Talk:Game File Exploits

NOTE:THIS PAGE are the discussions ripped from the main discussion section from exploits (the main page). It need cleanup and is only here to keep the other page clean without older discussions. Will slowly integrat...

Destroying alien type/rank combos

• Destroying unique alien type/rank combos by way of transfering to a throw-away base with a containment + lab (nothing else necessary), starting research on the uniques, dismantling base completely. Repeat ad infinitum. Not exactly a very exciting exploit, but a useful one to know.

Anyone know what this would be trying to achieve? To make a game variant where research on aliens was impossible, to prevent X-Com technological advance? If so I guess this could be moved to Making the Game Harder - preferably with slightly more explanation added. Spike 14:05, 19 November 2008 (CST)

Repairing damaged UFOs

Want to stop a UFO from doing it's mission? Shoot it down. Want to get a full load of engines and elerium? Leave it alone for about 2 days. The longer you wait before launching the ground assault, the smaller the hole and smoke, and eventually the craft will be completely repaired.

Note that you will also get a full complement of enemy soldiers -- all the dead will come back to life when you do this.

(You may want to save the game before landing, so you can resume waiting if the UFO was not fully repaired when you attacked.)

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Actually, UFO damage is random. You see, the damage done to a UFO in the battlescape is caused by the game detonating the power units with varying detonation strengths every time the map is generated. Sometimes it's only strong enough to destroy the power unit, and if there are many power units, some of the might not even be detonated at all. So there's no wait, just save the game in the Geoscape, and enter the mission. If the damage is not to your liking, reload and try and try again until you get a favourable outcome. - NKF

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While I have not collected large amounts of data to show any pattern in the extent of the damage vs time, I haven't really seen any difference in damage between the moment the crash site was created or at a point just before the crash site vanishes. It's roughly the same and varies from game to game. If the UFO is repaired over time, this information will have to be stored somewhere. Craft.dat or loc.dat are probably the most likely files to watch. - NKF

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Keybouncer and NKF, you've both tested this likelihood versus time? Seems easy enough to do.

MikeTheRed

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Hehe, it might be fun to play with those booleans. Or not. ;)

I wouldn't think info has to be stored anywhere; after all, the crash site is not created unless/until you fight it. (If I remember right.) If it does "repair", it could simply be based on the time since the crash... and I guess this would basically equate to, a lower probability of PS explosion. FWIW, I never had the impression that more time meant less damage, but then I wasn't paying attention to the possibility. - MikeTheRed 17:43, 10 January 2007 (PST)

Zaimoni, I'm sure you're right. If, of course, it's not always the same amount of time. I vaguely recall that my impression is they always lasted about 3 days (72 hours). I don't know the Geoscape files well... perhaps one of you who do, would know where to look for this? Then again it would be cake to take a savegame from just before shooting down a UFO, then see how long the crash persists. It should quickly be clear if it's always the same, to prove or disprove that. If no variation is seen with that one test UFO, a few other types (small to large) should be tested, to see if it differs by type.

- MikeTheRed 17:33, 11 January 2007 (PST)

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Or the time left until the crash site disappears. That is almost certainly in the savegame, and would be worth mapping in its own right.

-- Zaimoni, 9:25 Jan 11 2007 CST

Cleanup or deletion (was) needed

Some observations

1. This discussion page itself needs a lot of cleanup. A big chunk of it needs to be moved to UFO Crash Recovery - or deleted altogether if it's a duplication.
2. The item on the main page about LIBLOB is a bug fix, not an exploit. The money exploit part of it should be moved to ExploitsA (Free Stuff).
3. The item about RESEARCH is also a bug fix, not an Exploit
4. The long series of disjointed items describing an alternate scenario have become very poorly structured. They definitely do not describe an Exploit. Perhaps they could be moved to Making The Game Harder (apart from the fact that the scenario is nerfed so much e.g. with $100M/month funding.

So probably this whole page could be de-linked from Exploits, dismembered, repurposed onto other pages a little, and then orphaned/deleted. Spike 12:49, 18 November 2008 (CST)

The reason for the mess would be that some time ago, the main "Exploits" page was split off into the categorized exploits pages you see today. The person who did this on his own copied the discussions over to the appropriate talk pages, but it wasn't ordered completely correctly. So it did get a bit disorganized. As for your points, I agree on the LIBLOB and RESEARCH.DAT file exploits being mentioned elsewhere or even moved around, but I disagree they are not exploits. I have a LIBLOB I could use to give a starting-game X-COM about 2 billion dollars in the bank. As for research, it's also an exploit since it allows X-COM to pick up Plasma weapons on their first UFO assault and use them. Also, this is the "Gameplay Alternatives" Exploits page, so it's going to be a bit different. Arrow Quivershaft 15:45, 18 November 2008 (CST)

True the LIGLOB item contains a bug fix and an exploit, which is what I meant by "the money exploit part". These need to be split out and clarified. Same with the RESEARCH item, there's a vague reference to a possible exploit that could be split out and clarified, especially by incorporating your suggestions. On re-reading the Aliens Own Earth article I think I understand it now, but it's definitely not an Exploit, it's just a way of creating a (pretty cool) alternate scenario. It belongs in scenarios, not in Exploits - Making The Game Harder is probably the best fit.

I'll have a bash at cleaning this one up. The other Exploits pages stand up pretty well but this one is a real oddity. Spike 17:15, 18 November 2008 (CST)

Copying game files from one save to another can be a fix for corruption, but it certainly isn't an exploit: it's something else entirely. An exploit is a bug or glitch you can abuse in-game. By leaving the game and copying files it's like lite modding really.

If you have a chance, feel free to move the relevant UFO PS stuff to the crash recovery talk page. I know for a fact that a bunch of it will be useless when my tests with Alien Alloys are completed. Even now, I think a lot of the stuff could be removed as it is outdated. Just pick the parts that don't seem to be resolved yet. ;) --Zombie 18:52, 18 November 2008 (CST)

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OK I'm pretty much done here. The only other thing I'm considering is list the Exploits/LiteMods first, and then explaining the Bug Fixes as alternate uses of the Mods. Currently it's the other way round. But it might make more sense on an Exploits page. Or maybe just move the Fixes altogether over to the Bugs page, and link back here. Spike 14:01, 19 November 2008 (CST)

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Money Rollover

How much money do you have to have in order to create the negative money bug? Also, shouldn't we put that on the known bugs page? Jasonred 18:20, 25 March 2009 (EDT)

A quick look at LIGLOB.DAT says it's a signed long integer. So, rollover happens around $-2,147,483,647 and $2,147,483,647. -NKF 00:32, 26 March 2009 (EDT)