CaesarInvictus

Alright, a few heavy metal albums later and some midnight oil, I think I might have something to show for this work. Please remember this is WITHOUT NORMAL MAPS, so shadows and lighting look weird on it. I also havent made this tintable yet, but plan to! Check this beautiful thing out: http://i.imgur.com/Og9guO7.jpg http://i.imgur.com/GhCca3l.jpg http://i.imgur.com/zqkwZUc.jpg http://i.imgur.com/RyQXiyK.jpg http://i.imgur.com/vhhs4FZ.jpg http://i.imgur.com/3iukcob.jpg http://i.imgur.com/xQpVK4d.jpg http://i.imgur.com/KSPEccY.jpg "XCOM Tactical Division was tasked early in the war to develop a next-gen armor using the best materials earth had available. The most advanced experimental future soldier programs all collaborated to create the Tactical Harness, referred to as "Kevlar" or "Flak Armor" by its users, the model XC-227E Tactical Combat Harness (TCH) system is a superior military solution to almost any scenario we are aware of soldiers getting into. Falling from high on? Not to worry, reinforced boots and shock absorbers keep the user relatively safe and ensure his or her gear remains secure and tight. Running into a burning building? No problem, flame-retardant fibres laced into the tactical harness slow burning and internalized heat sinks keep users relatively cool under pressure. Shot by assault weapons? The TCH system has been tested and proven to shrug off small arms and even low caliber sniper ammo. While XCOM's advanced array of tactical ballistic arms can breach the TCH system, tight council control over arms proliferation has ensured that only XCOM operatives could actually kill XCOM operatives... with bullets. The tragedy of the TCH was, while it was itself a perfect armor system of near-futuretech, it could not stop the alien advance. Casualties from its users mount continuously despite the XCOM initiative's best efforts. Under-vests of alien nanofibre mitigated the problems somewhat, but by the end of the war the TCH was known to be a cushioned, comfort-fitted death-trap given to low ranking disposable personnel. The designers of the TCH, a multinational team of Earth's very best, were seen as frauds and murderers by many a Great Invasion veteran soldier, and the Council's internal review committees found that while the TCH was literally the best armor they could produce, and indeed, earth had ever seen up to that point, it was simply not enough. The TCH remained a staple of XCOM deployments however, due to its all-earth material construction, making it remain highly visible and prominent in X-COM operations until, finally, alien compounds were successfully replicated, several decades after X-COM launched. In that time, over one-hundred thousand TCH systems were manufactured and deployed by both X-COM and several council conventional military's, notably certain Russian Spetsnaz divisions, and the United States Rangers and Marine Corps. A retired X-COM Tactical Division colonel once reported. "The TCH? Hell, that thing was a hunk of junk against Xray plasma, but I'll damned if it didnt look great. Wonder if the designers prioritized aesthetics over practicality? Guess we'll never know either way." Stay posted for more updates from X-COM Tactical Division, commanders. Reports indicate that new "SNIPER" weapons systems are currently in the pipe, five-by-five.

Updates: Got the female 'kevlar' body armor texture ingame for some testing. Results were... very okay. It has a ways to go I think, but is less messy than the male equivalent texture, which is good. It's also a bit more bland though, which is bad. http://i.imgur.com/Z2qywGQ.jpg http://i.imgur.com/rjy0Hw5.jpg http://i.imgur.com/I7xbDv4.jpg http://i.imgur.com/RiVvlnA.jpg Try to look past some of the rather terrible mapping errors. The crotches on these poor ladies' pants just look really uncomfortable right now. I'll see about fixing that ASAP. A few straps aren't reaching around properly either... I've noticed the male texture set actually has more detail and parts to it than the female equivalent. Firaaxisss, do I sense bias ? :) Just kidding. These are what Ill probably be working with for the next little while. The toughest leg work is done with these base textures. Now I just need to clean them, fix them, make them look preety, and then tint colour code them to perfection. The look im ultimately aiming for is a believable futuristic group of professional soldiers. I'm gettin' close to that goal! PS: Dat shotgun :3

More progress today, mostly on the 'Hyperion' elite soldier pack deco. Here's a few shots of it in action, I thought they looked cool! Ladies and Gentlemen, the Hyperion X-1 http://i.imgur.com/MHI1KnY.jpg On the outset of the war, XCOM founding members feverishly looked for the best camoflauge designs for their soldiers. Many manufacturers and clandestine military patterns were tested and considered, but ultimately it was the US-based "Kryptek" corporation which provided a clean answer: Their new Kryptek camo patterns had recently begun circulation in certain US army and marine branches after being tested and put into production in 2012-2013. But enough of that, we have live footage of the camoflauge in action courtesy of XCOM Team alpha, on deployment in Mexico: http://i.imgur.com/GeL8ad3.jpg http://i.imgur.com/QRFQCUP.jpg http://i.imgur.com/RpjexH6.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/6Bo6qwF.jpg http://i.imgur.com/8dE1WaK.jpg Keep fighting the good fight out there commanders. Edit: proof that sometimes, I can really, really botch a texture. I swear this seemed like a good idea at the time: http://i.imgur.com/PwA2RFh.jpg The good news is I can now make team colourable camoflauge and probably other stuff too. The bad news is it took two hours resulting in this horror show to learn it. Ugh.

Amineri, you magnificent modder! This is excellent news! I eagerly await this to happen. Assuming one could ramp up the difficulty in general and extend the game longer this could essentially be the prime late-game mechanic, winning back all the lost ground from earlier failures. I'm so glad the modding community continues its work despite an apparent lack of enthusiasm. What we lack in numbers we make up for in skill! Hurrah!

Update: I've done futurisitic retextures of the male and female body armor. On paper it SOUNDS awesome, but I've run into texture problems. Custom 'colour tint' maps are screwing with me. At first I thought I could just remove the channel that calls those colours up, but its not working the way I want. So instead of proper armor your actually getting this almost-correct weird tinted texture. In the future I had planned to re-make the tint maps to suit the new radically different textures, but now I dont know. EDIT: Breakthrough! A lot of hard work payed off and I got some results for you guys. LOOKIT! http://i.imgur.com/HT0rXNF.jpg http://i.imgur.com/n0PeLjz.jpg http://i.imgur.com/0114mGG.jpg http://i.imgur.com/1vvemv1.jpg These are images from my first beta test retexture of the basic kevlar body armor. See any differences? :tongue: The female armor texture is almost entirely different in a good way. I plan to make XCOM look as visually diverse as I can. This texture will be even better once we can master the vagaries of getting the colour and light maps to properly work with the armor. The next step is normals. which are easy. Very soon I'll have a basic "TIER ONE OPERATIVE" pack out, which retextures the basic body armor, the "Hyperion" deco body armor (looks kind of like football pad armor) and all the basic ballistic guns. CURRENT PROGRESS towards public release: Assault Rifle: 100% DONE Shotgun: 99% - I need to make one change and its effectively ready. Looks badass, if you want I'll preview it. Heavy LMG: 25% - looks terrible, not even worth previewing. I need to rethink it completely, perhaps even start fresh Sniper: 0% - Have not yet begun work MALE 'kevlar' body armor 65% - What I just previewed. Needs texture tuning, cleanup, a bit more 'XCOM' detail with logos, patches, etc. Also needs new normal maps and proper colour and glow-mapping FEMALE 'kevlar' body armor 45-50% - The actual texture is around where the male is. but I had serious bugs putting it into the game, see above text. Will re-attempt soon. Beyond that, it has the same problems as the 'male' armor. Hyperion (deco 2) armor: 90-100% - Texture is done, colour maps should work with my changes, the only reason this isnt counted as done is because I broke my own game and cant select that deco for testing. I plan to reinstall XCOM shortly to test things out better. BONUS: T34 deco body armor - 100% Done! Glory for the motherland! I'm hoping that now that people realize that I'm effectively four textures away from a huge release this will get some more attention.

Ah well. Back to plan A then, basic straight up retextures. This much I can do! I havent actually been able to test the new kevlar's ingame yet; it's awkward for me since I already added a large number of new 'deco's' to the game for personal reasons (read: the other armor classes' decos can be used by everything, even the basic low level stuff) I'm currently struggling with the shotgun and LMG Edit: Today I let loose a bit and decided to release my inner spetsnaz a bit These images represent an optional add-on to the main pack, which ive decided will be mostly a "XCOM, but better" release. In order to keep people satisfied optional textures like these will come out for various nations ((Note: Im previewing this with the "Military Retexture Pack" body armor texture. The first release is meant to be a compliment to that mod, after all.)) http://i.imgur.com/x1aRXlD.jpg http://i.imgur.com/RiMKQe6.jpg http://i.imgur.com/fklEmtK.jpg "The Model T34 battledress was released publicly in eastern europe in 2014 to mixed reception. Despite its revolutionary lightweight metal and kevlar plate design the battle armor failed to properly mix with trends calling for light infantry tactics. Russia acted as the principle buyer of these armor systems, much to the military community's confusion." "In March 2015 when the XCOM project initative launched, the Russian Federation revealed their hand: in secret they had attempted their own local 'XCOM' equivalent, made from crack spetsnaz teams. Engagements with the aliens were up close and personal, and to aid these russian units, the T34 was brought to bear; being perfect for this new dangerous war. In addition to some of its excess spetsnaz members being granted to the XCOM project, a large number of suits have been dispatched with their users. These are now at the disposal of the local base Commander, and are ready for use as of immediately." "The T34s have taken on a sentimental quality with their users. It is normal to observe soldiers delicately paint battle cries of victory onto their armored plates, or obsess over their detailed camoflauge patterns" Notes: -Uses a combination of Izlom and Partisan camoflauge -Minimal custom-colour options -Bears Russian and spetsnaz insignia -This particular suit was manufactured in Volgograd, dispatched to a Spetsnaz Guard Brigade, and finally brought here. -It's official unit/user name is "Cherno Alpha" -unofficially this particular unit has been dubbed 'Sasha' -when originally released, this suit retailed for around 10,000 USD. Thanks to proficient russian industrial efforts, XCOM receives surplus suits free. Well commanders, what do you think?

I could do quite a bit with additional deco and helmet/hat work, and I do mean *a lot*, but I'm bad at the coding side of things. If only we knew for sure that Texmod could inject entirely new textures into the game. The way the program works you would need a texture to be already in the game in order for it to be injected: when you rip out a texture the program creates specific code that tells the program exactly where to place the edited texture back again, and this is used to create .tpf files with the package builder (.tpfs are what regular users will use to load up pre-made modifications. It...might work, but I dont feel confident in the process. If we could just use a new dummy texture to fool Texmod/the game into thinking that there was a texture to be had there, we could get the code for that .tpf as normal and just use the proper modded texture in its place. If that could somehow be achieved we would be golden. It would actually solve a number of issues I'm facing at the moment. EDIT: you posted that after I started typing this, awesome! I'll check it out immediately. Anyway! I promised pictures of the assault, so here's a treat: http://i.imgur.com/dMwwUsD.jpg Very early sneak peak at the shotgun, after a few hours worth of trying to get that wood paneling right I come in game and realize I missed a few spots. Still, looks really good. I think I'll keep it. The text on the shells reads '12 GAUGE' and is probably upside down/the wrong caliber but ehhh whatever. The badass logo has "XCOM Assault Corps" written on it, though you'll never see that. It just made sense to me that the Assault guys get the fun stuff like this. I mean if your main asset to the team is that you can run up to the alien menace and survive, you've earned to have some misplaced pride in your work! I want to keep the shotgun looking low-tech, so I might try to make the metal look more...gritty, cut up and stuff. I'm also willing to add some personal touches to it if people like. Little mementos added on by the soldiers, that sort of thing. I imagine the Assault class can get pretty eccentric.

You mean on the later sci fi armors and weapons? It would be hard to make the current 'tier one' armors -lower- tech than what they already are. Not sure, honestly. Again the models would be uncooperative as would... logic. I can only make a laser rifle look so realistic before things begin to get silly. In my dreams I would have the ability to import models into the game, set up new unique guns and armors for specific countries, add unique stats and abilities to them... But no, I have to work within the realm of the possible. If I'm very fortunate the above theory will be true and we can create new 'Deco' options with unique textures, which will again be rather limited in nature (the current 'deco' options leave much to be desired) but still, better than nothing. If not, I'll simply try to make do with what I have and create the very best mod possible for all of you :D Currently I'm working on the heavy LMG and trying to figure out how to make stuff use (or in my case, stop using) custom colour tints. I actually know what manipulates them but I just havent figured out how to add new patterns, for technical reasons. I've also done some very, very cool work on the default 'Assault' Deco - the model pieces that get added to assaults when they are promoted. It's awesome, but I'll wait to show that off.

I'm doing the heavy's LMG next but its not quite coming along as well as the AR did. Any ideas? Gosh come on this thread is dead in the water. Get some chatter going people! I swear you can ask me to put stickers onto these guns and i'll do it. I really want to get some feedback and ideas bouncing around in here! Edit: I might even be able to edit the UI... now there's a cool idea! Change those blue lines to yellow or whatever.

Assault Rifle now finished. I went for a cool sleek tactical look. Note the new detail! Now in the glam-shots with this thing you'll be able to enjoy a very sleek pseudo-futuristic weapon. Early game just got a lot more cool. http://i.imgur.com/PTiEeCI.jpg http://i.imgur.com/1dCRs88.jpg http://i.imgur.com/7bsmkWb.jpg "This is XCOM Tactical division. Thanks for the new toys, Central." Bonus! http://i.imgur.com/Ds2i84n.jpg

That's fascinating, and potentially groundbreaking stuff right there. As for Texmod, its a relatively simple injector tool. From my limited understanding it looks at loaded textures in the game, and extracts what it sees. So I'm not sure but I'm inclined to believe that it would call the same texture for the kevlar, because we havent changed what texture the .upk file calls up. At least in theory anyway. Hex changing that texture file name miiight do it- but we would need to be ever-so-careful about it. Since Texmod is an injector I am unsure if we can add new content to the game directly (a new kevlar file unbound to any other kevlar files) and have it be called up for a modded new armor. Ultimately this would require research, and I'm limited in a few ways: I dont know anything about .upk or hex editing, and so on. Texmod is great for replacing content but of dubious worth for adding new content, basically. I'm mostly worried the new content wont be put in its proper place. Anyway all that said I'm going to be working on the DLC helmets/hats/whatever very soon. Ideas and suggestions on those would be nice. I'm mostly trying to add camoflauge pattern to them, but while I'm there there's no reason not to have some fun ! Edit: assuming it could be done perfectly with no bugs I would eagerly take up the cause of making nation specific retextures for every country part of the XCOM project, at least for the kevlar's Mostly just by using nation specific camo patterns, patches, etc, but still

Update: I've extracted all the textures I need at the moment. Can't wait to give a teaser. Stay tuned to this thread to see a sampling. Early proof of concept screenshot on a modded AR. I wanted to go for a mixed M16/Aliens Pulse Rifle. What I ended up with was this...thing. http://i.imgur.com/rzCRquu.jpg http://i.imgur.com/XQZI3Vn.jpg I'll probably trash it and try for something better but hey, baby steps right?

Another idea is to try a multinational approach with the armors, with each armor being attributed to their own country, perhaps with multiple retextures to let you mix and match them as you pleased. Something like: Russian 'Spetsnaz' suits: Carapace/Titan British 'SAS' suits: Skeleton/Arch-Angel American 'SFOD-D' or 'SEALS' suits: Carapace/Titan/Ghost etc, with each individual suit being its own texture package for texmod to load as it pleases. That ought to please everyone if the aforementioned 'pack' idea is unpopular This method would also lead to much faster released as well. I really want to do a Sam Fisher type retexture of the ghost armor! Gah, so many possibilities. Edit: that way if you really wanted to you could tailor your armor textures to fit your current all-star squad. That would be awesome !

Hey all! I've noticed not many people are talking about retexturing XCOM, which is a shame since its one of the things we can actually do if we wanted to. I know how to extract XCOM's textures via Texmod and have the tools and (admittedly, rather basic) skill needed to modify them. Mostly what I'm interested in at this point is ideas for what to do, where the demands are and so on. My first project is going to be picking up where the "military retexture pack" here on the nexus left off and camo-up all the new slingshot DLC armor. After that, I was thinking of doing a: Marine Corps pack, featuring (unrealistic) logos, detail, and varying kinds of camoflauge to the game in order to build a general feeling that your commanding a company of space marines on a bug-hunt, ala aliens 2, but with a modern feel. The basic guns (and perhaps lasers) will be made black or gunmetal grey, with a bunch of neat little details and personality touches 'The XCOM initiative' pack, which would be my reinvisioning of the XCOM armors, again with a lot of little details and touches. Hopefully this would be most in line with the vanilla game. 'Warsaw Pact' (Space Russian) pack: Mostly because I feel silly and think that it would be a fun idea. Featuring AK-esque retexturing on the early game guns (including wood paneling! yes!) and a bunch of silly space-russian touches. I plan on naming the power armor "T34" for example. The possibilities are fairly diverse however. If you really wanted me to I could even make your XCOM operatives into S.W.A.T. team members. Currently I'm only limited by one constraint: its hard for me to rip the textures from the game via Texmod because my laptop lacks the necessary keys to navigate textures (trust me, Ive looked around, it simply does not have those functions) so I'll need to scavenge an extra plug-in keyboard or something. Alternatively, if someone could PM me stuff like armor or gun textures, I could get to work immediately, but that's probably illegal. Beyond that I could start today, and am taking requests. Fire away!

I see that we're of like-mind on the civil war factions, bben. Regional troopers would be possible but could be slightly anachronistic; for instance, I could make rift stormcloaks with a brigand-ish sort of loadout, but I would have little in the way to enforce where they would spawn among stormcloak units. So in the final battle for solitude or fort battles in and around markarth you might see Rift troopers running around. For balance purposes I would probably make region-unique npcs around the same toughness as normal stormcloaks too, just slightly different. If all that sounds okay then I dont see why I couldnt add them in. Leadership of those local troops is sadly something that would be difficult to pull off. It is possible; if I added the ability for groups of three stormcloaks to be called when the game calls for a generic stormcloak npc I could in theory create a region based warband or 'lance' of fighters. But this is an unstable solution with the potential to throw balance badly out of the window, unless the imperials also had similar spawn potential. And at that point every battle would devolve into a mess of npcs- and large npc battles in skyrim are buggy and problematic. Alternatively I could make local hold 'warlords' that can summon allies in combat ala conjuration. While this option sounds gimmicky its actually a potentially more interesting one from a gameplay perspective, assuming I could get the conjuration AI working right and make the spells sufficiently convincing. (maybe have a horn call sound and animation, then have a warrior run into the cell or something) I did have a very rudimentary plan for stormcloaks in place, but I'll be sure to tweak it so that it has a bit more life in it: STORMCLOAK units -Great War Veteran Heavy legion chest armor, nordplate boots and gauntlets, steel horned helmet ((Ulfrics call brought many other disgruntled legion veterans out of retirement, bringing with them old campaign armor, mixed with the armor of their homeland)) Weapons: high quality blunt one-handers, a heavy shield of some sort. -Black cloak The invisible hand of Ulfric and the sole 'special forces' unit among the stormcloaks, these are robed assasin-like figures who sometimes operate with stormcloak cells to wage guerilla war upon the Legion's forces. Black hood, perhaps renamed thieves guild armor. Equipped with dual daggers of mid-high quality, poison, and medium quality bow/crossbow. Arrows likely enchanted with poisons or debuffs. -Barbarian ((Some nords are... simpler than others)) A physically large nord with hide or scale armor equipped with a large war-ax, of variable quality Highly skilled and hearty, has self-healing spells and potions. -Legion Turncoat ((Ulfrics call to arms has convinced more than a few legion auxilliaries to turn their weapons against their masters)) Stormcloak chest armor with legion helmets greaves and boots. Armed with normal legion weapons. -Knight of Windhelm ((Ulfrics own hold is more sophisticated than the legion would like to think, and produces capable nobles fit for battle)) Similar to Cyrodiilic knights except that Windhelm knights carry crossbows and enchanted two handed swords; Nordplate armor with some minor randomization. -Stormcloak Cryomancer ((nord mages who abandoned their college to fight for Ulfric. They have trained themselves in the art of destruction magic, particularly a mastery of ice based spells)) -dangerous high level destruction mages capable of unleashing master level arctic spells on legion units; has very little to no armor, low HP, and no self or group preservation spells (healing or wards)- a glass canon. -Coastal Raider ((Old tradition bound 'pirates' from the coasts and floes of the sea of ghosts come to aid in the rebellion, armed and equipped with hand axes and shields.)) -Viking analogue, can summon ancestor spirits to aid him, has powerful buffing spells, often carries high level or enchanted weaponry. -Dunmer militia ((from the slums of Windhelm vagrant or unlawful dunmer are taken by the tens to become canon-fodder for Ulfircs war. Armed and equipped with terrible hand-me-down or scavenged weapons and armor, these irregulars rely on familiars, ancestor-spirits, and hope to survive.)) -Equipped with clothing and occasionally the odd piece of armor or two. Iron level weaponry. Some summoning spells. -Merchant militia ((born out of the moderately wealthy families of Windhelm and the Rift, merchant militia are offered as a tithe in order to appease Ulfric and allow for favorable policies and tax-breaks for the more well-to-do families of the rebellion. As such these militiamen and mercenaries are assembled paid and trained professionally, and fight as such in the stormcloaks service.)) -Healer ((Not everyone in the rebellion fights. These battlefield medics tend to the Sons of Skyrim in battle, but are largely drawn from noncombatant civilians, who have no place in war. Quick to run and useless as fighters Healers can only provide group benefits to keep stronger soldiers in the battle longer)) *Might remove this, depends on how AI plays out. -Stormcloak Veteran ((Those who survive in the harsh reality of the rebellion are made stronger, more self sufficient, and more independent.)) Stronger version of the normal stormcloak soldier with self-healing and better gear. -Stormcloak Battle-brother ((For those veterans who prove themselves true heroes of Skyrim, the title of battle-brother is given)) A stronger version of the Windhelm knight with enchanted gear, some magical talent, and faster movement speed, highly dangerous.)) -Stormcloak Loremaster ((Men of the mountains with deep connections to the Thu'um and Skyrim, who can call on the loyal dead of Sovngaarde to fight again from beyond the grave for their land.)) Summons dead ghost-heroes to fight, shouts, competent two-hander specialist.

Great idea! You could even expand it, so say your in the Legion and you pray to Akatosh, its patron god, perhaps you gain a bonus to a legion related skill since your in that faction? Same for talos and the stormcloaks!

If some of the tougher npcs were leveled in such a way as to always be a challenge this too could be avoided. Though I would be hesitant to do so. Other mods like Duel combat realism make this less likely to happen ingame anyway, so I'm inclined not to do things like that. This isnt meant to be a difficulty mod per-se, just one that fleshes out the world and the groups operating within it to be more dynamic

I've been thinking quite a bit about the factions that bethesda left us in skyrim. It's come to my attention that after playing the game for a long time one realizes that there is precious little depth to NPC mechanics and how these factions interact. Mods like warzones have come to increase the conflict, and others like "Civil War Overhaul" have done much to improve an otherwise bland gameplay experience, but it leaves one wanting more, and for some time I could not identify why. Well, after deliberation Ive come to a conclusion. The reason I held those views was simple: mechanically the factions behaved almost entirely the same, and quickly became bland and boring to fight against. There is no difference to fighting the stormcloaks or the legion or the Thalmor or any 'humanoid' faction really, save for very rudimentary equipment differences; enemies will not use fresh tactics or challenge players with unique situations and require numbers to overwhelm players rather than thought provoking strategy. The mod I am proposing to make would solve this in a lore friendly and engaging way by making encountering a legion soldier a far more interesting experience. Below is a very quick sketch of a few prospective new NPC types I would add to the legion. They would be implemented with complete preexisting legion AI, factions, routines, etc and so would be fully compatible with almost any mod of similar make, particularly because they are called as new entities in legion leveled character lists rather than edited vanilla entries; with this method not only will the new npcs behave properly but also instantly render the mod compatible with anything legion related on the nexus right now; the lists I would use are only dabbled with by two mods I know of, and with only rudimentary implementation at best. Imperial Legion: -Front Ranker (heavy infantry) EQUIPMENT: -Heaviest armor feasible for legion infantry; consider nordplate, potential for ebony heavy enchanted imperial shield, potentially enchanted melee weapons, high quality BLUNT weapons (maces, war-axes) -Legion Archer EQUIPMENT: -Lightest armor possible, possible random chance for hide gear, simple. Imperial bow with random chance for something higher, good variety of quality arrows, chance for enchanted arrows -Legion Crossbowman Equipment: -Medium level of armor, standard imperial trooper getup, give a simple sword and crossbow -Cyrodiilic Knight Equipment: -Full plate mail, perhaps with legion heavy plus nordplate accessories, whatever works; big lumbering brute to act as a tank; give two handers, heal spells. Some level of randomization? -Black Marsh Expatriate* (Argonians exclusively) Equipment: -Medium level legion armor with exotic accessories. Consider orcish/falmer/whatever. Speedy with dual wielding weapons of varying quality -> knives or short swords above iron but below ebony. -Hammerfell Expatriate* (Redguards exclusively) Equipment: Redguard headgear, medium-heavy legion armor, eastern style accessories. Armed with mix of quality bows and quality maces. -Aldmeri Expatriate* (high elves and wood elves exclusively) Equipment: Elven helmet, boots/gloves. Spellcasters in thalmor robes with legion accessories -Nordic Auxillia Equipment: wide range of gear, some occasional variation even in chest armor (steel, occasionally wolf/nordplate) Medium quality sword and shield randomization. -Imperial Battlemage Equipment: red mage robes, preferably with some healing and destruction buffs -Alternatively (keep it randomgen) heavy legion armor and hoods -Armed with high* quality knives, wide range of destruction or heal spells (if possible, buff self/allies) -Cyrodiilic Auxillia* mix of races, predominantly imperial (nominal redguard, elven, nordic, elements) Equipment: light imperial gear with chances for better quality stuff chance for high quality bow builds superior to the archer chance for high quality melee equipment superior to normal legion units -Dunmer Auxillia: Equipment: Medium quality legion armor, perhaps with chitin pieces, chance for one of three builds: -'Redoran' -> given slightly better armor, bonemold elements. -'Telvanni' -> enchanted weapons (iron or steel), mage-hoods. -'Hlaalu' -> high level exotic weaponry -Orcish Auxillia: Equipment: Medium to heavy legion armor, orcish accessories Orcish weapons, obviously. -Imperial Sergeant Front ranker but with officer helmet and group buff spells, healing spells. Slightly more health and higher level -Imperial Captain Imperial knight but with Tullius gear and no helmet, ebony level accessories and weapons. -Imperial Tribune Higher level captain, **rare** power to summon allies to assist him in battle (Cyrodiilic auxillia)Expatriates: represent individuals descended from political exiles or imperial patriots from lands that have seceeded from the empire. They also include rehabilitated prisoners of war serving out penal sentencing in battle, and occasionally spies for their former masters. Auxillia: As the military demands on the legion increase local troops are gathered to fill out the gaps in legion battle lines in lieu of distant reinforcements. The Auxillia are recruited regionally rather than ethnically, and because of lax regulations will often fight in their native styles with weapons and armor they brought with them into service. Front Rankers: represent the hardened veteran shock infantry selected to be first in organized legion battle lines at the head of a legion, also representative of the legion's elite first cohort. Simply the best of the best of the regular soldiery. Assuming the initial legion release was well enough received I would move on to do the same to the stormcloak faction, then the Thalmor, perhaps even the 'Hold Guards' until every generic NPC faction in the game had its own set of variable randomly generated characters which could, if successful, make the game feel considerably less padded, more engaging, more alive. Imagine what it would be like if in your average hold you came across a <City name here> Captain, who upon catching you in an act of crime blows a horn and summons two or three weaker guards to his side (for a limited time of course). Or perhaps you ambush an Aldmeri patrol with the intent of killing the elves only to realize all too late that the group had a proficient Wood Elf druid in their ranks, who promptly summons a Spriggan to accost you. This is the sort of thing that this kind of mod can readily achieve. The random chance nature of the mod would mean that as a stormcloak player fighting the legion it would be entirely possible you only run up against low quality Auxillia and breeze through the legions, only to later come upon a pack of Front Rankers lead by a Tribune and with a sizable bunch of battlemages and knights in tow. A real high level challenge! But I want feedback before I go ahead on this. If you have any ideas for additions or subtractions, let me know. Should some npcs be leveled so they wont appear too early, or should npc gear and EXP level be scaled so that early players will get the full experience of the mod without being badly beaten up? Or, should the entire thing be unleveled and serve to liven up the game by occasionally throwing un-winnable situations at a early level player, demanding they consider a retreat?

My problem had to do with an old modpatcher backup exe. I made the backup exe before steam had patched, and running modpatcher made it look to that old outdated broken backup exe as a reference. The result was an error and a broken Xcomgame.exe with a 0 byte size. In short, delete your "backup" exe (located in the same place as your normal exe) and try to run the program again. This is why taking manual backups is always a good idea. I THINK the backup file is called "Xcom-orginal" (hah, spelling mistake on someones part) Thats what its called on my system anyway. Running modpatcher after you delete that file should create a new one

Edit: fixed my problem. This post can be deleted.