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RBMOD 6.7 released!


Aralez

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Thx to the hard working and calculating Kret and Fulbys permission i can proudly present you a new RBMOD.

 

Here is the updated part of the readme:

 

-Changed the damage, capacity and ammo for the PlasmaShotgun and the advanced Plasmashotgun to make them more powerful (thx Kret for the calculations and tips)

-Changed GammaFlakGun in a similar manner

-Added the WarpTargetDesignator and the TNT from Fulby ! (Big thx for that Fulby!)

 

As small as this looks there was a lot of testing, calculation (Kret) and errors (me!) necessary to make the plasmashotguns work properly. :)

 

See thread here for more info: Thread

 

AND the brilliant work of the also brilliant Fulby has to be mentioned. As i had his permission to tweak and include his two weapons, i could take a closer look at those files and i have to tell you: I'm deeply impressed. The impacteffect of the WTD or the beeping of the TNT or the "video" replacement for the TNT, always excellent and clever ideas, wow!

 

As always: The downloadlink is the usual one.

 

Have fun!

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Way to go Aralez!

 

Yay, now I've got another download to add to my GetRight list. :) Celebration and party time.

 

I have always wished that the TNT and the Warp Thingie from ALPine were in the RBMod! How do you so effectively read my mind?

 

Thank you Fulby! Thank you Aralez!

 

It looks like I'm going to be re-equipping my soldiers with Plasma Shotguns the next time I go into a UFO.

 

And, I have never tried the Warp Target Designator, so I am excited, because I heard really great things about it. I always wanted to see what all the talk and excitement was about.

 

Much appreciated, one and all!! Thank you!

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Lurker, believe me: You will love the WTD, it's impact-effect made me speechless. And that's something very hard to do :) The TNT is nice, too. Fulby is brilliant in doing those special fx !

 

BlackAlmaz: I really want those retis to attack my base, too, but atm it seems they are somehow afraid of my crew :)

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:):)

 

It looks like the Lurker's luck has finally run out.

 

I put 6.7 of the Rebalance into the subdirectory, and after ALLITEMS, there were suddenly the invisible %d causing items pasted there between the Molotov Cocktail and the WTD and TNT.

 

So, then I go back in time and find a saved game that doesn't produce the invisible items in the OTHER equipment screen when I use ALLITEMS. But then whenever I go to a mission, there are visible frozen friendly transgenants all over the place, and it's supposed to be a downed UFO and a Reticulan mission.

 

I was thinking that maybe I could delegate all the missions away and clear the slate, but I have the Russian base there waiting for me. I never thought about delegating that one, don't think it can be done, but I never checked to see.

 

Anyway, this is the first Rebalance in a very long time that I haven't been able to get to work right with previously saved games of the former rebalances. Usually in the past I have been able to rig up some kind of workaround. But, this time, I think it has got me by the throat, and I won't be able to make it work.

 

Aw shuks, and I finally broke through the thirty-base barrier that I have been stuck on for nearly a month. Just got my 31st base today before downloading and installing 6.7. And, I have kind of gotten attached to my soldiers. I have one soldier that is Super-Heroic or Heroic for almost everything -- Super Heroic speed is fun to watch in the walk mode.

 

It was truly amazing, though, that I was able to get that far changing the rebalance progression each time a new one came out, all in the same 5.6 game profile. I figured that I would have had to start over long ago. I don't know if the old stuff is worth saving or trying to restore. My rule in the past is that if I get frozen aliens, then it's time to start a new game.

 

Of course, if everyone else is getting frozen aliens whenever they ALLITEM's Rebalance 6.7, then that's a potential bug that needs looking into. Aralez should at least be aware of the potential. I'd also be curious to know if any of the saved games that I sent Aralez produce the same frozen alien results on his system with Rebalance 6.7. Can't remember what I sent, but I think that those saved games were already messed up to begin with, so using them might not be a good idea.

 

Meanwhile, when I get some time, it looks like I'm going to have to create a new game profile and try those savegames that Aralez provided to us and see if they will ALLITEM's properly with 6.7 of the Rebalance. If others get those saved games (test and 115) to work right with ALLITEMS and 6.7 of the Rebalance before I do, please post and let me know. I have to go to bed soon.

 

Just thinking that it would be better to start with Aralez's saved games than to go back ten or twenty bases with my Rebalance 5.6 foundation.

 

Nevertheless, I have a bunch of saved games, so I still have plenty of things to try, when I get the time. So, I can indeed try to go back in time five base captures or ten base captures and see if those much older saved games will work. But it will take some time to know for sure.

 

I sometimes wish that we humans didn't have to sleep, eat, and work for a living. :devil:

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@Lurker:

 

When trying out my personal mods I've been getting the same bug you had with visible trangenants in a reticulan mission. This seems to be related to a corrupted vfs file. Try redownloading the zip file since the vfs it contains it's the most likely the one that's causing that particular problem. I had to delete the problematic mod vfs file and repack from scratch.

 

@Aralez: what tool do you use when packing the vfs files?

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@Kret: I use flux's tool from the tool section of the board.

 

@Lurker, that's really odd, i didn't change anything else than the aim/burst modes of the plasmashotguns and added the weapons from Fulby. On my PC the mod works with different savegames w/o problems. I have no idea what causes this glitches on your game.... :) I even use the first-person mod and the Xcomsoundmod along with it and have zero trouble.

 

Does anybody else experience this troubles?

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@Aralez: This "bug" only appears on the NEXT generated mission, since saved tacticals have been generated before any alteration, they are ok.

 

Since I've downloaded the thing, I'll take it for a test run. BBL with results.

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I must admit that I probably have the most convoluted and polluted set of saved games of anyone on the planet. It was comforting to know that nobody else is having problems, because that let's me concentrate on the real problem, my machine and my saved games.

 

Okay, I tried all the different ideas.

 

Per Kret, I deleted the 67_mod.vfs, and extracted a new one and put it in. I then re-did the TEST while in the UFO:AM launcher which has a way of correcting glitches.

 

I then went back and loaded version 6.3 saved games to just after base capture 27, which is just after the Russian base was offered. Then I ALLITEMS, load the troops up with Plasma Shotguns and WTD's and LurkerGunII's and off I go to the Russian base.

 

And guess what, it works!! No Visible Frozen Reticulans. No Frozen Transgenant Aliens.

 

The UFO:AM game doesn't run sluggish anymore either. You know, it all started going bad or sluggish on me when we went Claw and then no Claw on the Reloeth thing. That transition made the game sluggish. But, I went back far enough before the Nuclear RPG that flies through walls, before %d's, and before I started experiencing any Claw glitches, and I'm back in again. Or so it appears.

 

That WTD is awesome. I love it. Thank you Aralez and Fulby. Pick a point and drop that baby in there and the walls of the Russian base come down and the Reticulans scream. I didn't use any Psi Projectors, I just cleared the front area with pure fire power. The most enjoyable Russian Base I have ever done. <big Cheshire grin>

 

So, it looks like I'm back. I'll have to see if I get Frozen Aliens in subsequent missions, cause sometimes they don't show up until later if there is a problem. I'll have to redo base captures 28 through 31 for the hundredth time in the last month, but no problem, as long as the frozen aliens don't return.

 

--

 

EDIT: I hope I didn't post too soon, last night. I had tried loading from at least four different positions in the past savedgames using 6.7, and either got %d's or frozen aliens from those saved games. I was tired, and just figured that Rebalance was wonky. It was helpful today to learn that others were not having problems. It gave me a reason to continue searching backwards until I got something that worked. I'm a bit over-extended with work and spring, so I don't have nearly as much free time to do a proper job like I had a month or two back when there was a meter or two of snow on the ground outside. I hope that you'll forgive me for raising a 'false' alarm.

 

--

 

EDIT of EDIT: Defragmented the hard drive, it went quick with Win XP. Then after helping my wife fix dinner, I came back and finished off the final two Reticulans of the first part of the Russian Base. And then I went to the Next Area and immediately encountered Visible Frozen Transgenants. Tried Shut Down and reload with the same result. Frozen Aliens. It looks like my problem isn't solved after all. I knew this day was coming, I'm just surprised that it took this long. Going back five bases is fine, but I figured that if I'm going back ten bases, I just as well start a new profile and continue forward fresh with Aralez's 115.zip saved game. That's a very respectable setup, Aralez's save. My daughter was extremely impressed with all the aliens Aralez had collected in the soldier pool and she wanted to give a try dressing them. She doesn't like playing the UFO:AM tactical game, but she loves to dress and arm the soldiers. I do realize that trying to get my old and corrupted 5.6 saves to continue working will just end up making me more of a pain the arse than any help it will provide to Aralez and the rest of ya. So, I'm going to ALLITEMS Aralez's 115.zip saved game and continue forward with that. Truthfully, I've kind of gotten tired of doing the exact same five bases over and over again, and Aralez's grand-looking save is much more enticing at this point. The profile I created was HARD America start, but it looks like Aralez started elsewhere. Do I need to have the correct starting point in the new profile that I created? Let me know if that's important. Meanwhile, I'll let you know if frozen aliens show up in the New 6_7 Profile with Aralez's 115.zip save, otherwise, forget I even posted. :)

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Nice to hear you could get the thing to work at least. And don't be afraid to post any troubles you might experience, you were the one who discovered the savegame-problems first and i could change the readme accordingly, remember? Just think how many users would have reported errors if you wouldn't have been there. Thx for your input!

 

And no, you don't need a special starting place for the savegame to work.

 

Yesterday i had two base defence missions and encountered TWO disco-ret's or retloeth as Lurker likes to say. Two guys with a railsniper and a superstriker (regular ammo) simply couldn't stop them, but a molotovcocktail, combined with some toxic grenades and one shot of a BFG9000 finally made them drop. Results: 5 wounded soldiers, 2 have to go to hospital. Tough fight! :)

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Thanks Aralez.

 

And, when you get a chance (maybe around 40 bases or when a WTD shows up naturally) post another of your saved games here for us to see and use.

 

Obviously, I found that savedgame very useful, and my daughter fell instantly in love with your soldier pool.

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Gee! Ok, i will do so. Atm i "hexedited" a cudgel into my crewpool (changed a regular human into it) he's VERY slow, but is very fast with heavy guns and very accurate. I will try to develop Anti-Biomass-repulsors before i post the savegame, there are three or four spots on earth in my savegame where it is growing/starting to grow. And i don't want to upload it without that repulsors, it would be maybe be frustrating then. CU soon.

 

(Btw, i still have no Lurkerguns, WTD and TNT in my savegame as i didn't conquer any new bases, but i'm working on it) :)

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Hmm.

 

It's still all bugged up.

 

I started a new game, with a new profile with 6.7, and went with Aralez's 115.zip saved game, and when I get to the the Next Area, I have Visible Frozen Transgenants in the next area.

 

The Frozen Aliens have invaded my UFO:AM system and seem to be spreading like the BioMass through it all. I get one mission or one half mission for free, and then Frozen Aliens.

 

I'm gonna have to do as Kret suggests and completely re-download 6.7 and see if that makes the problem go away. I hope Kret is right and that it's a corrupted Rebalance VFS download that's givin' me the consistent problem.

 

I too have dialup and a wife and kids, and since everyone is coming home for Easter, it might be awhile before I can re-download and try again. Bad timing! But, there's no good time for a bug, and so I thankfully assume there's no hurry since it sounds as if I'm the only one with the Frozen Aliens.

 

But, if you can Aralez, please upload another working saved game created specifically by Rebalance 6.7 just in case I need to go that route. You could put up a second one much later too when the BioMass is under control, and that would be just fine in my humble opinion. The saved games zipped seem small in comparison to the Rebalance.

 

Kret, can the GAMEDATA.VFS file get corrupted over time? I'm curious to know if I need to consider uninstalling and reinstalling UFO:AM.

 

Weird stuff! I don't envy programmers, the 'real' debugging type of life must be a hard one to live with and endure, because there's so much that can go wrong. I'll report back in if my fresh new 6.7 download doesn't solve the problem. It may take awhile before I know, though.

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Any file can get corrupted by time, but it is somewhat unusual, and with UFO:AM the corruption has to be mild enough for the game NOT to crash at the same time to be sufficient for unusual bugs like this to appear.

 

Here's something you can do to see if any crucial files have been modified lately. Use windows file search and make it search for ALL files in your UFO:AM home folder, then sort by last modified date (prefferebly from newest date to oldest)

 

Anyway, i remember someone else having trouble with a prior RBMOD where he/she got "friendly transgenants". It is a VERY elusive "bug/glitch".

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I once had that bug WITHOUT any mods installed. That was right after the release of the 1.3 patch. I playtested the patch to see what Altar had fixed etc.

 

Then in one mission the bug appeared. Surprised as i was i didn't save and quit the game. Ever since then the bug didn't appear anymore.

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Ok i have 37 bases, anti-biomass-repulsors and a second BFG9000 now. I lost some of my Mutons and other crewmembers, so i have 10 or 11 soldiers now. Still no bugs or glitches. Atm i have the luxury of 8(!) nukers and in base defence missions i usually equip all soldiers with one :) But the reticulans are very tough, too. In one mission i was attacked by a group of TWO discoretis/retloeth ! It seems the AI uses multiple teams in base attack missions, normally i wanted only one of them to appear in a team.

 

That was the mission where i lost most of my mutons. :)

 

Still no Lurkerguns, WTD, TNT, but that is ok, as i only won one or two new bases iirc, maybe i have better luck next time...

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Oh, btw i downloaded the rbmod and compared it with the one on my HD and tested it in several missions, still no bugs. And the hexeditor i used to compare that files says they are identical. So the download seems not to be corrupted....
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Aralez, regarding the appearance of those 2 particular rets, I believe it comes from the difficulty setting. Hard setting add 20% more enemies to any mission (this can be modded if anyone wants to). How it does it I don't know, but there's a chance that the game will "clone" aliens to achieve this, including those aliens.

 

Relevant file:

 

strategic\configs\listofdifficulty.txt

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I tried several values from 0.0 up to 20.0 and the number of enemies didn't change much. With 1.2 there were 21 enemies with 20 there were 22. Then i tried 1.8 and had 14 (!?). When i started on easy with 0.0 i had seven enemies. I think the number in listofdifficulty.txt is MAYBE meant for enemy teams.

 

The number of enemies in a team is most probably determined by the listofenemy.txt !

 

I gonna try and edit that file (gonna raise numbers of enemies to 10 instead of the usual 4 or 5 and see if it works).

 

CU later

 

------------------------------------------

 

Later:

 

There seems to be a maximum of enemies and as it looks it's somewhere between 22 and 30. When there are more, the game crashes. :( So basically the biggest number of enemies you would encounter on a two-part mission lays around 44, this looks pretty much like the numbers from this thread: Thread

 

This means a plugin with a new difficulty level or more enemies seems not to be possible. One could maybe change the other numbers in the listofdifficulty.txt (enemy damge, own damage research time etc.) but not the numbers of enemies. :(

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Thanks for your help everyone.

 

I downloaded another fresh copy of RB 6.7.

 

I started yet another game profile without any mod. Played a game, and then I installed the mod and did ALLITEMS. Decided to try something different instead of starting the new game profile with the Rebalance already installed.

 

After doing ALLITEMS and with one mission under my belt, I loaded up with good stuff, and then went to the only standing mission on the board, and when I got there, Frozen Aliens.

 

It looks like I have really stepped in it now!!

 

I get one mission without Frozen Aliens, and then that's it.

 

Now the crusade really begins. I need to go back to my old saves and Rebalance 6.61 and see if I'm getting Frozen Aliens with that. If I'm getting them everywhere and everywhen, then it looks like I need to uninstall and reinstall UFO:AM.

 

I'll have to do the date sort thing that Kret suggests before I uninstall and reinstall.

 

If my 6.61 plays fine, and 6.7 still creates Frozen Aliens, then there's possibly some hidden incompatibility between 6.7 and the English version of UFO:AM 1.3? What language version are the rest of you playing 6.7 with?

 

I need to download Aralez's recent 6.7 saved game and see if that will get me in without frozen aliens. To test all of this, though, will take some time, because I get the first mission free without frozen aliens. It's the second mission I have to get to in order to get them

 

I do quit without saving when I get the Frozen Aliens. That made them go away and never come back for me also, one time a very long time ago. Maybe what I need to do is delegate away all the missions before installing the Rebalance 6.7, so that new missions can be created under the auspices of the 6.7 Rebalance?

 

Like Kret says, this is a most elusive bug or glitch. But so far, it seems to be on my hard drive to stay.

 

I'll report back in, whether I find a solution or not. Meanwhile, keep the ideas coming. I sincerely thank you. I will read and re-read your input and give different things a try.

 

BTW, how do you do a file compare, if I decide to download yet another copy of Rebalance 6.7? I deleted the original 6.7 download. I have never seen file compare with Windows XP, but I was sure wishing that I had that feature when I downloaded the second copy of 6.7.

 

It looks like I'm going back to school. Maybe I should just uninstall now and reinstall and get it over with, but my UFO:AM CD is getting scratched up, actually it came that way, so maybe the source of the problem is there?

 

Oh well, before reinstalling, I should probably go back to RB 6.61 first and see if it is now producing Frozen Aliens, don't you think? I, too, am at a bit of a loss. It's been a long while since I have had Visible Frozen Friendly Aliens. The last time I had them was when I had ALPine installed. I ended up uninstalling and reinstalling then in order to get rid of ALPine. Maybe I need to download and install ALPine now and see if that will make the Frozen Aliens go away this time around?

 

Hmm.

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I decided to keep a log, like the 'notorious' UFOMAN did over on Altar's site. Hope people here don't mind. I can't remember everything unless I write it down. Kinda long.

 

--

 

First test.

No Frozen aliens. No Mods. Unmodded tactical in the past completed, thus at start of fresh new game profile. Went to another Tactical. No Frozen aliens. Saved. Quit.

Installed 6.7 Rebalance during interim. Loaded saved Tactical.

No Frozen Aliens, same aliens as before I saved and quit. Finish this mission with 6.7 lurking in background.

No ALLITEMS.

Next mission, a mission offered before 6.7 mod install.

Frozen Aliens in that tactical, possibly due to mid-tactical 6.7 introduction.

I thought maybe ALLITEMS was giving me frozen aliens, this time I didn't use ALLITEMS, and still got frozen aliens from 6.7.

 

--

 

Second Test.

Went back to Unmodded Save. 6.7 Installed. Loaded Unmodded save with 6.7 installed.

Delegate away the mission created before 6.7 Install. No missions on Geoscape. Save.

Quit.

Goal, to delegate away all non-6.7 missions and let 6.7 create the missions from here on out.

New 6.7 tactical mission. No Frozen Aliens.

Lost everyone to Poppers.

No ALLITEMS used.

Another mission.

No Visible Frozen Aliens!!

Thinking maybe need to let 6.7 create the missions.

Forced end mission or abort since I had 'continued' to get a couple more aliens.

Four "BOOM"s reported in capture list when I abort.

When I get back to base, there are four items in the OTHER inventory with NO ICON or an invisible icon. I assume they are the captured "BOOM"s or are possibly the results of four unkilled Poppers? I don't know. In the past, I thought that the NO ICON items building up in OTHER inventory become %d's in future captures. But, who knows.

Also ICON SPIT in Heavy Inventory. So, the NO ICON boom is not the Spit.

Second Mission. No frozen aliens!!!!

Lost all my soldiers to poppers again.

Three new soldiers on way back to base.

Quit, load. ***

 

Four soldiers.

Do ALLITEMS - Power Armor, Good Stuff, then off to 6.7 created mission.

Bah!! Frozen aliens everywhere.

 

*** Go back and load no frozen aliens point.

No ALLITEMS this time around. UZI's

Go to same mission.

While loading tactical mission, computer ploinks or beeps and freezes, and when I escape it drops to desktop. Stalkwalk 126 error in popup box. My first Stalkwalk 126 error from UFO:AM ever!

Shut down 'puter.

Reboot.

 

*** Load no frozen point again.

Go to same mission. No stalkwak error second time around, but frozen aliens. That test is done. Everything results in frozen aliens or glitches.

 

Do the invisible icons in the OTHER inventory cause the glitches? Still think that it's popper leftovers.

 

--

 

If you want, I can zip up a batch of NO ICON no-name boom stuff in Geoscape Inventory and send that to you, Aralez. I assume it is purple popper leftovers.

 

--

 

Getting tired of testing. Will take some time to dream up some another test.

 

Probably create a new game with Rebalance 6.7 in there from the start. See how far I get before frozen aliens.

 

Now I think about it, I do have 5.62 of the Rebalance on an older Windows ME machine that all was working, last I checked. Maybe I'll carry 6.7 of the Rebalance down there and try to see if it gives Frozen Aliens on that machine.

 

If it does, then probably an incompatibility between 6.7 and my CD or my English version of UFO:AM.

If no frozen aliens on other WinME machine, then probably need to uninstall and reinstall UFO:AM on my WinXP machine. That sounds like a good test.

 

Need to try Krets sort test.

 

But, tired of testing and tired of game right now. Lightning outside, family playing card game on inside. Time to quit for now.

 

I sure hope people won't get upset at me for posting this stuff. I guess if you do, let me know, and I will quit, or go private to Aralez with the log. I don't need to do this testing and log reporting in public, unless others in public are wanting to see and know about it. Let me know, either way.

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