The Witcher I - Cannot find recipes for oils

Question

I'm stuck a little with my Witcher I walkthrough. I play Witcher I (EE) with FCR mod installed and use the 4th difficulty (of total 6). Monsters are really tough with this mod and I basically need to use specific oils.

I'm in Act III currently and I have to fight with vampires and wyverns sometimes, but for some reason I cannot find appropriate oils to beat them. I've read books about vampires and ornithosaurs, but no recipes have appeared in my recipes list. I managed to kill Royal Wyvern without any oil, but it was really challenging.

I've already checked all available book traders, alchemists and antiquarians, but no one seems to have necessary recipe for sale.

I've also checked wiki for help and it shows me that I need The Book of the Wolverine for ornithosaur oil and The Book of the Full Moon for vampire oil. And according to wiki both of these books will be available later in the game (Act IV). I'm afraid Geralt won't make it till then without oils.

So does anyone know where I can find necessary recipes? Or I have faced an unexpected bug?

Answer 1

No, that's no bug. It's simply how it works. Vampire and Ornithsaur oil formulae aren't available in Act III.

You can however use Argentia from the Book of the Kiss, which is available from Kalkstein or the Innkeeper. Argentia isn't as strong as the specific oil, but works against every enemy sensitive to silver.

The second option would be to "cheat". The game allows you to experiment, i.e. combine any ingredients you want. You'll get an unkown potion/oil/bomb, but if you chose the correct ingredients, the game will grant you the formula. The wiki shows you which ingredients are required for the oils, so you can experiment and discover the oils this way. This can be considered either a mild cheat, normal experimenting or using knowledge of a prior playthrough, it's up to you.