Difference between revisions of "UFOextender"
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− | This is the loader for Enemy Unknown, created by [[user:seb76|Seb76]] and | + | This is the loader for Enemy Unknown, created by [[user:seb76|Seb76]] and further developed by [[User:Morgan525|Tycho]], which adds fixes, more features, and improvements to the Collector's Edition (a.k.a. CE or Gold Edition) of the game. |
[[File:X-com1994cover.jpg|480px|right|]] | [[File:X-com1994cover.jpg|480px|right|]] | ||
== General Information == | == General Information == | ||
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Of course, if your computer starts pestering you to play "Global Thermonuclear War", I don't take any responsibility... | Of course, if your computer starts pestering you to play "Global Thermonuclear War", I don't take any responsibility... | ||
− | This program only works with the Windows version '''and will not work through DOSbox'''. | + | This program only works with the Windows version '''and will not work through DOSbox'''. There will not be a DOS-compatible version. |
Do not hesitate to report any problem you encounter with it, I'll try to help you fix it.--[[User:Morgan525|Tycho]] | Do not hesitate to report any problem you encounter with it, I'll try to help you fix it.--[[User:Morgan525|Tycho]] | ||
===Installation=== | ===Installation=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | #Download the version you want and/or patches. | ||
+ | #* '''[http://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/topic/10341-ufo-extender/page__st__460__p__148931#entry148931 Latest version]''' (1.34beta4) | ||
+ | #* [http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=File:UFOLoader.zip Earlier versions up to 1.33] | ||
+ | #* [http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=File:UFOExtender-src.zip Source code up to version 1.31.9] | ||
+ | #Extract these files into the game folder containing the UFO Defense.exe (or whatever the windows version of Enemy Unknown executable is on your machine.) | ||
+ | #Using a simple text editor (like Windows notepad), open the '''UFOextender.INI''' file and enable the options you wish to use. | ||
+ | #*For most options, you enable it by changing the value from zero to one. Some options do have more settings. Refer to this page or the README file for more information on each one. | ||
+ | #Run ''UFOloader.exe'' instead of UFO Defense.exe. | ||
*You need a program that can extract zip files. | *You need a program that can extract zip files. | ||
*You need the Microsoft VC++2008 redistributable package to run this program. If you don't already have it installed, you can get it [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9B2DA534-3E03-4391-8A4D-074B9F2BC1BF&displaylang=en here]. | *You need the Microsoft VC++2008 redistributable package to run this program. If you don't already have it installed, you can get it [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9B2DA534-3E03-4391-8A4D-074B9F2BC1BF&displaylang=en here]. | ||
− | + | *The extender looks for the file ''UFO Defense.exe'' but this can be changed under the [Loader] section of the INI. | |
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*For enhanced music, you will need to create a folder called MP3 in the same folder as your UFO Defense executable. Copy the music files to this folder. | *For enhanced music, you will need to create a folder called MP3 in the same folder as your UFO Defense executable. Copy the music files to this folder. | ||
− | * | + | ** You need to have Windows Media Player installed for versions before 1.30, if you wish to use the enhanced music. |
− | |||
− | |||
=== FAQs === | === FAQs === | ||
*Does it fix the difficulty bug? | *Does it fix the difficulty bug? | ||
− | :The infamous difficulty bug only applies to the DOS version of the game. It was never an issue with the | + | ::The infamous difficulty bug only applies to the DOS version of the game. It was never an issue with the Windows version. |
*MP3 music crashes the game or doesn't work | *MP3 music crashes the game or doesn't work | ||
− | + | ::Prior to version 1.30, the loader played the enhanced music through the OS. Audio codecs installed by other programs can interfere with the playback. This causes no music or an error which will force the game to exit. Some people have experienced this after upgrading their OS even though no other changes were made and music played prior to the upgrade. ''Someone has developed a good method to help isolate and maybe resolve these conflicts. See [[TFTDextender#FAQs| TFTDextender FAQs]]. Otherwise, the only solution is to uninstall whatever audio/video programs you have loaded to determine the source and solution to the problem.'' | |
− | :Prior to version 1.30, the loader | + | ::'''Starting with version 1.30, the Extender plays enhanced music utilizing the BASS audio library and sound system[http://www.un4seen.com]'''. |
* Can I change the music/SFX volume || The music is louder than the DOS version. | * Can I change the music/SFX volume || The music is louder than the DOS version. | ||
− | :The | + | ::The original game only selects the effect/music to be played and then sends data to the OS sound layer.The Windows version uses MIDI for music since, prior to Windows Vista, there were separate volume controls for WAV and MIDI. An entire new routine to create new buffers for each sound sample would be required as well as routines to allow volume controls in-game. |
− | *" | + | ::'''Version 1.33 plays all sounds through the BASS audio system and provides separate volume controls for music and SFX.''' |
− | :Usually this occurs when playing with a mod program that splits the executable in order to run. A part that gets altered during the split conflicts with the Extender's option to "skip the intro". Disabling this option in the Extender will stop the error. | + | *"X-COM crashed at 0x45E6A5 with error ..." |
+ | ::Usually this occurs when playing with a mod program that splits the executable in order to run. A part that gets altered during the split conflicts with the Extender's option to "skip the intro". Disabling this option in the Extender will stop the error. | ||
+ | *"X-COM crashed at 0x7------- with error ..." (when quitting the game or starting combat) | ||
+ | ::This will occur after the player has viewed one of the aircraft pages in the in-game Ufopaedia. When the game loads the various graphic files of the in-game UFOpaedia, it uses a designated memory block to store the graphic information and swaps the data in this section as needed (to conserve memory usage, I suppose: It was a DOS game originally.) The file TAC00.SCR is used as the template for this region. Unfortunately, the SPK files for each aircraft are several bytes larger than TAC00.SCR, so the memory region's "header"(?) is partially overwritten. When GEOSCAPE or BATTLESCAPE closes and starts to free the memory regions, the memory deallocate function crashes when it attempts to read the corrupted information. I expanded TAC00.SCR to compensate for the larger SPK files. [[:file:TAC00.zip|Download it here.]] Extract the file into the UFOGRAPH folder and overwrite the current one. | ||
*The zip only contains a single file called ''patcher.dll''. Where is the rest of the loader? | *The zip only contains a single file called ''patcher.dll''. Where is the rest of the loader? | ||
− | :The minor versions (aka patches) only include an update to this file. For the other files you need to download the most recent major version. If you look at the page for the zip file, you will see a link to the most current release at the top of the page, information on the release, and then beneath that you will see a table that has links to all the previous releases, with the version number listed in the comments field. This is intentional so patches can be downloaded and installed easily without fear of overwriting a custom INI file by mistake. | + | ::The minor versions (aka patches) only include an update to this file. For the other files you need to download the most recent major version. If you look at the page for the zip file, you will see a link to the most current release at the top of the page, information on the release, and then beneath that you will see a table that has links to all the previous releases, with the version number listed in the comments field. This is intentional so patches can be downloaded and installed easily without fear of overwriting a custom INI file by mistake. |
*Using Extender in Steam (seamlessly) [aka attempting to run Extender directly from the Steam interface] | *Using Extender in Steam (seamlessly) [aka attempting to run Extender directly from the Steam interface] | ||
− | :I suggest seeking help on the Steam forums. For most digital downloads, the Windows version can be run independently and that is the only method for which I am able to help. You might also try [[XcomUtil#XcomUtil_.2B_UFO_Extender| the UFOpaedia XCOMutil page]] where some information is available. | + | ::I suggest seeking help on the Steam forums. For most digital downloads, the Windows version can be run independently and that is the only method for which I am able to help. You might also try [[XcomUtil#XcomUtil_.2B_UFO_Extender| the UFOpaedia XCOMutil page]] where some information is available. |
*I don't recover clips in missions. // I am losing ammo in every mission. | *I don't recover clips in missions. // I am losing ammo in every mission. | ||
− | : This usually occurs with people playing Extender and XcomUtil. Each has a different way to fix the partial-clips-lost issue and are incompatible. | + | :: This usually occurs with people playing Extender and XcomUtil. Each has a different way to fix the partial-clips-lost issue and are incompatible. |
*The text in the mission debriefing that is associated with the 'Wreck Analysis' mod is incomprehensible. | *The text in the mission debriefing that is associated with the 'Wreck Analysis' mod is incomprehensible. | ||
− | : An altered version of the ENGLISH.DAT file that came with | + | :: An altered version of the ENGLISH.DAT file that came with some early versions of the Extender has an error. Restoring this file to its original should fix this. |
+ | *My anti-virus software reports that the Extender is a trojan or malicious software. | ||
+ | :: Anti-virus companies are extremely sensitive to malicious software which means that software from private individuals can be falsely reported as a problem and be removed or quarantined. The Extender works by loading the game and then altering the game code that resides in memory. This behavior is similar to those of malicious software so AV programs may identify the Extender as such. When they do this, you'll need to locate the appropriate section in the AV software and reinstate the Extender. Even if your AV software is working fine with the Extender currently, it is recommended that you add an exception for the extender in your anti-virus settings (or add it to a "safe" list for some software versions.) The terminology and methods for each AV software are different so please consult the help section of your particular AV program. | ||
=== Some Disclaimers=== | === Some Disclaimers=== | ||
− | :'''Extender and modified game executables''': [ | + | :'''Extender and XcomUtil''': When Seb76 stopped development on the Extender, both programs were fairly compatible. Since the Extender has been developed further but XcomUtil has not, there are more areas of incompatibility now. If errors arise, it is advised to try to recreate those issues without using XcomUtil before reporting them. Even splitting the executable, as is done by XComUtil, has caused problems. |
− | :'''DAT file mod requests''': DAT files modifications are not done because there are already lots of them and various data editors available to do them for yourself. This rule allows all data mods to keep working with the loader (that is why some xcomutil features should still work, as long as they are those only based on resource modifications). ''Any bug fix that requires a change to some resource data in order to compensate for the fix, will have an option to exclude the data change so that any player changes will not be overwritten.'' | + | :'''Extender and other modified game executables''': [such as ET_2005] These may work together but there is no guarentees. ET_2005 heavily modifies the binary and trying to patch on top of it will produce unexpected data corruption or crash the game. |
+ | :'''DAT file mod requests''': DAT files modifications are not done because there are already lots of them and various data editors available to do them for yourself. This rule allows all data mods to keep working with the loader (that is why some xcomutil features should still work, as long as they are those only based on resource modifications). [prior to version 1.32]''Any bug fix that requires a change to some resource data in order to compensate for the fix, will have an option to exclude the data change so that any player changes will not be overwritten.'' [version 1.32+] ''The data changes that were implemented in 1.32 will override any changes made by players for the same data block. These data changes in the Extender are applied starting at "Veteran" difficulty. Players can choose "experienced" difficulty and chose the "Maximize Aliens" mod to play closer to the original game with harder battles.'' | ||
+ | |||
+ | <tabber> | ||
+ | Version 1.0~1.32=The game is fully customizable: One can play a "pure vanilla" game with only the video fixes enabled or with as many of the modifications as you want. Everything can be enabled or disabled in the loader's INI file. | ||
+ | |-| | ||
+ | Version 1.32+=These versions a very different from all prior versions. The goal for these versions is to provide balance to the strategy layer and increase the aggressiveness of the aliens with the difficulty level. The difficulty one chooses at the main menu will be the default difficulty for both the strategy layer (Geoscape) and battles. Battle difficulty can be set independently in the INI for version 1.33. At lower difficulties, one will find the game not very different from the original and the methods that most players normally employ will work with no problems. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Many of the imbalanced aspects of the strategic layer have been corrected and the difficulty level affects the options the aliens can take in response to X-COM's interference in their agenda. Many things have been balanced by comparing each element to other elements in the game, if possible: UFO plasmas have standard ranges and power. The human plasma cannon is comparable to the aliens. The laser cannon is more powerful than the cannon and more suited to dealing with small ~ medium range threats while the plasma cannon is better against large craft. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Various aspects of the economy has been revised and balanced: All alien artifacts have had their production and selling prices altered, based on a relation to laser weapons. The selling price of alien artifacts is affected by the status of the member nations. The country bonuses to monthly income for good performance have been increased in 1.33. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In previous versions, each bug fix and mod could be independently enabled or disabled by the player. In version 1.32, this is changed so that most bug fixes are enabled by a single option and the difficulty level determines what other elements are active. Players choose which elements to play by selecting the appropriate difficulty level. | ||
+ | |||
+ | =Difficulty Settings= | ||
+ | Here is a breakdown of features for each level of difficulty. Most of these options stack upon the ones of the previous difficulty: | ||
+ | |||
+ | <u>Beginner</u> | ||
+ | *All Bug Fixes enabled. | ||
+ | *Alien unit hp and stats reduced in combat. (vanilla game setting) | ||
+ | *Retaliation ships vary depending upon game time. | ||
+ | *Alien Containment is now limited to 10 aliens per facility, as per the description (the maximum is still 50 for all bases.) | ||
+ | *When a UFO is destroyed during the anti-aircraft portion of base defense, the interval until the next UFO arrives is longer. | ||
+ | *Game ends if all nations sign pacts. | ||
+ | |||
+ | <u>Experienced</u> | ||
+ | *Alien units have full stats in combat. (vanilla game setting) | ||
+ | *<s>Living Quarters and Laboratory use the capacities as defined in FACIL.DAT. (30 for living quarters and 10 for laboratories.)</s> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <u>Veteran</u> | ||
+ | *Craft/UFO data and craft/UFO weapons stats balanced. [moved here in 1.32.2] | ||
+ | *Economic model balanced. ''Values may need to be tweaked depending on play testing and feedback.'' [moved here in 1.32.2] | ||
+ | *The selling price of alien items drops as nations sign pacts. | ||
+ | *Score for civilians higher in Terror missions. [moved here in 1.32.2] | ||
+ | *Soldier can only MC one unit per turn. | ||
+ | *UFOs take more damage before crashing. | ||
+ | *Alien Base daily penalty increases the longer the base is active. | ||
+ | *Zombies will hatch into chryssalids after several turns if fire not used against them. | ||
+ | *Alien AI in interceptions. | ||
+ | *Random elerium recovered per ball. | ||
+ | *Battleships bomb the access lift when attempting to invade an X-COM base. [moved here in 1.32.2] | ||
+ | *An additional alien mission at game start. {1.32.8} | ||
+ | *Changes to the mission routines to make harvester and abductor UFOs appear more frequently. {1.32.8} | ||
+ | *Alien leaders will only appear on "capital" ships and commanders will only be in bases. {1.32.8} | ||
+ | *Only alien soldiers and terror units are present in terror missions. {1.32.8} | ||
+ | *When a UFO is destroyed during the anti-aircraft portion of base defense, the interval until the next UFO arrives is shorter than Beginner/Experienced. {1.33} | ||
− | == | + | <u>Genius</u> |
− | + | *Terror Site will expire even if there is an inbound dropship. | |
+ | *Battleships can perform terror missions. | ||
+ | *<s>Alien will use base busters after failed attempts to assault an X-COM base. {1.32 only} </s> | ||
+ | *Two additional alien missions at game start. | ||
+ | *Game ends if too many nations sign pacts. | ||
+ | *UFOs take more damage to crash than previous level. | ||
+ | *The effect of nations signing pacts on prices for alien items is higher. | ||
+ | *Alien ships attack base defenses. | ||
+ | *A Missile Defense will spend money when attacking | ||
+ | * <s>A Fusion ball defense requires 4 blaster bombs in base stores to activate.</s> {1.32.8}Fusion Ball Defense requires 4 Fusion Bombs in base stores to activate. | ||
+ | *{1.32.8}Game will not end due to two consecutive months of extremely low scores but rather from getting high scores. The threshold value is determined by game difficulty. | ||
+ | *{1.33}When a UFO is destroyed during the anti-aircraft portion of base defense, the interval until the next UFO arrives is shorter than Veteran. | ||
+ | *{1.33}Plasma Defense requires 8 units of elerium to activate. | ||
+ | *{1.33}Aliens will performing strafing or bombardment of a base after they fail to invade it: | ||
+ | **Battleships will launch bombs against random facilities. | ||
+ | **Other UFOs will attack only a limited choice of facilities. | ||
+ | |||
+ | <u>Superhuman</u> | ||
+ | *<s>Aliens use base busters quicker. {1.32 only} </s> | ||
+ | *UFOs take even more damage to crash. | ||
+ | *Three additional alien missions at game start. | ||
+ | *Aliens will conduct more terror missions as game progresses. | ||
+ | *Average amount of elerium recovered is lower. | ||
+ | *The effect of nations signing pacts on prices is severe. {1.32.8} | ||
+ | *<s>A Fusion Ball defense requires 6 blaster bombs in base stores to activate. {1.32}</s> | ||
+ | :--------------New in version 1.33----------------------- | ||
+ | *When a UFO is destroyed during the anti-aircraft portion of base defense, the interval until the next UFO arrives is shorter than Genius. (but still longer than the original setting.) | ||
+ | *<u>After the first failed attempt to invade '''any''' base</u>, the aliens will not attempt to invade a base again and only perform strafing or bombardment on any bases discovered. | ||
+ | |||
+ | =Interception stances= | ||
+ | *Standoff: No changes from vanilla. | ||
+ | *Cautious: Aircraft closes to longest weapon range. {"True Cautious Mode enabled: With two similar weapons only one will fire until ammo is depleted before attacking with the second weapon. Cannon/beam weapons fire slower. Imparts a -15% to UFO accuracy.} Clicking on the status button again will toggle the right weapon on/off {1.33}. | ||
+ | *Standard: Aircraft will close to weapon range for both weapons and both similar weapons will fire. Cannon/beam weapons fire at a standard rate. | ||
+ | *Aggressive: Aircraft move as close a possible to the UFO. Cannon/beam weapons fire faster. UFOs receive a 10% bonus to hit. | ||
+ | *Abort: When alien interception AI is active, aircraft that are slower than UFO cannot automatically escape unless another craft is intercepting (or UFO gives up.) Imparts a -30% to UFO accuracy. | ||
+ | :''Missiles fire rates are the same in all stances.'' | ||
+ | </tabber> | ||
==Extender INI references== | ==Extender INI references== | ||
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* '''D3D Window Width''': set the width (pixels) of the game window. ''This is the actual playable area. Borders will add extra pixels to the entire window.'' | * '''D3D Window Width''': set the width (pixels) of the game window. ''This is the actual playable area. Borders will add extra pixels to the entire window.'' | ||
* '''D3D Window Height''':set the height (pixels) of the window. ''The title bar and border will add to the height.'' | * '''D3D Window Height''':set the height (pixels) of the window. ''The title bar and border will add to the height.'' | ||
− | * '''Screen Ratio''': add black bars to keep aspect ratio on non 16 | + | * '''Screen Ratio''': add black bars to keep aspect ratio on non 16:10 monitors (based on patch from mikawo) for full screen mode only. '''''Use common display resolution terminology to specify the aspect ratio: 16:10, 16:9, 4:3, etc [version 1.31.5 or later.]''''' |
− | :'' | + | :''In prior versions, this setting was based on a formula with the idea that a value of 1 specified 16:10. Players needed to calculate what this value should be depending on their monitor: For example, the formula to get a 4:3 ratio is: 4/3x = 16/10, which equals 1.2 (or 0.83333 depending on where one wishes the black bars to be on the display.) '' |
− | |||
* '''Always On Top''': force the window to be in the foreground. | * '''Always On Top''': force the window to be in the foreground. | ||
* '''Clip Cursor''': prevents the cursor from going outside the window. | * '''Clip Cursor''': prevents the cursor from going outside the window. | ||
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:=1: The speed buttons reflect how fast time passes for each second of real time. ''Time will pass faster at the lowest rate. This option does not produces the step effect that other speed mods do. A small side effect is that the globe doesn't rotate as fast when the time frame is at a lower rate.'' | :=1: The speed buttons reflect how fast time passes for each second of real time. ''Time will pass faster at the lowest rate. This option does not produces the step effect that other speed mods do. A small side effect is that the globe doesn't rotate as fast when the time frame is at a lower rate.'' | ||
:=2: Similar to Mok's Clock mod. The buttons reflect the rate of time at which the clock will change. ''This option produced a jumping effect at higher time rates.'' | :=2: Similar to Mok's Clock mod. The buttons reflect the rate of time at which the clock will change. ''This option produced a jumping effect at higher time rates.'' | ||
− | * ''' | + | * '''Interception Delay''': This will slow animations and the passage of time in interception windows. The player specifies the amount of time in milliseconds [version 1.32 or later.] ''Only up to 2 or 3 milliseconds should be necessary.'' |
+ | * '''Battlescape Delay''': All animations and scroll speed will be slowed. The player chooses the amount time in milliseconds. The value should be any number over 4. The higher the number the greater the effect. ''Too high and the player will experience lag. The player can further fine tune the movement speeds and shot animations from the options menu buttons.'' | ||
* '''Force Language''': Tired of selecting your language every time the start the game? This is for you. Options are 1,2,or 3. | * '''Force Language''': Tired of selecting your language every time the start the game? This is for you. Options are 1,2,or 3. | ||
* '''Skip intro''': Skip the movie when you start the program. | * '''Skip intro''': Skip the movie when you start the program. | ||
* '''CPU Mask''': force the process on a specific processor (1 is processor 0, 2 is processor 1, 4 is processor 2, etc). | * '''CPU Mask''': force the process on a specific processor (1 is processor 0, 2 is processor 1, 4 is processor 2, etc). | ||
* '''High Priority''': run XCOM with "above normal" priority | * '''High Priority''': run XCOM with "above normal" priority | ||
− | * '''Max FPS''': limit the framerate for the ones that cannot get vsync working. Not as smooth as vsync limited, but better than nothing (only works with D3D or Video Pitch enabled). ''Use this as an option in conjuction with, or as an alternative to, the Geoscape Clock and Battlescape Delay mods if your still having animation speed issues or the other mods cause any lag with the mouse cursor.'' | + | * '''Max FPS''': limit the framerate for the ones that cannot get vsync working. Not as smooth as vsync limited, but better than nothing (only works with D3D or Video Pitch enabled). ''Use this as an option in conjuction with, or as an alternative to, the Geoscape Clock and Battlescape Delay mods if your still having animation speed issues or the other mods cause any lag with the mouse cursor. Use this if using Video Pitch and shot speed is too fast in battles, even with Battlescape Delay set.'' |
=== Mods === | === Mods === | ||
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* '''Know Thy Enemy''': Damage is reduced against targets until an autopsy has been preformed. There is a small chance that a "lucky" shot will do full damage. Explosives and Fire are not affected. ''The reduction only affects the damage that is applied against a unit's health not armor.'' | * '''Know Thy Enemy''': Damage is reduced against targets until an autopsy has been preformed. There is a small chance that a "lucky" shot will do full damage. Explosives and Fire are not affected. ''The reduction only affects the damage that is applied against a unit's health not armor.'' | ||
* '''Ablative Armor''': No changes for AP weapons but armor is more effective against HE, laser, and plasma. However, these attacks quickly reduce the armor in the location hit. In regards to the armor value used to determine stun damage applied to a target, the stun rod is treated as an AP attack but the Stun Bomb is treated like HE. ''Neither stun attack damages the armor.'' | * '''Ablative Armor''': No changes for AP weapons but armor is more effective against HE, laser, and plasma. However, these attacks quickly reduce the armor in the location hit. In regards to the armor value used to determine stun damage applied to a target, the stun rod is treated as an AP attack but the Stun Bomb is treated like HE. ''Neither stun attack damages the armor.'' | ||
− | * ''' | + | * '''Alternate Weapon Loadouts''': reduces ammo carried by the aliens. ''This balances the game after implementing the Recover Clip Fix. Players will recover more clips than originally expected.'' |
* '''EU2012 Item Rules''': Alien weapons have a high chance to self-destruct: A unit dying to direct damage has a high chance of destroying the weapon. Explosions leave no items behind. Panicked units don't drop items. Fire is bad for high tech items. | * '''EU2012 Item Rules''': Alien weapons have a high chance to self-destruct: A unit dying to direct damage has a high chance of destroying the weapon. Explosions leave no items behind. Panicked units don't drop items. Fire is bad for high tech items. | ||
* '''Weak Sectoids''':Sectoids will have heavy plasmas replaced with rifles or pistols depending on rank. Only sectoid engineers will carry blaster launchers. | * '''Weak Sectoids''':Sectoids will have heavy plasmas replaced with rifles or pistols depending on rank. Only sectoid engineers will carry blaster launchers. | ||
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* '''Initial Alien Bases''': [[Aliens_Own_Earth | Initial Alien Bases]] | * '''Initial Alien Bases''': [[Aliens_Own_Earth | Initial Alien Bases]] | ||
* '''Funding Council Income Only''': [[Making_the_Game_Harder#Funding_Council_Income_Only | Funding Council Income Only]] | * '''Funding Council Income Only''': [[Making_the_Game_Harder#Funding_Council_Income_Only | Funding Council Income Only]] | ||
− | * '''Limited Military''': [[ Making_the_Game_Harder# | + | * '''Limited Military''': [[ Making_the_Game_Harder#Limited_Military | Limited Military ]] |
+ | * '''Max Aliens''': Setting this will make the game treat all combat as if the game was on Superhuman difficulty despite the actual difficulty of the game. This will affect the number of aliens created and those stats which are affected by the normal rules for the difficulty setting. [''Version 1.32 only''] | ||
=== Bug Fixes === | === Bug Fixes === | ||
''These fixes are '''not''' enabled by default.'' | ''These fixes are '''not''' enabled by default.'' | ||
::* '''Tactical Scroll''': Enable/disable the fix that reduces the scroll speed in tactical mode | ::* '''Tactical Scroll''': Enable/disable the fix that reduces the scroll speed in tactical mode | ||
− | ::* '''Animations Speed''': reduce the speed of in-game animations (cursors, fire, smoke...) | + | ::* '''Animations Speed''': reduce the speed of in-game animations (cursors, fire, smoke...) [''moved to video in version 1.32''] |
:::: ''Both of these and other battlescape speed issues are addressed by the Battlescape Delay feature.'' | :::: ''Both of these and other battlescape speed issues are addressed by the Battlescape Delay feature.'' | ||
::* '''Intro Sounds''': restore the sound effects during the intro | ::* '''Intro Sounds''': restore the sound effects during the intro | ||
::* '''Music Change Freeze''': try to prevent the freeze that happens ingame when the MIDI music changes (experimental) | ::* '''Music Change Freeze''': try to prevent the freeze that happens ingame when the MIDI music changes (experimental) | ||
− | '' | + | '' The following fixes are enabled by default. There is no listing for each one in the INI and no other actions are required by the player to use them. Any can be disabled by copying the appropriate line(s) from the bug reference file, which is included with the Extender, to this section in the INI.'' |
+ | |||
* [[Known_Bugs#Radar_Stacking | Radar stacking ]] enabled. Credits go to [[User:Spike#Base_Fixer | Spike]] for I used something close to his formula. | * [[Known_Bugs#Radar_Stacking | Radar stacking ]] enabled. Credits go to [[User:Spike#Base_Fixer | Spike]] for I used something close to his formula. | ||
* [[Known_Bugs#Funky_Fire | Funky fire]] fix: Fire/stun damage applied at the end of each X-Com and Alien turn. ''Units standing on a tile with fire will be damaged as well as those units that are immolated.'' | * [[Known_Bugs#Funky_Fire | Funky fire]] fix: Fire/stun damage applied at the end of each X-Com and Alien turn. ''Units standing on a tile with fire will be damaged as well as those units that are immolated.'' | ||
Line 188: | Line 278: | ||
* '''Tactical Sounds Fix''': fixes problems with snakeman, celatid, and zombie movement and the mind probe and stun rod sound effects. | * '''Tactical Sounds Fix''': fixes problems with snakeman, celatid, and zombie movement and the mind probe and stun rod sound effects. | ||
* '''Craft Weapon UFOpaedia Fix''': Accuracy is correct, Re-load time is obtained from correct dataset, and flavor text added. UFO weapon range is now in KM and all numbers positioned better. | * '''Craft Weapon UFOpaedia Fix''': Accuracy is correct, Re-load time is obtained from correct dataset, and flavor text added. UFO weapon range is now in KM and all numbers positioned better. | ||
− | * '''UFOs Respond to Interception''': UFOs will close to weapons range when attacked. Craft that are slower than their attacker cannot abort but the stance does give a strong defensive bonus. Also fixes the last shot missing. | + | * '''UFOs Respond to Interception''': UFOs will close to weapons range when attacked. Craft that are slower than their attacker cannot abort* but the stance does give a strong defensive bonus. Also fixes the last shot missing. [*version 1.32: slow craft with a wingman present can abort.] |
* [[Known_Bugs#Paying_For_Dirt | Pay for dirt]] removed. | * [[Known_Bugs#Paying_For_Dirt | Pay for dirt]] removed. | ||
* [[Known_Bugs#Phantom_Radar | Phantom radar bug]] fixed. Radar coverage is updated when facilities are removed. | * [[Known_Bugs#Phantom_Radar | Phantom radar bug]] fixed. Radar coverage is updated when facilities are removed. | ||
Line 202: | Line 292: | ||
* '''Tank/Cannon Ammo Storage Fix''': The tank/cannon ammo will not take up room in storage similar to Craft Cannon ammo. | * '''Tank/Cannon Ammo Storage Fix''': The tank/cannon ammo will not take up room in storage similar to Craft Cannon ammo. | ||
* '''Clip Weight Fix''': Clip weight in weapons is correctly assigned to the unit and removed when the weapon leaves the unit's possession. | * '''Clip Weight Fix''': Clip weight in weapons is correctly assigned to the unit and removed when the weapon leaves the unit's possession. | ||
− | * '''Large Unit MC Fix''': All sections of a large unit will be | + | * '''Large Unit MC Fix''': All sections of a large unit will be correctly controlled on a successful mind control attack. |
* '''Large Unit Explosion Fix''':Explosions will now only affect a large unit once and not per section. | * '''Large Unit Explosion Fix''':Explosions will now only affect a large unit once and not per section. | ||
+ | * '''Large Unit Deaths''':Certain large units will not be "killed" multiple times at the end of the turn after dying from the initial attack. [version 1.32] | ||
* '''Alien Weapon Selection Crash Fix''': fixes the crash after an alien throws a grenade and does not have another weapon available. | * '''Alien Weapon Selection Crash Fix''': fixes the crash after an alien throws a grenade and does not have another weapon available. | ||
* '''Alien Attacks Base Location Fix''':An alien that attempts to attack one of the base's areas will not crash the game. | * '''Alien Attacks Base Location Fix''':An alien that attempts to attack one of the base's areas will not crash the game. | ||
* '''Weapon Loadout Fix''': Corrects the weapon loadout on the small scout pilot and on the abductor's leaders. | * '''Weapon Loadout Fix''': Corrects the weapon loadout on the small scout pilot and on the abductor's leaders. | ||
− | * '''Change Sectopod Laser Modifer''': Removes the vulnerability to laser damage when ' | + | * '''Change Sectopod Laser Modifer''': Removes the vulnerability to laser damage when 'Ablative Armor' mod is active since the armor rating is directly reduced by laser damage and the unit takes damage to its accuracy rating, which is closer to the description in the ufopaedia. |
* '''Armor Modifer Fix''':Personal Armor is now assigned the correct category of damage modifiers. | * '''Armor Modifer Fix''':Personal Armor is now assigned the correct category of damage modifiers. | ||
* '''Zombie Fix''': Fixes the exploit where an MCed zombie that dies will give the player permanent control of the resulting Chryssalid. Also makes zombies to drop their weapons. | * '''Zombie Fix''': Fixes the exploit where an MCed zombie that dies will give the player permanent control of the resulting Chryssalid. Also makes zombies to drop their weapons. | ||
Line 218: | Line 309: | ||
* '''Smoke&Fire Propagate Fix''': Fire and smoke will not spread through solid walls. (with the same provisions as above.) | * '''Smoke&Fire Propagate Fix''': Fire and smoke will not spread through solid walls. (with the same provisions as above.) | ||
:''The MCD records for Xcom Bases don't have the proper bit set for smoke and fire. A corrected set of files is [[:File:XBASEx.zip | here]].'' | :''The MCD records for Xcom Bases don't have the proper bit set for smoke and fire. A corrected set of files is [[:File:XBASEx.zip | here]].'' | ||
− | * '''Terror Mission Score Fix''': The score for each civilian in a terror mission is now [ | + | * '''Terror Mission Score Fix''': The score for each civilian in a terror mission is now [base score / number of civilian]. [version 1.32: the total score for civilians is determined by the difficulty rating, starting with veteran difficulty. The base score is {252*difficulty rating}. If the mission is aborted the base score gets set to 1008.] ''Removes the land-and-abort exploit to reduce the penalty of a terror mission.'' |
* '''Research Medic Crash Fix''': Researching an alien medic will no longer crash the game which happens under certain circumstances. | * '''Research Medic Crash Fix''': Researching an alien medic will no longer crash the game which happens under certain circumstances. | ||
− | * '''Base Retaliation Loop Fix''': UFOs | + | * '''Base Retaliation Loop Fix''': UFOs fire on base defenses and the aliens respond more logically at failed attempts to assault a base. Missile Defenses will spend money when activated. Fusion Ball Defenses require blaster bombs in base stores to work: 4 bombs required per unit on Genius difficulty, 6 for Superhuman. |
* '''Grenade Throw Test Fix''': Removes the problem where units with high strength can't throw items when indoors or under something. ''Hypothetical: please report any issues! - [[User:Morgan525|Tycho]]'' | * '''Grenade Throw Test Fix''': Removes the problem where units with high strength can't throw items when indoors or under something. ''Hypothetical: please report any issues! - [[User:Morgan525|Tycho]]'' | ||
* '''Alien Base Exploit Fix''': The aliens' monthly score for a base increases with game difficulty and the longer the base stays in operation. | * '''Alien Base Exploit Fix''': The aliens' monthly score for a base increases with game difficulty and the longer the base stays in operation. | ||
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* '''BB Exploit Fix''': Production materials are in the correct order and Sell Price adjusted. | * '''BB Exploit Fix''': Production materials are in the correct order and Sell Price adjusted. | ||
* '''Staff Transfer Exploit Fix''': Engineers and Scientists being transferred at the end of a month still get paid. | * '''Staff Transfer Exploit Fix''': Engineers and Scientists being transferred at the end of a month still get paid. | ||
− | * '''Alien Psi Attack Fix''': Aliens will only remember the location of an unseen target for 1 turn. | + | * '''Alien Psi Attack Fix''': Aliens will only remember the location of an unseen target for 1 turn. ''Of course, a successful Psionic Attack may renew this memory.'' [version 1.32: aliens randomly target known units and will give preference to those units in line of sight. Aliens are more likely to only panic units not in line of sight.] |
=== Tactical AI === | === Tactical AI === | ||
Line 506: | Line 597: | ||
=== Text === | === Text === | ||
− | ''This section contains almost all of the strings that are used in the Extender. Useful for | + | ''This section contains almost all of the strings that are used in the Extender. Useful for multiple languages. To change one, modify the text after the equal sign. Others may require that you copy the appropriate line to the [Text] section of the INI.'' |
*equipment screen texts | *equipment screen texts | ||
::Weight=Weight> | ::Weight=Weight> | ||
Line 523: | Line 614: | ||
::Polar=Polar | ::Polar=Polar | ||
:{Dialog strings} | :{Dialog strings} | ||
− | :: | + | ::RoswellTitle=UFO Incident |
− | :: | + | ::Roswellinfo=Crash reported |
::Location=LOCATION | ::Location=LOCATION | ||
::Type=TYPE | ::Type=TYPE | ||
Line 535: | Line 626: | ||
*Craft Ready | *Craft Ready | ||
− | :: | + | ::CraftReadyTitle=Aircraft ready |
− | :: | + | ::CraftReadyInfo=A craft has been refitted |
*Other | *Other | ||
− | ::research needed= | + | ::research needed=research needed |
− | ::to produce= | + | ::to produce=in order to produce |
− | ::full auto= | + | ::full auto=Full Auto |
− | ::burst shot= | + | ::burst shot=Burst Shot |
− | ::laser rifle= | + | ::laser rifle=The laser rifle is lighter and more accurate than the older design. |
− | ::plasma cannon= | + | ::plasma cannon=This is a devastatingly powerful weapon based on accelerating particles from within a minute anti-gravity field. |
::base strike= | ::base strike= | ||
::ship crash= | ::ship crash= | ||
::lift hit= | ::lift hit= | ||
::detector= | ::detector= | ||
+ | ::gravshield= | ||
+ | ::avalanche=This heavy air-to-air missile is designed to attack bombers and large craft. It is less useful against smaller, more agile targets. | ||
+ | ::fusionball=This launcher fires missiles propelled by an anti-gravity system. A massive anti-matter explosion is created when the weapon reaches its target. | ||
+ | ::rental=Craft Maintenance | ||
+ | ::firestorm=An experimental unmanned craft that replicates the classic saucer design. Faster and more maneuverable than any other conventional aircraft. | ||
+ | ::base control=ALIEN BASE CONTROL | ||
+ | ::production time=Days/Hours Left To Next Unit | ||
+ | ::MeleeText=Hit | ||
+ | |||
+ | ''To make the text appear for another language setting add _1 or _2 to the end of the last word before the = sign. For example, if the first language button is English and the second is Spanish:'' | ||
+ | MeleeText_1=golpear | ||
+ | ''Would make "gopear" be listed for the "hit" option on stun weapons or melee attacks if Spanish was the chosen language.'' | ||
---- | ---- | ||
<blockquote> | <blockquote> | ||
<u>'''Hacks '''</u> | <u>'''Hacks '''</u> | ||
− | :''This section is not part of the normal INI but are available. These hacks heavily alter the gameplay and should only be used for testing purpose.'' | + | :''This section is not part of the normal INI but are available. These hacks heavily alter the gameplay and should only be used for testing purpose. Those options with a <s>strike-through</s> are not available in release versions. [currently in 1.31, no hacks are available.]'' |
− | * Prevent game over when score is really bad at the end of the month | + | * <s>Prevent game over when score is really bad at the end of the month </s> |
* Big brother: follow all units in combat. | * Big brother: follow all units in combat. | ||
* Alien pets: Alien turn handed over to the human player | * Alien pets: Alien turn handed over to the human player | ||
− | * Show All Locations: displays all active locations, detected or not. | + | * <s>Show All Locations: displays all active locations, detected or not.</s> |
* FPS: show an FPS counter in the geoscape. Mostly used for debugging D3D. | * FPS: show an FPS counter in the geoscape. Mostly used for debugging D3D. | ||
− | * Directly Use Alien Weapons: After all a gun's a gun, you just pull the trigger. When activated, you can use all alien items you recovered. Of course you still do need to research items before you're able to manufacture them! | + | * <s>Directly Use Alien Weapons: After all a gun's a gun, you just pull the trigger. When activated, you can use all alien items you recovered. Of course you still do need to research items before you're able to manufacture them!</s> |
− | * No Alien Psi: no more psi trouble when fighting sectoids/ethereals | + | * <s>No Alien Psi: no more psi trouble when fighting sectoids/ethereals</s> |
</blockquote> | </blockquote> | ||
[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]] | [[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]] |
Latest revision as of 21:17, 17 October 2016
This is the loader for Enemy Unknown, created by Seb76 and further developed by Tycho, which adds fixes, more features, and improvements to the Collector's Edition (a.k.a. CE or Gold Edition) of the game.
General Information
The loader patches the program in memory, it does not modify the executable. The advantage is that it doesn't change the file on disk so there is little risk of destroying your game installation (still, it is wise to do a backup of your game folder before using this). Of course, if your computer starts pestering you to play "Global Thermonuclear War", I don't take any responsibility...
This program only works with the Windows version and will not work through DOSbox. There will not be a DOS-compatible version.
Do not hesitate to report any problem you encounter with it, I'll try to help you fix it.--Tycho
Installation
- Download the version you want and/or patches.
- Extract these files into the game folder containing the UFO Defense.exe (or whatever the windows version of Enemy Unknown executable is on your machine.)
- Using a simple text editor (like Windows notepad), open the UFOextender.INI file and enable the options you wish to use.
- For most options, you enable it by changing the value from zero to one. Some options do have more settings. Refer to this page or the README file for more information on each one.
- Run UFOloader.exe instead of UFO Defense.exe.
- You need a program that can extract zip files.
- You need the Microsoft VC++2008 redistributable package to run this program. If you don't already have it installed, you can get it here.
- The extender looks for the file UFO Defense.exe but this can be changed under the [Loader] section of the INI.
- For enhanced music, you will need to create a folder called MP3 in the same folder as your UFO Defense executable. Copy the music files to this folder.
- You need to have Windows Media Player installed for versions before 1.30, if you wish to use the enhanced music.
FAQs
- Does it fix the difficulty bug?
- The infamous difficulty bug only applies to the DOS version of the game. It was never an issue with the Windows version.
- MP3 music crashes the game or doesn't work
- Prior to version 1.30, the loader played the enhanced music through the OS. Audio codecs installed by other programs can interfere with the playback. This causes no music or an error which will force the game to exit. Some people have experienced this after upgrading their OS even though no other changes were made and music played prior to the upgrade. Someone has developed a good method to help isolate and maybe resolve these conflicts. See TFTDextender FAQs. Otherwise, the only solution is to uninstall whatever audio/video programs you have loaded to determine the source and solution to the problem.
- Starting with version 1.30, the Extender plays enhanced music utilizing the BASS audio library and sound system[1].
- Can I change the music/SFX volume || The music is louder than the DOS version.
- The original game only selects the effect/music to be played and then sends data to the OS sound layer.The Windows version uses MIDI for music since, prior to Windows Vista, there were separate volume controls for WAV and MIDI. An entire new routine to create new buffers for each sound sample would be required as well as routines to allow volume controls in-game.
- Version 1.33 plays all sounds through the BASS audio system and provides separate volume controls for music and SFX.
- "X-COM crashed at 0x45E6A5 with error ..."
- Usually this occurs when playing with a mod program that splits the executable in order to run. A part that gets altered during the split conflicts with the Extender's option to "skip the intro". Disabling this option in the Extender will stop the error.
- "X-COM crashed at 0x7------- with error ..." (when quitting the game or starting combat)
- This will occur after the player has viewed one of the aircraft pages in the in-game Ufopaedia. When the game loads the various graphic files of the in-game UFOpaedia, it uses a designated memory block to store the graphic information and swaps the data in this section as needed (to conserve memory usage, I suppose: It was a DOS game originally.) The file TAC00.SCR is used as the template for this region. Unfortunately, the SPK files for each aircraft are several bytes larger than TAC00.SCR, so the memory region's "header"(?) is partially overwritten. When GEOSCAPE or BATTLESCAPE closes and starts to free the memory regions, the memory deallocate function crashes when it attempts to read the corrupted information. I expanded TAC00.SCR to compensate for the larger SPK files. Download it here. Extract the file into the UFOGRAPH folder and overwrite the current one.
- The zip only contains a single file called patcher.dll. Where is the rest of the loader?
- The minor versions (aka patches) only include an update to this file. For the other files you need to download the most recent major version. If you look at the page for the zip file, you will see a link to the most current release at the top of the page, information on the release, and then beneath that you will see a table that has links to all the previous releases, with the version number listed in the comments field. This is intentional so patches can be downloaded and installed easily without fear of overwriting a custom INI file by mistake.
- Using Extender in Steam (seamlessly) [aka attempting to run Extender directly from the Steam interface]
- I suggest seeking help on the Steam forums. For most digital downloads, the Windows version can be run independently and that is the only method for which I am able to help. You might also try the UFOpaedia XCOMutil page where some information is available.
- I don't recover clips in missions. // I am losing ammo in every mission.
- This usually occurs with people playing Extender and XcomUtil. Each has a different way to fix the partial-clips-lost issue and are incompatible.
- The text in the mission debriefing that is associated with the 'Wreck Analysis' mod is incomprehensible.
- An altered version of the ENGLISH.DAT file that came with some early versions of the Extender has an error. Restoring this file to its original should fix this.
- My anti-virus software reports that the Extender is a trojan or malicious software.
- Anti-virus companies are extremely sensitive to malicious software which means that software from private individuals can be falsely reported as a problem and be removed or quarantined. The Extender works by loading the game and then altering the game code that resides in memory. This behavior is similar to those of malicious software so AV programs may identify the Extender as such. When they do this, you'll need to locate the appropriate section in the AV software and reinstate the Extender. Even if your AV software is working fine with the Extender currently, it is recommended that you add an exception for the extender in your anti-virus settings (or add it to a "safe" list for some software versions.) The terminology and methods for each AV software are different so please consult the help section of your particular AV program.
Some Disclaimers
- Extender and XcomUtil: When Seb76 stopped development on the Extender, both programs were fairly compatible. Since the Extender has been developed further but XcomUtil has not, there are more areas of incompatibility now. If errors arise, it is advised to try to recreate those issues without using XcomUtil before reporting them. Even splitting the executable, as is done by XComUtil, has caused problems.
- Extender and other modified game executables: [such as ET_2005] These may work together but there is no guarentees. ET_2005 heavily modifies the binary and trying to patch on top of it will produce unexpected data corruption or crash the game.
- DAT file mod requests: DAT files modifications are not done because there are already lots of them and various data editors available to do them for yourself. This rule allows all data mods to keep working with the loader (that is why some xcomutil features should still work, as long as they are those only based on resource modifications). [prior to version 1.32]Any bug fix that requires a change to some resource data in order to compensate for the fix, will have an option to exclude the data change so that any player changes will not be overwritten. [version 1.32+] The data changes that were implemented in 1.32 will override any changes made by players for the same data block. These data changes in the Extender are applied starting at "Veteran" difficulty. Players can choose "experienced" difficulty and chose the "Maximize Aliens" mod to play closer to the original game with harder battles.
The game is fully customizable: One can play a "pure vanilla" game with only the video fixes enabled or with as many of the modifications as you want. Everything can be enabled or disabled in the loader's INI file.
These versions a very different from all prior versions. The goal for these versions is to provide balance to the strategy layer and increase the aggressiveness of the aliens with the difficulty level. The difficulty one chooses at the main menu will be the default difficulty for both the strategy layer (Geoscape) and battles. Battle difficulty can be set independently in the INI for version 1.33. At lower difficulties, one will find the game not very different from the original and the methods that most players normally employ will work with no problems. Many of the imbalanced aspects of the strategic layer have been corrected and the difficulty level affects the options the aliens can take in response to X-COM's interference in their agenda. Many things have been balanced by comparing each element to other elements in the game, if possible: UFO plasmas have standard ranges and power. The human plasma cannon is comparable to the aliens. The laser cannon is more powerful than the cannon and more suited to dealing with small ~ medium range threats while the plasma cannon is better against large craft. Various aspects of the economy has been revised and balanced: All alien artifacts have had their production and selling prices altered, based on a relation to laser weapons. The selling price of alien artifacts is affected by the status of the member nations. The country bonuses to monthly income for good performance have been increased in 1.33. In previous versions, each bug fix and mod could be independently enabled or disabled by the player. In version 1.32, this is changed so that most bug fixes are enabled by a single option and the difficulty level determines what other elements are active. Players choose which elements to play by selecting the appropriate difficulty level.
Difficulty Settings
Here is a breakdown of features for each level of difficulty. Most of these options stack upon the ones of the previous difficulty:
Beginner
- All Bug Fixes enabled.
- Alien unit hp and stats reduced in combat. (vanilla game setting)
- Retaliation ships vary depending upon game time.
- Alien Containment is now limited to 10 aliens per facility, as per the description (the maximum is still 50 for all bases.)
- When a UFO is destroyed during the anti-aircraft portion of base defense, the interval until the next UFO arrives is longer.
- Game ends if all nations sign pacts.
Experienced
- Alien units have full stats in combat. (vanilla game setting)
Living Quarters and Laboratory use the capacities as defined in FACIL.DAT. (30 for living quarters and 10 for laboratories.)
Veteran
- Craft/UFO data and craft/UFO weapons stats balanced. [moved here in 1.32.2]
- Economic model balanced. Values may need to be tweaked depending on play testing and feedback. [moved here in 1.32.2]
- The selling price of alien items drops as nations sign pacts.
- Score for civilians higher in Terror missions. [moved here in 1.32.2]
- Soldier can only MC one unit per turn.
- UFOs take more damage before crashing.
- Alien Base daily penalty increases the longer the base is active.
- Zombies will hatch into chryssalids after several turns if fire not used against them.
- Alien AI in interceptions.
- Random elerium recovered per ball.
- Battleships bomb the access lift when attempting to invade an X-COM base. [moved here in 1.32.2]
- An additional alien mission at game start. {1.32.8}
- Changes to the mission routines to make harvester and abductor UFOs appear more frequently. {1.32.8}
- Alien leaders will only appear on "capital" ships and commanders will only be in bases. {1.32.8}
- Only alien soldiers and terror units are present in terror missions. {1.32.8}
- When a UFO is destroyed during the anti-aircraft portion of base defense, the interval until the next UFO arrives is shorter than Beginner/Experienced. {1.33}
Genius
- Terror Site will expire even if there is an inbound dropship.
- Battleships can perform terror missions.
Alien will use base busters after failed attempts to assault an X-COM base. {1.32 only}- Two additional alien missions at game start.
- Game ends if too many nations sign pacts.
- UFOs take more damage to crash than previous level.
- The effect of nations signing pacts on prices for alien items is higher.
- Alien ships attack base defenses.
- A Missile Defense will spend money when attacking
A Fusion ball defense requires 4 blaster bombs in base stores to activate.{1.32.8}Fusion Ball Defense requires 4 Fusion Bombs in base stores to activate.- {1.32.8}Game will not end due to two consecutive months of extremely low scores but rather from getting high scores. The threshold value is determined by game difficulty.
- {1.33}When a UFO is destroyed during the anti-aircraft portion of base defense, the interval until the next UFO arrives is shorter than Veteran.
- {1.33}Plasma Defense requires 8 units of elerium to activate.
- {1.33}Aliens will performing strafing or bombardment of a base after they fail to invade it:
- Battleships will launch bombs against random facilities.
- Other UFOs will attack only a limited choice of facilities.
Superhuman
Aliens use base busters quicker. {1.32 only}- UFOs take even more damage to crash.
- Three additional alien missions at game start.
- Aliens will conduct more terror missions as game progresses.
- Average amount of elerium recovered is lower.
- The effect of nations signing pacts on prices is severe. {1.32.8}
A Fusion Ball defense requires 6 blaster bombs in base stores to activate. {1.32}
- --------------New in version 1.33-----------------------
- When a UFO is destroyed during the anti-aircraft portion of base defense, the interval until the next UFO arrives is shorter than Genius. (but still longer than the original setting.)
- After the first failed attempt to invade any base, the aliens will not attempt to invade a base again and only perform strafing or bombardment on any bases discovered.
Interception stances
- Standoff: No changes from vanilla.
- Cautious: Aircraft closes to longest weapon range. {"True Cautious Mode enabled: With two similar weapons only one will fire until ammo is depleted before attacking with the second weapon. Cannon/beam weapons fire slower. Imparts a -15% to UFO accuracy.} Clicking on the status button again will toggle the right weapon on/off {1.33}.
- Standard: Aircraft will close to weapon range for both weapons and both similar weapons will fire. Cannon/beam weapons fire at a standard rate.
- Aggressive: Aircraft move as close a possible to the UFO. Cannon/beam weapons fire faster. UFOs receive a 10% bonus to hit.
- Abort: When alien interception AI is active, aircraft that are slower than UFO cannot automatically escape unless another craft is intercepting (or UFO gives up.) Imparts a -30% to UFO accuracy.
- Missiles fire rates are the same in all stances.
Extender INI references
Video
- Video Pitch: fixes garbled video output due to pitch error similar to f0dder's loader.
- D3D: replace DirectDraw calls to Direct3D9. It sets the monitor to its default resolution and uses D3D to stretch the image on screen. It may also fix the speed issues if your video driver is configured properly.
- HQ4x: raise the resolution of the game and apply some filtering. It is quite CPU intensive though...
- Linear Filter: Enables bilinear filtering. Set to 2 to prescale the game (makes game less blurry in full screen mode).
- D3D Fullscreen Width: Set the width (pixels) for fullscreen.
- D3D Fullscreen Height: Set the height (pixels) for fullscreen.
- D3D Windowed: run the game in a window.
- D3D Window Position: set the initial position of the window in X Y cooordinates.
- =0 0 will have the windows placed in the upper right corner of your display.
- These numbers will be updated automatically if the window is moved later.
- D3D Window Width: set the width (pixels) of the game window. This is the actual playable area. Borders will add extra pixels to the entire window.
- D3D Window Height:set the height (pixels) of the window. The title bar and border will add to the height.
- Screen Ratio: add black bars to keep aspect ratio on non 16:10 monitors (based on patch from mikawo) for full screen mode only. Use common display resolution terminology to specify the aspect ratio: 16:10, 16:9, 4:3, etc [version 1.31.5 or later.]
- In prior versions, this setting was based on a formula with the idea that a value of 1 specified 16:10. Players needed to calculate what this value should be depending on their monitor: For example, the formula to get a 4:3 ratio is: 4/3x = 16/10, which equals 1.2 (or 0.83333 depending on where one wishes the black bars to be on the display.)
- Always On Top: force the window to be in the foreground.
- Clip Cursor: prevents the cursor from going outside the window.
- Scale Mouse: attempt to fix the cursor running off screen when using HQ4x and/or D3D in full screen mode.
- Slow Geoscape Clock: [Two Modes: =1 or =2]
- =1: The speed buttons reflect how fast time passes for each second of real time. Time will pass faster at the lowest rate. This option does not produces the step effect that other speed mods do. A small side effect is that the globe doesn't rotate as fast when the time frame is at a lower rate.
- =2: Similar to Mok's Clock mod. The buttons reflect the rate of time at which the clock will change. This option produced a jumping effect at higher time rates.
- Interception Delay: This will slow animations and the passage of time in interception windows. The player specifies the amount of time in milliseconds [version 1.32 or later.] Only up to 2 or 3 milliseconds should be necessary.
- Battlescape Delay: All animations and scroll speed will be slowed. The player chooses the amount time in milliseconds. The value should be any number over 4. The higher the number the greater the effect. Too high and the player will experience lag. The player can further fine tune the movement speeds and shot animations from the options menu buttons.
- Force Language: Tired of selecting your language every time the start the game? This is for you. Options are 1,2,or 3.
- Skip intro: Skip the movie when you start the program.
- CPU Mask: force the process on a specific processor (1 is processor 0, 2 is processor 1, 4 is processor 2, etc).
- High Priority: run XCOM with "above normal" priority
- Max FPS: limit the framerate for the ones that cannot get vsync working. Not as smooth as vsync limited, but better than nothing (only works with D3D or Video Pitch enabled). Use this as an option in conjuction with, or as an alternative to, the Geoscape Clock and Battlescape Delay mods if your still having animation speed issues or the other mods cause any lag with the mouse cursor. Use this if using Video Pitch and shot speed is too fast in battles, even with Battlescape Delay set.
Mods
- Doubleclick Movement: change the requirement for moving a unit in the battlescape from clicking a tile once, to doubleclicking it (within 500ms). Failing to doubleclick will result in no action being taken. This allows for a considerable safety margin with movement, as the default movement controls are easy to accidentally trigger on the wrong tiles.
- TFTD Doors: open a facing door by right-clicking. The time cost is 4 TUs.
- De-equip crafts: provides an option to remove a weapon from an aircraft slot.
- Reorder soldiers in craft: Move soldiers up or down via a simple interface. If you hold the mouse button for more than 200ms when clicking, the soldier will be moved to the top/bottom of the list. You can check the soldiers' stats by clicking on their names.
- Save Reserve Mode: keeps the chosen TU reserve mod between turns.
- Keep Base Navigation Modules: keeps the navigation controls that are in the base control center after a successful base assault.
- More Chryssalid Sound Effects: victims will howl during zombification and newly emerged Chryssalids scream.
- Alien Inventory: get direct access to an alien's inventory when it is mind controlled.
- Alien Bleeding: most aliens will suffer from fatal wounds.
- More Reaction Fire: Units turning in place will provoke reaction fire from enemy units that can see them. In scenarios where a quick exchange of multiple reaction fire occurs, the weapon fire may remain what the previous reaction shot was. Alien units with grenades may toss them in a wrong direction.
- Hot grenades:
They do explode even when held.Grenades do not have a timer and explode after they are thrown. Only high explosives have a timer. - Stunned Units KIA: Usually, unconscious units just disappear when they blow up. Now you score the kill when you blast stunned units with explosives (with the experience, morale and all the stuff that goes with it).
- No Blaster Bomb Drift: disable the randomness applied to blaster bomb trajectories between waypoints. It'll solve drifting issues experimented with the blaster launcher, but also make aliens even more deadly with that weapon since the hard coded accuracy of 55% they have won't affect their shots anymore.
- More Smoke: set the limit of smoking tiles to 2048 (up from 400). I don't expect this to work perfectly on the first try; smoke is referenced on lots of places and I'm not sure I patched everywhere needed. Report what works and what fails. You won't be able to load a saved game that used this option when this option is not enabled.
- Heavy laser: This adds 2 firing modes to the heavy laser.
Firing the weapon will cost 50 energy.version 1.31+: Each mode has a recharge time cost.
- Stun Fest: Add the "Stun" command in the menu for most weapons. The TU/Damage is based on the weapon's class:
Weapon Class Stun Damage TU %s Pistols 20 15 Rifles and small launcher 50 40 "Heavy" weapons and auto-cannon 65 50 Launchers 80 80 Stun Rod (unchanged) 65 30
- No Auto Wake Up: stunned unit still have their stun level decrease, but they won't wake up on there own
- No Alien Freak Out Messages: don't show "Alien Commander has panicked" and the like messages. With CE, you'll only see this message if the alien is visible to the player.
- Auto Sell: allows the player to activate an automatic production and automatic selling mode in manufacturing. By pressing the down arrow button to reduce the quantity of desired items below zero, the mode will switch to the autosell mode, represented by three dollar signs ("$$$"). In this mode, production will never cease unless resources become unavailable, and all produced items will be immediately sold. By pressing the down arrow a second time, it will switch to autoproduce mode, represented by three asterisks ("***"). This functions in the same way as autosell, but the results will not be sold, merely stockpiled forever; caution should be used with this mode, as it can drain resources quickly
- Start With All Missiles: Craft cannons and ammo will be sold and an equivalent price of Avalanche launchers and missiles will be bought. Crafts will be automatically equipped with the new items.
- Assign All Personnel: Set the maximum amout of scientists/engineers on a project quickly by using the down arrow when the quantity is at zero (à la ET)
- General Store Capacity: change the capacity of general stores (default is 50). Capped at 187 to prevent integer overflows. This is the value that the base stores will have. Any value below below 51 is ignored and the default value is used.
- Rank In Inventory: The icon for the character's rank will be displayed on the inventory screen.
- Show Money: shrink the clock in the date/time panel on the main geoscape screen, and adds a funds display above it. It is useful for examining remaining funds during manufacturing projects, while waiting for time to pass.
- Base Build Stacking: You can place base stuctures in advance. The construction will start when possible:
- Funds are credited when you place an element. No refund is possible. There might be some issues with 2x2 structures, report any problem you encounter.
- Fast Base Defenses: remove the wait periods during base defense sequence. The need to press the button can be removed too
- Improved Laser Tank: The tank stats are improved but it requires Alien Alloys to produce. In-game UFOpaedia will display the updated information on the new tank.
- Know Thy Enemy: Damage is reduced against targets until an autopsy has been preformed. There is a small chance that a "lucky" shot will do full damage. Explosives and Fire are not affected. The reduction only affects the damage that is applied against a unit's health not armor.
- Ablative Armor: No changes for AP weapons but armor is more effective against HE, laser, and plasma. However, these attacks quickly reduce the armor in the location hit. In regards to the armor value used to determine stun damage applied to a target, the stun rod is treated as an AP attack but the Stun Bomb is treated like HE. Neither stun attack damages the armor.
- Alternate Weapon Loadouts: reduces ammo carried by the aliens. This balances the game after implementing the Recover Clip Fix. Players will recover more clips than originally expected.
- EU2012 Item Rules: Alien weapons have a high chance to self-destruct: A unit dying to direct damage has a high chance of destroying the weapon. Explosions leave no items behind. Panicked units don't drop items. Fire is bad for high tech items.
- Weak Sectoids:Sectoids will have heavy plasmas replaced with rifles or pistols depending on rank. Only sectoid engineers will carry blaster launchers.
- Zombies Will Hatch: Zombies will automatically convert to Chryssalids after a few turns. The resulting "mature" Chryssalid will have stats based on game difficulty. Killing a zombie will result in an "immature" Chryssalid emerging. Fire is still the only means to kill a Chryssalid in a zombie. Fire damage slows the hatching process. Any amount of fire damage will delay the Chryssalid's hatching.
- Human Limits: Engineers and Scientists will work in 12 hours shifts. The project screen will assign two people per click but only one space will be used between them. Research and production times are adjusted accordingly.
- Alternate Research Tree:
- =1
- Laser cannon requires research into E-115 and UFO power to produce and E-115 is a production material.
- Plasma weapons and Blaster Bombs require "help" from various alien engineers to obtain the knowledge to produce.
- Hyperwave may require multiple species navigators to be interrogated in order to be finally unlocked. (depending on game difficulty)
- Only a Etheral can give the required technology to unlock Psionics. Sectoids provide other options.
- Improved detectors after the correct technologies have been researched or can be produced.
- Quicker access to Mind Shield with the right research and Psionic testing.
- =2 Alternate progression for laser weapons
- The first breakthrough allows the production of Heavy Lasers but damage is minimal.
- Each new level researched allows a new item to be made and increases the damage for the prevous stage(s) items.
- =1
- Difficulty Level of Interception: adjusts the difficulty of hitting UFOs. [values from 1-5]
- Manual Interception Fire Mode: craft will no longer fall back when the last shot is expended or when damage is taken
- True Cautious Mode: craft with two similar weapons will only fire one-at-a-time and the stance gives a penalty for UFO's accuracy (-10%).
- Crafts Always Ready: change when craft are available after returning to base.
- =1 allow crafts to take off even when not 100% refueled/rearmed/repaired.
- =2 only damaged craft are grounded.
- Retaliate Against Ground Assault: Aliens do not seem to care if you assault a landed UFO. You can now have them retaliate as if their ship was shot down. Note that this was not extensively tested so feel free to report any odd thing that may happen when this patch is activated!!-Seb76
- No Funkers: only guys that went on the last mission are checked for promotion.
- Bloodthirst: compute the "promotion score" based on killing stats only
- Disable Base Defenses: disable the base defence mechanism. Useful if you want to use some defence modules for tactical purposes. This is unnecessary if the Base Retaliation Loop Fix is enabled, since it allows right-clicking to disable defenses.
- Surrender Defense Missions: Surrender Defence Missions
- Initial Alien Bases: Initial Alien Bases
- Funding Council Income Only: Funding Council Income Only
- Limited Military: Limited Military
- Max Aliens: Setting this will make the game treat all combat as if the game was on Superhuman difficulty despite the actual difficulty of the game. This will affect the number of aliens created and those stats which are affected by the normal rules for the difficulty setting. [Version 1.32 only]
Bug Fixes
These fixes are not enabled by default.
- Tactical Scroll: Enable/disable the fix that reduces the scroll speed in tactical mode
- Animations Speed: reduce the speed of in-game animations (cursors, fire, smoke...) [moved to video in version 1.32]
- Both of these and other battlescape speed issues are addressed by the Battlescape Delay feature.
- Intro Sounds: restore the sound effects during the intro
- Music Change Freeze: try to prevent the freeze that happens ingame when the MIDI music changes (experimental)
The following fixes are enabled by default. There is no listing for each one in the INI and no other actions are required by the player to use them. Any can be disabled by copying the appropriate line(s) from the bug reference file, which is included with the Extender, to this section in the INI.
- Radar stacking enabled. Credits go to Spike for I used something close to his formula.
- Funky fire fix: Fire/stun damage applied at the end of each X-Com and Alien turn. Units standing on a tile with fire will be damaged as well as those units that are immolated.
- Vertical waypoints blaster bomb bug
- Door jam fixed.
- Personnel Overflow: Robotic Factories / Cybernetic Laboratories. You cannot get more than 255 engineers/scientists, buying more will just result in them being lost during transfer.
- Hostile Civilians fix. All units under mind control will have their proper faction restored after recovering thier wits.
- Crash On First Move: Fix occasional crash when moving your first unit out of the craft.
- Tactical Sounds Fix: fixes problems with snakeman, celatid, and zombie movement and the mind probe and stun rod sound effects.
- Craft Weapon UFOpaedia Fix: Accuracy is correct, Re-load time is obtained from correct dataset, and flavor text added. UFO weapon range is now in KM and all numbers positioned better.
- UFOs Respond to Interception: UFOs will close to weapons range when attacked. Craft that are slower than their attacker cannot abort* but the stance does give a strong defensive bonus. Also fixes the last shot missing. [*version 1.32: slow craft with a wingman present can abort.]
- Pay for dirt removed.
- Phantom radar bug fixed. Radar coverage is updated when facilities are removed.
- Base disjoint bug fixed.
- Base Facility Dismantle-Construction Crash
- Armed state issues with proximity grenades when reloading a game. Should also fix "What just exploded?"
- Experience issue with proximity grenades. The thrower now gets the experience, not the poor alien that blows up...
- Refueling issue when transfered crafts arrive (enabled by default if you use the "Crafts Always Ready" mod)
- Elerium fueled crafts bug fixed.
- Displayed Base Maintenance Cost Bug fixed.
- Unconscious Unit MC fix: A unit under mind control will have the effect removed and its proper faction restored when knocked unconscious.
- EOB fix: Units under Mind Control are not lost if battle is won, or if they are in the xcraft when mission aborted.
- Tank/Cannon Ammo Storage Fix: The tank/cannon ammo will not take up room in storage similar to Craft Cannon ammo.
- Clip Weight Fix: Clip weight in weapons is correctly assigned to the unit and removed when the weapon leaves the unit's possession.
- Large Unit MC Fix: All sections of a large unit will be correctly controlled on a successful mind control attack.
- Large Unit Explosion Fix:Explosions will now only affect a large unit once and not per section.
- Large Unit Deaths:Certain large units will not be "killed" multiple times at the end of the turn after dying from the initial attack. [version 1.32]
- Alien Weapon Selection Crash Fix: fixes the crash after an alien throws a grenade and does not have another weapon available.
- Alien Attacks Base Location Fix:An alien that attempts to attack one of the base's areas will not crash the game.
- Weapon Loadout Fix: Corrects the weapon loadout on the small scout pilot and on the abductor's leaders.
- Change Sectopod Laser Modifer: Removes the vulnerability to laser damage when 'Ablative Armor' mod is active since the armor rating is directly reduced by laser damage and the unit takes damage to its accuracy rating, which is closer to the description in the ufopaedia.
- Armor Modifer Fix:Personal Armor is now assigned the correct category of damage modifiers.
- Zombie Fix: Fixes the exploit where an MCed zombie that dies will give the player permanent control of the resulting Chryssalid. Also makes zombies to drop their weapons.
- No Freebies for Tanks: Available tanks during Base Defense missions will get their ammo from what is available in the base stores.
- Recover Clips Fix: Each ammo type on the battlefield is tallied and placed into a clip. Thus, only any leftover ammo that cannot make a full clip will be discarded.
- Tank Death Penalty Fix: The penalty for losing a tank is fixed at 20 points, not based on the rank of the first unit in SOLDIER.DAT
- Slow Death Screams on Alien Turn: puts a small delay after a death scream on the alien turn. Useful in Terror Missions for civilain deaths.
- Bezerk Unit Crash Fix: Tanks will not suffer moral loss, and large units or units with in-built range weapons will not go Bezerk.
- Explosion Fix: All explosions now behave the same for all walls. (if the proper byte for the tile is set in the MCD records.)
- Smoke&Fire Propagate Fix: Fire and smoke will not spread through solid walls. (with the same provisions as above.)
- The MCD records for Xcom Bases don't have the proper bit set for smoke and fire. A corrected set of files is here.
- Terror Mission Score Fix: The score for each civilian in a terror mission is now [base score / number of civilian]. [version 1.32: the total score for civilians is determined by the difficulty rating, starting with veteran difficulty. The base score is {252*difficulty rating}. If the mission is aborted the base score gets set to 1008.] Removes the land-and-abort exploit to reduce the penalty of a terror mission.
- Research Medic Crash Fix: Researching an alien medic will no longer crash the game which happens under certain circumstances.
- Base Retaliation Loop Fix: UFOs fire on base defenses and the aliens respond more logically at failed attempts to assault a base. Missile Defenses will spend money when activated. Fusion Ball Defenses require blaster bombs in base stores to work: 4 bombs required per unit on Genius difficulty, 6 for Superhuman.
- Grenade Throw Test Fix: Removes the problem where units with high strength can't throw items when indoors or under something. Hypothetical: please report any issues! - Tycho
- Alien Base Exploit Fix: The aliens' monthly score for a base increases with game difficulty and the longer the base stays in operation.
- Base Defense Prep: Players are taken to the base editor screen before starting a base defense mission.
- BB Exploit Fix: Production materials are in the correct order and Sell Price adjusted.
- Staff Transfer Exploit Fix: Engineers and Scientists being transferred at the end of a month still get paid.
- Alien Psi Attack Fix: Aliens will only remember the location of an unseen target for 1 turn. Of course, a successful Psionic Attack may renew this memory. [version 1.32: aliens randomly target known units and will give preference to those units in line of sight. Aliens are more likely to only panic units not in line of sight.]
Tactical AI
- Apply: Aliens are less indecisive and more aggressive.
- Autofire Distance: The number of squares that if a target is within, an alien will try to use autofire against it.
- Snap Distance: The number of squares that an alien will use a snap shot against a target. Otherwise, alien will try to use an aimed shot.
Equipment Screen
This patch changes the equipment screen. It effectively renders statstrings obsolete ;-)
- Before battle, it changes the screen like this (the psi stats are only shown when the soldier has been trained):
- During a mission, it looks like this:
- You can also have the rank shown:
- Show Grenade State: if you select a primed grenade, it'll be indicated in the description
- Save Equipment: automatically reequip your team with their last weapon layout (HIGHLY EXPERIMENTAL). New recruits will be given a gun and some ammo but nothing outstanding. Don't forget to properly equip them
- Auto Flares: automatically equip flares (if available in the craft) during night missions (only works with Save Equipment)
Range Based Accuracy
This modifies the accuracy based on the distance from the target. The accuracy decreases linearly (2% per tile) when shooting beyond the limit of the firing mode:
- auto shot: 7 tiles
- snap shot: 15 tiles
- aimed shot: no penalty
These values should be considered as a first draft; they are configurable in the ini file so feel free to test other settings and report back if you find good ones.
Advanced options
- Add these lines to your INI in the [Range Based Accuracy] section
- Aimed Penalty Distance=200
- Auto Accuracy Dropoff=2
- Snap Accuracy Dropoff=2
- Aimed Accuracy Dropoff=3
- Change the numbers to your own personal preferences. Remember that the distance number is twice the number of hexes on the battlescape.
Line Of Fire Check
A soldier will need a line of fire toward the targeted alien to use psionic device. It is configurable for each ability:
- Mind Control
- Panic
- Mind Probe
Music
PSX CD
If you have the PSX version of the game, you can enjoy the CD music with this patch. The tracks are mapped like that:
- 1,2,3,4: geoscape music
- 5: gmdefend
- 6: gmenbase
- 7: gmmars
- 8: gminter
- 9: gmstory
- 10,11: battlescape music
- 12: gmnewmar
gmwin and gmlose are not available. Because of similarity, gmlose is replaced with gmstory and gmwin with gminter.
MP3 music
If you have mp3 music files available for the game, you can use them instead of the default MIDI ones (see default ini file as an example). Note that the intro music will still use the original files.
- Battlescape=*tactical*.mp3
- Start Menu=*Final Briefing*.mp3
- Bad Ending=*Final Briefing*.mp3
- Good Ending=*intercept*.mp3
- Geoscape=*Geoscape*.mp3
- Dogfight=*intercept*.mp3
- Mission Debriefing=*Debriefing*.mp3
- UFO Assault=*Briefing1.mp3
- Base Defense=*Briefing2.mp3
- Base Attack=*Briefing1.mp3
- Mars=*Debriefing*.mp3
- Terror Mission=*Briefing2.mp3
Note that the above files are only an example. You can change the music played during any event by changing the file name. All files must be in a folder named MP3 which should be in the same list as the SOUND folder.
Initial Base
Change the layout of your starting base. Possible modules:
- AccessLift
- LivingQuarters
- Laboratory
- Workshop
- SmallRadar
- LargeRadar
- MissileDefense
- GeneralStores
- AlienContainment
- LaserDefense
- PlasmaDefense
- FusionBallDefense
- GravShield
- MindShield
- PsionicLaboratory
- HyperWaveDecoder
- HangarTL
- HangarTR
- HangarBL
- HangarBR
- Empty
Wreck Analysis
Until the construction of hyper-wave decoders, it is impossible to know what missions aliens are performing. Even after recovering an alien ship, XCOM intelligence is unable to determine what was its purpose. This is no longer true. Salvaged navigation modules can now be analysed and may reveal what evil intentions the aliens had:
The probability of retrieving the information is based on the difficulty and on the number of UFO navigation items recovered from the mission. UFO mission and geographical zone can be discovered individually too.
Craft Ready Message
A message will notify the player when a craft is ready.
Roswell mod
Make scout ships possibly crash during their missions:
It can happen to all scouts, either detected or not. Crashed UFOs will be made visible so that you can initiate recovery missions.
Shortcuts
Enable keyboard shortcuts. The keymap is qwerty.
Default key mapping in geoscape
- UpArrow: Rotate Up
- DownArrow: Rotate Down
- LeftArrow: Rotate Left
- RighArrow: Rotate Right
- MouseWheelUp: Zoom In
- MouseWheelDown: Zoom Out
- 1: Geo Speed1
- 2: Geo Speed2
- 3: Geo Speed3
- 4: Geo Speed4
- 5: Geo Speed5
- 6: Geo Speed6
- MouseMiddle: Intercept
- B: Bases
- G: Graphs
- U: Ufopaedia
- Escape: Options
- F: Fundings
Default key mapping in battlescape
- UpArrow: unit goes up
- DownArrow: unit goes down
- LeftArrow: left menu
- RightArrow: right menu
- Return: end of turn
- Escape: options menu
- BackSpace: go to next unit, remove current from the queue
- Tab: go to next unit
- Space: go to inventory
- PageUp: view goes up one level
- PageDown: view goes down one level
- 1: reserve mode off
- 2: reserve mode snap
- 3: reserve mode auto
- 4: reserve mode aimed
Key names
Standard keys (A, 2, etc) are indicated as-is, the following "special" keynames are available (case insensitive):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you need a key not listed here and you know its VK_* code, you can specify it with it's hex value (e.g. 0x90 for num lock)
The implementation is rather messy, expect side effects and report them...
Caps
- This sections sets the highest number for each stat to which it can be raised by in-game methods. See experience caps.
OBDATA.DAT patching
Change the value of some OBDATA.DAT settings on the fly. To change a value, add a line "itemname setting=value" (without the quotes). For example:
High Explosive Damage=200
Available settings:
- Damage
- Resistance (to explosions)
- Weight
- Damage Type
- Auto accuracy
- Snap accuracy
- Aimed accuracy
- Auto TUs
- Snap TUs
- Aimed TUs
- Size (clip size)
- get
Item names are case insensitive and available at OBDATA.DAT.
Text
This section contains almost all of the strings that are used in the Extender. Useful for multiple languages. To change one, modify the text after the equal sign. Others may require that you copy the appropriate line to the [Text] section of the INI.
- equipment screen texts
- Weight=Weight>
- Accuracy=Accur>
- Reaction=React>
- Psi Strength=P.Str>
- Psi Skill=P.Skill>
- Primed=primed
- Roswell mod texts
- {Terrain names}
- Jungle=Jungle
- Farm=Farm
- Mountain=Mountain
- Desert=Desert
- Polar=Polar
- {Dialog strings}
- RoswellTitle=UFO Incident
- Roswellinfo=Crash reported
- Location=LOCATION
- Type=TYPE
- Terrain=TERRAIN
- Wreck Analysis
- Zone Discovered=Intel found out that the %s UFO was raiding %s
- Mission Discovered=Inspection showed that the %s UFO was on an %s mission
- Both Discovered=Ship investigation revealed that the %s UFO was on an %s mission in %s
- Craft Ready
- CraftReadyTitle=Aircraft ready
- CraftReadyInfo=A craft has been refitted
- Other
- research needed=research needed
- to produce=in order to produce
- full auto=Full Auto
- burst shot=Burst Shot
- laser rifle=The laser rifle is lighter and more accurate than the older design.
- plasma cannon=This is a devastatingly powerful weapon based on accelerating particles from within a minute anti-gravity field.
- base strike=
- ship crash=
- lift hit=
- detector=
- gravshield=
- avalanche=This heavy air-to-air missile is designed to attack bombers and large craft. It is less useful against smaller, more agile targets.
- fusionball=This launcher fires missiles propelled by an anti-gravity system. A massive anti-matter explosion is created when the weapon reaches its target.
- rental=Craft Maintenance
- firestorm=An experimental unmanned craft that replicates the classic saucer design. Faster and more maneuverable than any other conventional aircraft.
- base control=ALIEN BASE CONTROL
- production time=Days/Hours Left To Next Unit
- MeleeText=Hit
To make the text appear for another language setting add _1 or _2 to the end of the last word before the = sign. For example, if the first language button is English and the second is Spanish:
MeleeText_1=golpear
Would make "gopear" be listed for the "hit" option on stun weapons or melee attacks if Spanish was the chosen language.
Hacks
- This section is not part of the normal INI but are available. These hacks heavily alter the gameplay and should only be used for testing purpose. Those options with a
strike-throughare not available in release versions. [currently in 1.31, no hacks are available.]
Prevent game over when score is really bad at the end of the month- Big brother: follow all units in combat.
- Alien pets: Alien turn handed over to the human player
Show All Locations: displays all active locations, detected or not.- FPS: show an FPS counter in the geoscape. Mostly used for debugging D3D.
Directly Use Alien Weapons: After all a gun's a gun, you just pull the trigger. When activated, you can use all alien items you recovered. Of course you still do need to research items before you're able to manufacture them!No Alien Psi: no more psi trouble when fighting sectoids/ethereals