Ruleset Reference Nightly (OpenXcom)

From UFOpaedia
Revision as of 21:33, 26 December 2018 by Meridian (talk | contribs) (→‎Cutscenes)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

A reference of all the customizable values of everything in a ruleset, according to the latest nightly. This page should be updated as new versions become available in order to explain the changes from version 1.0.

Some guidelines:

  • If a value is omitted from the ruleset, the default is used. You cannot omit required values.
  • Text strings (eg. names) are represented by string IDs from the language files
  • Numerical IDs (used for sprites, sounds, etc.) start at 0, not 1.
  • Boolean (yes/no) values are represented by true/false.
  • World coordinates are represented in degrees (see WORLD.DAT).
  • Money amounts (prices, costs, etc.) are represented in dollars.
  • All file paths are case insensitive, but IDs (such as string IDs, music names, or cutscene names) are case sensitive. In general, though, if it works on one operating system, it will work on all operating systems.

Items are ordered as they come in the ruleset. To override this, you can specify a listOrder. You can find the default listOrders in Ruleset List Order.


Starting Base

Defines the content of the base at the start of game.

Value Description Default
randomSoldiers Determines number and type of starting X-Com soldiers.

If a mod contains more than one type of soldiers, this can also be specified with: 

 randomSoldiers:
   STR_SOLDIER: 3
   STR_ANOTHER_SOLDIER: 7
0
scientists Determines number of starting scientists. 0
engineers Determines number of starting engineers. 0
facilities List of starting base facilities and their position (x and y coordinates being 0-5). -
items List of starting items in the base, excluding items on crafts. -
crafts List of starting crafts in the base and items on board. -

OpenXcom uses the same format to define a starting base as for saving/loading a real base (except for randomSoldiers attribute). That means you can also define various other parameters in your mod, for example:

  • predefined soldiers (if you don't like to start with randomly generated ones, but like it a bit more RPG)
  • transfers that arrive at specified times (you could control various game events/progression with these items)
  • base detected by aliens flag (which would allow you for example to start the campaign with an early scripted base defense mission)
  • and so on...

The easiest way to create this ruleset, is to copy it from an existing saved game, correct the indentation and manually change the actual content. The following table completes the list of highest-level attributes you can use.

Value Description Default
soldiers List of starting base soldiers, their names, stats and everything else. -
transfers List of items, soldiers, engineers and/or scientists inbound to the starting base with a specified time lag. -
research List of ongoing research projects in the starting base. -
productions List of ongoing manufacturing projects in the starting base. -
retaliationTarget Flag saying whether the aliens know about your starting base or not. false

Globe

Defines the drawing of landmasses and borders on the globe. Also defines mapping between geoscape textures and battlescape appearance.

Value Description Default
data Path to a file, which contains polygon and texture information. (For example WORLD.DAT). -
polygons List of polygons drawn on the globe surface. A triangle consist of seven values: the first number defines the texture, followed by three pairs of (x,y) globe coordinates. Only polygons with 3 or 4 vertices are reliably shown on the globe, i.e. 7 or 9 values per entry.

Note that:

  • data and polygons define the same thing... use one or another, not both
  • each time you define data or polygons, their previous definition is completely deleted (i.e. globe can be defined only as a whole, not incrementally)
 -
polylines List of border lines. Each list entry consist of a list of (x,y) globe coordinates.

Note that:

  • each time you define polylines, their previous definition is completely deleted (i.e. they can be defined only as a whole, not incrementally)
 -
textures List of textures that determine the battlescape appearance of a certain place on the globe. Textures can be:
  1. Terrain-based: Defined by terrains (can be more than one) that correspond to each Geoscape texture. Terrains can be restricted to certain areas on the globe with area: ([lon1, lon2, lat1, lat2]) and weight: NUMBER that gives their chance of appearance. These textures are used for UFO landing/crash sites.
  2. AlienDeployment-based: Defined by weighted alienDeployments (can be more than one), which determine appearance for mission sites (e.g. terror sites, artifact sites, shipping lanes, etc.).

Note that:

  • each texture is either terrain-based or alienDeployment-based
  • as a convention, terrain-based textures have positive IDs, alienDeployment-based textures have negative IDs
 -
countryColor Color of the country labels (0-255). -
cityColor Color of the city labels (0-255). -
baseColor Color of the xcom base labels (0-255). -
lineColor Border line color (0-255). -
oceanPalette Color range (defined as palette offset) of the "oceans", or better said of the "globe sections not covered by polygons" (0-15). -

Countries

Defines one of the funding nations, listed in "countries:". They're used for activity graphs and player scoring.

Value Description Default
type String ID of the country name. required
fundingBase Country's base funding, in thousands. The starting funding can be anywhere between 1x and 2x the base funding. 0
fundingCap Country's funding cap, in thousands. Once a country reaches this maximum, it will no longer increase its funding. 0
labelLon

labelLat

Longitude and latitude coordinates of the country's label on the globe. This label is only shown when the globe is zoomed in and "detail" is turned on. 0.0

0.0

areas List of "rectangles" on the globe defined as [lon1 lon2 lat1 lat2]. Any activity within these areas counts towards the country's graph activity and affects their opinion of the player. -

Regions

Defines one of the world regions, listed in "regions:". They're used for base placement, activity graphs and mission spawning.

Value Description Default
type String ID of the region name. required
cost Amount of money spent building an X-COM base in this region (first base is free). 0
areas List of "rectangles" on the globe defined as [lon1, lon2, lat1, lat2]. Any activity within these areas counts towards the region's graph activity. -
regionWeight Weight of this region when selecting regions for alien missions. 0
missionWeights Weighted list of the different mission types for this region (eg. STR_ALIEN_RESEARCH: 14). -
missionZones List of mission zones. Mission zones are used for generating waypoints for UFO trajectories, and also for spawning mission sites and alien bases. Each mission zone itself is a list of "mission areas", where each mission area is defined by:
  • a "rectangle" ([lon1, lon2, lat1, lat2]) defining a relevant section of the globe (does not need to be within the region itself); or a single point (a city) on the globe

Zones used for mission site spawning additionally have:

  • a texture ID (from globe ruleset, this should be the alienDeployment-based texture, usually the ID is a negative number)
  • and optionally a city string ID (will be displayed on the globe if defined)

Example: ([lon1, lon2, lat1, lat2, textureID, STR_CITY_NAME]).

-
missionRegion Spawn mission in this region instead (used for regions without land). -

Base Facilities

Defines one of the facilities that can be built in an X-COM base, listed in "facilities:".

Value Description Default
type String ID of the facility name. required
requires List of topics (string IDs) that must be researched to unlock this facility. If none are specified, this facility is unlocked from the start. -
spriteShape Sprite ID from BASEBITS.PCK used to draw the facility's outer shape in the Basescape and UFOpaedia. -1
spriteFacility Sprite ID from BASEBITS.PCK used to draw the facility's contents in the Basescape and UFOpaedia. Drawn on top of spriteShape. -1
lift Is this facility an Access Lift? All base facilities must be connected to the lift. false
hyper Is this facility a Hyperwave Decoder? Displays extra information for detected UFOs. Only valid for radar facilities. If "true", the radar detection chance will be taken from radarChance value. false
mind Is this facility a Mind Shield? Reduces the chance of UFOs finding your base. Does stack (detection chance is inversely proportional to the number of mind shields). false
grav Is this facility a Grav Shield? Doubles the power of your base defenses. Does not stack. false
size Size of the facility, in grid units. Every facility is square, so a size of 1 means 1x1, 2 means 2x2, etc. Bigger facilities are made up of multiple sprites, for example a 2x2 facility will use 4 sprites for spriteShape and 4 sprites for spriteFacility (top-left, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-right). 1
buildCost Amount of money spent to build this facility in the base. 0
buildTime Amount of days it takes for this facility to be built. 0
monthlyCost Amount of money spent monthly for the maintenance of this facility. 0
storage Amount of storage space (for items) this facility provides. See Base Stores. 0
personnel Amount of personnel (soldiers, scientsts, engineers) these quarters can contain. 0
aliens Amount of live aliens this facility can contain. Only checked if the storageLimitsEnforced option is enabled. 0
crafts Amount of X-COM craft this facility can contain. 0
labs Amount of lab space this facility provides for research projects. 0
workshops Amount of workshop space this facility provides for manufacture projects. 0
psiLabs Amount of soldier space this facility provides for psionic training. 0
radarRange Maximum radar detection range of this facility, in nautical miles. 0
radarChance Chance (0-100%) of this radar detecting a UFO that enters its range. 0
defense Offensive power provided by this base defense against attacking UFOs. 0
hitRatio Chance (0-100) of the base defense hitting an attacking UFO. 0
fireSound Sound ID from GEO.CAT played when the base defense fires. 0
hitSound Sound ID from GEO.CAT played when the base defense hits a target. 0
mapName Map associated to this facility in Battlescape base defenses. -

Crafts

Defines one of the X-COM crafts that go on interception missions, listed in "crafts:".

Value Description Default
type String ID of the craft name. required
requires List of topics (string IDs) that must be researched to unlock this craft. If none are specified, this craft is unlocked from the start. -
sprite Sprite ID from BASEBITS.PCK used to draw this craft in the Basescape and from INTICON.PCK used to draw the damage indicator in dogfights.

Note that:

  • the corresponding id for INTICON.PCK for the minimized craft icon is sprite+0
  • the corresponding id for INTICON.PCK for the dogfight image is sprite+11
  • the corresponding id for BASEBITS.PCK is sprite+33
 -1
marker Sprite ID from GlobeMarkers spritesheet, used for drawing craft icon on the globe. Usually 3x3 pixels, but can be modded to be bigger.

Note: if not modded, sprite id 1 is used (=vanilla craft marker)

-1
fuelMax Maximum amount of fuel this craft can carry. Crafts use up fuel based on their speed while traveling. 0
damageMax Maximum amount of damage this craft can take. If this amount is exceeded, the craft is destroyed. 0
speedMax Maximum speed in nautical miles. Crafts travel at max speed when flying and half speed when patrolling. 0
accel Acceleration value shown in the UFOpaedia. 0
weapons Amount of craft weapons this craft can equip. The UI can only display a max of 2 weapons. 0
soldiers Amount of soldiers this craft can carry. 0
vehicles Amount of vehicles this craft can carry. 0
costBuy Amount of money spent for purchasing this craft. If set to 0, the craft will not be available in the Purchase/Recruit screen. 0
costRent Amount of money spent monthly for renting this craft. If set to 0, the craft is not on rental and won't count towards base maintenance. 0
costSell Amount of money gained for selling this craft. 0
refuelItem Item required for refueling this craft. If no item is specified, the craft uses human fuel. 0
repairRate Amount of damage restored every hour while Repairing in base. 1
refuelRate Amount of fuel restored every 30 mins while Refueling in base. If specified, a refuelItem is spent each time. 1
radarRange Detection range of the craft's radar in nautical miles. Every craft radar has a detection chance dependent on its radarChance. 672
radarChance Chance (0-100%) of this craft radar detecting a UFO that enters its range. 100
sightRange Range at which the craft can detect alien bases in nautical miles. 1696
transferTime Number of hours it takes to purchase/transfer this craft to a base. 0
score Score lost when this craft is destroyed. 0
battlescapeTerrainData Terrain associated to this craft in Battlescape missions. -
deployment Custom positions for the unit deployment in the craft, listed as: [x, y, z, facing]

If not specified, units are placed on empty spots from top-left to bottom-right facing top-right.

-
spacecraft Can this craft go to Cydonia? false
maxAltitude Maximum altitude (0-4) this craft can dogfight to. -1
maxItems Amount of items this craft can carry. 0

Craft Weapons

Defines one of the weapons equipped by X-COM craft for shooting down UFOs, listed in "craftWeapons:".

Value Description Default
type String ID of the weapon name. required
sprite Sprite ID from BASEBITS.PCK used to draw the weapon in the Basescape and from INTICON.PCK used to draw the weapon in dogfights.

Note that:

  • the corresponding id for INTICON.PCK is sprite+5
  • the corresponding id for BASEBITS.PCK is sprite+48
 -1
sound Sound ID from GEO.CAT played when this weapon fires. -1
damage Amount of damage this weapon does to enemy UFOs. 0
range Maximum range of this weapon in dogfights (in kilometers). 0
accuracy Chance (0-100%) of each shot hitting the enemy UFO. 0
reloadCautious Time this weapon takes to fire between each shot in Cautious Mode. 0
reloadStandard Time this weapon takes to fire between each shot in Standard Mode. 0
reloadAggressive Time this weapon takes to fire between each shot in Aggressive Mode. 0
ammoMax Maximum amount of ammo this weapon can carry. 0
rearmRate Amount of ammo restored every hour while the craft is Rearming in base. If specified, clips are spent depending on their clipSize, and reamRate should be a multiple of clipSize. If the clipSize of the specified ammo is 0, no clips are spent. 1
projectileType Type of the weapon projectile, used for the projectile sprite in dogfights: 2
projectileSpeed Speed of the weapon projectile in dogfights. 0
launcher String ID of the item required to equip this weapon. -
clip String ID of the item required to rearm this weapon. -
underwaterOnly Is this craft weapon restricted to underwater use only? false

Items

Defines the Geoscape and Battlescape properties of an item that can be stored in X-COM bases, listed in "items:".

Value Description Default
type String ID of the internal item name. required
name String ID of the displayed item name, for cases where it's different from the internal name. If omitted, type is used. =type
requires List of topics (string IDs) that must be researched to unlock this item. If none are specified, this item is unlocked from the start. Soldiers can only use unlocked items in the Battlescape. -
size Space occupied by this item in Base Stores. Can be a decimal value. 0.0
costBuy Amount of money spent for purchasing this item. If set to 0, this item will not be available in the Purchase/Recruit screen. 0
costSell Amount of money gained for selling this item. 0
transferTime Number of hours it takes to purchase/transfer this item to a base. 24
weight Weight occupied by this item in a soldier's inventory. 3
bigSprite Sprite ID from BIGOBS.PCK used to draw this item in a soldier's inventory and UFOpaedia. -1
floorSprite Sprite ID from FLOOROB.PCK used to draw this item on the floor of a Battlescape tile. -1
handSprite Sprite ID from HANDOB.PCK used to draw this item on a soldier's hand in the Battlescape.

modders: each handobject needs 8 images (8 directions) define the extrasprites accordingly

120
bulletSprite Sprite ID from BulletSprites.png used to draw this weapon's projectile on the Battlescape:

for modders: the bulletsprite needs to be put into the extraSprites type "Projectiles" the bulletsprite can contain up to 35 3x3 images. The corresponding file id is 35*[bulletSprite]

-1
fireSound Sound ID from BATTLE.CAT played when this weapon fires. -1
hitSound Sound ID from BATTLE.CAT played when this weapon hits a target. -1
hitAnimation Sprite ID from SMOKE.PCK used to draw the weapon's "hit explosion".

NOTE: Do not define this value for melee/psi weapons, they use HIT.PCK and therefore meleeAnimation instead.

NOTE: Explosive style weapons (Damage type: smoke, incendiary, stun, & High Explosive) use X1.PCK and should always be set to the first above water sprite (spriteID for UFO, spriteID + 8 for TFTD). TFTD spritesheet should start with 8 underwater images, followed by 8 above water images.

-1
meleeSound Sound ID from BATTLE.CAT played when this weapon attacks a target with melee. 39
meleeHitSound Sound ID from BATTLE.CAT played when this weapon HITS a target with melee. -1
meleeAnimation Sprite ID from HIT.PCK played when this weapon attacks a target with melee. 0
power Weapon power. Usually corresponds to weapon's average damage. For some weapons/items, it determines the range (e.g. for incendiary). 0
compatibleAmmo List of string IDs of the ammo items that can be loaded on this weapon. If none are specified, the weapon doesn't need ammo. -
damageType What type of damage does this weapon do:
  • 0 - None
  • 1 - Armor Piercing
  • 2 - Incendiary
  • 3 - High Explosive
  • 4 - Laser
  • 5 - Plasma
  • 6 - Stun
  • 7 - Melee
  • 8 - Acid
  • 9 - Smoke

NOTE: A damage type other than 0-9 will do nothing.

0
tuAuto

accuracyAuto

The percentage (0-100%) of Time Units (from the soldier's total) required to fire an Auto Shot. If 0, the weapon does not have an Auto Shot.

The base accuracy (0-100%) applied to a soldier's Firing Accuracy when firing an Auto Shot.

0

0

tuSnap

accuracySnap

The percentage (0-100%) of Time Units (from the soldier's total) required to fire a Snap Shot. If 0, the weapon does not have a Snap Shot.

The base accuracy (0-100%) applied to a soldier's Firing Accuracy when firing a Snap Shot.

0

0

tuAimed

accuracyAimed

The percentage (0-100%) of Time Units (from the soldier's total) required to fire an Aimed Shot. If 0, the weapon does not have an Aimed Shot.

The base accuracy (0-100%) applied to a soldier's Firing Accuracy when firing an Aimed Shot.

0

0

tuMelee

accuracyMelee

The percentage (0-100%) of Time Units (from the soldier's total) required to do a melee attack (Hit). If 0, the weapon does not have a melee attack.

The base accuracy (0-100%) applied to a soldier's Melee Accuracy when doing a melee attack.

0

0

clipSize The amount of ammo stored in each weapon clip. If -1 is specified, this weapon has infinite ammo. If specified for a HWP, clipSize determines the maximum amount of shots which can be loaded into the HWP weapon. Use clipsize -1 for melee weapons. 0
battleType Defines the weapon's behavior in the Battlescape: 0
twoHanded Is this weapon two-handed? If true, incurs an accuracy penalty if used with both hands occupied. Note that the handsprite of a twoHanded item is also drawn at a slightly different position than a one handed item. false
fixedWeapon Is this weapon fixed? (it's part of a unit, eg. tanks and terrorist units) false
waypoints Gives the integer number of waypoints the weapon can use. (eg. Blaster Launcher). Can also be used to make ammo items use the waypoint system. "-1" means unlimited waypoints. 0
invWidth Item width in a soldier's inventory (in grid units). 1
invHeight Item height in a soldier's inventory (in grid units). 1
painKiller Amount of painkillers contained in a Medi-Kit. 0
heal Amount of heals contained in a Medi-Kit. 0
stimulant Amount of stimulants contained in a Medi-Kit. 0
woundRecovery Amount of Fatal Wounds treated by each heal of a Medi-Kit. 0
healthRecovery Amount of Health recovered by each heal of a Medi-Kit. 0
stunRecovery Amount of Stun removed by each stimulant of a Medi-Kit. 0
energyRecovery Amount of Energy recovered by each stimulant of a Medi-Kit. 0
tuUse Amount of Time Units required to use this item (for non-offensive items). It's a flat rate if flatRate is true, otherwise it's a percentage (0-100%). 0
recoveryPoints Score gained for recovering this alien artifact. 0
armor How much damage is needed to destroy this item on the ground. 20
turretType Sprite ID from TANKS.PCK of the turret to assign to this tank: -1
recover Is this item recoverable? (gets transported to the X-COM base on mission success) true
liveAlien Does this item represent a live alien? (counts towards Alien Containment) false
blastRadius Size of the projectile explosions. 0 for no explosion. -1 to automatically calculate based on weapon power and damage type (actual blastRadius currently is capped due Explosion calculations). -1
attraction Represents how likely an alien is to pick up this item. Values below 5 will be ignored (by design). 0
flatRate If true, then TU costs for this weapon are a flat rate (instead of a percentage of unit TUs). false
arcingShot Does this weapon fire in an arc? false
maxRange Maximum range at which this weapon can operate. 200
aimRange Maximum effective range with this weapon before which range-based dropoff occurs. 200
snapRange Maximum effective range with snap shot before which range-based dropoff occurs. (ufoextender accuracy only) 15
autoRange Maximum effective range with auto shot before which range-based dropoff occurs. (ufoextender accuracy only) 7
minRange Range-based dropoff will work in reverse for ranges below this. 0
dropoff The value by which the accuracy lowers for each tile after (or before) the thresholds above. 2
bulletSpeed How much faster (or slower, if you use a negative number) is a projectile fired from this weapon compared to the average. 0
explosionSpeed How much faster (or slower, if you use a negative number) is an explosion animated compared to the average. 0
autoShots How many auto shots does this weapon fire. 3
shotgunPellets Number of projectiles fired per unit of ammunition. (note: due to engine limitations it is currently impossible to draw multiple projectiles in flight.) 0
zombieUnit String ID of the unit used for zombification (eg. Chrysallids turn units into Zombies). none
strengthApplied Add the attacking unit's strength to this weapon's damage. false
skillApplied Is melee skill applied to the accuracy of an attack made with this object? true
LOSRequired Does this item require line of sight? (only applies to mind probes and psi-amps) false
meleePower Damage this weapon will do when using melee. This only applies to Firearms, and is only available as stun damage. For normal melee weapons, use regular power and damage types. 0
underwaterOnly Can this item only be used underwater? false
landOnly Can this item only be used on land? false
specialType MCD value in map files to which this item corresponds for mission recovery. -1
vaporColor The color offset (0-15) to use for the vapor trail. -1
vaporDensity The vapor cloud density (number of particles) for the vapor trail. 0
vaporProbability The vapor cloud probability (0-100%) for the vapor trail. 15

UFOs

Defines one of the UFOs that invade Earth, listed in "ufos:".

Value Description Default
type String ID of the UFO name. required
size String ID of the UFO size. STR_VERY_SMALL
sprite Sprite ID from INTERWIN.DAT used to draw this UFO in the dogfight view and UFOpaedia.

Note: don't try to add more images if you don't want to punch yourself in the face - use modSprite instead.

-1
modSprite Filename used to draw this UFO in the dogfight view and UFOpaedia. -
marker Sprite ID from GlobeMarkers spritesheet, used for drawing flying UFO icon on the globe. Usually 3x3 pixels, but can be modded to be bigger.

Note: if not modded, sprite id 2 is used (=vanilla flying UFO marker).

-1
markerLand Sprite ID from GlobeMarkers spritesheet, used for drawing landed UFO icon on the globe. Usually 3x3 pixels, but can be modded to be bigger.

Note: if not modded, sprite id 3 is used (=vanilla landed UFO marker).

-1
markerCrash Sprite ID from GlobeMarkers spritesheet, used for drawing crashed UFO icon on the globe. Usually 3x3 pixels, but can be modded to be bigger.

Note: if not modded, sprite id 4 is used (=vanilla crashed UFO marker).

-1
damageMax Maximum amount of damage this UFO can take. If the UFO takes 50% damage, it crash lands. If it takes 100% damage, it is destroyed. 0
speedMax Maximum speed in nautical miles. 0
accel Acceleration value shown in the UFOpaedia. 0
power Damage power of this UFO's weapon in dogfights. 0
range Maximum range of this UFO's weapon in dogfights (in kilometers). 0
score Score gained when this UFO is destroyed, or half this score if it crash lands. 0
reload Time the UFO's weapon takes to fire between each shot. 0
breakOffTime Minimum amount of time for the UFO to be able to break off of a dogfight. 0
sightRange UFO's sight range (for detecting X-COM bases) in nautical miles. 268
missionScore Negative points awarded each half hour the UFO is airborne, and twice this value when landed 1
battlescapeTerrainData Terrain associated to this UFO in Battlescape missions. required

Inventory Sections

Defines one of the sections of the Battlescape inventory (eg. Backpack), listed in "invs:".

Value Description Default
id String ID of the inventory name. required
x

y

Pixel coordinates of this section on the inventory screen. 0

0

type Type of this section:
  • 0 = Slot section, can contain as many items as will fit on the slots.
  • 1 = Hand section, can only contain one item regardless of size.
  • 2 = Ground section, can contain infinite items.
 0
slots List of the grid slots ([x, y]) that this section is composed of. For example, to make a 2x2 section, you would have [0, 0] [0, 1] [1, 0] [1, 1]. -
costs List of Time Units costs to move an item from this section to another one (eg. STR_BACKPACK: 16 means it will cost 16 TUs to move an item from this section to the Backpack). -

Terrains

Defines one of the terrains used to generate a Battlescape map, listed in "terrains:".

Value Description Default
name String ID of the terrain name. required
mapDataSets List of filenames (each with matching MCD/PCK/TAB files) that contain the tiles of this terrain. -
mapBlocks List of map blocks (see below) that are used for generating a map. -
civilianTypes List of units to use as civilians for this mission. [MALE_CIVILIAN, FEMALE_CIVILIAN]
music The list of musics this terrain can choose from (unless overridden by alienDeployment). -
depth Minimum and maximum possible depth, format is [minDepth, maxDepth]. Sets the battlescape depth (randomly, unless overridden by alienDeployment). [0, 0]
ambience The ambient sound effect. Sound ID from BATTLE.CAT. -1
ambientVolume The volume of the ambient sound effect. 0.5
script The map generation script name. DEFAULT

Map Blocks

Value Description Default
name Filename of the map. required
width Width of this map block in Battlescape grid units.

Note: in MapView tool (tested on version 1.6.0.0), this is called length. MapView's dimensions [w, l, h] correspond to OpenXcom's dimensions [l,w,h].

10
length Length of this map block in Battlescape grid units.

Note: in MapView tool (tested on version 1.6.0.0), this is called width. MapView's dimensions [w, l, h] correspond to OpenXcom's dimensions [l,w,h].

10
height Height of this map block in Battlescape grid units. 4
groups List (or single number) of groups this mapblock belongs to (used in mapscripts)

default usage:

  • 0 - Default
  • 1 - Landing Zone (for placing X-COM / alien craft) (used in addCraft/addUFO mapscript commands)
  • 2 - E-W Road (for city maps) (used in addLine mapscript command)
  • 3 - N-S Road (for city maps) (used in addLine mapscript command)
  • 4 - Road Crossing (for city maps) (used in addLine mapscript command)

Hint: all maps with an XCOM/Alien craft require at least one map block assigned to Group 1. This map block can only contain ground tiles (no walls or objects).

0
revealedFloors Map block floor to be revealed from the very beginning; use a list "[0, 1, ..]" to reveal multiple floors -
items An array of items to add to this mapblock, and the positions to place them at. -

Map Scripts

Defines how the battlescape maps are generated from the available map blocks.

Value Description Default
type name of the script required
commands List of MapCommands -

Map Command

Value Description Default
type Currently these commands are implemented:
  • addBlock - adds a mapblock can be combined with size, group, executions and blocks (for a weighted list)
  • addLine - adds a line of mapblocks from groups (roads for example)
  • addCraft - adds X-Com craft towards map
  • addUFO - can also be used to place 'UFO' maps (or any other single map) on missionSite (objective 3) missions.
  • digTunnel
  • fillArea
  • checkBlock
  • removeBlock
  • resize
 required
rects A list of possible areas on the map where (random) placement/checks/removal can happen. If not specified, entire map is considered.

Each item in the list is a group of four integers [x, y, width, height].

-
label A numeric label that can be used for conditional execution of commands. Please make sure that you use positive and unique labels (unique within the command). If you try using negative labels, OpenXcom will convert them to positive (abs. value) anyway. If you try using non-unique labels, you'll get undefined behavior. 0
conditionals Defines the pre-conditions for the execution of this command. For example [1, -4] means it will be executed if command with label 1 was a success and command with label 4 failed.

Note: commands that are not yet executed are always in failed state.

0
size Size of map blocks that can be placed/checked/removed within rects. Only width (sizeX) and length (sizeY) are relevant. Can be specified as a single value, which is then used as both width and length; or as group of up to three values [x, y, z].

Also used for resize command type, which can use also the height value (sizeZ).

[1, 1, 0]
groups Defines what types of map blocks can be used within this command. Can be defined as a list or as a single value. 0
blocks Alternative to groups. Here we define an explicit list of map blocks that can be used within this command.

Important: The list is defined by map block sequential IDs (not by name!), where first map block has sequential ID = 0 (not 1).

0
freqs Defines the distribution frequency for the groups or blocks (see above). If not used, all groups/blocks have frequency 1. 1
maxUses Defines the maximum number of uses for the groups or blocks (see above). If not used, all groups/blocks have frequency -1 (=unlimited). -1
tunnelData Parameter for digTunnel command type. Contains a level (default: 0) and a list of MCD replacement rules (MCDReplacements) -
direction Parameter for digTunnel and addLine command types. Values are: both, horizontal or vertical. -
executionChances The probability (0-100%) that this command will be executed (or fails). 100
executions This command will be executed multiple times with a value > 1. 1
UFOName String ID of the UFO to be placed. -

Guidelines/Tips

  • There are 3 main 'types' of map generation in UFO/TFTD:
    • Random, where any map block (including XCom craft and/or UFOs/USOs) can be placed anywhere in the Battlescape;
    • Procedurally generated, where placement of certain maps is defined by rules (i.e. the roads on the Urban terrain used in terror sites in Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense);
    • Static, where only 1 or more maps are used (i.e. Cargo and Liner Ships in TFTD).
  • Map scripting in OpenXcom allows also for a mixture of 2 or even all the 3 described above, where some parts of the map will be static, others will be filled according to certain rules and the remainer filled randomly.
  • Every script requires at least 1 map block used for spawning XCom units. Usually that role is taken by XCom craft, except on the XCom Base, Alien Base and the 2nd part of the Cydonia mission. If the script can't place this map then OpenXcom will display a message saying that it couldn't place XCom units on the map.
  • Every space on the Battlescape needs to be filled, so the script should have enough mapblocks available for use. In the case of the vanilla terrains, the maxUses settings were designed mostly for 50x50 dimensions so any increases to those dimensions will require adjusting the maxUses settings. Otherwise the game will crash and display an error message that it couldn't generate the map.
  • The "addLine" command relies on groups 2, 3 and 4 as its vertical road, horizontal road and crossroad pieces.
  • The "addCraft" and "addUFO" commands will place blocks from group 1 as well, by default, if any are defined.

Mission Scripts

MissionScripts determines how many missions are spawned each month.

Value Description Default
type Name of the script used for overwriting or deleting purposes. required
firstMonth Months this command runs on, 0 runs on startup of a new game 0
lastMonth Do not run after this month. In this context we mean "run once". -1 denotes no limit. -1
label A numeric label that can be used for conditional execution of commands. Each label should be unique within the command list (0=default no need for uniqueness). 0
conditionals Defines the conditions that allows the execution of this command. For example, [1, -4] means it will be executed if command with label 1 was a success and command with label 4 failed.

Commands that are not yet executed are always in failed state.

-
missionWeights The type of mission to spawn (omit to pick one from the alien strategy mission table). These are split into monthly chunks, and can contain multiple entries including weighted odds, but there is a caveat here: You cannot mix and match missions with mission site objectives (i.e. terror sites) with regular missions. They are generated too differently. Using executionOdds and conditionals instead can achieve exactly the same thing. Similarly, terror missions should not appear in regional mission weights (regions.rul). -
executionOdds % chances of this command executing. 100
targetBaseOdds % chances of this mission targeting a region containing an xcom base... instead of a random region (which CAN also contain an xcom base). 0
startDelay Number of minutes to delay the start of the mission (rounded down to the nearest 30). For 0 the wave timer from the mission itself is used. 0
raceWeights List which can override established monthly race weights if desired. -
regionWeights List which can override established monthly region weights if desired. This will come into play only if the mission doesn't target an xcom base.

If the list is omitted: for a terror type mission, all regions that meet the criteria will be weighed equally. For regular missions the normal regional distribution weights will be applied.

-
minDifficulty This command only applies to difficulty levels of this or above. 0
researchTriggers A list of research topics that can influence the execution of this mission. For example
  • "STR_THE_ULTIMATE_THREAT: true" means the mission would only run if the player has researched the Ultimate Threat.
  • "STR_TLETH_TH_ALIEN_CITY: false" means the mission would only run if the player has not researched T'Leth.

Several research triggers can be combined and for the mission to appear all must be fulfilled.

0
maxRuns This mission type can only execute this number of times, -1 for infinite. -1
avoidRepeats This is used to ensure different coordinates for this mission. It means "store an array of x previous coordinates, and don't use them again". 0
varName This is an internal variable name, used for tracking maxRuns and avoidRepeats. -
useTable Check if this mission type appears in the mission tables. If true remove it from there.

Note: this is used for "classic approach" (before mission scripts existed), where missions were pre-generated at the beginning of the campaign in alien strategy table and removed from there one by one to avoid repetitions.

true

Guidelines/Tips

Relevant ruleset files for editing alien missions of "mission site" type (e.g. terror sites):

  • missionScripts.rul - this is where alienMissions are generated
  • alienMissions.rul - alienMissions provide a link to the region (unless overridden by missionScript); and define missionWaves, which ultimately provide links to UFO trajectories
  • ufoTrajectories.rul - provides a link to regional missionZones (= places where the the UFOs start/end, change direction, land, and potentially create mission sites)
    • Note: mission sites can also be spawned without actual UFOs if so desired (e.g. TFTD artifact sites/shipping lanes)
  • regions.rul - defines the missionZones; and provides a link to textures (=battlescape appearance)
    • Note: textures can be either terrain-based (used for UFO landing/crash sites) or alienDeployment-based (used for mission sites)
  • globe.rul - defines the textures
    • Note: the alienDeployment-based textures are usually recognizable by their negative IDs
  • alienDeployments.rul - contains detailed information for the battlescape map generator (terrains, mapScripts, etc.)

Armor

Defines a Battlescape unit's armor as well as visual representation (so every unit has an armor), listed in "armors:".

Value Description Default
type String ID of the armor name. required
spriteSheet Sprite sheet from UNITS used to draw a unit wearing this armor. -
spriteInv Sprite used for the Inventory Backgrounds of a unit wearing this armor. -
allowInv Can the inventory of this armor be accessed or not? true
corpseItem Deprecated, do not use! -
corpseBattle List of string IDs of the corpse items generated when a unit wearing this armor is killed/stunned (1 for 1x1 unit, 4 for 2x2 unit) on the Battlescape. -
corpseGeo String ID of the corpse item recovered in Debriefing.

Tip for modders: useful for example when you want to recover a "damaged" version of a soldier's armor.

-
storeItem String ID of the item that represents this armor in Base Stores for equipping. -
specialWeapon Alternative method of defining a melee/psi weapon for aliens (and civilians); instead of defining it on the unit itself. -
frontArmor Protection provided on the front of the unit. 0
sideArmor Protection provided on the sides of the unit. 0
rearArmor Protection provided on the rear of the unit. 0
underArmor Protection provided under the unit (e.g. from explosions). 0
drawingRoutine Drawing routine used to put together the body parts in the unit's spriteSheet: 0
movementType Type of movement provided by this armor:
  • 0 = Walking
  • 1 = Flying
  • 2 = Sliding (no walking animation)
  • 3 = Floating (fly underwater, walk on the surface)
  • 4 = Sinking (walk underwater, fly on the surface)

it also defines the body of a tank (32-images) in your spriteSheet or the change in sprites while flying using a flying armor see: TANKS.PCK, XCOM_2.PCK

0
size Size of the unit wearing this armor, in Battlescape grid units. 1 means 1x1 unit, 2 means 2x2 unit, other sizes are not supported. 1
weight Physical weight of the armor when worn. 0
stats Like soldier stats (see below) but these are treated as stat bonuses while wearing a given type of armor. -
damageModifier List of decimal damage modifiers (1.0 = 100%) this armor applies to each damage type (see Items section) received. Modifiers must be specified for all damage types, in this order:
  • None
  • Armor Piercing
  • Incendiary
  • High Explosive
  • Laser
  • Plasma
  • Stun
  • Melee
  • Acid
  • Smoke

- 1.0
- 1.0
- 1.0
- 1.0
- 1.0
- 1.0
- 1.0
- 1.0
- 1.0
- 1.0

loftempsSet List of LOFTEMPS IDs (1 for 1x1 units, 4 for 2x2 units) used to represent a unit wearing this armor in 3D voxel space. -
loftemps Deprecated, for backwards-compatibility only. Works only for 1x1 units! -
deathFrames Number of "death frames" = sprites in the death animation sequence. 3
constantAnimation Set it to "true" for units that constantly show an animation, such as: Biodrone, Celatid, Silacoid. false
forcedTorso Soldier sprites have female and male torsos. some armors reuse these sprites for flying/non flying torso without difference between genders. This can be controlled by the parameter: 0 = use gender-specific torso, 1 = use male torso, 2 = use female torso 0
spriteFaceGroup Palette offset (1-15) used for replacing colors when drawing units. Replacement is based on unit's avatar (gender & look). Default 0 (unused).

As the name suggests, it is usually used to recolor faces.

example:
6
spriteHairGroup Palette offset (1-15) used for replacing colors when drawing units. Replacement is based on unit's avatar (gender & look). Default 0 (unused).

As the name suggests, it is usually used to recolor hair.

example:
9
spriteUtileGroup Palette offset (1-15) used for replacing colors when drawing units. Replacement is based on unit's avatar (gender & look). Default 0 (unused).

Doesn't have any suggested use, feel free to use it to recolor anything you want :)

0
spriteRankGroup Palette offset (1-15) used for replacing colors when drawing units. Replacement is based on unit's "rank" (see below for details). Default 0 (unused).

Doesn't have any suggested use, feel free to use it to recolor anything you want... for example Floater robes :)

0
spriteFaceColor New color index (0-255) for "face pixels". List of 8 values corresponding to the following avatars:
  • Male Blond, Female Blond, Male Brown, Female Brown, Male Asian, Female Asian, Male African, Female African

Aliens and civilians use random value from this list. Value 0 means "no change". Example: [96, 96, 96, 96, 160, 160, 163, 163]

-
spriteHairColor New color index (0-255) for "hair pixels". List of 8 values corresponding to the same avatars as above.

Aliens and civilians use random value from this list. Value 0 means "no change". Example: [144, 144, 164, 164, 245, 245, 166, 166]

-
spriteUtileColor New color index (0-255) for "util pixels". List of 8 values corresponding to the same avatars as above.

Aliens and civilians use a random value from this list. Value 0 means "no change".

-
spriteRankColor New color index (0-255) for "rank pixels".

For soldiers, a list of 6 values corresponding to the following xcom ranks:

  • STR_ROOKIE, STR_SQUADDIE, STR_SERGEANT, STR_CAPTAIN, STR_COLONEL, STR_COMMANDER

For aliens, a list of 7 values corresponding to the following alien ranks:

  • STR_LIVE_SOLDIER, STR_LIVE_ENGINEER, STR_LIVE_MEDIC, STR_LIVE_NAVIGATOR, STR_LIVE_LEADER, STR_LIVE_COMMANDER, STR_LIVE_TERRORIST

For civilians, a list of 8 values... one will be chosen randomly (since civilians don't have ranks). Value 0 means "no change".

-
units List of soldier types this armor applies to. Empty = applies to all soldier types. -

Player Units (Soldiers)

Defines a soldier recruited by X-COM, listed in "soldiers:".

Unit stats are represented as follows:

Value Description Default
type String ID of the soldier type. required
requires List of topics (string IDs) that must be researched to unlock this soldier type. If none are specified, this soldier type is unlocked from the start. -
minStats Minimum values used to generate the soldier's Starting Stats. In this case, psiSkill is treated as the initial stat (not generated). -
maxStats Maximum values used to generate the soldier's Starting Stats. In this case, psiSkill is treated as the minimum value for the first month of psi training (actual value is 100%-150%). -
statCaps Maximum stats this soldier can gain through Experience. NOTE: A stat will still go over the limit once, and then will no longer increase (see Regarding Caps). -
armor String ID of the armor this soldier uses by default. -
costBuy Amount of money spent for hiring this soldier type. If set to 0, the soldier type will not be available in the Purchase/Recruit screen. 0
costSalary Amount of money spent monthly for employing this soldier type. 0
standHeight Height of this soldier when standing. 0
kneelHeight Height of this soldier when kneeling. 0
floatHeight Distance between the bottom of this unit and the ground. 0
femaleFrequency The probability that a female soldier is hired. 50
value The soldier's base value, without experience modifiers. Used for scoring in Debriefing. 20
transferTime The amount of time (in hours) it takes for new recruits of this soldier type to arrive at a base. If 0, global personnel transfer time is used instead. 0
deathMale Death sound(s) for male soldiers. Either a single sound ID or a list of sound IDs from BATTLE.CAT. -
deathFemale Death sound(s) for female soldiers. Either a single sound ID or a list of sound IDs from BATTLE.CAT. -
soldierNames List of soldier name files/paths. Use delete to clear previously-loaded names. -

AI Units (Aliens/Civilians)

Defines an alien (enemy) or civilian (neutral) unit, listed in "units:". Every different alien rank is a different unit, since they have completely different stats. Unit stats are represented as follows:

Value Description Default
type String ID of the unit name. required
race String ID of the unit race (for alien units). -
rank String ID of the unit rank (for alien units). -
stats Battlescape stats of this unit. -
armor String ID of the armor this unit uses by default. -
standHeight Height of this unit when standing. 0
kneelHeight Height of this unit when kneeling. Not supported in OpenXcom yet, for future use? 0
floatHeight Distance between the bottom of this unit and the ground. 0
value Score this unit is worth. 0
intelligence Intelligence of this unit's AI. The higher the value, the longer this unit remembers player troops between turns. 0
aggression Aggression of this unit's AI. The higher the value, the more ruthless the unit, the more likely to make a frontal/melee assault. Less aggressive units tend to set up ambushes.

Possible values are:

  • 0 = mostly passive
  • 1 = balanced
  • 2+ = mostly aggressive (meaningful values are between 2 and 8)
 0
energyRecovery Energy recovered by the unit each turn. 30
specab Special ability of this unit: 0
spawnUnit String ID of the unit used to respawn on death (e.g. Zombies respawn as Chrysallids). -
livingWeapon Is this unit a living weapon?

If yes, it ignores any weapon loadout associated with its rank in the alien deployment and only attacks with a weapon derived from its name (must be marked as fixedWeapon). The weapon's name is the unit's type without the first 4 letters (STR_) and with a suffix (_WEAPON). For example: STR_REAPER => REAPER_WEAPON.

false
meleeWeapon This unit's built-in melee weapon (e.g. Lobsterman's Claws). Does not appear in the inventory. -
psiWeapon This unit's built-in psi weapon. Ignored if the unit doesn't have any psi skill. Does not appear in the inventory. ALIEN_PSI_WEAPON
builtInWeaponSets A set of lists of weapons this unit can come pre-equipped with. Game will pick one set at random. These weapons WILL appear in inventory slots (references items). -
builtInWeapons Deprecated, for backwards-compatibility only. Please use builtInWeaponSets. -
deathSound Sound ID from BATTLE.CAT played when this unit dies. No value means no sound upon death. A list of sound IDs can be used too, the game then chooses one randomly each time. -
aggroSound Sound ID from BATTLE.CAT played when this unit aggros. -1
moveSound Sound ID from BATTLE.CAT played when this unit moves. -1

Alien Races

Defines a race used in Alien Missions, listed in "alienRaces:". Heavily tied with deployment data.

Value Description Default
id String ID of the alien race name. required
members Alien crew associated with this alien race (e.g. race units + terrorist units), defined by a list of unit string IDs. Order here will define rank in terms of deployment. Generally speaking the order is:
  • 0 - Commander
  • 1 - Leader
  • 2 - Engineer
  • 3 - Medic
  • 4 - Navigator
  • 5 - Soldier
  • 6 - Terrorist 1
  • 7 - Terrorist 2

but of course, not all races have all ranks, so the "fill in" rank would be listed multiple times (see Ethereals).

-

Alien Deployments

Defines a Battlescape deployment data used in Alien Missions (such as alien and map configurations), listed in "alienDeployments:".

Value Description Default
type String ID of the deployment name. required
data List of deployment data for each alien rank on this mission (see below). -
width Width of the Battlescape map in grid units. 0
length Length of the Battlescape map in grid units. 0
height Vertical height of the Battlescape map in grid units. 0
civilians Maximum number of civilians to spawn. The actual number of civilians spawned will be between 50-100% of the specified maximum. 0
terrains List of string IDs of the terrains to choose from when generating the map. Not used for UFO land/crash sites, terrain comes from the Geoscape globe texture. -
shade Shade of the map (0-15, where 0 is full daytime and 15 is full nighttime). Not used for UFO land/crash sites, shade comes from the Geoscape globe. -1
nextStage String ID of the next deployment stage to use after this one, for multi-stage missions. -
race Sets (overrides) the alien race to use when generating the map. -
finalDestination Sets whether this mission is where you send your uber-craft to win the game. false
winCutscene Sets the cutscene to play when you win the mission. If set to "winGame" or "loseGame", the player will be returned to the main menu after the cutscene plays. -
loseCutscene Sets the cutscene to play when you lose the mission. If set to "winGame" or "loseGame", the player will be returned to the main menu after the cutscene plays. -
abortCutscene Sets the cutscene to play when you abort the mission. If set to "winGame" or "loseGame", the player will be returned to the main menu after the cutscene plays. -
script Map script used to generate the map (overrides the map script from terrain definition). -
alert String ID of the message to display in the alert popup when this mission spawns on the Geoscape. STR_ALIENS_TERRORISE
alertBackground String ID of the background image to use in the alert popup when this mission spawns on the Geoscape. BACK03.SCR
briefing Data for the mission briefing (see below). -
markerName String ID that identifies this mission type on the Geoscape. STR_TERROR_SITE
markerIcon What icon should be used to represent this base/site (taken from GlobeMarkers section in extraSprites) -1
depth [min, max] -- Defines the depth range to randomly choose from for this mission. [0, 0]
duration [min, max] -- Minimum and maximum duration of this mission on the Geoscape (in hours).

Important: mission duration should be at least 2 hours... if it's just 1 hour and it spawns at the whole hour, it also despawns at the same moment... and crashes the game!

[0, 0]
music The list of musics this mission can choose from (if not specified, the music is taken from the terrain). -
points Negative score applied for each day this mission is active (applied daily for bases, or every half hour for mission sites) 0
alienBase Does this deployment correspond to an alien base assault? Used only in New Battle mode. false
genMission Which alien mission should this base generate?

Usually supply mission - can be used to generate any mission type except Mission Sites (UFO will be generated, but the site will never appear)

-
genMissionFreq Daily chance for the base mission to be generated. 0

The following group of attributes is related to mission objectives (listed in a separate table just for convenience).

Value Description Default
objectiveType Defines which type of MCD to check for when tallying mission objectives. -1
objectivesRequired How many of the tile types (defined in objectiveType) must be destroyed in order for the mission to be considered a success. 0
objectivePopup Defines the message that will appear between turns, after the objective requirements have been fulfilled. -
objectiveComplete The string and score adjustment to be shown on the mission debriefing. [-, 0]
objectiveFailed The string and score adjustment to be shown on the mission debriefing. [-, 0]
despawnPenalty How many points the aliens will receive when this site despawns due to XCom negligence. 0
cheatTurn When the aliens became aware of all your units (in vanilla it was after turn 20) 20
turnLimit The amount of turns before the mission ends automatically. 0 (no limit)
chronoTrigger What happens when the timer reaches 0. Can have three settings: 0 = Lose, 1 = Abort, 2 = Win 0
escapeType Which type of tiles can be used for escape. Possible values: 0 = None, 1 = Exit tiles, 2 = Entry tiles, 3 = Either 0

Notes:

  • turnLimit is used to define the turn where the game ends, default is 0 (no limit). If the value is changed from default then the game will display the number of turns on the 'Hidden Movement' screens as '1/20', '2/20', etc., and the numbers will switch to red when there's less than 3 turns remaining.
  • chronoTrigger is used with turnLimit and defines what happens when the turn limit is reached. There are 3 possible settings:
    • 0 (default) = forces a Loss, meaning that the player loses everything if the mission isn't completed by the time the turn limit is reached. All units are declared dead or MIA when the game ends. This is ideal for bomb defusal type missions.
    • 1 = forces a Abort, this is almost the same as above, with the exception that there must be at least 1 soldier on an exit-only area (like the green room on the 1st stage of Cydonia) to win at the end of the turn limit. This setting is better used for multi-stage missions where you'll need to bring at least 1 soldier to the next stage.
    • 2 = forces a Win, where if you have at least 1 live unit at the end of the turn limit you'll win the mission, regardless of where the soldiers are. This is meant for Survival scenarios.
    • Regardless of the setting, the player can always still win by eliminating all alien units before the turn limit, or fail the mission by losing all units.
  • cheatTurn allows to define the turn where the AI becomes aware of all your units (default is 20) for individual missions. Once this turn is reached the aliens will be forced to go into attack mode and engage your units. This is effectively a cheat for the AI which was present on the original game.

Deployment Data

Value Description Default
alienRank Rank associated with this deployment data, as defined by the order of the race in question (see above) required
lowQty Minimum quantity of aliens to spawn on beginner/experienced. required
highQty Minimum quantity of aliens to spawn on superhuman. (minimum quantity for veteran/genius is the median of this and the previous value) required
dQty Delta in Quantity, i.e. random number of aliens to spawn on top of the minimum (all difficulties). required
extraQty Functionally identical to dQty, spawns a random number of additional aliens. 0
percentageOutsideUfo Percentage (0-100%) of aliens to spawn outside of the UFO (in UFO land/crash sites). required
itemSets Three lists (one for each alien technology level) of items (string IDs) for the aliens to equip. required

Briefing Data

Value Description Default
palette The color swatch to use from BACKPALS.DAT. 0
textOffset Number of pixels to vertically offset the briefing text. Larger values move the text further down the screen. 0
title String ID for a custom briefing title text. Defaults to the same name as the alienDeployment. -
desc String ID for a custom briefing description text. Defaults to the same name as the alienDeployment + _BRIEFING. -
music The ID of the music to play. GMDEFEND
cutscene Sets the cutscene to play before the mission briefing. -
background The background screen to show. BACK16.SCR
showCraft Whether to show the name of craft that arrived at the mission site. true
showTarget Whether to display the mission target name. true

Research

Defines a research topic that X-COM scientists can investigate, listed in "research:".

Value Description Default
name String ID of the research project's name. required
lookup String ID of the research project's display result (used when multiple projects give the same result, e.g. researching Sectoid Engineer and Sectoid Navigator both give the same live Sectoid info in the Ufopaedia). -
cutscene The name of the cutscene to play when this project is completed. If the cutscene is "wingame" or "losegame", the player is returned to the main menu after the cutscene plays. -
cost Number of man-days (on average, the final time will be 50-150% this value) required to complete this project. 0
points Score earned for completing this project. 0
dependencies List of research projects that can unlock access to this one. If the full list is researched, or if one of the projects on the list "unlocks" this one, it becomes available. -
unlocks List of research projects unlocked, regardless of other dependencies, but not requirements, by completing this project (for example, any live alien unlocks "Alien Origins"). -
getOneFree List of "bonus" research projects that may be granted when completing this project. Examples: alien navigators (give random alien mission info), medics (give random alien interrogation or autopsy), engineers (give random UFO type info). -
requires List of research projects absolutely required before this project can be unlocked. For example, "The Martian Solution" will not even be considered for unlocking until AFTER "Alien Origins" is completed. -
needItem Does this project require an item of the same name? false
destroyItem Will this item be destroyed (removed from stores) after research is finished? false
unlockFinalMission If true, this research topic allows to send a spacecraft to the final mission. false

Manufacture

Defines a manufacture project that X-COM engineers can produce, listed in "manufacture:".

Value Description Default
name String ID of the manufacturing project's name. required
category String ID of the manufacturing project's category.

Important: craft manufacturing projects MUST be defined in the STR_CRAFT category.

-
requires List of topics (string IDs) that must be researched to unlock this project. If none are specified, this project is unlocked from the start. -
space Amount of Workshop space required to begin this project. 0
time Number of man-hours required per production. 0
cost Monetary deduction per production. 0
requiredItems List of items required and consumed per production. -
producedItems List of items manufactured per production. If not specified, defaults to 1 item with the same string ID as the manufacture project. name: 1

UFOpaedia Article

Defines an article in the in-game UFOpaedia, listed in "ufopaedia:".

Value Description Default
id String ID of the article name. This must match the ID of the object associated with this article, if applicable. required
title String ID of the article title. If omitted, the id is used. -
type_id Type of this article: required
section String ID of the UFOpaedia section this article belongs to. -
requires List of topics (string IDs) that must be researched to unlock this article. If none are specified, this article is unlocked from the start. -
image_id Filename of the background image displayed on this article, if applicable. -
text String ID of the description displayed on this article. -
text_width Maximum width of the text displayed, only applicable to Text & Image articles. EU (0), TFTD (157)
rect_stats Rectangle (x, y, width, height) of the stats text on the screen, only applicable to Craft articles. -
rect_text Rectangle (x, y, width, height) of the description text on the screen, only applicable to Craft articles. -
weapon String ID of the weapon, only applicable to HWP/SWS articles. -

UFO Trajectories

Defines a trajectory carried out by an UFO during an alien mission, listed in "ufoTrajectories:".

Value Description Default
id String ID of the trajectory name. required
groundTimer Amount of seconds for the UFO to spend on Ground waypoints. 5
waypoints List of items defining the waypoints and flight segments for the UFO to traverse, defined as [zone, altitude, speed].

zone: Regional missionZone index (used to randomly generate the waypoint's coordinates).
altitude: UFO altitude:

  • 0 - Ground
  • 1 - Very Low
  • 2 - Low
  • 3 - High
  • 4 - Very High

speed: UFO speed as a percentage (0-100%) of its maximum speed.

-

Each trajectory has X flight segments and X+1 waypoints... please pause reading here and think for a while why that is the case.

The best explanation how the flight segments and waypoints are encoded in the ruleset is done via an example: 

 waypoints:
   - [A, B, C]
   - [D, E, F]
   - [G, H, I]
   - [J, K, L]
   - [M, N, P]

This example can be interpreted as:

  1. go from zone A to zone D at altitude B and speed C
  2. go from zone D to zone D at altitude E and speed F
  3. go from zone D to zone G at altitude H and speed I
  4. go from zone G to zone J at altitude K and speed L
  5. go from zone J to zone M at altitude N and speed P

This example contains 5 flight segments (AD, DD, DG, GJ and JM) and 6 waypoints (A, D, D, G, J and M).

Please note especially the second line, where zone D is targeted AGAIN, this happens automatically/internally and always on the second line.

Also, if any altitude (B, E, H, K or N) would be zero (0 = Ground), the UFO would first wait landed in the start zone for some time before taking off to the destination zone (at altitude 1 = Very Low).

Alien Missions

Defines an alien mission carried out by UFOs on the Geoscape, listed in "alienMissions:".

Value Description Default
type String ID of the mission type. required
points Score allocated to aliens for successfully completing this mission. 0
waves List of UFO waves to spawn as this mission progresses, as described below. required
objective Missions are split by objective:
  • 0 = score (default if omitted)
  • 1 = infiltration
  • 2 = alien base
  • 3 = mission site (terror etc)
  • 4 = retaliation
  • 5 = supply
 0
spawnUfo UFO to spawn for retaliation. -
spawnZone Regional missionZone to use when spawning mission sites / alien bases. -1
missionWeights Only works for alien retaliation missions spawned during dogfights. If your mod has multiple possible retaliation missions, the game chooses one randomly, but considering weights defined in this attribute. The weights are defined as a list of (month: weight) pairs. If nothing is specified, weight is 1 (for all months). -
retaliationOdds Probability (0-100%) that a UFO shot down while performing this mission will generate a Retaliation mission. -1
siteType Alien deployment to use when spawning mission sites / alien bases. If not specified, alienDeployment from Geoscape texture is used.

Note: for alien bases there is one more hardcoded fallback (STR_ALIEN_BASE_ASSAULT) if both deployments mentioned above are missing.

-
raceWeights List of alien races likely to carry out this mission, and the % chance of them being allocated to this mission, listed by "number of months after game beginning". required

Waves

Value Description Default
ufo String ID of the UFO to spawn. required
count Number of UFOs to spawn. 0
trajectory String ID of the trajectory for this UFO to use when entering Earth's atmosphere. required
timer How long after the previous wave should this wave arrive? (in minutes)

Notes:

  • The timer can vary between 50-150% of the stated value, so a UFO with a 9000 value will be spawned between 4500-13500 minutes (each day has 1440 minutes)
  • If the UFO is crashed/destroyed the timer of the next UFO on the wave will be delayed by (30 * (RNG::generate(0, 400) + 48)) minutes, or between 1.0 and 9.3 days
 0
objective true Marks this wave as the one that carries out the mission objective. Only for mission site / supply missions. -

Alien Tech Levels

This is a list of alien Tech Levels, listed in "alienItemLevels:".

Each line in the list corresponds to the Tech Level for one game month (first line is for the first month, second line for second month, etc.). The game will use the most recent available line in the event the game goes on forever (and there are not enough lines defined).

Each line contains item set probabilities, with a number between 0 and 2 representing an item set (from plasma pistols to heavy plasmas, as defined in the deployments), expressing a 10% probability for that item set being used.

  • 0 = first item set (e.g. plasma pistol/clip)
  • 1 = second item set (e.g. plasma rifle/clip)
  • 2 = third item set (e.g. heavy plasma/clip)

For example: 

 [ 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1 ]

would represent a 60% chance for pistols, 30% for rifles and 10% for heavy weapons.

Note that the order does not matter, but the length DOES. Each line MUST have exactly 10 digits.

If the above is still confusing, here's more explanation:

  • There are 10 fields in a line; each field represents 10%
  • There are six instances of '0'... 6x10% = 60% chance of plasma pistol
  • There are three instances of '1'... 3x10% = 30% chance of plasma rifle
  • There is only one instance of '2'... 1x10% = 10% chance of heavy plasma

Just in case: you can use more (or less) than 3 item sets (0, 1, 2), but you will need to modify all the alien deployments accordingly too!

Extra Sprites

Adds or replaces sprites in an existing X-COM image file, listed in "extraSprites:".

VERY IMPORTANT:

  • You can use many different image formats, but not all of them work on all platforms (e.g. 8bit GIF does not work on Mac)... please use 8bit PNG format for maximum compatibility
  • OpenXcom is able to handle 24bit images (in some cases), but they are not officially supported... please use 8bit images for maximum compatibility
  • OpenXcom is able to handle transparency index other than zero (in most cases), but it is not officially supported... please use transparency index zero for maximum compatibility
  • OpenXcom displays everything using 8bit palettes
Value Description Default
type Name of the original sprite/spritesheet to modify or new sprite/spritesheet to create. required
files List of the new sprites to add/replace, listed as spriteID: filepath. -
width Width of the whole sprite/spritesheet in pixels. 320
height Height of the whole sprite/spritesheet in pixels. 200
singleImage Is the image file just a single sprite (true) or a spritesheet (false)? false
subX Width of the subdivision in pixels. If a subdivision is specified, then the image file (a spritesheet) is divided into chunks (sprites). 0
subY Height of the subdivision in pixels. If a subdivision is specified, then the image file (a spritesheet) is divided into chunks (sprites). 0

Example: 

- type: GIANTBUNNY.PCK
  width: 32
  height: 40
  files:
    0: Resources/Bunny/Bunny00.png
    1: Resources/Bunny/Bunny01.bmp
    2: Resources/Bunny/Bunny02.gif

Another example: (takes advantage of the ability to drop numerous images into a single folder that will then behave like a spritesheet) 

- type: GIANTBUNNY.PCK
  width: 32
  height: 40
  files:
    0: Resources/Bunny/sprite/

Files within the specified folder should be numbered sequentially from the number defined above. "0" in this case.

Extra Sounds

Adds or replaces sounds in an existing X-COM sound file, listed in "extraSounds:".

Value Description Default
type ID of the original sound file to modify:
  • BATTLE.CAT - Battlescape sounds, corresponds to SOUND1.CAT or SAMPLE2.CAT (55 sounds).
  • INTRO.CAT - Intro sounds, corresponds to INTRO.CAT or SAMPLE3.CAT, probably best not to mess with these.
  • GEO.CAT - Geoscape sounds, corresponds to SOUND2.CAT or SAMPLE.CAT (14 sounds).
 required
files List of the new sounds to add/replace, listed as soundID: filepath. -

Example: 

- type: BATTLE.CAT
  files:
    55: Resources/Sounds/sample.wav

Warning for adding .wav files: the game works with low bitrate, uncompressed mono PCM wav. Any other format is likely to not work.

Music

Custom music options can be defined in the Music.rul file. More details here.

Value Description Default
type Name of the music track. required
catPos The track's index in the catalog (CAT) file. Only relevant for music stored in CAT files, obviously. -
normalization The track's normalization level. Only relevant for music stored in CAT files. 0.76

Extra Strings

Adds or replaces text strings in an existing OpenXcom language file, listed in "extraStrings:".

Value Description Default
type Filename of the original language file to modify (without file extension). required
strings List of the new strings to add/replace, listed as stringID: text. -

Example: 

- type: en-US
  strings:
    STR_SNIPER_RIFLE: Sniper Rifle
    STR_SNIPER_RIFLE_CLIP: Sniper Rifle Clip
- type: en-GB
  strings:
    STR_SNIPER_RIFLE: Sniper Rifle
    STR_SNIPER_RIFLE_CLIP: Sniper Rifle Clip
- type: de
  strings:
    STR_SNIPER_RIFLE: Scharfschützengewehr
    STR_SNIPER_RIFLE_CLIP: Scharfschützengewehrmunition
- type: ru
  strings:
    STR_SNIPER_RIFLE: Снайперская винтовка
    STR_SNIPER_RIFLE_CLIP: Магазин к снайп. винтовке

Did you know?

  • Translations can also be provided in the same format as OpenXcom provides them for default languages (en-US and en-GB)
  • The advantage over using extraStrings is that the format can be used in Transifex, so that popular mods can be easily translated into many languages by many people in a more coordinated way

Interfaces

Defines various properties (most notably colors) and behavior of OpenXcom UI screens, listed in "interfaces:".

Value Description Default
type Name of the interface. Each OpenXcom screen has a unique corresponding interface. required
palette Name of the palette (e.g. PAL_BASESCAPE) to be used for this screen. Not all screens support this. -
parent Name of the parent interface (from which some attributes are inherited).

For example research/manufacture screens have a hierarchy of screens opening on top of each other.

-
music Music to play when the corresponding screen is opened. -
elements List of detailed definitions for various elements on the screen (window, text, buttons, lists, etc.). See below. -

Elements

Value Description Default
id Name of the interface element. required
size Some elements have configurable size. Defined as [width, height]. -
pos Some elements have configurable position. Defined as [x, y], where x<320 and y<200. -
color Most elements have configurable primary color (0-255). Elements called palette only have range between 0-15 (palette offsets). -
color2 Some elements have configurable alternative/secondary color (0-255). -
border Some elements have configurable border/tertiary color (0-255). -
TFTDMode Is used in TFTD for inversion behavior in some elements, mostly buttons. -

Tip: which elements support which attributes can be determined by inspecting the vanilla xcom1/xcom2 ruleset.

StatStrings

Statstrings are used to automatically rename soldiers. They are case-sensitive and processed in the order in which they are specified. Processing is stopped either at the end of the list, or when a first rule with a name longer than 1 character (e.g. "Snpr") matches.

Value Description Default
string String to add to name. required
psiStrength

psiSkill
bravery
strength
firing
reactions
stamina
tu
health
throwing

One or more stat ranges are AND-ed together to find a match.

Each range has a format [min, max]. Use YAML standard tilde (~) to indicate empty value (interpreted as 0 for min and as 255 for max).

-
melee

psiTraining

New attributes (only available in OpenXcom). -

Example: 

 statStrings:
 - string: "x"
   psiStrength: [~, 30]
 - string: "P"
   psiStrength: [80, ~]
 - string: "p"
   psiStrength: [60, 79]
 - string: "K"
   psiSkill: [60, ~]
 - string: "k"
   psiSkill: [30, 59]
 - string: "b"
   bravery: [60, ~]
 - string: "c"
   bravery: [~, 10]
 - string: "w"
   strength: [~, 25]
 - string: "Snpr"
   firing: [60, ~]
   reactions: [60, ~]
 - string: "M"
   firing: [70, ~]
 - string: "m"
   firing: [60, 69]
 - string: "Sct"
   reactions: [50, ~]
   tu: [60, ~]
 - string: "R"
   reactions: [60, ~]
 - string: "r"
   reactions: [50, 59]

Font

Defines the font collection used by default.

Value Description Default
fontName Name of *.dat file, placed in Language folder, which describes used font collection. Font.dat

Cutscenes

Defines a video playlist or a slideshow sequence, listed in "cutscenes:".

Value Description Default
type String ID of the cutscene. required
useUfoAudioSequence Whether to use the audio sequence for the original UFO intro movie. This should only ever be set to true for the UFO intro. false
videos A list of video filenames to play with the FLC player. Required if this cutscene is a video playlist. -
audioTracks A list of audio filenames to play along the videos specified in videos. Optional. -
slideshow Info for playing a slideshow (see below). Required if this cutscene is a slideshow. -

Slideshow Data

Value Description Default
transitionSeconds The number of seconds to wait before automatically transitioning to the next slide. The user can always force a transition by a mouse click. 30
musicId The ID of the music to play. -
slides List of slide data elements (see below). required

Slide Data

Value Description Default
imagePath The path to the image file to display in the background.

Note: the palette for the slide is taken directly from the image, so the caption text color will be determined by the image palette.

required
caption The string ID of the caption text. -
captionSize The size of the text box, in pixels, in which to display the caption. [320, 200]
captionPos The screen position at which to display the caption. [0, 0]
captionColor The palette index to use for the caption color. required
transitionSeconds Override for transitionSeconds from Slideshow Data, so that each slide can have a different value. 0
captionAlign The horizontal text alignment for the caption text. Possible values: 0 = left, 1 = center, 2 = right. 0

References

<references />

Retrieved from "https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Ruleset_Reference_Nightly_(OpenXcom)&oldid=88791"