Cookie

Hmmmmm...... I just looked through my archives, and it seems I don't have that particular page saved. Sorry.

I have the list at home, I'll post it later, unless someone beats me. (If you need any other documents from s2hq, I think I have most of them saved.)

Gringo, that doesn't apply in this case unfortunately. Because of the way these particular mines are placed, you can't get up onto the walkway to defuse them. @justin - I have beat this level seveal times, and like you I simply ignored the "back" way into the main room, because I was unable to ever defuse the 1st mine. However, the last time I went through I was able to defuse the first mine by detonating it, and then defuse the others normally. Here's what I did: I had my engineer crouch underneath the big pipe running across the tunnel, and from there I had him lob a TNT charge onto the 1st mine. I've tried grenades in the past, and they never worked, but the TNT charge worked just fine. Once the 1st mine detonated, there was enough room to get up onto the ledge to defuse the others by hand. Hope that helps.

I recently started playing S2/S3 again, and I saw this thread.cAxisUniformMod.zip

That's just the way that particular model was animated. Yes, it's odd-looking, but it's not technically a bug.

I haven't messed with that setting in S2/S3, but in other games the camera FOV affects the area visible from the camera. Basically the wider the angle, the more area visible, but you'll have a streched, zoomed-out effect. If your FOV is smaller, you'll see less area, and have a compressed, zoomed-in effect. (In most FPS games, this is how they simulate sniper scopes, by changing the camera FOV to a very small number.)

Well, I bought the US Gold Edition (I'm in USA), and applied the UK patches to both S2 & S3 with no problems... Sorry, I'm sure this is no help whatsoever. As for the squad members issue - No that's not a bug, it's the way the game is.

Int affects the XP gained whenever an enemy is killed. I don't know the exact formula, but whenever an enemy is killed, everyone in the team gets XP. The exact amount each character gets is determined by their Int. But as you said, this difference isn't huge, but it is there. Also, Int is the relevant stat for the First Aid, Engineering, and Spot skills. So, the maximum level for those 3 skills is determined your character's Level, Class, and Int. *EDIT* Int might also determine Interrupt. Either that, or Dex does. I'll have to check.

Are you adding a mod to an existing game, or starting a fresh custom game? Once you've started a game, changing the Store settings will only affect what is added in the future, it won't change what's already in there.

This thread isn't here to argue whether PKs suck / don't suck. It's here to present people with options. The fact is, is that there are several people (myself included) who feel that PKs ruin the entire point of playing such a cool strategy / tactics game, since PKs require neither to win. In my own case, I couldn't even bring myself to finish the Berger Factory mission because I hated them so much. And considering the poor distribution this game got, having a Mod available that would give many people like myself the desire to give S2 / S3 a second look was all the motivation I needed to create it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ OK, you asked, so here it is, an S2 version of Cookie's No-PK Mod. This mod is the same as the S3 version in that it removes PKs and replaces them with regular soldiers. (Minus the Body Armor in the S2 version.) It also removes all PK-related items from the Base Inventory. I also attempted to replace all PK-related items found in chests, but I'm having some issue with that. Look for a fix in the future. (This goes for the S3 version as well.) Finally, I removed the BHLG laser gun for obvious reasons. (In the case where it was carried by terrorists, I simply replaced it with another weapon.) *Disclaimer* - This hasn't been fully tested, since I haven't beaten the game yet. So, if you find issues, or a PK I missed, just let me know, and I'll fix it ASAP. <<DOWNLOAD HERE>>

Never heard of this bug, but thanks for posting a solution. I'm sure it'll come in handy for someone in the future.

Komik is correct. The place you want to look is in the Editor, under Tools > Edit Store Items. (You can also do this via regular database editing, but the Editor is much more convienent.) Just a quick note, Quantity doesn't indicate how many are there to start, but rather how quickly the inventory increases. So, if you set Quantity to 1, then a new weapon will appear evey mission, if you set the quantity to 0.5, then a new weapon will appear every 2 missions, and so on. If you want multiple items to appear in the beginning, add mupltiple entries in the table. (ie - if you want 2 MG42s to start, then list MG42 twice in the table.) So, to do what you want, I'd change all the items rating to 0 (so they appear before you complete any missions), and then sent the quantity fairly low, so you don't end up with dozens upon dozens of weapons by the time the game ends.

As most others, when I first started modding SS, I downloaded and installed BlueShell DataGuy (since it was the only mentioned alternative to MS Access) to work with the SQL database. However, I quickly became quite frustrated with this (crappy) product. The features were limited, the interface less than ideal, and it was guaranteed to crash HARD every time I used. I looked for an alternative soon after I started modding, and I discovered EMS SQL Manager for SQL Server This product is infinitely better than BSDG. Better interface, more tools, and it NEVER crashes. In fact, I liked it so much, I downloaded and now use the MySQL version for work (I'm a Website / MySQL DB Manager in my day job). Best of all, there's a FREE VERSION available! Once you have an ODBC connection established, registering the DB is a snap! (PS - If you need help getting this to work, just ask.)

Thanks for updating the link. Given how much PKs are hated, making an S2 version of this mod is my next priority. Should see something in a week or so...

You're welcome. To be honest, I also stopped playing S2 after I first ran into PKs, so I never finished that game. (Which is also why all my mods are currently S3-only). However, since I discovered a means of replacing PKs with regular soldiers I'll probably go back and play S2 again (and make a S2-version of this mod).

Shameless Plug

Thanks for the feedback Brandeburg! Great to know someone's actually tried it out. I've acually changed quite a bit from the posted version, but I'm not quite ready for an update. Should see a new version in the next couple of weeks with the new changes, plus some corrections of mistakes I made with the first version. About the Handling - I know how to change the Handling, but I never have seen an explanation for what Handling actually represents... so I didn't bother resetting the values.

Don't like PKs? Want them gone? Well, ask and ye shall receive! Form the Readme: This is a S3 Mod, but I do plan on doing a S2 version. (Ask nicely, and I might even do one quickly.) Again, if you find any bugs, or other issues, pleas let me know, and I'll fix it. <<DOWNLOAD S3 VERSION HERE>>

Yes, what Krabjuice said - any sort of training only works up to a point. If a character is behind in his skill, each action he does (shoot, throw, hide, etc) will increase the relevant skill by a full point. However, as a character approaches his maximum for any given skill (based on his class, level, and relevenant stat -STR, DEX, or INT) his improvement will slow down dramatically, and eventually stop when he hits his limit. At that point, training becomes useless. Oh, one more thing - the little blue grenades (Mk3A1 in S3, M61 in S2) are useless in Combat, but quite handy in training IMO. Since they do little damage, they can be used to wound a few of your own guys without killing them. This gives your medic a chance to practice, plus it should cause some bleeding, which will help Evade. Odd what sort of morbid things the game mechanics force you to do. :mad:

Evade - Bleeding increases Evade. (Don't ask me why.) A note aboout Shoot / Snipe / Burst skills - The amount of APs spent on the action seems to be irrelevent, you increase skill with each action. So, if you're just doing training, use Snap Shots for Shooting, Short Bursts for increasing Burst Skill, and don't bother aiming when incresing Snipe Skill. Also, try and use weapons that require less APs (so you increase that much faster). PS - If someone has any idea what improves STR, DEX, and & INT, I'd really love to know.

You're missing 1 very important fact - when you do a Snipe shot, your Shooting skill AND your Snipe skill improves (Just like Burst firing improves Shooting AND Burst skill). So your whole argument about not improving your Shooting skill when you Snipe simply isn't true. It takes the exact same amount of time to train a sniper as it does any other shooter. Picking the amount of points you put into a shot is incredibly useful since you can balance exactly how many APs you spend, instead of with a Snap, Aimed or Careful Shot which make you spend a fixed amount. Example - say you need to hit a target, but still get behind cover to avoid fire from his buddies. Well, that eliminates using a Careful shot, but an Aimed shot won't work either, because you'd have too many left over points, and the Shot wouldn't be accurate enough. But with a Snipe shot, you can spend exactly enough points to make the shot as accurate as possible, but still get behind cover. Example 2 - You want to make 2 shots that turn. Obviously, a Careful Shot is not an option, but you don't have enough AP to make 2 Aimed shots. That means 1 Snap, and 1 Aimed Shot. Which means 1 shot that is guaranteed to hit, and 1 with a so-so chance. Instead, you can do 2 Snipe Shots with exactly the same AP, which means 2 shots with a very good chance of hitting, which statistically improves your chances of causing damage. And sense you can see exactly how accurate your shot is going to be at any given time, there's no need to over-spend APs. Just add a few points, check accuracy, and BANG! Sniping gives you one thing that regular shooting doesn't - flexibility. On top of that - Snipers are simply more accurate with Snipe shots than with regular shooting. Just like Burst skill improves accuracy with Bursts, Sniping skill improves accuracy when Sniping. So, even though a sniper might be able to spend 80AP on aiming, he only needs a small fraction of that to guarantee a hit. And he needs to spend less APs Sniping, than he would with a regular shot to get the same results in accuracy. The only time a Snipe shot isn't the better option is when you can't see the target. So it's not entirely accurate that sniping with less than your AP is ineffective, a better argument would be that "sniping while your Snipe skill is less than your AP is ineffective". But, by about Lvl 4-5 a well-trained Sniper should will have surpassed any other class in terms of effectiveness, and that's not exactly "late in the game". As I said in my previous post a Sniper starts a little slow, but quickly makes up for it. Last but not least - 299 point headshots. How is that not fun?

I think I remember reading something about losing Medal points if you kill civilians. But, do Medals actually do or mean anything? I've also had civilians grab up a weapon and blow away my squad, so yeah, shoot first and ask questions later.

No, not true. A Sniper is easily the deadliest class in S2/S3. Yes, early game they aren't as useful as say a Soldier with an SMG, or a Grenadier with a bunch of grenades, but as you progress, they quickly surpass all other classes, IMO. Plus when you consider the Soldier, Scout, and Grenadier all do better with close range fighting, the Sniper has much less chance of getting blown away than your other characters. Finally, as your Sniper gains levels, he'll actually have way more Sniping points than he needs. There's no reason to spend all your points, when just a few will give you 100% accuracy, and unlike Snap, Careful, and Aimed shots, you can control exactly how many APs you spend, PLUS if you don't have enough APs to make a shot, you can spend your few reaming APs to Aim this round, and fire next round. By, the time semi-auto sniper rifles appear, your sniper should have no problem bagging 2 (and sometimes 3) enemies per turn. Yes, it takes a little work to train a Sniper, but no more so than training any other class, and the payoff is HUGE.

HUH? That's not even slightly correct. Snipe is just about the most darn useful skill in the game! And training your squad members in sniping is a breeze! I never have a squad with less than 3 snipers. They're deadlier than ANY other class, bar none. I also have a medic, just in case, and a couple of soldiers for any needed demolition work. But my Snipers average about 3 kills to any other soldier's 1. However, I do agree that Engineering is a pretty worthless skill. But, I don't agree it's impossible to get a high enough level engineer to be anywhere near useful. You're just not training them correctly. Heck, my Lvl 10 Medic currently has a 48 in Engineering. The only reason you would have a end-game engineer with a 50 in Engineering is because you're not training them.

A) No, there isn't an MG in the box. B) You should warn people when posting a spoiler.