graaa

I for one refuse to play any more of this game without at least some of the basic mods found in the toolboks. Also, was having a hell of a fun time with Long War Mod jus a few days ago, so let's get that up and running for EW mm??? =)

Thanks Johnny, by the way I hope you know the word genius is being tossed around in my brain when I think about what this mod did to the soldier classes - 8 of them! wow.

Great Mod - very fun changes and I like the new features. Only issue I'm having is getting the soldier rank names to change to my custom names. I've edited the xcomgame.ini and saved it, however the names don't change in the game when I have this mod installed. Any idea why?

Yeah, that's what I figured from past posts. Almost makes me wanna write an angry letter. What bull!

When you right click on the specific constant in the explorer, you can click an option to 'View Buffer'. This brings up a useful screen with the hex and you can click on each hex to sometimes get some information that reveals which part of the code the hex is referring to. This also works for longer bits of code like entire functions. I only figured something was related by looking at the hex and the writing to the right of the hex in this view, though this isn't always a reliable way of doing it. Sometimes memorizing hexes is just natural like I've figured out that 27 means true and 28 means false and 2C always precedes an integer that you can change.

Ugh I'm looking for answers on this one too but so far I don't think anyone has been able to change the constants from what I've read in previous posts. There is a file named XGTacticalGameCoreNativeBase in the Xcomgame.upk with a ton of constants. Unfortunately, changing the constants there hasn't done anything for me or anyone so far. I've tried to change a few like the base # of smoke grenades and rockets but had no luck. In the hex: 50 55 00 00 00 00 00 00 7F 10 00 00 02 00 00 00 31 00 is a line for the number of smoke grenades and apparently the '31' sets the grenades to 1. I've tried changing it to an 03 which is hex for 3 and to 33 which somehow also comes back as a '3' in the view buffer of my explorer. In my very limited programming knowedge, I've also tried changing it to 2C 01, 2C 33, and I've succeeded in nothing but crashing the game. Also I learned that you can't add hex lines to the .upk because that crashes the game too. So good question! Anyone figure out anything new about the constants lately?

Nice trees! (I suppose I'm starting to sound like a tree-hugger now). I think I might incorporate your squaddie and major ability placements in my testing. Otherwise I've been testing with some similar choices. The only difference probably being the ranks I put the abilities at. Lately I've been thinking to myself that I hate it when Colonels get awesome abilities that let them hog all the kills and EXP (most notoriously the vanilla Sniper, which gets double-tap or in the zone) so I put those powerful perks at captain and major to give me the satisfaction of knowing SOMEONE is getting exp out of those kills. I've been liking that a lot and I've been saving the colonel perks for non-kill related stuff maybe defence or very minor offence perks to make them just a bit more powerful. Just a personal preference really. On a side note does anyone here think opportunist applies to suppression reaction shots? I honestly have no idea how to test/figure this out. My gut says no it doesn't but then again...

I did not save the game unfortunately, and yes I've noticed what you are talking about with the same event unfolding after each reload. Apparently, if you miss a 95% shot and then reload to take it again, you WILL miss again and everytime you reload UNLESS you have someone else fire first and THEN attempt the shot. Without any knowledge of dice roll programming, I'll attempt to explain the way I think it works (which is probably wrong). The seeds are calculated at the beginning of each turn for each soldier and then saved. When someone fires, the seeds are recalculated for everyone again. This is why when you reload, you'll always get the same result each time for each soldier as the last load until you have a DIFFERENT soldier fire first or you MIX UP the order in which soldier fire. All in all, something is fishy and its never a truly random shot each time but its calculated beforehand I guess (randomly?)

I've just tested out what you did. - Replaced ewp_rifle with ewp_sniper and added ewp_anyclass as a 2nd property to the assault rifle weapon in the .ini You are correct. The animiation is a bit... broken. http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/ag70/thefreeking/2013-02-26_00020_zps88427ced.jpg Furthermore, I've discovered some more things about the sniper perks when I did this. 1) When you edit the assault rifle in the .ini the way I outlined above, you can have any class that can use the assault rifle use Disabling Shot and Headshot with the assault rifle (Headshot would be a good Assault skill, I'm thinking!) 2) Squadsight also works with assault rifle and somehow without editing anything else I can hit squadsighted enemies. 3) Doubletap has some good news and bad news. Good news is you can use doubletap with assault rifle for SNIPER class only. Bad news, my support soldier with doubletap still can't use Doubletap, It seems like it is hardcoded to only work with the sniper class and not the weapon.

I'm going to link to an earlier post first: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/826312-experience-values/?hl=experience&do=findComment&comment=6626869 Apparently there are triggers for gaining EXP like eGameEvent_Kill, eGameEvent_Wound, eGameEvent_Heal, eGameEvent_Turn, from which only eGameEvent_Kill seems to be implemented to allow you to gain EXP. Has anyone tried to mod the game to alloe your soldiers to gain EXP from other actions in the game? I would like to know if eGameEvent_Wound works from wounding an alien or from sustaining a wound to your soldiers. Hopefully the former, because I'm bothered that only the soldier that makes the kill gets EXP points when it seems my whole squad contributes to killing a really big alien. This is beyond my coding ability however with the hexes involved so if anyone has attempted this or is willing to attempt this let me know.

I personally enjoy being able to shoot down abductors and terrorships late game so YES make them appear. Add panic for ignoring? No, because when they appear early game you'll be too weak to shoot them down. Thus you'll get flooded with panic too fast too soon for anyone to win.

The resource management idea is interesting! I think it'll be quite a fun challenge if the resource issues can continue into late game (I always enjoyed it in vanilla but it stopped around mid game for me when you get an abdudance of everything except now you're short on sectoid corpses! :P) The UFO Combat idea is essential, especially with what's been done with long war and warspace I feel this part has improved the game and should be a part of any mod. Research changes are a good idea. Why not make engineering story items longer too? (like skeleton key, hyperwave, gollop chamber etc) I agree that story arc research should take more time (this would make alien base more of a challenge kinda forcing you to do it later when the whole world is probably at 4 bars of panic lol.) Also it could make the post-alien base game a bit more challenging, bringing back the panic levels while you are strugling to build a 1-month hyperwave chamber. Soldier Changes: are you saying you increased the ammo for the LMG for heavies?

Lol I know, something is bugged here with the quick reply. Use the full editor to edit comments and this won't happen, I noticed. 1 comment about the new heavy tree - I think It is important that the single skill at the Major rank be useful to the soldier no matter what choices you made before he hit Major. With your tree, if someone managed to avoid picking any rocket perks or suppression, getting Mayhem would be essentially useless ( giving them +3 damage ONCE per mission on ONE rocket is a throwaway in my opinion). The solution to this would be to put a suppression vs rocket choice somewhere so the player is forced into picking a 2nd skill that Mayhem would build upon or picking an entirely new skill at major. Otherwise nice trees! Rememeber to test them from beginning game to at least mid game against cyberdiscs and berserkers to see if you like them.

These are good trees. I would like to know why you got rid of snapshot myself. Personally, not a big fan of too many overwatch buffs on snipers, but that probably comes with my own personal play style. Also I'd advise against giving rapid reaction to the heavy so soon at corporal - keep in mind balance issues - early game your Heavy is going to 1-shot kill enemies so giving it 1-2 ranks later would make more sense. Otherwise the skill it useless early game as it won't see use until May. Same with close and personal for assault; 1-2 ranks later I think because you don't need criticals to kill enemies until May. Does your mod plan on editing the armors to allow 2 small item slots? If so, you may not need Deep Pockets at all. Finally, I find Rapid Fire to be the most powerful offence abilty in the game making any choice opposite it completely forsakable unless it is the 2nd most powerful offence ability in the game... In the Zone. Might I recommend this bifurcation for your assault? =)

I've created templates that are compatible with certain MODs you may be using. Both Warspace Extension and Long War have made changes to the trees and these files will allow you to make your own changes to THOSE changes. This way you can have the mod installed AND make changes to their skill trees. Obviously, must use ToolBoks. If you have any requests, I'd be happy to make a file for other mods that have made changes to the ability trees so you can tweak em. *Versions 1.1 Released with better perk tables for reference* Attached Files: New Versions 1.1

Ah yes, I see what you mean now. Roger, thats why I listed the changes that people made in post #10 for a couple of mods (Wextension and Long War), albeit in the difficult hex form ;) Cool! would you mind posting it?

Right, its obvious to people who have done this before that the middle hex is the one you gotta change. I'm including 5 hexes in my lists because that's most guarenteed way to search for it and find it (3 hexes will result in too many duplicate results). My method of finding them requires 5 hexes because I'm changing them in the main gigantic xcomgame.upk. However, I'll admit I'm not sure if my methods are the most efficient. Can you clarify what you mean when you say "just give the address"? As far as I know the 5-hex code is the address. Also BTW in my toolboks mod I isolate a single hex on a single line for the user to change, making it way easier to change and keep track of these things.

I've created and tested a convenient template for people to mod the soldier ability trees using ToolBoks. The essential hex for each ability is isolated on a single line and labeled for maximum ease. All it requires is that you open it in notepad and make the changes you want yourself in the REPLACE section of the file. LINK DELETED FILE MOVED TO NEXUS Feel free to do whatever you want with it! NOTE: This file will only work with UPKs that don't already have any edits to the ability trees. So Mods like Warspace or Long War won't be able to use this until I make one specifically for them.

The original ability trees and their 5-hex codes listed in order according to the UPK SNIPER Headshot 04 2C 02 06 4A Snapshot 04 2C 10 06 4A OR Squadsight 04 2C 03 06 4C Gunslinger 04 2C 5F 06 4A OR Damn Good Ground 04 2C 0F 06 86 Disabling Shot 04 2C 09 06 4A OR Battlescanner 04 2C 08 06 C0 Executioner 04 2C 0B 06 4A OR Opportunist 04 2C 0A 06 FA Low Profile 04 2C 05 06 4A In the Zone 04 2C 0E 04 25 OR DoubleTap 04 2C 0D 06 4A HEAVY Fire Rocket 04 2C 12 06 4A Bulletswarm 04 2C 1A 06 4A OR Holotargetting 04 2C 13 06 4C Shredder Rocket 04 2C 16 06 4A OR Suppression 04 2C 15 06 86 HEAT Ammo 04 2C 5B 06 4A OR Rapid Reaction 04 2C 17 06 C0 Grenadier 04 2C 18 06 4A OR Danger Zone 04 2C 19 06 FA Will to Survive 04 2C 11 06 4A Rocketeer 04 2C 5D 04 25 OR Mayhem 04 2C 5E 06 4A ASSAULT Run & Gun 04 2C 06 06 4A Tactical Sense 04 2C 21 06 4A OR Aggression 04 2C 20 06 4C Lightning Reflexes 04 2C 23 06 4A OR Close & Personal 04 2C 22 06 86 Flush 04 2C 25 06 4A OR Rapid Fire 04 2C 24 06 C0 Close Combat Specialist 04 2C 28 06 4A OR Bring em On 04 2C 27 06 FA Extra Conditioning 04 2C 1B 06 4A Resilience 04 2C 2B 04 25 OR Killer Instinct 04 2C 29 06 4A SUPPORT Smoke Grenade 04 2C 2C 06 4A Sprinter 04 2C 1F 06 4A OR Covering Fire 04 2C 2F 06 4C Field Medic 04 2C 30 06 4A OR Smoke and Mirrors 04 2C 5C 06 86 Revive 04 2C 38 06 4A OR Rifle Suppression 04 2C 31 06 C0 Dense Smoke 04 2C 34 06 4A OR Combat Drugs 04 2C 33 06 FA Deep Pockets 04 2C 35 06 4A Savior 04 2C 37 04 25 OR Sentinel 04 2C 36 06 4A

Certainly. I will get back to you before the end of the night with them. Its important to use the 5-hex pattern that the website (http://personales.ya.com/anyone/xcom/perks.htm) provides you, because the 3 hex-pattern is very common in other parts of the code. The 5-hex pattern is entirely unique to the perks, and you still only need to change the middle hex.

I would definetly support a toolboks mod that allowed anyone to change the ability trees around easily.

Quick reply - more later. Was just stuck at work for 3 days due to snow *barf I've already done extensive testing on this and you cannot have more than 2 reaction shots per turn (not sure if close combat specialist is the only loophole) but no - 2 MAX no matter what even if you have all of these reaction perks on a single unit. Essentially, the other perks shut down after 2 shots were had. I don't know if there is a hex you can change in the UPK to alter this.

Fanastic writing Dubious. I'm convinced now grenadier should not go with the heavy and should be on either assault (more likely) or support. I think its time we and other modders started designing skill trees that take into account the way we modded the game, so Deep Pockets - Out. I'd also like to comment on gunslinger for the shotgun assault. I've finally tried it out and I am leaning away from it because of exactly what you said - the arc thrower now goes in the pistol slot and most of the time I give the arc to my close combat shotgun assault. Maybe its better to use a skill that will allow the assault to survive long enough to get close like lightning reflexes, low profile, tactical sense, or sprint than to play the shotgunner like a rifleman. Those other skills also provide a wide breadth of use outside of that one situation where u'd use a pistol. Furthermore, I'd like to put a number of skills to a vote on whether or not they should be kept or tossed. A defence or a justification for keeping these perks would be appreciated, especially when I could see a number of worthy skills and synergies able to repace them. Here's what I want to hear from people on, and if you want to add a skill to this list please say so: 1) Covering Fire 2) Flush 3) Executioner 4) Damn Good Ground 5) Combat Drugs 1) Keep. While I want to keep this skill, I never seem to know where to put it in the tree. Which class uses this skill best? I vote keep it but I simply find myself passing on this skill a lot no matter what I have to choose it against. 2) Keep. I like this skill a lot personally - flushing an enemy from high cover to low cover not only damages it but it gives all allies +20 aim. Also knocks enemies out of line of sight if you are trying to fortify or causes them to move into a flanked position or out of cover. I vote keep this for any non-sniper class. 3) Toss. In almost all stages of the game you should be one-shotting enemies. Otherwise, the +10 aim is negligible. 4) Toss. I find there are many good replacement skills for the sniper tree including run&gun, bring em on, tactical sense, etc etc etc. 5) Toss. I used it once and it didn't work lol. Still got mind controlled. Also its waaay too situational and other skills are waaay more commonly used. Any more? I'm still developing a good assault-support fire team/scout team build that can benefit the game especially on outdoor abduction missions. So far I've had success with the left-tree assault build I'm currently testing (listed in the 1st post) but I'd like to expand on the support unit more. This is a duo that should be able to scout with movement and battlescanner, survive ambushes, provide good overwatch cover for their teammate, and be mobile enough to escape or regroup with the squad and flank. So far I have a number of skills in my mind that I find essential, though I'm not 100% sure on each of them which class should get them (assault or support or both). Those essential scouting skills are: 1) Battlescanner (leaning support) 2) Tactical Sense (leaning assault, maybe both) 3) Low Profile (leaning assault) 4) Sprint (leaning assault, but both...maybe?) 5) Opportunist (leaning support) 6) Sentinel (leaning support) 7) Rifle Suppression (both...maybe? Or just support because it makes no sense to include a skill u can't use if u have a shotgun) 8.) Lightning Reflexes (leaning assault) I'll be back in 2 days to see how you all have voted and what you have to say! In the meantime keep on playin =).

Thx for the input Pax. How's it going for you with shotty and rifles open to the non-heavy classes? Ae you finding it worthwhile to give it to them or do you stick with the class-defined weapons for the most part? I can see you incorporated more rifleman type skills into your builds (looking at the sniper and support builds). I'm wondering if you also modded extra item slots into your armor and do you find deep pockets to be a worthwhile skill still? I agreed with your idea to make smoke grenades a non-essential skill for supports, but later decided that it was an essential item, after all it is better to prevent damage than it is to heal it and supports seem to fit the role of damage prevention very well. Also surely there must be a better skill to give heavies at colonel than damn good ground, have you tried a defensive skill like will to survive? Otherwise, very nice builds. I want to know what people think about Grenadier. Is it a worthwhile skill? I gave it to heavies but I don't think I've thrown a single grenade with heavies yet after the first month (rockets or holo-targetting mostly). Is it better on a different class like assault or support?

Now that you've got the capability to add more UFO encounters in the game, I love the idea of being able to work with the interceptors more so I love these ideas. It'd be so cool if you could customize the interceptors (add decals, color, items) and have them level up and gain perks just like your soldiers do, however I know that is beyond our capabilities at present. #1 is a step in the right direction though! Also I like #3 a lot, especially because I'm tired of going on late game council missions with 100% thinmen that are incredibly weak. The proper solution would be to have council missions level up enemies as the months go by, but I can settle for stronger thinmen lol.