GEOSCAPE.EXE
The "Geoscape" program that handles base management and aircraft, a.k.a. XCOM outside of tactical combat. TACTICAL.EXE handles combat.
NOTE: In the WinCE version, GEOSCAPE and TACTICAL are one executable, "UFO Defense.exe". Due to this confusion (what wiki pages place things on, when they're practically identical), currently GEOSCAPE, TACTICAL, and UFO Defense information appear here. (Unless and until someone wants to break everything up... then again, having highly related stuff in one place is a good thing.)
Also see Versions.
XCOM: UFO Defense (U.S. DOS) version 1.4
- Is 382,957 bytes long for the virgin 1.4 executable
- Has alien statistics starting at (non-offset) byte 379,729. There are 33 records of 39 bytes each. No alien names, though.
- If you have installed XcomUtil, it may alter the length of GEOSCAPE. Does anybody have a modified version, so we can put the length here? --MikeTheRed
- My XCOM Util GEOSCAPE size is 415,271 --Pi Masta
- My XCOM Util GEOSCAPE size is still 382,957, Pi Masta I think is using 1.2, because that is the size of that file normally --hatfarm
- XcomUtil Does not alter the length of the EXE's only data sections of the code are overwrite (Only splitting the exe adds code but uses padding in the EXE. --BladeFireLight 01:16, 5 January 2010 (EST)
XCOM Windows Collector's Edition
- Variously called the Win CE or Gold version on the wiki
- Is 495,616 bytes long
- Starting at byte 648, reads:
XCOM: UFO Defense Gold Edition This awesome game was compiled on Sep 8 1999 at 08:57:11 Copyright - 1999 Hasbro Interactive/MicroProse Software Party on dude.
- If you install XcomUtil, it separates your UFO Defense.exe into GEOSCAPE and TACTICAL executables. They are almost identical copies of UFO Defense.exe, however they start at the right place when run. This allows the game to closely mimick the Dos version by having its main loop run in a batch file.
- Has alien statistics starting at (non-offset) byte 480,145 (75391x). There are 33 records of 39 bytes each. No alien names, though.
- Has tank & inbuilt alien weapon stats at byte 447,868 (6D57Cx, see below).
- Has the copy protection codes written in the manual starting at byte 475,176 (74028x) (despite the fact that the game stopped asking for these prior to the Windows port!).
File Templates
There appears to be 'templates' of some of the game files stored within this executable. Makes sense as initially no saved game files are present when installed. Here is a list of known positions and the corresponding file. Offsets are from DOS Version of the game patched with XComUtil
| Offset (Hex) | Offset (Dec) | Length (Bytes) | File |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5AB28 | 371496 | 2112 | RESEARCH.DAT |
| 5B5E0 | 374240 | 272 | FACIL.DAT |
| 5B6F0 | 374512 | 1820 | PURCHASE.DAT |
| 5D894 | 383124 | 576 | DIPLOM.DAT |
| 5E48C | 386188 | 1392 | UP.DAT |
| 5EB90 | 387984 | 84 | ACTS.DAT |
| 5FAC0 | 391872 | 2336 | BASE.DAT |
| 5FBB8 | 392120 | 5200 | CRAFT.DAT |
Possibly these are in-game data structures used to hold the current in-memory state, between game saves?
Craft type data
At offset 353,020 in X-COM 1.4 (DOS - modified by XCUtil), the aircraft statistics begin. In WinCE (XCUtil) this starts at hex offset 0x6F9A8 and Alien craft start at 0x6fa34.
.data:0046F9A8
00 02 04 06 08 0A 0C 0E 18 1A
<23Ah, -200, 0, 760, 2, 1500, 150, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0E, 03, 0> ; 0 Skyranger
<23Bh, -300, 1, 3100, 8, 30, 800, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0C, 00, 0> ; 1 Lightning
<23Ch, -400, 2, 5400, Ah, 60, 1200, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1A, 04, 0> ; 2 Avenger
<23Dh, -250, 2, 2100, 3, 1000, 100, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 00, 0> ; 3 Interceptor
<23Eh, -250, 2, 4200, 9, 20, 500, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 00, 0> ; 4 Firestorm
.data:0046FA34
00 02 04 06 08 0A 0C 0E 10 12 14 16
<2B2h, 100, 2, 2200, Ch, 0, 50, 5, 38h, C8h, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0> ; 5 Small Scout (VS)
<2B3h, 150, 2, 2400, 9, 0, 200, 4, 38h, FAh, 78h, 14, 0, 0, 0> ; 6 Medium Scout (S)
<2B4h, 250, 2, 2700, 9, 0, 250, 4, 30h, 12Ch, 110h, 14, 0, 0, 0> ; 7 Large Scout (S)
<2B5h, 500, 2, 4000, 8, 0, 500, 3, 30h, 1F4h, B0h, 28, 0, 0, 0> ; 8 Abductor (M)
<2B6h, 500, 2, 4300, 8, 0, 500, 3, 20h, 1F4h, A0h, 28, 0, 0, 0> ; 9 Harvester (M)
<2B7h, 1000, 2, 4800, 6, 0, 1200, 2, 18h, 7D0h, 150h, 78, 0, 0, 0> ; 10 Terror Ship (L)
<2B8h, 1400, 2, 5000, 6, 0, 3000, 1, 18h, FA0h, 208h, 8C, 0, 0, 0> ; 11 Battleship (VL)
<2B9h, 800, 2, 3200, 6, 0, 2200, 2, 18h, BB8h, 120h, 3C, 0, 0, 0> ; 12 Supply Ship (L)
known fields (14 x 2-byte dwords per record)
00 nameIdx reference to the ENGLISH.DAT entry
02 score Destroyed ; base 10
04 weapon Pods Xcraft only
06 max Speed in knots ; base 10
08 acceleration
0A fuel Capacity ; base 10
0C damage Capacity ; base 10
0E ufo Size 5 - Very Small / 4 - Small (inc. XCom) / 3 - Medium / 2 - Large / 1 - Very Large -spike
10 ufo Reload time Firing interval (rand(x-(diff*2))+(x-(diff*2)).
Values: 56=S/MSct 48=LSct/Abd 32=Harv 24=Suppl/Terr/BS.
12 ufo Escape Time 100~200% = time before UFO attempts escape (on Beginner).
Values: SS=200 MS=250 LS=300 A=500 H=500 TS=2000 BS=4000 SS=3000
14 weapon range distance in km*8
16 weapon damage (0%-100%)
18 Troop Space Troop capacity (Xcraft only)
1A HWP Space HWP capacity (Xcraft only)
1C structCraftData ends
Here is the hex signature of all craft:
3A 02 38 FF 00 00 F8 02 02 00 DC 05 96 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0E 00 03 00 3B 02 D4 FE 01 00 1C 0C 08 00 1E 00 20 03 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0C 00 00 00 3C 02 70 FE 02 00 18 15 0A 00 3C 00 B0 04 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1A 00 04 00 3D 02 06 FF 02 00 34 08 03 00 E8 03 64 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 3E 02 06 FF 02 00 68 10 09 00 14 00 F4 01 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B2 02 64 00 02 00 98 08 0C 00 00 00 32 00 05 00 38 00 C8 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B3 02 96 00 02 00 60 09 09 00 00 00 C8 00 04 00 38 00 FA 00 78 00 14 00 00 00 00 00 B4 02 FA 00 02 00 8C 0A 09 00 00 00 FA 00 04 00 30 00 2C 01 10 01 14 00 00 00 00 00 B5 02 F4 01 02 00 A0 0F 08 00 00 00 F4 01 03 00 30 00 F4 01 B0 00 28 00 00 00 00 00 B6 02 F4 01 02 00 CC 10 08 00 00 00 F4 01 03 00 20 00 F4 01 A0 00 28 00 00 00 00 00 B7 02 E8 03 02 00 C0 12 06 00 00 00 B0 04 02 00 18 00 D0 07 50 01 78 00 00 00 00 00 B8 02 78 05 02 00 88 13 06 00 00 00 B8 0B 01 00 18 00 A0 0F 08 02 8C 00 00 00 00 00 B9 02 20 03 02 00 80 0C 06 00 00 00 98 08 02 00 18 00 B8 0B 20 01 3C 00 00 00 00 00
X-COM craft weapon data
00 02 04 06 08 0A 0C 0E 10 Fire Intevals .data:0046FB18 <240h, 1Eh, 46h, 46h, 1, 0Fh, 6, 1, 6 >; stingray .data:00473FB8 64, 48, 32 stingray .data:0046FB2A <241h, 3Ch, 50h, 64h, 3, 14h, 3, 1, 7 >; avalanche 96, 72, 48 avalanche .data:0046FB3C <242h, 0Ah, 19h, 0Ah, 8, 2, C8h, 64h, 8 >; cannon 4, 4, 4 cannon .data:0046FB4E <243h, 41h, 64h, E6h, 5, 19h, 2, 1, 9 >; fusion ball 64, 48, 32 fusion ball .data:0046FB60 <244h, 15h, 23h, 46h, 0A, 4, *0,*32h, 0 >; laser cannon 24, 24, 24 laser cannon .data:0046FB72 <245h, 34h, 32h, 140, 0C, 6, *0,*32h, 0 >; plasma beam 24, 24, 24 plasma beam 00 Weapon_NameIdx 02 Range 04 CraftWepAccuracy chances=random(100)< Accuracy * (1+3/(5-ufosize))/2 => Accuracy * (0.8|0.875|1|1.25|2) 06 CraftWepDamage damage=(WeaponDamage+random(WeaponDamage))/2 [50-100%] 08 Weapon ID not used: bit0 = 1->weapon is missile. bit3 = 1-> weapon is direct fire. 0A Reload time Value given for in-game ufopaedia fire rate. See table for correct fire rate 0C ammunition max 0E Base rearm rate Amount added to the weapons ammo value in CRAFT.DAT every hour. 10 Ammo_Ref reference to the proper entry in BASE.DAT to check for ammo. (0 = ray) * The code which rearms aircraft ignores these settings and always gives 100 units of ammo to beam weapons.
-- Fire intervals for different attack modes of craft weapon -- Attack modes in order: Cautious / Standard / Aggressive Hex signature of all weapons: 40 02 1E 00 46 00 46 00 01 00 0F 00 06 00 01 00 06 00 41 02 3C 00 50 00 64 00 03 00 14 00 03 00 01 00 07 00 42 02 0A 00 19 00 0A 00 08 00 02 00 C8 00 64 00 08 00 43 02 41 00 64 00 E6 00 05 00 19 00 02 00 01 00 09 00 44 02 15 00 23 00 46 00 0A 00 04 00 00 00 32 00 00 00 45 02 34 00 32 00 8C 00 0C 00 06 00 00 00 32 00 00 00
TFTD USO Stats
Here is a hex signature to help find the first alien sub record (Survey Ship):
b2 02 64 00 02 00 d0 07 0c 00 00 00 3c 00
In the Steam release of TFTD (a DOS version, modified by XcomUtil) this starts at offset 419072 decimal, 0x66500, in GEOSCAPE.EXE
TFTD appears to have the same 14 x 2-byte record structure, and the same or similar meaning, based on comparing a few records to the table in USOs.
HWP Stats
At offset 380,668 the Tank Statistics begin.
Armor Stats
At offset 369,898 in the DOS version; the personal armor statistics begin.
The Statistics are in two byte format and go in the following order:
Front Armor
Left Armor
Right Armor
Rear Armor
Under Armor
To help you find it in UGE, here are the various armor stats in UGE format:
Unarmored X-COM Personnel: 12 - 0 - 8 - 0 - 8 - 0 - 5 - 0 - 2 - 0
Personal Armor: 50 - 0 - 40 - 0 - 40 - 0 - 30- 0 - 30 - 0
So on, etc.
Alien Stats
This section is for the structure of the alien stats, as found in GEOSCAPE. For actual data and additional information, see the alien statistics page. Also see Zombie's excellent alien stats page at StrategyCore.
Alien stats are found as 33 records of 39 bytes each, in all versions of X-COM. They are identical in all versions. This data actually represents the "core" alien stats; modifiers are used to determine the final stats relative to game difficulty level. (In most, but not all, cases, the core stats are the same as the Beginner level stats.)
Alien stats start in each version of X-COM at the following location. This is a byte count, not an offset; with counts, the first byte in the file is byte 1:
Version Location DOS 1.4 379,729 (GEOSCAPE.EXE) WinCE Gold 480,145 (UFO Defense.exe) Playstation 501,212 TFTD 486,930
Alien names are not actually found in Geoscape; it just has 33 strings of data... the alien each string applies to has been inferred by matching against aliens in the game.
The 39 bytes correspond to the following values. For the below, statements also apply to TFTD, since it's relevant to understanding the bytes:
0: Race - Corresponds to Unitref[000]
1: Rank - Corresponds to Unitref[042]
2: Unknown - Always 0 - Corresponds to Unitref[011]
3: Can Fly - No Corresponding Unitref offset
4: TUs - Corresponds to Unitref[025]
5: Health - Corresponds to Unitref[026]
6: Energy - Corresponds to Unitref[027]
7: Reactions - Corresponds to Unitref[028]
8: Strength - Corresponds to Unitref[017]
9: Firing Accuracy - Corresponds to Unitref[023]
10: Throwing Accuracy - Corresponds to Unitref[024]
11: Melee Accuracy - Corresponds to Unitref[056]
12: Front Armor - Corresponds to Unitref[029]
13: Left Armor - Corresponds to Unitref[030]
14: Right Armor - Corresponds to Unitref[031]
15: Rear Armor - Corresponds to Unitref[032]
16: Under Armor - Corresponds to Unitref[033]
17: Unknown - Always 0 - Corresponds to Unitref[034]
18: Energy Recharge - Corresponds to Unitref[035]
19: Unknown - Always 0 - Corresponds to Unitref[036]
20: Unknown - Always 1 No Corresponding Unitref offset
21: Unknown - Always 0 - Corresponds to Unitref[046]
22: Unknown - Corresponds to Unitref[048] (see below)
23: Unknown - Corresponds to Unitref[052] (see below)
NOTE: For additional important info on the last two bytes, see Talk:UNITREF.DAT. My notes below do not take that info into account. For the moment though I'm leaving it as is. I sure wish we could figure the bytes out, and get rid of all the conjecture! - MikeTheRed 08:05, 6 November 2006 (PST)
These Unitref bytes ([48] and [52]) and now Geoscape Core values have long stumped us hardcore X-Commies. The two bytes always equal the same value for a given alien, including all aliens of the same race (the N's below). And, they're the same between Geoscape and Unitref. Clearly it must be important (or a goof!), but exactly what it is, who knows. Although this page is for X-COM, I've included TFTD in the hopes it helps folks - but it's been so long since I've played TFTD, I can't remember those units at all.
How's this for a thought?...
Dimension Byte(s)
X 22
Y 23
Z 24 (top when standing)
25 (top when kneeling)
26 (bottom)
Maybe they represent the "size in profile" ("width"), affecting likelihood to hit. A game could be tried with a target 20 squares away, set 22 and 23 alternately to 5 or 2 (or 1 or 0?), and see if it affects the successful shots percentage. 0 or even 1 might break the game, though.
Also, how do these values (2 to 5) correlate with the "pixel drawings" of units? I can't seem to find that info at the moment... aren't units and tiles defined as something like 16x16x28? If so, then perhaps the values (2 to 5) are multiplied by 3 or something to get their final "width" for bullet interception?? --MikeTheRed 05:20, 17 September 2006 (PDT)
- I finally got the OSG (w00t!), and noticed the following: The section on weapon accuracy says (p. 221) that target size affects the chance to hit, and "the 'size' of each alien is listed along with all other alien statistics in Chapter 9". But the alien stats tables (p. 250 ff.) only lists Height as a possible 'size' stat, and the text write-ups don't otherwise address "target size" with any precision. This discrepancy - that Chapter 8 talks about size, but Chapter 9 only has height - might (might!) mean there are more variables that determine target area size, but somehow they didn't make it to the alien stats tables.
- The description for Height (p. 249) does say, "Taller creatures are easier to hit than short ones are. An alien with a height of 40, for example, is twice as easy to hit as an alien with a height of 20." (Note: The tallest Height is actually 23. And also notice, Float is never mentioned.) This might mean only height affects this, or it could be read in a general way; other dimensions (X and Y in addition to Z) might also affect it.
- Somebody should do some firing accuracy tests while hacking these potential X & Y bytes! But I still don't know how the values for [22] & [23] compare to what X-COM considers tile width... we know the Height byte accurately reflects the full range of possible values (0 to 23), but I doubt 5 is the full (pixel?) width of a tile. This might mean it's not width, then (or maybe [22] & [23] are added, or they are individually multiplied by 3 or something??) If anyone who knows about tile width could say something, I'd appreciate it. --MikeTheRed 11:24, 1 October 2006 (PDT)
In any event, here's a summary of bytes [22] and [23], in the hopes we can figure it out. They're always identical for a given race, and [22] always equals [23].
X-COM TFTD
Value Alien N Value Alien N
2 Sectoid 6 2 Aquatoid 6
Bio-Drone 1
3 Celatid 1 Tentaculat 1
Chryssalid 1
Civilian 2 3 Calcinite 1
Ethereal 3 Civilian 2
Floater 6 Deep_One 1
Muton 3 Gill_Man 4
Snakeman 5 Tasoth 2
4 Cyberdisc 1 4 Coelacant 1
Hovertank 1 Displacer 1
Reaper 1 Hallucinoid 1
Sectopod 1 Lobster_Man 5
Tank 1 Triscene 1
Xarquid 1
5 Silacoid 1
24: Standing Height - Corresponds to Unitref[049]
25: Kneeling Height - Corresponds to Unitref[050]
26: Floating Height - Corresponds to Unitref[051]
27: Damage Modifier Category - Corresponds to Unitref[055]
This field is simply a look-up table, or more directly, a way to categorize the units into similar groups. The actual modifiers are listed elsewhere in the executable. A value of 1 indicates the second DM category, a value of 4 indicates the 5th, etc. The values of 2 and 3 are not seen in the alien stats as they refer to X-COM soldier armor info. I'm not sure about 13 as the Zombie's stats haven't been found yet, but there is a category in the DM's for it.
Category Unit Type(s)
0 Not for units, but is used for Terrain and Items
1 Civilian, Sectoid, Celatid, Floater
2 Personal Armor
3 Power Suit, Flying Suit
4 Tanks, Hovertanks
5 Snakemen
6 Ethereal
7 Muton
8 Silacoid
9 Chryssalid
10 Reaper
11 Sectopod
12 Cyberdisc
13 Zombie
28: Psi Skill - Corresponds to Unitref[037]
29: Psi Strength - Corresponds to Unitref[057]
30: Bravery (encoded) - Corresponds to Unitref[059]
31: Motion scanner size - Corresponds to Unitref[061]
32: 1 for Cyberdisc, 0 for all others including TFTD... isn't "Explodes"; the TFTD Bio-Drone also explodes... - Corresponds to Unitref[071]
I edited the Cyberdisc's field to 0 and checked to see if it exploded. It still did. Obviously this field is for something else. I'll work on this some more. --Zombie 20:15, 15 September 2006 (PDT)
- I have a theory. I vaguely remember something about Cyberdiscs cannot be stunned. Even if you poke it with a Stun Rod and bypass it's self-destruct, it still counts as a kill. Maybe this has something to do with it (as I also remember that none of the other aliens exhibit this behavior)?--amitakartok 12:55, 23 June 2009 (EDT)
- Good thinking. But the Stun page shows that Cyberdiscs can be stunned. Checking Unitref.Dat byte 71 (hex 0x47) shows that, after Zombie posted his statement, there's been a lot of on its Talk page about this byte. -MikeTheRed 20:07, 2 July 2009 (EDT)
33: Unknown - Always 0 No Corresponding Unitref offset
34: Corpse type - Corresponds to Unitref[038]
35: Big unit (2x2) No Corresponding Unitref offset
36: Victory point score - Corresponds to Unitref[039]
37: Aggression - Corresponds to Unitref[044]
38: Intelligence - Corresponds to Unitref[073]
This data was just put together working heavily with Zombie and his great SC alien stats page.
Country Labels
Starting at offset 396480 (hex: 0x60CC0) are the records that contain the location of the labels for the country names on the world. In order they are X, Y, and English.dat index all signed short integers (6 bytes for each record). X should never be negative but between 0 and 2880, Y should be between -720 and 720 (See WORLD.DAT). The English.dat file, despite all other array indexes appears to start at 1 and not 0, thus a value of 611 in here represents index 610 in a zero based English.dat array. (It stands to reason that these work for the other language files as well)
Detection Ranges
Detection ranges are hard coded into the executable at the following locations (Win CE / Gold edition):
| Platform | Address | Data bytes | Hex | Range | nm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aircraft | 591EA | C8 00 | x00C8 | 200 | 600 |
| Hyperwave | 59237 | 20 03 | x0328 | 800 | 2400 |
| Lg Radar | 5926D | EE 02 | x02EE | 750 | 2250 |
| Sm Radar | 59278 | F4 01 | x01F4 | 500 | 1500 |
Patching "88 13" to these locations = x1388 = 5000 range units = 15,000 nm pretty much gives that platform visibility over the whole world. Of course Small Radar still only has a 10% detection chance per half hour.
Battlescape Terrain List
In the UFO CE executable, offset 476156 (743FCx) marks the beginning of the WORLD.DAT terrain to battlescape terrain conversion list. 13 double byte values.
02 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 07 00 02 00 06 00 06 00 08 00 00 00 02 00 08 00
For example, a mission initiated in a GeoScape polygon of type 5 will be performed in battlescape terrain type 7 (mountains).
Note that jungle (type 00) missions in the north will end up as forest missions, and forest (type 02) missions in the south will end up as jungle missions. See offset 10 in GEODATA.DAT for the full battlescape terrain list.
Manufacturing stats
The original data for the product manufacturing information in PRODUCT.DAT is contained in the geoscape executable, at offset 355600 (for plain 1.4 version).
- And at 459720 in Steam's UFO Defense.exe. Off the Rails 17:49, 2 February 2011 (EST)
XCOM: UFO Defense DOS Versions, difficulty setting bug
In the DOS versions of the game there was a problem when saving the IGLOB.DAT file, that would cut off the last four bytes. When the saved game was loaded or at the end of a mission, the game would then be set to beginner, never to return again. There is a single byte that can be adjusted to fix this problem, you change the value from 60 (0x3C) to 64 (0x40). Below are the offsets so you can fix them in your game.
| Offset dec (hex) | Game Version |
|---|---|
| 97228 (0x17BCC) | DOS Version 1.0 |
| 101068 (0x18ACC) | DOS Version 1.2 |
| 101068 (0x18ACC) | DOS Version 1.3 |
| 95676 (0x175BC) | DOS Version 1.4 |
You can read more about the bug at the known bugs area.
See Also
- TACTICAL.EXE - Sister executable used for Turn based strategy (merged with geoscape.exe in WinCE edition)
- UNITREF.DAT - Stats on current units (both XCOM and Alien) in play
- Talk:GEOSCAPE.EXE - More offsets and investigations are on the Discussion page.
- Saved Game Files