R&D XCOM Map Alterations

[Drakous79]

wghost, you can use console command line to check alien pods. Load saved game, while being in base, and type:

ForceMission_URB_PierA_Terror

Switch to Mission Control and get ready to fly to Chicago :smile:

 

While being in Chicago:

// Disable fog of war
ToggleFOW

// Reveal all actors
set actor bHidden 0

// Shows pod locations
AIDebugPods

// Show unit names
AIShowNames

// Show cursor location
ShowCursorLoc

[wghost81]

Drakous79, thanks, I already did and there are 2 pods. But what interests me is an override rule: why and when pod placement info gets overridden and can it be disabled to access original map pods?

 

BTW, there are different rules for pods placement in controlled games. For clean in-game tests I just comment out all maps from the list except one. :smile:

Edited January 22, 2014 by wghost81

[dubiousintent]

 

wghost, you can use console command line to check alien pods. Load saved game, while being in base, and type:

...

I've added this as the example in 'Testing' sub-topic of the 'Modding XCOM:EU 2012' article. Feel free to expand upon it.

 

-Dubious-

[Drakous79]

wghost do you think using ForceMission_URB_PierA_Terror command makes the map controlled? I used ForceMission_URB_PierTerror_Extraction too and it feels uncontrolled. 2 pods as you said.

 

Covert Extraction (2 pods) - URB_PierA_Terror < Stream < URB_PierA_Terror_CovExt (ForceMission_URB_PierTerror_Extraction)

• XComAlienPod_1
• XComAlienPod_3

Terror Mission (4 pods) - URB_PierA_Terror (ForceMission_URB_PierA_Terror)

• XComAlienPod_Abduction_0
• XComAlienPod_Abduction_1
• XComAlienPod_Abduction_2
• XComAlienPod_Abduction_4

Abduction Mission (4 pods) - URB_PierA (ForceMission_URB_PierA)

• XComAlienPod_Abduction_1
• XComAlienPod_Abduction_2
• XComAlienPod_Abduction_3
• XComAlienPod_Abduction_4

Terror map had defintely abduction version as a base (models, art) and it uses abduction pod names. Covert Extraction stream has different pod names. Maybe there's a clue in Default__XComAlienPod_Abduction / Default__XComAlienPod (_CovExt). Maybe could be enough to rename XComAlienPod to XComAlienPod_Abduction (Default and the 2nd occurence) and end with 6 pods, if the stream creates 2 new pods. Wild guesses.

 

 

Thank you Dubious :smile:

Edited January 23, 2014 by Drakous79

[wghost81]

Default__XComAlienPod_Abduction / Default__XComAlienPod

There is no such object. It's an import entry from XComGame and it holds default values for class properties. All Persistent Level subobjects are referenced in TheWorld.PersistentLevel object, but not through default properties. If I could figure out it's structure, I may try to add some new pods into map, but it is complicated and I'm not counting on this.

 

Pier terror actually has XComAlienPod_Abduction pods instead of XComAlienPod_Terror pods defined. It's not a big deal, still works in game, as any pod can actually use any XComAlienPod child class for placement.

 

Pods in streamed maps can have the same names as base map pods, or they can have other names. Still, streamed ones always override original ones.

 

wghost do you think using ForceMission_URB_PierA_Terror command makes the map controlled?

My mistake, haven't checked it. Command calls for original CreateCovertOpsExtractionMission and even uses available cell data, so everything is as it should be in-game. Edited January 23, 2014 by wghost81

[Hobbes77]

wghost do you think using ForceMission_URB_PierA_Terror command makes the map controlled? I used ForceMission_URB_PierTerror_Extraction too and it feels uncontrolled. 2 pods as you said.

 

Terror Mission (4 pods) - URB_PierA_Terror (ForceMission_URB_PierA_Terror)

• XComAlienPod_Abduction_0
• XComAlienPod_Abduction_1
• XComAlienPod_Abduction_2
• XComAlienPod_Abduction_4

 

Drakous, if you play on Impossible (uncontrolled) you'll get 5 pods on all Terror sites.

[wghost81]

Yes, there actually are 5 pods defined for terror maps.

[wghost81]

Tried to investigate a possibility to add EW maps to EU (and deleted EU maps to EW). Seems, that it can't be done. I "borrowed" mission briefing UI from the similar map, but still it crashed on loading. I suspect it's because of textures, which are referenced by offset in texture cache. Or because of GlobalPersistentCookerData, which seems to hold all packages information. Anyway, I couldn't do it. If someone has more info on this matter, feel free to post it here.

[hambil]

According to various sources (sorry I don't have links), Jake Solomon VERY much wanted to have randomized maps in the XCOM:EU release but was told that it just wasn't a practical thing (I think I recall seeing somewhere that it was a choice between randomized maps and destructible maps?).

 

I would love to hear the coders explanation for this as it makes no sense to me. Set some property somewhere "isDestructable". I mean, everything on the map should already be an object with properties and all you'd be doing worst case is altering the properties on the fly (crate become burned out crate, cover stats change). If they are creating maps that aren't made up of reusable components then either the Unreal Engine needs work or the X-COM game does. I'm not trying to be all "Oh I'm all that" or anything, but I am a programmer with a few years of experience with object oriented design and this smells... off.

 

Edit: Sigh, did some digging and it's the Unreal Engine to blame. Didn't dig deep enough to find out why but none of it's titles (including flagship title Unreal Tournament 3) have random maps.

Edited January 27, 2014 by hambil

[Drakous79]

I suspect it's because of textures, which are referenced by offset in texture cache.

 

You can try to rename and copy EU's Textures.tfc to EW (wghost81.tfc) and use RENAME=Textures:wghost81 on map's upk.