drake8888

I like the idea and the work that you have done. I possibly would want a "little" modification to what you have above. Instead of the base 54 for everyone, I would randomize that from 52-56 with 54 being the average. This way you can get a little more of a swing on the stats. The cost of soldiers can be increased so that it is hard to "dismiss" a soldier because of the loss of funds. I tend to find use for all of my soldiers. Those that have poor stats still can contribute to the team (as red shirts...) and some of these soldiers can graduate to the regular squad based on luck and performance. Great work!

I know that I speak for many of us by saying that the work that Amineri and JohnnyLump are doing for this game is just absolutely amazing. The LongWar mod is a DLC in itself and makes the game so much more fun to play. So I just want to say thank you to the both of you and all others who might be helping out.

Read the posts regarding ModHelper by UberJumper, makes modding EW and the DefaultGameCore.ini really easy. http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/1215717-xcommodhelper/page-1 It is a command line tool and it can be found below. https://github.com/f...eases/tag/v0.31

Hey CaesarInvictus This sounds like something that I would definitely interested in, unfortunately I cannot see any of your posted images. I made a pretty big Armor/Armory mod for the game, UFO: Aftershock and I would love to get into the re-skinning of things for EW. Do you have a wiki or post that explains what you are doing? I have read that you are opening up items with TexMod; but possibly because I am daft, I just don't understand what you are doing. I would love to create some camo skins for my troopers. Hot pink and purple just do not float my boat and I would love to put them in some nice USMC camo patterns. Drake8888

UberJumper Excellent, thanks the new version 031.7 worked like a charm. My thanks go out to you sir! Drake8888

Hey UberJumper Here is the output with the above command used (I only included the important part since the .exe patch had already been applied). [iNFO]> Patching Target [ c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\XComGame.upk ] [DEBUG]> Loading UPK File Data [ c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\XComGame.upk ] [DEBUG]> Decompress Arguments [ -out=c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\UpkUnpacked c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\XComGame.upk ] [DEBUG]> Decompress Log: ERROR: Unable to find/load package files [DEBUG]> Decompress exited with code [ 1 ] [iNFO]> Decompressed Upk File [ c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\UpkUnpacked\XComGame.upk ] [DEBUG]> Checking for uncompressed_size [ c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\XComGame.upk.uncompressed_size ] [DEBUG]> uncompressed_size [ c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\XComGame.upk.uncompressed_size ] file exists [DEBUG]> File [ c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\XComGame.upk ] Loaded Into Patcher Successfully [iNFO]> Applying Patch [ Changes Gender Chance from 1/2 chance of female, to 1/8 chance of female ] [DEBUG]> Patch State ==> SequenceNotFound [ERROR]> An Error occured during processing:Could not find the specified hex value for patch [ Changes Gender Chance from 1/2 chance of female, to 1/8 chance of female ] [ERROR]> The Patching Process was Aborted Hopefully this helps. Looks like a hex value for the patch is missing/erroring out.

Hi UberJumper First off, thank you for creating this tool. Editing the DefaultGameCore.ini file directly will be very nice. In EU, I used ModPatcher.exe to help mod my game. In running your tool, I ran into an error message and I wanted to see if you could help me out. Below is my output. [iNFO]> ==========XCOMModHelper======== [iNFO]> Attempting to Locate XCOM Root Directory [iNFO]> Found XCOM Root Directory of [ c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown ] [iNFO]> Backup Target Directory is [ c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\Backup ] [iNFO]> Backup Directory does not exist, creating [iNFO]> Decompressed UPK Folder [ c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\UpkUnpacked ] [iNFO]> Decompressed UPK Output Directory does not exist, creating [iNFO]> Patching [2] Targets [iNFO]> Patching Target [ c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\Binaries\Win32\XComEW.exe ] [iNFO]> Applying Patch [ Read DefaultGameCore.ini from Config Folder ] [iNFO]> Applying Patch at Index [ 21464864 ] [iNFO]> Patch Successfully Applied [ Read DefaultGameCore.ini from Config Folder] [iNFO]> File [ c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\Binaries\Win32\XComEW.exe ] Backed up to [ c:\program files (x86)\steam\Stea mApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\Binaries\Win32\XComEW.exe ] [iNFO]> Saving Changes to [ c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\Binaries\Win32\XComEW.exe ] [iNFO]> Patching Target [ c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\XComGame.upk ] [iNFO]> Decompressed Upk File [ c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\UpkUnpacked\XComGame.upk ] [ERROR]> An Error occured during processing:Could not find a part of the path 'c:\program files (x86)\steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\UpkUnpacked\XComGame.upk'. [ERROR]> The Patching Process was Aborted So it looks like the XComEW.exe file was updated (I verified this in the ...\XEW\Binaries\Win32 folder) but the changes to XComGame.upk file did not take. Have you seen this before? Thank you for your time. drake8888

I was just looking over the post on the upk upgrades and did I read correctly that you can increase the number of aliens per encounter? If so, what version is that in 1.05 as well?

Nice!! I like the idea that the pilots would get experience. It was one of the thoughts that I really liked before the game came out, the thought that we could have pilots as part of our squad and they gained experience as they shot down UFO's. So other than giving the pilot a name, it looks like you have accomplished it... nice job!

I will have to give the 1.05 version a try. I am using the 1.03 version (I believe).

I wanted to follow up on some of my thoughts on the Longwar mod. First off, having a great time, this reminds me more of the original....it is a long slog against a determined enemy. I will note that I have modded the LongWar a little bit (added the AIM function to all rifles, increased grenade damage, and made Light plasma fit in the pistol slot) Just to give everyone an update, I am in September and I have about 20 soldiers in my squad. Over the past 6 months, I have lost about 15 to KIA. I have only 3 COL and 2 Majors and all of my COL have been on about 30 missions and have over 70 kills each. Majors have been on 20-25 missions have have around 55 kills. Each month I have to send out the team to at least 10 missions, so there is something every 2-3 days that you have to reply to. Soldiers who get wounded are out for 14-30 days so you need a large squad to keep 6-10 soldiers ready for the next encounter. 6 months in and I only have 1 set of Titan armor, and 5 sets of Carapace and 1 set of skeleton armor. I have no Alien alloys to make more. Which is some ways is very fun that I have to be very careful in what I buy. The hardest thing is keeping at least 1 intercepter available to shoot down the alien craft. In some cases I have had all four slots being repaired and it was better to release the longest one out to buy a new intercepter for the next encounter in just a few days. Overall, this is a blast. Really a long conflict. The only thing that I think would need tweaking is the Country panic levels. They are all at 1 since I can respond to every encounter, they never get past 2 at the most. This is obviously the function of the 3 attacks at once in the un-modded game. So that the player can only select 1 attack and the other 2 countries have their Panic go up because of the no-response. Thanks for your efforts on this Johnnylump... great job!!!!

I am in the middle of May right now in my playthrough. Lost around 5 soldiers in April, again I had 11 encounters with the aliens. The balance between what money you have and what to buy is very tricky. My guys still have regular rifles, combat vests and we are working on Carapace armor. The hard part is that we are now coming up against Mutons. I think I did read a previous post by JohnnyLump that you are working on increasing intercepters to 5 now (instead of a max of 4). This would certainly be needed because with so many encounters each month, it is better to have your intercepter destroyed than being repaired for 28 days. I actually had to release one that was very badly damaged because I needed to have at least 1 active to fight whatever showed up (yes all 4 were damaged). Releasing fighters or letting them be destroyed costs extra $$$ but you always need to have 1 ready because a UFO shows up every 3-5 days. Otherwise, very fun!!!

Has anyone found the code where this can be changed to 1-5 or something like that? I like the new 2nd Wave "Damage Roulette" for the weapons. This should be added to grenades as well. Just a thought....

I like the 10 hitpoints for the Outsiders, it really does make them tough. As I said earlier, they really act like terminators now. They come right after you...actually, the seem to act like the Chryssalids. Very cool and very scary... I don't have the ArcThrower yet....I can only imagine how many rookies are going to die trying to capture an Outsider...hehehe

The one thing I do like about panic (which is the way I would think Panic would work in real life), is that about 90% of the time the soldiers first panic, then find some cover and then hunker down. The other 10% of the time they wig out and start shooting things. Very nicely done. Last night I had 3 troopers all panic one turn after another and an Outsider, came up and assassinated each in turn. :( The Outsider ran up to each panic/hunker down trooper and shot them each in the head. Speaking of the Outsiders, what did you do to make them so aggressive? They really come after you now. I did not see that in my previous 2 play throughs. (this time on Classic the other 2 were on Normal).

I forgot, the other very nice thing is that there is only ONE city where the Alien abductions happen instead of the THREE. So instead of selecting from one of the 3 simultaneous abduction spots, you just go to the place of the abduction.

OK here is my input so far in playing through the first month in the LongWar Mod. First some stats.... During the month of March, I had the following. Classic Difficulty 5 UFO interceptions 5 Crashed UFO investigations (obviously if you shoot them down you get to go check them out) 5 Alien Abductions 1 Council Mission (rescue Thorpe) 88 Aliens killed during the month (wow... thats a lot of action) 1 promoted to Sergeant 5 promoted to Corporal First off, .... YES this is what I was looking for. Way more than the vanilla 3-4 missions per month. With this mod, during the first month, I had 11 encounters with the aliens. Things that I liked so far Research Much Longer - very nice, takes way longer to research items. I was only able to finish 1 research project in March. Most items take 18 - 30+ days to research right now. Trying to get another lab built to reduce this. Makes building additional labs a must. Much like the original game, this makes the Labs relevant. Money - wow you really have to watch what you spend. You need troops, you need interceptors, things cost WAY more (1 medikit = 46 credits) so you have to be very wise on what you spend your $$$ on. Nice! Using ALL of your troops - Started with 15 troops... during the month of March, 1 died, 9 are in the sick bay healing up and I only have 5 available troops. You have to use everyone, which is very nice. Those who get injured (even if it is just 2 hitpoints) is in the sick bay for 8+ days. If one of your guys gets down to 1 hitpoint, they are out for 24+ days...seems realistic instead of the "I can heal them up in 2-4 days type of thing". With injuries taking so long to heal, you NEED more troops to go on all the missions. Interceptors are needed - Like the troops, when your interceptors are damaged; they take many days to repair them. So you NEED to have 4 in the hanger because 2 are always being repaired. Levels - I like the experience levels. It takes much more to advance to the next level. Things that I do not like so much The guys seem to panic a little too much. This could be the Classic difficulty, but it is hard when 3 out of 4 guys panic just because someone takes a hit (even Corporals). This does not happen all the time; but for my taste, it happens a bit too much when you consider these guys are supposed to be the best of the best. I will have to see what April brings and guys get up in level. Otherwise, this is very fun, reminds me more of the original where everyone is getting hurt or killed. Action every few days so you are always in the thick of it. NICE JOB!!!!

Follow the steps in BlackAlpha's Technical Support page. http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/834174-warspace-technical-support-v150/ 1. Do Number 4 - delete the ClientRegistry.blob file along with all the other XCOM files listed under #4 2. Then Repair your XCOM files by following #3 3. Run the game twice (to get the "Completing Installation....2%" to happen.... and to verify that the game works) 4. Exit out of Steam .... Start up Steam again, and load a saved game .... (this is all to verify that the final installation filese are on your machine. If the game works then you are good: but you have to do this at least twice). 5. Then set Steam to OFFLine ... then exit Steam 6. Then follow Step 2 in the Technical support page (add to your Hosts file to stop the phone home) 7. Open up Steam again (should be in offline mod)... load a save game or start a new one (another verification that your game files are good) 8. Exit Steam 9. Install the MOD

Gentlemen, thank you for your help today, I have successfully been able to install the LongWar Mod. For those who might be having similar issues, this is what I did. Installed Java 7 version 10 (I had Java 6 update 17) Deleted Java 6 update 17 Ran Windows Update Followed Step 4 of BlackAlpha's Technical Support - (deleted 544 files including the ClientRegistry.blob) Followed Step 3 of BlackAlpha's Tech Support - verified XCOM files - (downloaded new files to patch my install) Started new game - Completing Installation dialog box finished the installation. Played 2 missions without issues (well other than some folks dieing) Started a 2nd game - NO completing installation this time - again no issues - able to do another mission Turned Steam to OffLine Open up Steam - ran XCOM - loaded saved game - No issues Installed LongWar MOD - install went fine I think that the only thing that I did differently from my previous tries was the Java and Windows updates. I really think that this was the issue. Thank you both for your help and I will be playing both Mods. Thank you for your efforts in making this game better. I also plan to dive into the .upk modding as well, so wish me luck :)

Sorry, my bad on the my initial description. Yes, the "Customizing....2%" should have read, "Completing Installation.....2%" Since I have started and run the game a couple of times, I would have thought that would have solved it. So I know that something is screwy.

I like that the research for a plasma rifle should take 45 days, to me that is realistic. That was the best part of the original game, the wait for research to be done. You had no idea when it would get done, just that when the research status reached GOOD then you knew you were close. I find it silly that I can research plasma weapons in 3 days currently. In regards to the issue I have had installing the LongWar mod. I first followed BlackAlpha's #2 and #3 steps in his help page. So I totally removed anything I have modded, restored the game to the original form. Started in OnLine mode and I got the "Customizing....2%" dialog box and the game starts fine. Created a new game, no tutorial, played the first mission and got to the base where I meet the gang and can see my antfarm. Exit out of game. Exit Steam. Open up Steam, set to OffLine mode. Opened Xcom in Offline mode, loaded my saved game, dismissed soldiers from the barracks. Saved game again and exited Xcom and Steam. So I am still in Off line mode. Ran Long War executable and it installs just fine. Open up Steam (still off line) and I try play the game. I get a Windows Dialog box saying that there was an error. Asks if I want to Debug... Close out the window, and try to run the game again, and I get the "Customizing....2%" error again. I am offline, so I think the error might be that the game cannot phone home. So, I then did #4 on the help forum and deleted the ClientRegistry.blob file, then I deleted all the files stated in #4, then followed #3 to repair Xcom (turning Steam online). I then started the game up again, which it worked fine and started another game and so on. Followed all the steps again, and it failed with same windows error dialog box. Only thing I can thing I might need to do is open and start multiple games first. To make sure the "phone home" and final inialization takes place. But I have tried the above about 5 times now and I always get the same results. Could be my machine, might need to update Java. I will try that too. thanks for the hard work on your mods fellas. I hope to get to play them :)

Thanks for the reply. I will give the updates to .net and java a try. I know I can get my mod to work in offline mode, so I don't mind blowing away my files to try and get your MOD to work. I have not gotten to the point of .upk surgery yet (I have open up the files and looked at the code but have not tried to change anything). Have you seen any issues with your LongWar mod and the Marathon setting in 2nd Wave?

Hey JohnnyLump In regards to the increase in UFO interceptions / alien abductions each month, in your mod do you make changes other than to the DefaultGameCore.mod file? I have tried to install the long war mod several times and I keep on having issues (In the help file for the Warspace mod I have done #2, 3 and 4 several times but I still have no luck) and I would like to increase the number of attacks each month. By increasing the below values, does this increase the frequency of the attacks? Or do you have to make changes to a .upk file as well? LATE_UFO_CHANCE = 90 EARLY_UFO_CHANCE = 75 UFO_LIMIT = 15 UFO_INTERCEPTION_PCT=75 Thanks for any input and your efforts on these forums.

Hey JohnnyLump, How can one see if they have downloaded the 1/7/2013 patch? I have been playing in OffLine mode since the game came out because of a MOD I made; but your LongWar MOD looks really cool and I have been having a whole bunch of trouble trying to get it to work today. I have followed the instructions from the link below to "repair" my files so I would assume I have the latest patch, but I just cannot tell. Any insight on how I can check is much appreciated. http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/834174-warspace-technical-support-v150 Thanks for the work on the LongWar MOD, I really look forward to play it. Drake8888

I will certainly have to give this a try. I modded my own version of the game because I thought the research time was way too quick. Looking forward to MORE UFO's each month and a longer game (timeframe)...defeating the aliens in 6 months is kind of silly in my book.