how can i get changed upk-file work in longwar ?

[cancer352]

question (longwar):

i think longwar is extemely unbalanced, fx you have to fight 12 crysalids and a lot of zombies already in the second terror mission when your own soldiers have "nothing". So my idea was to slow down the apearance of new aliens by manipulating the function "get possible aliens" in xcomstrategygame.upk and divide the variable "imonth" by 100 instead 30. Ue-exlorer showed that i had changed the right hex-value.

But after that the game didn´t start anymore and even xshape didn´t work on the longwar-exe. So here are my desperate questions:

- which procedure do i have to do after changing of xcomstragegygame.upk in order to get longwar working with this changes ?

- does anyone know another way how to slow down the appearance of new aliens by half in longwar ?

- is xshape necessary and why didn´t xshape work on the longwar-exe ?

from cancer352

[dubiousintent]

Have you looked at the 'Long War Modding' thread, and the Wiki? Also, look through the Modding forum for the various 'R&D' threads. Very seldom is anything as simple as 'change just this one function' or even just one file.

 

Instead of using X-Shape, try simply opening and then closing ToolBoks. That alone should disable the hash checking that X-Share tries to update. Or you can use my EXE Patcher script which also disables that check (and enables loading INI files that the default game blocks).

 

-Dubious-

Edited October 28, 2013 by dubiousintent

[cancer352]

Slow down time when new alien species appear in LONGWAR:

Thanks for your hint, now I have fixed the problem. I have developed the following procedure:

1.) Put the following text into a .txt text-file:

MOD_NAME=XCOM Extended time 60 days per month
AUTHOR=cancer352
DESCRIPTION=doubles time of alien appearance

UPK_FILE=XComStrategyGame.upk
{double imonth}
OFFSET=3873116
[MODDED_HEX]
3C

2.) save the file as txt-file, for example "imonth60.txt"
3.) open Xcom ToolBoks1.4.0 and select "custom mods"
4.) select "load custom mod" and load the saved txt-file (here: imonth60.txt)
5.) thereafter click "install custom mod"
6.) thereafter click "update xcomgame.exe hashes"

That´s it.

Advice: Before you begin step 1-6 you have to stop ALL steam programs with the windows task manager, or restart your computer before doing step 1-6.

Explanation: Be aware that the offset-value above is decimal and not hexadecimal. imonth60.txt changes the function "GetPossibleAliens" in xcomstrategygame.upk so that a month lasts 60 days=3C (instead of 30 days=1E in the original game) for the appearance of new alien species. It should double the time of months, when a new alien species or alien race (fx. berserker) first appear in the game if you want to have a little more time to develop your own weapons angainst such new enemies. I hope this will work.

Toolboks changes the file xcomstrategygame.upk at the right position.

Thanks to bertilsson, who uses the same principls for the perk trees.

11-01-13 from cancer352