modifying .uc files

[Acid81]

Im aware there is a mod released for this but I wanted to try it on my own just to see how things worked. Iv recently tried to change the number of upgrade slots for conventional weapons and the game isn't responding to any of my modifications. Im not using custom files as I don't know unreal coding. Iv only tried to change the original class files and the game isn't reading them. Iv looked through other peoples mods and noticed a lot of them have custom files. Is this the only the game will accept mods ?

 

 

[serratemplar]

You can't override the stock .uc files; at least, not without overriding some core UE files that are compressed and maybe encoded hidden somewhere. Amineri went into this recently (mentioned it anyway) but I can't find that post, sorry. :\ (Was in here somewhere if I recall.)

 

Maybe to start experimenting you can dupe then modify the Example Weapon mod, creating new versions of the old weapons that have more slots?

[davidlallen]

Basically, it is safe, but maybe unadvisable to edit *ini* files which are in the game directory. It is not at all useful to edit *uc* files which are in the game directory. To make any changes to uc files, you will have to install the sdk and learn how to use it, at least a little. The good news is that there are a number of guides and video guides to lead you through it. The sdk includes an example weapon mod you can try out. Please see the resources in the pinned resource thread in the "mod talk" forum next door.

[Acid81]

Ok, lets say I wanted to make some very small very simple changes in files: X2RangerAbilitySet.uc, X2Ability_Grenades.uc and X2Item_DefaultWeapons.uc . One small change in the first file, two in the second and four in the last listed here, probably not even enough to effect the file size.

 

Im assuming from your post I would have to make my own versions of these files since you basically stated you cant simply go in modify and reuse stock .uc files. Im pretty sure some things would have to be "Overridden" or "Overightin".

 

If I attempted to recreate these files, what other files (and how) would need to be modified in order for the game to see the changes ?

[davidlallen]

Unfortunately uc files have to be compiled by the SDK before the game will see them. This is not true for ini files. There is no "workaround", this is the way these files work.

[dip0]

Piggybacking here to help me understand files better.

 

If I take a working mod that has a src folder and a script folder, the script folder is basically the compiled version of the src folder, right?

So if I make any edits inside the uc files in the src folder, it will have 0 effect when i activate the mod as the u files in the script folder remain unmodified?

 

If that is the case, is it safe to delete the src folder for any mod I add?

[davidlallen]

If you simply change the uc files for somebody else's mod, this will have no effect. You have to download/install the sdk, copy their files into a modbuddy directory, make your changes, and then compile using the sdk.

 

If you are crunched for disk space and you have many mods, you can safely delete the directory src\classes\XComGame from any mod. This is junk which many beginning modders accidentally distribute. It is about 1900 files and 4 MB of wasted space. However, there is no reason to delete the directory src\classes\<Mod Name>. These are the actual mod files created by the modder. While they are not used, they are also very small, and you may eventually want to look at them.

 

Please note if you delete the src\classes\XComGame directory from a steam workshop mod, it is highly likely that when the modder updates their mod, the steam downloader will put the files back. If you find a mod with these files, please leave a note in the steam workshop thread for the mod. You can suggest they should delete these needless files from their mod the next time they publish.

Edited March 5, 2016 by davidlallen