Azure

Zombie, in post #2 of this thread, you linked to the TFTD stats page from the old site, and that works great...but on that page (from the old site), there is a link to a spreadsheet that has the stats for each difficulty, which would be wonderful, except that it links to info for EU, not TFTD. I also found the EU spreadsheet in the download section under "guides and FAQs" for EU...but there is no such section for TFTD, nor does the file appear to exist anywhere on the TFTD download pages. Any chance that you could upload the TFTD stats speadsheet somewhere (assuming here you still have it...if not, just let me know and I'll copy/paste from the old stats page) Thanks in advance, Azure

Well, I found it Thanks a heap, Bomb Bloke, I will install it and give it a try tonite... Incidentally, it was actually my son that asked me to request the mod, as he is playing TFTD currently...he saw me using the mod for XCOM and was dismayed to find it wouldn't work for TFTD. So there are at least two guys who will enjoy your efforts Thanks again Azure

I have used (and enjoyed a LOT) Bomb Bloke's uniform mod for Xcom1...but there is apparently no equivalent for TFTD. This seems strange, as the garish yellow color for the Ion armors is absolutely hideous, IMO... Any chance that someone (like say...Bomb Bloke ) could be convinced to do this? My eyes would be ever so happy not to be assaulted while playing It need not be as varied as the uniform mod for xcom - a simple shift to the colors used for aqua plastic armor would suffice (although other colors might be cool too...). Crossing my fingers, Azure

Actually, the manual is very specific about this-> at the end of the description of each rank, it reads: "if a position is vacant, the best available [insert next lower rank] is promoted." [pp. 54-55] In Gimli's example, the Ensign with 20 missions and 30 kills will be promoted (assuming no other Ensigns have more experience), then the Able Seaman with 20 missions and 40 kills will be promoted (assuming no other Able Seamen with more experience). Note that the Able Seaman has a better chance of being promoted because if your staffing levels just crossed a new threshold making a new rank available, you also probably increased the number of lower rank slots available (2.2 Ensigns per Lieutenant, 4.6 Ensigns per Commander) and the promotion of existing officers leaves an extra slot open at their previous rank. I don't believe I've ever seen an aquanaut 'skip' ranks unless there were NO surviving officers of the intermediate rank...but it is possible to 'jump' in stages. For example, if Gimli has been keeping 8 Aquanauts (1 Ensign, 7 Able Seaman/Seaman) and he hires 2 more, then if they survive their next mission, one of the Able Seaman will be promoted to Ensign (2 Ensigns, 8 Able Seaman/Seaman)...if he then hires more Aquanauts, then the freshly promoted Ensign may be promoted 'ahead' of the first Ensign IF his experience count is higher. Azure

What the heck was the 'Groundhog Day' bug?? Azure

The version you downloaded, which you describe as "already installed" might have already had the soundcard settings set (improperly, in your case, causing the game to hang on soundcard detection)...did you run the setup.exe program to update the settings? DOSBox defaults to: soundblaster16, address 220, IRQ 7, DMA 1,5 (you can change all this in your DOSBox.cfg file) Failing that, if the CD you have is the DOS version, you should be able to run it. Just include a 'mount' statement in your DOSBox.cfg file under [autoexec] for the cdrom. First, try this: mount [drive letter you want to give CD] [actual drive letter of CD]:\ -t cdrom If that doesn't work (say, because you have more than 1 cdrom) then you will have start DOSBox, type "mount -cd" at the command prompt, find the # next to the cdrom you wanna use, then put this in the [autoexec] section of DOSBox.cfg: mount [drive letter you want to give CD] [actual drive letter of CD]:\ -t cdrom -usecd [# you determined earlier with "mount -cd"] -ioctl That should give you cdrom support for playing the game. A better solution would be to copy the game files to the hard drive from the cd...see if there is a /harddisk directory on the cd...if so, copy it to the harddrive and play from there. If not, there are usually instructions on how to install the game on the harddrive somewhere on the cd...look for a .txt file on the cd that has instructions. Azure

Umm....Where they at? Azure

I'd say that the game (and thus the percieved 'story') was most definitely limited in scope by the technology available at the time....'terror' missions involving a few dozen aliens are the very most that can be supported under the very restrictive limits of the hardware and DOS itself. Heck, terror sites happen at major cities, yet you'll never have more than a handful of civies to save. Of course, given that it often takes hours to respond to a terror attack, you could postulate that they're all thats left, but that is certainly not the impression that the game gives you. I've always assumed that what happens in the game is 'scaled down' so to speak...that it is a small scaled representation of what 'really' happened. I mean, c'mon...the best response of a global paramilitary organization is fourteen guys with a gun, a clip, and a couple of 'nades each?? You gonna try and tell me that the UN's best funding effort in the face of this threat is $6mil/month?? I really think the numbers need to be scaled up quite a bit to represent what "really" happened... @uriaheep: I would DEFINITLY classify the Chryssalid as a 'biological weapon'...given the described cycle of infestation, I shudder to think what a terrorship full of them could "really" do if unleashed on a major city... Azure

The "if errorlevel X" commands in XcuSetup are to control the flow of the process or to evaluate your input responses to the questions it asks. However, the specific message you are getting indicates that XcomUtil either cannot find or cannot write to \ufoexe\geoscape.exe. Check to ensure that the file exists and that it is not set as read-only (if you copied Xcom from a CD, the files will default to read-only.) I don't really use OSX much, and have never tried DOSBox on OSX...the problem could be in your setup there...check out the DOSBox website/forums to see if you can find an answer there. Azure

Well, fixing the difficulty bug is the primary reason many people use XcomUtil (its the primary reason that XcomUtil was created in the first place...the other stuff was added later). The problem for many folks is that XcomUtil makes other changes to the game, some of which it does NOT ask you about. Specifically, it changes: 1> Your Crafts so that the Interceptor and Firestorm can carry troops and equipment (this is the part most people don't like...If you haven't tried it, give it a whirl and see what you think...I find I rather like the new tactical challenges), and also changes the crew capacity and positioning of the crew in other crafts (This is rather clever, actually...the default setup has all your soldiers facing out the ramp, XcomUtil changes this so they are facing in all directions, looking out the windows (yes! the Skyranger has windows in the sides and front, most people just don't realize it because their troops alway face out the back...), which gives you a MUCH better view of the landing zone BEFORE you start moving out), 2> it changes the stats for the craft laser cannon (longer range, less damage), and 3> it changes some of the maps to enable the ship changes and to eliminate the base disjoint bug (this removes the walls at the end of hallways in your base, leaving bare dirt showing...its ugly, but it allows you to 'tunnel' between disjointed base modules even if you don't have/don't wanna use Blaster Bombs to do it). If all you want is to remove the difficulty bug, just make a backup of your /MAPS folder, then edit the XcuSetup.bat file BEFORE running XcuSetup (the setup program for XcomUtil) and find the line "xcomutil ufoexe shp:cfg map:cfg wrt XcuSetup" then change it so it reads "xcomutil ufoexe wrt XcuSetup". Run XcuSetup and answer [N]o to all the questions it asks. Then copy your backup of /MAPS over the current /MAPS folder, and you should be done...Just remember to start the game with the "RunXcom" command so that XcomUtil can keep your difficulty settings right. There is a thread about this over on xcomufo.com that goes into more detail...check it out. Azure

Definitly uninstall/reinstall DOSbox...remember, DOSbox emulates a computer, but that virtual computer has to use the hardware you actually have. By changing the mobo, you very likely completely changed the hardware resources that DOSbox EXPECTS to be available, so its no wonder it don't work... You might wanna save a copy of your DOSbox.conf file (especially if you will be reinstalling the same version of DOSbox) so you can see what settings worked for you before... BB, as for why use DOSbox, well, because it can run xcom at speeds that are reasonably close to correct...I hate when the game runs at warp speed... Azure

For the beep problem, in the DOS version, the + and - keys should turn up/down the volume. For the speed problem, you can try using one of the cpu cycle wasters like moslo, etc. But in my experience, those don't do enuff...you could try setting the priority of the process to low (start xcom, alt-tab back to windows, hit Ctrl-Alt-Del, click on the process tab, find ntvdm (NT Virtual Dos Machine) & right click, Set Priority>Low) But seriously, DOSbox ain't hard...just download and install 0.65, after it installs, click on start>programs>DOSbox>DOSbox.conf (should have a notepad icon and open in notepad). If your machine is decently fast, set frameskip (under [render]) to 0, cycles (under [CPU]) to about 12500, and then add the following lines under [autoexec]: "mount c X:\xxx\xxx\xcom" (replace X with the drive letter where you installed xcom and \xxx\xxx\xcom with the path to xcom) so, for example, if you installed xcom in c:\games\xcom, then put "mount c C:\games\xcom" "c:" (this will switch you to the virtual drive you just mounted) If you're only gonna use DOSbox for xcom, you can even make it go ahead and start the game by adding a final line that is just the command you use to play, for example "ufo" (or whatever file you run to start the game...if you use xcomutil, this will probably be "runxcom" You can toggle fullscreen with Alt-Enter, and you adjust the speed with Ctrl-F12(up) or Ctrl-F11 (down)...if its too slow, you can try increasing frameskip (Ctrl-F8, Ctrl-F7 decreases again). When you get the speed right, note the cycles and frameskip settings in the title bar and try plugging those values into the DOSbox.conf file. Do note that if you use DOSbox, you will probably need to run setup (in the xcom folder) to ensure that DOSbox and Xcom are using the same sound settings (DOSbox defaults to soundblaster16, address 220, irq 7, dma 1, so try those when you run setup) If the sound is a bit jerky, try increasing the prebuffer to 100 or so in DOSbox.conf under [mixer]. Azure

Re: DUP Torpedoes Actually, Depleted Uranium is just that, depleted...radioactively speaking. It's not THAT much more radioactive than your average chunk of granite...its just very, very dense, so it penetrates much better than most projectiles. The environmental concerns have yet to be proven...and most of them center around the possibility of someone on the battlefield inhaling the dust that results when a depleted uranium round is fired from a hypervelocity tank gun or aircraft cannon and slams into a depleted uranium armor plate. Note that depleted uranium is not used in artillery shells because 1) artillery is indirect fire and doesn't depend on the kinetic energy of the projectile, and 2) depleted uranium would dampen the explosive effect because it is so dense. Also note that depleted uranium is useless for creating a nuclear explosion...you need ENRICHED uranium for that! Nah, if you wanna worry about radioactives, better look to the gauss weapons...I remember reading somewhere that they use plutonium to create the anti-proton stream (MUCH more dangerous stuff)