Installation help for non-modders

[Kryigerofe]

Hello.

 

I just discovered this site and saw several interesting mods. However, I'm kind of lost trying to install and use them. It sounds very simple in the installation notes of the various mods but I just can't figure out how to match them to my XCOM installation. Is there some kind of beginner's guide somewhere I haven't found? I'm not a modder myself - I'd just like to use what people have made.

 

For example, I'd like to install the following mods:

 

- Additional Heads by Oddball_E8: It says in the installation instructions: "Just extract the DefaultContent.ini file to your /XCom-Enemy-Unknown/XComGame/Config file." I've found the folder but it does not have a file of that name. All the files start with "XCom", not "Default". Am I missing a step, or am I just supposed to replace XComContent.ini instead?

 

- Xcom Meddler by itp777: I can run the program, but when I try to open a file to edit, the default name it seems to expect is DefaultGameCore.mod. There's no such file on my computer to be found. There's an XcomGameCore.ini in the Logs folder, but opening that just gives me all zeroes as values in the tables. I'm sure I am, again, missing some critical step.

 

If anyone could help me or point me to the relevant instructions, I'd be very grateful.

[Kryigerofe]

Nevermind, at least for now. I just realized I had one XCom - Enemy Unknown folder in my user account and one in the Steam folder for some reason, with somewhat different but similar files..

[Drakous79]

Mods here are mostly working with game installation Steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\

 

DefaultGameCore.mod is the same file as DefaltGameCore.ini, only has different extension, so you can get one by renaming (do backup first) DGC.ini to mod. Also one is included with Modpatcher - a tool that updates changes from DGC.* into games'executable. The latest version is 0.12.

 

Also note that the game contacts home server to see, if some files needs to be updated (like our modified XComGame.exe). To prevent it, ppl are using Steam in offline mode or are preventing the "phone home" feature by altering hosts file.

[Kryigerofe]

Thanks for the info! I'll try Modpatcher next.

[Kryigerofe]

OK, got DefaultGameCore.ini modded with modpatcher, but still can't figure out how to install something that uses a different .ini file (like DefaultContent.ini used by the additional heads).

[Drakous79]

Backup your DefaultContent.ini in Steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XComGame\Config\ and then simply change it or overwrite with modded ini.

[Kryigerofe]

Backup your DefaultContent.ini in Steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XComGame\Config\ and then simply change it or overwrite with modded ini.

 

Thanks, but I've already tried that with the head mod several times. Does it really not need to be "patched" to the exe file like the DefaultGameCore stuff needs to?

[Drakous79]

I am postive it doesn't need to be patched.

 

Add comma here:

ColorPaletteInfo=(Palette=ePalette_CaucasianSkin,ArchetypeName="UnitPalettes.CaucasianSkin")

And remove it here:

ColorPalettes=(Palette=ePalette_CaucasianSkin, Colors[0]=(R=192,G=132,B=97),Colors[1]=(R=220,G=154,B=116),Colors[2]=(R=220,G=154,B=132),Colors[3]=(R=242,G=180,B=160),Colors[4]=(R=193,G=125,B=97),BaseOptions=5)

You should get only one skin color for Caucasian race - the one we call asphalt :)

 

Or try adding heads yourself. Put this line somewhere after heads:

HeadPackageInfo=(Id=150,CustomTag="",Gender=eGender_Female,Character=eChar_Soldier,Race=eRace_Caucasian,ArchetypeName="Head_NPCCaucFem_A.ARC_Head_NPCCaucFem_A")

You should have 10 Caucasian female heads instead of 9.

 

Both I tried before posting.