Research Archives.

[Thephedora]

Research Archives

 

Welcome to the Research Archives.

The point of this thread is to attempt to Organize what we (the nexus Xcom enemy unknown modding community) may or may not know about modding XCOM - Enemy unknown.

 

I don't know everything but from what I know this is how it goes. Feel free to post POSITIVE feedback on what might be wrong or what might be right.

 

How to mod XCOM - Enemy Unknown (from what I know.)

 

1. The .ini files.

 

Right about now you've probably decided that you're going to mod XCOM - enemy unknown. So now the question is what are you going to mod?

That is where the .ini files come in. This is what's stickied at the top of the forums. Which I just read before I linked it that they are moving to the nexus wiki.

 

I believe that link is here : The DefaultGameCore.ini settings

 

If I understand it right it was written with the European version of the game however most if not all the settings are the same for the US and other English speaking versions.

2. A Resource Hacker or the Modpatcher.

 

Well after much reading, and scouring, I've read that the games .exe does not use the Default Game Core .ini to look up settings. So you're probably thinking, Why do I need to know the .ini settings?

Again from what I'm understanding it's so you know what values to edit when 'hacking the .exe'.

 

Dreadylein's modpatcher is stickyed, but just in case: Dreadylein's modpather sticky

 

I have read on the forums (For the life of me I can't remember where)

That these are the steps to run a resource hacker.

 

follow these steps:

1. Mod DefaultGameCore.ini (it is the same inside exe) to whatever you like.

2. Open XComGame.exe inside Resource Hacker.

3. Find RCdata/1020/1033 in left section.

4. Right click 1033 and select "Replace Resource". You will see a new window.

5. Click button "Open file with new resource...", which you will see on new window.

6. Find file, which you modded before and select it.

7. Now fill three text boxes with such values:

Resource type: RCDATA

Resource name: 1020

Resource language: 1033

8. Click "Replace" button. You should see modded content to the right. If not, then something went wrong.

9. Save file using File -> Save and now game is modded.

Atoric oct 10 2012

 

From what I understand on the Modpatcher, when you run the .bat it edits your .exe and makes a back up copy, placing it in steamapps/common/xcom-enemy-unknown/binaries/win32 (credit to dreadylein)

then when you copy the profile.bin file over your old .bin it reads the edited .exe (credit to Alpha7)

 

3. Different mods.

Maybe your mod isn't modding the .exe, Maybe you're out for textures, or maybe meshes, maybe you want to add a new alien to fight, or new weapons to put into the game. I have no idea how to help with those at the moment, but you're not the only one that probably thinks your idea is cool. Throw up a topic on the forums and see what you get back. You might be surprised.

 

4. Test it!

 

This part is usually up to you. Try out the mod and see if it works or not. If it didn't troubleshoot what you can. and if you're still stumped like I was after day 3, ask someone what they think on the forums. Try to be precise with the steps you took. It makes it easier for your fellow modders to help you out.

if you're unsure of your steps, try them again. Rinse, Repeat. More often then not, you will get the mod up and running.

 

 

 

Credit

Xionanx - Finding out what the .ini values do.

Dreadylein - Modpatcher

Alpha7 - updated Profile.bin

Arietatray - Second Wave mod and installation steps for the Modpatcher, and Profile.bin

Atoric - Resource hacker steps

 

Anyone else I may have missed - Any credit where it's due.

Edited October 28, 2012 by Thephedora

[PepprmintButler]

It's a good start. You gost most of it right.

Regarding the ini, I don't know of any differences between game versions. I'm 99% positive that all versions use exactly the same defaultgamecore.ini (there are slight differences in other, non-cooked inis due to language mostly).

The modding using resource hacker part needs more a'splaining; there are more direct methods than the one you quoted. (will write up on it later if needed)

What is most lacking is the whole upk "surgery" modding, which is where the meat of it is. It's much more interesting, and much more difficult. Seeing as some leading modders are releasing today an Alpha version of a tool that should make it much, much easier than it is know, you might as well wait for that before getting into it.

[Thephedora]

The resource hacker part is what I'm having some trouble finding actually.

And the UPK modding I saw parts of but didn't quite understand all of it.

I read a lot and seen a lot and I know of a bunch of the "peices", but I have no idea how they all fit together just yet.

any help is greatly appreciated. Here's hoping the Alpha simplifies a bunch of the confusion.

[babyjebu5]

Looks great. I have no problems with what you said, I just think it ought to have been said where it won't get buried by other more recent postings - a single sticky'ed link to the Wiki ought to suffice. Wikis are our friend. So my food for thought is this: is the Wiki also serving the purpose of being a research archive? are the forums really a better place for this sort of archival?

 

Consider joining the wiki's member base and adding this info you have so graciously compiled - I am sure the organizers would be happy to help find appropriate homes for any pages you create there. :)