R&D to Increase Squad Size

[Amineri]

I've got a working version of this for EW patch 1, using basic pawn-cycling as the unit list boxes are scrolled left and right. The pawns instantaneously swap which is a bit jarring, but they at least line up with the unit list boxes.

 

I've also updated the upk-side so that it all works properly with keyboard/gamepad controls (I've only tested keyboard, but they use the same OnUnrealCommand callback as gamepad) as well as with the mouse. Honestly, XMTS did the heavy lifting with all of the required Flash changes -- the upk side stuff was pretty simple.

 

The full mod has 14 distinct changes, which since I'm working within the Long War EW development, are in 14 distinct upk_mod files for UPKmodder. 6 of the files are for Flash changes, and 8 are for Unrealscript changes. Currently I'm awaiting either XMTS or JL to verify my changes before posting up the complete mod.

 

It will likely need to be translated into wghost's format for easier installation. To fit the functionality to handle the Mouse Event callback I had to resize one of the functions, which will prevent translation into a ToolBoks-compatible mod.

[dubiousintent]

Hmm. Wouldn't it make sense to create a bi-directional format conversion tool? Or perhaps that should be 'tri-directional' to include ToolBoks as well. (Though the motivation to work on it probably lies elsewhere than with either you or wghost81.)

 

-Dubious-

[nickroa]

hello, been looking through this thread for almost an hour now but havnt seen what ive been lookin for. has anyone gotten bigger squad sizes to work with a fully updated EU? i got the tool boks working with an 8 man squad but am very tired of the instability of the rollback feature and would like to see if i can get just a few mods to work with the fully updated version of EU, the squad size thing being the first id like to tackle. or perhaps a more reliable way of rolling back the updates or using toolboks. seems i have to re verify integrity of game and completely restart the rollback like every 5th time playing

[dubiousintent]

There are only handful of active mod creators, and they are busy making their mods work with EW. I'm not aware of any mods that have been updated to EU patch 6, though some might now consider it since the last two EW patches did not affect EU at all. So, for the moment using the downgrade to EU patch 4 is all there is available.

 

Getting an older EU mod to work with patch 6 requires basically examining it for 1) any alteration to prior code the mod relies upon, and 2) identifying the changes in offsets for the same code changes. In some cases 2) is all that is needed and UPK-Modder was created specifically to help with all of that. Larger alien squads is more complicated, but was written to be used with UPKUtils, which is generally compatible with older ToolBoks Custom Mods. Wghost81 is the author of both the Larger Alien Squad Size mod and the toolkit and the person you need to address.

 

-Dubious-

Edited March 26, 2014 by dubiousintent

[cyberdemon666]

I've got a working version of this for EW patch 1, using basic pawn-cycling as the unit list boxes are scrolled left and right. The pawns instantaneously swap which is a bit jarring, but they at least line up with the unit list boxes.

 

I've also updated the upk-side so that it all works properly with keyboard/gamepad controls (I've only tested keyboard, but they use the same OnUnrealCommand callback as gamepad) as well as with the mouse. Honestly, XMTS did the heavy lifting with all of the required Flash changes -- the upk side stuff was pretty simple.

 

The full mod has 14 distinct changes, which since I'm working within the Long War EW development, are in 14 distinct upk_mod files for UPKmodder. 6 of the files are for Flash changes, and 8 are for Unrealscript changes. Currently I'm awaiting either XMTS or JL to verify my changes before posting up the complete mod.

 

It will likely need to be translated into wghost's format for easier installation. To fit the functionality to handle the Mouse Event callback I had to resize one of the functions, which will prevent translation into a ToolBoks-compatible mod.

Hi guys,

First of all I wanted to say that I really appreciate all your hard work concerning this mod.

I really like to start a new EW playthough but of course only with an increased squad size ;).

So I just wanted to ask if Amineri's changes have already been verified. If so, could you post the whole mod here?

 

regards

Cyberdemon

[neoxes]

Is it possible to have 8 soldiers in EW with just editing DefaultGameCore.ini and .exe files?

[Krazyguy75]

No, because neither of those contain the coding to support it.

[Altrunchen]

This mod looks like it would be very fun to use! Especially with mods that make it so that you have to fight two sectopods in one UFO mission. But it has been about 5 months since this thread was updated so I am just wondering if there is any further development on this at all?

 

If not then I just have a question: I one adjusted my DGC.ini to have the skyranger capacity set to about 8 or so and it worked in terms of letting the squad members spawn on the map (sometimes not where they should be like the OP said) so I changed the setting back to 4. But now when I load the game and try to select my team for deployment, it still enables me to select 8 people even though both .ini files say the capacity is 4 (and I bought both upgrades to increase the capacity to 6). Does anyone have any input on this?

[xkopofil]

hello, i know now 2021 maybe no one to answer..

i have the extra slot now with changing the hex code by XMarksTheSpot

but the problem is i cant add my extra squad member. how to add extra squad and the same time filled it ?

 

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Edited March 18, 2021 by xkopofil

[JDDysart]

Hello xkopofil,

My apologies in taking so long to reply. When I first came onto the EU modding scene most mod makers were overly involved with mods for "Long War", which I had no real interest in, but these mods do delve into just about all the interesting parts of the game.

To handle the number of units taken on a mission might I suggest -
With ini loading enabled, the DefaultGameCore.ini file contains three (3) relevant lines:

• NUM_STARTING_SOLDIERS=12
• BARRACKS_CAPACITY=99
• SKYRANGER_CAPACITY = 4
• notes:
  • These lines are usually maintained in any save files, requiring a new game be started to see the effect(s).
  • The units shown (in the hanger) are: up to the first five (5) auto-selected units and the last auto-selected unit.

I recommend that you maintain: SKYRANGER_CAPACITY <= NUM_STARTING_SOLDIERS < BARRACKS_CAPACITY. When otherwise unmodded, the game will add any OTS Squad bonuses to the SKYRANGER_CAPACITY and (when enough units are available) take that number of units on a mission.

To handle the spawning issue (with EU) might I suggest -
Where the DefaultGameCore.ini is located, there is also a DefaultInput.ini file, at the bottom of which I have included the following:

[Engine.PlayerInput]
.Bindings=(Name="S", 	 Command="exec SHQResources.txt", Control=True)

[XComGame.XComTacticalInput]
.Bindings=(Name="T",     Command="exec TSquadUnit.txt", Control=True)

• placing these lines at the bottom of the DefaultInput.ini file will override any other bindings to THESE KEYS.
• the SHQResources.txt file contains lines such as GiveResource Scientist 5, GiveResource Engineers 10 and ;GiveItem WeaponFragment 250,
  (the semi-colon makes the rest of the line a comment);
• the TSquadUnit.txt file contains the TeleportToCursor command, among other console commands (such as ReloadAmmo and ResetUnitMovement);

For the more or less vanilla versions of EU there appear to only be two issues:

• the UI functions for selecting which units to take on a particular mission;
• and the "spawning" function on the maps.

My first thoughts -
Adding more units to the "spawning" function should be easy enough, however the original code included a six unit limit which will need to be modded. But the big block, at least to me, is the UI coding for selecting a squad - which will probably far exceed my poor graphic abilities; IMO not really worth doing, unless you can actually select which units to take!
My work around currently is to keep the SKYRANGER_CAPACITY equal to the number of units in the barracks, and use the TeleportToCursor function (as suggested above) to retrieve any "out of bounds" units.

Edit:
I am currently reviewing this thread to see what I might have forgotten.
Seems that the R&D started with EU (Enemy Unknown) before more recent Official Patches were released, and at some point transitioned to EW (Enemy Within) - with some Longwar revisions thrown into the mix.
Not to mention the use of some fairly early versions of certain modding tools.

Once I have enough of this clear in my own mind I expect to have at least a current status report to post ... Edited July 9, 2023 by JDDysart