-compatible with Excel files. Failing that, there is now an adapted version of the Wiz8SpellAbility spreadsheet which has been made more friendly to non-Excel applications by removing all the Excel-specific features whilst keeping much of the functionality. All the details can be found here. To get instructions on how to use the non-Excel version of the spreadsheet, and the link to get the Wiz8SpellAbility_NE.zip file, refer to http://wiz8.web1000.com/HowToUseNE.html. WHAT'S NEW v2.01 (October 14, 2003) Combined both the Wiz8SpellAbility and Companion Utility into one package. Added new features: Improvements to the underlying formulas. Wiz8SpellAbility spreadsheet now has a pie-chart depicting which Realm skill a spellcaster has their strengths in. (More useless eye-candy!). Fire = Red Water = Blue Air = Light Blue Earth = Green Mental = Purple Divine = Yellow v2.01 (October 19, 2002) Updates to the Wiz8 Companion Utility (not released to the public until later, see entry above). Added new features: Added a [Future Spells] sheet which provides a list of which spellcasters will learn what spells at a later time (ie, needs more skill points or character levels). Useful for when the party find a spellbook, to know if it's worth holding on to for later, or no-one in the party is going to need that spell (because they can't learn it or have already done so) and the spellbook can be sold. Changed the phrasing on some of the sentences in the spreadsheet to be more clear. Altered the spreadsheet so users no longer have to perform the linking between spreadsheets themselves (was a constant source of confusion and e-mails). Now all the hard parts are already done and packaged together. v2.00NE (April 27, 2002) The non-Excel friendly version of the Wiz8SpellAbility spreadsheet is released. v2.00 (April 10, 2002) The inclusion of handling for profession-changed characters has required a fair amount of rewriting, so I have designated this release as Version 2. Added new features: The [Data entry] sheet has been expanded to include provision for entering of up to three unique professions. All the spell learning formulas have been changed to include handling for profession-changed characters. For instructions how to use the new interface, refer to http://wiz8.web1000.com/HowToUse.html. My thanks goes to blitz100 and BungoTheMighty for their large contribution in decyphering how Wiz8 works for spell learning when a character changes professions. The headers of the [Printout] and [Availability] sheets change if the character is profession-changed by showing all the professions the character has been in. In the Spell Book column on the [Availabilty] sheet where a spell appears in more than one spell book, the Mastery skill which is the highest (and therefore being used in the calculations) will be marked with an asterisk (""). The [Printout] and [Availability] sheets have a "Printed on..." date stamp on the headers. This is for people to track which update of their character they are looking at when they have made several printouts over time. Thanks to Anonymouse for another great idea. v1.05 (March 26, 2002) Well as it turned out, v1.04 wasn't my last update. Had some killer suggestions made by users, and had some very helpful idea exchanging on a number of aspects on how the Wiz8 spell system works for profession-changed characters, but more on that later. No bugs have been found (whew!), so this update is purely feature adding and a few tidy-up / processing efficiencies. Added new features: Carrying on with the idea of having the user mark when a character learns a spell, the [Printout] sheet now shows spells that can be learnt but have not actually been learnt with an asterisk (""). Adding more information to this sheet. Thanks to Azaroth for making this suggestion. The summary on the [Printout] sheet has also been added to, now showing the number of spells learnt in each spell level along with the existing information on numbers of spells currently available, will be available and never going to be available. A 'Spell Weighting' graph has been added to the [Data Entry] screen. The graph shows visually which of the six spell realms your spellcaster is strongest in. The way it works is, if the character learns a level 1 Air spell, then 1 point is added to the Air score, if they learn a level 2 Air spell, then 2 points is added to Air, and so on up to level 7 which adds 7 points. The one graph has a bar for each of the six realms, so you will be able to see each realm in relation to the others. Has no bearing on the game whatsoever, it's actually a pointless piece of eye-candy. Enjoy! A suggestion was made to handle the "Print Summary" option in a slightly better way, which turned out to made quite a difference on slow PCs (sub-Pentium 233's). This also lead me to tidy up some of the summary layouts which weren't lined up properly. Thanks Anonymouse (no that's not a typing mistake). v1.04 (February 21, 2002) Came across an error in the Wizardry 8 Game Manual. On page 88, it states the level 3 spell "Hypnotic Lure" belongs to the Mental spell realm, but on page 108, the same spell is stated as being in the Fire spell realm! Since Appendix 1 was used as the reference during the building of this spreadsheet, the spell was being assessed as being in the Mental realm. However, after verifying against the game, it is definitely meant to be in the Fire spell realm. FIXED. Added new features: The [Data Entry] sheet now has each and every spell listed on it, the idea being as the spellcaster learns a spell, either from a spell pick during a level up or from a found / purchased spellbook, the spell is selected from the spell list. Why bother? Well, now the [Availability] sheet will highlight in bold, which spells are available for learning, but haven't been learnt. This will be especially useful when visiting merchants, as a quick glance through this sheet will indicate which books to look for. The spells are listed in two ways, one table with every spell in alphabetical order (for easy locating), and in one of six tables divided into the spell realms. This second set of tables is designed to match what is shown in the Magic in-game display. So if you just want to update the spreadsheet periodically, just compare with Magic display screen with what's set in the [Data Entry] sheet. By the way, it doesn't matter which table you use, if you select a spell in one table, the other table will also automatically show the update. Another improvement to the [Data Entry] sheet is the expansion of details shown below the Spell Realm skill values. This now shows, how many spells have been learnt, verses the number of spells currently available for learning, and the total number of spells that will ever be available. A solution has been found for the known issue with the [Printout] sheet! To recap, the spreadsheet used the WingDings true-type font to display one of three icons to display the availability of a spell. However, it came to light that not all versions of the MS-Windows operating system used the same WingDings font, resulting in the icons not matching what they should have been for some users (mainly Win95). The icons have been replaced with tick-boxes, and their status is determined by formulae located in the [Data Sheet]. Since the printing of these are handled by Excel itself, there will no longer be any incompatibility issues. (This is the main reason why the file is now nearly three times the size of v1.03). This had an added benefit in that some of the calculations used on both the [Printout] and [Availability] sheets could be centralised, making it more efficient and less prone to contradictions between the two sheets. Also, laid the groundwork should a solution to the handling of profession-changed be found. Some visual improvements made to the [Availability] sheet. Now the spell names are formatted depending on a set of rules; 1) If spell is not ever going to be available, strikethrough the spell name 2) If a spell needs more skill points / character levels, display spell name in italics 3) If a spell is available to be learnt but has not been, highlight spell name in bold A few other tidy ups, cosmetic changes, and processing formula efficiencies. This may be my final update, (barring an error being found or someone cracking the whole profession-changing handling system). I'd love to receive an e-mail from you, even if it's just got "I'm using it" in the subject, just so I can get an idea of how many people in what countries are making use of the spreadsheet. Anyway, hope you have as much fun using it, as I had building it, - Wolfie (wizardry8 AT mail.com) v1.03 (February 2, 2002) Discovered a mistake with the level 1 spell "Sleep". Realised the spell is available in the Alchemist, Mage and Psionic spellbooks, it was incorrectly being assessed as being in the Alchemist, Mage and Priest spellbooks. FIXED. Added new features: Added a new sheet called [Availability]. Formatted similar to the [Printout] sheet, this has been added by popular demand. It lists all the spells in alphabetical order in a table with details on whether the spellcaster is able to learn the spell or not. If not, an explanation as to why, or what is required before the spell can be learnt is given. Thanks to Amastropolo and others for their input on this feature. Known Issues: Have had a few users with issues using the [Printout] sheet and the icons used to show the availablity of a spell. Seems the WingDings true-type font which is used to display the boxes is not the same across all versions of Microsoft Windows operating systems. This only seems to be apparent for Windows 95 users. Thanks to Darth_Roel and Bubu999 for their assistance. No handling for class-changed characters (ie, changed professions). At this time, no-one has been able to decypher how the game calculates spell availablity under these conditions. Any feedback would be welcome. v1.02 (January 31, 2002) Not so much a bug, but an oversight this time, the formula that calculates what spell level a character has didn't take into account that hybrid spellcasters (Lord, Monk, Ninja, Ranger, Samurai and Valkyrie) do not start to learn spells until they reach level 5. This resulted in the exact same flow-on effects as fixed with v1.01, but its cause was different. Now, when a hybrid spellcaster profession is selected and the character level is less than level 5, the spreadsheet returns a spell level of 0 (zero). FIXED Added new features: The [Data Entry] sheet now shows a count of the total number of spells available to the spellcaster at the current skill levels etc. Found this handy when planning for a character level up, as I could then just up a skill by a few points and see if it would give the character any extra spells without having to switch back and forth between the [Printout] sheet. The [Printout] sheet now has a summary at the end which shows the number of spells available currently, spells that will be available once skill levels are increased, and the number of spells that will not be available (due to profession limits). There is a tick-box provided on the [Data Entry] sheet to toggle this feature on (default) or off (in case you liked the original layout). v1.01 (January 12, 2002) Re-arranged the order of the Mastery Skills so they matched the order shown on the Skills display screen. A bug had creeped into the formula that calculated accessible spell levels for hybrid spellcasters (Lord, Monk, Ninja, Ranger, Samurai and Valkyrie), which had a flow-on affect to the [Printout] sheet (only showed the unavailable spells). FIXED. The formula that calculated accessible spell levels was returning as a string instead of a numerical value, this caused the [Printout] sheet to incorrectly show spell levels available greater that the character was justifiably able to use. FIXED. Thanks to Ampherion for highlighting this one. v1.00 (January 11, 2002) First public release.

Wiz8SpellAbility Companion Utility

As of version 2.01, the Wiz8SA Companion Utility is no longer a separate download; instead it has been improved and merged in with the Wiz8SpellAbility spreadsheet (see above). This section below is still included to detail the background and revision history.

During my work with the Wiz8SpellAbility spreadsheet, I was of course using it for my own parties of adventurers in Wizardry 8. I found myself saving a spreadsheet for each character in the party (I tend to lean heavily toward magic and so just about all my characters are spellcasters of one sort or another). It was about this time that Mage_77 created his list of where spellbooks could be bought and found in the gameworld of Dominus (visit Mage_77's Spellbook Locations list to view the list). So I created another spreadsheet for myself which would link into the individual character Wiz8SpellAbility spreadsheets and provide me with a list of which spellcaster needed what spellbook, so I'd know when visiting a merchant, which spellbooks to buy and how many was needed.

After finishing the Wiz8SpellAbility spreadsheet in April 2002, decided to improve on the original "companion" spreadsheet, to polish it up to a point where it could be released for use by other people. This lead to the release of what was named a Companion Utility a couple of months later.

Well now it is over a year later, and Wizardry 8 is still going strong, with many new players discovering the game, and long-time players are continuing to create many and varied combinations of characters to try. All the while, have been adding features, and generally tweaking the files to improve the overall functionality. Also, did receive a number of e-mails expressing confusion about how to link spreadsheets together etc. Therefore, to remove a lot of the complexity, decided to package the spreadsheets together, and make it into one easy-to-install executable.

As always, would be great hear from you, just send an e-mail to "wizardry8 AT mail.com".

** Attention Non-Excel Owners **

Doubt very much if this will work for non-Excel users as it uses a specific Excel feature of being able to link other spreadsheets together, each spreadsheeting package would have a different way of doing this I expect. If you believe your spreadsheeting package may be compatible, then by all means give it a try and I'd be very interested to hear how you go.

** WHAT'S NEW **

v2.01 (October 14, 2003)

Combined both the Wiz8SpellAbility and Companion Utility into one package.

v2.01 (October 19, 2002)

Updates to the Wiz8 Companion Utility (not released to the public until later, see entry above).

Added new features:

Added a [Future Spells] sheet which provides a list of which spellcasters will learn what spells at a later time (ie, needs more skill points or character levels). Useful for when the party find a spellbook, to know if it's worth holding on to for later, or no-one in the party is going to need that spell (because they can't learn it or have already done so) and the spellbook can be sold.
Changed the phrasing on some of the sentences in the spreadsheet to be more clear.
Altered the spreadsheet so users no longer have to perform the linking between spreadsheets themselves (was a constant source of confusion and e-mails). Now all the hard parts are already done and packaged together.

v2.00 (June 28, 2002)

First public release.

Added new features:

Added an [Available Spells] sheet which provides a list of which spellcaster knows what spell. Handy for when you want to know who has learnt a particular spell you want to use against an attacking monster (group) for example.

v1.00 (April 15, 2002)

Was not released to the public.

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	Comments to: Wolfie (wizardry8 AT mail.com). Last Update: January 28, 2005.