Options (OpenXcom)
OpenXcom has a variety of game settings that can be customized through the Options screen in the Main Menu:
- Display Resolution: Resolution the game is rendered at. Note that the game always renders at 320x200 (original DOS resolution) and resizes to whatever you specify, so for a better picture use a resolution with the same ratio. 640x400 or 640x480 (if you like non-square pixels) are recommended. Use the arrows to scroll through the resolutions supported by your monitor, or click on the numbers to type in your own resolution. If you screw it up, use Restore Defaults or delete your options.cfg file (see below) to reset your settings.
- Display Mode: Display the game in a window or covering the whole screen. Windowed mode is recommended as monitors usually don't properly support OpenXcom's lo-fi nature in fullscreen.
- Music Volume: The volume of the background music (0 is mute, 1 is lowest, 4 is highest).
- SFX Volume: The volume of the sound effects (0 is mute, 1 is lowest, 4 is highest).
- Language: Change the language used to display all the game text.
Display Filter
By default OpenXcom just resizes the screen to fit the resolution, maintaining pixel accuracy as in the original game, but a variety of image scaling filters can be applied to change the image quality or apply smoothing and emulation effects:
- Scale: Smooths out edges, making the game look less pixelated. This setting is only compatible with 320x200, 640x400 and 960x600 resolutions.
- HQX: Similar to Scale, but more accurate and high-quality. This setting is only compatible with 320x200, 640x400 and 960x600 resolutions.
- CRT (OpenGL): Mimics a CRT monitor by adding interlaced lines and simulating a rounded display.
- CRT-interlaced (OpenGL): Mimics a CRT monitor by adding interlaced lines and simulating a rounded display.
- CRT-simple (OpenGL): Mimics a CRT monitor by adding interlaced lines and simulating a rounded display.
- Curvature (OpenGL): Simulates a rounded display.
- dot_n_bloom (OpenGL) Applies both a dot grid effect and a bloom effect.
- heavybloom (OpenGL): Applies a very heavy bloom effect.
- HQ2X (OpenGL): A double-scale version of HQX, which smoothes pixel edges, but not quite to the extreme of HQX.
- Openxcom (OpenGL): Smooths rough edges while maintaining a semi-pixellated feel similar to the original X-Com. (default)
- Phosphor-simple (OpenGL) Applies a dot grid effect.
- Pixellate (OpenGL): Default pixel-accurate behaviour, but using OpenGL.
- SABR (OpenGL): Applies texel-based smoothing to the display.
- Scale4xHQ (OpenGL): A quadruple-scale version of HQX, which results in a more subtle smoothing of pixel edges.
- simplebloom (OpenGL): Applies a bloom effect.
Controls
In the Controls screen you can customize keyboard shortcuts for a variety of functions normally only accessible with the mouse. To change a control, left-click on it and press the new key. To erase a control, right-click it.
Besides the controls listed on the screen, there are also these hardcoded shortcuts:
- ALT-ENTER – Toggles between windowed and fullscreen mode.
Custom Music
If you don't like or have trouble getting the original X-COM music to work, you can use your own. Here are some popular choices:
The formats supported are MIDI, MP3, OGG, MOD and FLAC. Just put it in the SOUND subfolder of the Data folder with the same filenames as the original:
| Original | PlayStation | Cydonia's Fall |
|---|---|---|
| GMDEFEND | Briefing1 | Defend Base |
| GMENBASE | Briefing2 | N/A |
| GMGEO1 | Geoscape1 | Geoscape (Part I) |
| GMGEO2 | Geoscape2 | Geoscape (Part II) |
| GMGEO3* | Geoscape3 | N/A |
| GMGEO4* | Geoscape4 | N/A |
| GMINTER | Dogfight | Interception |
| GMINTRO1 | N/A | Intro (Part I) |
| GMINTRO2 | N/A | Intro (Part II) |
| GMINTRO3 | N/A | Intro (Part III) |
| GMLOSE | N/A | Lose Game |
| GMMARS | Debriefing | Debriefing |
| GMNEWMAR | Mission Accomplished | Mars Briefing |
| GMSTORY | Final Briefing | The Story |
| GMTACTIC | Battlescape1 | Tactical Battle |
| GMTACTIC2* | Battlescape2 | N/A |
| GMWIN | N/A | Win Game |
*not available in original
WARNING: There are some bugs with the audio playback on MP3, primarily on Unix-like systems. If you start experiencing crashes after using custom music, switch to a different music format.
User Folder
OpenXcom creates a User folder with all the screenshots, savegames and options in one of the following paths.
You can also specify your own path by passing the command-line argument "-user <user path>".
- <working directory>\user\
- <binary directory>\user\
Windows
- C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\My Documents\OpenXcom
- C:\Users\<user>\Documents\OpenXcom
Mac OS X
- ~/Library/Application Support/OpenXcom
Unix-like
- $XDG_DATA_HOME/openxcom (usually ~/.local/share/openxcom/data/)
- $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/openxcom (usually /usr/share/openxcom/data/:/usr/local/share/openxcom/data/)
Options File
OpenXcom stores its options in a options.cfg YAML file stored in the User folder, which can be easily edited with any text editor. You can also pass them as command line arguments in the form "-<option name> <option value>". These include the options shown in the Options screen as well as other advanced options.
WARNING: Invalid values can cause incorrect behaviour or game crashes. Options that accept true/false are marked by "When enabled", options that accept a range of numbers have this listed in brackets after their description, and options that accept a numeric flag have sub-bullets to describe the functionality of each option.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| System | |
| allowResize | When enabled and the game is in windowed mode, the game resolution can be dynamically resized by changing the window size. |
| baseXResolution | The available display width in pixels. Defaults to 320. Enabling this setting may cause issues with some graphical features that have not yet been coded to scale with this setting. |
| baseYResolution | The available display height in pixels. Defaults to 320. Enabling this setting may cause issues with some graphical features that have not yet been coded to scale with this setting. |
| displayWidth | Display width in pixels. The game will scale the base width to fit this value, so it should be greater than or equal to baseXResolution. |
| displayHeight | Display height in pixels. The game will scale the base height to fit this value, so it should be greater than or equal to baseYResolution. |
| fullscreen | When enabled, the game will run in fullscreen mode as opposed to windowed mode. |
| musicVolume | Background music volume (0-128). |
| soundVolume | Sound FX volume (0-128). |
| mute | When enabled, disables all audio output. Automatically enabled if no audio hardware is available. |
| audioBitDepth | Bit depth of the output audio. Only change this if you know what you're doing! |
| audioSampleRate | Sample rate (in Hz) of the output audio. Only change this if you know what you're doing! |
| debug | When enabled, provides features to make it easier for developers/contributors to debug their work. |
| debugUi | When enabled, shows text borders in UI elements to make it easier for developers/translators to debug their work. |
| fpsCounter | When enabled, shows FPS Counter on the top-left of the screen. |
| language | Filename of the language loaded at startup. |
| keyboardMode | Keyboard input mode.
|
| pauseMode | Controls how the game behaves on loss of focus.
|
| useHQXFilter | When enabled, applies a rendering filter that smoothes out diagonal edges, making the game look less pixelated. This setting is only compatible with 320x200, 640x400 and 960x600 resolutions. |
| useOpenGL | When enabled, applies a rendering filter corresponding to the useopenGLShader option. |
| useOpenGLShader | Selects which rendering filter to apply when the useOpenGL option is enabled. This option takes a path relative to the OpenXcom DATA folder as an argument. Listed below are the available YAML filters that are packaged with recent nightly builds. |
| useOpenGLSmoothing | When enabled, the game will use linear interpolation instead of whole-pixel scaling when no shader is enabled. |
| useScaleFilter | When enabled, passes the game through a software Scale2x filter. This option achieves similar results to HQX but with less overhead and slightly less quality. |
| vSyncForOpenGL | When enabled, puts OpenGL into vertical synchronisation mode, ensuring OpenGL does not exceed your monitor's refresh rate, possibly causing less smooth animation and tearing. |
| Geoscape | |
| agressiveRetaliation | When enabled, aliens on any type of mission may detect your base if they are in very close range. |
| alienContainmentHasUpperLimit | When enabled, restricts the amount of live aliens that can be held in each containment facility. |
| allowAutoSellProduction | When enabled, players may choose to automatically sell manufactured items. |
| canManufactureMoreItemsPerHour | When enabled, very large amounts of engineers can reduce manufacturing time below one hour, occasionally producing extra items per hour in proportion to the number of engineers assigned. |
| canSellLiveAliens | When enabled, captured aliens can be sold for cash in the same fashion as alien corpses. |
| changeValueByMouseWheel | When enabled, scrolling the mouse wheel over increase and decrease buttons will change the value. |
| craftLaunchAlways | When enabled, allow crafts to take off without being READY. |
| globeAllRadarsOnBaseBuild | When enabled, hovering over a valid base location will also display the range in which small radars, large radars, and hyperwave decoders will detect UFOs. |
| globeSeasons | When enabled, the day/night cycle takes into account the time of year and tilts the edge between day and night appropriately. |
| showFundsOnGeoscape | When enabled, shows your available funds above the time of day on the geoscape toolbar. |
| Battlescape | |
| battleAlienSpeed | Alien unit movement speed. |
| battleExplosionHeight | A coefficient that controls how much vertical power explosions have.
|
| battleInstantGrenade | When enabled, grenades are "hot". This means they do not need to be primed, and simply explode on impact. (previously battleAltGrenade) |
| battlePreviewPath | When enabled, your first left-click displays the planned path, and your second confirms the move order. |
| battleFireSpeed | Bullet movement speed. |
| battleNotifyDeath | When enabled, displays a text notification of soldier deaths. |
| battleRangeBasedAccuracy | When enabled, targets at long range are harder to hit with snap and auto shots. |
| battleScrollButton | Controls which mouse button triggers scrolling in scrolling type 0. |
| battleScrollDragButtion | Controls which mouse button triggers dragging behaviour in scrolling type 2. |
| battleScrollDragInvert | When enabled, drag scrolling moves the camera towards the direction your mouse is moving in, rather than away from it. |
| battleScrollSpeed | Map scrolling speed. |
| battleScrollType | Map scrolling mode.
|
| battleXcomSpeed | X-COM unit movement speed. |
| NewBattle_ | (...various options starting with this prefix) Stores your game settings from last time you started a random battle. |
| showMoreStatsInInventoryView | When enabled, the inventory screen displays the weight of equipment the soldier is currently wearing/carrying, and their maximum weight before TU reduction sets in, in addition to displaying the Time Units remaining once you have begun the battle. |
| strafe | When enabled, allows soldiers to move without changing their facing direction by holding control when issuing orders. |
Debug mode
Debug mode is a special feature that makes it easier for developers/contributors to test out game features without needing to play a new game from scratch. After setting "debug: true" in the options.cfg file (see above), you can enable it by pressing Ctrl-D in-game to access a variety of features:
Geoscape: All research is unlocked, allowing you to easily test all features in the Geoscape without needing to manually unlock them yourself. This doesn't affect your saved game.
Battlescape: Whole map is revealed and opening the inventory screen resets TUs, allowing you to easily test out the map and any Battlescape features without being affected by game restrictions.