UFOextender

This is the loader for Enemy Unknown, created by Seb76 and now being 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. It 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.

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

• 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.
• Download the appropriate version and/or patches. File:UFOLoader.zip
• 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.
  • The extender looks for the file UFO Defense.exe but this can be changed under the [Loader] section.
  • You may have to leave certain options disabled if you intend to run the extender with other mod programs.
• 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.
• Run UFOloader.exe instead of UFO Defense.exe.

Note : Prior to version 1.30, if you wished to use enhanced music, you needed to have Window Media Player installed.

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

Starting with version 1.30, the Extender plays enhanced music utilizing the BASS audio library and sound system[1].

Prior to version 1.30, the loader used basic calls to the MCI control layer to play enhanced music through the OS. Other video or sound programs may load codecs that can interfere with the playback resulting in no music or it will cause the MCI layer to generate 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.

• Can I change the music/SFX volume || The music is louder than the DOS version.

The problem here is that the game only selects the effect/music to be played and then dumps it to the OS sound mixer. There is no capacity to adjust in-game volumes, which is why the windows version uses MIDI for music since Windows OS prior to Vista had seperate volume controls for WAV and MIDI. In game volume cannot be simply added because the game creates secondary sound buffers for each effect in order to speed up playback. The specifications used to create these buffers does not allow individual volume control so a new sound buffer creation routine is necessary first.

• "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 various graphic files in the GEOSCAPE, it loads them into the same block of memory (to conserve memory usage, I suppose: It was a DOS game originally). The file TAC00.SCR is used as the template for this region when the game loads. 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 exits to load the BATTLESCAPE or quit, it lauches the memory deallocate function which crashes as it attempts to read this corrupted information. I expanded TAC00.SCR to compensate. 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 version 1.23 and 1.24 has an error. Restoring this file to its original should fix the issue.

• My anti-virus software reports that the Extender is a trojan.

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. When it has done this in error, you'll need to navigate to the settings of your software, restore the extender from the restricted list and/or add an exception for the extender in your anti-virus settings. The terminology and methods for each AV software are different so please consult the AV's help section.

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). 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

Several important changes were made with this version. The amount of changes that were required in order to offer balance in the game has made compatibility with XcomUtil extremely difficult. This version will not work with any program that requires the executable to be split.

Version 1.32 is different as it focuses on correcting many of the imbalanced aspects of the strategic layer, in a logical manner by comparing each to other elements in the game. (UFO plasmas have standard ranges and power. The human plasma cannon is stronger with better range than the smaller UFOs' but not as good as the larger UFOs'. The laser cannon is twice as powerful as the cannon, with the plasma cannon being 3x more powerful than the craft cannon.) 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 and some mods are enabled/disabled as one. However, many elements that change game play in the strategic layer are active at higher difficulty levels. This is done to preserve the many game balancing features.

The bug fix section only has an 'apply=' option to enable {1} or disable {0} all older bug fixes. New fixes are provided to be individually enabled/disabled to isolate any errors that may occur. A new section 'Enhanced Game' has a similar option to enable or disable a collection of modifications.

Here is a breakdown of which features of the Extender are active at each level of difficulty:

beginner

• Alien unit hp and stats reduced in combat. (vanilla game setting)
• Retaliation ships vary depending upon game time.

experienced

• Alien units have full stats in combat. (vanilla game setting)

Veteran

• Craft/UFO data and craft/UFO weapons stats balanced. [moved with 1.32.2]
• Economic model balanced better. Values may need to be tweaked depending on playtesting and feedback. [moved with 1.32.2]
• The selling price of alien items drops as nations sign pacts.
• Score for civilians higher in Terror missions. [moved with 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 if when attacking an X-COM base. [moved with 1.32.2]

{1.32.8}

• More alien missions at game start. Amount increase with difficulty level.
• Changes to the mission routines to make harvester and abductor UFOs appear more frequently.
• Alien leaders will only appear on "capital" ships and commanders will only be in bases.
• Only alien soldiers and terror units are present in terror missions.

Genius

• No hold on Terror Site expiration timer due to inbound dropship.
• Battleships can perform terror missions.
• Alien will use base busters after failed attempts to assualt an X-COM base.
• 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 {1.32.8} fusion bombs in base stores to activate.
• 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. {1.32.8}

Superhuman

• Aliens use base busters quicker.
• UFOs take even more damage to crash.
• 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.
• A Fusion Ball defense requires 6 blaster bombs in base stores to activate. {1.32.8}

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.}
• 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).

In case of XCom units destroyed that way, they'll no longer go MIA but KIA

• 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.

Burst mode: you select 3 target points, and the soldier will shoot a 5 shots burst (on each and between points). Recharge time: 2 turns.

Full auto: you select 2 points, the soldier will spray the area inbetween with 8 shots. Recharge time: 3 turns.

• 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.
• 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):

Back BackSpace Back Space Tab Clear Return Enter Shift Control Menu

Pause Escape Space Prior PageUp Next PageDown End Home Left

Up Right Down Print Insert Delete Num0 Numpad0 Num1 Numpad1

Num2 Numpad2 Num3 Numpad3 Num4 Numpad4 Num5 Numpad5 Num6 Numpad6

Num7 Numpad7 Num8 Numpad8 Num9 Numpad9 Multiply Add Separator Subtract

Decimal Divide F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8

F9 F10 F11 F12 MouseMiddle MouseWheelUp MouseWheelDown MouseWheelLeft MouseWheelRight

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 multilanguage support. To change one, modify the text after the equal sign. Others may require that you copy the 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

---

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-through 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
• 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