Bomb Bloke

I'm not seeing any screenshot in your post there, but remember that the bb_tact folder is expected to be in your main game folder (which is usually called XCOMA), and it's expecting xcom.blk to be in the main game folder's tacdata folder. Putting xcom.blk into the bb_tact folder won't work, for example.

I've saved a small edit to the page, which'll hopefully boot out whatever rubbish bit of data was sitting in whatever cache server was producing the error. Any difference for you guys?

It was last I tested it, although that was a while ago and subsequent Extender upates may've broken things... That's pretty unlikely, though. If you're enabling my ComboMod (unrelated to craft replacement, but hey) you'll actually require the Extender. In this case my code'll change your Extender config so that certain options are enabled (eg, the ability to use underwater weapons while on land). That thread also has a link to my patch for using the Extender with XcomUtil, though it's possible Blade's added that support in himself by now.

This probably isn't the answer you're looking for, but what the heck, it's an answer. In my toolkit is a thing called BBMod. Among other things, this is able to load custom craft into your game - NKF's Mudranger is an example. Long story short, you make two RMP files (I trust you're familiar with Daishiva's MapView application?) - one which gets used in-game for units to navigate around (as normal), and another one called RM2 which gets used to actually spawn your units into the craft (more along the lines of the node files the game uses to spawn aliens within USOs). The idea is that BBMod runs inbetween the Geoscape and Tactical game engines (in much the same manner as XcomUtil does), and repositions everyone according to that second route nodes file before combat starts. If you extract my toolkit (directly into your game folder if you actually want to use it), you'll see a file "_BB's Tool Manuals.htm". Open that and hit BB-Mod from the side bar, and scroll down to the Craft Replacer section. This'll cover everything you need to know. XcomUtil has its own solution for craft replacing, but I wasn't a fan of it; you need to define a whole set of spawn points for when one tank is present, then a whole other set of spawn points for when you've got two tanks, and so on... I'm sure it's documented somewhere in the installation archive.

Merry Christmas from the future, dudes!

There are two main types of walls - north and west, so named because they sit on the northern and western edges of the map co-ordinates they inhabit. Their placement in the actual map data indicates to the game that this is how they should be treated (see here). But what about tiles which aren't suitable for those positions, but you want to use them as "walls" (that is to say, "movement-blockers") anyway? For example, those large dirt blocks used in base maps, or tiles that look like regular north or west walls but sit on the south or east of their tile positions. Those are what the "bigwall" flag is for. Or so it's suspected. The flag doesn't actually appear to do anything important, and for all I know the name is something Daishiva just thought up while making MapView. But it seems to fit, given that those are the types of tiles it's assigned to in the vanilla MCD datasets. It may be that it was originally important, later became redundant as the MCD format had new parameters added to it, and then no one bothered to remove it. There are quite a few data flags that're in the game that don't do anything (the different TU costs for different movement types, for eg). The LOF templates assigned to a given tile determine both how LOS affects it, and how LOF affects it. If you can see through something, then it's generally possible to fire through it, and vice versa. The catch is that units "fire" from a point that's a few points lower than where they "see" from - thus, being able to spot something while standing in a certain location, doesn't always mean you can shoot it from that location (... and again, vice versa). Personally I suspect that the holes in the SkyRanger's window are quite intentional - the developers probably wanted you to be able to look through, and figured that no one would notice you could fire through as well.

There was indeed a reason for that, though it's an obscure one! Never thought anyone would notice, let alone ask. The "LOF Terrain" sprite generator in my toolkit (which is dead handy for hunting down LOFTemps errors) produces four different images for those four different MCD entries (because their LOFTemps values are completely different, unlike other tiles which share images (eg ramps), which typically only differ by their y-offset). Thus four different PCK records are required in order for that tool to work "correctly" with them. Zombie implemented the bigwall thing. Apparently that's what all the other craft use? Can't remember, and I never checked to see if it was needed. Certainly, I'm having trouble remembering what problem it'd be to use them there. I'd be surprised if the patch currently deals with even half of the issues in the maps. Not that surprised, but still... what it boils down to is that we were still aware of tons of problems, but ran out of interest. I've always intended to do more work on this someday, though if you or anyone else wants to submit tweaked files for the patch pack, please go right ahead. It'd be appreciated! One thing that may be worth keeping in mind is OpenXcom. I've not been keeping track of its evolution, but it wouldn't surprise me they eventually decided to fix some of the map design issues by tweaking the behaviour of the game engine that processes them. Such tweaks might lead to fixes that work in the original, producing entirely different results under OXC... Though I've no idea if that matters to you.

Ooh, never noticed that flag. I'll see if I can added in sometime over the next few days. Thanks!

Ah, righto. It can't find xcom.blk. This is a file that contains a whole heap of data needed to decode some of the sprites. Sorry, I hadn't thought too hard about that. It looks like you're going to have to pull it out of the cd.iso file in the "Xcom Apocalypse" folder (like I guess you did to get the PCK files). Open that in WinRar or something, and you'll find the needed file in tacdata. Drag it from there to the tacdata folder in the xcoma folder, and stick bb_tact into the xcoma folder as well. I reckon it'll be ok after that. You may as well pull out everything from the ISO's xcom3 folder to the xcoma folder. Will save a bit of time in the long run, I'd say.

And the new year's ticked over in Tasmania. Summer's too short. In theory there should be at least a month or two left, but I'm sure I feel a chill... Maybe I'm actually getting old...

Could mean quite a few things; the rest of the error is required to figure out exactly what the problem is. A full screenshot of the command prompt window you're using (including the command you typed to run the extractor) would be most helpful.

pmprog messaged me a while back re Apoc's image files. I pointed him towards what I'd documented on the UFO wiki, and he later updated the page in concern. At this stage I'm assuming he knows all I do and more.

If you right-click the game in your library it'll show you the option to boot the Windows release. Though that was somewhat botched - you'll then be prompted to manually select the actual CE game EXE. Probably easier to ignore the Steam launcher.

There's also the possibility of people confusing "pact signing" with "infiltration".

And many more to come! Ah, they grow up so fast...

"Binaries", in this instance, are referring to "executable files". An executable is a bunch of data piled into a file which represents code a given computer's operating system should be able to run. Because there are multiple operating systems out there, many programs have different releases - the main difference between them is that they come with different executables, each intended for whatever OS the program is to be used with. Note that I'm not just talking about the difference between Windows, Mac, Linux, etc operating systems. Even within the Windows environment not all releases are the same - Windows 3.11 was merely a shell for DOS, which ran 16bit executables (or 32bit ones, if you installed certain extensions). Windows 95 and up ran 32bit executables (with the option of 16bit ones, via a virtual machine). These days, 64bit operating systems have all but taken over - these have dropped support for 16bit executables entirely (making the likes of DOSBox a requirement for running code that old), and instead work with 32 and 64 bit executables. On top of all that, you've got game distribution agencies like Steam. Many games they distribute have their executables further altered in order to incorporate DRM. The earlier X-COM games do not fall into this set (because they need DOSBox to work, and DOSBox can't be distributed with DRM), but most anything 32bit and up should be considered patched in this manner (though the choice is up to the publisher submitting the work to Steam - Valve doesn't force it on them). Now aren't you glad you asked?

Regarding the Gallop/Microprose thing, Zombie's take on the story matches my memory. Kinda worth noting that Apocalypse was certainly rushed out the door unfinished - though it still managed to be a far more in-depth game in every regard. Drewid's posts are tangentially related. I suspect if UFO had received more polish it wouldn't've been quite the hit it was. Half the fun of the game is that you start out massively disadvantaged, and then the tables turn completely and you get to have your well-earned revenge. Too many games keep you from the "well-earned revenge" bit, or downplay it to the last five minutes. "Challenge" and "balance" should take a back seat to "fun". Given that a base defense mission consists of an alien commander wandering into your full force in a pre-explored map (granted, he brings company, but it's still an ideal chance to capture one), I practically encourage them to come in. If memory serves, this is one of the things UFO/TFTD Extender can tweak (so that blowing up invading UFOs doesn't lead to a constant succession of more coming at you). ... I'll have to go and correct that. Granted, the odds of anything penetrating that sort of wall are pretty slim, but ultimately there's a dice roll governing whether each shot hits or not. I avoided Steam as best I could until Firaxis released their take on X-COM. Then within like a week of me setting it up and well... In some cases, Steam does not apply DRM to games. For example, anything that requires DOSBox typically doesn't have it (because of the DOSBox license requirements).

There's the Disruptor Pulse Launcher, which is pretty much a blaster launcher. But I'm thinking maybe you got shot with a Thermal Shok Launcher, which is basically the stun bomb launcher: the shading you saw on your health bar was the amount of stun damage you took. If the interior of the craft didn't get vaporised, it was probably the stun gun. I feel it's generally a better idea to get new craft weapons before new craft. You can order your ships to fire from their maximum range, and since that happens to be further than the alien's, that means you don't need to worry so much about retaliatory fire.

Back in the day, it was common practise to release expansion packs which basically consisted of repackaging the same game but tweaking it ever so slightly and making it much, much harder. The only thing that differentiates TFTD between a sequel and an expansion pack is the new art. Aliens, especially Lobstermen, do indeed commonly run out of stamina in TFTD. Not sure why.

You've linked a particular photo, Thor - any reason for that? My character's face looks like a brick. And I don't just mean that relative to these images.

Although I've never seen it happen in UFO:EU, it's fairly common in TFTD. I can't say I've ever heard of your second thing before, though.

"Mod", huh? OpenXcom might be a bit broader than you think... Anyway, I wasn't previously aware of any differences in music between versions, other than the CE edition's jump to MIDI. According to the wiki the layout of the music files did change at some point prior to that, so it sounds like you can't just dump the 1.0 adlib file into 1.4 - I mean, sure, it's still worth a try, worst that can happen is you need to restore a previous backup of the folder, but I wouldn't expect it to work. Personally, out of the original game versions available I recommend playing CE.

One thing that caught my attention, if you've any interest in testing it, is that the files tracking retaliation missions handle only eleven of the fourteen zones available in the world. The North Atlantic, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean (pictured) should each be free from base attacks against XCOM, best I can make out - it shouldn't be hard to plonk a base up top of the North Atlantic, but due to the lack of UFO activity there the little spec of land at the bottom of the South Atlantic would be a better bet.

Meh, the axe quest's a bad example. The axe was the booby-prize - the real reward was only handed out if you got them to kiss and make up. The haunted house quest didn't give you any warning what you were in for until you were trapped and killing people.