Enemy Within Discovery Thread

[Drakous79]

The value you are referencing of E0 F8 FF FF is instead an import table reference. These are always negative values (in 2's complement of course). 0xFFFFFFF8E0 = -1824, while 0xFFFFF8DD = -1827. This means that there are 3 additional import table entries prior to the kAppearance definition.

 

This value is on the import table because it is defined in XComGame.upk but (I'm guessing) the reference you pulled was from XComStrategyGame.upk. In order to access a variable from another upk it basically had to be included on the import table when the package file was created.

 

Thanks Amineri. You guessed it right. Does it mean there were 3 objects removed from XComGame.upk export table in EW Patch 1?

[Amineri]

If I've read it right, EW patch 1 used -1827 as the import reference for the same object that had -1824 in EW release.

 

The way the tables are laid out is actually :

import entry -1
import entry -2
...
import entry -max
object entry 1
object entry 2
...
object entry max

The use of negative numbers is just a way to clearly distinguish between regular objectlist entries and import list entries (I imagine they'd have to come up with something clever to handle a third list type -- maybe use imaginary numbers? ;) )

 

This means that -1824 translates to entry 1824 on the import list while -1827 translates to entry 1827 on the import list. So, there were three extra objects being imported to XComGame.upk with patch 1.

[TheOldOne822]

I imagine they'd have to come up with something clever to handle a third list type -- maybe use imaginary numbers? :wink:

No I=√-1 can not be represented in HEX or Binary so it will take even more trickery.

[Drakous79]

Amineri :) Thanks again. It's hell to memorize it all for non-programmer.

 

Found something new today, at least for me, ghost armor doesn't work with Mimetic Skin!

[eAAvailable_ErrNotWithMimeticSkin]="Mimetic Skin blocks Ghost Mode activation".

 

Is it right to hardcode it like that? The armor works even when is an enemy in line of sight of soldier's starting position. Only options seem to be changing gene mod to Bioelectric Skin or wearing titan armor.

 

Hm, I can imagine Mr. Phantom, when Mimetic Fails - Ghosting. Or using MS when the armor is out of charges.

 

 

[moordic]

Hi

 

I'm trying to mod mac version of XCOM EW. I found strange behave and I can't find out what can cause this. After modifying Xcom.exe with hex fiend (changing the path to DGC.ini so it can read it from config folder) the game start and working normal for few minutes, then the screen freeze partially. Partially means that from RGB screen colors only Red and green freeze, blue working further. (really strange behave). My question is did any of you had similar problem? I don't have this issue when i don't edit XCOM.exe. I'm using Mac Book Pro with NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 512 MB. The same behave on OS 9 and 10.

 

I already was trying to edit different part of GDC.ini path and also I was trying to redirect it to different file. Didn't help.

[Amineri]

I haven't seen anything like this myself on PC. Only thing that pops to mind is that perhaps there is some form of online updating from Firaxis (and/or Steam if you are using that).

 

I know that we used to have to blocks Firaxis from doing updating via the Windows hosts file, although I'm not sure if that's still necessary with Enemy Within. Generally what would happen is that the game would restore the RC DGC.ini which would mess up the in-game settings, although it typically wouldn't cause screen display abnormalities AFAIK.

[moordic]

I'm using steam version, and i have blocked cloud synchronization

I will try to turn off also updating then.

[dubiousintent]

I'm using steam version, and i have blocked cloud synchronization

I will try to turn off also updating then.

Cloud synchronization only affects game save files. You need to read the wiki article 'Steam and mods'. Unfortunately, we don't have any data on Mac equivalents to the hosts file, but there probably is one. Purely Steam elements should be the same between platforms.

 

-Dubious-

[Neonin]

An nTex user just mentioned this to me and after failing to find a solution I thought it might be worth mentioning here.

 

While the normal TexMod process works for EW, trying the same with it pointed at the old XComGame.exe leads to it loading up TexMod again. It seems that when called XComGame.exe is pointing at XCOMLauncher.exe. I have no idea why, and can only assume that instead of just visually choosing which game to run XCOMLauncher also does something to allow EU to work separately to EW. As it stands I don't think TexMod can be used with EU if you have EW installed. Peculiar.

[Drakous79]

Neonin, if you rename XCOMLauncher.exe to something else, Steam starts XComGame.exe by default.

 

The best solution may be to replace both XComGame.exe and XComEW.exe with TexMod and start the game with XCOMLauncher.exe.