R&D XCOM Map Alterations

[tracktwo]

I tried reading through this thread but couldn't find the answer ... Is there any special action that needs to be done to a streaming map in order to get it to be loaded correctly? As a quick test I created a basically empty level in the UDK, cooked it, and copied the resulting UDK into the XCOM cookedpcconsole folder, then added the map to the streaming maps array in defaultmaps.ini. On map load, the game crashes with a log saying it can't find the package corresponding to the map (although it has the same name). I don't think I've done anything silly, but am I missing a step here? I can get the same error by renaming one of the patch_XXXXX streaming maps in defaultmaps.ini, but I've double and triple checked that the names are the same.

 

EDIT: I'm not a smart man. I spent all that time making sure the base name was the same and didn't notice that the udk by default names the maps with a .uDk extension, while xcom wanted to find a .uPk extension. Changed that and now it still crashes, but it crashes differently! So, progress? No log this time, unfortunately, so I think the map is just missing something that the game is expecting to find.

 

Related: I tried installing LiQuiD911's github project over my UDK installation and loading up the editor but it freezes at loading engine.u. Anyone had success with this?

Edited July 5, 2015 by tracktwo

[LiQuiD911]

Ah yes, it freezes a lot on engine.u

What I do is kill the process and restart it until it loads, some time in needs around 10 retries.

 

Are you sure you are copying the patch from the udk cookedpc instead of the udk content folders? If you're doing the later then you'll have to copy .u files. I take the udk cookedpc ones because the code is baked in the upks.

 

I thought that nobody would bother installing the udk so I haven't updated it in a while.. let me upload the latest version.

 

If you place any object that has a texture not present in the xcom TFC the game will crash.

Edited July 6, 2015 by LiQuiD911

[tracktwo]

Thanks! That explains it, my testing map had some geometry with a custom texture. Using a completely blank map worked.

[LiQuiD911]

if you have any questions,ask away.. i was too lazy to make a structured tutoial. most of the problems like this one are buried in the thrad. btw i think that we can create new tfc with fheudk and fhen patch them like the lost ue maps.

[tracktwo]

Thanks! Will do. I'll probably create a new topic specifically about UI/flash modding when I get home from work tonight to avoid cluttering up this thread and the summary thread with r&d stuff.

 

Being able to cook a new tfc would be good, but I wonder about distributing it. Since it's basically a global texture cache it contains all the Firaxis assets, right? That would be tricky to distribute firstly from a copyright standpoint but also it'd be stupidly huge when all we really need to do is add some new textures. If we can create a tfc patch scheme like the upk patches that would solve both problems.

 

The textures are going to be important for the UI stufstuff because the udk creates textures out of every bitmapped image asset in the swf. So any swf imported with .png/.jpg files in it will need to have those textures cooked into the tfc. There are alternatives, though : don't use those assets, or don't implement it as a streaming map. I'll write more about that in the new topic later.

[LiQuiD911]

Working on fully INI-customizable alien reinforcements WaveSystem :)

 

http://i.imgur.com/iGfZ9Zh.jpg?1

[Dethraker]

@Liquid, so you'll be able to know exactly when and what composition each wave has?

 

This is really a great idea, allows more customization to difficulty and(depending on how you do it) variety of enemies on any given map.

[LiQuiD911]

Yes, almost everything is customizable. I am unsure if the waves are auto-scalable. All I did is change the interface from UDK actors to INI files, but I'm having trouble exposing all the variables and I am unsure if it can safely replace the exalt configuration for the moment. I also worked on exposing capture and hold and iniltration variables for the exalt missions but it isn't as straightforward as I initaliy thought.

 

The wave system has fully been moddable since january, through the UDK addon I uploaded on git https://github.com/iiiLiQuiDiii/UDK, but I didn't bother documenting it (shame on me).

Edited October 5, 2015 by LiQuiD911

[Zyxpsilon]

Speaking of "Fix" attempts or totally customized supplements, LiQuiD911...

 

I've been thinking about your Patching tricks to bring back some EU maps indirectly (Demolition, Museum and GasStation).

Not sure if some gimmicky re-texturing pack solution could do it but i feel the possibility is there to somehow replace or try to adapt the generic (LightGrey+Violet) drop-ins for invalid elements if any of these can still be recognized as proper (and addressable) Hash-Tags by TexMod. I have yet to do some experimental fiddling with the stuff and so, i'd like you to confirm if i'm shooting in the dark or not with that stuff or just the thoughts behind it.

 

PS: Oooopppsss... i realized after the fact that somebody (IIRC, ObelixDK) had already tried figuring such a way to fix the texturing "flaws". According to the thread posts, he hasn't yet discover the exact solution but i still feel this must be the easiest trick to implement some form of map alterations that would match as closely as possible to any of the original EU patterns if not most. Anyhow... he might want to return to that attempt simultaneously to my own try-outs and we should share our results.

Edited October 5, 2015 by Zyxpsilon

[LiQuiD911]

There's another problem with the maps, some objects in the map upk share the same "index" of other objects loaded in game. This didn't cause any major trouble around beta14, but in beta15 the bugs started to show, like the move path preview not displaying in the musem maps.

Wastelandghost made those indexes moddable through the upkutils, but I haven't tested what happens if I reset all indexes to -1 or 0.