Long War draft troubleshooting guide

[johnnylump]

Before an install:

1. Make sure you have a legit Steam copy of XCOM EW. It won't work on pirated copies.

2. If you have ever played with any other mods on your EW install, or have changed some files yourself, verify back to a vanilla installation of EW before installing Long War. If you have any trouble with installation, do this as well.

3. Disable any antivirus software. We have specific reports that Comodo security software prevents a proper install. However, we have another report that turning it off prevents a proper install. So, either way, if you run this, be prepared for some trial-and-error while getting this running. It does work, though.

4. Make sure you have the latest .NET Framework and Java installed.

5. Switch XCOM to one of the mod's supported languages in Steam. As of Beta 9a, this is only English.

6. Run the installer. You shouldn't need to run it in administrator mode, but it couldn't hurt.

**** Here's what the installer does:

1. Asks you where the XEW directory is. On most installs, it's C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW. Going forward, I will use "{app}" as shorthand for what you entered. A common mistake when file hunting is to leave out the XEW from the path, and you'll go into EU files, which otherwise have the same names and directory structure.

An incorrect entry here will mess up your install. When you select your path to install the mod, you should receive a warning that the directory already exists. If you didn't, have you may have messed up. (Note this warning may not happen on admin mode, however).

2. Once you select the path, it makes backups of all files it is going to patch, overwrite or delete for the uinstaller. If I say "deletes" a file, it's not really deleted, but moved to to the backup folder, which is {app}\Long War Files.

3. Then it does the following file operations:

This file is patched:

{app}\Binaries\Win32\XComEW.exe

These files are deleted:

{app}\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\XComGame.upk.uncompressed_size

{app}\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\XComStrategyGame.upk.uncompressed_size

NOTE: If these files are not deleted, you will get CTDs when trying to run XCOM Long War.

These files are overwritten:

Config files:

{app}\XComGame\Config\DefaultEngine.ini

{app}\XComGame\Config\DefaultGameCore.ini

{app}\XComGame\Config\DefaultMaps.ini

{app}\XComGame\Config\DefaultInput.ini

{app}\XComGame\Config\DefaultContent.ini

{app}\XComGame\Config\DefaultGameData.ini

{app}\XComGame\Config\DefaultGame.ini (Beta 10 or later)

Localization files:

{app}\XComGame\Localization\INT\XComGame.int

{app}\XComGame\Localization\INT\XComStrategyGame.int

{app}\XComGame\Localization\INT\Subtitles.int

{app}\XComGame\Localization\INT\XComUIShell.int

Unreal package files:

{app}\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\XComGame.upk

{app}\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\XComStrategyGame.upk

{app}\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\UICollection_Strategy_SF.upk

{app}\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\UICollection_Tactical_SF.upk (only 3.0 BETA 10 and later)

This file is added:

{app}\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\LongWar.upk (only 3.0 Beta 10 and later)

An uninstaller and several files that help with patching the exe are also added to {app}\Long War Files, and some readmes, perk and tech tree files are added to the {app} directory.

**** Various troubleshooting steps

When you start the mod, you should get a CTD on the first try. This is normal -- it is Steam adjusting to your new file sizes. It should start properly on the second try.

Here are some troubleshooting steps if you are getting CTDs, graphical glitches, game functions like ALT-F10 not working, or start with only four soldiers in the first mission of a campaign:

First thing to try:

1. Go to C:\Users\YOUR WINDOWS USERNAME\Documents\My Games\XCOM - Enemy Within\XComGame\Config

2. Delete all files in that directory.

3. Start the game and see if it works.

Second thing to try:

1. Make sure these files are NOT present. They will cause CTDs on launch. If they are, delete them and start the game.

{app}\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\XComGame.upk.uncompressed_size

{app}\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\XComStrategyGame.upk.uncompressed_size

Third thing to try:

1. Play XCOM Long War in offline mode in Steam. This has been reported to work if you are getting periodic slowdowns during play, but it probably won't fix other issues.

Four thing to try:

1. Go to C:\Users\YOUR WINDOWS USERNAME\Documents\My Games\XCOM - Enemy Within\XComGame\SaveData

2. Delete or rename the file profile.bin and start the game. You may have to re-set your graphics and other settings ingame after this

3. Start the game and see if it works.

Fifth thing to try:

1. Install Long War EW again, over the current copy. This will probably make the included uninstaller not work, so you'll have to verify back to vanilla via Steam to uninstall.

Sixth thing to try:

1. Verify your install back to vanilla via Steam, and start over.

Seventh thing to try:

We'll try to run down where the installer got borked.

1. Check to make sure the upk files were in fact installed. They should have recent created and/or modified dates (as should all files listed above). The upk files should be much larger than vanilla, as well (as we distribute uncompressed files):

{app}\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\XComGame.upk should be roughly 12,176 kb

{app}\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\XComStrategyGame.upk should be roughly 4,870 kb

{app}\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\UICollection_Strategy_SF.upk should be roughly 19,094 kb

{app}\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\UICollection_Tactical_SF.upk (only 3.0 BETA 10 and later) should be roughly 6,539 kb

If they are massively smaller, the mod didn't install correctly. If they are only a little different, then this isn't the problem.

3. Check to make sure the config files (inis) were in fact installed. They should all have recent created and/or modified dates.

4. If you found problems with any of these files and a verify-reinstall didn't help, alert johnnylump via PM on the Nexus, and he'll try to get you corrected versions.

5. Check the date modified date on {app}\Binaries\Win32\XComEW.exe ... it should be the date you installed the mod. If not, the patcher didn't work. I can't help you there by sending you a good file -- distributing an exe crosses the line into piracy -- but you can duplicate the necessary hex changes yourself with a hex editor like HxD or Notepad++. Open the exe in an editor (and be very careful not to change anything else, and perform two HEX (not ANSI string) search-and-replaces:

Find this

25 00 64 00 00 00 00 00 49 00 6e 00 69 00 56 00 65 00 72 00 73 00 69 00 6f 00 6e 00 00 00 00 00 2e 00 2e 00 5c 00 2e 00 2e 00 5c 00 58 00 43 00

and replace with this:

25 00 64 00 00 00 00 00 49 00 6e 00 69 00 56 00 65 00 72 00 73 00 69 00 6f 00 6e 00 00 00 00 00 2e 00 2e 00 5c 00 2e 00 2e 00 5c 00 57 00 43 00

Then, find this:

70 00 72 00 6F 00 64 00 2E 00 78 00 63 00 6F 00 6D 00 2D 00 65 00 77 00 2E 00 66 00 69 00 72 00 61 00 78 00 69 00 73 00 2E 00 63 00 6F 00 6D 00

and replace with this:

70 00 72 00 6F 00 64 00 2E 00 78 00 63 00 6F 00 6D 00 2D 00 65 00 78 00 2E 00 66 00 69 00 72 00 61 00 78 00 69 00 73 00 2E 00 63 00 6F 00 6D 00

6. Let us know if any of these steps work; it will help us direct other players to the solution faster.

Edited June 21, 2014 by johnnylump

[CRISISPL]

Hello i have a small problem Reading Long war mod , i instaled mod just like you sayed , everything is working ok , but ther is only one thing, always when i start any mission all my soldiers are hurt , if i give them vest they dont have 1 hp and if they have stroger armor that gives 10 hp so they start with they base hp and 10 empty hp points can somoene help me , i treid to reinstal x com, follow steps and mod is runnig just with that one " bug " i just cant play.

[johnnylump]

@ Crisispel -- See the Long War mod's "discussions" tab Beta 12 topic for the solution.

[okoubaros]

Hello,

 

I installed the Steam EW version. I then proceeded to installing Long War 14i in the /EW folder, which completed with no errors.

 

I started the game through Steam, chose the EW game which loaded but no Long War game was activated. It was the EW game that loaded.

 

I rolled back to the EW version, uninstalled Long War, installed it again but no luck.

 

Any solutions to this?

Edited February 5, 2015 by okoubaros

[SebastianChase]

Ive looked over some of the topics regarding issues with Long War and as far as I can tell, my issue seems to be unique;

 

As I try to install it, I get an error message saying the source file does not excist. I am installing this in the right category, ive checked, so no idea what im doing wrong. Does anyone know what's wrong?

[SebastianChase]

NVM, I figured what I did wrong, its working now XD

[ttsolo]

I've a mod (long war beta 15) perfectly working just after installation, but crashing every time I try to come back.

I'm obliged to reinstall the mod each time I wan't to play.

I've you a clue about what to do ?

Edited April 10, 2015 by ttsolo