Combo X-COM Game Folder Patch

[Bomb Bloke]

MapView uses whatever art the game uses to render terrain, so if you run the LOFTerrain converter the results appear in either.

[Zombie]

That's awesome! Thanks.

 

- Zombie

[phispooky]

Hi,

 

just a fast question: these latest fixes can be found at the "Combo X-COM Game Folder Patch" link (https://www.strategyc...e-folder-patch/) or somewhere else ?!

 

Edit: if yes it would be nice if the description could be updated with latest timestamp and additional fixes as written here in the thread

 

Thanks and Regards,

Michael

[Zombie]

just a fast question: these latest fixes can be found at the "Combo X-COM Game Folder Patch" link (https://www.strategyc...e-folder-patch/) or somewhere else ?!

 

The latest batch of fixes haven't been included in the patch kit as I was still working on different areas yet. I will do so now though. And yes, that's the link.

 

Edit: if yes it would be nice if the description could be updated with latest timestamp and additional fixes as written here in the thread

 

Whenever I update the patch kit I always update the description with the new fixes as well - just no timestamp. I suppose I should add a readme file with a timeline of fixes made. Some of the fixes after 8/30/2008 may not have exact dates as I stopped adding separate fixes in the files database and just updated the kit. But I'll add this to the download and update the page description soonish.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Ok, I hastily threw together a readme file with a timeline for my patch kit and updated the description of the file to reflect the dates. And the new patches are uploaded to the files section too. Version number is up to 3.0 as a lot of fixes were made in this last edit.

 

I also internally linked to this topic so that all comments from the file page will be directed here.

 

@Bomb Bloke: when you get some time, could you please download my patch kit and verify that the transparent pixel in the hangar floor is fixed? And if you know the date of that fix, please let me know. Additionally, I found that the XBASE2 .TAB and .PCK files in the TERRAIN folder were updated on 03/01/2010. What was this update? Was it for the LoS issue with the steps? Any info on this?

 

- Zombie

[phispooky]

Ok, I hastily threw together a readme file with a timeline for my patch kit and updated the description of the file to reflect the dates. And the new patches are uploaded to the files section too. Version number is up to 3.0 as a lot of fixes were made in this last edit.

 

I also internally linked to this topic so that all comments from the file page will be directed here.

 

@Bomb Bloke: when you get some time, could you please download my patch kit and verify that the transparent pixel in the hangar floor is fixed? And if you know the date of that fix, please let me know. Additionally, I found that the XBASE2 .TAB and .PCK files in the TERRAIN folder were updated on 03/01/2010. What was this update? Was it for the LoS issue with the steps? Any info on this?

 

- Zombie

 

Thanks, this is great! Will get the patch immediately

 

Michael

[Bomb Bloke]

Yes, the patch contains the fixed hangar tile art. I'm not 100% sure about the posted date but given that those two XBASE2 files you mentioned deal with that sprite, and that I found out about it about that time, odds are good that that there timestamp is what you're after.

 

(Note: PCK/TAB files deal with graphics only. All other aspects of tiles, eg LoS, TU movement costs, whatever, are in the MCD files.)

 

That thread reminds me; check out the SW-point of XBASE_17.MAP. The tiles there aren't placed as they should be.

[Zombie]

Yes, the patch contains the fixed hangar tile art. I'm not 100% sure about the posted date but given that those two XBASE2 files you mentioned deal with that sprite, and that I found out about it about that time, odds are good that that there timestamp is what you're after.

 

(Note: PCK/TAB files deal with graphics only. All other aspects of tiles, eg LoS, TU movement costs, whatever, are in the MCD files.)

 

Ah, I was mixing up the different file types in my head (been a while since I did any serious editing, kinda rusty). Thanks for the info, updated the description to reflect this.

 

That thread reminds me; check out the SW-point of XBASE_17.MAP. The tiles there aren't placed as they should be.

 

The very south west tile? Coordinates (9,0), the one with the white markings on the floor? The game is using one tile for the ground, and another tile as content to make the white line going in the other direction where it should just be using the content as the ground tile, correct? If so, this tile isn't the only occurrence - all the hangar tiles where there are two white lines coming together have this issue too.

 

- Zombie

[Bomb Bloke]

Righto, well they should all be fixed in any case.

[Zombie]

Fixed (and the changes are in my patch kit). XBASE_17, 18 and 19 were bugged, but XBASE_16 was fine.

 

Took me forever to figure out how to edit map content again. I first tried brute force hacking via MS Edit, but it's a real hassle due to that 3 bit header which screws up the line width. MapEdit is not much better, but you can at least see the changes you are making real-time.

 

For my future reference, click on the tile you want to edit, highlight the ground, west, north, or content buttons in the TopView window, then click on a tile in the TileView window, then go back to the TopView window, click on the Edit button, and then Fill. Bingo, all done. If you need to edit multiple tiles with the same properties, then just edit one tile the way you want it, copy that, then paste wherever.

 

Edit: Also found a few problem route node links in the Missile Defenses, Fusion Ball Defenses and Grav Shield maps. They now link to the west instead of the east. These fixes are also included on my patch kit download.

 

- Zombie

[Bomb Bloke]

Note that you can also highlight the destination in the main Map Editor window, select the desired tile type in the Tile View window, then right-click desired tile type in the Top View window. A double-right-click removes the tile.

[Zombie]

Note that you can also highlight the destination in the main Map Editor window, select the desired tile type in the Tile View window, then right-click desired tile type in the Top View window. A double-right-click removes the tile.

 

Next time I fire up MapView (which will probably be tonight) I'll try that, thanks!

 

Yesterday I fixed a few more linking issues in various modules in various terrain types. I'm only about halfway through all the terrain sets though, Also had a look at some of the X-COM base modules and I might just change some pathfinding nodes to actual spawn points. Seems the Devs made some pathfinding nodes only for X-COM units which is very perplexing. I don't think aliens can follow along X-COM pathfinding nodes, can they?

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

My updates for today:

 

01/17/2013: Fixed a number of linking issues in various terrain. UBASE_01: changed 3 linking nodes from flying large to just flying. POLAR08 & DESERT03: Linked 2 nodes together. DESERT11: linked a few nodes together. CULTA13: linked to the north on one node. MARS08: linked to the west instead of the east for 1 node. MARS09: added links to the North and South. UFO_110: simplified my previous linking scheme.

 

So I think that takes care of most of the terrain linking issues. There are still a few modules that don't have a link to each direction in the compass rose, and I can't be sure if it is WAI the way it is. I might fix them sometime, but none are game breaking so they are not high on my priority list.

 

You know, after looking at spawn points for a while you can get a pretty decent understanding what the intention was. There are a few patterns the devs use over and over throughout the game, so if a module doesn't match the pattern exactly you can easily fix it. Center: just one point in the middle of a module (usually a small 9x9). Dual: two points each pointing to two compass rose directions. Diamond: 4 interconnected nodes each pointing to one direction. Perimeter: a number of interconnected nodes around the perimeter of a module (usually large) with 2 nodes on each side linking to 1 direction. Specialized: used sometimes to fit the terrain better. If something doesn't match one of these, it's probably a bug.

 

- Zombie

[Bomb Bloke]

Seems the Devs made some pathfinding nodes only for X-COM units which is very perplexing. I don't think aliens can follow along X-COM pathfinding nodes, can they?

Could be that we've got those nodes mis-documented somehow, or it may even be that they're for mind-controlled units or somesuch?

[Zombie]

Could be that we've got those nodes mis-documented somehow, or it may even be that they're for mind-controlled units or somesuch?

 

Don't think so. If an X-COM soldier is MC'd, his/her ownership flag is set to alien. That unit is then considered alien for that turn, so an X-COM pathfinding node wouldn't do any good.

 

I just think it's a bug. These nodes are found in the Lab and Workshop. In the LQ and GS, similar nodes are set to spawn X-COM units. In addition to these, there is a pathfinding node near the steps on the lowest level of the Workshop which is set as Civ-Scout, even though the other small rooms are actual X-COM spawn points so this is probably a bug too. The only other pathfinding node in an X-COM base is in the Small Radar module on the lower level. I might just set that to spawn an alien (well, a Civ-Scout) at a reduced probability.

 

In the upper level of the Small Radar there are 2 spawn points for aliens, even though in the Large Radar upper level there's an X-COM unit spawning node. Don't really understand why the small radar should be able to spawn aliens upstairs as it's manned by X-COM units and it's starting X-COM tech...

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Ok, I changed the X-COM pathfinding nodes in an X-COM base to actual spawn points. Also changed those 2 Civ-Scout spawn points upstairs in the small radar to X-COM and changed the Civ-Scout pathfinding node downstairs to an actual spawn point (not X-COM, kept it Civ-Scout). Had some time so I centered the node in the center room in various modules. Finally I fixed the TU movement cost problems found here (offsets 39-41). All this is incorporated into my patch kit.

 

01/18/2013: Fixed TU usage costs for the 3 movement styles on a few terrain types. AVENGER: middle ramp section takes 2 TU to cross. U_BASE: death tiles for large vats take 2 TU to cross, little green plants take 1 TU to cross. URBITS: Two different death tiles for fences take 2 TU to cross. Routes in an X-COM base updated. XBASE_02: changed 2 X-COM pathfinding nodes to spawn points. XBASE_03: changed an X-COM pathfinding node to a spawn point, changed a Civ-Scout pathfinding node to a spawn point. XBASE_04: changed 2 Civ-Scout spawn points upstairs to X-COM, changed the Civ-Scout pathfinding route to a spawn point. UBASE_07 moved a node 1 tile to the south. Centered the node in a room in the following modules: XBASE_5, XBASE_9-13, XBASE_15.

 

MapView TU costs are listed as Walk, Fly, Slide while the Wiki says Walk, Slide, Fly, argh! Oh, and I didn't fix the Arctic pools of water with 255 walk, 255 slide, 4 fly. Those are WAI.

 

Edit: now that I think about it, maybe the U_BASE and URBITS issues are WAI as well. I mean, if you can fly over the top of a death tile which is low to the ground, it shouldn't cost extra TU. The Avenger ramp of course isn't WAI.

 

Another issue I just stumbled across: stepping through any alien interior UFO door takes the ground TU + the open door animation tile TU = 4 TU (normally) + 0 TU = 4 TU. However, stepping through an exterior UFO hull door is 4 TU (ground) + 2 TU (open door animation) = 6 TU. Don't think that's fair, so I'm going to change that to 0 like the interior doors.

 

I know that certain terrain types sometimes use more than one MCD type to construct. However, is there an easy way to tell which tile belongs to a certain MCD array in MapView? For instance, say I'm looking at the standard UFO floor tile in an alien base in MapView. Any way to tell which MCD type it belongs to? Another issue, looking at the same tile in the MCD Info screen shows the ID of the tile is 67. The death tile is listed as 64, which on the Tile View screen looks to be scorched earth. There is an actual death tile in the array, but it's ID is 68. For the ID I'm using the Images numbers. So which is it, and how can I tell? I wish MapView didn't put all the MCD types used to build a module together into one giant communal garbage dump.

[Zombie]

I reversed the changes I made in the previous update, except for the Avenger which was obviously a bug. I also updated a vat to have the proper value for light blockage and it's death tile. These changes are in my patch kit in the files section.

 

Still contemplating whether or not to change the # of TU to walk/fly/slide over a exterior UFO hull door. I don't really know if it's actually intended by the devs, but it just feels wrong to me that you would need extra TU to cross over a door which is flush with the ground.

 

Edit1: Added some corners/pillars to the Supply Ship which were missing. Was just wondering if adding some of these pillars to the Large Scout would help prevent HE splash damage from getting into the ship through the diagonals from outside? And for the corners/pillars which are walls, would I be better off adding them as a wall or as content?

 

Edit2: UFO ceilings and some combination UFO floor tiles have 100 armor, while the normal square UFO floor tile has only 80 armor. I just wonder if this is a bug too...

 

- Zombie

[Bomb Bloke]

MapView TU costs are listed as Walk, Fly, Slide while the Wiki says Walk, Slide, Fly, argh! Oh, and I didn't fix the Arctic pools of water with 255 walk, 255 slide, 4 fly. Those are WAI.

 

Edit: now that I think about it, maybe the U_BASE and URBITS issues are WAI as well. I mean, if you can fly over the top of a death tile which is low to the ground, it shouldn't cost extra TU. The Avenger ramp of course isn't WAI.

 

Another issue I just stumbled across: stepping through any alien interior UFO door takes the ground TU + the open door animation tile TU = 4 TU (normally) + 0 TU = 4 TU. However, stepping through an exterior UFO hull door is 4 TU (ground) + 2 TU (open door animation) = 6 TU. Don't think that's fair, so I'm going to change that to 0 like the interior doors.

You're probably already clear on this (I have a head-cold and it's late, so don't mind me if I'm restating the obvious), but I'm pretty sure the wiki is right in all instances where it contradicts MapView. I tried to specifically state in the article which values don't match up in order to avoid confusion but it looks like I missed those ones.

 

It's also probably worth pointing out that ALL units are flagged as "walkers". Which might be something for UFO Extender to patch, maybe, 'cause the game is definitely coded to use the different TU costs if units are given different movement mode values. Unlike UFO, TFTD does for the most part assign sliding/flying movement modes to different units as appropriate - eg, Hallucinoids get a value of two (flying), but apparently your tanks only get a zero (they walk?).

 

I know that certain terrain types sometimes use more than one MCD type to construct. However, is there an easy way to tell which tile belongs to a certain MCD array in MapView? For instance, say I'm looking at the standard UFO floor tile in an alien base in MapView. Any way to tell which MCD type it belongs to?

My usual method was to open PCKView windows for each of the graphical files for that terrain, until I got sick of it and fleshed out this article.

 

At some stage I updated my PCK2GIF tool so that it could spit out nicely numbered sprite-sheets with a single command (like this). I've been sorta considering going through and uploading such sheets for all the PCKs to the wiki, though I'm not entirely sure if that's a good idea copyright-wise and it may just be plain overkill anyways. On the other hand, it might be handy for Windows 7 users, as that manages to break early .NET compatibility somehow so PCKView doesn't work. I mean, sure, there are other tools (eg mine), but if you just want to see the images there's nothing really easier...

 

Another issue, looking at the same tile in the MCD Info screen shows the ID of the tile is 67. The death tile is listed as 64, which on the Tile View screen looks to be scorched earth. There is an actual death tile in the array, but it's ID is 68. For the ID I'm using the Images numbers. So which is it, and how can I tell? I wish MapView didn't put all the MCD types used to build a module together into one giant communal garbage dump.

No, the tile number for the floor is 63, and it uses sprite number 67. The reason these values don't match is because a tile that animates uses multiple sprites. Tile 43, for example, the weird moving alien plant thing, uses sprites 43/44/45/46, so tile 44 ends up using sprite 47. This means that using PCKView to try and work out tile numbers is more trouble then it's worth - keep an eye up on the top of MapView's TileView window instead. The mapID it shows you for the selected tile is its number within the complete map (which has all the individual MCDs clumped together). The mcdID is the tile number just within whatever MCD file that tile came from.

 

In fact sprite counts can far exceed tile counts - TFTD sometimes loads over 500 sprites for terrain alone, but the usual 256 maximum tile count always applies.

 

I reversed the changes I made in the previous update, except for the Avenger which was obviously a bug. I also updated a vat to have the proper value for light blockage and it's death tile. These changes are in my patch kit in the files section.

Light blockage doesn't actually block light (except for OpenXcom). I'm not actually sure the game had a mechanic for blocking light at all (might be worth checking the beta, as that had some functions that didn't make it into the final release of the game?). Sometimes I think Daishiva had insider knowledge when he wrote MapView, but he got enough things wrong that I can never make up my mind...

 

Still contemplating whether or not to change the # of TU to walk/fly/slide over a exterior UFO hull door. I don't really know if it's actually intended by the devs, but it just feels wrong to me that you would need extra TU to cross over a door which is flush with the ground.

I would remove the cost for moving past the door, myself. Going through those things is harsh enough as it is without having to worry about additional TU drain.

 

Edit1: Added some corners/pillars to the Supply Ship which were missing. Was just wondering if adding some of these pillars to the Large Scout would help prevent HE splash damage from getting into the ship through the diagonals from outside? And for the corners/pillars which are walls, would I be better off adding them as a wall or as content?

No idea, not off the top of my head. Haven't ever put much work into explosives research.

 

I think the large scout is fairly secure against outside blasts, except for where the west and north facing walls of the hull are. I once made this screenshot as an example, though i can't remember if I shot at the diagonal segments.

 

(Remember my battlescape editor lets you Ctrl+C/V units to copy/paste them around the map, handy if you want to quickly surround a UFO with cloned rocketeers, and fill the ship with cloned test subjects/aliens - tapping F lets you better see what you're doing).

 

Edit2: UFO ceilings and some combination UFO floor tiles have 100 armor, while the normal square UFO floor tile has only 80 armor. I just wonder if this is a bug too...

And if so, which number is wrong?

[Zombie]

It's also probably worth pointing out that ALL units are flagged as "walkers". Which might be something for UFO Extender to patch, maybe, 'cause the game is definitely coded to use the different TU costs if units are given different movement mode values. Unlike UFO, TFTD does for the most part assign sliding/flying movement modes to different units as appropriate - eg, Hallucinoids get a value of two (flying), but apparently your tanks only get a zero (they walk?).

 

Totally agreed that UFO Extender should patch units so they have appropriate movement types. Would be a fairly simple to fix I'd imagine. As for TFTD, tracked tanks should be assigned a "walking" movement type, but hovering tanks should be set to flying. Maybe this is a fix for TFTD Extender.

 

No, the tile number for the floor is 63, and it uses sprite number 67. The reason these values don't match is because a tile that animates uses multiple sprites. Tile 43, for example, the weird moving alien plant thing, uses sprites 43/44/45/46, so tile 44 ends up using sprite 47. This means that using PCKView to try and work out tile numbers is more trouble then it's worth - keep an eye up on the top of MapView's TileView window instead. The mapID it shows you for the selected tile is its number within the complete map (which has all the individual MCDs clumped together). The mcdID is the tile number just within whatever MCD file that tile came from.

 

That helps a lot, I never looked at the header before.

 

Light blockage doesn't actually block light (except for OpenXcom). I'm not actually sure the game had a mechanic for blocking light at all (might be worth checking the beta, as that had some functions that didn't make it into the final release of the game?).

 

Shouldn't hurt anything to change a light blockage value for the rare case we'll ever get it to function in the game, right?

 

Sometimes I think Daishiva had insider knowledge when he wrote MapView, but he got enough things wrong that I can never make up my mind...

 

ROFL! Thanks for this, I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.

 

I would remove the cost for moving past the door, myself. Going through those things is harsh enough as it is without having to worry about additional TU drain.

 

Sounds like a plan, that'll be in my next patch.

 

No idea, not off the top of my head. Haven't ever put much work into explosives research.

 

I think the large scout is fairly secure against outside blasts, except for where the west and north facing walls of the hull are. I once made this screenshot as an example, though i can't remember if I shot at the diagonal segments.

 

(Remember my battlescape editor lets you Ctrl+C/V units to copy/paste them around the map, handy if you want to quickly surround a UFO with cloned rocketeers, and fill the ship with cloned test subjects/aliens - tapping F lets you better see what you're doing).

 

There's a upper limit to the number of alien units I can clone and place on the map, correct? I probably only need about 20 units per side so that shouldn't eat into the limit too much.

 

And if so, which number is wrong?

 

Well, the other tiles with a design on them all have an armor of 100 (the combination tiles, the ones with a square and a triangle). Of course, those tiles don't have a death tile so 100 is the max health. The normal square tile with the design on it has 80 armor, but it also has a death tile which has an armor of 50 (for a total of 130). So maybe the combination tiles should have 130 armor to take into account the lack of a death tile?

 

I suppose if there was a death tile for those combination tiles, then we could set them to 80 armor like the normal square tile. But I'm not an artist, so I can't do that.

 

- Zombie

[Bomb Bloke]

... As for TFTD, tracked tanks should be assigned a "walking" movement type, ...

Walking? Why not sliding?

 

Shouldn't hurt anything to change a light blockage value for the rare case we'll ever get it to function in the game, right?

Worth doing for OpenXcom alone I'd say.

 

There's a upper limit to the number of alien units I can clone and place on the map, correct?

You're allowed 80 units all up (keeping in mind large units count as four), though the editor doesn't care which side they belong to. It won't crash if you hit the limit, if that's what you're thinking.

 

I suppose if there was a death tile for those combination tiles, then we could set them to 80 armor like the normal square tile. But I'm not an artist, so I can't do that.

The tile counts for certain alien craft are already at the point where there's no room to add more of the things (as in, they're literally equal to the limit), so I'm afraid unique death tiles are out of the question. Could recycle the regular one maybe.

[Tycho]

Totally agreed that UFO Extender should patch units so they have appropriate movement types. Would be a fairly simple to fix I'd imagine. As for TFTD, tracked tanks should be assigned a "walking" movement type, but hovering tanks should be set to flying. Maybe this is a fix for TFTD Extender.

Looking over the data, it seems just to be a matter of patching the appropriate values in the alien stats array. I wonder if the programmers intended to change this value in the alien spawn routine but forgot about it ...

[Sherlock]

There are still mistakes in route files (false distances, some links between nodes missing, incorrect link types etc.). Please check my proposals for patches: https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=File:Eu_routes.zip, and consider adding them to your combo patch. As for now, two smallest UFO maps are patched. More to come! I plan to check all maps in both games (also in order to make more spawn points on maps where there are too small number of them).

[Zombie]

Walking? Why not sliding?

 

Seemed like the best fit? Tanks don't "slither" like Snakemen do. Dunno, that's my take on it.

 

The tile counts for certain alien craft are already at the point where there's no room to add more of the things (as in, they're literally equal to the limit), so I'm afraid unique death tiles are out of the question. Could recycle the regular one maybe.

 

Sounds like a plan. I have a question though. The 5 compound tiles are located in a file called U_BITS.MCD. So if I wanted to link them to a death tile, it (the death tile) would have to reside in the same file, correct? I'd need to clone the death tile for the normal UFO floor tile, then plop that into U_BITS.MCD and then edit the compound tiles to reflect the location in the file, yes? If some of the UFO's have full MCD arrays, then this may not work? There's no way to link to the death tile itself? If yes, then it's possible.

 

Ok, I changed the UFO hull doors to take the anticipated amount of TU to cross. I also noticed that those 5 compound floor tiles were not set to alien alloys for some reason. I changed that also.

 

I wonder if the programmers intended to change this value in the alien spawn routine but forgot about it ...

 

That could very well be. The coding is all there, just unused.

 

There are still mistakes in route files (false distances, some links between nodes missing, incorrect link types etc.). Please check my proposals for patches: https://www.ufopaedia...e:Eu_routes.zip, and consider adding them to your combo patch. As for now, two smallest UFO maps are patched. More to come! I plan to check all maps in both games (also in order to make more spawn points on maps where there are too small number of them).

 

Apologies, when I edited the spawn points for some ships, I didn't pay any attention to the distance field. (I assumed MapView calculated that number internally). Unfortunately, MapView has a tendency to mess up distances for edited nodes it seems, and I can't change the distances by typing in a different number in the box. So I guess game file editing is the only way.

 

I don't really see the point of changing routes 2&3 of the Medium Scout to be small though. Why? Perimeter routes of the UFOs were intended to be any: civ-scout as far as I can tell. On the Medium Scout map, nothing but small units can spawn anyway (no 2x2 terror units). If you are being nit-picky, then the same argument can be extended to routes 0&1 (which you didn't set to small). So I'm a little perplexed about this.

 

Nonetheless, I updated the patch kit with these changes.

 

- Zombie

[Bomb Bloke]

Sounds like a plan. I have a question though. The 5 compound tiles are located in a file called U_BITS.MCD. So if I wanted to link them to a death tile, it (the death tile) would have to reside in the same file, correct? I'd need to clone the death tile for the normal UFO floor tile, then plop that into U_BITS.MCD and then edit the compound tiles to reflect the location in the file, yes? If some of the UFO's have full MCD arrays, then this may not work? There's no way to link to the death tile itself? If yes, then it's possible.

Good point - although it is possible to point to a death tile located in an MCD loaded after the one you're editing, U_BITS is always loaded last, and you can't link backwards. Since the tables are full and new tiles can't be added, I think that about explains why they weren't linked up to death tiles to begin with.

[Sherlock]

I have finished with UFO:EU, and made corrections for all maps (also terrains etc.) with errors I found. You may check the new version now, it has already been uploaded.

 

Bomb Bloke, on 31 January 2013 - 10:34 AM, said:

Apologies, when I edited the spawn points for some ships, I didn't pay any attention to the distance field. (I assumed MapView calculated that number internally). Unfortunately, MapView has a tendency to mess up distances for edited nodes it seems, and I can't change the distances by typing in a different number in the box. So I guess game file editing is the only way.

 

Indeed, it calculates them, except exits (west, north, east, south). However, they may disappear easily. The best method is to click on the value as soon as it appears, and next to use Tab. Then the value should be stable. Of course, you must save the current map before opening another, or you will lose your edition.

 

I realize that MapView has its own humors, and you must really watch out when using it - but all the correction you can see (53 maps altogether!) have really been made with MapView exclusively, without any hex editors or something else.

 

I don't really see the point of changing routes 2&3 of the Medium Scout to be small though. Why? Perimeter routes of the UFOs were intended to be any: civ-scout as far as I can tell. On the Medium Scout map, nothing but small units can spawn anyway (no 2x2 terror units). If you are being nit-picky, then the same argument can be extended to routes 0&1 (which you didn't set to small). So I'm a little perplexed about this.

 

Nonetheless, I updated the patch kit with these changes.

 

- Zombie

 

Thanks, and my apologies in turn :-) You are right, I have missed 0 and 1, they should be set to Small. I think the only reason for doing this may be a situation if the aliens (i.e. Ethereals on Medium Scout) took an Xcom tank under control.

 

Nodes 2&3 cannot serve large units because there is no place for southern and eastern parts of them. As far as I know, the node is the place for the NW part of a large unit. You cannot place a tank in the node 2 because there is a UFO wall just south to it, and there is no place for SW/SE parts. For the same reason a tank cannot be placed in the node 3 - there is a wall just east to it, and no place for its NE/SE parts.

 

Of other changes I have made... have you noticed this bad looking pillar on the 2nd level of Terror Ship, north to the eastern navigation table? I think it has no function at all, and I have removed it. See the map file.

 

And X-Base... When many aliens attack, there may be no nodes for some hostile units, especially when there is too few hangars in the base. This is why I have added 9 spawn nodes on Access Lift map, with lower priority than other alien-dedicated nodes. This way 9 additional aliens will be able to spawn if there is such a need.

 

If you like the changes, add them to the package as well.