XCOM EU Turning the advisors off?

[FlyingHigh10000000]

I'm on game 20-25, somewhere between that(the game's count is a bit off, because I switched to a Second Wave-enabled profile a while back, and it had a different count than my own profile) and at this point, Shen, Vahlen, and Bradford are starting to really get on my nerves, to the point that in the first mission, when I inevitably use a grenade on a Sectoid,(I've been tweaking the game pretty much constantly, for a challenging, but fair game with the Impossible number of aliens.) and Vahlen starts crying foul, then whines at me again back at base, with Bradford helpfully chiming in to remind me what every class does, then whining when I sell a few of the 20+ Sectoid corpses that I've yet to research, I just end up wanting to mute the game. I get that Firaxis did it to make the game approachable for new kids, but good god, an option to just turn off the three stooges of XCOM would save me the awful headaches I get when I start a new game.(I seriously do get pretty bad headaches when the advisors start yelling at me. I have a very low tolerance for crap. XD)

 

What I'm getting at is, is there any way any of you awesome people can think of to either mute or outright turn off the advisor popups, especially the in-mission ones that actually take control from the player so Shen or Vahlen can point out something nobody cares about?

 

<div><br></div><div>Edit: I tried commenting the references to "FirstExplosiveKill" and so on first out of the DefaultNarrative.INT file, which resulted in a DefaultNarrative.ini file with that line missing being generated, and Vahlen's whining still playing regardless. Then I tried leaving that one alone, and commenting it out in the ini file generated in the Documents folder for XCOM. The line still played, and when I exited the game and looked back in the file, the line I'd commented out before starting the game was gone. Not as simple as commenting something out, it seems. :\</div>

Edited December 8, 2012 by FlyingHigh10000000

[Drakous79]

My game count is 88+ and I've learned to ignore that. Escape at the base. But will check the code.

[FlyingHigh10000000]

My game count is 88+ and I've learned to ignore that. Escape at the base. But will check the code.

 

Thanks very much. I tend to ignore it as well, and just keep hitting escape when the cinematics play(Though it's easy enough to get rid of those by just removing the .bik files or renaming them entirely.) and, as a bit of a trick, you can skip Bradford talking about the classes, the council yelling at you, etc, by hitting the button to look at the geoscape, then backing out again.

[Drakous79]

Yes, doing it too. Game 90 now :)

 

Vahlen talking about using explosives during a mission is in XComGame.upk, class XGUnit, function OnKill().

// End:0x4b4
if(kVictim.IsAlien_CheckByCharType() && !XComGameReplicationInfo(class'Engine'.static.GetCurrentWorldInfo().GRI).m_kGameCore.CharacterHasProperty(GetCharacter().m_kChar.iType, 4))
{
   // End:0x48e
   if(kVictim.m_bWasKilledByExplosion)
   {
       PRES().UINarrative(xcomnarrativemoment'FirstExplosivesKill', kVictim);
   }
   // End:0x4b4
   else
   {
       m_kFirstKillTarget = kVictim;
       SetTimer(4.0, false, 'FirstKillNarrative');
   }
}

We need to skip if(kVictim.m_bWasKilledByExplosion) conditional. She will still talk about selfdestructing weapons, but not a word about explosives, so the firts kill can be with a grenade. You will still be pondered back at the base :)

 

// End:0x4b4
if(kVictim.IsAlien_CheckByCharType() && !XComGameReplicationInfo(class'Engine'.static.GetCurrentWorldInfo().GRI).m_kGameCore.CharacterHasProperty(GetCharacter().m_kChar.iType, 4))
{
   // This is an implied JumpToken;
   goto J0x48e;
   kVictim.m_bWasKilledByExplosion
   PRES().UINarrative(xcomnarrativemoment'FirstExplosivesKill', kVictim);
   // This is an implied JumpToken;
   goto J0x4b4;
   J0x48e:
   m_kFirstKillTarget = kVictim;
   SetTimer(4.0, false, 'FirstKillNarrative');
}
J0x4b4:

SF: 07 8E 04 19 00 5B B4 00 00 0A 00 6D AF 00 00 00 2D 01 6D AF 00 00 19 1B 84 5A 00 00 00 00 00 00 16
RW: 06 8E 04 19 00 5B B4 00 00 0A 00 6D AF 00 00 00 2D 01 6D AF 00 00 19 1B 84 5A 00 00 00 00 00 00 16

Change the first 07 to 06.

[Drakous79]

Vahlen about grenades in labs - XComStrategyGame.upk, class XGResearchUI, function UpdateView().

if(LABS().m_bNagExplosives && -- LABS().m_iExplosiveNags > 0)
{
   LABS().m_bNagExplosives = false;
   // End:0x4bd
   if(Narrative(xcomnarrativemoment'NagExplosives'))
   {
       return;
   }
}

SF: 07 BD 04 1B 71 1F 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 AC 48 00 00 4A 16 04 0B
RW: 06 BD 04 1B 71 1F 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 AC 48 00 00 4A 16 04 0B

Change the first 07 to 06.

 

 

Bradford about classes in barracks - XComSTrategyGame.upk, class XGSoldierUI, function UpdateView().

// End:0x28a
else
{
   // End:0x28a
   if(m_iCurrentView == 1)
   {
       // End:0x1b9
       if(m_kSoldier.GetClass() == 1)
       {
           Narrative(xcomnarrativemoment'FirstSniper');
       }
       // End:0x28a
       else
       {
           // End:0x1fa
           if(m_kSoldier.GetClass() == 4)
           {
               Narrative(xcomnarrativemoment'FirstAssault');
           }
           // End:0x28a
           else
           {
               // End:0x24c
               if(m_kSoldier.GetClass() == 2 && !ISCONTROLLED())
               {
                   Narrative(xcomnarrativemoment'FirstHeavy');
               }
               // End:0x28a
               else
               {
                   // End:0x28a
                   if(m_kSoldier.GetClass() == 3)
                   {
                       Narrative(xcomnarrativemoment'FirstSupport');
                   }
               }
           }
       }
   }
}

SF: 07 8A 02 9A 01 7E 08 00 00 26 16 07 B9 01 9A 38 3A 19 01 74 3F 00 00 0A 00 8C 45 00 00 00 1B B5 0E 00 00 00 00 00 00 16 38 3A 24 01 16 1B 71 1F 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 61 48 00 00 4A 16
RW: 06 8A 02 9A 01 7E 08 00 00 26 16 07 B9 01 9A 38 3A 19 01 74 3F 00 00 0A 00 8C 45 00 00 00 1B B5 0E 00 00 00 00 00 00 16 38 3A 24 01 16 1B 71 1F 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 61 48 00 00 4A 16

Change the first 07 to 06. It is the second End:0x28a. This could be also done by changing classes conditionals (GetClass() == 1) to nonsense value like 99.

 

 

Bradford about selling stuff at grey market - XComSTrategyGame.upk, class XGGreyMArketUI, function OnSellItem().

// End:0x174
if(m_arrItemList[m_iHighlight].bNotResearched && !LABS().m_bGreyWarning)
{
   Narrative(xcomnarrativemoment'GreyMarketNotResearched');
   LABS().m_bGreyWarning = true;
}

SF: 07 74 01 82 2D 35 B9 0A 00 00 C4 0A 00 00 00 00 10 01 3A 31 00 00 01 3E 31 00 00 18 23 00 81 19 1B 89 16 00 00 00 00 00 00 16 0A 00 EA 2B 00 00 00 2D 01 EA 2B 00 00 16 16 1B 71 1F 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 6F 48 00 00 4A 16
RW: 06 74 01 82 2D 35 B9 0A 00 00 C4 0A 00 00 00 00 10 01 3A 31 00 00 01 3E 31 00 00 18 23 00 81 19 1B 89 16 00 00 00 00 00 00 16 0A 00 EA 2B 00 00 00 2D 01 EA 2B 00 00 16 16 1B 71 1F 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 6F 48 00 00 4A 16

Change the first 07 to 06.

 

 

All tested and working. Haven't noticed any side effects.

[FlyingHigh10000000]

Thanks very much. This completely gets rid of the headaches I kept getting from hearing the most repetitive lines in a new game. :)

[Drakous79]

Glad I could help :)

 

Would be cool to have a switch in options for it.

[FlyingHigh10000000]

Definitely. I get what Firaxis was trying to do, in that they wanted new players to know /why/ it wasn't proper resource management to blow up a bunch of aliens every mission, to have Bradford explain the classes, etc. But they went a bit far. Would have been much better if they'd just kept that stuff strictly to the Tutorial mode of the game, where you get plenty of bonuses and help as it is. Advanced players are, of course, going to get annoyed when the game keeps trying to hold their hand through the first few months, with no way to turn it off.

[FMod]

BTW, is there any way to change what is destroyed with grenades and what isn't?

(For one, I don't see, with weapons that explode into fragments from inside, how would grenades - 2-3 oz of explosive several feet away - make things any worse).

[Drakous79]

Yes, that would be better than the switch. Stick some explanations to tutorial mode. There are few I like, trying new armors for an example.

 

Dunno about aliens and objects, but it's possible there is a line saying "give no fragments if killed by a grenade".

Edited December 9, 2012 by Drakous79