Gazzzz

Thank you. I couldn't find it.

It just feels wrong that they are powered by electricity... but not.

This may just be an undocumented setting int he config files but I have searched extensively and came up with nothing. What I want sounds simple: - Unless the UI is blanked out entirely, like for a cutscene... - Don't ever hide the hit points bar (at full health). - Don't ever hide the weapon/ammo display. As a workaround I have to eat something radiated to "gain" permanent radiation damage. That fixes the health bar. To get the ammo display back have to draw my weapon without any reason which is weird.

Opponents are generally very mobile so hitting anything with artillery requires a lot of luck to begin with. That's fine but in order to even try you need artillery in basically every settlement and you have to keep the stupid radio on. I don't know which is more annoying. =) Longer range would make it more bearable (only put up one or more guns in the castle for style) and decoupling it from the radio channel would be a bonus.

I would like the hit points, AP, and ammo UI elements to... just not hide. Thank you, that would be all. =)

As for the lack of feedback or endorsements... I believe that a good part of the reason is the Nexus. It's structured like a shop. You grab the things you like and move on. If you "released" your mod in a forum topic, you'd have more personal contact with the users... instead of them being anonymous consumers. I realise the advantages of the Nexus for hosting but for a modders it's somewhat of a black hole. *shrug*

IRL, shotguns do not have the huge-ass firing cone they have in computer games. If you don't aim a shotgun, you miss. You could maybe balance it playing with the range modifier values. Just thinking out loud...

Making Aim a clickable ability would be a bad implementation. What you could do instead is add +10 aim to every shot that consumes 2 actions. That would prevent abuse by double tap or bullet swarm because characters with those abilities already get a 100% bonus. =)

This is what they said they would do to balance the multiplayer point cost of units. Doesn't even require a patch, which is nice. That it hurts modding? Well, I bet they didn't even consider that modders would modify the executable! =P

Read the last few posts. =P

Dito. I had assumed User Error so I manually restored the EXE backup that I kept in addition to the one that Modpatcher creates. Then I used the default DefaultGameCore.mod to enter a single, visible change. Does not take effect any more. EDIT: Correction. It does work. The EXE is patched correctly and the changes are there. What happens is that the Call Home now takes precedence over the local data in the EXE. If you prevent the EXE from calling home, the modded changes take effect. EDIT EDIT: Setting Steam to offline mode also works. (What does that have to do with anything?) Set Steam back to online mode... back to vanilla XCOM. I tried it twice. Didn't believe it... Just to clarify: Steam does not re-download the EXE. The Steam online/offline mode has an effect on XCOM "calling home" or using the local data in the EXE.

One useful change I would suggest: Switch the sniper skills of squaddie and corporal rank. The squaddie then gets to choose between squad sight and snap shot and the sniper rifle is not a handicap to the sniper.

I haven't seen it mentioned here but this is what I discovered accidentially. http://www.hentschke-keramik.de/transfer/xcomgame.jpg Same message for xcomstrategygame. (I had different "tinkering" backups in different sub-folders) If the game automatically uses equally named (uncompressed) files, the whole argument of how to properly cook them might be moot.

How did you make the "add" button accessible for more than 4 soldiers?

Thanks. This is what worked for me in the end: decompress.exe -lzo -out=upk_unpacked xcomgame.upk decompress.exe -lzo -out=upk_unpacked XComStrategyGame.upk Specifying the output path makes sure it doesn't overwrite the original files. And makes them easier to find. I still don't "get" Unreal modding, what goes where and why, but that's no different from any other new game. Reading time. =)

Fullstop. I can get the decompress tool. I'm very familiar with batch files. Have been since DOS 3 or so. However, decompress.exe does not come with any readme file nor does it display it's commandline parameters when asked to. I have seen a post claiming that you need an -Izo (izo) parameter and another post claiming that it needs an -lzo (LZO) parameter. Whether I use none or either, whether I state an output file / directory or not, I get no output whatsoever. And I'm sorry but I don't speak russian so the author's forum isn't very useful to me. Could someone please post the complete commandline to decompress the .upk file? I'm a scripter but I'm no programmer and I haven't touched any Unreal thing before...

Headshot is nothing I plan for. Sure, I use it when it happens to be up but when I have a shot I take it. I'd add +1 cooldown to it but give it +10 aim in addition to the crit chance. Something to actually make you consider if you want to use it now or save it for a more critical shot.

You'll also gain resources much faster. That's a lot of loot and corpses to sell, not to mention engineer and scientist count.

I've been thinking about that, too. When the XP-progression is already scaled then the two systems would be fighting each other. Generally that's not good idea unless you have a very specific reason why you would want to do that.

I'd consider twice the firepower or twice the cover defense sufficient motivation to level a sniper from major to colonel but maybe that's just me. =P For the other classes, the differences are marginal either way.

Things with charges (medkit) show up but don't seem to initialise the number of charges properly. Some abilities seem to be tied to specific classes or weapons, too. "Generic" abilities like the grappling hook, yeah. These work but they aren't the fun bits. =)

Actually, there is no decision at all if you can handle every incursion simultanously. Soldiers aren't very expensive and you can steal the alien's weapons soon enough. Lose a rookie by running him up to the sectoid to stun it? Totally worth it if it works. The multiple choice thing is in there specifically because there was no decision involved in the original game. It was just straightforward work. You can't balance the elimination of a game mechanic with higher cost. Weapon production/selling in the OG eliminated the importance of funding... completely. So just make everything 3x as expensive, right?

These are not dollars. There is no $ sign anywhere and the UI screens read "credits". If you estimate interceptors around a believable 200 M$, as modern fighter jet would cost, you get a factor of x5000000 for everything and a single soldier or medpack costs you 50.000.000 $. There's a reason why they discarded real currency. =) I'm still curious how you would balance this. Soldiers and most "small" items would be practically free while the only cost factors in the game would be interceptors and maybe research / foundry / installations.

That's why I like modding. I don't have to argue. I go ahead and do it. =P

SHIV suppression is a Foundry project, not a weapon ability. It's only logical that a sniper can still use the AR he had been using on the last mission... when he still was a rookie. Assault rifles aren't very complicated devices. They even give them to soldiers nowadays, I heard! Short range pistols? My assaults wouldn't like that. Their shotguns already work at that range. And rapid fire? Just imagine what a pistol-skilled sniper could do with a plasma pistol and some foundry pistol buffs... The aiming reduction would hardly dent the aim skill of a sniper.