Major UFO mod from newbie basis

[X-Heiko]

Hi there!

 

I was playing around with the thought of making a mod for UFO (I think I have v1.2 - It's not DOS, that's for sure) which includes the following changes:

 

-Different looking armor (but that's easy, replacing armor has already been done)

-Some different music (I'll make the new tunes with my keyboard and replacing the MID's is enough, right?)

-More "realistic" starting weapons:

-3 types of rifle: a fast, inaccurate one with lots of ammo (FN-P90), a medium one (M4A1) and a slow, accurate one with a small clip (FN-FAL).

 

-turning the heavy cannon and auto cannon into a sniper rifle (M82) and a machine gun (M249)

-also renaming a few items

-as well as giving the plasma weapons more structure (turn the heavy plasma into a plasma MG, add a plasma sniper)

 

-must research weaker plasma weapons before you can research stronger ones (pistol before rifle, rifle before sniper, sniper before MG)

 

-If possible, but I know that this is a very idealistic goal, add more cities for terror attacks.

-Add the ability of increasing Psi Strength so that soldiers' psi defense is improvable

-make some changes to the research tree (personal armor => Synthetic Muton skin armor)

-Since the basic armor is that camouflage stuff, I'd like to add a program which adapts the type of camouflage to the terrain. Maybe add some camouflage effect or even stealth weapons and invisibility?

 

How much of this is possible, what programs do I need to do that, is the amount of work I'm looking at realistic for one person of should I get help?

 

I know it all sounds over-idealistic like a small child and so on, and I know that even IF I try doing something, it may not surpass changing the pistol's description text and adding one battle tune, but please just tell me what I'm talking about, just so I know.

 

And no, I have no problems with you laughing ^_^

 

 

[Edit: Added ideas

 

-Hire soldiers for 40k, veterans for 60k and commandos for 100k who have better starting values. Commandos should also have a guarantee for 80+ psi strength.

-Support Phaser Pistol: A pistol which can be loaded with Neutron Phase Ammo for accurate shooting and low damage and Stun Phase Ammo for accurate long-range stun shooting. If it's possible, it should include a motion tracker, too. So you need to research a) Motion Trackers, b) Laser and Plasma Pistols for the weapon itself, c) Plasma rifle ammo for the Neutron Phase ammo and d) small bombs for the Stun phase ammo. Is this possible? This would be a good weapon for supporter units like Psi or Medic units.

-Alien Smoke Grenades

-Again, this is exaggeration in it's puremost form, but let me say it anyway - this is just raw idea collecting. Might it be possible to implement some elements of reputation to paying countries like special missions from a certain country or messages to them, or things like "Get us 20 sectoid corpses and we promise to pay well next month"?]

[Bomb Bloke]

You have the Collectors Edition (otherwise known as UFO CE), which is the only version made for windows. It is roughly equal to version 1.4 in DOS.

 

The DOS versions of the game do not use MID files, but changing the tunes that way for the CE version is fine.

 

Changing weapons is relatively simple. There's no software around that will let you do it directly, but I have written a (mostly finished) tool which lets you replace the graphics. There's probably a tool that lets you modify weapons names/stats, if not one would be simplistic to write.

 

Think this way - adding weapons is hard, modifying existing equipment is easy.

 

Changing the research tree is a bit beyond me though.

 

Creating new tilesets takes a LOT of work. Luckily, Hobbes has already done a few. Implementing them is relatively simplistic, as is causing psi strength to rise.

 

As to camouflage, I wrote a mod for that a while back. I've got a vague suspicion that I messed up one of the uniform graphic sets, but I haven't had any negative feedback (or any feedback at all, for that matter), so it's probably ok.

 

Creating a weapon which acts as a motion scanner AND a gun is probably impossible, as is the option to hire units with better stats, or the "country missions" idea. Sorry. Alien smoke grenades could be implemented, but I don't know whether the AI would know how to use them.

 

So all up? Most of it is quite possible.

[X-Heiko]

I was doubting that I have CE since some mods and software which works "only with CE" didn't work for me... :-/

 

Yeah, I've tried that before, changing MIDs. ^^

 

Well, you're talking about "writing tools". You must know - I have no experience in programming anything, or well, just a ~little~ bit. Not worthy mentioning. If you say it would be simplistic to write a tool for modifying weapons, I'd be really thankful if you could give me one or tell me how to do it myself if you don't want to give me a copy of your tool.

 

I've modified equipment before with some editors some long time ago. You say adding weapons is hard - Does that go beyond having to implement a lot of values like sell values and production time etc. or is there any real serious limitation?

 

"Creating new tilesets takes a LOT of work. Luckily, Hobbes has already done a few. Implementing them is relatively simplistic, as is causing psi strength to rise."

 

Uhh, with "more cities" I meant the Geoscape. ^^'

Psi strength rising is easy? Good. *phew*

 

"As to camouflage, I wrote a mod for that a while back. I've got a vague suspicion that I messed up one of the uniform graphic sets, but I haven't had any negative feedback (or any feedback at all, for that matter), so it's probably ok. "

 

That's nice, I didn't try it yet, but is it possible to play around with visibility, as in Metal Gear Solid 3, so that the Jumpsuit has camo everywhere, the personal armor is medium armor and camouflaged in grassland and jungle terrains and the two suits are camo in alien bases and mountains? (I want to use the camo with kevlar vest as jumpsuit, a light green personal armor made from muton skin and black pwr/fly-suits)

 

"Creating a weapon which acts as a motion scanner AND a gun is probably impossible, as is the option to hire units with better stats, or the "country missions" idea. Sorry. Alien smoke grenades could be implemented, but I don't know whether the AI would know how to use them."

 

Okay, that motion scanner is secondary, anyway. I am a little sad about not being able to hire commando units as I found the idea quite appealing, but hey. ^_^

Country missions were also a nice idea imho. Too bad the best stuff can't be in there. -.-

 

If Alien Smoke grenades dealt Stun Damage, shouldn't the AI be able to use them?

 

Thanks for your serious response. Can you tell me how detailed my concept will have to be before I start asking the details? And can anyone help out with the research tree? Thanks!

[Bomb Bloke]

If you say it would be simplistic to write a tool for modifying weapons' date=' I'd be really thankful if you could give me one or tell me how to do it myself if you don't want to give me a copy of your tool.[/quote']

 

The only tool I have at the moment works with graphics, but it's incomplete. Editing weapon stats is as simple as hex editing a certain "obdata.dat" file, as according to the info recorded in the Wiki.

 

I don't know if there is a dedicated editor for this purpose or not. I suspect there isn't. But, if you know how to use a hex editor, you wouldn't need one... Otherwise, I could produce a tool.

 

I've modified equipment before with some editors some long time ago. You say adding weapons is hard - Does that go beyond having to implement a lot of values like sell values and production time etc. or is there any real serious limitation?

 

Simply put' date=' I don't have any idea how you'd get the game to offer new weapons for sale etc, and suspect you'd need to add info to the EXE file - which is beyond me. Changing what is already there is much easier. Technically, nothing is impossible, but anything that involves major changes to the EXE file might as well be.

 

Uhh' date=' with "more cities" I meant the Geoscape. ^^'[/quote']

 

Probably possible, don't ask me how.

 

That's nice' date=' I didn't try it yet, but is it possible to play around with visibility, as in Metal Gear Solid 3, so that the Jumpsuit has camo everywhere, the personal armor is medium armor and camouflaged in grassland and jungle terrains and the two suits are camo in alien bases and mountains? (I want to use the camo with kevlar vest as jumpsuit, a light green personal armor made from muton skin and black pwr/fly-suits)[/quote']

 

Well, it's all cosmetic, I'm afraid - it won't affect the aliens ability to spot you. Basically, what it does is select a given type of armor for a given terrain... Yellow in the desert, green in the jungle, etc. But, you could use any armor you so wished.

 

Country missions were also a nice idea imho. Too bad the best stuff can't be in there. -.-

 

Indeed' date=' I thought that was a good one. It would require a major rewrite of the EXE file though.

 

If Alien Smoke grenades dealt Stun Damage' date=' shouldn't the AI be able to use them?[/quote']

 

Maybe. The way to test it would be to give them a normal smoke grenade and see what they do with it. (If you mind control an alien, you can open the inventory of a soldier, then use the arrows to scroll into the aliens inventory. It can then pick up the grenade off the ground).

 

Thanks for your serious response. Can you tell me how detailed my concept will have to be before I start asking the details? And can anyone help out with the research tree? Thanks!

 

You want to start with the new graphics, and then the weapon statistics. When you've got some pictures and ideas as to exactly how the weapons should work, then it can all be implemented. The graphics will take you some time, so they are the best place to start.

[NKF]

You can only make use of what's in the game. Changing the rules would indeed require a rewrite of the code, which isn't possible unless the source code is released.

 

Changing what's already in the data files and the game executable (like terror unit turrets, starting stats) is easy.

 

Speaking of expanding your weapons, you do realise that although you are limited in the amount of equipment you can make, you can always be a little creative. Make use of more infinite ammo weapons and convert ammo clips and other misc. items into weapons - providing you change the text strings for their name, you don't mind that they've not go Ufopaedia entries, and you're happy the default weapon bullet images, which are either the HWP cannon shell images or the one associated with the gun. At least, you'll have to hold out until these values are found in the executable. They're there. We just have to find them.

 

Grenades are rather limited in their types. You cannot turn them into stun grenades or armour peircing grenades, as grenades can only have HE or smoke effects, no matter the type you set it to.

 

Also, some items have fixed effects attached to them. The stun rod is the only item that will display its melee command (until we find the switch in the executable for all the weapons), and the flare is the only item that will illuminate its surroundings when dropped on the ground. That doesn't mean you cannot transform it into a weapon - which also illuminates when dropped. A while ago I had this Nuclear Lantern idea for a 100HE explosive the size of the mind probe, that lights up when dropped!

 

Corpses too - but it would be silly to kill an enemy just to use their bodies as a gun. Hmm. Corpses that can be primed and thrown. Not a bad idea! Ah, perhaps for mutons and floaters only, being part machine. Self destruct mechanisms that they're smart enough not to use.

 

If you're planning on making a ranged stun weapon that can be purchased, the stun rod could be turned into something handy to have at all times, like an army knife. Akin to the TFTD Vibroblade stats, only 1x2 in size and ultra light.

 

Also, you could have different weapons share ammunition. Say the auto and heavy cannon. They could both use the same three magazines, only the weapons determine how they're fired. This frees up three extra items you can turn into other items.

 

Infinite ammo weapons, other than the lasers, may want some rebalancing to negate the infinite ammo advantage. For example, the default pistol is a good candidate for infinite ammo. It's weak enough that even if it did have infinite ammo, it wouldn't necessarily be unbalanced. The only weapons that will not work as infinite ammo weapons would be weapons that use different types of magazines, namely the cannons and the rocket launcher. Then again, I wouldn't want to see lots of infinite ammo weapons, unless they are well balanced.

 

- NKF

[X-Heiko]

Hmyeah, I just talked to my dad (who knows a lot about programming) this morning. Source code or disassembling. And I've got no 20-40 hackers in the backyard for that.

 

I thought about not even giving 3 different Ammo types for heavy and auto cannons (or: Sniper and MG), saving up 4 additional items, perfectly enough for the 2 additional "rifles" (Whereas the FN-P90 is not really called "Assault Rifle", but hey. Anyway, I thought I'd let the standard rifle in there as the FN-FAL, which should be similar (clip size, maybe slightly increase dmg and acc)). That would only add the (let me call it so from now on) stun pistol and the plasma sniper, which makes 3 item slots. Aren't there 3 unused item slots to use for that or will I have to eliminate something for that? (Hmm... glowing plasma sniper magazines... Hmm...)

 

No stun grenades then. Do you guys think it's OK to make a high-acc, low dmg stun pistol? I mean, it's actually unrealistic to have high-acc for pistols... Stun-Laser-Sniper rifle?

 

I actually need help with one thing.

I see myself sending soldiers into combat armed with nearly no knick-knack, but knick-knack rules. Can I increase this damn 80-items limit or delete it at all?

 

Hmm... Could also implement some really fresh Mega Prototype weapon with ultra stats and unlimited ammo which costs 100 Million $ per piece *yaaay, exaggerration 4 ever!*

 

Hmm... could it be possible to increase some blast radii?

Let's discuss a little, this mod might get interesting, at least in it's idea (You guys are giving me some nice ideas...)

 

Is there no way to modify the UFOPaedia so that the new items have entries? I'd still have to get someone who speaks French for the translation (As I know German and English)...

 

[Edit:

 

I've made a concept from the Wiki template covering the 3 Rifles (I want to make 3 rifles so players can individualize their playing style and mix e.g. long-range units and short-range assault units:

 

FN-FAL 7,62mm

 

* Firing Cost:

o Auto: 40%

o Snap: 30%

o Aimed: 85%

 

* Firing Accuracy:

o Auto: 40%

o Snap: 70%

o Aimed: 120%

 

 

* Weight: 9

* Width: 1

* Height: 3

 

* Cost: $3500

* Selling Cost: $2500

 

* Production Costs: Nil

 

 

M4A1 5,56mm

 

* Firing Cost:

o Auto: 30%

o Snap: 15%

o Aimed: 75%

 

* Firing Accuracy:

o Auto: 30%

o Snap: 55%

o Aimed: 100%

 

 

* Weight: 6

* Width: 1

* Height: 3

 

* Cost: $3500

* Selling Cost: $2500

 

* Production Costs: Nil

 

 

FN-P90 5,7mm

 

* Firing Cost:

o Auto: 5%

o Snap: 10%

o Aimed: 70%

 

* Firing Accuracy:

o Auto: 5%

o Snap: 35%

o Aimed: 70%

 

 

* Weight: 5

* Width: 1

* Height: 3

 

* Cost: $3000

* Selling Cost: $2250

 

* Production Costs: Nil

 

7,62mm Clip

 

* Type: Armour Piercing

* Stopping Power: 34

* Capacity: 20

* Weight: 3

* Width: 1

* Height: 1

 

* Cost: $230

* Selling Cost: $180

 

* Production Costs: Nil

 

5,56mm Clip

 

* Type: Armour Piercing

* Stopping Power: 28

* Capacity: 30

* Weight: 3

* Width: 1

* Height: 1

 

* Cost: $215

* Selling Cost: $165

 

* Production Costs: Nil

 

5,7mm Clip

 

* Type: Armour Piercing

* Stopping Power: 15

* Capacity: 50

* Weight: 4

* Width: 1

* Height: 1

 

* Cost: $200

* Selling Cost: $150

 

* Production Costs: Nil

 

]

[Bomb Bloke]

Sorry, 80 items it is.

 

An unlimited ammo, superweapon would be a bad idea, no matter how expensive it is. Well... $10 billion might be acceptable. You'd want to make it cost more then the average gamer would earn in one campaign, because once you got such a thing, you'd never want for money again.

 

If you are *replacing* items, you can indeed edit the UFOpedia. If you are adding them, sorry, can't help you.

 

You could add items to the game, but at the moment I'd only know how to add them to the tactical side of the engine. I doubt you'd be able to capture added equipment, let alone take it home and research it.

[X-Heiko]

Sorry, 80 items it is.

 

An unlimited ammo, superweapon would be a bad idea, no matter how expensive it is. Well... $10 billion might be acceptable. You'd want to make it cost more then the average gamer would earn in one campaign, because once you got such a thing, you'd never want for money again.

 

If you are *replacing* items, you can indeed edit the UFOpedia. If you are adding them, sorry, can't help you.

 

You could add items to the game, but at the moment I'd only know how to add them to the tactical side of the engine. I doubt you'd be able to capture added equipment, let alone take it home and research it.

 

I didn't really plan on making a superweapon, what is this - Command & Conquer? XD

Anyway, what do you guys say on the concepts? Are they OK as for balancing? And what program should I start making the graphics with?

 

Also, by "camouflage" I actually meant Bagirov's Personal Armor for Jumpsuits, they look more like camouflage. Could you show me how to write or write a program which assigns these special camouflage suits for jumpsuit wearers? If you want a list of terrains:

 

Jungle, Woodland, Farmland, XCom Base : Woodland camouflage

Arctic : Arctic camouflage

Desert, Mars : Desert camouflage (who would go to Cydonia in jumpsuits, though?)

Urban, Alien Base, Cydonia Base, Mountain : Urban camouflage

 

That's what I imagined. Could you? ^_^

[Bomb Bloke]

My uniform mod will let you do exactly what want, just read the "uniforms.txt" file included in the archive, it'll explain how to set it up.

[X-Heiko]

I tried to replace the rifle inventory/UFOpaedia pic and it partially worked - it shows my new rifle, but there's also a fragment of its clip and a pistol within the graphic where actually nothing can be (by far lower). I used PCKView. What did I do wrong?

[Bomb Bloke]

Heheh... Daishiva's software handles most PCK files, but I'm afraid it stumbles on BigObs.

 

Hence why I wrote my own version. It's not finished, but if you email me tranparent GIF versions of your images, I can send you back working files.

 

The UFOpedia uses the same palette as the Battlescape display uses, but the Battlescape version is slightly modified. Because of this, BigObs images can't use certain colors. My converter has yet to take that into account.

 

Also a couple of other minor things, eg You need to recompile it for each PCK file you wanna create...

[X-Heiko]

OK, I'll send you the set of graphics once they're all finished, but I don't know what you mean by "transparent" gif. I'm afraid (and embarrassed) that I have nothing but MS Paint.

Is this something Paint can do?

[Bomb Bloke]

No, it can't, I'm afriad. Some version of MS Paint CLAIM to be able to save GIF files, but don't believe it! I don't think it'll even attempt tranparent ones, however.

 

If you're not sure, just send me bitmaps (compressed into zip or rar files). Just make sure that the color you intend to be transparent is very clear.

 

A GIF file uses 256 colors, and can have a transparent color. All pixils of this transparent color simply aren't drawn.

[Hobbes]

I tried to replace the rifle inventory/UFOpaedia pic and it partially worked - it shows my new rifle, but there's also a fragment of its clip and a pistol within the graphic where actually nothing can be (by far lower). I used PCKView. What did I do wrong?

 

If you're using PCKView 1.3 or 1.4 (the versions available at Daishiva's site) then the problem is that those versions have a bug. I've already told Daishiva about it but he hasn't fixed it.

 

Use this link to get PCKView 1.2. That should resolve your problem.

[X-Heiko]

Thanks! I'll try that in a while (I'm a bit busy ~right now~).

 

Thanks for the try, but PCKView 1.2 doesn't work either.

I guess I'll have to draw the bitmaps then. Bomb Bloke, I'll just use pink for transparent, you'll notice it.^.^

[Hobbes]

Thanks for the try, but PCKView 1.2 doesn't work either.

 

PCKView 1.2 will solve the problem of the broken graphics when using .bmp to replace the images on the .pck files. Just be sure to delete the XCom.dll (or unzip it to a different folder).

[X-Heiko]

Oops, didn't delete that

Well... it still doesn't work for me, even without an xcom.dll.

By the way: I've done the sniper (AWM), FAL and M4A1 bigobs until now, as well as the latter two rifles' clips, just as for the project status.

[Hobbes]

Oops, didn't delete that

Well... it still doesn't work for me, even without an xcom.dll.

By the way: I've done the sniper (AWM), FAL and M4A1 bigobs until now, as well as the latter two rifles' clips, just as for the project status.

 

Try this last thing: when using the 1.2 version be sure to use unedited .pck files (that you haven't changed before with 1.3 or 1.4).

[X-Heiko]

Try this last thing: when using the 1.2 version be sure to use unedited .pck files (that you haven't changed before with 1.3 or 1.4).

 

Maybe the actual error text helps you? It didn't work, even with a fresh bigobs.pck.

 

See the end of this message for details on invoking

just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

 

************** Exception Text **************

System.IndexOutOfRangeException: Index was outside the bounds of the array.

at PckView.PckFile..ctor(Stream pckFile, Stream tabFile, Int32 bpp)

at PckView.PckView.openItem_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)

at System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem.OnClick(EventArgs e)

at System.Windows.Forms.MenuItemData.Execute()

at System.Windows.Forms.Command.Invoke()

at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmCommand(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

 

 

************** Loaded Assemblies **************

mscorlib

Assembly Version: 1.0.5000.0

Win32 Version: 1.1.4322.573

CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/microsoft.net/framework/v1.1.4322/mscorlib.dll

----------------------------------------

PckView

Assembly Version: 1.0.1340.28009

Win32 Version: 1.0.1340.28009

CodeBase: file:///C:/XCOM/Neuer%20Ordner/Kopie%20(2)%20von%20UFO%20Enemy%20Unknown/PckView.exe

----------------------------------------

System.Windows.Forms

Assembly Version: 1.0.5000.0

Win32 Version: 1.1.4322.573

CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/system.windows.forms/1.0.5000.0__b77a5c561934e089/system.windows.forms.dll

----------------------------------------

System

Assembly Version: 1.0.5000.0

Win32 Version: 1.1.4322.573

CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/system/1.0.5000.0__b77a5c561934e089/system.dll

----------------------------------------

System.Drawing

Assembly Version: 1.0.5000.0

Win32 Version: 1.1.4322.573

CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/system.drawing/1.0.5000.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/system.drawing.dll

----------------------------------------

Accessibility

Assembly Version: 1.0.5000.0

Win32 Version: 1.1.4322.573

CodeBase: file:///c:/windows/assembly/gac/accessibility/1.0.5000.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/accessibility.dll

----------------------------------------

 

************** JIT Debugging **************

To enable just in time (JIT) debugging, the config file for this

application or machine (machine.config) must have the

jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.

The application must also be compiled with debugging

enabled.

 

For example:

 

<configuration>

<system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />

</configuration>

 

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception

will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the machine

rather than being handled by this dialog.

[Bomb Bloke]

I'm afraid that would only help Daishiva, the programmer...

 

If it turns out that one of his programs WILL handle BigObs, then all my work was in vain! Guess it would have saved Inteck (another modder) a long wait if that had been pointed out when he was asking...

 

On the other hand, I'd've written my version anyway, so I've little to complain about.

[X-Heiko]

If it makes you happy - it doesn't work ^.^'

 

Damn - Handobs don't work either! Well, it's a little buggy with pckview. Bloke, could I send you the FN-FAL stuff? I've got Handobs, Floorobs and Bigobs pics of it. Would you give me modified files if I send you these pictures? The transparent color is that blueish black which is usually in the pictures, just fill the transparent color where no rifle is, you can't miss it

[Munkeylord]

wow, if you want um. you can save yourself like 4 months and use all the crap i made..if your still around that is, not sure if the woodland camo is there though. someone has it somewhere just as around. ok im done

[X-Heiko]

Oh well, schedule's changed. I don't have time for anything but school at the moment. Just forget what I said but thanks a lot!

[Bomb Bloke]

Oh well, these things happen.

 

I really liked that FN-FAL art you did. In fact it's the only game mod I use. You wouldn't mind if I uploaded it at some point, would you?

[X-Heiko]

Of course not! Do whatever you like with it, I'm not going for copyrights 'ere! ^_^

I'm glad that you like the FN-FAL!^^ Thanks for the compliment!