Topics

76

Open Feedback / [not bug] partially see-through ufo external walls *SOLVED: tweak MDCPatches*

« on: November 26, 2015, 06:25:15 pm »

i've been noticing from a while on my modded game, that my agents could see though the "back-facing" walls of ufo (attached).
(they're not walls but objects -mcd_type 3-, "big walls"-enabled.
since i mess a lot with the tiles i didn't mind it, i though it was my fault. but now i'm seeing the exact same behavior on Meridian's let's play of xpiratez.
so i think the thing need to be checked at least at this point.

i didn't have the time to lookproperly but going by memory what happens is (when ufo is looked from the affected directions, north and west):
 - the interiors are exposed (no more black)
 - but units/floorobs are not revealed

can't say exactly.. but i think that (at least the small ufo) remained consistently "blacked-out" once.
(could it be a wrong mcd patch?)
(could it be that it started to happening after adding support for TFTD special walls?)

edit:
fix here:
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,4117.msg55113.html#msg55113

77

Work In Progress / Humans: tallest species in the galaxy! (standHeight, kneelHeight)

« on: October 22, 2015, 10:23:32 am »

Soldier:
    standHeight: 22
    kneelHeight: 14

Muton:
    standHeight: 21
    kneelHeight: 16

Ethereal:
    standHeight: 20
    kneelHeight: 15

Snakeman:
    standHeight: 18
    kneelHeight: 18

Gillman
    standHeight: 20
    kneelHeight: 12

Seems strange to me that mutons (or even ethereals) aren't taller. Stats were just copied from original game?
What is kneelHeight used for? Ruleset reference says they're not used, but TFTD aliens still list the string.
Does it perhaps influence the height where the weapon bullet is generated?
Is there a reason why Gillman and Ethereal both being 20-tall, have different kneelHeight?
What kneelHeight value should I use for a 22-tall alien, 14 like human or 17 like ethereal>muton progression (20-15, 21-16 -->22-17) would suggest? Should I just omit the value completely?
Height, tell me your secrets.

78

Work In Progress / Unexpected February Terror Mission.. and wrong race too!

« on: October 19, 2015, 03:06:01 pm »

So I deleted the recurringTerror:

  - delete: recurringTerror

I made my own new "terror" mission script, that includes smaller terror missions and conventional terror missions.
As you can see though, the standard terror mission is not scheduled in the beginning months.
Yet at the very beginning of February I get a terror mission.

  - type: alienApocalypse
    executionOdds: 100
    missionWeights:
      0:
        STR_ALIEN_DROP_SMALL: 70
        STR_ALIEN_DROP_MEDIUM: 30
        STR_ALIEN_TERROR: 0
      1:
        STR_ALIEN_DROP_SMALL: 60
        STR_ALIEN_DROP_MEDIUM: 40
        STR_ALIEN_TERROR: 0
      3:
        STR_ALIEN_DROP_SMALL: 50
        STR_ALIEN_DROP_MEDIUM: 50
        STR_ALIEN_TERROR: 0
      ..and so on...
    useTable: false


Adding to that, it uses a race (human faction) that isn't supposed to be used. The standard terror has been modified accordingly:

  - type: STR_ALIEN_TERROR
    raceWeights:
      0:
        STR_ETHEREAL: 0
        STR_FLOATER: 0
        STR_MUTON: 0
        STR_SECTOID: 0
        STR_SNAKEMAN: 0
        #
        STR_ANTHROPOD_OCULANT_1: 30
        STR_ANTHROPOD_OCULANT_2: 0
        STR_FLOATER_SNAKEMAN_1: 70
        STR_FLOATER_SNAKEMAN_2: 0
        STR_MUTON_ETHEREAL_1: 0
        STR_MUTON_ETHEREAL_2: 0
     ...and so on, alway the same races just different values...


It's like the script recurringTerror is still enabled and is picking up races randomly among all the available races.

Anyone had this behavior, or has any idea why terror mission is going wild?

79

Work In Progress / Non-UFO Alien Retaliation - How are races set? [SOLVED]

« on: October 17, 2015, 03:26:59 pm »

from alienMissions:

  - type: STR_ALIEN_RETALIATION
    points: 0
    raceWeights: {} #Special case, race comes from trigger UFO.

But what about the fixed (as in: not triggered by UFO shotdown) alien retaliation missions that are set up in missionScripts?
I have the chance for alien retaliation in my missionScripts loop, but when it is selected it picks among the vanilla races, which are "deleted" in my mod. The result is of course a crash.
Should I list the races for fixed retaliation under raceWeights like for other missions?

Was looking at obsolete stuff. Question Solved.

80

Open Feedback / DrawingRoutines issues.

« on: September 19, 2015, 09:57:48 am »

1-
Look at the turd-like thing that the alien is holding with its left hand. At South-West orientation it is rendered under the torso, which (to me) looks wrong. I've included another alien to show that it
happens not only on one alien. They both use drawingRoutine: 0 though.
(It is probably usually less noticeable because regular aliens are not as hunched forward as these).


2-
When walking in the South direction, the arms "order" gets inverted intermittently. Meaning that, in some frames, the right arm is rendered above the torso and the left arm under the torso (while it should always be the opposite). Again this is drawingRoutine: 0
You can see it in the following image. In some stages (3, 5) of the walking animation, the arms order is correct; in others (1, 2, 4) instead is not, with the right arm coming in full view while the left half-disappears under the body.
(Actually the arms are probably inverted in all the stages of the (South) walk, since in 3 and 5 the alien is still. It's not easy to take screenshots )

81

Programming / Bigobs for TFTD terror units

« on: September 07, 2015, 09:59:40 am »

../xcom2/Resources/Weapons/Terror_tftd.png

82

Work In Progress / Terror mission behaviour

« on: August 07, 2015, 09:18:44 am »

Non directly mission scripting but..  let's say I wan to make a new custom terror-like mission, but spawning around like alien bases instead of on cities.

alienDeployments
  - type: STR_MY_MISSION_SITE
    [...allthestuff...]
    markerName: STR_MY_MISSION_SITE
    duration: [255, 256]
    despawnPenalty: 500

alienMissions:
  - type: STR_MY_MISSION
    points: 10
    spawnZone: 4 #Mission zone for alien bases #Do I need this at all?
    waves:
      - ufo: STR_UFO_1
        count: 1
        trajectory: P0
        timer: 9000
      - ufo: STR_UFO_2
        count: 1
        trajectory: P2
        timer: 7800
      - ufo: STR_UFO_3
        count: 1
        trajectory: P6 #Last trajectory used by ALIEN_BASE mission
        timer: 6000
      - ufo: STR_MY_MISSION_SITE
        count: 1
        trajectory: P6
        timer: 0

Is this how you do it? Anything crucial missing?
ufo: STR_MY_MISSION_SITE is not intended to be a "dummy ufo" but to spawn directly the mission site.
objective: true for ufo: STR_MY_MISSION_SITE should't be needed since I have no objective for the mission itself.

83

Work In Progress / Mission Scripting

« on: July 29, 2015, 09:37:42 am »

Mission scripting is live. Didn't find this anyware (it's from Warboy) so I'm posting it here:

Code: [Select]

#  - type: example                       # the type/name is used for overwriting or deleting purposes.
#    firstMonth: 0                       # months this command runs on, 0 runs on startup of a new game (default 0)
#    lastMonth: 0                        # don't run after this month. in this context we mean "run once". -1 denotes no limit (default -1)
#    label: 1                            # label, used for conditionals (default 0)
#    conditionals: [1, -2]               # conditional list, just like mapscripts (default none)
#    missionWeights:                     # the type of mission to spawn (omit to pick one from the mission table) (default none)
#      0:                                # these are split into monthly chunks, and can contain multiple entries,
#        STR_ALIEN_RESEARCH: 20          # including weighted odds, but there is a caveat here:
#        STR_ALIEN_ABDUCTION: 30         # you cannot mix and match missions with mission site objectives (ie: terror) with regular missions,
#        STR_ALIEN_CROP_CIRCLES: 30      # they are generated too differently. using executionOdds and conditionals instead can achieve
#        STR_CATTLE_MUTILATION: 20       # exactly the same thing. similarly, terror missions should not appear in regional mission weights (regions.rul)
#    executionOdds: 100                  # % chances of this command executing (default 100)
#    targetBaseOdds: 75                  # % chances of this mission targeting a region containing an xcom base instead of random (default 0)
#    startDelay: 120                     # number of minutes to delay the start of the mission (rounded down to the nearest 30, 0 to use the wave timer from the mission itself) (default 0)
#    raceWeights:                        # can override established monthly race weights here if desired (default empty)
#      0:
#        STR_SECTOID: 100                # in this case we want a sectoid mission, so they get 100%
#    regionWeights:                      # again, this can override the defined mission region weights (default empty)
#      0:                                # this won't come into play here unless the mission doesn't target an xcom base, as described above.
#        STR_SAMPLE_REGION1: 20          # IF OMITTED:
#        STR_SAMPLE_REGION2: 30          # for a terror type mission, all regions that meet the criteria will be weighed equally.
#        STR_SAMPLE_REGION3: 50          # for regular missions the normal regional distribution weights will be applied.
#    minDifficulty: 0                    # this command only applies to difficulty levels of this or above (default 0)
#    researchTriggers:                   # a list of research topics that can influence the execution of this mission (default empty)
#      STR_THE_MARTIAN_SOLUTION: true    # in this case, the mission would only run if the player has the martian solution
#      STR_CYDONIA_OR_BUST: false        # and does NOT have Cydonia or bust
#    maxRuns: 12                         # this mission type can only execute this number of times, -1 for infinite (default -1)
#    avoidRepeats: 12                    # this means "store an array of the 12 previous coordinates, and don't use them again" (default 0)
#    varName: researching                # this is an internal variable name, used for tracking maxruns and avoidRepeats (default none)
#    useTable: false                     # check this mission type appears in the mission tables, and remove it if it does? (default true)


84

Open Feedback / Battlescape colors "reversed" on explosion: could it be optional?

« on: July 27, 2015, 10:23:45 pm »

I noticed that colors of the battlescape gets "reversed" for brief moment as an explosion happens (the explosion color is not affected by this, only the background).
After talking with Yankes he said that this is deliberate (IE not a bug), a TFTD thing.

I really don't like it. It obviously isn't "unbearable" but: could it be made optional (selection between ufo style and tftd style)?
(Of course turning it off completely is fine too, for me, but there might be people who like it).

85

Work In Progress / [SOLVED][extraStrings] suddenly renaming ufopaedia category doesn't work

« on: July 25, 2015, 09:50:59 pm »

I mean I have this (under "extraStrings"):

      STR_HEAVY_WEAPONS_PLATFORMS: GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

always working before, but now it displays the default name "HEAVY WEAPONS PLATFORMS".
I don't know since when it stopped working. Am I missing some change to extraStrings/ufopaedia?

SOLVED:
I had the wrong sub-type (UK instead of US) of English selected. Idiot of the day prize: won by me.

86

Open Feedback / [FIXED] Something wrong with aerial combat?

« on: July 22, 2015, 05:43:00 pm »

Ufos seem to attack only a bunch of times, then sit there not attacking anymore (it is beyond evident once you go out of ammo).
VERY_SMALL ufos seem to attack 0~1 times before stopping; SMALL ufos 1~5 times; LARGE ufos 30~something (times).
It's like the ufo size determines the amount of ammo for the ufo weapon. I would have thought it was infinite or (more likely) a flat 100 for every ufo. Not finding any mention on https://ufopaedia.org

Is this normal?
It could be some craziness on my end, so I'd like someone else to test it.

Try this, with latest nightly (2015-07-13 12:22):
 - deactivate all mods;
 - set stingray damage to 1, set cannon damage to 1;
 - set interceptor speed to 5000;
 - set big ufos damage to 1 (so you can survive).
Now start a game and go intercepting spree. The whole thing shouldn't take more than 10 minutes.


(I also have the feeling that, at default speed values, the little ufos outrun the interceptor too frequently; but I don't have solid evidence on this).

87

Work In Progress / Object-type tiles blocking unit spawning + xcom craft = issue [SOLVED ???]

« on: July 19, 2015, 12:39:21 pm »

Form what I observed, Object-type MCDs stop units from spawning in the tiles containing them, ignoring if the Object itself blocks movement or not.

This seems fine, but becomes an issue for xcom crafts. To close LOS "holes" in the wall (in places where the wall changes from straight to oblique) you have to add small "edge" Object-tiles.
Normally you place them internally (vanilla UFOs do this, see U_BITS terrain), but they block xcom units from spawning (even if they're walkable-flyable-slideable) in the tiles where you placed them.
So I placed them externally, but they paint black the tile (floor included, even if no floor tile is placed there; see screenshot)  and this "black floor" doesn't seem to go away even looking directly at it.

I don't know how to fix this.
Removing the landing gears and placing the whole craft body to floor 0 *could* (haven't tried though) fix the black floor; but I love my Ramp of Death™.
Another way to fix this of course is to not use oblique walls...

Lightning craft puts these "gap filling" MCDs both internally and externally. But the tiles they're used in aren't marked as spawnable so no spawn-blocking issue; and they are see-through, so no "black floor" (but you can also see through Lightning's oblique walls, which is quite bad).

Any idea?
Would it be problematic to check for movement-allowing of Object-tiles and make them spawn-able? There's always a "Target_Type: X-COM" floor MCD under them. In UFOs and others hostile crafts the thing is obviously never an issue, because the units aren't spawned packed altogether like in an x-com craft.

(I'm using OXC Extended, but I don't think this is a problem specific of that version).

88

Work In Progress / [SOLVED] Base Defense, Quick Battle.. what base?

« on: April 25, 2015, 11:55:17 pm »

I wanted to test some changes I did to the base. My new terrain uses only a portion of the map files of the vanilla XBASE terrain (13 out of 20); I changed the map script/ruleset accordingly.
But when I try to do a quick battle (Base Defense mode obviously) it errors: "Map failed to fully generate". My new maps are still messy-wip (routes all over the place), but it shouldn't do that.
So I wonder, what base does it reference to build the battlescape map? Does it take the "startingBase" as defined in the ruleset? Or is it somewhere else? Or hardcoded (and so calling maps files that have been removed from my custom list)?

Thanks.

89

Offtopic / Watch S1E25 "The Devil in the Dark" of Stark Trek original series.

« on: March 05, 2015, 01:05:18 am »

Yep, that's a Silacoid.
It even does the "sliding boulder" sound.

90

Open Feedback / Cyberdiscs orgy

« on: February 21, 2015, 12:15:50 am »

Warboy, what have you done!?