Help needed with an extremely small mod

[obhave]

Hey everyone. I'm looking make a mod to change a thing that for most people is not that big of an issue, but for me is a HUGE issue, and I'd REALLY want to fix it, even if I have to learn XCOM modding to do so.

Basically, I want to change the damage of exploding cars to 1.

(BTW, if you'd like to see a scientific demonstration for why this is the way to go for people who love realism, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBXS21uh6lc )

So yeah, I read some guides on how to mod XCOM, and looked through all of the stuff that you can change in the file XComEW.exe, but I couldn't find the code for how much damage the various vehicles in the game deal when they explode... do any of you know where I can find this code?

Edited August 17, 2015 by obhave

[dubiousintent]

Hmm. I'd hoped one of the experienced modders like Amineri or wghost81 would speak to this, but as they haven't it's more likely as I recall: apparently no one has dug into this yet. I am not aware of any existing mod dealing with car explosion damage.

 

As with many things in XCOM, what appears to be a "simple change" is often quite complicated to implement when it wasn't intended to be modded by Firaxis.

 

The wiki article "Projectile and damage functionality" details the sequence of events from when a projectile is fired through the application of damage. However, as you are speaking to the "indirect damage" from an exploding car, it will probably take digging into the "XComDamageType class". But "XComDamageType.DealDamage" is a native function, which means we can't see how it works. So most likely you will need to do some post-function processing to adjust the damage to your liking.

 

You may find the forum threads "Randomized Environmental Damage" and "Reduced Explosive Damage at the edge" helpful.

 

There is another possibility that comes to mind. There are "material properties" of static objects like vehicles which MIGHT (I don't know) include base damage. The forum thread "R&D XCOM Map Alterations" touched on some aspects of "material properties", which might provide some clues. Unfortunately we don't have a wiki article on "material properties" as yet.

 

I suggest if you have further questions you post in the "Mod Talk" section of the forum. That's where discussion into new or obscure aspects of the game take place. (Titles beginning with "R&D" are worth searching on.)

 

Good luck with your project, and do let us know how it turns out.

 

-Dubious-

Edited August 18, 2015 by dubiousintent