Alpha_Monkey

Good to see this again. I like the idea of a power-struggle, coupe even.

Well, in my case the cursor was stuck and wouldn't move, AND the map was blacked out. BB has advised me on a few things, and it may have now been fixed. I haven't had the time to extensively test just yet though, so I can't be 100% sure.

Yep, that did it, cheers! Now. Has anyone ever figured a way of fixing those sound effects, or is that too much to ask? Everything seems ok now anyway. Great!

Huh. Tried again through dosbox and it SEEMS ok. No trouble loading the saves, though I've only had time for a quick run through a single mission. Still no sound though.

Hmm. I've patched to 1.2, then 1.3, then to 1.4. Now it runs with NO sound/music, and freezes when I try to place my starting base. Same after installing util. I know it's highly unusual, but could you send me your dos installation to see if that works? I'm not sure if it's a bad install or some perculiarity of my system.

Hmm, ok. Any chance of a quick guide to patching the game? I'm having a few problems with it. Also, is there a way around installing the 1.4 sounds? I know there's a fix for it, but iirc it doesn't fix everything (like 'splodey zombie/snakeman footsteps). edit: Actually, nevermind. I was trying to install over the util-modded game.

Has anyone ever had a tactical-map save freeze up on loading? I get a black screen, with the toolbar along the bottom and the yellow cursor stuck in the topleft corner. Otherwise blank. Doesn't happen consistently.....I can start a new game and maybe do a couple of missions before it stricks. But once it does, the save is irrecoverable. It's pretty frequent.

........ *sigh* I don't think there's a face-palm big enough...... Here a save that IS from the tac-map. Not the first occurance though, probably 2nd or 3rd. Same problem though. http://www.mediafire.com/?0yxn2bbyt3i

Hi. I'm running the dos version, and have noticed problems saving during missions. My first game went a couple of months in without trouble, but upon trying to load mid-mission, was presented with a blank black screen with the cursor stuck in the topleft corner. No map, not even the stats/buttons/toolbar thingy along the bottom. Just running xcomutil btw, and I also used ClarkWehrEnterprises editor to change soldier appearance (something irks me about having a trooper with an Indian name and bright blonde hair, for example), but that's it. Now I know xcom can be flakey at the best of times, but I don't recall this ever happening on the windows CE version. Any fixes? http://www.mediafire.com/?mbmxhyfpmjb There's the first occurance. Key presses don't help. And I've tried running the various .exe's directly (not through dosbox), still no difference.

Y'know, that sounds very much like the problem I've had. Everything else runs fine for me (I've used the assorted user-made fixes)....the geoscape runs at normal speed, the clock runs as it should, the cursor is fine.... Even on the tactical screen, everything else runs as it should. My troops walk normally. Scroll speed is a little fast if memory serves (I haven't played recently, I've had the problem a while), but firing is near instantaneous. Not only is it really annoying (and disorientating), but makes the game very hard to play. It's worth noting I only got this problem when updating my gfx drivers to the latest Omega drivers. I've tried rolling back to the old drivers, and tried re-installing the game. No joy.

Hmm. Well since you're offering, how about asking about any potential promotional teasers we may see. Demos, video clips, concept art in particular (I like pretty pictures, k?)....

Yeah, I assumed that to be the case with my Radeon 9600se, but having looked over the options I'm coming up stumped. I'm using the most recent omega drivers, with the old-style catalyst control tabs, since the slick new catalyst control contre interface doesn't work right on my pc (frameword issues, i think).

Hrmm, I don't suppose there's a way to disable the gfx straight-off without having to restart is there? I tend to play the game in little spurts at varying times, rather than one long marathon session. It'd probably get pretty inconveniencing.

Right, I previously had this problem when installing the game (CE), as probably everyone does. I then used the usual assortment of fixes to sort it all out. No problem. However, I have recently installed some new drivers to counter an issue with a different game, and now my game is REALLY fast. The game clock in the geoscape still ticks along nice and slow as usual, and the globe rotates just as nice and slow too, but everything else (menus, scrolling etc) is fast as hell. In a way, it's kinda cool. Explosions and smoke looks a bit better, I think. And autofire is about as rapid firing as it would be in real life (pew-pew-pew!). But the problems outweigh it. Firstly, if there is alien/reaction fire, it's impossible to tell what it was, where it was from, or even what got hit. Secondly, scrolling around the map is a bitch.

Right, I've had about a half dozen base-defense missions, all floaters iirc, and they've all suffered crashouts within the first 3 or 4 turns. Now, in the event of a crash, it just dumps me to desktop, initializes t5he seperate geoscape exe, and dumps me to the debriefing screen, where it usually declares it a success with all the aliens killed, and lots of gear. I don't get the gear, and worse, all of MY stuff from the equip screen that I didn't use (so was left on the ground in the storerooms) vanishes! Worse still is the rare occasion it declares a mission loss, in which case I obviously lose the base. The crashes always occur right after the aliens have taken their turn, so presumably it's something to do with them doing stuff they shouldn't. This theory is supported by the fact that (if I'm lucky/quick) if I can storm them and grab a few kills (specifically the one individual alien that is crashing me), I can sometimes avert the crash all together. However, this can be difficult to achieve. Ideas? edit: right, I had noticed a couple of floaters were unarmed (due to the item/spawn point limitations), but I don't think that's related. I've tried hiding all my guys, hence giving the aliens nothing to shoot at, and I still crash.

I dunno, they tend to lose a chunk of throwing accuracy, too. Maybe this doesn't matter so much (since throwing seems to be inherently fairly accurate anyway), but I've not been willing to chance it so far. As you say, if it doesn't work out they get shot in the face for their efforts.

Sometimes it helps to have a spare medkit waiting back on the Ranger. If my guys are hurt badly, they usually lose enough accuracy to be combat inneffective anyway, so I'd may as well pull them back if possible.

Agreed. That's why for this game I've been deliberately nerfing my research, with about 3 guys working on each topic. As has been said, medkits are more important in the late game when you have lots of armour for your guys. I've just reached this point, with a little over half my guys in power suits, the rest in personal (which has actually made a surprising difference. The amount of shots square in the face to be stopped by that stuff......I'm sure it never used to be so effective). I've also been holding back on the medkits, by assigning two troopers per squad as the designated medic. Just to make things interesting, like. Contrary to BB's opinion, I'm finding the Laser Pistol to be invaluable for room-clearing so far. Especially considering my lack of heavy weaponry. Although I got surprised when I took down a terror ship full of Ethereals and Sectopods recently. I'd been mostly encountering floaters and a few snakemen thus far (no mutons yet), so I was caught unprepared. My psi-labs were still being constructed, and my men only had a single prototype Heavy laser by pure chance, which saved my ass. Hell, my two snipers still had the standard rifle for accuracy! Lost my tank (again), and half my squad needs the next month in sickbay. edit: As well as seeing more use in the personal armour, which strikes me as unusual, something else has become apparent. Laser weapons are VERY unreliable in scoring a hard kill. Compared to my usual games, this slow-tech game has seen LOTS of aliens I'd previously tagged getting back to their feet. Lots. This is usually a good thing, since at best you can capture them, at worst use them for reaction training. However, Chryssalids have a very nasty habit of playing dead, then striking when I happen to have my back to them. Buggers. I've taken to having an extermination squad with AC-HE's bringing up the rear and frying the corpses to be sure.

Bit of an aside, but no matter how many times I'm sure I've read otherwise, it appears an alien has to wander directly in front of your trooper to trigger reaction fire. This should be carefully considered when choosing cover points for your squad. It's bloody annoying tbh. Using, say, a 30-degree fire-arc would make more sense. As it stands, needing to be directly in front to get a response can greatly limit where you can or can't leave a trooper on overwatch, and hence nerfs your squads flexibility quite a bit.

Heh, that answers that then. So, in that case wouldn't it strictly speaking be a bit iffy to do a full-blown remake, legally speaking? I'm sure I can think of plenty of mods being squashed by the lawyers in the past for similar reasons. Bloody better not happen here.

I dunno how the copyrights work for these things exactly, however, I have to wonder whether the game now being available as abandonware now would make a difference to the legality of using intellectual property (artwork and such) in a third-party mod such as this.

I must admit, the modelling and texturing is first rate. Looks brilliant. If I wanted to be really picky, I could say I'd have liked a little more artistic licence rather than a straight copy of the original designs. Especially with things like the rifle, which I always found to be a goofy looking design, or the skyranger, which always felt fine for a helicopter, but far too small for a supersonic airplane. But then again, I'm very curious to find out how things like the heavy laser or auto/heavy cannons will look in full 3d (I'm wondering if that long thin rifle next to the grenades may be a heavy cannon?). The interceptor looks amazing.....like a cross between an f-16 and a mig-29, no? OOH! And the power armour! I reaaaally wanna see that fully realised. Should be interesting to see if they do a straight port of the personal armour or not, though..... All in all, great stuff. Moar!

Yep. For the n00bs who may not be sure how to apply this rule, I find it's easier if you simply remember this: You're better off being in solid cover with no TU's, than to have spare TU's but being out in the open. There's more to using overwatch than having good reaction skills and lots of TUs. You need to have the likely attack vectors worked out, and you need to identify and use good cover. You need to know your enemy, too. If you absolutely need to make a dash for cover while engaged against say, Snakemen, you can probably get away with it if you're lucky. Discs or Sectopods, on the other hand....they'll probably rattle off some automatic fire at you, and quite possibly hit you. It doesn't hurt to get into the habit of having your scouts use a motion scanner liberally, too. I only say this because I never used to bother, even though it's cheap and easily available. Maybe I'm alone there, I dunno.

Minor update: I'm calling the Power Armour finished, I reckon, 'less anyone has any suggestions. http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/933/armourwiphiresvh5.jpg This is what I've got coming up next. http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/5553/snap006ar2.jpg Squad + h-whip, in transit. Obviously got a lot to do yet (shading, all kinda detail, webbing, lighting), but I thought a preview would be good to get opinions/ideas. Specifically, I was wondering what kind of lighting scheme to go for. I was thinking: running dark, lots of shadow and only a couple of red light sources, a bit like in the films where they're making a stealthy insertion (apparently red light is harder to see over a distance).... maybe use whatever lighting is coming through the rear exit for highlights, but that depends on time-of-day. Which I'd also not mind suggestions for......what kinda view should be outside the aircraft? I'm also looking through reference pics for ways to militarize the cabin some more. I'm thinking sling some red plastic webbing across the bulkheads, add a few pipes/rails.....I'd also maybe put the hwp on a transport pallet if I can find a decent reference pic. Feel free to gimme ideas dudes.

Update...... Well, I finally bit the bullet and grabbed a copy of the latest Adobe Photoshop. It's a corker alright, and I've been playing around learning (or at least attempting to) its intricracies. On the upside, it means I can pull off some more ambitious stuff I have in mind. On the downside, all this learning has put a dent in my productivity. So to counterbalance this, I've taken an afternoon to take a few sketches and use them to knock up a little something on Sketchup. note: A few of you might need to up your screen brightness a notch. http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6628/snap1fg2.jpg Skyranger! Wouldn't want this bearing down on me...... http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/2836/snap2cp7.jpg .....and if you take a look in the background you might see some familiar lttle fellows.... http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/7254/snap3yx1.jpg HWPs. In Laser, Cannon, and original Rocket flavour. I slapped some cameras on the chassis and turret, added a winch to the front, and a few tools on the back. Also note that they're just the right height for some lazy trooper to sit down on the rear. No reason they couldn't use this space to ferry supplies or wounded around, either. I also found an old WW2 mini-tank on google......the Polish TKS. Pretty much the exact same size. http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/7224/snap4li4.jpg And inside the cabin we find a lonesome warrior, presumably hoping not to get eaten or something. I've taken a look at pictures of the V22 interior to get a feel for things. As sleek as the exteriors look, the troop compartments always look like crap..... http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/7108/snap5gy2.jpg And here's a quick x-ray shot to break down the general structure of the bird. It's certainly a biggy, mainly down to all that space around the "neck". There's a corridor leading down toward a small crew space (with toilet, cooker and supply locker) then the cockpit. Between the spaces around the troop compartment, the belly, and the neck, I reckon there's plenty of internal volume for fuel too. Also, the sheer size probably means it could be considered to be quite durable (double redundancy on most systems), and could potentially be refitted as different variants. As far as engines go, you've got variable nozzles on the main jets, two nozzles on the wingtips, two vents just foward on the main landing gears, and one more under the nose. When I get around to it, I intend to sketch up a drop scene based around this very model. For an idea, go take a look at the end of the World In Conflict trailer, where they're making a drop from a Hercules over manhatten. Ooooh momma.