crispy

I first saw X-Com in 1995. I was unemployed and living with my brother, dead broke and down on my luck ... and my brother had x-com on his computer. I played the HECK out of that game. Later, when I moved to Japan, I started to miss it, and told him about it: and my brother bought me a copy of the collector's edition. Awesome brother, eh?

Update: Okay, just as background here, years ago, my brother bought me the X-Com Collector's Edition as a present. What a brother! When I switched to Mac this summer, I could no longer use CE without putting Windows on my Mac. I decided instead to use the dos version of X-Com on dosbox for Mac. Problem: The version I've been trying to play on dosbox started as a zip file. Apparently, because some of the files are old formats that Mac OS X is not familiar with, when OS X unzipped the file, some of the execs got messed up: do4gw, intro, run, tactical and geoscape In other words, all the stuff I needed to run the game. After much help from some very, extremely patient experts, I finally solved the problem, and the solution was 100 times easier than half the stuff we tried before we found the solution. Solution: If Mac does not like your dos version of X-Com: unzip the zip file on a PC, then transfer it to your mac. Should work fine. I only checked it for a second, but I think there's no sound. No problem for me though. I'll just put on some tunes! Update: wrong. sound's okay!

Hey, thanks for the help. I tried all that and it either A) gives me the black screen, or B) hangs up. I tried different variations, but not luck. I'll take a break for now and try again another time. Thanks for your help, though. I appreciate your time. I guess x-com just doesn't like my mac.

Thanks, bomb bloke. Did what you recommended. I'm getting only a black screen. Note, other dos games have worked for me, so I know dosbox is basically okay. At the top of Dosbox, it says: (When I type UFO at the c prompt, I get) DOSBox 0.72, Cpu Cycles: 3000, Frameskip 0, Program: DOSBOX (when I type UFOCD at the c prompt, I get) DOSBox 0.72, Cpu Cycles: 3000, Frameskip 0, Program: Intro. This lasts for about one minute, then the program changes to DOSBox. I pushed up the cycles and frameskip, but no change. However, after two minutes of waiting the program still says Intro for UFOCD, but I don't know if it means anything. I pushed cycles up to 6500 and frameskip to 5, but don't know if it really had any effect. Could be the program is faulty, or it might simply not like my mac.

Hi all, I've used x-com CE for a long time on a windows machine ... but I recently switched to a Mac. I'm now trying to get the dos version working, but I can't seem to get the dos X-com going under dosbox. could anybody give me a step by step run through for getting x-com working in dosbox? Dosbox starts with a Z prompt. I do mount c /xcom (to mount the xcom file as 'c'). I go to c do DIR there are several files to choose from: cdsetup.bat full.bat go.com install.bat intr.o noway.com setup.exe small.bat sound.cfg ufoc.d ufocd.bat welcom.com I've tried the ones marked in red but so far nothing is working. Any help would be appreciated.

I really know next to nothing about modding, but having seen what others have done (with map mods, uniform mods, weapon mods etc.) and I'm curious to know if it's possible to create an extensively modified version of x-com, but still retain the original, perhaps by renaming the .exe for the mod. Yes, I want to have my cake and eat it too. For example, would it be possible to make x-com into a WWII game? (change the aliens into different varieties of german soldiers, remodel alien ships and bases as bunkers or fortresses, remodel the maps into 1940s Europe, change the skyranger into a troop glider, D-Day LST (landing ship) or some such). And would it be possible to somehow change the exe name so that I can keep playing x-com as it is, but play the modded game too. I guess the question comes down to whether or not its possible to use the x-com game engine to create a new game. Can it be done?

When playing the actual missions, did you reduce the speed in the settings? One of the buttons at the bottom of the screen (on the mission screen that appears after your troops have landed) controls settings such as scroll speed, alien speed, firing speed, etc. (it's been a while since I looked at it, so I don't remember exactly what all is there, but I've used it a time or two when, in spite of the fodder patch, my game still ran too slow or too fast.) The fodder patch still works okay for me though. Could be your machine has a more powerful video card than mine, though my card's not bad. When all else fails, you could try turning down the video accelleration, but ... try the game scroll settings on the mission screen first.

I use X-Com Collector's Edition. I have Win XP on a 1ghz pc, and I have fairly powerful video card. I just reinstalled X-Com Collector's Edition on a new Hard Drive, installed the Fodder Patch (go to http://f0dder.has.it and select 'misc.'; Follow the instructions on the 'Read-Me' file, which essentially says to copy the Fodder files into the appropriate x-com folder, then make a short-cut from the new icon to your desktop for convenience). This has fixed not only the video problems, but also the speed. It may still run a tad fast, or sometimes a tad too slow, and may be a little buggy at times, with crashes (caused by corrupted save files?) but is otherwise great, and is easier and more convenient in many ways than other patches I tried. I would highly recommend the fodder patch for playing UFO in XP.

I landed at a crash site, and was equipping my crew when I noticed something odd among the equipment: a dead sectoid navigator. It's obviously a glitch or bug, but it really creeped me out that I had landed and somebody forgot to scrape the dead alien off the floor. I have no idea how it got there. Unfortunately, although I saved, it didn't occur to me to take a screenshot of it, and when I went back, although my crew hadn't left the ship, the alien was gone. Have you ever seen this?

I've beaten UFO a few times, and while it's still challenging, I do okay. However, TFTD seems a lot harder. Can anyone give me some advice on how to keep my guys alive longer? For example, is it better to split up (to cover more ground and protect my guys from berserk rookies shooting up the team) or is it better to stick together (more guns pointed in the same direction?) What's the best way to take out those little flying UFO-looking things? I'm early in the game and have only basic weapons. Which one should I do? (I have only gauss rifles and stun-lances at this point). Currently, I'm on a cruise ship at sea, doing a terror mission on the shipping lanes. My guys are in their craft, waiting to disembark. I've reloaded a couple of times, so I know what's coming. When I open the door, I'm going to immediately have: 1 flying ufo-dealie dead-ahead (let's call it 12:00) A second ufo-dealie at 3:00 and a third behind my at 6:00. There's a yellow horsie-guy at about 1:00 on the second level, in firing position (but he usually waits for me to shoot him). There's a second yellow horsie guy at 1:00 on the first level beyond a door, hiding behind some boxes, and a third just down the hall who's gonna pop out the moment I go through the door. Suggestions?

I found another site that seems to have the f0dder patch. You can try: http://www.xcomufo.com go to downloads click x-com (and/or tftd) and the first download should be the x-com loader bugfix. Install the patch. Then go to program files, microprose. There should be a little sun icon called Xcom1lder (xcom loader). Right click and copy and shortcut to your desktop. When you want to play x-com, click on the sun icon instead of the usual x-com icon and it should be okay. I haven't tried xcomufo.com's bugfix, but I believe it may be the same one. Good luck. Also, I wanted to say thanks to Alan. I wanted to check with him first and make sure I wasn't overstepping my bounds by posting a link to another x-com site. I know some sites offer illegal downloads, but since this one doesn't I thought it would be okay. Still, I wanted to check with Alan first to be sure it would be okay. Thanks again. Crispy.

On the reverse side, I had a base attack the other day, and I was sending all troops to close in on the last alien. Stupidly, I bunched up. Luckily, he didn't have a grenade or blasterbomb. He fired his weapon down a corridor, and the shot flew past 15 guys, without hitting any of them! It struck a far wall way behind them. Now I don't feel so bad about that sectoid that sat in a corner and got missed about fifteen times by stupid troopers standing three meters away.

Yes, with the unnecessary bases gone, my finances are clear, but Japan has signed a pact with the aliens. Got to clear that up soon. As for RM2k, I live in Japan, so I have legal copies (although they're in Japanese) of both 2k and 2k3, including the extra handbooks. (This is off-topic, but for those who are wondering, we're talking about game-making program)

Got a one-woman army story. Lost an entire 13 person platoon, mostly to stupidity, bad timing, and Mind Control. I was down to my last person. She had been mind-controlled earlier in the game, and so I had disarmed her. She was armed only with a stun-rod, and I was using her to clear corridors and draw fire so my troops could pin-point and draw out the enemy. However, the entire team bought it except her. In the end, she was left in a room with four aliens. By going into the alien chamber, stunning an alien, and then walking out, she managed to stay alive. For some reason, they didn't shoot her (well, they shot her once, but only once), and they wouldn't follow her through the door. So by hopping back and forth, she got all four aliens with her stunrod.

Okay, I'm having a little trouble with my finances. I had 3 bases. Alpha was a complete base with 20 troopers, 35 scientists, and 10 engineers. It had 2 stores, 2 living areas, and other basics. Beta and Delta each had 20 troopers, 1 interceptor, 1 skyranger, and stores. They were just a skeletal bases designed only to shoot down UFOs. Now after a few months, even with every country giving me funding, I was only pulling down about 500,000 a month. I sold off a lot of alien stuff (mostly bodies) but it didn't give me very much. Granted, I was keeping a lot of the weapons, Elerium 115 and Alien Alloys to use in the future for battlesuits (that I'd never be able to afford to build anyway). Does anyone have any hints on base management? I mean, there are slots for like 8 or 9 bases, but I can't afford even half that after 6 months. What was my accountant doing wrong?

I'm just curious about re-loading habits. For example, I promised myself that THIS time, I wouldn't reload. But then, only into the second month of the game, my guys were facing multiple medium size ships, and I was getting brain-boogied, and my bases were getting attacked, and I had two terror missions: this on the easiest setting. So I'm starting over, again. Playing a clean game is hard to do. Do you reload?

I'm just curious (if you've ever bothered to count) how many aliens were killed in one mission, by just one guy. I was doing a base attack early in the game. My troopers were unarmored, but had heavy-plasma. I lost seven guys and a tank (a few of them bunched up in a corridor and got blaster-bombed), while taking out only 6 aliens. The final guy was wounded at least once, but barricaded himself in a blasted out corridor, (just outside the control center, the right corner of the outside corridor had been blasted open by aliens) and the trooper was perfectly positioned to avoid fire. He camped out, didn't move, just sat and waited, and eventually had a nice little pile of bad guys around him. More luck than skill, really. Has anybody ever counted casualties from a single trooper?

WOW. That is nice. Thanks.

http://www.chipsbits.com/cgi-bin/order.cbi...s/XCOMC.IR.html if you hurry, you can still buy it. Btw, if it's still for sale, is it abandonware? Also: http://dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Abandon...onware/faq.html http://www.mobygames.com/featured_article/feature=7/ http://internettrash.com/users/corn_am_i/ http://www.ensignsupport.com/jason/webring/faq.htm http://brasslantern.org/community/companies/warez.html And these are just the first five sites on my search. As you can see, even people who distribute abandonware will tell you that it's illegal. Also: http://www.x-com.co.uk Read the part about x-com rights. As you can see, somebody still owns the rights, and wants to maintain them. Therefore, it's not abandonware, anyway. Get out and buy a legal copy already.

I tell you what, why not buy a real version of the game. Collector's Edition is pretty cheap (my brother bought it for me for nine bucks, u.s.). btw, this is just some friendly advice, but you might want to avoid mentioning warez and dl's here as that can cause ... a negative reaction.

I have no problem at all with using X-Com issue goods. Although most covert ops groups will use very common and popular weapons to lend anonymity, I have heard of groups using custom-made equipment for anonymity (okay, actually, I think I saw it in a movie once. The good guys had trouble identifying the bad guys because they used custom-made weapons, and had custom-made uniforms, boots, equipment, etc.)

Well, as I think a couple of people have already mentioned, since there aren't snipers in the X-COM game, I don't think there will be snipers in the X-COM fic. This is not to say you CAN'T have a dragunov, and it doesn't mean that you CAN'T snipe ... but remember, snipers don't really fit in with what we're doing. You're not going to investigate very effectively from 500 meters away, even with a lens! C'mon, guys! Give up on the snipers and get dirty with the rest of us! btw, Dragunov's are semi-auto. Read on: http://www.sovietarmy.com/small_arms/svd.html

I'm using just the Fodder patch. I have a 1ghz machine (Win xp). Before the fodder patch, the game (especially scrolling) was much too fast. Now, if anything, it's a little slow (which is okay, because it reminds me of the original game). So, having a 700mhz machine shouldn't be a problem. It's interesting how these utilities work differently on different machines.

buildings: I say we leave the buildings, but they could be disguised as anything: a research center, SETI monitoring station, a farm, a factory, etc. uniforms: If we aren't going to use the khakis, I think we should have different uniforms for different occasions: urban, arctic, jungle, woodland, etc. weapons: I would vote for Glock pistols (popularity lends anonymity). For assault rifles I would go with maybe an HK G3A3, which is a 7.62mm. Although a 5.56mm is lighter, typically more accurate and often has greater range, I personally prefer the 7.62mm for its stopping power. http://remtek.com/arms/hk/mil/g36/g36.htm http://remtek.com/arms/hk/mil/g3/g3.htm Although, hehe, that G3 DOES look cool, doesn't it? Base architecture I would keep close to the X-Com base architecture, but add things where necessary. For example, I would have a central lift, surrounded by living areas, labs, and engineering facilities. The living areas would have bunk rooms (and yes, bathrooms), a gym, training facility, medlab, target range, administrative offices, rec room, mess hall (and kitchen), communications room, control room (for radar operators, operations personnel, the commander, etc.). I think the CO and XO should have their own personal rooms with offices attached, and perhaps a private room for the chief medical officer. I like the idea of everybody starting out as grunts. What would you think of having the CO, XO, Chief Medical Officer, and other top people be sort of NPCs (Non-player characters) that wouldn't belong to any specific person, but could be written into the dialogue as necessary? On the plus side, it puts all of us on the same level, and gives us equal access to interaction with the boss. On the negative side, it could be mishandled. It's an idea worth considering at any rate. I think we could write up information about them, give them names, etc. Regarding number of personnel: I would say start small and replace as necessary. So, I would start with characters for each person writing the fic, plus a few NPCs to feed to the hungry meatgrinder. That also gives us the chance to bring in a totally new character when our current character starts to get boring. timeline: I think if we're careful, it shouldn't be difficult to follow a typical X-Com game timeline. Like Veteran said, we'll start by researching laser weapons and chasing small craft, and work our way up slowly. We should try to keep it reasonable though, avoiding things like Very Large alien ships in January, or researching hyperwave decoders in February, etc. conspiracies: I like conspiracies, but I definitely think it should be limited. First, I don't think even the first elements of conspiracy should appear until we're a few months in. At first, no one will no who we are or what we're up to, so they have no reason to conspire. Second, when they DO learn of our existence, they'll stay away to see if we fail on our own. Remember, once they intervene, we become aware of a plot. They won't reveal themselves or show their hand until they have to. Third, once the plots begin, they'll start far away and gradually get more personal. So, for example, the first hints of conspiracy would probably be delays: delays in shipments of equipment, ammo, and supplies; delays in funding; delays in relaying necessary information; delays in receiving new personnel. From there, it might move to inquiries by our sponsors. Our sponsors might start sending people to 'look into' our operations, assess our effectiveness, and otherwise determine if the project is worthwhile or if it should be scrapped completely. Remember, an inquiry like that can be very damaging to morale, especially if you lose people on a mission and the inquiry team rubs your nose in it. From there, official inquiry teams might try to cast doubt on individual soldiers, weeding out this one or that, finding reasons why a particular soldier shouldn't be there (thus further demoralizing the rest). Only after hitting us from far away will the conspirators reveal themselves, moving forward to subvert us directly. If handled delicately, I think ONE basic conspiracy would add flavor to the plot. Anyway, this is just an idea, so feel free to debate it or dismiss it. Everyone has given a lot of good ideas, and I can really see this will be much more enjoyable than the last one. I'm really looking forward to it!

Regarding weapons: pistols and rifles leave a lot of open territory. I think the idea of using Eastern European weapons is a good idea. Also, black jumpsuits? Awwww, I LIKE the X-Com khakis! As for tags: don't want 'em, don't need 'em. "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges" (Treasure of the Sierra Madre). That's the X-Com motto, right?