Talk:UFOextender

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Using Extender in Steam (seamlessly)

Hello,

Do you know of any way for me to use your XCOM extender through Steam, without using a separate executable? My games are on Steam precisely for ease of use (double-click on game, game loads), and digging through executables is the thing I'd like to avoid. (Nor is "add the extended executable to Steam" acceptable.) Rampancy 00:01, 17 January 2012 (EST)

Steam now gives you the option to run the CE version as an alternative to the DOSBox version. Spike 10:57, 3 September 2012 (EDT)

Even so, won't people will still need to edit this shortcut to run the extender rather than the game executable? I think Rampancy is asking for the executable to be modified in the same way that XcomUtil does. This is counter to what the Extender is attempting to achieve, so it is not going to happen. - Tycho

The easiest way to use TFTD Extender and UFOExtender with the Steam distributions is just to unpack them into the TFD and XCOM folders (respectively) and directly invoke the TFTD Loader or UFO Loader. There is no need to use or run Steam in order to run these games. Steam is only required for installation. You can create normal Windows shortcuts to run the games directly, and/or to run them via their respective Extender Loaders. The installed game folders can usually be found under C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common. Spike 06:33, 5 October 2012 (EDT)

Initial alien bases bug

I have a bit of a problem. I use Steam version of UFO with most recent UFO Extender. Every time I start a new game on superhuman difficulty (I didn't test other difficulties) I get alien base directly on my base (with initial alien bases enabled). So far, I started 5 new games, where first three (1st Europe, 2nd North America, 3rd Island in the middle of Pacific Ocean) all had Alien Base 3 directly on it. 4th game (Madagascar) didn't, while 5th (Europe again) has two alien bases directly on it (I have save from this game for you if you want to check this out). I don't think this was intended?

I'll check into this. There might be conflicts with other mods that you might have since this is the first report of this kind of bug. Of, course not many may uses this particular feature, either. --Tycho

Music problems

MP3 fails to play or crashes the game

I seem to have an issue with the music patch. When I originally installed the loader months ago, everything worked flawlessly. Now however, the game crashes upon entering the main menu. To track down the problem, I enabled first the intro then the language selector screen; no problems with either. In the process, I discovered that the problem is with the music: if I disable it, the game loads properly. If enabled, the loader exits without an error message upon entering the main menu. I did a full reinstall of the game, didn't work. The only other thing I've changed away from the fully working configuration is an upgrade from WinXP to Win7 (VC++2010 is installed).

All the files exist and all settings here unchanged from the time they worked. I have NO idea what's going on. Additionally, if the patch is disabled, the game only has music in the main menu and nowhere else until Alt-Tabbed out and back at least once.--amitakartok 12:53, 22 September 2012 (EDT)

Also, what version of the loader are you using? I am concerned when you say that you get no music without the patch: that should mean the game is using the default midi files (this is the Windows version?). If your not getting music with the midi files, what happens if you run w/o the extender?- -Tycho

There is MIDI music but it only starts to play after I Alt-Tab out of the game; it stops again during the next Geoscape/Battlescape transition. Without the loader, I get no graphic output whatsoever and it gives up after a few seconds, producing the generic Windows error message about the executable having stopped working. Also, tried your lines above, didn't work.

One more thing: I read it elsewhere on the net that the patch works with OGG files too, once the INI file is edited with proper filenames; it allegedly fixes some music-related crashes as well. I'm trying it out now.--amitakartok 08:06, 23 September 2012 (EDT)

Alright, tried out the OGGs and the loader now crashes at 0x754CD36F with error 0x406D1388. So much for that.--amitakartok 09:21, 23 September 2012 (EDT)

I wasn't able to find any solution to this. I want to use PSX mp3s but game crashes every time I put apply=1 to music section of the config. I tried converting them to ogg files and it's the same thing. Is there any solution to this? --OpT1mUs 15:21, 26 September 2012 (EDT)

Another person reported something similar: the problem turned out to be a conflict with a particular CODEC that had been installed. It has to be something like that since not many people report the problem. Tycho

Hello! I've had the same problem, so I dug into the source to try and investigate what's going wrong. The problem is indeed with my machine and NOT with the application, though I believe it might be more stable if the source wasn't using MCI to play MP3's. UFOLoader works fine on two copies of windows I have handy, but not another, bombing out when hitting the main menu when MP3 music is enabled. Yes, you're right, the problem is with some sort of codec setup, as things work fine if I convert the music to wma files. However, this also requires altering the code in music.cpp to change the call to mciSendStringA to omit "type mpegvideo". This works fine on my machine, though it's by no means a sensible solution, just a work around for me. I've only done this because I've no idea where to start debugging MCI codec issues, as this is a really antiquated way of actually playing an MP3 (though easy).

Anyway, for your info, the code bombs out at line 165 in music.cpp, in the method PlayMP3MusicFile. The call to mciSendStringA (with the command to open a given MP3) fails with an MCI 263 error, which translates to MCIERR_INVALID_DEVICE_NAME.

Unfortunately, this won't help you debug your (or my) codec issue, but it's at least confirmation that it's an issue on your side and not a problem in the source. I suspect a minor rewrite to use DirectX calls to play the music would cause this problem to go away. I'll be happy to do this, is the latest version of the source available (IE for UFOLoader built on 27th Sept 2012)? DaveG

@DaveG, I can post a source for 1.28 in a few days. If it helps, the music.cpp in the currently available source zip will be the same as the one in my source. I haven't touched anything since interaction with the OS is still above my skill level. I think this is going to be a bigger problem as more people switch to windows 7 or later so if you can get music to work with Direct-X, a lot of people would be very grateful. Tycho 21:23, 27 September 2012 (EDT)

Thanks, knowing that the music.cpp is the same helps, I'll have a look into the source and see if I can make some useful changes to support DirectShow rather than using MCI, this may help with these codec issues. DaveG

Someone on Steam developed a good method to help isolate and resolve codec conflicts that keep Extender from playing MP3s. See TFTDextender FAQs

I looked into that article but didn't help: neither of the splitters are present on my system. Also, I tentatively added UFODefense.exe to ffdshow's list of programs not to load for; now it loads into the main menu but there's no music whatsoever and the game crashes if I leave the menu and try to enter the game itself.--amitakartok 18:21, 4 November 2012 (EST)

Video Problems

"XCOM Crashed at 0x45E6A5 with error 0xC0000005 trying to access 0x000000"

Usually this occurs with the split exe that you get after installing XcomUtil. One part that gets altered conflicts with the Extender's option to skip the intro. Disabling this option will stop the error.

D3D Window Position

It seems that the current UFOextender does not read the values but actually only writes them, and so it always reverts to the current display resolution. And also, it disables the aero theme.Thank you. Cornels 4 August 2012 (EDT)

Try version 1.27. -- Tycho

UFO Blip in Interception

The interception window the UFO blip is "corrupted" when "UFO responds to interception" is active. I'm using the Collector's Edition, not the one from Steam, don't know if the problem appears there. Cornels 9 August 2012 (EDT)

Fixed with version 1.28 -- Tycho 23 September 2012 (EDT)

Adjusting animation speed

Is it possible to adjust or change the animation speed of other objects such as internal objects and alien numbering marks in bottom-right side of screen?--Xcomplayer

I have the same issue, I'm quite fond of arctic bases but the water animation speed is hilarious. -- Splicer

Try adjusting the MaxFPS in the INI to something like 60~75. I found that this fixes a lot of the speed issues without the need for the other patches. -- Tycho May 2012

Weapons disappear in tactical mode with UFOLoader v1.28

Hi Morgan525 and thank you for your great work on XCOM games! There is a problem with UFOLoader v1.28 installed on a Steam XCOM:EU version. During tactical combat soldiers' weapons are not shown in right/left hand slots. They are black as if the soldier doesn't carry anything in his hands. The weapon is present on the soldier and I can choose firing mode and fire. But the slots are empty. I've then installed 1.27, and everything became ok.PavelB 09:41, 24 September 2012 (EDT)

Fixed in Patch 1.28.3 -- [User:Morgan525|Tycho]] 27 September 2012 (EDT)

Fire Damage

Not sure if the bug is already posted. And Not sure if I should post the bug here or in Talk:Incendiary. Problem is if you use extender to fix funky fire bug. Incendiary no long does any damage at all. Units only take the small amount of damage after ending turn because they're on fire. Using 1.28.3 extender

To test this. I stripped a soldier of armour. And pounded four incendiary rockets into the soldier in the same turn. No damage. And then next turn, his health drops a little because he's standing in fire. This may not be a problem for most players. But it is still a major bug. I understand the funky fire problem is already difficult to fix, and I say thanks to all who will try to help solve this bug. Hellblade 14:44, 28 September 2012 (EDT)

That's not a bug, that's the fix. Incendiary damage is only applied at the end of the turn. Think about it... does fire kill faster than a bullet? Faster than a grenade? Can you kill someone with fire faster than they can get a shot off back at you? No, to all these things. To compensate for fixing the bug, fire damage is doubled compared to the previous end-of-turn fire damage (that always existed). It is no longer applied per shot or per impact. All you get "per impact" is another chance to set the target unit itself on fire. Incendiary is a weak attack. It has the benefit of a wide area effect, no HE block, and ignores armour. There are situations when IN is the only effective weapon XCOM possesses. But, like everything, it has strengths and weaknesses. Spike 15:51, 28 September 2012 (EDT)

I see your point but let me elaborate. Heat, not fire, do kill as fast as bullets. The original game mechanics separated heat from fire just as in real life. It intended to have the big heat blast damage first and then the small fire damage per turn.

Take the most extreme case, napalm or volcanic lava, you get fully cooked in less than a second - just by heat alone, and you may/may not catch fire later on. And heat blasts travel as fast as bullets, in some cases as fast as light. I believe the game has different Incendiary damage values to do different damage according to how strong the heat is, not the fire afterwards. The damage by fire later on makes sense because natural burning fires aren't that hot comparatively.

I understand the difficulty in trying to fix this. But before this fix you could kill a reaper by a few AC-I shots (which is their weakness) and now you can empty the two clips at it and it'll never die. Hellblade 03:11, 4 October 2012 (EDT)

If you look at the topic page on Incendiary ammo, everyone seems to agree that this is the proper way to handle fire damage. If you disagree with the consensus, you can always disable the fix by copying the appropriate line from the bugreference file to the [bug fix] section of the INI.-Tycho

General Store Capacity

I have an odd issue where a new base I just built (second base of the game) has 1 total storage capacity when I have the "General Store Capacity" mod on (set to 1). The main base can only transfer a total of 1 storage space's worth of items before it says I must build more stores. However I can transfer goods back just fine (with the main based having over 50 total storage used).

Both bases show "1:1" storage capacity used (when I have 1 storage in base 2 anyways). I'm reporting this as a glitch because base 1 behaves like it has the 187 capacity (but doesn't show it as that much) and base 2 does not behave like that at all.

When I remove the mod the capacities show "X:50" (50:50 for base 1) and work normally.

I'm using all the latest files for the extender and the other patches detailed in the "Enemy Unknown Extended" extended page, and the steam version of the game.

Where is UFOLoader.exe?

I tried downloading the Zip in the link, but it only had a file called Patcher.dll. Where is the rest of it?

Thanks, Herbert West.

The minor versions / patches only include an update to the patcher.dll. For the other files you need to download the most recent major version. So right now you would get major version 1.28, and then get patch/minor version 1.28p3. Spike 14:43, 19 October 2012 (EDT)

Ok cool, but where do I get the major version? I can't find a link anywhere. Cheers, Herbert West.

If you look at the page for the zip file, you will see the current version, which (at the time of writing) is 1.28p3, and then beneath that you will see a table that has links to all the previous versions, with the version number listed in the comments field. Spike 14:59, 19 October 2012 (EDT)

Ah there we go! Got it working. Thanks ^^

No DosBox?

The only executable file in the download is an .exe file. .exe files don't work with dosbox and with X-com being a 16-bit program it doesn't work on 64-bit system either. Is there any way of getting this mod running on a 64-bit windows? Is there a workaround or am I just being stupid?

The first paragraph of the main page of the article does say:

This program only works with the Windows version and will not work through DOSbox. 
Furthermore, a version compatible with DOS will not be created due to difference in memory management used.

Workaround - can you boot under a 32 bit Windows instead? Spike 18:27, 19 October 2012 (EDT)

Crash on 64 Bit Windows

I'm trying to get UFOextender up and running on my computer but it immediately crashes with the error message "XCOM crashed at 0x0 with error 0xC0000005 trying to access 0x00000000". I've reinstalled it a few times and I've fiddled with some of the settings but I still get the same results. I'm on a 64 bit machine. -Sludge

Are you able to run the Windows version of UFO Enemy Unknown on your 64 bit machine, without using UFOextender? The question immediately before your question is suggesting that the Windows version of UFO won't run on 64 bit Windows. Spike 20:54, 21 October 2012 (EDT)

The Windows version of UFO runs fine on my machine; trying to launch the game with UFOloader is what gives me the crash. -Sludge

Normally the only things that crash the loader at start are video or sound issues or attempting to use the Extender with an already modified executable. I know that a lot of Windows 7 64 bit people claim to have no problems running the game or the Extender so issues like this seem to be specific to an individual system. Are you trying to use MP3 and what are your video options in the INI?-Tycho 22:55, 22 October 2012 (EDT)

Not trying to run any music. My video settings: [Video] Video Pitch=0 HQ4x=0 D3D=1 D3D Windowed=0 Always On Top=0 Clip Cursor=2 Scale Mouse=0 Screen Ratio=1 CPU Mask=0 High Priority=0 D3D Window Position=0 0 480 600

I'm using an ATI card at a 16:10 resolution.

Try disabling the skip intro option.-Tycho 09:22, 29 October 2012 (EDT)