Recently I've found nice mod for TFTD which reskins X-Com crafts. One of the features is increased ramp width by one square for all crafts. That, with slightly increased size of crafts, just begs for SWS capability for Hammerhead (it could take 2 of those + still 8 aquanauts)

Of course I couldn't resist myself so I hacked main exe for my version of TFTD (Gold) giving Hammerhead ability to carry 16 troops including 1 SWS. Unfortunately, and partly as I expected, it isn't so simple because the game uses algorithm (unknown to me) to spawn X-Com units inside it's craft. And so SWS appeared in Hammerhead but it's completely out of shape and can't move at all. Below I've attached some screenshots how does it look like:

 

So my question is - can I do something about it with either hex editing or some kind of editor? I've tried to find some info in UFOpaedia about spawning X-Com units but to no avail. Thanks in advance for any clues.

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.

Thank's a lot Bomb Bloke - I'll give it a try!

One question though - does Your toolkit is compatible with Tycho's TFTDextender?

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.

Ok, thanks again. Although I've never done map editing in any game so far I'll try Your solution anyway.

I'll post again if I'll run into some problems.

Ladies and Gentleman,

 

I've found a solution to use Modified Hammerhead from "TFTD Crafts remake-reskin mod" by Satan Claus!

 

It was literally lying next door because in September Maurice76 wrote about Deployment of Soldiers within X-Com Craft on Terror From The Deep subforum. Long story short, every transport craft in the game has his own set of coordinates to place X-COM units. Those values are written in Geoscape.exe (DOS version) or Terror From The Deep.exe (CE version). Maurice found those values but more important he put it into graphical form so now we know where each soldier will be placed as it's shown here. BTW, in CE version offsets are further down in main .exe so I'll update Maurice's topic.

With that knowledge changing values to place correctly my units was a piece of cake. Below is a very simple schematic which I used for Satan's Claus Modified Hammerhead:

 

\ X 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09

Y \ -----------------------------------------

00 | __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

01 | __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

02 | __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

03 | __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

04 | __ __ __ 16 08 07 15 __ __ __

05 | __ __ __ 14 06 05 13 __ __ __

06 | __ __ __ 12 04 03 11 __ __ __

07 | __ __ __ 10 02 01 09 __ __ __

08 | __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

09 | __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

 

Now Satan's Claus Hammerhead can carry 2 SWS and 8 aquanauts* without any problems. And that is super cool

 

All credits go to Satan's Claus for making very cool modified crafts and Maurice76 for finding out how the game places X-COM units in crafts.

 

 

* Remember to also modify X-COM craft data values in Geoscape.exe / Terror From The Deep.exe corresponding to "Troop capacity" and "SWS capacity".