OpenXcom Forum

Modding => Work In Progress => Topic started by: XOps on September 07, 2014, 02:14:22 am

Title: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations v0.98
Post by: XOps on September 07, 2014, 02:14:22 am
Update by Meridian: updated to v0.98 to be able to run on the latest OXCE v7.1, download here: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2913.msg142458.html#msg142458

Update by Meridian: updated to v0.97 to be able to run on the latest OXCE v6.6, download here: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2913.msg131015.html#msg131015

Update by Meridian: updated to v0.96 to be able to run on the latest nightly and on OXCE, download here: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2913.msg114978.html#msg114978

Current Mod Version: 0.958 Updated on: 1/25/18

What is this mod?
Xeno Operations is a large expansion mod that verges on a total conversion. It adds new weapons, armor, aliens, and maps. It also reworks much of the spritework such as overhauling the artwork for the UFOs and Alien Base. With all of the new content, the tech tree has also been extended in order to give the player enough time to play with all of the new toys.

Installation
Extract the zip file contents into your mods folder. The mods folder is located where your save files are. If you need help, see here: https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Installation_FAQ_%28OpenXcom%29#How_do_I_install_mods.3F (https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Installation_FAQ_%28OpenXcom%29#How_do_I_install_mods.3F)

Compatibility Issues
XENO OPERATIONS IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH 1.0. You must update to the latest nightly in order to play this mod.
The nightlies are here: https://openxcom.org/git-builds/ (https://openxcom.org/git-builds/)
For help on installing the nightlies see here: https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Installation_FAQ_%28OpenXcom%29 (https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Installation_FAQ_%28OpenXcom%29)
This mod will not likely play well with other mods, especially ones that are similar in size and scope. As such, I consider this a standalone mod for the most part. I cannot offer much support in the case of mod conflicts.

Highly Recommended Settings
Alien weapon self-destruction: YES. The game is balanced with this option in mind. Playing without self-destructing alien weapons will not be game breaking, but it makes it far easier and makes alien weapons far more abundant to the player which renders much of the human weapons redundant.
UFO Extender accuracy: YES. The mod does take this into account and this option greatly diversifies weapons. Playing without this option renders many of the weapons redundant.

Known Issues
This mod is a beta. Expect things to change. I am really bad for gutting systems on a whim and redoing large swaths of the mod if I find them lacking. There is also a lot of areas that I want to fix, but just haven't gotten around to. However, there are a few notable issues that will be addressed in the upcoming versions.
-Clicking on the UAV's camera icon freezes the game. Right clicking fixes this. The camera icon is just for show. It doesn't do anything. It is necessary since I can't have an HWP without a weapon for some reason.
-Much of the UFOpaedia is missing. This will be gradually updated as I go along. Most critical information should be there, like how to win the game.
-Alien weapons are not usable for now. Flavor text will be updated when I get the chance in order to reflect this. If you research plasma weapons and find you are unable to use them, don't panic. That is by design. Updated: They are usable after certain techs have been discovered, but not buildable.
-Pacing is a mess. I can only fix this after feedback.
-Item prices are all over the place. This will be gradually fixed.
-Research times are erratic. In addition, some research items may be cut as I update.
-There isn't much variety in terms of air combat, especially with weapons.
-Weapon balance still needs work.
-List orders are a mess.
-Much of the final end game content is missing. It's not that big of a deal. Most of it is utterly broken in terms of balance.
-The battlescape sprite for the nerve suit is missing. Only the paperdolls are finished.
-Sectopod corpse and UFOPaedia entries don't match the battlescale sprite. I'll fix this eventually.

Tips
These are spoiler free
-  The Minigun is very useful for base defense since it is basically an area of effect weapon without an explosion. Park a soldier with a minigun at the end of a choke point and laugh. Otherwise it is very difficult to use and probably the worst weapon to bring to a terror site.
-  Xeno Operations armor is great for rookies. Even though it is very weak, it is a cheap armor that boosts shooting. When the rookie's stats improve, they can graduate to heavier armor.
-  It is extremely important that troops don't bunch up. The aliens have a few new area of effect weapons that are very devastating.
-  First Aid Kits are a starting medikit. They are heavy though and are more costly in TUs to use.
-  Use armor colors for quick identification of soldier roles. For example, dress all snipers in blue or put the best troops in black. This allows for soldier identification at a quick glanced.
-  Security stations make base defense much easier. In fact I am a bit worried it is a bit of a game breaker in that area.
-  Corridors are awesome for decreasing build times as they are a cheap facility to connect other facilities. Use them to quickly flesh out a base and then take them apart when you don't need them anymore.
-  Keep a diverse arsenal and make sure to take a wide variety of weapons with you on every mission. You never know when you might encounter an alien that is immune to certain kinds of weapons.
-  Never pass up a codex recovery mission. Ever!
-  Codex fragments can be found in nearly all UFO components.
-  Alien supplies are super useful to salvage. They have lots of a nice stuff so don't sell them.

Xeno Operations Loot Guide
Click on the spoiler to know what's useful and what isn't.
Useful
-Most recovered UFO components
   -Power Source
   -UFO Computer
   -UFO Sensor
   -UFO Life Support
   -Codex Fragment
   -Alien Entertainment
   -Alien Supplies (very useful)
   -Alien weapons are usable, but they are not buildable so use them sparingly.

Currently useless
-All Alien Gear

Help I'm stuck!
Click on the spoiler for help if you are completely lost. Warning, spoilers.
Beating the game requires advancing along two separate tech trees.
The first tech tree advances like thus
Any Alien autopsy>Xeno Physiology and UFO Life Support>Alien Containment
Then you must capture aliens for interrogation. You will need, in rough order...
Soldier, Navigator, Leader or Commander, Another Leader or Commander, a Commander, and an Ethereal Commander or Muton Warlord
The other tech tree requires you to research a codex fragment and then build a Codex. Building or upgrading a Codex is expensive, but required to win the game. The Codex must be built through all six stages in order to win the game, though you only have to research each stage once if you wish.
You must also find two Codex Keys to complete the last stage of the codex. These can only be found during Codex Recovery missions. There should be at least two of these missions pop up in the first year (they occur randomly in place of terror missions). During the recovery mission, you must destroy the uplink device and grab the Codex Key. Do not use explosives to destroy the uplink device, or the explosion will destroy the key too.
Once you acquire two Codex Keys and upgrade the Codex to its completed stage, the Completed Codex is used as a component to build the most powerful craft in the game. This is the only craft that can go to Mars.

Codex Mechanics
Each Codex stage has a number of technologies it grants randomly upon being researched. It can be researched multiple times per stage and each stage has a unique set of technologies exclusive to that stage. Upgrading to the next stage replaces those technologies with a new set of more advanced technologies. Each stage takes longer to research than the last, but the technologies it yields are far more powerful and far more expensive to produce.
In summary: The higher the stage, the longer the research times, but the more advanced technologies the Codex grants.
Upgrading a Codex is fairly simple assuming you have the resources and engineers for it. Each stage gets progressively more expensive in money, time, alloys, fragments, and elerium. The balancing act of Xeno Operations is the choice of whether to allocate resources to upgrading the Codex or using those resources to build advanced weapons, armor, and craft. Wait too long to upgrade the Codex and you may find yourself out paced technologically by the advancing alien threat. Upgrade your Codex beyond your current infrastructure and you may find extracting technologies takes to long and the costs of those weapons too high to build.
There is not enough resources or time to build everything, at least not in the early to mid game.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: ivandogovich on September 07, 2014, 02:30:22 am
Very impressive looking mod!  Nice work! 

One question:  is this mod strictly ruleset based? or does it rely on a custom .exe?

Cheers, Ivan :D
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Dioxine on September 07, 2014, 02:42:02 am
Impressive amount of work! The sprites look pretty neat too.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 07, 2014, 02:56:58 am
Very impressive looking mod!  Nice work! 

One question:  is this mod strictly ruleset based? or does it rely on a custom .exe?

Cheers, Ivan :D

Thanks! It's all ruleset. It has been years since I did any C or C++ programming. Don't really have time to relearn right now.

Impressive amount of work! The sprites look pretty neat too.

Thanks again! I've gotten pretty good at sprite modification. I still struggle a bit with originals though. I am very proud of the First Aid Kit. Too bad it only gets a month of use at best.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: KingMob4313 on September 07, 2014, 04:18:49 am
my, my, god god: https://youtu.be/S6TY1JOaplM

You win, I quit!

Seriously awesome work.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: the_third_curry on September 07, 2014, 07:37:06 am
That's a strong way to make your first post. The potential of this mod is very high.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Duke_Falcon on September 07, 2014, 12:16:48 pm
Is this compatible with Final Mod Pack? I use FMP as basic for OXC so mod-compatibility with that is important for me (I also use the Rail gun mod what adds the mass-accelerator technology to the game).

Anyway, if this not compatible with FMP now, not problem, I shall give it a try for sure! Just be so much awesome to play both mods together!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: pkrcel on September 07, 2014, 12:47:16 pm
Look very good....seems I'll have to duplicate my 'data' folder once again.... :o

Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Yankes on September 07, 2014, 12:48:03 pm
Is this compatible with Final Mod Pack? I use FMP as basic for OXC so mod-compatibility with that is important for me (I also use the Rail gun mod what adds the mass-accelerator technology to the game).

Anyway, if this not compatible with FMP now, not problem, I shall give it a try for sure! Just be so much awesome to play both mods together!
Probably not, because both heavy modify OXC. Even If it run, balance will be off, because both do it in different way.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: pkrcel on September 07, 2014, 12:53:47 pm
Well yes, that was my sentiment too.  :o


ACTUALLY I'll take the excuse to say that all this cropping up of questions like "will this [MEGAMOD] work with [MEGAMOD2]?", "are you going to include content from [ANOTHER MEGAMOD]?", "why don't you include the spork of death mod in yours?"....kinda....misses the whole point of these mods.

EDIT2: having a look right now...hope to be able to give meanigful freedback in the next year days.

Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Dioxine on September 07, 2014, 01:08:04 pm
Look very good....seems I'll have to duplicate my 'data' folder once again.... :o

Same here :) Btw the whole graphic design reminds me of Shadowrun (the computer game). Was it an inspiration? Or do you simply like anime-ish stuff? :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Yankes on September 07, 2014, 02:06:24 pm
btw I think this mod should have tag [TOTAL CONVERSION] because of amount of things it change.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Solarius Scorch on September 07, 2014, 04:27:44 pm
https://focusowners-social.com/forum/images/smilies/drooling.gif

I'm so going to steal stuff from this for the Final Mod Pack.
(Which is the highest praise possible ever.)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 07, 2014, 05:01:05 pm
Is this compatible with Final Mod Pack? I use FMP as basic for OXC so mod-compatibility with that is important for me (I also use the Rail gun mod what adds the mass-accelerator technology to the game).

Anyway, if this not compatible with FMP now, not problem, I shall give it a try for sure! Just be so much awesome to play both mods together!

I haven't tested it. Too busy making this mod to play around with the FMP. As others have said, I really doubt it is compatible especially since it messes with the tech tree. I do plan to release some compatibility patches in the future though most of these will be for mods I think compliment this one. Mostly mods that add in aliens, missions, or terrain. Others will likely take care of FMP compatibility. I may also release a mod compatibly list down the road some time. Probably for 1.0.

btw I think this mod should have tag [TOTAL CONVERSION] because of amount of things it change.

I always thought of it as more of an expansion pack.

Same here :) Btw the whole graphic design reminds me of Shadowrun (the computer game). Was it an inspiration? Or do you simply like anime-ish stuff? :)

Never played Shadowrun. I read a couple of the tabletop rulebooks and have seen a few of the games. I always thought XCom had some anime-ish elements to it anyways (the Guile hair, oh man the Guile hair). I do like a lot of anime designs, but I got hit by Sturgeon's Law with anime a long time ago.

https://focusowners-social.com/forum/images/smilies/drooling.gif

I'm so going to steal stuff from this for the Final Mod Pack.
(Which is the highest praise possible ever.)

That's cool. Just give credits and all.  :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: smexyvami on September 07, 2014, 05:13:09 pm
so going to play this :D and had most of what ive bin waiting for! <3 love you sir

Edit:

looking at the armor code you need coustom man numbers to made compatible with other armor mods
something like
Armor
Code: [Select]
  - type: STR_VEST_ARMOR_UC
    spriteSheet: XCOM_17.PCK
    spriteInv: Xenoops_INV
    corpseItem: STR_CORPSE_VEST_ARMOR
    storeItem: STR_VEST_ARMOR

extraSprites:
Code: [Select]
  - type: Xenoops_INVF0.SPK
    singleImage: true
    files:
      0: Resources/XenoOperations/Armor/Inventory/man_4f0.gif
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Duke_Falcon on September 07, 2014, 09:59:31 pm
I miss the extra aliens of FMP but hell! This mod is awesomely good! Billions of weapons right at the start! And stronger aliens? Armoured sectoids are not as laughable as I thought when first met with them :o
Very good mod. I hardly wait to Cydonia! BTW love the new interceptors, although only use the second x-com designed one. Yes, there is a more developed one but it do not give so much to worth to use them I think. Maybe if plasma-weaponry and plasma beam could be get later...

I love this mod! Good job!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: pkrcel on September 07, 2014, 11:12:57 pm
Question, there's a tn of stuff but then again we hve 2 pistols and 2 assault rifles...why so? Usually the Vanilla gunpowder firearms get deleted....

BTW: is it just me or ANY and ALL the mods that add material instantaneously make it IMPOSSIBLE to store things for a mere 10 soldier?  ;D

Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 07, 2014, 11:37:20 pm
looking at the armor code you need coustom man numbers to made compatible with other armor mods
something like

Thanks. I'll take a look at it. To be honest I didn't even know you could do that. I imitated other's codes pretty closely as I didn't really know how the game picks inventory images for Xcom troops other than f0 through f3 for women and m0 through m3 for men.

I miss the extra aliens of FMP but hell! This mod is awesomely good! Billions of weapons right at the start! And stronger aliens? Armoured sectoids are not as laughable as I thought when first met with them :o
Very good mod. I hardly wait to Cydonia! BTW love the new interceptors, although only use the second x-com designed one. Yes, there is a more developed one but it do not give so much to worth to use them I think. Maybe if plasma-weaponry and plasma beam could be get later...

I love this mod! Good job!

I had actually worried the armored sectoids would be pushovers. I lowered their armor quite a bit from my first playthrough and I worried I went too much the other way. Next release should see their special Terror unit added to the mix as well. As for the interceptors, well that is the big bugbear of the release. Both air combat and the tech tree need major overhauls before all three will be useful for the same game. I am saving that battle for the marathon version.

Question, there's a tn of stuff but then again we hve 2 pistols and 2 assault rifles...why so? Usually the Vanilla gunpowder firearms get deleted....

BTW: is it just me or ANY and ALL the mods that add material instantaneously make it IMPOSSIBLE to store things for a mere 10 soldier?  ;D

I left the original pistol and rifle items in the game. The pistol is functionally identical to the new one. The Assault Rifle is a little different from the old rifle, but they are pretty close in performance. However I decided to leave both in the game in case anyone still wanted to use the classic versions. Balance issues prevent me from doing the same for plasma and lasers.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: pkrcel on September 08, 2014, 12:16:22 am
Man, I SO miss a one-hand automatic weapon to go with my rocket launcher (UZI anyone?  ;D )

Addition....since also the simple pistol weights 8 (!) EDIT: loaded of course!




Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Mr. Quiet on September 08, 2014, 12:37:47 am
This came out of nowhere!! Thanks for sharing this, XOps!!
Loving the new sprites, loving the detailed changes you've made. I hope you add tons of new maps to fight in, that's something everyone skips over, 'cept for a few who have the time to create them from scratch, but I'd really love to see fresh maps for Xeno Ops.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 08, 2014, 01:25:47 am
This came out of nowhere!! Thanks for sharing this, XOps!!
Loving the new sprites, loving the detailed changes you've made. I hope you add tons of new maps to fight in, that's something everyone skips over, 'cept for a few who have the time to create them from scratch, but I'd really love to see fresh maps for Xeno Ops.

Thanks! New maps is a long term goal. To be honest, I am waiting for a little more Mod support in the custom missions area. I have a couple of missions planned and I also plan to try my hand at map making and even some MCD editing as well. First though I am waiting for the ability implement truly custom missions and a little more modablity for the geoscape. I definitely want to redo the final Cydonia base to make it a little more challenging/interesting to fight in. Until then it's just the Terrain Pack mod and vanilla.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: robin on September 08, 2014, 11:23:19 am
Really amazing work.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: kkmic on September 08, 2014, 05:15:45 pm
Wow!

I know it's not a constructive comment... but... wow!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: pkrcel on September 08, 2014, 06:19:39 pm
The first mission was outstanding, I really like the alien weapons gfx and I should commend you also on the bullets gfx and sounds, very much to my taste.

For the records, it has been fought on farm terrain in northern emisphere using Hobbes terrain/mission pack (no alien remix)

I was a bit disoriented by the mixup between mod arms and vanillas....also I need to look into starting gear..

Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Recruit69 on September 08, 2014, 10:28:59 pm
Impressive! No words can match anything that your mod deserves.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: pkrcel on September 08, 2014, 11:47:55 pm
I might say that the firearms look tightly identical in many respects...particularly the assualt rifle and the submachine gun......speaking of which, I really miss a 2x1 one-handed UZI-like weapon....I think that you could tweak the SMG into that, right now overlapping with the Assault Rifle might be a little too much. Enphasis on "might be".

Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 09, 2014, 01:27:03 am
The first mission was outstanding, I really like the alien weapons gfx and I should commend you also on the bullets gfx and sounds, very much to my taste.

For the records, it has been fought on farm terrain in northern emisphere using Hobbes terrain/mission pack (no alien remix)

I was a bit disoriented by the mixup between mod arms and vanillas....also I need to look into starting gear..

I think I may have a workaround for that. I still want to leave the classic rifle and pistol in the store for the Lite version though I want to keep them out of the starting gear. I couldn't take them out of starting gear because of rules conflicts involving the starting craft data. Shuffling around the STR id of the Interceptor should do the trick. I will try to fix that next version. Also watch out for the mission pack. The Terrain Pack works, but the Mission Pack may crash because of the item levels for the raid mission.

I might say that the firearms look tightly identical in many respects...particularly the assualt rifle and the submachine gun......speaking of which, I really miss a 2x1 one-handed UZI-like weapon....I think that you could tweak the SMG into that, right now overlapping with the Assault Rifle might be a little too much. Enphasis on "might be".

Well someone isn't playing with UFO Extender accuracy on ;). If you play with UFO Extender accuracy then the differences become a lot more pronounced. Also consider that if a soldier doesn't move at all, then they can do four auto bursts (25%tu use) a turn with an SMG. That's basically 12 shots. The Assault rifle can only two two full auto bursts and one snap shot a turn. Also the aim shot sucks for the SMG. Still I feel your pain of not having a nice 2x1 backup weapon. I have few weapons in the works that may fill that role. Just to note, the 8 weight of the pistol is completely vanilla. I never understood why it was so heavy either.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: pkrcel on September 09, 2014, 01:29:37 am
I do play with UFO extender accuracy of course.....I mean that they LOOK identical ;D....and its a bit confusing.

I can confirn I had the mission pack disabled BTW.

EDIT: by the way.....was the X35 meant to be outrunned by small scouts like...3 times in a row? Oh my....seems these evening my Xeno-fu is low... :P

Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 09, 2014, 06:13:41 am
I do play with UFO extender accuracy of course.....I mean that they LOOK identical ;D....and its a bit confusing.

I can confirn I had the mission pack disabled BTW.

EDIT: by the way.....was the X35 meant to be outrunned by small scouts like...3 times in a row? Oh my....seems these evening my Xeno-fu is low... :P

Ah. Yeah I can see that. Come to think of if the SMG is a bit longish for an SMG probably being closer to a carbine. As for the X35, the stats are copy pasted from the interceptor. Should be identical actually.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: ThatDude on September 09, 2014, 06:50:29 am
Just played a bit and noticed that the begin game research, "Global Satellite Detection Network," does absolutely nothing and doesn't give access to any other research. It also has no ufopaedia page. Is this intentional?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 09, 2014, 06:51:51 am
Just played a bit and noticed that the begin game research, "Global Satellite Detection Network," does absolutely nothing and doesn't give access to any other research. It also has no ufopaedia page. Is this intentional?

Nope. Should unlock the global radar facility. Add that to my list of stuff to fix.

EDIT: It was a string issue. Thanks for the catch. By the way, the facility should still be in the facility build list. The UFOpedia article was the only issue I think.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: BlackLibrary on September 09, 2014, 10:44:56 am
NOTE:  To anyone downloading this...it does require the latest in nightly builds. 

This is really interesting so far.  I just started looking through it.

--- posts merge ---

Bombing out on me despite latest nightly...
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: pkrcel on September 09, 2014, 02:30:46 pm
Curious, I compiled the latest git yday evening and OXC is bombing out on me no matter what game I load  :o

Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Duke_Falcon on September 09, 2014, 09:27:44 pm
I finished this mod and have a few thoughts...

Cydonia way such a fun! Those blue Mutons are crazy and I saw them only once to miss a shot... But that was Cydonia, I will not reload to save my soldiers as that is the ENDGAME!!!
Otherwise the new Muton variants are funny (never tried to mind controll them, but the pedia say they are immune). As well the armoured Sectoids. First they were funny compared with my laser-equipped team... But they have either high HP or Armour and aim better than their naked siblings. And controll minds?!
Still, they quickly fallen when I got plasma weapons and alien grenades\technology.
Bloom laser... While it is an interesting concept this mod have no way to use them. They could be good only on alien bases where open places are hard to find... Otherwise nearly impossible to hit something farther than 5-6 squares. And X-com soldiers like to shot down each others  and the civilians with these things than aliens. I think it must be paired with a mod what provides more terrains, places to test these laser-shotguns really...
Plasma conversion. Genius idea! Make a bit boring to research tons of corresponding things then manufacture them but it feels much more real than grab-and-use alien things so easily. Maybe the same could be apply upon small- and blaster-launchers as well in the future releases.
And your UFOpedia rules. Just rules. It looks so good. Rules, man, rules. Although I found a bit funny that X-com works like some kind of corporation: "We may sell them for good price for Xenovision, Burger TV, Rigour Mortis Pharmacy and Cemetery ltd..." It is a matter of taste I know but it was strange for me. But if we think about that, well, it is rather logical...

A big thanks for you for this mod! It is the best quick-to-play-and-finish mod I played so far.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: pkrcel on September 09, 2014, 10:48:17 pm
A bit of feedback...the AntiMaterial rifle clip weights 6....I dare say it's a bit too much IMO, and I'd take another look at the weight of the kevlar vests....even thou 6 is not exceptional....it might benefit a reduction (1 or 2 points for playability).

It was a string issue. Thanks for the catch. By the way, the facility should still be in the facility build list. The UFOpedia article was the only issue I think.

I am in this situation....how is it fixed? I looked into the rulesets but to me it all seems okay.... ???

edit^n:

Now this is silly, I get a crash on my very first terror mission....OXC throws an asser somewhere about size of a vector....I'll try to reproduce.

I get the following message (this is from log):

Code: [Select]
[09-09-2014 23:39:15] [FATAL] vector::_M_range_check: __n (which is 304) >= this->size() (which is 92)
In which looking at the save file 92 the number of nodes in the map.

I'll report this to Hobbes as well.




Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: The Reaver of Darkness on September 10, 2014, 12:59:54 am
If the conventional aircraft research line is a waste of time to research, perhaps it should just be all available from the start. The craft can simply be different, with none necessarily better than each other. I haven't seen your craft details yet, but here are some possible roles:
1.) fast attack
2.) heavy attack
3.) fast transport
4.) heavy transport
5.) attack/transport
6.) patrol
7.) stealth (for use in a mod in which aliens can see you and react to your presence)

-----------------------

I like your armor ideas! I'm exploring options for new armor types for my expansion. Mind if I use yours for insight?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 10, 2014, 02:54:53 am
NOTE:  To anyone downloading this...it does require the latest in nightly builds. 

 :( Didn't even load? I tried it on 1.0 on my computer and it did load. Crashed when I started browsing through the UFOpedia though. I had hoped it would work 1.0 as most of the YAML was written when it was still 1.0.

Bloom laser... While it is an interesting concept this mod have no way to use them. They could be good only on alien bases where open places are hard to find... Otherwise nearly impossible to hit something farther than 5-6 squares. And X-com soldiers like to shot down each others  and the civilians with these things than aliens. I think it must be paired with a mod what provides more terrains, places to test these laser-shotguns really...

I hadn't had much luck with it either, but since I always play on Superhuman I just assume every weapon sucks  :). Still I may boost the accuracy of it. Actually I am tempted to boost the accuracy of all the laser weapons. I always thought it odd that laser weapons all had awful accuracy given that we use lasers on our guns for accuracy in real life.

Plasma conversion. Genius idea! Make a bit boring to research tons of corresponding things then manufacture them but it feels much more real than grab-and-use alien things so easily. Maybe the same could be apply upon small- and blaster-launchers as well in the future releases.

Glad you like it. I may fiddle with this system in the future to make it more versatile. I also had an Idea that a lot of the alien gear could be broken down into useful components as well.

And your UFOpedia rules. Just rules. It looks so good. Rules, man, rules. Although I found a bit funny that X-com works like some kind of corporation: "We may sell them for good price for Xenovision, Burger TV, Rigour Mortis Pharmacy and Cemetery ltd..." It is a matter of taste I know but it was strange for me. But if we think about that, well, it is rather logical...

Just trying to answer the age old XCom question of "Who buys all this alien stuff anyway?" :)

A bit of feedback...the AntiMaterial rifle clip weights 6....I dare say it's a bit too much IMO, and I'd take another look at the weight of the kevlar vests....even thou 6 is not exceptional....it might benefit a reduction (1 or 2 points for playability).

I was leaning that way too really. I'll knock down the weight a bit for the AM Clip and the Vests. Always felt wrong punishing the player with so much weight for armor that doesn't really do much except change the look of your troops.

I am in this situation....how is it fixed? I looked into the rulesets but to me it all seems okay.... ???

The requires String of the UFOpedia article was set to the facility name and not the research that unlocks it. The facility was still unlocked, but the UFOpedia article was not. It will be fixed when I update the zip file sometime probably on the weekend.

Now this is silly, I get a crash on my very first terror mission....OXC throws an asser somewhere about size of a vector....I'll try to reproduce.

99% sure this is the Terrain Pack. Hobbes was having trouble with nodes on that thread recently. Still I'll keep an eye out for it.

I like your armor ideas! I'm exploring options for new armor types for my expansion. Mind if I use yours for insight?

Thanks. You are more than welcome to copy my code or ideas. I only ask for a mention in the credits if you borrow artwork.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: BlackLibrary on September 12, 2014, 06:28:30 am
Now this is silly, I get a crash on my very first terror mission....OXC throws an asser somewhere about size of a vector....I'll try to reproduce.

I get the following message (this is from log):

Code: [Select]
[09-09-2014 23:39:15] [FATAL] vector::_M_range_check: __n (which is 304) >= this->size() (which is 92)
In which looking at the save file 92 the number of nodes in the map.

I'll report this to Hobbes as well.


Thats the same error I was getting.  Is it the nightly or the terrain?  Not sure.  Seemed to happen when chryssalids were on the move to attack, or when I engaged in melee. 
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 12, 2014, 04:58:54 pm

Thats the same error I was getting.  Is it the nightly or the terrain?  Not sure.  Seemed to happen when chryssalids were on the move to attack, or when I engaged in melee.

I think it had to do with this.
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=2925.msg31886#msg31886
I may be wrong though.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: pkrcel on September 12, 2014, 05:41:10 pm
Indeed it is that problem.

You can't recover the mission, you just have to remove manually the Battlescape seciotn of the save and have it regenerate a mission with a new executable (I think thw Nightlies released later that Sept 10th).

Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 13, 2014, 07:26:29 pm
Just played a bit and noticed that the begin game research, "Global Satellite Detection Network," does absolutely nothing and doesn't give access to any other research. It also has no ufopaedia page. Is this intentional?

Fixed along with some other stuff. See attached zip in first post. Added some things too. Look out for new bugs.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: ThatDude on September 13, 2014, 08:08:32 pm
Hello again, just started a brand new game with the updated edition and immediately noticed that I start with live sectoid soldier, leader and commander. I know this definitely isn't intentional.  ;)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 13, 2014, 08:51:07 pm
Hello again, just started a brand new game with the updated edition and immediately noticed that I start with live sectoid soldier, leader and commander. I know this definitely isn't intentional.  ;)

Nope. Can't say that was all part of my clever plan unfortunately :P. I fixed it with V0.61.
Edit: Thanks for the catch btw.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: ThatDude on September 13, 2014, 10:50:33 pm
Nope. Can't say that was all part of my clever plan unfortunately :P. I fixed it with V0.61.
Edit: Thanks for the catch btw.
Thanks for the fix, I'll continue playing and see what errors I can find.

--- posts merge ---

Hello, the "Black Kevlar With Beret" armor has a little green dot on the leg when Guile wears it. It does not happen for other male or female sprites wearing it so I'll assume it's accidental.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 14, 2014, 01:14:49 am
Hello, the "Black Kevlar With Beret" armor has a little green dot on the leg when Guile wears it. It does not happen for other male or female sprites wearing it so I'll assume it's accidental.

It was from when I pasted over the original camo uniform. That armor was originally a camo green with red beret, but then I thought about how dumb that was to mix camouflage with a bright red hat. I fixed it, but since it isn't a huge error, I'll wait to update the zip until there are a few more issues. Thanks again.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: pkrcel on September 14, 2014, 02:06:00 am
I've researched the Xeno Ops armor but I am unable to manufacture it, it does not appear in the manufacturing list.

Previous version I'm sure I've built a bunch of em without anything else...is this expected? (u.e. I have to research alloys or stuff?)

EDIT: well, I looked into XenoOpsArmor.rul....Seems there is no Manufacturing section in the YAML...because it's called XOPufacture.... :o  ...renaming it to "manufacture" fixes the issue  ;D



Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 14, 2014, 02:27:25 am
I've researched the Xeno Ops armor but I am unable to manufacture it, it does not appear in the manufacturing list.

Previous version I'm sure I've built a bunch of em without anything else...is this expected? (u.e. I have to research alloys or stuff?)

EDIT: well, I looked into XenoOpsArmor.rul....Seems there is no Manufacturing section in the YAML...because it's called XOPufacture.... :o  ...renaming it to "manufacture" fixes the issue  ;D

Sometimes search and replace is not your friend :(. I'll go ahead and update this one in a moment.
Edit: Fixed. New version attached to first post. Thanks pkrcel.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Infini on September 17, 2014, 01:55:11 pm
One day, I'll translate your Mod in french if it's not done yet.  I'm busy elsewhere  for now (Equal Terms mod).

I just want to say a BIG "thank you" for your hard work.

 :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 18, 2014, 01:48:20 am
One day, I'll translate your Mod in french if it's not done yet.  I'm busy elsewhere  for now (Equal Terms mod).

I just want to say a BIG "thank you" for your hard work.

 :)

Thanks. I can certainly understand being crunched for time trying to translate everything else. The mod isn't done yet, but I am actually pretty close to a 1.0 version before I move onto the marathon version. You are more than welcome to provide a translation whenever you like.

In other news I am slowly getting the hang of mapping. Even did a little bit of MCD editing.
Title: Mod compatibility found
Post by: VSx86 on September 19, 2014, 12:57:15 pm
Researched alien items (gadgets) still "Alien Artifacts" and unusable by XCom during tactical missions.
Nevertheless, in-game Ufopedia articles exist and viewable.
 
Mod version: 0.62 Beta

--- posts merge ---

Mod compatibility found
 
Hello everyone!
 
I'm tested "Xeno Operations Mod v0.62 Beta" today and found that it compatible with following mods:
 
"Luke's Extra UFOs", version 14-15 April 2014 (ruleset date) :
 
(https://cdn.mediacru.sh/MD3iXXXsdRgu.png)
 
(Terror ship)
 
 
"Expanded UBase", version 0.31c :
 
(https://cdn.mediacru.sh/NKWh3BzCbyTC.png)
 
(FULL_Expanded_UBase ruleset enabled)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Duke_Falcon on September 19, 2014, 07:26:19 pm
Today started your mod to play again. This is something what only FMP could tell so far (I mean played more than once). Good job!
I make some experiments with graphics:
(https://i.imgur.com/c2hoTZR.gif)
XCF2

(https://i.imgur.com/TmPmRy3.gif)
XCF3

They are not official until you agreed to use them. Feel free to use them.
Everyone feel free to use all the graphics I post ever here these forums!
Playing your mods is everything I could ever wish in exchange!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Solarius Scorch on September 20, 2014, 09:53:37 am
Dude, where's my texture. O_o
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 23, 2014, 12:21:31 am
Researched alien items (gadgets) still "Alien Artifacts" and unusable by XCom during tactical missions.
Nevertheless, in-game Ufopedia articles exist and viewable.
 
Mod version: 0.62 Beta

Not a bug unfortunately. Most of the extra alien gear serves no in game purpose at the moment. They stay alien artifacts in mission because they are disabled. The reason for this is stop them from showing up on the craft equip screen which is clogged enough with all of the excessive amount of new weapons as is (if someone knows a better way to do this then let me know). Good news is though that I do have plans to make the Alien gear more useful in the future. Mostly in that it can be broken down into useful components to make plasma weapons.

Also thanks for the mod capability tests. I really need to make a list of those one day.

Today started your mod to play again. This is something what only FMP could tell so far (I mean played more than once). Good job!
I make some experiments with graphics:

Spiffy. May use these as a good starting point when I rework those images. The ones now where always intended to be place holders until I could texture the 3D models a little better.

Edit: Fixed reply subject. Said it was ?? for some reason.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XCOMFan419 on September 23, 2014, 07:43:38 am
Looks cool. Going to use it for my next play through, which is likely tomorrow.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: MFive on September 27, 2014, 04:12:04 am
the game will not start, "cannot open hybrid.gif at Open Xcom\data\Resources\XenoOperations\Aliens"
exited to see what they are

amazing mod!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: cjones on September 29, 2014, 03:59:55 pm
Heya,

Everything looks cool, started a superhuman ironman campaign to take it for a spin.  Downed a very small ufo with no prob.

Only prob I have now is on my first terror mission.  I don't deploy a single soldier on round 1, I just pop a smoke just in front of my first soldier on left.  Then I pass to alien turn.  About 5 secs into alien turn, game crashes to desktop, no error given.

Only mods I have besides XENO OPS are the ones solar pointed out that work with this mod, which are luke's extra ufos and ubase expanded.

I was using HQ sounds, but turned it off thinking that could be it.

I am using all recommended settings, except I think I may have changed explosion to 1 and I think alien pick up weaps=yes.

I have the latest nightly build (9/29), I was using an earlier nightly build, i think 9/24, upgraded and still got crash.

I have attached save if anyone cares to see the crash and tell me what I am doing wrong, lol, but of course it is an iron man save, so you would have to abort to goto GEO.
I am really looking forward to playing this megamod, having just finished PirateZ and previously FMP, I am a fiend for megamods, if anyone knows of any other please let me know, thanks!

Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: VSx86 on September 29, 2014, 07:32:35 pm
Only mods I have besides XENO OPS are the ones solar pointed out that work with this mod, which are luke's extra ufos and ubase expanded.

You may try my own config (attached below) for OXC with XenoOps + all of these mods.

First: make a backup copy of your current options.cfg file
Second: download my config and rename it to options.cfg

(Note: i'm not using any screen filters and playing in 800x600 windowed mode,
also check gameplay settings at Options->Advanced tab and adjust it if you want.)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 30, 2014, 01:26:38 am
the game will not start, "cannot open hybrid.gif at Open Xcom\data\Resources\XenoOperations\Aliens"
exited to see what they are

amazing mod!

Thanks for the compliment. I double checked the zip file. Hybrid.gif is there. I think it is an issue of being case sensitive or it didn't install correctly. Go to \data\Resources\XenoOperations\Aliens and make sure Hybrid.gif is there. If it is then go into XenoOpsAliens.rul and change the following code.
Code: [Select]
  - type: inventory_HYBRID
    singleImage: true
    files:
      0: Resources/XenoOperations/Aliens/IventoryScreens/Hybrid.gif
and
Code: [Select]
  - type: HYBRID.PCK
    subX: 32
    subY: 40
    width: 256
    height: 400
    files:
      0: Resources/XenoOperations/Aliens/Hybrid.gif
That should fix it as all of the file names should match now. If Hybrid.gif is missing then redownload the entire zip and reinstall. Regardless I will add that fix next patch but it will still be a bit before that is released.

Heya,

Everything looks cool, started a superhuman ironman campaign to take it for a spin.  Downed a very small ufo with no prob.

Only prob I have now is on my first terror mission.  I don't deploy a single soldier on round 1, I just pop a smoke just in front of my first soldier on left.  Then I pass to alien turn.  About 5 secs into alien turn, game crashes to desktop, no error given.

Only mods I have besides XENO OPS are the ones solar pointed out that work with this mod, which are luke's extra ufos and ubase expanded.

I was using HQ sounds, but turned it off thinking that could be it.

I am using all recommended settings, except I think I may have changed explosion to 1 and I think alien pick up weaps=yes.

I have the latest nightly build (9/29), I was using an earlier nightly build, i think 9/24, upgraded and still got crash.

I have attached save if anyone cares to see the crash and tell me what I am doing wrong, lol, but of course it is an iron man save, so you would have to abort to goto GEO.
I am really looking forward to playing this megamod, having just finished PirateZ and previously FMP, I am a fiend for megamods, if anyone knows of any other please let me know, thanks!

I know exactly what the problem is and it is that you are using the latest nightly. Something was changed with how melee works so now the aliens are using the melee weapons (where as before they just wandered around aimlessly and threw grenades). The downside is that it crashes the moment they try to attack someone with a melee weapon (built in terror melee weapons don't seem to suffer this problem. Only melee items). In that save, one sectoid rushes a civilian with an Alloy Blade and the moment they close the distance, the game crashes. I am not sure which nightly caused the problem though. At the moment there is not much I can suggest save for rolling back the nightlies until you find one that doesn't crash. I suspect it has to do with either how the AI works or that the rules for melee weapons are now defined differently for the Aliens because all melee weapons work fine in the hands of XCom soldiers.

You may try my own config (attached below) for OXC with XenoOps + all of these mods.

First: make a backup copy of your current options.cfg file
Second: download my config and rename it to options.cfg

(Note: i'm not using any screen filters and playing in 800x600 windowed mode,
also check gameplay settings at Options->Advanced tab and adjust it if you want.)


You could try this too, but I still suspect that the latest nightly is more the issue rather than settings. Still if it works then awesome.

By the way, if someone knows a workaround for the melee issue then feel free to suggest it. Right now I am not really sure what to do other than disabling Melee weapons until I can find a fix or a nightly addresses the issue. In the mean time I don't know when I will update again. I am still working on a few new facilities and I haven't found time to put on the finishing touches (mostly stuck on a few sprites).

Edit: OCD grammar edit
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Dioxine on September 30, 2014, 09:41:54 am
Alien melee weapons seem to work flawlessly with the 2014_09_25_2042 build I am using.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Arthanor on September 30, 2014, 11:25:25 am
I seem to remember something about newer builds requiring something different from rulesets for melee weapons, especially (only?) for aliens. I took a quick look and Piratez defines "clipSize: -1" for every melee weapon, whereas the XOps mod doesn't. Could it be something like that?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Dioxine on September 30, 2014, 12:14:31 pm
Yeah it is actually very silly (and old), the default clipsize for weapon is = 0 making aliens think oh wow, such no ammo, weapon such  useless. It's easy to overlook to a modder, as for every other intent and purpose, clipsize = 0 is the same as -1 for a melee weapon and never gets displayed. But for the AI to understand it can use a weapon, you have to set clipsize to a non-zero value (probably -1, unlimited; if you set it to a positive value the weapon will disappear after that many attacks, or after the battle unless it wasn't used at all - this is naturally useful for making magazine-less expendable weapons like single-shot launchers or shurikens).
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 30, 2014, 04:44:05 pm
Yeah it is actually very silly (and old), the default clipsize for weapon is = 0 making aliens think oh wow, such no ammo, weapon such  useless. It's easy to overlook to a modder, as for every other intent and purpose, clipsize = 0 is the same as -1 for a melee weapon and never gets displayed. But for the AI to understand it can use a weapon, you have to set clipsize to a non-zero value (probably -1, unlimited; if you set it to a positive value the weapon will disappear after that many attacks, or after the battle unless it wasn't used at all - this is naturally useful for making magazine-less expendable weapons like single-shot launchers or shurikens).

Yep. That fixed it. I had noticed this, but I thought surely this isn't the problem. :P Shows how much I know. Thanks guys. I'll include that fix on the next update.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Solarius Scorch on September 30, 2014, 07:33:33 pm
X-Ops, I went ahead and used some of your sprites for the Final Mod Pack - all were credited to you, of course. Here's the list, in case you want to know:
- Black Power Armour. For the Men in Black, it will be used as is (not implemented yet). For X-Com, I changed the helmet a little, got rid of the way-too-awesome triple green light and substituted it with an orange visor, loosely based on Shadics' black Power Suit version.
- Assault Rifle. Not sure how it was originally called in your mod, but it's the carbine (?) weapon. I only changed the clip, because I wanted it to be interchangeable with the vanilla Rifle.
- Armoured Sectoid. Made it normal Sectoid Commander, just with better armour stats (same as yours), since I couldn't fir an entire Sectoid race in the game. I also changed the proportions a little, since the helmet was visibly smaller than an unarmoured Sectoid's head.
-Mutant sprites. Used for Praetorian and Guard Muton ranks.

Many thanks for the awesome sprites!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: cjones on October 02, 2014, 12:32:56 am
Loving this mod, some observations if I may.

First, the bug I had encountered before may have also been something on my side.  I did a clean install, installed the 9/30 nightly and havent encountered a single bug since.

The X3 craft, the name escapes me as of now, but i noticed I was able to take a battle ship down with minimal damage using plasma weaps, is this intended?  seems a tad OP

My other observations aren't really specific to this mod, but having played a number of mods I was wondering if anyone knows if it would be possible for manu items to go "obsolete".  Reason I ask is my manu screens always get cluttered with stuff I haven't made since the 2nd month of the game, would be nice if you could filter out the obs techs.

Also, when it comes to global radar, it would be cool if you could filter out the fluff ships, like the very small and small ships.  or maybe even only show ships with a certain race.  I dunno, I guess the prob is me, I tend to linger before doing cydonia, and it just gets annoying dealing with all the UFOs when you are sitting on most of the tech and tons of alien stuff such as elerium and alloys.

All in all, love the mod, great work, now if I can just get my nerve up to take on those armored mutons...

Thanks!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Arthanor on October 02, 2014, 12:56:05 am
My other observations aren't really specific to this mod, but having played a number of mods I was wondering if anyone knows if it would be possible for manu items to go "obsolete".  Reason I ask is my manu screens always get cluttered with stuff I haven't made since the 2nd month of the game, would be nice if you could filter out the obs techs.

Also, when it comes to global radar, it would be cool if you could filter out the fluff ships, like the very small and small ships.  or maybe even only show ships with a certain race.  I dunno, I guess the prob is me, I tend to linger before doing cydonia, and it just gets annoying dealing with all the UFOs when you are sitting on most of the tech and tons of alien stuff such as elerium and alloys.

All in all, love the mod, great work, now if I can just get my nerve up to take on those armored mutons...

Thanks!
The answer is using categories to sort through it. Version 1.0 doesn't support the sorting, but the nightly does. Ideally, we would have categories for laser weapons, plasma weapons, HWPs, Crafts, etc. which would make going through the list easier. And good listOrder. They are a pain to setup, but it is well worth it since you end up learning where in the line up a given category is and can quickly scroll through the useless stuff.

Regarding radars, I don't think there is a way as of now. Usually I find it worthwhile to at least shoot down the small UFOs, even if I don't necessarily clean them up. It's some easy score to come by. Bonus if you shoot it over water and drown the crash survivors!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on October 02, 2014, 03:58:27 am
X-Ops, I went ahead and used some of your sprites for the Final Mod Pack - all were credited to you, of course. Here's the list, in case you want to know:
- Black Power Armour. For the Men in Black, it will be used as is (not implemented yet). For X-Com, I changed the helmet a little, got rid of the way-too-awesome triple green light and substituted it with an orange visor, loosely based on Shadics' black Power Suit version.
- Assault Rifle. Not sure how it was originally called in your mod, but it's the carbine (?) weapon. I only changed the clip, because I wanted it to be interchangeable with the vanilla Rifle.
- Armoured Sectoid. Made it normal Sectoid Commander, just with better armour stats (same as yours), since I couldn't fir an entire Sectoid race in the game. I also changed the proportions a little, since the helmet was visibly smaller than an unarmoured Sectoid's head.
-Mutant sprites. Used for Praetorian and Guard Muton ranks.

Many thanks for the awesome sprites!

All cool with me  :). Totally agree with using Armored Sectoids and other Muton sprites as extra ranks. The FMP has plenty of races as is. Looking forward to fighting the MIB in black armor. I think it suits them. On a side note, you have no idea how many different helmets I designed for that armor. Easily twenty variations trying to get one that looked just right. Ended up with the splinter cell look.

Loving this mod, some observations if I may.

First, the bug I had encountered before may have also been something on my side.  I did a clean install, installed the 9/30 nightly and havent encountered a single bug since.

The X3 craft, the name escapes me as of now, but i noticed I was able to take a battle ship down with minimal damage using plasma weaps, is this intended?  seems a tad OP

My other observations aren't really specific to this mod, but having played a number of mods I was wondering if anyone knows if it would be possible for manu items to go "obsolete".  Reason I ask is my manu screens always get cluttered with stuff I haven't made since the 2nd month of the game, would be nice if you could filter out the obs techs.

Also, when it comes to global radar, it would be cool if you could filter out the fluff ships, like the very small and small ships.  or maybe even only show ships with a certain race.  I dunno, I guess the prob is me, I tend to linger before doing cydonia, and it just gets annoying dealing with all the UFOs when you are sitting on most of the tech and tons of alien stuff such as elerium and alloys.

All in all, love the mod, great work, now if I can just get my nerve up to take on those armored mutons...

Thanks!

Thanks for the feedback! The next version should fix that crash bug and be compatible with the latest nightly again. Hope to have that out this weekend maybe. As for the XCF-3, the stats are close but slightly inferior to the Firestorm which could tank a Battleship on a good day with a bit of luck. Regardless I do plan to rebalanced crafts in the near future.

For the menu items, I would love a way to obsolete items in the manufacturing list. Unfortunately there is no way that I know of to do this. As Arthanor said using the drop down category list on the production menu helps narrow things down slightly (I need to actually add some categories to help this).

For radars, well as Arthanor also said, this is currently impossible. Like you, I tend to linger before Cydonia building up a dream team before setting off for mars and eventually I start to grow weary of the constant UFO detections. As of now though there is no way to sort through UFO activity.

The answer is using categories to sort through it. Version 1.0 doesn't support the sorting, but the nightly does. Ideally, we would have categories for laser weapons, plasma weapons, HWPs, Crafts, etc. which would make going through the list easier. And good listOrder. They are a pain to setup, but it is well worth it since you end up learning where in the line up a given category is and can quickly scroll through the useless stuff.

Are there any extra categories you could suggest for the manufacturing screen? I have listOrders set for everything save for research.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Arthanor on October 02, 2014, 04:40:23 am
I am guessing that the main offender is gear for operatives. Currently there are a few categories:
Weapons, Ammunition, Equipment, Personal Armor

Maybe these categories could easily be split into "sub-Categories":
Weapons (and their ammunition) into:
Ballistic Weapons
Laser Weapons
Plasma Weapons
Thrown Weapons (All kinds of grenades and stuff)
Utility Weapons (Small Launcher, grenade launcher, Toxigun if you have it, etc.)

Equipment into:
Medi-Kits (I think you have multiple ones?)
Scanners (Mind Probe and Motion Scanner, etc.)

Personal Armor into:
Tier 1 (or Light) Armor (Personal Armors and its modification)
Tier 2 (or Medium) Armor (not in the current game, but stuff that fits between PA and the suits)
Tier 3 (or Heavy) Armor (Power Suit, Flying Suit, etc.)

That's a fair few categories already, grouping your listOrder so that all items from a given category are together makes even the full list easy to navigate (your eyes quickly catch a change in category) just with the mouse wheel, the filtering is just gravy.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: cjones on October 02, 2014, 07:41:37 pm
Heya again, still playing and loving the mod,

I just realized when a floater jumped out and tried to knife me, I never fixed the alien melee problem.  Still using latest nightly as of 9/30.

My question is, is it possible for me to edit the ruleset to fix this myself?  I have no idea what I am doing except I have notepad++ and I tried to add a line just under damage type on the alloy blade and plasma sword in the alien arsenal ruleset that said clipSize= -1.

After I save the edit and try to load, it says alien arsenal mod failed to load due to error at the line I edited, illegal tab indentation?

I realize I sound like a complete idiot and I am sure I am going about this all wrong, but I appreciate if anyone could point out the proper way to edit the ruleset for this fix.  I guess I'm more of a playtester to this forum vs. modder, lol

I have also attached my save, since I recall Dioxine said it helped with modding since it allowed modder to see other peoples playstyles and what not.

Thanks!

Thanks!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Arthanor on October 02, 2014, 08:31:23 pm
You can indeed fix it yourself, but yaml does not use tabs for indentation. You need to use spaces. Just copy and paste the line below in the ruleset for melee weapons and it should work.

Code: [Select]
    clipSize: -1
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: cjones on October 02, 2014, 08:38:16 pm
That fixed it!

Thanks soooooo much! Now I can continue taking down the 10+ alien bases in my save, lol
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Arthanor on October 03, 2014, 12:41:26 am
Good :D Have fun!
Title: Warning, may contain spoilers
Post by: cjones on October 03, 2014, 09:15:42 pm
Just finished a playthru, gotta say A+!

Thanks for the mod and your hardwork!

Cydonia was friggin awesome, I really like the changes, it did always feel kinda anticlimactic in the vanilla, you really amped up the challenge!

I do appreciate your one concession, which I won't mention lest I spoil it for someone else, but was a pleasant surprise.

Thanks again for the awesome work!

Title: Re: Warning, may contain spoilers
Post by: XOps on October 03, 2014, 09:33:51 pm
Just finished a playthru, gotta say A+!

Thanks for the mod and your hardwork!

Cydonia was friggin awesome, I really like the changes, it did always feel kinda anticlimactic in the vanilla, you really amped up the challenge!

I do appreciate your one concession, which I won't mention lest I spoil it for someone else, but was a pleasant surprise.

Thanks again for the awesome work!

Thanks for the praise. Amusingly the first time I play tested the changes to Cydonia it was a really intense fight. I had almost given up hope wandering through the base trying to find the command center. I watched as over half of my best forces all loaded down with the best armor and weapons in the game fell to ambushes and terror units. It was intense. Finally I found my target and was preparing my soldiers for the final assault on the Alien command center. I was running low on ammo and my soldiers were really beat up. It was then I realized I was having fun. I loaded up what ammo and readied my explosives preparing for the final desperate assault. Then one of the guards went berserk and fired an explosive of some kind into the brain :P. Needless to say I adjusted the guard's bravery after that.

As for the concession, well it does make things a little easier, but I thought why not. It would be the only chance the player ever got.

Glad you enjoyed it. Hopefully there will be more to come in the near future.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: cjones on October 03, 2014, 10:03:07 pm
hehe, yeah, It was cool how Cydonia gave me deja vu going back to month 1.  All my cool weaps suddenly felt way underpowered. 

Its just not natural for a bug to take 2 blaster bombs and still live, lol
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Arthanor on October 03, 2014, 11:36:13 pm
I've been following this thread as I think the mod looks really interesting. It's rare to find a whole experience change designed by one person (the only other being Dioxine's Piratez, as far as I know). This talk of Cydonia makes me curious and eager to try it (just have to finish the XAE 1.0! Come on..!).

Mind the spoilers! ;)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: cjones on October 04, 2014, 12:15:38 am
Yeah, sorry, I tried to be vague, no worries, yer mind will still be blown when you get there!

Hehe
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on October 06, 2014, 12:59:31 am
The facility update or at least it might as well be. Now up to 0.70. Added several new base facilities most of which are available from the start. I am very interested to hear what people think of the Security Checkpoint since I worry it may very well break base defense. Not sure how to balance this really.

Also I changed the plasma conversion system a bit. I worry it may make things rather tedious, but I find the system very engaging and a lot more versatile than the previous 1 for 1 conversion system. Regardless I held back from fully integrating the system until I get some feedback from others. If others find it fun then I may expand this system greatly in the near future.

Added a late game alien with a terrorist unit. The new terror unit is rather dull in terms of spriting, but I may try to liven it up later. The main alien though is a full 100% original sprite and man was it hard to make. It's still not perfect, but it is at a point where I don't feel completely ashamed to release it. Also the new race is a late game foe, but I still worry it will either to be too hard or too easy. Mind you it isn't as bad as the “all your weapons are useless” lobstermen, but it is near impossible to kill if you don't have the right tools. My goal is to force the player to keep a diverse arsenal, but I am eager for balance feedback to avoid the rather dull grind that the lobstermen put the player through in TFTD.

Added another tier of weapons after lasers. They only have two kinds of ammo, one for laser damage and one for AP. They are rather expensive, but are comparable to plasma in performance. Like the new aliens, the sprites are 100% original for these new weapons.

And as always there are a whole bunch of minor tweaks and bug fixes. I am most proud of the new cursor. At any rate, please enjoy and let me know when you find new game breaking bugs.

https://www.openxcom.com/content/files/bb285195/XenoOperationsBetaV0.70.zip
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: cjones on October 15, 2014, 05:09:12 am
Nice.  Finishing up another playthru of pirates.  Looks like another xeno ops run  is in my future.  As for lobstermen, I never played much tftd.  But...encountered them in piratez and omg they are tough
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on October 15, 2014, 04:58:01 pm
Lobstermen perfectly encapsulated much of what was wrong with TFTD. They were made to add extra challenge to the game that UFO lacked. Unfortunately they provided more frustration than challenge. Adding a powerful foe can make a game a lot more fun. However the Lobstermen were immune to almost everything the player could throw at them (except for melee, stun, and MC). Games like XCom are all about tactics and against Lobstermen there were simply too few tactics that were effective against them. Fighting them became an exercise in patience rather than intelligence. They would have worked as a terror unit or a final guard unit, but not a mainstay unit. I just hope to avoid making that mistake with the new alien I added.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: ivandogovich on October 15, 2014, 05:48:36 pm
Lobstermen perfectly encapsulated much of what was wrong with TFTD. They were made to add extra challenge to the game that UFO lacked. Unfortunately they provided more frustration than challenge. Adding a powerful foe can make a game a lot more fun. However the Lobstermen were immune to almost everything the player could throw at them (except for melee, stun, and MC). Games like XCom are all about tactics and against Lobstermen there were simply too few tactics that were effective against them. Fighting them became an exercise in patience rather than intelligence. They would have worked as a terror unit or a final guard unit, but not a mainstay unit. I just hope to avoid making that mistake with the new alien I added.

Its true that Lobstermen presented a huge hurdle in TftD.  They are the reason that I always skip Gauss and go straight for good armor and Sonic Cannons by the time they show up.  And Melee. Always melee.  Crack the shell and add butter.  They force a bit of a change from the "push scouts out, snipe anything spotted. rinse repeat" tactic, so I don't think they are a bad thing. ;)

Cheers, Ivan :D
And sorry for derailing the discussion even further off topic. ;)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Duke_Falcon on October 19, 2014, 08:25:20 pm
The facility update or at least it might as well be. Now up to 0.70. Added several new base facilities most of which are available from the start. I am very interested to hear what people think of the Security Checkpoint since I worry it may very well break base defense. Not sure how to balance this really.

Also I changed the plasma conversion system a bit. I worry it may make things rather tedious, but I find the system very engaging and a lot more versatile than the previous 1 for 1 conversion system. Regardless I held back from fully integrating the system until I get some feedback from others. If others find it fun then I may expand this system greatly in the near future.

Added a late game alien with a terrorist unit. The new terror unit is rather dull in terms of spriting, but I may try to liven it up later. The main alien though is a full 100% original sprite and man was it hard to make. It's still not perfect, but it is at a point where I don't feel completely ashamed to release it. Also the new race is a late game foe, but I still worry it will either to be too hard or too easy. Mind you it isn't as bad as the “all your weapons are useless” lobstermen, but it is near impossible to kill if you don't have the right tools. My goal is to force the player to keep a diverse arsenal, but I am eager for balance feedback to avoid the rather dull grind that the lobstermen put the player through in TFTD.

Added another tier of weapons after lasers. They only have two kinds of ammo, one for laser damage and one for AP. They are rather expensive, but are comparable to plasma in performance. Like the new aliens, the sprites are 100% original for these new weapons.

And as always there are a whole bunch of minor tweaks and bug fixes. I am most proud of the new cursor. At any rate, please enjoy and let me know when you find new game breaking bugs.

https://www.openxcom.com/content/files/bb285195/XenoOperationsBetaV0.70.zip

Could you upload it to Mediafire? OXC mods\downloads dead according to the news post on the main web page.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on October 19, 2014, 09:54:35 pm
Update v0.80
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q4j8e1xzitzpvgb/XenoOperationsBetaV0.80.zip?dl=0

Since the mod portal is dead until further notice, I have a dropbox link.

By the way, I have found the secret to adding a new transport into the game complete with a map and mostly original tiles. You have to be insane! Seriously out of all the things I added, only two I found difficult. One was making an original alien sprite. That was really hard. However adding a new craft map to the game was infinity more frustrating. I am still not a 100% satisifed, but it is at a point where it is functional.

Also replaced psi armor with the Nerve Suit (new graphics) and gave it a boost in stats and plasma resistance. Needs balance testing. Personal armor is back as well.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: moghopper on October 22, 2014, 02:53:57 pm
My game crashes whenever it has to use some of the new attack sprites. Specifically, the new stun baton shock sprite, and the reaper biting sprite.

Does this need the latest nightly?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Solarius Scorch on October 22, 2014, 03:55:22 pm
My game crashes whenever it has to use some of the new attack sprites. Specifically, the new stun baton shock sprite, and the reaper biting sprite.

Does this need the latest nightly?

I may be wrong, but right off the bat I don't think nightlies do anything to the projectile sprites.

What OS are you using? Because some systems do have issues with sprites.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: moghopper on October 22, 2014, 04:16:19 pm
I may be wrong, but right off the bat I don't think nightlies do anything to the projectile sprites.

What OS are you using? Because some systems do have issues with sprites.

Windows 7
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Solarius Scorch on October 22, 2014, 04:19:42 pm
Windows 7

AFAIK Windows always plays nicely with OXC (as long as there are no code errors, of course). Therefore your problem is likely related to something else...
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: moghopper on October 22, 2014, 04:25:45 pm
I just tested it again. The stun batons new electric sprite crashed the game. Not sure what is going on.


It seems to crash at the end of the animation.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on October 22, 2014, 04:42:45 pm
I just tested it again. The stun batons new electric sprite crashed the game. Not sure what is going on.


It seems to crash at the end of the animation.

I am 75% sure that you need a later nightly. The earlier nightlies added the ability to add custom hit animations for melee weapons. However for some reason the animation frames were set to 12 instead of 4 like in HIT.PCK. However this was later fixed reducing the frames down to four again so I redid the hit sprites again. What the game is doing is trying to load 12 frames instead of four and when it hits frame 5, it can't find it so it crashes out. Upgrade to the latest nightly and try it again. If it persists, then I will take a deeper look.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: moghopper on October 22, 2014, 04:46:38 pm
I'll give it a shot. Thanks


Well, I upgraded, and now when I try to start a battle to test it, the game just ceases to play. Program closes, back to desktop.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on October 22, 2014, 05:01:09 pm
Well, I upgraded, and now when I try to start a battle to test it, the game just ceases to play. Program closes, back to desktop.

Well now I'm stumped. I just tested the very latest nightly myself and I have no problems. Perhaps you need a fresh install? Also are there any other mods you are using?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: moghopper on October 22, 2014, 05:08:07 pm
Some new terrain mods. Might be the cause

Removed them. Still the same.

I'll try a fresh install later
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on October 22, 2014, 05:16:34 pm
Another suggestion. You could try using one XenoOps ruleset at a time to try to narrow down the problem. Actually you could try disabling all mods as well to see if it is a separate issue from the mods.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: moghopper on October 22, 2014, 05:23:50 pm
Another suggestion. You could try using one XenoOps ruleset at a time to try to narrow down the problem. Actually you could try disabling all mods as well to see if it is a separate issue from the mods.

Looks like I'll need a fresh install. All mods disabled, and same problem.

Thanks for the help

Update: This is interesting. I did a Fresh install, overwrote all the files with the nightly, and same thing.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on October 22, 2014, 07:43:50 pm
Looks like I'll need a fresh install. All mods disabled, and same problem.

Thanks for the help

Update: This is interesting. I did a Fresh install, overwrote all the files with the nightly, and same thing.

There is one more thing that may be the problem. There may be an issue with your config files. You could try deleting or moving both battle.cfg and options.cfg and let OPXcom generate new ones. If that doesn't fix it, then you may need to ask around in the trouble shooting forums.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: moghopper on October 22, 2014, 08:33:54 pm
I tried installing it over again (for the 5th time) and now it all seems to work. No clue why.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: cjones on October 31, 2014, 12:09:18 am
.80 is just wow. I won't spoil it for anyone but I am loving it!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: cjones on October 31, 2014, 07:54:02 pm
In the realm of " Does this skywarden make my butt look big?"....

Attached a save here where you can see that my tank laser cannon cannot fit thru skywarden front door.  Also noticed aliens shooting at my soldiers thru the front door even when closed.

Thanks!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on November 01, 2014, 01:29:53 am
In the realm of " Does this skywarden make my butt look big?"....

Attached a save here where you can see that my tank laser cannon cannot fit thru skywarden front door.  Also noticed aliens shooting at my soldiers thru the front door even when closed.

Thanks!

After a bit of fiddling I think I have fixed the ramp issue. I have attached a patch that should get the ramp working again for HWP. It was an issue with the MCD data for the ramp. Just unzip it in the TERRAIN directory and override the old file. See if it fixes the shooting through the doors issue as well.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: cjones on November 03, 2014, 11:25:18 pm
XOPS,

thanks for the fix, I think that fixed most of the firing thru the door stuff, haven't tested HWP yet.  I did noticed the first soldier on left can see and fire thru door still.

Another small thing, I made some power armor just now and I think it gave me both power armor and power suits?  So I ordered 5 power armor and got 5 power suits too?  I cant tell if they were made when I made the suits or if they appeared in the soldier armor screen when I equipped em?

Attached sav, using TFTD manu rules if that matters.

Thanks.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Squaddie Perseus on November 04, 2014, 10:34:08 pm
Hey there. I've been lurking around OpenXCOM and the forums for a while now, and then I found your mod. I am incredibly impressed with the amount of work you've put into this. I honestly think that your mod has the potential to become the Long War of OpenXCOM. I realize this mod is in beta, but I am experiencing the same problem moghopper encountered. Whenever a melee attack animation plays, the game crashes after the fourth frame. I've done two clean installs for both OpenXCOM and your mod, and the end result has been the same. However, I believe I have managed to ascertain what aspect of the mod is causing the crash. It appears the AlienArsenal ruleset and associated resources are the cause. Is there an easy way to fix this, or is this going to be a major effort to fix? Also, I included a save that can show you the crash. Just wait for one of the Chrysalids to reach one of the troopers (*shudders*). I hope this helps. Keep up the amazing work!  ;D
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: SIMON BAILIE on November 05, 2014, 04:47:15 pm
Really enjoying this mod atm as its breathed new life into my games and looking forward to version 0.9 and later but I've a couple of enquiries. Is there a compatibility issue with adding the mod "smoke rocket" as it doesn't recognise the ammunition type. Secondly to expand the aliens further I would like to add the mod "new races mod" that adds aliens from TFTD but on looking at what this mod brings it might mess up the deployments at least. I'm currently using nighty build 10-27-14 2040 but enable my 42 mods through the generic mod enabler JSGME v2.3 so as to not tweak the original files. See attachments.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on November 05, 2014, 08:03:53 pm
XOPS,

thanks for the fix, I think that fixed most of the firing thru the door stuff, haven't tested HWP yet.  I did noticed the first soldier on left can see and fire thru door still.

Another small thing, I made some power armor just now and I think it gave me both power armor and power suits?  So I ordered 5 power armor and got 5 power suits too?  I cant tell if they were made when I made the suits or if they appeared in the soldier armor screen when I equipped em?

Attached sav, using TFTD manu rules if that matters.

Thanks.

The Skywarden still needs a lot more polish in the mcd area. It's a lot harder to plug all of the holes than I initially thought. Given that the Skywarden is functional now, I will probably hold off on plugging all of the holes until 1.0. Thanks for the catch though.

As for the power armor, I loaded your save and tried to duplicate the bug. No luck or in this case good luck since I didn't find a bug. Don't know why it added extra power suits. Maybe it was something I fixed recently without knowing. Regardless I will keep an eye out for it next time I playtest.

Hey there. I've been lurking around OpenXCOM and the forums for a while now, and then I found your mod. I am incredibly impressed with the amount of work you've put into this. I honestly think that your mod has the potential to become the Long War of OpenXCOM. I realize this mod is in beta, but I am experiencing the same problem moghopper encountered. Whenever a melee attack animation plays, the game crashes after the fourth frame. I've done two clean installs for both OpenXCOM and your mod, and the end result has been the same. However, I believe I have managed to ascertain what aspect of the mod is causing the crash. It appears the AlienArsenal ruleset and associated resources are the cause. Is there an easy way to fix this, or is this going to be a major effort to fix? Also, I included a save that can show you the crash. Just wait for one of the Chrysalids to reach one of the troopers (*shudders*). I hope this helps. Keep up the amazing work!  ;D

Thanks for playing the mod! Let's see if we can fix this. First off, you need to make sure you have the latest nightly. It is the only one that supports the shortened melee animations. The nightlies are here: https://openxcom.org/git-builds/

If that does not fix it, then try a clean install as you did before and then update again to the latest nightly. It if still crashes, then trying backing up the options and battle configuration files and then deleting the originals letting open xcom generate new ones (these files are in the open xcom folder in the documents directory, not in the main game directory).

If it still crashes, disable all mods and try again to make sure it isn't a problem with the mods. If it still crashes, then do another clean install without mods. If this doesn't work, then go to the trouble shooting boards because it is an issue beyond my ability to fix.

Also trying to take on Snakemen and Crysalids with nothing but starting weapons and rookies! Well you got guts. That's all I can say. :)

Really enjoying this mod atm as its breathed new life into my games and looking forward to version 0.9 and later but I've a couple of enquiries. Is there a compatibility issue with adding the mod "smoke rocket" as it doesn't recognise the ammunition type. Secondly to expand the aliens further I would like to add the mod "new races mod" that adds aliens from TFTD but on looking at what this mod brings it might mess up the deployments at least. I'm currently using nighty build 10-27-14 2040 but enable my 42 mods through the generic mod enabler JSGME v2.3 so as to not tweak the original files. See attachments.

The smoke rocket mod doesn't work because XenoOps has already modded the Rocket Launcher to take special kinds of ammunition (AP rocket, really need to buff that one actually). If you want to add compatibility with the smoke rocket then edit XenoOpsWeapons.rul and add the following code to the Rocket Launcher
Code: [Select]
    compatibleAmmo:
      - STR_SMALL_ROCKET
      - STR_LARGE_ROCKET
      - STR_INCENDIARY_ROCKET
      - STR_AP_ROCKET
      - STR_SMOKE_ROCKET #add this to the end of the list
Then delete the following entry from the Smoke Rocket Mod
Code: [Select]
  - type: STR_ROCKET_LAUNCHER
    compatibleAmmo:
      - STR_SMALL_ROCKET
      - STR_LARGE_ROCKET
      - STR_INCENDIARY_ROCKET
      - STR_SMOKE_ROCKET
This should make it compatible.

I took a look at the new races mod. It doesn't mess with deployments so it should work. Only mods that try to give aliens new weapons really mess with XenoOps. However it will have plenty of other issues. For example, the first month you will encounter sectoids mixed with a lot of other odd races since in XenoOps, the sectoid race has been replaced by the Cydonia Landing Guard due to hardcoding issues. Also research into alien topics may work strangely as well (medics won't give data on XenoOps only races, Martian Solution research may not work when interrogating captured XenoOps races etc).
Looking at your mod list... holy crap that is a lot of mods. You even have Batman in there! Wow. Too bad I really don't have to time to check for compatibility issues with every single mod. I all can say is that mods that add alien gear flat out wont work. Mods that add new aliens will work, but can produce strange effects in research and mission order. Mods that add new weapons usually work. Mods that modify old weapons probably wont work or at least not well as too many weapons have been moved or replaced. New armors are hit or miss, but most should work since all of the original armors are largely untouched save for a few tweaks. Any mod that messes with the research order will probably cause issues as well since at this point I have mutilated the tech tree. Hope this helps. :)

In update news, I got almost everything ready for 9.0. Just need to finish those stupid turrets for the Alloy Tanks. After that I will be running out of things to add. Can't say when it will be out. November and December are always busy months for everyone. I also plan to include a Lite version with the next release that doesn't have the plasma conversion system and greatly shortens the tech tree to keep the pacing close to the original game as an optional version. After 9.0, my 1.0 goal is to combine all of the rulesets into a full mod with a marathon tech tree.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Squaddie Perseus on November 06, 2014, 12:15:29 am
Hey XOPs. Just wanted to let you know that I downloaded and pasted the latest nightly over the install of OpenXCOM I had and the melee animations now work properly. It turns out I pulled a dumb and didn't realize that the nightlies and main download were separate.  :P Thanks for pointing them out to me. Can't wait to see what else you do with this incredible mod. I wish I could offer my help in someway, but I'm not that talented when it comes to modding so the most I can do is report any bugs I find.  :) Actually, speaking of bugs/features/things, does the Satellite Network research actually do anything right now? I researched it and the game crashes when I try to view the report. This can be avoided by simply allocating new research but there doesn't seem to be a noticeable effect or benefit from this research. Are you still testing this or am I missing something again?

Edit: Oh, and you mentioned me being gutsy for taking on Lids and Snakemen with starter weapons? Well....I didn't know what the aliens were and when I did I was still trying to solve the animation crash.....That and it turns out Anti-Material rifles are actually good against lone Lids. A couple shots or a single shot followed up by a few shots from other troopers will kill a lone Lid at the start, but that's it. I actually managed to win the mission in the save I provided you without a losing a soldier to the Lids (lost one to plasma fire though), but only because the Lids were far enough apart that I could focus on them one at a time, otherwise I really doubt I would have won that mission. May have to start a new game though. Second month was not nice to me with those Snakemen and their pets everywhere (that and ignoring terror missions because of the aforementioned but now solved crash). If you're intending for a longer game where the nastier aliens take longer to show up so that the larger tech tree doesn't leave the player facing Lids like I was in that save, you may want to reduce the chances of Snakemen with Lids appearing, especially at the start of the game. On small Snakemen UFOs, the aliens can be killed with starter weapons, but the UFO in the aforementioned save was a Large class that I brought down with copious amounts of Avalanches, and they were disturbingly common from the outset of my current attempted run. Again though, thanks for pointing me in the direction I needed to fix this problem and keep up the amazing work!  ;D
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: TaxxiDriver on November 21, 2014, 02:46:23 pm
Holy mother god shit of ....  wow.

You have some serious talents, man. Both for making sprites and organizing the general structure of the game. You freaked me out. Many of the things I've only imagined are actually in here. That's... so sweet ;D Especially every single sprite just looks so brilliant. I hope you keep going with it :)




Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod v0.90
Post by: XOps on November 21, 2014, 10:48:55 pm
Hey XOPs. Just wanted to let you know that I downloaded and pasted the latest nightly over the install of OpenXCOM I had and the melee animations now work properly. It turns out I pulled a dumb and didn't realize that the nightlies and main download were separate.  :P Thanks for pointing them out to me. Can't wait to see what else you do with this incredible mod. I wish I could offer my help in someway, but I'm not that talented when it comes to modding so the most I can do is report any bugs I find.  :) Actually, speaking of bugs/features/things, does the Satellite Network research actually do anything right now? I researched it and the game crashes when I try to view the report. This can be avoided by simply allocating new research but there doesn't seem to be a noticeable effect or benefit from this research. Are you still testing this or am I missing something again?

Should work. That tech unlocks a new 2x2 radar facility. Check the building list and see if it is there. That bug should have been fixed though. Not sure what could be the issue. Try the update I have just posted and see if the issue persists.

Holy mother god shit of ....  wow.

You have some serious talents, man. Both for making sprites and organizing the general structure of the game. You freaked me out. Many of the things I've only imagined are actually in here. That's... so sweet ;D Especially every single sprite just looks so brilliant. I hope you keep going with it :)

Thanks for the high praise! I really need to move this to the completed mods forum and release it on the modsite soon to improve visibility. And yes I plan to keep going even if I do take long breaks. Even if I disappear for a while, I always come back to XCom.

Now for the 0.90 version.
Gentlemen... BEHOLD!!!
https://www.openxcom.com/content/files/d3a4809a/XenoOperationsBetaV0.90.zip

Expect a lot of bugs with this one. I had a really hard time getting this thing out the door. The day I was going to release it, openxcom decided that I had added one item too many and the bigobs numbers got all messed up. I hope I have fixed them, but I expect I have missed a few. Also still no Alloy tanks I am afraid. Can't get that blasted turret right. Still I did add four HWPs though two are just small UAVs. The other two are kitbashes. Also added human versions of the alien explosives and a bunch of minor tweaks. Also I added a Lite version without a conversion system and a shorter tech tree for those who want something a little faster pace and closer to vanilla.

Also a note for modders: In the folder HopelessWarAssests are bigobs, floorobs, and handobs for a future challenge version of xenoops. They are not yet implemented, but I am sharing them ahead of time. Including are several futuristic guns intended to be a third tier of ballistic weapons. modders are free to use this so long as I get a mention in the credits.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Squaddie Perseus on November 24, 2014, 04:55:25 am
Aw man!! A new version? And here I was getting ready to storm Cydonia once I had my best guys outfitted with all powered armor.....Oh well. I may still try to finish my current game before upgrading but holy crap XOPs, it's good to see an update. I've been checking back every so often just see if there's even a little bit of a teaser. Anyway, about that "missing something with the satellite network", I forgot to update my previous post (partially cause of school, partially cause your mod is so much fun!  :D) . That was another problem fixed with the latest nightly for the previous version of your mod. Seriously man, this mod is already tough enough and it already takes longer than vanilla. I can't wait to see what else you do. Also, if we get third tier ballistics before lasers...can we maybe get different tiers of other weapons as well perhaps, even if these things only show up in your "higher challenge"?

IE: Tier 2 lasers, maybe something that's a sort of "tier 2 plasma weapons" category (particle guns perhaps?), and maybe tier 2 hypervelocity guns (IE: X-COM goes from using hypervelocity guns, and I'm going under the assumption they're coilguns as they'd be the most practical, efficient, and effective format for an infantry based weapon like those, and goes straight to mass accelerators, which are basically coilguns that took a massive level in power)? Sorry if this seems a bit rambly. The screenshot and associated info got me really excited. Seriously, this is my new favorite mod for OpenXCOM. Keep up the amazing work man!!  :D
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on November 25, 2014, 06:26:10 am
Aw man!! A new version? And here I was getting ready to storm Cydonia once I had my best guys outfitted with all powered armor.....Oh well. I may still try to finish my current game before upgrading but holy crap XOPs, it's good to see an update. I've been checking back every so often just see if there's even a little bit of a teaser. Anyway, about that "missing something with the satellite network", I forgot to update my previous post (partially cause of school, partially cause your mod is so much fun!  :D) . That was another problem fixed with the latest nightly for the previous version of your mod. Seriously man, this mod is already tough enough and it already takes longer than vanilla. I can't wait to see what else you do. Also, if we get third tier ballistics before lasers...can we maybe get different tiers of other weapons as well perhaps, even if these things only show up in your "higher challenge"?

The third tier of ballistic weapons are actually intended as inferior replacements for plasma weapons in the challenge mod. In the Hopeless War challenge mod, alien weapons are never converted only scrapped for parts at best. There is only going to be one laser weapon (Tactical Laser aka Heavy Laser) and maybe one plasma weapon if the player gets lucky with the tech tree. Both are powerful, but chew through Elerium Cells and need a lot of alien weapon components which as the game progresses get more scarce. That is merely a few things on a long list of ideas I have to make the game harder. Mostly it is intended for people who play the game way too much and find Superhuman too easy. It will have less toys than the main mod, but not by much.

IE: Tier 2 lasers, maybe something that's a sort of "tier 2 plasma weapons" category (particle guns perhaps?), and maybe tier 2 hypervelocity guns (IE: X-COM goes from using hypervelocity guns, and I'm going under the assumption they're coilguns as they'd be the most practical, efficient, and effective format for an infantry based weapon like those, and goes straight to mass accelerators, which are basically coilguns that took a massive level in power)? Sorry if this seems a bit rambly. The screenshot and associated info got me really excited. Seriously, this is my new favorite mod for OpenXCOM. Keep up the amazing work man!!  :D

Actually I am kind of running out of new toys to make for XCom. I have added nearly everything I can think of save for a few odds and ends. The hypervelocity tier is meant to be the ultimate weapon set for XCom as is evident by their steep material cost. If I make any new tiers of weapons, it will be for the aliens who are way too dependent on plasma. Fortunately, any new alien weapons will likely find their way into XCom hands at least in the main mod. My intent for the main mod is to make sure the player gets a chance to play with all the toys.
As far as future plans go, as I said, I am about done with adding new weapons and gear. My focus now is getting the marathon tech tree ready for the main mod. I have already started to consolidate the files into one ruleset and I have the basic tech tree fleshed out. 1.0 should see the main full marathon mod and lite mod added for those who want a shorter game. After that I am going to start implementing the challenge mod, but that one needs a bit more spriting.
Hopefully once that is all done, my next focus will be maps. I am also hoping that enough geoscape features will be unhardcoded so I can start making full custom missions (the map scripts update recently was big step in that direction). That's when the really awesome stuff will start happening.  :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: HelmetHair on November 25, 2014, 08:33:26 pm
There are a few things I would love to see in this Mod as toys.

1. An Elerium Powered exoskeleton

A powered exoskeleton that increases strength, stamina and firing accuracy because elerium cells are a wet dream for making this a reality.

This Idea is based off of Steady Cam Harnesses, the Fortis Exoskeleton, and Landwarrior/ Nett warrior ideas.

A powered exoskeleton that is not armored (or lightly armored) or anything that  can be used to let a soldier hulk around gear and move freely integrated with fire control systems that rock.

stats would be high and are arbitrary, but just an idea to give some thoughts on.

Str:+25
Stm:+20
FA:+10
Wt:12

2. "Detention Kit"
A combination of a few things actually. I think the art would make it... if you could pull it off. Artwork showing a Truncheon, HandCuffs, Stun gun, Zip ties, Syringe, Ductape, and a Blindfold all jumbled in a 2x3 that weighs 5 or so.

how it would work is you have 2 modes of operation.

A "Stun" melee attack like we see defined by weapon melee mod and a "stun syringe" which is a medkit stim with a negative stun and energy recovery value from the Tranquillizer device mod.

this would simulate a guy either jumping on an alien or human and either shocking them, beating them with a truncheon, or injecting them with chemical subdual agents before handcuffing, Zip tieing and blindfolding them. So an agent could HIT an alien for stun damage like a weapon, or stand over them and use the  "Stim" to keep them down. But the values would have to be fairly moderate to prevent abuse of course....


Anyways, a few things I thought I of.

-HH


 
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Arthanor on November 25, 2014, 10:23:42 pm
There are a few things I would love to see in this Mod as toys.

1. An Elerium Powered exoskeleton

A powered exoskeleton that increases strength, stamina and firing accuracy because elerium cells are a wet dream for making this a reality.

This Idea is based off of Steady Cam Harnesses, the Fortis Exoskeleton, and Landwarrior/ Nett warrior ideas.

A powered exoskeleton that is not armored (or lightly armored) or anything that  can be used to let a soldier hulk around gear and move freely integrated with fire control systems that rock.

stats would be high and are arbitrary, but just an idea to give some thoughts on.

Str:+25
Stm:+20
FA:+10
Wt:12
Ha! That's a great idea! I might steal that for the XAE.. Just have to make graphics. Meh..!

Quote
2. "Detention Kit"
A combination of a few things actually. I think the art would make it... if you could pull it off. Artwork showing a Truncheon, HandCuffs, Stun gun, Zip ties, Syringe, Ductape, and a Blindfold all jumbled in a 2x3 that weighs 5 or so.

how it would work is you have 2 modes of operation.

A "Stun" melee attack like we see defined by weapon melee mod and a "stun syringe" which is a medkit stim with a negative stun and energy recovery value from the Tranquillizer device mod.

this would simulate a guy either jumping on an alien or human and either shocking them, beating them with a truncheon, or injecting them with chemical subdual agents before handcuffing, Zip tieing and blindfolding them. So an agent could HIT an alien for stun damage like a weapon, or stand over them and use the  "Stim" to keep them down. But the values would have to be fairly moderate to prevent abuse of course....

Unfortunately, an item in OpenXCom is either a weapon OR a medipack, it can't be both :/ You could split this into 2 items though, although at that point it is pretty much the same thing as stun rod + tranquilizer.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: yrizoud on November 26, 2014, 02:01:17 am
I'm afraid the increased FA favors too much the back lines snipers, because if they're too far from aliens to be seen, the reduced armor doesn't cost them anything. (You'd systematically fill the back half of skyranger with this armor)
If it's a bonus to reactions instead of FA, this is more interesting choice, because reactions only matter when you're in aliens' range - and this is also where armor counts.

A powerloader armor with increased mobility, stamina and strength at the cost of reduced FA may also be interesting, it still fits several roles at all distances, from very far to very close:
- logistics (the one who throws the right weapon to whoever has the best line of sight)
- grenade thrower
- evasive scout (spot and retreat, don't stay in the open during alien turn)
- stun rusher, with the occasional shooting alien at point-blank range
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: HotIceHilda on December 03, 2014, 07:01:24 am
Quick question is there any new items in this mods that are just there to sell for money and have no research or construction purpose? I am a little overwhelmed with everything I have gotten.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on December 03, 2014, 08:15:03 pm
There are a few things I would love to see in this Mod as toys.

1. An Elerium Powered exoskeleton

A powered exoskeleton that increases strength, stamina and firing accuracy because elerium cells are a wet dream for making this a reality.

This Idea is based off of Steady Cam Harnesses, the Fortis Exoskeleton, and Landwarrior/ Nett warrior ideas.

A powered exoskeleton that is not armored (or lightly armored) or anything that  can be used to let a soldier hulk around gear and move freely integrated with fire control systems that rock.

stats would be high and are arbitrary, but just an idea to give some thoughts on.

Not a bad idea. Would be a nice mid game armor. Could even form a bit of a triad. Alloy armor for protection, skystrike for flight, and an exosuit for reflexes. Might be something I may add one day if I make a graphic concept I like. Armors are such a pain to sprite though.

Quick question is there any new items in this mods that are just there to sell for money and have no research or construction purpose? I am a little overwhelmed with everything I have gotten.

Useful Items
Alien Comm Device: 1 Elerium Cell
Small Entertainment: 1 Elerium Cell, 1 Circuitry
Holo Projector: 1 Elerium Cell, 1 Circuitry
Alien Computer: 2 Elerium Cells, 2 Circuitry
Alien Embryo: 1 Elerium Cell
Alien Extractor: 1 Elerium Cell
Alien Organ Sample: 1 Elerium Cell
All Alien Weapons
All Alien Ammo
All Alien Explosives

Sell Items
Alien Injector
Alien DNA
Alien Entertainment
Alien Food
Alien Habitat

When the mod hits 1.0, most of these values will change and all items will have a use even ones that use to be worthless in vanilla (alien entertainment, alien food, etc)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XCOMFan419 on December 04, 2014, 08:56:40 am
I'm at the end of the game with Xeno Ops and I've practically hoarded Elerium Cells at this point. Last time I checked I had over 1200, and this was with regular rearming of my plasma weapons and stuff like that. But of course, to keep up with the outstanding TU cost of the plasma weapons, I resorted to Lasers with Elerium batteries and Hypervelocity weapons. I quickly ran out of elerium, but still had mountains of Elerium cells.

Maybe an Elerium Cell to Elerium conversion would help balance out the endgame? Because I have stores of <=60 Elerium at any time, while storming every UFO I can. 
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: robin on December 04, 2014, 10:59:46 pm
What's the difference between "ellerium lamp" and regular electro-flare? Is it something just to resell and make money? ("power" is the same for both items).
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on December 06, 2014, 12:23:04 am
I'm at the end of the game with Xeno Ops and I've practically hoarded Elerium Cells at this point. Last time I checked I had over 1200, and this was with regular rearming of my plasma weapons and stuff like that. But of course, to keep up with the outstanding TU cost of the plasma weapons, I resorted to Lasers with Elerium batteries and Hypervelocity weapons. I quickly ran out of elerium, but still had mountains of Elerium cells.

Maybe an Elerium Cell to Elerium conversion would help balance out the endgame? Because I have stores of <=60 Elerium at any time, while storming every UFO I can.

Yeah I noticed Cells tend to pile up as well. When I hit 1.0, a lot of items like armor, Elerium laser batteries, and hypervelocity weapons will also use cells so there will be more of a demand for them. I couldn't do that this version due to the modular nature of the rules.

What's the difference between "ellerium lamp" and regular electro-flare? Is it something just to resell and make money? ("power" is the same for both items).

 :-[ Whoops. It's suppose to higher (20 I think). I must have pasted over it at one point. I did some tests and I found if you set the power too high it distorts the colors. I'll fix it in the next version.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Ajaxial on December 07, 2014, 04:10:52 pm
Does this perchance work with latest Nightlie? Or shall I install this over a Mid November build or so?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on December 07, 2014, 05:40:20 pm
Does this perchance work with latest Nightlie? Or shall I install this over a Mid November build or so?

I just tested. It should work. If problems crop up then report them here and I can try to fix it.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Ajaxial on December 07, 2014, 08:29:24 pm
I apologize for the late/slow reply.

It does indeed work fine with the latest Night build. At-least thus far I haven't come across any issues. If I run across any I shall let you know.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Ajaxial on December 08, 2014, 03:27:39 pm
Thus far. Only issues have been in regards to text strings. As example. I get str_small_bomb or str_Alien_Heavy_Plasma instead of what I would assume be the ingame text like Heavy Alien Plasma Cannon. But otherwise it's running great! Not a single crash.

Although I have noticed the aliens are a lot more...aggresive. I LOVE IT!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on December 08, 2014, 11:32:01 pm
Thus far. Only issues have been in regards to text strings. As example. I get str_small_bomb or str_Alien_Heavy_Plasma instead of what I would assume be the ingame text like Heavy Alien Plasma Cannon.

I couldn't figure out why those strings were missing until I switched to English-UK. I lazily copy pasted the strings section. The main issue being that I forgot to copy paste to the UK strings on two of the rulesets. Regardless it will be fixed next update and I attached a couple of rulesets below that should fix the problem. Also, after checking the small launcher entry, I discovered that the human converted launcher does not shoot the right stun bombs. That is fixed as well.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Ajaxial on December 09, 2014, 01:57:50 pm
Excellent. I truly appreciate your work on this and ammendments. :)

As a sidenote. I can just throw these into the current build I'm using and still use the savegame I'm running at the moment? Or would I need to start a new game.

I've noticed that a lot of the Rulesets reread on load. So I assume to a degree that they can be compatible with a current game.

Regardless I shall give both methods a go.

Again. Thank you. It's appreciated. :)

EDIT: I stuck them in and loaded my save and it works flawless.

I now have all the correct text rather than just a data string entry.

Excellent! :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on January 15, 2015, 05:07:30 pm
XOps, this is an amazing piece of work overall!

I stumbled upon it while looking for new weapon sprites to use in a project I'm developing and you've got a ton of nice ideas implemented that I was already considering for my project. I hope you don't mind me using them.

I've got one suggestion for this mod - Redo the Heavy Cannon, Auto Cannon and Rocket Launcher to fit with the rest of the XCom weapons. On the original game each weapon has its own art style, but in your mod each weapon tier has its unique style. I'm planning to stick to the original weapons, so I'm picking sprites for the new weapons from different sources (and also because it helps to visually distinguish between the weapons). But I will use one one of your weaponsets by assigning it to a new faction because they simply look too cool and distinctive.

And I'm occasionally getting some weird crashes when only using your mod, so something might not be right. If I can figure out the bug, I'll let you know.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Phiphler on January 15, 2015, 06:16:37 pm
I installed this mod on Arch Linux, running the latest Git build of Openxcom.

I get a segfault (SIGSEGV) when I start my first terror mission, just after the autosave. I have succesfully shot down and recovered a few UFOs.

I also had a few issues with incorrectly named assets when I first launched the game after installing the mod, but I just changed the names of the assets (a few .gif files).
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: ivandogovich on January 15, 2015, 06:43:28 pm
I installed this mod on Arch Linux, running the latest Git build of Openxcom.

I get a segfault (SIGSEGV) when I start my first terror mission, just after the autosave. I have succesfully shot down and recovered a few UFOs.


There is an issue with Terror Missions and recent nightlies with some mods.  You might try reverting to an earlier nightly.
See this thread: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2027.msg37274.html#msg37274

Cheers, Ivan :D
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on January 15, 2015, 08:52:41 pm
There is an issue with Terror Missions and recent nightlies with some mods.  You might try reverting to an earlier nightly.
See this thread: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2027.msg37274.html#msg37274

Cheers, Ivan :D

If you are using the Terrain Pack then you'll need to download the latest version (https://www.openxcom.com/mod/terrain-pack), which is compatible with the latest nightly and fixes the issues with the terror sites.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: volutar on January 15, 2015, 08:56:39 pm
Instead of pointing people to use obsolete oxc builds, better to get mods updated. Or else. :o It's very bad practice to drag engine back because of outdated mods. Instead of proper testing we are getting number of bug reports with obsolete info. And as result we are almost ticking over without proper forward direction.
If author doesn't have time, mark this mod as "outdated". And gray it out. Mods shouldn't distract project from evolving.
I hate when someone starting "new" LP on a YouTube using OLD OpenXcom1.0.

Sorry.  :-[
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: robin on January 15, 2015, 09:08:07 pm
I imagine that the random user opening openxcom.org, will look for the "stable release" as seemingly indicated by the website, AKA 1.0.
Maybe then v1.0 should be obsoleted itself?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: ivandogovich on January 15, 2015, 09:14:36 pm

I hate when someone starting "new" LP on a YouTube using OLD OpenXcom1.0.

Sorry.  :-[

I guess that is the hazard of releasing "milestones."  Users (and LPers (guilty as charged, here)) test out a milestone before they will test out a nightly.  The sense is that a Milestone is stable and fairly bug free.  Modders chose to use milestones for the same purpose rather than trying to chase a moving target. 

I understand that the overall OpenXcom development cycle is not complete.  I understand that incorporating TftD into the mix is changing a lot of how the game is set up.  I understand why nightlies are what they are, and these are great!

But one of the beauties of OpenXcom from a player's perspective is how moddable and expansive it is.  It is so much easier to access the externalized values that it just begs to be modded.  Many of the mod greatly enhance the player's experience. 

I think that players having the capability to play OpenXcom modded or unmodded while the development cycle is still underway, keeps the interest and excitement up for the overall project.  And I think that's a good thing. ;)  (Just maybe a bit frustrating for the developers).
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Phiphler on January 15, 2015, 09:44:33 pm
Reverting to an earlier nightly is difficult for me, as there are only nightlies for the Windows version of OXC.
I built OXC from source from the developers repository instead.

I used to have shotgun and medikithandob, but I removed them before I installed XenOps. Is XenOps based on any other mods that I can update? Are there any known options I can change to improve stability in the current nightly?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: volutar on January 15, 2015, 10:46:00 pm
See, ivandogovich? This poor fellow can use old version. He's compiling coz he's on the X. Every mod maker should chase moving target, or alternatively - always stay on outdated grey area. I think modsite should use that kind of categories - actual/outdated. Frankly pretty rare builds are affecting mods not back-compatible way, warboy cares that. But that doesn't mean that modmakers shouldn't check and update their mods! New version often has even more modding features. Let us take mapgen scripting. It allows for really diverse maps to be created. Ask Hobbes or robin. They stop using 1.0 long ago.

And another thing. Every modded or lper who's using 1.0 doesn't really help project to become better. At the best they simply advertising.

I'm just asking you, people to stop using 1.0 version. And stop using mods which aren't working with current version. It's the only way to move WITH the project. Not behind.

Sorry for offtoping.

Isn't xeno oper mod compatible with the nightly?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: SIMON BAILIE on January 15, 2015, 11:07:22 pm
Really lovely mod, I just updated my current game fr Xeno Ops v0.80 to v0.90 and was wondering about the uav's. Is it possible for them to have a 2nd weapon like a smoke launcher as I feel they're a bit vulnerable scouting about on their own. Like u can have them scouting along with a troop who'll drop a smoke grenade for cover but does this not defeat the whole purpose of them scouting?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on January 15, 2015, 11:14:20 pm
Isn't xeno oper mod compatible with the nightly?

I just found a game-crashing bug using the latest nightly related to the Hybrids. When it's a Hybrid's turn to more the game will crash.

If you're playing the nightly with this mod stay out of tactical missions that involve Armored Sectoids and their Hybrid terrorist units.

EDIT: Muton Warlords also cause it to crash.

EDIT2: This appears to be an OXC bug since I just got it while playing a mission without any mods enabled.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: volutar on January 16, 2015, 12:42:05 am
Hobbes, alright. Then there should be sort of a report and save file is appreciated. Game crashing bugs are the first priority ones (unless they are caused by mod misusing rulesets and as you said - it's not the issue).
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: ivandogovich on January 16, 2015, 01:00:24 am
@Volutar:  I felt bad threadjacking here, so I moved the discussion to: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,3273.msg37449.html#msg37449
Cheers!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on January 16, 2015, 01:38:17 am
Hobbes, alright. Then there should be sort of a report and save file is appreciated. Game crashing bugs are the first priority ones (unless they are caused by mod misusing rulesets and as you said - it's not the issue).

Didn't consider reporting it since it seems to happen on every tactical mission, so I thought developers will notice it quickly. But if it isn't fixed quickly, I'll sure file a report since it is messing with my mod testing.

In any case, this mod looks to me fine at the moment, otherwise it's a question of asking XOps to update it when a new nightly breaks it.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on January 16, 2015, 05:04:14 am
Wow. Figures everyone waits until the day that I get my eyes dilated at the optometrist to flood the XenoOps thread. Now that I can see again, I will try to answer some questions.

XOps, this is an amazing piece of work overall!

I stumbled upon it while looking for new weapon sprites to use in a project I'm developing and you've got a ton of nice ideas implemented that I was already considering for my project. I hope you don't mind me using them.

I've got one suggestion for this mod - Redo the Heavy Cannon, Auto Cannon and Rocket Launcher to fit with the rest of the XCom weapons. On the original game each weapon has its own art style, but in your mod each weapon tier has its unique style. I'm planning to stick to the original weapons, so I'm picking sprites for the new weapons from different sources (and also because it helps to visually distinguish between the weapons). But I will use one one of your weaponsets by assigning it to a new faction because they simply look too cool and distinctive.

And I'm occasionally getting some weird crashes when only using your mod, so something might not be right. If I can figure out the bug, I'll let you know.

High praise from the master of maps :). I don't mind at all if you use my sprites. In fact, I considered plundering the Terrain Pack down the road once I get my tech tree sorted out and I start adding my own terrains.
Also I had considered redoing the heavy weapons, just can't get a good draft of the things yet. It's on my todo list when I get other bigger issues sorted out for 1.0.

I installed this mod on Arch Linux, running the latest Git build of Openxcom.

I get a segfault (SIGSEGV) when I start my first terror mission, just after the autosave. I have succesfully shot down and recovered a few UFOs.

I also had a few issues with incorrectly named assets when I first launched the game after installing the mod, but I just changed the names of the assets (a few .gif files).

Could you give me a list of wrong named assets? I would like to fix these for the next release.

Reverting to an earlier nightly is difficult for me, as there are only nightlies for the Windows version of OXC.
I built OXC from source from the developers repository instead.

I used to have shotgun and medikithandob, but I removed them before I installed XenOps. Is XenOps based on any other mods that I can update? Are there any known options I can change to improve stability in the current nightly?

XenoOps is made to be stand alone. You don't need any other mods to make XenoOps work. I will fool around with the latest nightly to see if I can try to increase stability. It worked fine with the recent map update, but a lot of stuff has changed since then and I haven't tried with the latest nightly.

Really lovely mod, I just updated my current game fr Xeno Ops v0.80 to v0.90 and was wondering about the uav's. Is it possible for them to have a 2nd weapon like a smoke launcher as I feel they're a bit vulnerable scouting about on their own. Like u can have them scouting along with a troop who'll drop a smoke grenade for cover but does this not defeat the whole purpose of them scouting?

I would be rather hesitant to give UAVs additional abilities. They already get a ton of TUs and can reveal half the map in a single turn. If others feel the same way then I might consider it, but I worry this may make them a bit too useful.

I just found a game-crashing bug using the latest nightly related to the Hybrids. When it's a Hybrid's turn to more the game will crash.

If you're playing the nightly with this mod stay out of tactical missions that involve Armored Sectoids and their Hybrid terrorist units.

EDIT: Muton Warlords also cause it to crash.

EDIT2: This appears to be an OXC bug since I just got it while playing a mission without any mods enabled.

I will test this on my own and see if I can confirm.

Didn't consider reporting it since it seems to happen on every tactical mission, so I thought developers will notice it quickly. But if it isn't fixed quickly, I'll sure file a report since it is messing with my mod testing.

In any case, this mod looks to me fine at the moment, otherwise it's a question of asking XOps to update it when a new nightly breaks it.

It's not a problem. I usually lurk here even if I don't post a lot. I am actually still working on the mod, but only in between working on my book project. I don't think I will be able to do another proper XenoOps release until I get my book project out of the way first. However I have no issue fixing minor compatibility issues when the crop up.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Phiphler on January 16, 2015, 11:20:03 am
Resources/XenoOperations/Aliens/BIGOBS/Hybrid_Inventory_Corpse.gif
think it was just a miscapitalization

The other was a pistol in the weapons folder, unsure of the exact name.

I tried disabling the mod and that fixes the crashing, so it's definitly some weird interaction with the latest developer builds.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on January 16, 2015, 07:26:49 pm
High praise from the master of maps :). I don't mind at all if you use my sprites. In fact, I considered plundering the Terrain Pack down the road once I get my tech tree sorted out and I start adding my own terrains.
Also I had considered redoing the heavy weapons, just can't get a good draft of the things yet. It's on my todo list when I get other bigger issues sorted out for 1.0.

Well, the master of maps can't do much magic without the sprites you guys create... like every magician, it's all a trick of perception ;)

In any case, I've taken a break from map creation... to focus on another project (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,3264.0.html). Surprisingly (or not) I discovered that several of my ideas were similar to yours (Cydonia Elite crew, etc.) so several of your sprites were just what I needed. Which has also gotten me wondering if it was possible to combine my project into yours, although we have different ideas in how to use some of those sprites.

But this is just an idea for further reflection: I still need to do a ton of work first and you're busy with other things (good luck with your book!).

Resources/XenoOperations/Aliens/BIGOBS/Hybrid_Inventory_Corpse.gif
think it was just a miscapitalization

The other was a pistol in the weapons folder, unsure of the exact name.

I tried disabling the mod and that fixes the crashing, so it's definitly some weird interaction with the latest developer builds.

It can't actually see the issue with the Hybrid_Inventory_Corpse.gif, specially since any differences in filenames would cause the game not to start. Unless you're running it under Linux, which would cause problems.

I keep getting the crash without any mods enabled, so I'm trying to narrow down the specific conditions: it only happens with the Debug mode enabled, and it also seems to happen only on maps where there are aliens of rank 1 (usually leaders) deployed, i.e. Terror Sites, Battleships or Terror Ships. Can you please try with these conditions and see if you also get the crash? If so, I'll definitely file a bug report.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Phiphler on January 16, 2015, 09:06:29 pm
It can't actually see the issue with the Hybrid_Inventory_Corpse.gif, specially since any differences in filenames would cause the game not to start. Unless you're running it under Linux, which would cause problems.

I keep getting the crash without any mods enabled, so I'm trying to narrow down the specific conditions: it only happens with the Debug mode enabled, and it also seems to happen only on maps where there are aliens of rank 1 (usually leaders) deployed, i.e. Terror Sites, Battleships or Terror Ships. Can you please try with these conditions and see if you also get the crash? If so, I'll definitely file a bug report.

I am running it under Linux, and it did cause the game to not start.

Anyway, I downloaded the latest Windows nightly and installed the XenOps mod, and run it with WINE instead. It works just fine now, I could even transplant my savegames with no problems.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: yrizoud on January 17, 2015, 05:23:36 pm
Starting the 'Lite' version, I saw tiny Ufopedia issues:
'for sell' -> for sale (I think? not native English speaker)
Tank/Mortar has weapon "STR_CORRIDOR"
X1A is listed before X1, but refers to X1


Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on January 17, 2015, 06:13:22 pm
Tank/Mortar has weapon "STR_CORRIDOR"
X1A is listed before X1, but refers to X1

What? This is from version 0.90:

Code: [Select]
  - type: STR_TANK_MORTAR
    size: 6
    costBuy: 460000
    costSell: 360000
    transferTime: 96
    weight: 1
    bigSprite: 5002
    floorSprite: 0
    handSprite: 0
    bulletSprite: 4
    fireSound: 12
    compatibleAmmo:
      - STR_MORTAR_ROUND

The X1 and X1A pistols also look fine to me.

Code: [Select]
  - id: STR_HVPISTOL_SMALL
    type_id: 4
    section: STR_WEAPONS_AND_EQUIPMENT
    text: STR_HVPISTOL_SMALL_UFOPEDIA
    listOrder: 3402

  - id: STR_HVPISTOL
    type_id: 4
    section: STR_WEAPONS_AND_EQUIPMENT
    text: STR_HVPISTOL_UFOPEDIA
    listOrder: 3403
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: yrizoud on January 17, 2015, 08:28:09 pm
It's the ufopedia article, it listed "Weapon......STR_CORRIDOR" earlier, and  "Weapon......      " now. Looks like a random bug with uninitialized string.
I looked at the code (https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/blob/master/src/Ruleset/ArticleDefinition.cpp#L301 (https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/blob/master/src/Ruleset/ArticleDefinition.cpp#L301)), the ufopedia entries for HWPs should have a "weapon:" field to refer to weapon names, and this mod lacks it for STR_TANK_MORTAR, STR_TANK_MRLS, STR_UAV.

My issue with the pistols is that if you read the Ufopedia from beginning to end, you first get X1A which says 'X1A is a shortened version of the X1 Pistol', and then X1 which says 'The X1 Pistol is the first in a new series'. I feel the listOrder should be reversed.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on January 19, 2015, 06:11:52 pm
It's the ufopedia article, it listed "Weapon......STR_CORRIDOR" earlier, and  "Weapon......      " now. Looks like a random bug with uninitialized string.
I looked at the code (https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/blob/master/src/Ruleset/ArticleDefinition.cpp#L301 (https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/blob/master/src/Ruleset/ArticleDefinition.cpp#L301)), the ufopedia entries for HWPs should have a "weapon:" field to refer to weapon names, and this mod lacks it for STR_TANK_MORTAR, STR_TANK_MRLS, STR_UAV.

My issue with the pistols is that if you read the Ufopedia from beginning to end, you first get X1A which says 'X1A is a shortened version of the X1 Pistol', and then X1 which says 'The X1 Pistol is the first in a new series'. I feel the listOrder should be reversed.

Noted. Will fix these next release.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: yrizoud on January 26, 2015, 01:10:49 pm
After playing the core mod (rather than the "light" version) :
Personal armor can get researched after Alloy armor, although it's not as good. I don't know if it's a leftover of original research tree, but I think it would be clearer if armors were a linear research branch. (or make Alloy armor "give" Personal armor, if this one is the basis for future Power armor)
It's not clear which amount of components you get from disassembling alien stuff - no idea how you could show this information :(
Lasers being unlocked by two specific high-velocity weapons is not very intuitive. The rest of the research (so far) is very evident even on first playthrough.

Any other critic I have with this mod is because of its generosity : It leaves a lot of original game content in place, in addition to the new stuff. You shouldn't hesitate to remove original weapons whose role is replaced (especially when the replacement use  identical but incompatible clips!)
You also shouldn't hesitate to alter the starting gear - especially remove some vanilla weapons, to let the player buy stuff of his choice instead. And remove a fighter ship to leave a hangar free. So the player can immediately choose if he wants to rent one or build one, or keep the money for something else.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on January 28, 2015, 03:37:33 am
After playing the core mod (rather than the "light" version) :
Personal armor can get researched after Alloy armor, although it's not as good. I don't know if it's a leftover of original research tree, but I think it would be clearer if armors were a linear research branch. (or make Alloy armor "give" Personal armor, if this one is the basis for future Power armor)
It's not clear which amount of components you get from disassembling alien stuff - no idea how you could show this information :(
Lasers being unlocked by two specific high-velocity weapons is not very intuitive. The rest of the research (so far) is very evident even on first playthrough.

Any other critic I have with this mod is because of its generosity : It leaves a lot of original game content in place, in addition to the new stuff. You shouldn't hesitate to remove original weapons whose role is replaced (especially when the replacement use  identical but incompatible clips!)
You also shouldn't hesitate to alter the starting gear - especially remove some vanilla weapons, to let the player buy stuff of his choice instead. And remove a fighter ship to leave a hangar free. So the player can immediately choose if he wants to rent one or build one, or keep the money for something else.

Thanks for the feedback! :) Thankfully almost all of these will be addressed during the next release. The armor tech tree has been redone so personal armor comes before alloy. There isn't too much I can do about component info during disassembling since the manufacturing screen does not show components produced. I do plan to amend all ufopaedia entries to give this information though.
Lasers are getting their own tech tree that kicks in mid game now.
I will remove both the classic pistol and classic rifle for the full version. I will definitely take a second look at starting gear, but leaving out too much stuff becomes problematic since a player may find themselves short on weapons when the first UFOs hit.
Regardless thanks for the feedback. Although the next version will fix most of your above criticisms, it will unfortunately probably introduce a lot more since the tech tree is completely different.

In other news, I finally made a Terran version of the Blaster Launcher.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: SIMON BAILIE on January 28, 2015, 05:40:46 pm
Was wondering if it's possible to have the Rook, Guardian and Aegis crafts carry troops and maybe 1 hwp like Xcom Util's fighter transports. Wud attempt this myself but unsure exactly what this involves. Surely it's more complicated than simply editing the XO crafts.rul file or the Xcom Util .rul file. Don't want to balls up my current game so please advise.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: yrizoud on January 28, 2015, 06:04:43 pm
Simon: It's actually not hard to re-use the tactical maps of the XComutil's fighter :
copy the following lines under "  - type: STR_XCF1", XCF2 and XCF3.
You can reduce the number of soldiers or vehicles, but not increase it. (And keep soldiers >= vehicles*4)
Code: [Select]
    soldiers: 6
    vehicles: 1
    battlescapeTerrainData:
      name: INTERC
      mapDataSets:
        - BLANKS
        - PLANE
      mapBlocks:
        - name: INTERC
          width: 10
          length: 10
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: SIMON BAILIE on January 28, 2015, 08:33:54 pm
crafts:
  - type: STR_INTERCEPTOR
    soldiers: 6
    vehicles: 1
    battlescapeTerrainData:
      name: INTERC
      mapDataSets:
        - BLANKS
        - PLANE
      mapBlocks:
        - name: INTERC
          width: 10
          length: 10

So just let me check on this: The above should become this

  - type: STR_XCF1
    soldiers: 6
    vehicles: 1
    battlescapeTerrainData:
      name: STR_XCF1
      mapDataSets:
        - BLANKS
        - PLANE
      mapBlocks:
        - name: STR_XCF1
          width: 10
          length: 10

Well I tried the above and it was saying that it couldn't find "MAPS/STR_XCF1.MAP" and then couldn't find "ROUTES/STR_XCF1.RMP" so my only thought was to copy the original "PLANE.MAP" and "PLANE.RMP" from the maps and routes folders renaming the copies "STR_XCF1.MAP" and "STR_XCF1.RMP"
This did let me start the mission ok but it doesn't look right, see screen shots. I've returned everything to the way it was until I'm clearer on what's happening. Basically my reason for doing all this was to have fast craft that get troops/hwp's there in time as it might be a while until I'm able to build a lightning or Avenger. The skywarden is much faster than a skyranger but to actually catch landed ufo's in time u need a ship that's faster than the ufo's sometimes. At least landed ufo's give u a much better chance of getting some elerium rather than the 1 in 4 chance per power source from crashes.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: yrizoud on January 28, 2015, 08:42:24 pm
No, no, keep it exactly the original way. INTERC refers to INTERC.MAP, a file which is provided by Openxcom and represents the landed interceptor from 'Xcomutil fighter transporter'.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: SIMON BAILIE on January 28, 2015, 09:01:38 pm
Yep that had done the trick, many thanks for all your assistance. Perhaps XOPs will design a map and route particulary for these 3 fighters.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Ridаn on January 29, 2015, 02:43:36 pm
I get a crash to desktop every time UAV is destroyed, or when mission, which I take UAVs on, is completed.
I used two unarmed UAVs.
2015_01_23nightly, only mod I run at the same time as Xops is "Extra Pockets" mod. Version of Xops is 0.90.

Great work on the mod, really enjoy it so far.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: ivandogovich on January 29, 2015, 02:50:28 pm
I get a crash to desktop every time UAV is destroyed, or when mission, which I take UAVs on, is completed.

The crash on destruction can come from not having a floor object of the UAV corpse, and might be good to have  a BIGOP of it too.  I don't think this would crash it on mission completion, though.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Duke_Falcon on January 31, 2015, 10:56:55 am
I get a crash to desktop every time UAV is destroyed, or when mission, which I take UAVs on, is completed.
I used two unarmed UAVs.

Have the same problem. Dark side that I met this at the end of a terror mission what I do not really want to replay :(
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Ridаn on February 25, 2015, 10:40:40 am
Found a couple of messed up pictures in Ufopedia.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on February 25, 2015, 06:44:41 pm
I get a crash to desktop every time UAV is destroyed, or when mission, which I take UAVs on, is completed.
I used two unarmed UAVs.
2015_01_23nightly, only mod I run at the same time as Xops is "Extra Pockets" mod. Version of Xops is 0.90.

Have the same problem. Dark side that I met this at the end of a terror mission what I do not really want to replay :(

Found a couple of messed up pictures in Ufopedia.

 :o >:( Stupid HWPs. They ruin everything. Seriously, I don't know why those give me so much trouble. I'll try to get these ironed out for V0.95. Got the tech tree fleshed out and I am working on ufopaedia entries now. Also added a teir 2 rocket launcher. Also redone a bunch of the muton sprites to have armor. Because that is exactly what mutons needed. More armor.  :P
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Ridаn on February 25, 2015, 07:40:07 pm
Yes! That is what I was waiting for - more fancy looking weapons to go with this custom-xcom-ballistic-weapon style.
I have completed your mod on veteran and started a superhuman run a couple days ago, and just want to say that this thing is awesome, and so are you.

Are you planning to have custom Heavy Cannon and Autocannon equivalent to replace default Xcom weaponry by 1.0 release? And having a custom tier1 rocket launcher would be cool too.
If you do not mind borrowing someone else`s work, there is a few weapons with kinda familiar style, whose graphics you can use as a placeholder at least (all are from Dioxine`s Piratez mod, or at least that`s where I encountered them for the first time).

Also things I would love to see included in the future are grenade launchers (basic buyable one, and probably an advanced one, developed from alien small launcher) and single shot rocket launchers.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on February 26, 2015, 05:23:21 am
Yes! That is what I was waiting for - more fancy looking weapons to go with this custom-xcom-ballistic-weapon style.
I have completed your mod on veteran and started a superhuman run a couple days ago, and just want to say that this thing is awesome, and so are you.

Are you planning to have custom Heavy Cannon and Autocannon equivalent to replace default Xcom weaponry by 1.0 release? And having a custom tier1 rocket launcher would be cool too.
If you do not mind borrowing someone else`s work, there is a few weapons with kinda familiar style, whose graphics you can use as a placeholder at least (all are from Dioxine`s Piratez mod, or at least that`s where I encountered them for the first time).

Also things I would love to see included in the future are grenade launchers (basic buyable one, and probably an advanced one, developed from alien small launcher) and single shot rocket launchers.

Thanks Ridan. I do plan to one day make tiered versions of the heavy and auto cannon. Hope to do a teir 1 rocket launcher too. I actually have like a bunch of different versions of those, I'm just not satisfied with any of them yet. I have seen the redone weapons you posted. In fact, I used that rocket launcher as my inspiration. I do also one day plan to implement a grenade launcher. Still on the fence about single shot rocket launchers. I personally never found them very useful, but I know other players like them who don't rely on dedicated tank killer teams like I do. I will add it in if I manage a good sprite for it. Most of that though is on the back burner as my focus is still trying to get the tech tree fully implemented.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on February 27, 2015, 02:45:33 am
:o >:( Stupid HWPs. They ruin everything. Seriously, I don't know why those give me so much trouble. I'll try to get these ironed out for V0.95. Got the tech tree fleshed out and I am working on ufopaedia entries now. Also added a teir 2 rocket launcher. Also redone a bunch of the muton sprites to have armor. Because that is exactly what mutons needed. More armor.  :P

I just tried 0.90 on New Battle mode and I get no crashes when the UAV got destroyed but it crashes if the mission ends with 1 left alive.

This is what seems to be causing the crash, on the UAV entry on items:
Code: [Select]
    battleType: 10
This defines the UAV as an Electro-Flare. Don't know if it is intentional but changing the value to 1 (standard HWP value) will stop the end of mission crashes.

Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on February 27, 2015, 03:45:03 am
I just tried 0.90 on New Battle mode and I get no crashes when the UAV got destroyed but it crashes if the mission ends with 1 left alive.

This is what seems to be causing the crash, on the UAV entry on items:
Code: [Select]
    battleType: 10
This defines the UAV as an Electro-Flare. Don't know if it is intentional but changing the value to 1 (standard HWP value) will stop the end of mission crashes.

I'll give that a try. Thanks Hobbes! I think I originally set that to 10 because I was trying to give the UAV a flare to throw, but had to scrap the concept since HWPs aren't allow to throw things.

Edit
Since the mod site is down
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vl120t51n9zekr4/XenoOperationsBetaV0.90.zip?dl=0
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: ThatDude on March 07, 2015, 05:07:56 am
Crashes to desktop while trying to start alien base missions, I have latest nightly.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on March 07, 2015, 06:18:51 am
Crashes to desktop while trying to start alien base missions, I have latest nightly.

Any mods that change the alienMissions or alienDeployments need to be updated to work with the latest nightly.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on March 07, 2015, 05:55:27 pm
Crashes to desktop while trying to start alien base missions, I have latest nightly.

Trying to replicate. Can't seem to manage it even with legacy versions of Xeno Ops. Do you have a save?

Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: ThatDude on March 07, 2015, 08:37:02 pm
Trying to replicate. Can't seem to manage it even with legacy versions of Xeno Ops. Do you have a save?
I do have a save, however, I'm having trouble finding where the latest nightly puts it's save files. Try replicating the bug with both XOps and the built-in PSX Static Cydonia, those are the only mods I had enabled (I wasn't using lite). Also, the modsite is up again for me.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: kikimoristan on March 07, 2015, 11:25:52 pm
yo use F12 to get smaller screenshots :)
also nice stuff over here
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: ThatDude on March 08, 2015, 06:20:26 pm
I do have a save, however, I'm having trouble finding where the latest nightly puts it's save files. Try replicating the bug with both XOps and the built-in PSX Static Cydonia, those are the only mods I had enabled (I wasn't using lite). Also, the modsite is up again for me. I tried a whole new game without PSX Static Cydonia and I still crash upon start alien base missions. I'm using latest nightly and latest XOps.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Ridаn on March 08, 2015, 06:32:29 pm
This mod is not updated for a latest nightly, try a openxcom_git_master_2015_02_22_0621 for a proper experience. Except HWPs, UAVs and MLRS are broken, I think.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on May 29, 2015, 06:43:05 pm
First Contact
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/ITSOFINS052920151127.png)
We're in uncharted territory now.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/LBLYDPXR052920151127.png)
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/FCHGGBBV052920151127.png)
New UFO secured
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/OVYIBBCX052920151127.png)

Yes I redid the UFO tiles from scratch. At least of a third of the tiles are animated. I am still working on actually mapping most of the UFOs at the moment. The rest of the mod finally has a working marathon tech tree, but the UFOpaedia needs a lot of work. I am still trying to get all of the UFOs mapped and integrated before I finish trying to fix the rest of the mod since the new tiles changed how UFO looting works. I have no idea when the release will be.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: ivandogovich on May 29, 2015, 06:57:33 pm
OMG.  That looks amazing!! Sweet Work!!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Solarius Scorch on May 29, 2015, 08:45:15 pm
It sure does... (https://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/theogrit/1sm205drool.gif)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Yankes on May 29, 2015, 11:26:42 pm
Very hi-quality, similar to robin work. This is great that we have so many talented people there :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on May 29, 2015, 11:29:12 pm
It sure does... (https://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/theogrit/1sm205drool.gif)

Yup... (https://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/theogrit/1sm205drool.gif)

Nice work there!

I think the Overlords in Redux will get their own kind of UFOs... :D
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: DoxaLogos (JG) on May 30, 2015, 07:08:48 am
Wow! Great job!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Dioxine on May 30, 2015, 09:28:15 am
A very interesting design, and unlike anything that has been seen before - the ship resembles TFTD alien ships, and it also resembles TFTD XCom ships, but is neither of them and has many unique features. Do you plan to completely change the look and feel of the alien tech, just like you did with the human tech?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: hellrazor on May 30, 2015, 01:04:25 pm
I am drolling about your graohic skills....

It is so heavy that i have to stop looking away or i start getting drowned in my own droll...
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on May 30, 2015, 08:46:47 pm
A very interesting design, and unlike anything that has been seen before - the ship resembles TFTD alien ships, and it also resembles TFTD XCom ships, but is neither of them and has many unique features.

I mimicked quite a few TFTD tiles. TFTD had great art direction despite its other problems. Also XCom had a shiny theme in that game as opposed to the Alien's grungy and organic themes. I stole the shiny basically. I always liked how much more interesting the USOs felt in TFTD. The UFOs in original XCom always felt kind of empty. This wasn't entirely the fault of the artists given the strict tile restrictions for those games.

Do you plan to completely change the look and feel of the alien tech, just like you did with the human tech?

Eventually. Once I get done with the UFOs, I plan to adapt those tiles to the Alien base and I want to try to do something unique for the final alien brain level as well. I have also started reworking all of the alien weapons to give them a unique alien feel, but I am still not quiet satisfied with the result.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: pilot00 on May 31, 2015, 02:47:02 pm
Question: Is this complete, as in can play from start to finish? Not complete in development. Looks very promissing and interesting.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on May 31, 2015, 05:29:39 pm
Question: Is this complete, as in can play from start to finish? Not complete in development. Looks very promissing and interesting.

Check the first post to download the older version (it doesn't have the new UFOs though). You can play from start to finish, but it won't work with the latest nightly nor the 1.0 milestone. Well it should load with the latest nightly, but you would need to remove one of the rulesets since the new nightly system loads all the rulesets at once. Also you would have to avoid the HWPs and UAVs since they are bugged with the new nightly. The new UFOs will be part of the next release that is currently under development. The new version should fix compatibility issues with the latest nightly as well.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: pilot00 on June 01, 2015, 12:00:23 am
Check the first post to download the older version (it doesn't have the new UFOs though). You can play from start to finish, but it won't work with the latest nightly nor the 1.0 milestone. Well it should load with the latest nightly, but you would need to remove one of the rulesets since the new nightly system loads all the rulesets at once. Also you would have to avoid the HWPs and UAVs since they are bugged with the new nightly. The new UFOs will be part of the next release that is currently under development. The new version should fix compatibility issues with the latest nightly as well.

Ok thanky for that :D
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on June 05, 2015, 10:35:14 pm
Got all of the UFO maps done. Well except for making like a billion map nodes. Also there are probably a bunch of holes and other issues that will need to be sorted out. I'll save that for the beta testers. I have a total of 27 new maps for the new UFOs: Scout (8 variants), Research Ship (4 variants), Abductor (4 variants), Harvester (4 variants), Strike Cruiser (Formerly the Terror Ship)(3 variants), Supply Ship (3 variants), and the Battleship (1 variant).

No small or large scouts. The original game had way too many scouts. I may still design a few new UFOs. I want at least one unique UFO per alien mission type. I want to do a large construction ship for the Alien Base mission and a mother ship for the Infiltration mission, but I can save those for later.

I do worry somewhat about the design of the maps themselves. It's very pretty, but all of the animated tiles may make the UFO interiors a bit too busy and distracting. Also the interiors are a lot more cramped than the older UFOs which were populated by mostly empty rooms.
I'll leave a teaser of the outer hull of the Abductor.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/JBJTUIMG060520150238.gif)

Also I finally managed to make a good paperdoll of the power armor. Here is a picture in their full color glory before the xcom color palette takes off some of the shine.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/ZGBVIHSI060520150238.png)
Now back to trying to desperately fix the stupid marathon tech tree. Oh yeah, and making lots and lots of map nodes.   :P
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: DoxaLogos (JG) on June 05, 2015, 11:06:15 pm
Simply amazing!  :o
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Dioxine on June 06, 2015, 03:17:52 am
One of the best I've seen, and the conversion to XCOM palette isn't really that damaging. Finally a paperdoll that does the three-eyed armor the justice it deserves! :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: pilot00 on June 06, 2015, 03:53:47 am
One of the best I've seen, and the conversion to XCOM palette isn't really that damaging. Finally a paperdoll that does the three-eyed armor the justice it deserves! :)

You mean the powersuits? I always thought the goofyness was intentional on one part and the other was due to it beeing prototypes.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on June 06, 2015, 01:48:56 pm
Now back to trying to desperately fix the stupid marathon tech tree. Oh yeah, and making lots and lots of map nodes.   :P

If you need any help with those, specially the last one, just ask :)

PS: I have just discovered the Armor section of this mod... I'm feeling a kid on a candy store :D
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: hellrazor on June 06, 2015, 11:27:39 pm
Would you mind if i borrow some of your Armor sprites?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on June 07, 2015, 03:50:21 am
One of the best I've seen, and the conversion to XCOM palette isn't really that damaging. Finally a paperdoll that does the three-eyed armor the justice it deserves! :)

But I like complaining about the palette :). The Battlescape palette isn't really all that bad. Other than having too many off yellows, it's a pretty balanced selection. The Geoscape palette though is much much worse.

If you need any help with those, specially the last one, just ask :)

PS: I have just discovered the Armor section of this mod... I'm feeling a kid on a candy store :D

Thankfully I found that adding routes wasn't as time consuming as I feared. I got all my routes finished today. Still probably needs some tweaking though.

I do have a question for you though Hobbes. I am getting vector::_M_range_check on some of my maps. After a little testing, they seem to occur on crashed UFO maps. It typically crashes out at the end of the Alien's first move or before the mission even starts. I suspect it has to do with dead tiles, but I am not really for certain. Any ideas?

Would you mind if i borrow some of your Armor sprites?

No problem. Just credit me. Also, if this is for your hardmode mod, I would recommend plundering the Alien High Explosive too. That thing is absolutely brutal. I've had missions where that one stupid weapon nearly squad wiped me.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on June 07, 2015, 04:24:28 am
I do have a question for you though Hobbes. I am getting vector::_M_range_check on some of my maps. After a little testing, they seem to occur on crashed UFO maps. It typically crashes out at the end of the Alien's first move or before the mission even starts. I suspect it has to do with dead tiles, but I am not really for certain. Any ideas?

vector::_M_range_check error comes from using LOFs higher than 11 . TFTD maps use LOF 12 or 13 unavailable in UFO so you get vector::_M_range_check when an unit is looking at the object with those LOFs :)
Thank you.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: hellrazor on June 08, 2015, 08:26:15 pm
No problem. Just credit me. Also, if this is for your hardmode mod, I would recommend plundering the Alien High Explosive too. That thing is absolutely brutal. I've had missions where that one stupid weapon nearly squad wiped me.

Hm.. jeah but i need to look at your ruleset first to see what represents what. I do not like that your soldier do not have Helmets on the advanced armors.
I am actually looking for some decent Power Suit or Flying Suit Sprites.

Well Alien High Explosive :D Sound like fun i will give it a testrun ^^.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on June 19, 2015, 06:08:58 pm
A useful piece of writing advice is to murder your darlings. Well the tech tree is darling to me, but I play tested it and it just wasn't fun. Too many filler techs that add nothing. So that's getting gutted and I am considering starting over with it. Ditto for the crafting system, though I am going to try playing with alien weapon self destruction to see if that can help reduce the sheer amount of micro management a crafting system generates. Basically, those are the two big bug bears that hold this project back from even a beta release. Technically, its playable from start to finish right now. It just isn't fun.

In better news, the new UFOs near completion. After my initial series of UFOs, I did some testing and I still find like 90% of the missions involve scouts. This is partially the fault of me using the vanilla UFO deployments which use a ton of smaller craft. I still need a few more mission specific UFOs. I made a constructor ship which only shows up during the building of an alien base. I also added a destroyer which only shows up during retaliation missions. The cloner UFO is done too and it shows up on infiltration and alien base missions. I still feel like a need a few more. It would be nice if almost every mission had a two specific UFO types.

On the battlescape side of the new UFOs, I have done a bit of testing on that too. Many of the UFOs hover on the battlescape so boarding actions must take place using grav lifts. This makes the initial breach more difficult on many UFOs. The Battleship is ground level, but still a freaking death trap. Supply ships are easier to clear, but harder to approach now since aliens are constantly popping out of its side doors to take potshots.
I also think I fixed my M_range_check issue. One of my tiles reference a non existent dead tile. I haven't gotten a crash since then.

Also in good news, I finally managed to make some really good new alien weapons to replace the older more vanilla models.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/XWLDEFZZ061920151100.png)
Unfortunately, these new alien weapons make the XCom plasma weapons look lame, so I may end up having to replace those down the road too. I still need to replace the small launcher and blaster launcher though. I think the aliens are going to get something a little better than the small launcher, but the blaster launcher will probably just get a reskin. I also want to add some more elite weapons for the late game aliens.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: yrizoud on June 19, 2015, 07:33:25 pm
I play tested it and it just wasn't fun. Too many filler techs that add nothing. (...) Technically, its playable from start to finish right now. It just isn't fun.
Thanks for the status report, and IMO it's not bad news, except for you :) It shows that you won't stop there, when you're not completely happy with it. Keep sculpting this baby!
"It seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove."
A. De St Exupery
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: NebulaM78 on June 20, 2015, 06:40:36 am
Also in good news, I finally managed to make some really good new alien weapons to replace the older more vanilla models.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/XWLDEFZZ061920151100.png)
Unfortunately, these new alien weapons make the XCom plasma weapons look lame, so I may end up having to replace those down the road too. I still need to replace the small launcher and blaster launcher though. I think the aliens are going to get something a little better than the small launcher, but the blaster launcher will probably just get a reskin. I also want to add some more elite weapons for the late game aliens.

Well, regarding the XCom plasma weapons, shouldn't it be a given that they look lame? After all, they are hastily reverse-engineered from existing alien tech. If anything, maybe you should use the vanilla skins as the prototypes, then your reskins as superior versions. How does that sound?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on June 20, 2015, 02:26:41 pm
A useful piece of writing advice is to murder your darlings.


Words of wisdom :)

Quote
Well the tech tree is darling to me, but I play tested it and it just wasn't fun. Too many filler techs that add nothing. So that's getting gutted and I am considering starting over with it.

I had the same experience with Redux, where I decided to remove half the new techs since they didn't add anything new.

Quote
In better news, the new UFOs near completion. After my initial series of UFOs, I did some testing and I still find like 90% of the missions involve scouts. This is partially the fault of me using the vanilla UFO deployments which use a ton of smaller craft. I still need a few more mission specific UFOs. I made a constructor ship which only shows up during the building of an alien base. I also added a destroyer which only shows up during retaliation missions. The cloner UFO is done too and it shows up on infiltration and alien base missions. I still feel like a need a few more. It would be nice if almost every mission had a two specific UFO types.

Something to consider is that the scouts make for quicker missions. If you change the balance and include more medium/large UFOs then the fights will take longer and can become a chore.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: hellrazor on June 20, 2015, 03:59:03 pm
About the tech tree, jeah filler techs are kinda lame, i think i solved this rather nicely. It is important that new techs should actually give the player something. I mainly used them as initial topics for entire trees, to give hints, some lore and i made them rather cheap compared to the techs following them. Removing ufo types is not a goodthing. I actually put in more ufo types then in vanilla and used them logically. E.g. fighter ufo from solarsnewufo, it replaces medium scouts on infiltration and retaliation missions.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: new_civilian on June 27, 2015, 05:35:00 pm
In the available download version the Muton Guard is missing as a live soldier item, causing some nasty CTDs at mission end.
Apart from that easily fixed bug, no problems so far. Love the Overlord and Energy-Alien!  :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on June 29, 2015, 05:13:11 am
In the available download version the Muton Guard is missing as a live soldier item, causing some nasty CTDs at mission end.
Apart from that easily fixed bug, no problems so far. Love the Overlord and Energy-Alien!  :)

How did you manage that? I didn't make a live alien for the muton elite guards because they are only present on the very last mission where there is no recovery of any equipment since it's the end game. Oh well. I'll add an item entry in the new version just in case. I'm glad you like the Overlords. They were a pain to sprite.  :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: new_civilian on June 29, 2015, 02:34:41 pm
How I managed that? I simply modded them into my current game  :)

The sprites are excellent as are the ufopedia-pictures. Good work.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on July 06, 2015, 02:04:48 am
New UFOs have been brought up to 14 total (not counting layout variations). The new UFOs pass the first test, it's fun to play since most UFO assaults are brutal and short. I've given up and added some more scout class crafts, but there should be enough variety to keep ground assaults interesting. I am pretty much done with those now though I might add more layout variations later.

My current task is the alien base. That's almost done. Just need to make the command center and a few more large rooms. Needs playtesting to make sure the map isn't too big or hard to clear. I don't think it should be. I've tried to avoid alien closets like TFTD.

I have regrouped with the tech tree. The new version is still really messy and needs a lot of pacing balance, but so far I think it works better than the last one. It's very different from what any other mod has currently, though its not a completely new idea by itself. The new tech tree is very resource intensive. It's divided into distinct independent tiers and each tier gives the player random techs. The random nature does take away some player agency, but the player also gains the ability exchange resources to tech up. Still needs a lot of balance, but I find the system encourages the player to attack larger intact UFOs.

For some other odds and ins, I've added a new alien. Nothing special, just a TFTD recolor with a few extra bits. They are an early game foe showing up one or two months into the game. Their armor makes for some interesting tactic changes since it's reverse of how most armors work in the game. Also their ranks are different and their highest rank is really tough compared to the others.
I've also finally added that third tier of ballistic weapons. They bridge the power gap between second tier ballistics and lasers. Hopefully these should let the player take on snakemen and mutons until lasers.
Also, I think I may have some plasma weapon sprites to replace the human plasma weapons. I was saving them for TFTD (Yes I have stuff ready for TFTD, fear me Devs!), but I think they work well for human plasma weapons.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/CRSBGXRR070520150647.png)
Still needs a few more sprites for a complete weapon set and I may try recoloring them.

Finally, I have readjusted the number of scientists and engineers as well as the living quarters capacity. I have reduced the basic living quarters capacity to twenty. Labs have a capacity of 20 and workshops 25. Large labs and living quarters now have 100 capacity. Naturally, the costs of scientists and engineers have been increased. Soldiers remained unchanged. Also all lab and engineering projects have been adjusted as well to account for the reduction in personnel. I find that overall, this cuts down slightly on micro management since there are less people to manage.

I should be done with the Alien base soon. I guess I should go ahead and try to iron out the crafting system next since that is the other big bug bear.

TLDR; I'm still working on this mod. Here are some pretty pictures of a battle in the alien clone lab at their base.

Starting Area
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/JXFVABKY070520150631.png)
Ground level of the clone lab.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/UZLSLZMP070520150631.png)
Level 1
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/DESTZKSE070520150631.png)
Level 2
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/UVQJVAON070520150632.png)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Dioxine on July 06, 2015, 03:08:09 am
Wow these plasmas look very pretty!

As for the base/ufos: they look very pretty too, but my concern is about so many bright, contrasting, hard colors (your trademark :). Aren't they clashing with your armor sprites which also look hard and bright? While the pink Muton (?) looks perfectly well, being smooth and soft in comparison, the XCom armor sprites seem to be blending with the rooms.

Waiting for your next release, there will be so much pretty, shiny new stuff in it! :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on July 06, 2015, 05:30:34 am
As for the base/ufos: they look very pretty too, but my concern is about so many bright, contrasting, hard colors (your trademark :). Aren't they clashing with your armor sprites which also look hard and bright? While the pink Muton (?) looks perfectly well, being smooth and soft in comparison, the XCom armor sprites seem to be blending with the rooms.

They're camouflaged. ;D I suppose it would help if I picked armor colors that didn't blend in.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/OCQNAVQS070520151016.png)
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/QZIDFFFX070520151015.png)
It's not too bad so long as blue armors are avoided. Actually, the base looks too bright on shade 1 due to the contrast. I have to turned it down to around shade 13 or so to make the whole thing look good. To be honest, I'm more worried about the sheer number of animated tiles being too distracting. I've gotten used to it, but I worry that most may find it a bit jarring compared to vanilla.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Duke_Falcon on July 06, 2015, 08:37:03 am
Breathtaking!

When should it be tested\played? I can not wait!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: robin on July 06, 2015, 03:14:59 pm
Have you tried reducing a little the contrast for the floor tiles? Like using a lighter shade (one or two steps) for the dark lines? Unless the visual impact of the whole thing suffers too much, it could help making units stand out more.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Yankes on July 06, 2015, 09:05:43 pm
Have you tried reducing a little the contrast for the floor tiles? Like using a lighter shade (one or two steps) for the dark lines? Unless the visual impact of the whole thing suffers too much, it could help making units stand out more.
Exactly. Bit more flat floors will allow eyes to better find important parts (like walls).
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on July 07, 2015, 03:20:46 am
They're camouflaged. ;D I suppose it would help if I picked armor colors that didn't blend in.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/QZIDFFFX070520151015.png)

The pics of the base look really good. :)

Although it is possible to see that you've recycled some tiles from TFTD, the whole thing stands together nice.

My only suggestion would be to choose different tones (or even colors) between levels or walls/platforms to make it easier to differentiate between both (see attached pic).
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Ridаn on August 08, 2015, 06:32:38 pm
Any news on progress?
I really enjoyed previous release, and just cant wait for a next one  :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on August 16, 2015, 10:51:16 pm
Any news on progress?

It's still in development. I'm just at a messy point in the mod. Right now I am trying to finish up the alien base tiles while trying to address a some of the feedback others have given me based on screen shots. Not to mention trying to tie like a 100 different little parts together.
It doesn't help that recent updates to the game's modabilty have finally opened up custom site missions. Now with custom missions at my finger tips, I can't help but want to use them. :)

--- posts merge ---

The best thing about having a crapton of new alien ufo tiles, is that I can lazily recycle them into new xcom craft  ;D

(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/SENWSTDP081620150344.gif)

I think I'll redo the Skywarden as well, though probably in a different color. I was never able to fix those stupid holes in the old craft.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Jblade35 on August 17, 2015, 01:00:56 am
Looks fantastic! just joining up to say I'm really enjoying playing with this mod, the sheer amount of stuff to make is slightly intimidating but I love the sequential upgrades of ammo types and stuff.

Just a quick question btw, do enemies have various protection against certain damage types? I fought against the energy enemies (Overlords I think) and they would not die to laser, but a burst from a machinegun put it down easily enough. Was this a fluke, or is that intentional? I hope it was since it means that there's still a reason to keep older equipment - I also like how each armour has a different kind of stat boost (like the xeno armour giving extra accuracy) keep up the great work!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Ridаn on August 17, 2015, 01:37:28 am
Looks fantastic! just joining up to say I'm really enjoying playing with this mod, the sheer amount of stuff to make is slightly intimidating but I love the sequential upgrades of ammo types and stuff.

Just a quick question btw, do enemies have various protection against certain damage types? I fought against the energy enemies (Overlords I think) and they would not die to laser, but a burst from a machinegun put it down easily enough. Was this a fluke, or is that intentional? I hope it was since it means that there's still a reason to keep older equipment - I also like how each armour has a different kind of stat boost (like the xeno armour giving extra accuracy) keep up the great work!

Overlords are indeed immune to heat based weapons like laser and plasma (and iirc they are pretty hard to blow up), but there is a twist
their terror unit shrugs off solid projectiles.

That new craft is looking neat, really like that double ramp, and those protrusions on the side will provide good cover.
And is it, like, hovering above the ground on some kind of antigravity device? Thats pretty cool.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on August 17, 2015, 03:50:50 am
Looks fantastic! just joining up to say I'm really enjoying playing with this mod, the sheer amount of stuff to make is slightly intimidating but I love the sequential upgrades of ammo types and stuff.

Just a quick question btw, do enemies have various protection against certain damage types? I fought against the energy enemies (Overlords I think) and they would not die to laser, but a burst from a machinegun put it down easily enough. Was this a fluke, or is that intentional? I hope it was since it means that there's still a reason to keep older equipment - I also like how each armour has a different kind of stat boost (like the xeno armour giving extra accuracy) keep up the great work!

Glad you like it. :) And yes, the Overlord's resistances is is a design choice. I do intend to keep that feature as I like diversification of weapons.

That new craft is looking neat, really like that double ramp, and those protrusions on the side will provide good cover.
And is it, like, hovering above the ground on some kind of antigravity device? Thats pretty cool.

It doesn't actually hover (though some of the new UFOs do). It's just really hard to see the landing gear.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/SENWSTDP081620150344.gif)
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/VYFNBUCX081620150834.gif)
The two bright blue squares are elevators too, so it has some nice sniper positions as well. It's going to be either late or mid game transport.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: niculinux on August 17, 2015, 11:56:42 am
Top notch! Here's some of my humble advices:

1) Are we gonna het some sort one handed auto weapon like a terran smg (some guy wrote it in one of early post)

2) Since xeno operation is incompatible with most mods, final relase will, be labelled as "total conversion"?

3) Since i intend to give a shot in linux - but atm oly with wine - what is the nightly that works best with the mod right now? Please X-Ops, would you add that imfo in the first post, along the mod progress?

4) Some "less exotic" names for weapons, eg. "portable missile launcher" instead of "advanced launcher", and so on

as for the 1.0 compatibility, it may be achieved by enabling only certain rulesets and not all of them? Please may someone test it out, since i'm "far from the game" now?

Thanks again!! <3

Edit: Otherwise relasing a 1.0 compatible verwion may be a fine idea, of course without some features that would make it incompatible. :D

Edkt2: I wonder if compativility with hobbes' terrain mod will be achieved in the end..otherwise a final addiction may be to add new terrain from scratch, so that it may be considered properly more of a total, conversion. Sry for typos!!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Eduard_Nope on August 25, 2015, 06:27:28 pm
I don't know why, but my UAV/Rockets drone enters combat without any weapons
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: davide on August 26, 2015, 12:57:36 pm
This mod is wonderful! :P

Do you have a secure and recent backup of your hardisk ?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on August 30, 2015, 10:11:58 pm
Still tinkering.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/TRKFOOPU083020150258.gif)
Got some nice stun weapons. I made a really awesome hit animation for them before I realized that shooting weapons with stun explode. :( Maybe I can make a cool electrical style explosion for them. Still not really sure where I stand on releasing this beast. I am working on the final edits for my book, so that is going to monopolize my time and it gets priority since it might make me some money.


1) Are we gonna het some sort one handed auto weapon like a terran smg (some guy wrote it in one of early post)

The UZI is already in the mod as is the machine pistol. Both are one handed autofire weapons.

2) Since xeno operation is incompatible with most mods, final relase will, be labelled as "total conversion"?
I don't know about calling it a total conversion. It's close to one, but it still uses a lot of the original artwork. It's more like an overhaul. Regardless I will mention compatibility in the readme. It's not my fault no one reads the readme  ;).

3) Since i intend to give a shot in linux - but atm oly with wine - what is the nightly that works best with the mod right now? Please X-Ops, would you add that imfo in the first post, along the mod progress?
I have no idea what nightly this works best with. I think someone attached a nightly earlier in this thread that works well. To be honest, I would rather spend my time trying to get the next release out the door rather than trying to fix compatibility with the old version. I'll update the front page when I finally get something I'm content with releasing.

4) Some "less exotic" names for weapons, eg. "portable missile launcher" instead of "advanced launcher", and so on
I am not really sure what you are talking about here. I don't have an advanced launcher. I have an X-9 Rocket Launcher and an Anti Matter Launcher though I would hardly call those exotic names.

as for the 1.0 compatibility, it may be achieved by enabling only certain rulesets and not all of them? Please may someone test it out, since i'm "far from the game" now?

Edit: Otherwise relasing a 1.0 compatible verwion may be a fine idea, of course without some features that would make it incompatible.

I have no intention of releasing a 1.0 version. Too much work for very little payoff.

Edkt2: I wonder if compativility with hobbes' terrain mod will be achieved in the end..otherwise a final addiction may be to add new terrain from scratch, so that it may be considered properly more of a total, conversion. Sry for typos!!

I am planning on integrating most of the terrain pack down the road. This will be a necessity seeing as how I am adding terrains for the next version.


I don't know why, but my UAV/Rockets drone enters combat without any weapons

HWPs are broken in the older versions. They should be fixed (I hope) for the next release.

This mod is wonderful! :P

Do you have a secure and recent backup of your hardisk ?

Mod site is back up. I'll repost an old dropbox link in case it goes down.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vl120t51n9zekr4/XenoOperationsBetaV0.90.zip?dl=0
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: niculinux on August 30, 2015, 10:46:40 pm
Hey really like these stun stuff! And the H.E.C. is  old fashined splinter cell style, i guess :D

Fired up the mod with 2015_05_07_1716 and started without quirks..ah finally could see an Uzi!!! Have you ever considere to realize you own terrain pack even if a light one in comaprison to Hobbe's terrain pack? Does also the mod include a modified version of skyranger's map? If not may i suggest some from the New SkyRangers (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,1145.0.html) or A better Skyranger (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,3849.0.html) ones?

Gonna wait the final version, don't want to screw up saved games with newer mod relases, oh and i like new startin layout base!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: davide on September 01, 2015, 11:39:31 pm
...
Mod site is back up. I'll repost an old dropbox link in case it goes down.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vl120t51n9zekr4/XenoOperationsBetaV0.90.zip?dl=0

Indeed I meant a backup of resorces of new version ... :-[
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 02, 2015, 01:33:48 am
Indeed I meant a backup of resorces of new version ... :-[

I have a drop box backup as well as another on a thumbdrive that I back up often. In case of a hard drive crash, I'm mostly covered.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: davide on September 02, 2015, 02:40:56 pm
 :o

Dioxine advices the same thing to Robin ...

https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,3319.msg50899.html#msg50899 (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,3319.msg50899.html#msg50899)

 ;D ;D
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on September 02, 2015, 05:03:49 pm
XOps, any ETA on the next version of Xeno Operations?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on September 03, 2015, 03:25:47 am
To be honest, I really don't know. It depends on a lot of different things and how they turn out during testing. Is there a specific resource you need Hobbes?
The mod as it stands is still not really playable from start to finish. The early game is working fine, but I still need to tie up the end game stuff for it to be playable.

Right now I am working on this mod between breaks in my book editing. I can only murder so many darlings an hour before I need a short rest. But this mod is secondary to getting my book done since I am trying to have it ready for a con in November. Still I am making progress on the mod.

I'll just share my current laundry list of stuff I still have to do.

[Secondary]: Things marked as secondary are things I may save for another release. Basically they are not essential and I will probably release a beta before these are implemented.

Research Tree: 70% finished. Needs a few more techs fleshed out. However it really needs research times balanced in accordance with game pacing. This will take a few test playthroughs before I get this right. There are a number of smaller items though that need to be tied into the research tree
   Integrate Codex Key item into research tree
   Add a few research items into completed codex tech list [Secondary]
   Final melee weapon  [Secondary]
   Final weapon tier [Secondary]
   Unlock alien weapons for completed Codex  [Secondary]
   Finish Complete Codex Archive Tech for completed Codex list
   Tie in stun weapons into tech tree
   Tie in final Avenger craft into tech tree
   Tie in new aliens into tech tree
   Tie in new plasma weapons into tech tree
   Redo alien weapons in tech tree
   Take a second look at the interrogation tech tree that opens up the final mission. Cut techs where needed. This is one of the only survivors of my tech tree purge so its still a bit bloated. Also it needs to be tied into codex research properly as well as the final Avenger.
Manufacturing: 10% done. Needs a big overhaul. I may do away with the crafting system entirely. I still haven't done much to fix this yet.
   Ditch old crafting components
   Redo crafting components to use only 4 key items: Tech Cells, Elerium-115, Alien Alloys, and Antimatter
   Redo nearly every item's material cost in accordance with these new items
   Balance material costs so that they accomplish the following things
      Costs are not so large or complex that the player cannot calculate in their head the amount of components needed to build multiples of an item.
      This can be done by sticking to multiples of 5 and 10 at most
      Exception: Upgrading a Codex should be very costly since this done only every once in a while.
   Costs are high enough that component scarcity is an issue. I don't want the player to have large stockpiles of components. Every UFO assault needs to be a desperate struggle for resources.
Scarcity is compounded by tech upgrading costs. To advance the tech tree requires a significant amount of resources that could be spent on weapons. However, waiting too long to upgrade could mean the player is outpaced by the escalating Alien Threat.
   Test new system with the option to make alien items self destruct upon death.
      If this still results in too much micro management then ditch the entire system and start over.
   Add stun weapons to manufacturing list
   Add new plasma weapons to manufacturing list
   Add new UFO items to disassembly list
   Add Codex Key items to manufacturing list
   Add remaining Codex Items to list
   Add end game component manufacturing to list
   Add Hurricane transport to list
   Add Final Avenger to list
New Aliens: 90% done. All of the artwork is done along with most of the coding.
   Needs to be integrated with the research tree properly.
   Polish roacher graphic for UFOpaedia
   Playtest appearance ratios
UFOPaedia: 50% done.
   Needs a lot more artwork for the various entries  [Secondary]
   Do a crap ton of writing for the various entries. This is mostly fluff, but some of it gives the player critical information
   A lot of existing artwork needs to be integrated
   Needs entries for the new stun weapons and plasma weapons
   Will need an entry for the final avenger as well
New Craft: 40% done. I want to redo the Skywarden maps and I want to add one more transport to the game. I need a few more tiles to do so.
   Skywarden replacement: I have a good prototype done. I need a few extra tiles and to recolor the tiles I have.  [Secondary]
   Lightning: I have an idea on how to make the Lightning an interesting and viable transport. It needs a proof of concept first before I get into making new tiles for it.  [Secondary]
   Make a final Avenger. This is a tricked out avenger with all new tiles, more armor, faster speed, and more troop capacity made solely for the final mission to mars. There is a catch though in that the player will probably only be able to build one and by the time they can build it, the final mission will be available. Also, building it cripples your tech progression.
Armor: 80% done.
   Redo Xeno Operations Armor paperdolls
   Finish redo of kevlar and beret paper doll
      I have redone the base armor. No more coveralls. Too bad they look cool enough to make the Xeno Ops armor paperdolls look lame so now I have to redo those too. :(
   Touch up kevlar and beret battlescape sprites
   Double check inventory and ground corpses as well if needed
   Ditch any of the default kevlar vests that don't look that good.
   Keep camo vest
   Keep tan vest (new default)
   Keep black vest
   Ditch blue vest?
   Keep either gray vest or white vest (ditch one)
   Consider using a camo pattern on gray or white
   Lighten gray vest if I keep it
  Keep tan beret or red beret (ditch one)
   Ditch black with red beret
   Ditch camo beret
Weapons and Items 75% done
   Redo plasma weapons to account for new weapon types that were added
   Add Codex Key back in and make graphics for it
   Redo Alien Grenade graphic [Secondary]
   Redo Alien Blaster Launcher graphic  [Secondary]
   Remove starting armor items since they are all default now
   Add in more elite Alien weapons [Secondary]
   Final melee weapon [Secondary]
   Final weapon tier [Secondary]
Maps and Missions 70% done
   Fix Codex Recovery missions to include Codex Key item
      Also make a special tile to count as the objective
         Ideally, the player should smash the objective, steal the Codex Key from the rubble, and then abort mission after returning to the exit.
   Finish Jungle Codex Recovery map
   Add in side rails for upper teirs of map
   Add in exit tiles for abort mission recovery
   Add in small detail tiles like extra vines and rubble piles to spice up the map
   Finish Arctic Codex Recovery map
   This is pretty easy as I can use the Jungle Codex map for the layout and routes
   Change detail tiles to an ice theme recolor
   Do tiles for a Desert Codex Recovery map [Secondary]
   Consider plundering Hobbes's Terrain Pack since the next update will make Xeno Ops incompatible with it [Secondary]
New Alien UFOs 90% done
   Needs balance testing. That's about it.
   During beta, pay close attention to player feedback regarding breaching difficulty. If too many players complain about breaching troubles, then consider adding more breaching points into all UFOs.
   Note UFO type distribution amongst missions when playtesting.
   Initial tests are now fairly positive. The game has an excellent variety of UFO missions.
   Note UFO assault mission length.
   So far, testing suggests these new UFOs are faster to clear than the older ones.
   Pay attention to critiques regarding the artwork.
   See if people complain about the overabundance of animated tiles.
   See if people complain about the contrast of floor tiles making it hard to spot units
   Contrast on floor tiles has been reduced. Wait for more feedback before making further changes.
New Alien Base 90% done
   Keep a close eye on feedback over layout.
   If base is too maze like or large, then consider a redesign to remove two levels and simplify the design.
   Touch up some artwork. Some of the wall seams don't line up right.
   Do a full playtest to measure mission length
Craft Weapons and Interception 10% done [Secondary]
   Add in more craft weapons [Secondary]
   Rebalance craft weapons to make most of them useful [Secondary]
Other
   Steal robin's smoke since I'm too lazy to make my own and honestly, I don't think I could do a better job. [Secondary]
   Make some nice new explosion sprites for the various energy and stun weapons [Secondary]
   Readjust Hyper Velocity accuracies and bump them up a bit [Secondary]
       Consider changing laser damage to explosive for alternate ammo, but keep explosion radius small
   Readjust laser weapons to increase accuracy, but slow rate of fire [Secondary]
   Fix Muton Armored Commander pck from being listed twice in ExtraSprites [Secondary]
   Add a Muton Guard live alien item for modders [Secondary]
   Fix assorted Alien gear to be Geoscape only items so researching them can reveal their names in the battlescape [Secondary]
   Bug devs to unhardcode cutscenes to end the game that way I can add multiple endings [Secondary]
  Clean up unused strings in extrastrings [Secondary]
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on September 03, 2015, 02:18:35 pm
To be honest, I really don't know. It depends on a lot of different things and how they turn out during testing. Is there a specific resource you need Hobbes?

Well I've been using and adapting a few of your sprites for soldiers of the countries who signed alien pacts to use in a couple of missions, so I'm wondering what you might have new that isn't present in 0.90. I don't really need new stuff since I already got some 10 red beret guys (a few also taken/adapted from Piratez and the League of Superheros mods) but it's always nice to have more options to choose, especially since now you can have alienRaces composed of more than 8 ranks.

I have actually added all of your XCom armors as enemy units to Redux to test and see how they look before choosing. Reading from your laundry list I'd suggest that you keep as much color options available to the player to equip his/her units as possible, although creating paperdolls for all will take a while.

But the real reason I asked about an ETA is because I was wondering if it would be possible to keep some compatibility between Xeno Operations and Redux. I've already removed nearly all of your weapon sprites from Redux due to other reasons although I like the look of them a lot (plus the XCom armors). But from your laundry list I have serious doubts that the compatibility will be possible :D
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: LexThorn on September 09, 2015, 08:51:24 pm
Ive been not able to run the mod, seems with latest nightly openxcom cant see the mod, there is no xenooperations in mod list.  original`s resourses is in place, mod files copied to "data"
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: niculinux on September 10, 2015, 09:25:12 am
Ive been not able to run the mod, seems with latest nightly openxcom cant see the mod, there is no xenooperations in mod list.  original`s resourses is in place, mod files copied to "data"

See here (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,3617.msg44187.html#msg44187).
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: hellrazor on September 10, 2015, 09:51:14 am
Ive been not able to run the mod, seems with latest nightly openxcom cant see the mod, there is no xenooperations in mod list.  original`s resourses is in place, mod files copied to "data"

"data" is the wrong directory.
use "mods".
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on October 09, 2015, 10:58:22 pm
Getting closer. Real close.
The mod is now playable from start to finish again as most of the tech tree is up. I am playtesting and tweaking values now.
The crafting system is now reworked. Alien Items Self Destruct seems to be the key to keeping micro management to a minimum. Values need to be tweaked, but so far the proof of concept holds. I'll have to get further along in the tech tree to be sure.

Other Odds and Ends
Reworked the Skywarden. The Battlescape map has been replaced. It looks much better. Stills needs a UFOPaedia article

Added another fighter/transport. It's an endgame craft. Better than the Avenger with more cargo space as well. Stupid expensive though and if the player loses it, it will take a long time to gather enough resources to replace it. Don't lose it as it is required to go to mars. No images. Sorry. Don't want to spoil this one. :)

I've implemented a custom mission too. The player will need the items in this mission to win the game. Occurs in place of a terror mission every once in a while (low spawning odds). Here is a snippet of the arctic version.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/LPHMMDAQ100920150348.png)
I have a jungle version as well since this is basically the Mujungle tiles rearranged into a labyrinth map. I hope to have a desert version eventually. The mission is literally a smash and grab and mission. I suppose the grabbing part is optional, but highly recommended.

Reworked the starting armors.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/WFRMNQJM100920150338.png)
These no longer require a purchase at the store and can be selected from the start (no weight). Also there are no more coveralls as they replace them. I never liked the coveralls. At least now your rookies can look cool when they die in one shot. (I am considering releasing this as a separate mod since it is basically cosmetic)

There is a ton more stuff I've tweaked and added.
Now for the big question. When?
I still don't know exactly. It all hinges of if the crafting and tech tree is fun. I need to playtest more to find out. If it does turn out to be fun (early tests seem positive), it needs very precise value adjustments to keep the pacing. This needs to at least be in the ballpark before a beta release. Assuming that is accomplished and the tech tree and crafting system don't suck the last biggest task is the UFOpaedia which needs a lot of work.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Mr. Quiet on October 10, 2015, 12:38:54 am
Damn, you are cool dude. 8)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: yrizoud on October 10, 2015, 02:01:35 am
Alien Items Self Destruct seems to be the key to keeping micro management to a minimum.
I've thought of a related variant : Alien ammo clips (created by deployments) can be set as non-recoverable. This way the AI doesn't risk running out of ammo, while the player doesn't get infinite ammo supply from mission. There can be an explanation that energy leaks out, and despite XCOM inventing their own power sources (drawing on precious e115 reserves), the way the alien manage to keep their own weapons loaded remains a mystery.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on October 13, 2015, 10:59:20 pm
I've thought of a related variant : Alien ammo clips (created by deployments) can be set as non-recoverable. This way the AI doesn't risk running out of ammo, while the player doesn't get infinite ammo supply from mission. There can be an explanation that energy leaks out, and despite XCOM inventing their own power sources (drawing on precious e115 reserves), the way the alien manage to keep their own weapons loaded remains a mystery.

I've actually half way done this. I removed scavenging alien clips from the manufacturing screen (I've also cut down the types of the clips that aliens get as well). I am not sure about making them non recoverable since I have a final tech that unlocks alien gear now. I wish there was a way to set certain items to be non-recoverable until certain research projects were completed.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Squaddie Perseus on October 19, 2015, 12:07:36 am
It's been a very long time since I last logged onto these forums, and even longer since I checked up on all the progress that's been made, especially in regards to modding. Xops, I've been looking at everything you've done for this mod since version 0.80 (the last version I downloaded) and I...just holy crap man, your work is breathtaking. It's truly amazing. Honestly, I'm feeling a little lost on just what actually is in the mod because of all the work you've done (and that's not necessarily a bad thing, X-COM/XCOM, which ever version you prefer, should have a sense of mystery in regards to content). The work you've still got to do seems immense, but this in of itself was an immense undertaking in its own ways, so I'm sure you'll manage.  ;) So many new and amazing items and enemies and so many new sprites with amazing designs and a VERY well done balance (at least, the mod was very well balanced in the version I played). I'm tempted to get the current version (if I can figure out what nightly it's most compatible with), but part of me wants to wait until you release the next version. Best of luck finishing this mod, Xops. :)

Tangent: Also saw you mention you were writing a book. Well, I wish you the best of luck with that, and honestly, if you put into it the same amount of effort you put into this mod, I'm sure it'll be amazing.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on October 20, 2015, 05:09:31 am
It's been a very long time since I last logged onto these forums, and even longer since I checked up on all the progress that's been made, especially in regards to modding. Xops, I've been looking at everything you've done for this mod since version 0.80 (the last version I downloaded) and I...just holy crap man, your work is breathtaking. It's truly amazing. Honestly, I'm feeling a little lost on just what actually is in the mod because of all the work you've done (and that's not necessarily a bad thing, X-COM/XCOM, which ever version you prefer, should have a sense of mystery in regards to content). The work you've still got to do seems immense, but this in of itself was an immense undertaking in its own ways, so I'm sure you'll manage.  ;) So many new and amazing items and enemies and so many new sprites with amazing designs and a VERY well done balance (at least, the mod was very well balanced in the version I played). I'm tempted to get the current version (if I can figure out what nightly it's most compatible with), but part of me wants to wait until you release the next version. Best of luck finishing this mod, Xops. :)
Thanks for the praise. I wouldn't worry about peeking into 9.0. The difference between 9.0 and the upcoming version will be immense (9.0 1,606 files 6.48 MB vs the upcoming release with 3,276 files at 14.8 MB). So much of the sprite work has been vastly improved. Honestly, I am kind of embarrassed by some of my previous sprite work.

Tangent: Also saw you mention you were writing a book. Well, I wish you the best of luck with that, and honestly, if you put into it the same amount of effort you put into this mod, I'm sure it'll be amazing.
Thank you. I've gotten positive feedback from my beta readers so far. It looks like both my book and the next release for Xeno Ops will hit at about the same time.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Squaddie Perseus on October 24, 2015, 05:55:07 pm
Thanks for the praise. I wouldn't worry about peeking into 9.0. The difference between 9.0 and the upcoming version will be immense (9.0 1,606 files 6.48 MB vs the upcoming release with 3,276 files at 14.8 MB). So much of the sprite work has been vastly improved. Honestly, I am kind of embarrassed by some of my previous sprite work.

Ugh. Sorry for replying to you so late. Real life, ya know? Anyway, wow, that's a heck of a file and size difference...which only makes me even more giddy for the next release. Also, why are you embarrassed about some of your older sprite work? I mean, sure, it's older content but there's nothing to be embarrassed about. It just helped you hone your skills and get you to where you are today. :)

Finally, I was looking back through the thread and saw a bunch of different Muton sprites, and then saw that you said the third tier ballistic weapons should allow players to take on both Mutons and Snakemen (and you were also kind enough to give us a glimpse of a new Muton sprite). My question to you is this: Since Mutons are stated to be fairly resistant to traditional chemical propellant based projectile weapons, but you've also stated that tier three ballistics should be capable of bringing them down...does that mean there's going to be more enemy variety in the next release? I mean, I remember my shock when I encountered Muton Commandos (nasty pieces of work) but...are we going to have to deal with veteran alien troops that have better equipment and armor? Please say yes because that would be amazing and really add to the sense of escalation within the game.

Thank you. I've gotten positive feedback from my beta readers so far. It looks like both my book and the next release for Xeno Ops will hit at about the same time.

Hey, I'll be looking forward to the releases of both then. If I see your book in stores, I may just pick it up. ;)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: hellrazor on October 24, 2015, 06:12:12 pm
Thanks for the praise. I wouldn't worry about peeking into 9.0. The difference between 9.0 and the upcoming version will be immense (9.0 1,606 files 6.48 MB vs the upcoming release with 3,276 files at 14.8 MB). So much of the sprite work has been vastly improved. Honestly, I am kind of embarrassed by some of my previous sprite work.
Thank you. I've gotten positive feedback from my beta readers so far. It looks like both my book and the next release for Xeno Ops will hit at about the same time.

OMFG!
Dude how many sprites did you make in the meantime? This is crazy in a good way.
You wouldn't mind my plundering some of them if i like them, right?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: nadir-1648 on October 26, 2015, 12:34:05 am
Boonie hats for the win! :3

You're in the army now, guys, the Ghostbusters jumpsuits you're used to won't cut it.

Awesome mod, can't wait for the new version.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on October 26, 2015, 05:16:04 am
Finally, I was looking back through the thread and saw a bunch of different Muton sprites, and then saw that you said the third tier ballistic weapons should allow players to take on both Mutons and Snakemen (and you were also kind enough to give us a glimpse of a new Muton sprite). My question to you is this: Since Mutons are stated to be fairly resistant to traditional chemical propellant based projectile weapons, but you've also stated that tier three ballistics should be capable of bringing them down...does that mean there's going to be more enemy variety in the next release? I mean, I remember my shock when I encountered Muton Commandos (nasty pieces of work) but...are we going to have to deal with veteran alien troops that have better equipment and armor? Please say yes because that would be amazing and really add to the sense of escalation within the game.

That's the end goal. The big development hurtle I'm facing right now is to get the pacing roughly in the ballpark so it gives the feeling of escalation. In addition to armored Mutons (and another early game alien I've added), there will eventually be some heavy floaters as well, though probably not for the upcoming beta (I only have a prototype at the moment). I am also planning on plundering robin's various alien race mods soon which should help add variety.
Hopefully, I can use feedback to fine tune the pacing. I want the Aliens to be one step ahead of the player until about mid to late game.


OMFG!
Dude how many sprites did you make in the meantime? This is crazy in a good way.
You wouldn't mind my plundering some of them if i like them, right?

One of the reasons this new release is so slow is because I keep updating older sprites in addition to the new stuff. There are not really as many weapons this time as much of the new files are map, mcd, and route files. As always, you are free to plunder anything so long as I get a proper mention in the credits.

Boonie hats for the win! :3

You're in the army now, guys, the Ghostbusters jumpsuits you're used to won't cut it.

I was almost tempted to make a dress uniform.  :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: nadir-1648 on October 26, 2015, 06:16:43 am
Well if you want to punish the inattentive you could make  a dress uniform the default for soldiers who aren't changed into their boonie hats, with protection of 0 on all sides and reducing reactions, TU, strength and energy :D

... nah, too evil. But the option's on the table XD
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Dioxine on October 26, 2015, 06:42:16 am
Well if you want to punish the inattentive you could make  a dress uniform the default for soldiers who aren't changed into their boonie hats, with protection of 0 on all sides and reducing reactions, TU, strength and energy :D

BUT with +40 Bravery (and maybe some psi def too). Fighting with pride, armor is for cowards! :)

btw I love that eerie blue labirynth
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: hellrazor on October 26, 2015, 08:34:25 pm
As always, you are free to plunder anything so long as I get a proper mention in the credits.

Of course!!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: VSx86 on October 28, 2015, 12:09:50 am
 ;) Well, this worthful mod becomes better and more attractive...

Will it be released in first half of 2016?..
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: davide on October 28, 2015, 12:21:16 am
Will it be released in first half of 2016?..
:o
 ???

... next month it is better !!!!! :P
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on October 28, 2015, 01:51:24 pm
Will it be released in first half of 2016?..

Expect official merchandise to hit the online stores one month before its release ;)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: xXxWreckinEasiesxXx on October 30, 2015, 02:19:35 am
why do the terran and alien plasma weapons have mismatched/corrupted sprites?


(https://i.imgur.com/HdXfF8T.png) <-- all the terran plasma weapons.. the clips them selves appear to be fine, but the weapons themselves look like clips? the one that actually looks like a weapon is the plasma cannon, but ends up looing like a mis-aligned hypervelocity cannon

the alien plasma weapons do the exact same thing... especially the alien grenade which looks like a fragment of an uzi clip

(https://i.imgur.com/pAmqa0f.png)

these are the mods i'm using (only yours)


(https://i.imgur.com/9DHNFZJ.png)

Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Cristao on November 15, 2015, 11:54:08 am
Nice Mod. I have tried to limit applying my cheats to it - apart from modified soldier stats and money. Apart from that I like the look of the XOPs uniform and the different camos. Lovely!!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Cristao on November 15, 2015, 11:58:22 am
Still tinkering.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/TRKFOOPU083020150258.gif)
Got some nice stun weapons. I made a really awesome hit animation for them before I realized that shooting weapons with stun explode. :( Maybe I can make a cool electrical style explosion for them. Still not really sure where I stand on releasing this beast. I am working on the final edits for my book, so that is going to monopolize my time and it gets priority since it might make me some money.


Add the below line. It removes explosions. I found it out when experimenting on creating a portable stun pistol.

blastRadius: 0
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Cristao on November 16, 2015, 10:38:09 pm
Research times are long. I love the armors though but there are a lot of alien artefacts. Interesting mod.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Cristao on November 17, 2015, 11:49:34 pm
GOT a CTD. I got a PSI-AMP. Went on a mission versus the floaters who had reapers. Tried to mind control a reaper. The game showed that it was successful. When I try to select the Reaper, the game CTD.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Dioxine on November 18, 2015, 02:00:52 am
Likely lack of bigOb for Reapers' bite-weapon, or outdated ruleset for it.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Cristao on November 18, 2015, 08:27:12 am
Likely lack of bigOb for Reapers' bite-weapon, or outdated ruleset for it.

Interesting. When I didn't try to select the reaper, the game continued without a hitch.

--- posts merge ---

Completed Xeno Mod. Cydonia was tough. Not to gonna say more than that. I think this is the longest time I have spent on the Cydonia level (I am yet to complete XPiratez).

PS Where is the frozen map? I was looking forward to that.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on November 19, 2015, 09:13:44 pm
PS Where is the frozen map? I was looking forward to that.

IIRC it isn't finished yet, it will be included when XOps has time to finish the next update.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: niculinux on November 29, 2015, 02:22:23 pm
So last update was Updated: 11/22/14 (0.90) it's more than a year...any news on progress?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on December 01, 2015, 03:58:06 am
Completed Xeno Mod. Cydonia was tough. Not to gonna say more than that. I think this is the longest time I have spent on the Cydonia level (I am yet to complete XPiratez).

PS Where is the frozen map? I was looking forward to that.
Still hoping to do something special for Cyondia down the road rather than just having a large map. Probably not in the next beta though. As for the frozen map, it is for the next version. It's a bit of special mission. Need more of those special missions.

GOT a CTD. I got a PSI-AMP. Went on a mission versus the floaters who had reapers. Tried to mind control a reaper. The game showed that it was successful. When I try to select the Reaper, the game CTD.
Just tested. Should be fixed when I release the next update.

why do the terran and alien plasma weapons have mismatched/corrupted sprites?
Very strange. Looks like a mod indexing issue? I will keep an eye on this after the next beta is out.

Expect official merchandise to hit the online stores one month before its release ;)
Hopefully I won't sell out to EA. :) Then I can have preorders and season passes. Or I can be like a certain other company and start selling crappy single mission DLC. Thankfully, I live in a world where XCom would never succumb to being victim to a crappy single mission DLC... wait a minute.


Add the below line. It removes explosions. I found it out when experimenting on creating a portable stun pistol.

blastRadius: 0

I'll give that a try. Thanks. :)


So last update was Updated: 11/22/14 (0.90) it's more than a year...any news on progress?
;) Well, this worthful mod becomes better and more attractive...

Will it be released in first half of 2016?..
:o
 ???

... next month it is better !!!!! :P
So it has been awhile since I last gave a status update. There are two reasons for this. One is Fallout 4. That's done though. I was always a big fan of the Fallout series. But I always come back to XCom. Now for the other reason I vanished for a month. After much playtesting, I have determined that my crafting system is indeed not fun. :(
What does this mean?
It means that I need to gut a huge part of the mod. Basically all of the manufacturing and economy stuff needs to be redone.
After hitting the end of year one, the crafting system ceases to be fun and becomes a chore. I am convinced it would only be viable if the mod had an interface specifically designed for it. Something like a screen that would allow the player to quickly break down alien artifacts into their core components for further manufacturing. As it stands now, it is simply too many clicks and it adds too much busy work. During the first year, it's tolerable, but it quickly grows tiresome. Another thing good in theory, but poor in practice.
This combined with the sheer difficulty of balancing resources has made me shelve the mod for a month and play something else for a while. I needed some time away to clear my head so I can come back and look at the mod with a fresh perspective.
For that part, I am basically back to the drawing board. :(

Now for some good news.
I have added another alien race. I may actually release this new alien race as a standalone for TFTD.
I have added a few variants of psi amps. Now psionics has a kind of progression system. I still need to do a bit of balancing with these though.
Updated the graphics for the alien blaster launcher, alien high explosive, and alien grenade. I don't think the aliens have any of the original sprites left for their equipment.
Updated the graphics for the alloy armor sprites. They look much better now.
Replaced Personal Armor sprites completely with the old psionic armor. I am working on a new Psionic Armor sprites to replace that one.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Dioxine on December 01, 2015, 02:45:06 pm
I still think you should try releasing the mod more often, and let people test it. Without feedback, it's much easier to mod stupid things. Maybe with user input, it'd be possible to gradually repair and upgrade the crafting system, instead of crying over a broken one like you do now :) Oh and it's already past Fallout 4? I swear the pre-release hype seems like it happened yesterday. Time flows differently in the OXCom world... :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: hellrazor on December 01, 2015, 03:10:33 pm
Economy and manufacturing is stuff which can be best evalidated by testplayers.

Believe me i am happy to get any feedback from guys, or suggestions fo new stuff all the times.
Some stuff fits, some stuff needs to be changed etc..
I am myself not really convinced about the economic changes i did towards my own Mod.
But as long as noone complains :)

As Dioxine already said, release your Mod more often, testplayers will report obvious bugs towards you, so you can fix them.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Dioxine on December 01, 2015, 04:40:44 pm
One more thing, although this is shooting blind... If the crafting systems becomes a chore after a while, maybe you should add researcheable shortcuts? Like, higher-tier research allows you to get rid of some or most of early-game crafting chores? Hi-tech items less dependant on everyday crafting materials?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Hobbes on December 01, 2015, 05:13:09 pm
Still hoping to do something special for Cyondia down the road rather than just having a large map. Probably not in the next beta though. As for the frozen map, it is for the next version. It's a bit of special mission. Need more of those special missions.

There's quite a few new terrains in Redux that you might find useful for special missions. But from my experience with the latest Redux update, before you add more special missions, have you considered why they are needed? To get additional techs/artifacts? To trigger other special missions? To introduce a side plot? And are those really necessary?

Also, every special mission (as in something that appears only once during the game) will have an impact on the overall campaign: add a lot of special missions and the impact of each one will be lessened, but at the same time you're adding a lot of pole signs that the player needs to follow to reach the end of the campaign, making it less sandbox. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't use special missions, simply that they can have a big effect on the overall playing.

Quote
It means that I need to gut a huge part of the mod. Basically all of the manufacturing and economy stuff needs to be redone.
After hitting the end of year one, the crafting system ceases to be fun and becomes a chore. I am convinced it would only be viable if the mod had an interface specifically designed for it. Something like a screen that would allow the player to quickly break down alien artifacts into their core components for further manufacturing. As it stands now, it is simply too many clicks and it adds too much busy work. During the first year, it's tolerable, but it quickly grows tiresome. Another thing good in theory, but poor in practice.
This combined with the sheer difficulty of balancing resources has made me shelve the mod for a month and play something else for a while. I needed some time away to clear my head so I can come back and look at the mod with a fresh perspective.

Why is the crafting system needed? It sure sounds challenging that you need to set up a 'artifact recycling' system in order to be able to use advanced alien tech, but has it only been added because of the difficulty?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: The Think Tank on December 01, 2015, 07:59:59 pm
Now I have a simple question, I am using XenoOPs armor and weapons on a 1.0 game with a few other mods and whenever I use the stunrod a really cool effect occurs (I think is from this mod) but then it crashes my game, is this a known issue or is it even related to this mod? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: XOps on December 03, 2015, 06:40:07 am
I still think you should try releasing the mod more often, and let people test it. Without feedback, it's much easier to mod stupid things. Maybe with user input, it'd be possible to gradually repair and upgrade the crafting system, instead of crying over a broken one like you do now :) Oh and it's already past Fallout 4? I swear the pre-release hype seems like it happened yesterday. Time flows differently in the OXCom world... :)
Economy and manufacturing is stuff which can be best evalidated by testplayers.

Believe me i am happy to get any feedback from guys, or suggestions fo new stuff all the times.
Some stuff fits, some stuff needs to be changed etc..
I am myself not really convinced about the economic changes i did towards my own Mod.
But as long as noone complains :)

As Dioxine already said, release your Mod more often, testplayers will report obvious bugs towards you, so you can fix them.
One more thing, although this is shooting blind... If the crafting systems becomes a chore after a while, maybe you should add researcheable shortcuts? Like, higher-tier research allows you to get rid of some or most of early-game crafting chores? Hi-tech items less dependant on everyday crafting materials?
Maybe you are both right. I tend to be rather trigger happy when it comes to murdering my darlings. Perhaps I just need to polish what I got and send it on its way. I think a big part of my problem is that I am trying to balance a huge mod by myself when I just don't have time to play it enough in order to do so. I just hate releasing things that I know are broken.
And Dioxine. I have actually kind of done your suggestion. The higher tech tree stuff cuts out a lot of steps completely. Part of the problem is that my patience burns out before that point. Maybe I just have a pacing issue. Or maybe I'm just impatient. Or maybe I need to quit sitting on my mod. :)

There's quite a few new terrains in Redux that you might find useful for special missions. But from my experience with the latest Redux update, before you add more special missions, have you considered why they are needed? To get additional techs/artifacts? To trigger other special missions? To introduce a side plot? And are those really necessary?

Also, every special mission (as in something that appears only once during the game) will have an impact on the overall campaign: add a lot of special missions and the impact of each one will be lessened, but at the same time you're adding a lot of pole signs that the player needs to follow to reach the end of the campaign, making it less sandbox. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't use special missions, simply that they can have a big effect on the overall playing.

I'm not really too worried. Xeno Ops only has one special mission for the entire game. I am no where near the point Redux is in terms of mission variety. The current extra mission is the only mission that the player must go on at least twice in order to beat the game. I have a few other plans for future missions, but most of these will be optional like most XCom missions. Even then, I don't think I will ever get close to Redux in this area.

Why is the crafting system needed? It sure sounds challenging that you need to set up a 'artifact recycling' system in order to be able to use advanced alien tech, but has it only been added because of the difficulty?

The theory behind the crafting system was pretty sound. Make every alien artifact in the game useful. In addition, it was to add an extra layer of critical decision making. I wanted the player to choose between selling artifacts or scrapping them for parts. I really wanted to curb hoarding. Setting alien items to self destruct upon death really brought me close to this goal since it made sellable plasma weapons very scarce and thus no longer a reliable source of income.
In addition, some people (boring people like me) just like complex construction systems. Fun can be very subjective.
However, like any system, it has its cost. The cost was clicks, time, and micromanagement. In it's current state, I feel the costs out way the benefit.

Now I have a simple question, I am using XenoOPs armor and weapons on a 1.0 game with a few other mods and whenever I use the stunrod a really cool effect occurs (I think is from this mod) but then it crashes my game, is this a known issue or is it even related to this mod? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
This is an issue with 1.0 of OpenXcom. Melee animations for 1.0 use like three or four times the number of frames for animation. When it reaches the end of the animation, it crashes because it thinks there are still more frames. Later nightlies fixed this so the mod was adjusted with the correct number of frames. The only way to fix this is to find an older compatible nightly. No idea where you could find one at this point.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: DracoGriffin on December 03, 2015, 07:18:35 am
Honestly, I would have tried XOps a long time ago but it wasn't easily accessible for download and seemed like it was in "closed" testing, so I found Piratez instead. Now I'm stuck on Dioxine like a bad splinter from a wooden paddle.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Dioxine on December 04, 2015, 07:00:02 am
>Crafting system based on rare components
>Trying to curb item hoarding

You have a major contradiction right there, XOps. You will get nowhere without test players, just accept it - I don't trust any game tests made by myself - as I know that as an author, I will be unconsciously making choices a normal player won't make. Any normal player, faced with a crafting system based on rare components, will become a crazed hoarder. Experience clearly supports that, just ask Draco :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod
Post by: Arthanor on December 04, 2015, 04:19:36 pm
I can attest to that too.  In Piratez you don't know when a crappy gun might be harvested for parts to make a cool one, or a corpse for an armor. Si ce you don't want to regret selling a gun for a couple hundreds that could have turned into an awesome tool of destruction, you keep 'em all! It's not like you can't live without the few hundreds either..

It holds to the point of player selling elerium/ufo engines even though those also are very valuable, since you can trust in finding more of those on the next ufo. Piratez also has a lot of variety, so getting the right item can be difficult. If you can rely on getting a sample of everything every mission, then it is less of an issue.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][EXPANSION] Xeno Operations Mod - 0.95 Update
Post by: XOps on December 06, 2015, 07:24:15 pm
It's my birthday today and everyone else is getting a present.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/ICBUIJKW120620151149.png)
https://www.openxcom.com/content/files/MIxQEwkv/XenoOperations0.95.zip
Just a warning. I consider this mod a mess right now. It should be beatable though. The UFOpaedia is probably the most broken thing right now. The most critical information: what aliens to capture to win the game and Codex stuff should be there.
Have fun. Or just steal the sprites for better mods. :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.95 Update
Post by: niculinux on December 06, 2015, 07:31:08 pm
Thank you and happy birthday! <3

Edit: please, i really hope someone would make a playthrou...
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][EXPANSION] Xeno Operations Mod - 0.95 Update
Post by: Hobbes on December 06, 2015, 08:41:42 pm
Just a warning. I consider this mod a mess right now. It should be beatable though. The UFOpaedia is probably the most broken thing right now. The most critical information: what aliens to capture to win the game and Codex stuff should be there.
Have fun. Or just steal the sprites for better mods. :)

Well done :)

I've already had a look under the hood (Muton Berserker... yummy to reuse :) ) here's what I noticed:

* If I understood it correctly you need to recover 2 Codex pieces from those underground pyramids. However, looking at the missionScripts, those missions only appear 3 times during a gameplay at months 1, 6 and 12. However, month 1 missions only have a chance of 12% to be generated (executionOdds), so if month 1 Codex isn't generated and you fail either month 6 or 12 mission, that's game over.
* Your missionScript labels don't make much sense. When generating missions the game goes once through the script at the beginning of the month, top to bottom.
* The Codex missions are 80x80, you might get some players complaining that they last too long to find the central pyramid.
* I love the underground Pyramid terrains but I think that the overall map design might benefit from more open areas.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.95 Update
Post by: XOps on December 06, 2015, 09:40:05 pm
For the special mission
There are two codex missions: arctic and jungle.
First a jungle codex mission has a 12% chance of spawning each month, not just on month one. If it doesn't spawn, then an arctic codex mission has a 12% chance of spawning. That should be a roughly 24% chance for a codex mission each month (my play testing seems to suggest this, but I could be wrong). If a codex mission spawns on a month, it takes the place of a Terror mission for that month.
This means that, on average, there should be around 2 codex missions a year or so.
There are two exceptions on month 6 and 12. Both of these months have an extra codex mission spawn in case the RNG hates the player. Assuming the player flubs these, then they should eventually get another chance by way of the RNG.
I think almost everything else in the mission scripting should be vanilla.
It should work, unless the mission scripting has been updated.

As for the map size and design, it is a concern of mine. I'll wait for feedback. It is easier to get away with larger maps so long as the mission doesn't revolve around clearing out every alien, but if people complain, then it's an easy fix to scale things back.

Edit: After doing some tests, the mission is repeating as it should. I may bump up values though in increase the odds of the mission spawning.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.95 Update
Post by: Hobbes on December 08, 2015, 06:52:25 pm
For the special mission

Oh yeah, I missed that those entries only had 'firstMonth', not 'lastMonth', my confusion.

--- posts merge ---

Been going through the latest release - impressive work with the new graphics :)

I hope you're planning to replace the legacy vanilla graphics that are still around (Power Suit, etc.) because they're really starting to look out of place when placed side by side with the rest. One particular thing I noticed is that while you haven't added almost any of the terrains in the Terrain Pack you seen to have given the Desert terrain a facelift. Are you planning to retouch the original terrains?

It's also pretty clear that why your mod and Redux don't fit together, after all the changes you made to the tech tree and others. With the graphic changes the impression I'm getting is that this is rather a reboot of the first game. It's interesting that while I would like to use the new Berserker, I will keep to the older versions of the Muton Guard, etc. rather than the new ones (which look very cool) because those fit the vanilla game better.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.95 Update
Post by: Duke_Falcon on December 08, 2015, 09:18:56 pm
I not tried this so far since I need some nightly update for that but I noticed armoured Mutons. Are those a late game upgrade of Mutons? And you plan such improved version for the other squishy races too (Floater, Snakeman)?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.95 Update
Post by: niculinux on December 08, 2015, 09:41:08 pm
Super mod, nearly as a brand new game, like piratez! Absolutely agrre with Hobbes! I really hope some communuty member here would like to help...i' too incompetent even to conceive!!! :o

@XOps: is the mod compatible with the latest relases of openxcom extended, let's say 2.4 and/or 2.5?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.95 Update
Post by: XOps on December 09, 2015, 01:16:04 am
Been going through the latest release - impressive work with the new graphics :)

I hope you're planning to replace the legacy vanilla graphics that are still around (Power Suit, etc.) because they're really starting to look out of place when placed side by side with the rest. One particular thing I noticed is that while you haven't added almost any of the terrains in the Terrain Pack you seen to have given the Desert terrain a facelift. Are you planning to retouch the original terrains?

I actually did plunder a fair share of the terrain pack, but I rather cherry picked things. There was a lot of good stuff that I didn't integrate because I am indeed planning to touch up a lot of the old tiles and maps or add my own versions down the road. A lot of the terrain work I want to do will have to wait until I get the rest of the mod a little more polished.

It's also pretty clear that why your mod and Redux don't fit together, after all the changes you made to the tech tree and others. With the graphic changes the impression I'm getting is that this is rather a reboot of the first game. It's interesting that while I would like to use the new Berserker, I will keep to the older versions of the Muton Guard, etc. rather than the new ones (which look very cool) because those fit the vanilla game better.

It's gradually turning into a reboot, though that wasn't what I was originally trying to do. This whole mess started because I wanted to make a more military looking armor set. Next thing I know, I'm redoing every UFO in the game. As the sprite quality improves, the more work I seem to make for myself. It's terrible.
I'm glad you found the Berserker useful. :) It's getting more difficult to keep the styles from clashing. Vanilla has a sort of 70s era sci fi television feel. Probably because it was mostly inspired by the UFO tv show. Xeno Ops has high tech/modern feel (minus the shaky cam and lens flare). I am still debating on what parts of the original artwork to keep and what to replace completely.

I not tried this so far since I need some nightly update for that but I noticed armoured Mutons. Are those a late game upgrade of Mutons? And you plan such improved version for the other squishy races too (Floater, Snakeman)?

Armored Mutons are indeed a late game upgrade. They have some rather angry friends with them for terror units as well. I have some good early drafts of armored floaters so I do plan to add them eventually. I don't have any plans for armored Snakemen at the moment. Doesn't mean I wont end up adding an upgraded Snakeman in the future. Do you really want an upgraded Chryssalid though?

Super mod, nearly as a brand new game, like piratez! Absolutely agrre with Hobbes! I really hope some communuty member here would like to help...i' too incompetent even to conceive!!! :o

@XOps: is the mod compatible with the latest relases of openxcom extended, let's say 2.4 and/or 2.5?

I checked today. Loading Xeno Ops in Extended crashes upon starting a new game, so it's not compatible.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.95 Update
Post by: Hobbes on December 09, 2015, 01:37:58 am
It's gradually turning into a reboot, though that wasn't what I was originally trying to do. This whole mess started because I wanted to make a more military looking armor set. Next thing I know, I'm redoing every UFO in the game. As the sprite quality improves, the more work I seem to make for myself. It's terrible.

From my experience I think it is pretty normal for the end result to grown different from what was imagined. At least that was what I felt at a certain stage with Redux when I realized that changing the vanilla mechanics wasn't really an improvement at all, so I decided to drop those changes and focus only on expanding the game universe. 
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.951 Update
Post by: XOps on December 09, 2015, 04:50:22 am
Small update. Just a few tweaks. Also I removed another mod that had somehow got dropped into the Xeno Ops folder by accident.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.95 Update
Post by: Yankes on December 09, 2015, 07:29:20 pm
I checked today. Loading Xeno Ops in Extended crashes upon starting a new game, so it's not compatible.
By default all normal mods should be compatible with Extended version. Question is what base version of game your mod require.
Right now 2.5 is one or two of months behind nightly.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.951 Update
Post by: XOps on December 09, 2015, 08:00:19 pm
By default all normal mods should be compatible with Extended version. Question is what base version of game your mod require.
Right now 2.5 is one or two of months behind nightly.

I'm using the most recent nightly 2015_12_09_0050, but I suspect one couldn't go back too far before encountering problems. If Extended is one or two months behind, I'd guess the feature that is causing the crash is probably the new soldier types (assuming Extended cut off before that point). That's the most recent big change I can think of.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.951 Update
Post by: Yankes on December 10, 2015, 12:12:53 am
Exactly, I didn't add this yet.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.951 Update
Post by: Duke_Falcon on December 11, 2015, 08:08:07 pm
This mod is brutal and so awesomely cool that I can hardly imagine how to express it with words!
The new alien weapons and UFOs are superb I just love them at first sight. And those nasty surprises in the game mechanics... Cool!

I started it on Superhuman as "what may it have to surprise me so much?"... Well, first shocks:
- 4 scientists and living quarters enabling 20 men (also labs have 20 space). What?! Giving some challenge right the beginning, that is cool. I do not remember if I met such difficulty modifiers in any other mods I played (mayhaps Piratez only).
- Spotted a small UFO, easy prey for my Avalanches! UFO shot back before Avalanche in range to even fire?! Wow, no more easy preys for beginning crafts and weapons. This is also a lovely thing and hope it will remain such (plasma cannon will not be an ultimate obliterator I hope). Now use researched craft weapons still not guaranteed to shot down small UFOs without damage.
- Alien crews. Have a terror with roaches. Roaches die from a "fart", cool, something more squishy than Sectoids and Floaters! Easy loot... Then met the four Silacoids. In the first month. Worse than Cyberdiscs. Will the game full of such surprises? Hope it will as I enjoyed playing UFO so much really really a while.

Congratulations for this mod! This is awesome and cool and made me sit and play well after midnight every days!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.951 Update
Post by: XOps on December 12, 2015, 02:37:31 am
This mod is brutal and so awesomely cool that I can hardly imagine how to express it with words!
The new alien weapons and UFOs are superb I just love them at first sight. And those nasty surprises in the game mechanics... Cool!

I started it on Superhuman as "what may it have to surprise me so much?"... Well, first shocks:
- 4 scientists and living quarters enabling 20 men (also labs have 20 space). What?! Giving some challenge right the beginning, that is cool. I do not remember if I met such difficulty modifiers in any other mods I played (mayhaps Piratez only).
- Spotted a small UFO, easy prey for my Avalanches! UFO shot back before Avalanche in range to even fire?! Wow, no more easy preys for beginning crafts and weapons. This is also a lovely thing and hope it will remain such (plasma cannon will not be an ultimate obliterator I hope). Now use researched craft weapons still not guaranteed to shot down small UFOs without damage.
- Alien crews. Have a terror with roaches. Roaches die from a "fart", cool, something more squishy than Sectoids and Floaters! Easy loot... Then met the four Silacoids. In the first month. Worse than Cyberdiscs. Will the game full of such surprises? Hope it will as I enjoyed playing UFO so much really really a while.

Congratulations for this mod! This is awesome and cool and made me sit and play well after midnight every days!

I'm glad you like it. :)  I'm finding my own mod really difficult. It's funny because I wasn't trying to make a challenge mod. Let me know if you encounter any bugs as I expect that the mid to late game stuff has a lot of bugs.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.951 Update
Post by: Hobbes on December 12, 2015, 06:23:03 am
You never know what you might discover underground ;)

(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/QAMLPNUY121120151122.png)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.951 Update
Post by: davide on December 12, 2015, 11:38:27 am
Very very impressive!!!!  :P
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.951 Update
Post by: DracoGriffin on December 12, 2015, 05:29:08 pm
I may have to stream this very soon after that picture Hobbes.

This is looking... delicious.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.951 Update
Post by: Hobbes on December 12, 2015, 05:44:50 pm
I may have to stream this very soon after that picture Hobbes.

This is looking... delicious.

That picture is just me playing around with XOps's new toys mod :D

The underground pyramid first reminded me of the Aliens vs Predator movie but when I added the UFO I was inspired by John Carpenter's The Thing movie. I'm considering adding it to Redux as a two part mission, where first you need to investigate a polar station that goes offline after investigating a 'magnetic anomaly', and then you need to assault the buried UFO.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.952 Update
Post by: XOps on December 12, 2015, 07:56:18 pm
You never know what you might discover underground ;)

(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/QAMLPNUY121120151122.png)

Say what you will about the aliens, but at least they know how to park.

The underground pyramid first reminded me of the Aliens vs Predator movie but when I added the UFO I was inspired by John Carpenter's The Thing movie. I'm considering adding it to Redux as a two part mission, where first you need to investigate a polar station that goes offline after investigating a 'magnetic anomaly', and then you need to assault the buried UFO.
To bad you can't mod a blood test. Also, don't forget your flame thrower.  :) Actually, making an arctic research base was one of the terrains I wanted to do in the future.

I have posted an update. Added my first radar craft, an SR-71.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/QSMLPZMQ121220151224.gif)
Also, alien weapons are usable now. They still cannot be built so the player should only be able use them for special missions.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.952 Update
Post by: davide on December 12, 2015, 08:32:29 pm
Actually, making an arctic research base was one of the terrains I wanted to do in the future.

Why not do you join the force ?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.952 Update
Post by: Dioxine on December 12, 2015, 08:52:48 pm
That SR-71 is sexy...
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.952 Update
Post by: Hobbes on December 12, 2015, 08:54:26 pm
To bad you can't mod a blood test. Also, don't forget your flame thrower.  :) Actually, making an arctic research base was one of the terrains I wanted to do in the future.

Well... there are these new Muton Berserker units with some nice looking blades and there are Chryssalids, so some sort of a blood test could be arranged :)

I'm actually giving these ideas some serious consideration, as two separate missions.

One mission based on The Thing movies, where a station on the Antarctic goes offline after they report a strange 'artifact' discovered buried on the ice. XCOM deploys and first has to investigate the station where it discovers that the station crew has been infested with a plant like alien lifeform. Two part of the mission would be to assault the buried UFO and destroy any remaining alien life forms due to the threat to Earth, and you'd face the original alien crew of the UFO (at the end the question would be if they had been infected with the plant like alien themselves).

The second mission would start with the detection of a magnetic anomaly followed by a distress call by the scientific crew. First part of the mission, discover the crew and find out that they've been zombified. Second part, escape while running away from the Chryssalids/Berserkers.

This underground ice pyramid would also be awesome for something based on Lovecraft's Mountains of Madness story.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.952 Update
Post by: hellrazor on December 13, 2015, 03:06:22 pm
I heard some Muton Berserkers arrived.
If you do not mind, i will use them to kick some players ass ;)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.952 Update
Post by: xXxWreckinEasiesxXx on December 14, 2015, 05:31:37 am
i check this thread everyday for new updates.. keep them coming dude!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.952 Update
Post by: Duke_Falcon on December 15, 2015, 09:05:17 pm
So far what I tumbled upon in this mod - note I am just arrived mid-game as I am in 1999's november!

- Codex extraction. While I understood why it is random what one may get here but get corrupted data just for the beginning is a bit strong. I need to built another level 1 Codex what gave some tech but this is frustratingly expensive!
- Research tree. I think I lost something somewhere as I have lasers and tier 2 ballistics but no extra crafts apart from Rook or any option to have plasmas or such things. I interrogate everything I can acquire but mostly got useless alien mission descriptions instead of unlocking new techs. Maybe I really need Muton or Ethereal commanders to continue the researches?
- Resource dependancy. To much. Disassembling, as I experienced and correct me if I am wrong, gives only fragments but no alloys or elerium. What the hell may I do with 5-600 fragments if only have 120 alloys? Not help to shot down everything and loot even the Nine Hells. So few alloys are acquired all the times. And everything needs alloys to build or one may forced to use basic techs almost untill late-game? Not much problem though as I can manufacture 16-20 laser batteries per month but I planned to use these weapons later instead of ballistics.
- I think alien bases and key recovery missions are way to hard as the AI reluctant to move from the key areas (transmitter, controll room) and deal with 8-10 aliens within a single turn is not always possible. If the AI is defensive the alien base design is futile. It has a wide open 4th level where both player and AI may could move troops easily. Only I do as the aliens left and move on the lower levels where they have less opportunity to ambush my troops.
- I started it before the latest release so alien plasma weapons are unuseable for my troops except the plasma cannon what I researched after installing the latest version. Is there a way to make accessible all the other weapons or I must sell them? Or is this some bug what remained within?
- Do shark guys really so strong or only special weapons are really effective against them? Laser and ballistics seemingly almost not hurt them at all (6-9 hits needs from a rifle for them to faint not to mention killing them). But their aggressive behavior is lovely! In a terror no need to search them as they come from everywhere to kill you. Or at least they did so in both terrors I have them involved.
- Love the new UFO interiors. So many sniping positions in large and very large ships that make incursions a meatgrinder. And now the AI throw accurately what is sad for my poor troops...
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.952 Update
Post by: Hobbes on December 15, 2015, 10:29:31 pm
It has a wide open 4th level where both player and AI may could move troops easily. Only I do as the aliens left and move on the lower levels where they have less opportunity to ambush my troops.

This can be corrected through adjustments on the 'Flags' setting of the nodes.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.952 Update
Post by: XOps on December 15, 2015, 10:45:08 pm
Why not do you join the force ?

Three reasons. Time, time and time. :P
Also, I've already joined the Dark Side of the Force.

That SR-71 is sexy...

One of the coolest looking jets ever made in real life.

This underground ice pyramid would also be awesome for something based on Lovecraft's Mountains of Madness story.

I need to sprite a shoggoth one day.

I heard some Muton Berserkers arrived.
If you do not mind, i will use them to kick some players ass ;)

Go ahead and help yourself. Just remember to arm them :) I gave them a pair of nice blades.

i check this thread everyday for new updates.. keep them coming dude!

Thanks! I am going to try to maintain a roughly weekly release schedule for the next few months. The next update should have at least one small new goodie and a few more fixes and adjustments.

So far what I tumbled upon in this mod - note I am just arrived mid-game as I am in 1999's november!

- Codex extraction. While I understood why it is random what one may get here but get corrupted data just for the beginning is a bit strong. I need to built another level 1 Codex what gave some tech but this is frustratingly expensive!

Much like early game rookies, early game research was designed to be mostly a miss. However, much like early game rookies, persevere and there may be a reward. Still, I will note this.

- Research tree. I think I lost something somewhere as I have lasers and tier 2 ballistics but no extra crafts apart from Rook or any option to have plasmas or such things. I interrogate everything I can acquire but mostly got useless alien mission descriptions instead of unlocking new techs. Maybe I really need Muton or Ethereal commanders to continue the researches?

Interrogations do not normally unlock new useable tech (there are a few exceptions as some of it is needed in order to use certain codex techs), only the Codex can do this. Interrogations eventually allow the player to go to Mars. The stage one codex has two crafts that may pop up upon completion of research. If you research the first stage codex enough times, they should come up.

- Resource dependancy. To much. Disassembling, as I experienced and correct me if I am wrong, gives only fragments but no alloys or elerium. What the hell may I do with 5-600 fragments if only have 120 alloys? Not help to shot down everything and loot even the Nine Hells. So few alloys are acquired all the times. And everything needs alloys to build or one may forced to use basic techs almost untill late-game? Not much problem though as I can manufacture 16-20 laser batteries per month but I planned to use these weapons later instead of ballistics.

Noted.
If you are running low on alloys, have you considered raiding supply or construction ships? Those have a lot of alien supplies which break down into all three components, but give a larger number of alloys.

- I think alien bases and key recovery missions are way to hard as the AI reluctant to move from the key areas (transmitter, controll room) and deal with 8-10 aliens within a single turn is not always possible. If the AI is defensive the alien base design is futile. It has a wide open 4th level where both player and AI may could move troops easily. Only I do as the aliens left and move on the lower levels where they have less opportunity to ambush my troops.

Noted. I need to edit the nodes to spread out the aliens a bit more. They tend to clump up around the command center and larger labs.

- I started it before the latest release so alien plasma weapons are unuseable for my troops except the plasma cannon what I researched after installing the latest version. Is there a way to make accessible all the other weapons or I must sell them? Or is this some bug what remained within?

This is a bug that will be fixed when I update next. The large plasma should not be usable unless a stage four codex tech has been discovered. In the older version the alien weapons were useless. A recent update has made classes of alien weapons usable if certain codex techs are discovered.

- Do shark guys really so strong or only special weapons are really effective against them? Laser and ballistics seemingly almost not hurt them at all (6-9 hits needs from a rifle for them to faint not to mention killing them). But their aggressive behavior is lovely! In a terror no need to search them as they come from everywhere to kill you. Or at least they did so in both terrors I have them involved.

They do indeed have a very high aggression. They are predators after all. :) I'll note that they feel too difficult at this stage. I need to do another balance pass with them regardless. They should be stronger than snakemen, but weaker than mutons and faster than both.

- Love the new UFO interiors. So many sniping positions in large and very large ships that make incursions a meatgrinder. And now the AI throw accurately what is sad for my poor troops...

Yeah. Those entries are brutal. I find it's hard to shoot up, but easy for the aliens to return fire. It's even worse if they have explosive weapons.
Thank you so much for this feedback. I think I need to reword some of my UFOpaedia entries to make a few things clearer, especially in regards to the Codex.

--- posts merge ---

- Codex extraction. While I understood why it is random what one may get here but get corrupted data just for the beginning is a bit strong. I need to built another level 1 Codex what gave some tech but this is frustratingly expensive!
- Research tree. I think I lost something somewhere as I have lasers and tier 2 ballistics but no extra crafts apart from Rook or any option to have plasmas or such things. I interrogate everything I can acquire but mostly got useless alien mission descriptions instead of unlocking new techs. Maybe I really need Muton or Ethereal commanders to continue the researches?
- Resource dependancy. To much. Disassembling, as I experienced and correct me if I am wrong, gives only fragments but no alloys or elerium. What the hell may I do with 5-600 fragments if only have 120 alloys? Not help to shot down everything and loot even the Nine Hells. So few alloys are acquired all the times. And everything needs alloys to build or one may forced to use basic techs almost untill late-game? Not much problem though as I can manufacture 16-20 laser batteries per month but I planned to use these weapons later instead of ballistics.

By the way Duke, you don't have Expend Research Item on right? Expend research items needs to be off or the game becomes near unwinnable. Also, are you researching each Codex stage multiple times or are you only research each stage once before upgrading?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.952 Update
Post by: Duke_Falcon on December 16, 2015, 10:08:12 am
By the way Duke, you don't have Expend Research Item on right? Expend research items needs to be off or the game becomes near unwinnable. Also, are you researching each Codex stage multiple times or are you only research each stage once before upgrading?
It is set up for the game to destroy items are researched so I were need to rebuild stage 1 Codex 3 times. First got corrupted data, second gave me some pass topic what unlocked Medikit and third time I gain corrupted data again. That was the point where I decided to research all stages only once as I found impossible to afford rebuild codexes and fuel my troops with items. But will turn off the expend option and give a try to the lower codexes once again.

I reached a bit further and experienced that codex 4 provides no tech as "it decides what X-com may extract". On the other hand level 5 gave me Blaster launcher so it vanished from the available research list. Now I research Archangel as an Ethereal commander and a codex 5 seemingly unlocked that together.

I try to raid and loot everything I can shot down with pilums or can caught landed. I met with a Constructor only once as I mostly got small and medium vessels and 3-4 terror ships every month (these are impossible to shot down with Rook + 2 Pilums on Superhuman or I can not managed to do so).

Armoured Mutons are cool. Those guys really hate lasers and their duelist little angry friends are the most cool terror agents after the Chryssalids. Wear those lovely tattoos, awesome!

About codex key recovery missions. I have three so far and the site always filled with armoured water-heads. Sectoids are the only race have this mission or just I were unlucky to got floaters?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.952 Update
Post by: XOps on December 16, 2015, 06:40:13 pm
It is set up for the game to destroy items are researched so I were need to rebuild stage 1 Codex 3 times. First got corrupted data, second gave me some pass topic what unlocked Medikit and third time I gain corrupted data again. That was the point where I decided to research all stages only once as I found impossible to afford rebuild codexes and fuel my troops with items. But will turn off the expend option and give a try to the lower codexes once again.

Ouch. Sorry about that. I have updated the front page and the readme file for the next release. Codex costs were never intended to be a one shot item. The idea was that the player was suppose to upgrade a single codex throughout the entire campaign. Lesson learned. Be clear on settings in the readme.  :P

I reached a bit further and experienced that codex 4 provides no tech as "it decides what X-com may extract". On the other hand level 5 gave me Blaster launcher so it vanished from the available research list. Now I research Archangel as an Ethereal commander and a codex 5 seemingly unlocked that together.

The Stage 4 Codex should have unlocked something useful. Maybe I didn't have a UFOpaedia entry for the item you unlocked. I'll double check to make sure. There should not be any dead ends at Stage 4.

About codex key recovery missions. I have three so far and the site always filled with armoured water-heads. Sectoids are the only race have this mission or just I were unlucky to got floaters?

Codex Key recovery missions use a similar race list to Terror missions. There should be different races month to month, but sometimes the RNG just assigns the same race over and over again.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.952 Update
Post by: Duke_Falcon on December 17, 2015, 09:50:17 pm
Now codex stuffs work correctly (I turned off their extermination after research). Stage 4 add no visible entry but since I researched my scientists are seemingly able to recover corrupted datas from a codex. Also got som STR_XXX_YYY entries for the pedia.

I revealed that sharks are not so strong I just not kicked of TFTD damage model what means lower weapon damage than EU damage model. Recovery missions really not single-race oriented just I were unlucky so far. I already got 2 Ethereal recovery sites and one with Mutons.

The only backward thing I see about this random codex tech recovery is that I already had Lightning when got Skywarden. Maybe some more tech dependancies shall help this or players just jump a few tiers of transports if lucky to get early Lightnings? Also wonder ancient abominations do apart from stay and not move. I found no effect created by them... Or they only spotters?

And I edited a bit the carcharadon pedia image as the living specimen's feet looks a bit odd...
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.953 Update
Post by: XOps on December 26, 2015, 07:29:27 pm
Also wonder ancient abominations do apart from stay and not move. I found no effect created by them... Or they only spotters?

They should shoot. They have the hybrid's weapon.  They also have psionics. I really need to give them something more unique.
Alos, I'll take a look at the feet for the Carcharodon's ufopaedia artwork.


Updated to 0.953
V0.953
  -Added hybrid grenades
  -Reduced Human Elerium Lamp cost and manufacturing time and increased its sell price
  -Fixed a tile issue on one of the scout UFOs
  -Alien plasma cannon should not be usable until much later. Fixed this bug
  -Fixed soldiers not screaming upon dying
  -Lowered storage size of UAV rockets
  -Thought about it for a while and I think I'm doing it. I removed the Lightning from the research list. It is just filler and I don't see any reason why someone would use it. Might add it later if I rework it.
  -Updated abomination artwork and ufopeadia entries

--- posts merge ---

Updated to 0.954

Changelog
V0.954
  -Added an upgraded minigun with alternate ammo types
  -Added an assault cannon. This combined with the minigun should flesh out the heavy weapons for tier 2
  -Lowered cost of minigun
  -Updated Hybrid autopsy UFOPaedia artwork
  -Updated Overlord UFOPaedia artwork for both normal entry and autopsy
  -Updated Carcharadon UFOPaedia artwork to fix feet
  -Reduced cost and sell price of all Tech Rounds
  -Reorganized and reordered a bunch of UFOPaedia stuff. Ditched XCOM Technology category and merged it with CODEX Technology
  -Deleted a couple of useless UFOPaedia entries that no longer fit into any category
  -Updated UFOPaedia entries for all stage one Codex technologies. Also updated much of the artwork for Codex stage one technologies, but I am still not finished in that area.
  -Deleted small psi amp research. Pisonic warfare now unlocks it directly.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.953 Update
Post by: new_civilian on December 27, 2015, 05:27:11 pm
Wow, really impressive mod! You have one lucky hand with those graphics.  8)

One minor point, though: Now with your different graphic style, the original weaponry (rocket launcher, heavy cannon etc) look completely out of place, you might consider replacing their graphics as well. or delete them entirely.

Apart from that: Mighty fine work, can't wait to play through the v.1.0 once it has been released!  :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.953 Update
Post by: XOps on December 27, 2015, 05:38:40 pm
Wow, really impressive mod! You have one lucky hand with those graphics.  8)

One minor point, though: Now with your different graphic style, the original weaponry (rocket launcher, heavy cannon etc) look completely out of place, you might consider replacing their graphics as well. or delete them entirely.

Thanks. Yeah I plan to replace the Autocanon, heavy Cannon, and Rocket Launcher at one point. I actually have alternate versions of them, but I'm not satisfied with them yet.

Update
Released a hotfix. Researching Engineers was crashing the game because I was stupid and forgot to give the new UFOs a research item. :P

--- posts merge ---

Another update. This one is sort of a sound update.

V0.955
  -Fixed Carcharodon Engineer looking up wrong UFOPaedia entry
  -Updated sprite for Carcharodon to make them look a little better
  -Gave the Carhcarodon's melee attack the reaper animation
  -Updated Carcharodon's death scream
  -Updated Abomination's sound effects
  -Updated plasma weapon sounds
  -Lowered sell price of UAV
  -Updated floater death sound. It sounds off, but it won't be once I update the spritework for the floater. I am doing a more cybernetic re-imagining of the floater
  -Updated the text of the second stage codex ufopaedia technologies
  -Updated the text for a few third stage codex ufopaedia technologies
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.955 Update
Post by: Duke_Falcon on January 04, 2016, 10:23:52 pm
Finished!
Endgame+Archangel+Codex complete took an eternity and consumed the resources of 4 alien bases (one of them were full of Ethereals what was really not funny)... This mod is a gem! I liked it so much that I almost forgot those small glitches except that somehow it throws me out to desktop whenever Armoured Sectoid Navigator is researched.

Was my bad saw later that this issue were fixed. Nevertheless I were able to finish this mod and Cydonia was a carnage. Blue muton pals are awesome and hard like a rock from hell.

Quote
-Updated floater death sound. It sounds off, but it won't be once I update the spritework for the floater. I am doing a more cybernetic re-imagining of the floater
Please, just tell me it will not like those crappy faggots from 2000 X-com. >:( Those legless flying droids were a mere joke what they - I really hope and advice for them - accidentally were forgotten in-game. If not they should die for such a blasphemy when the Stargods find them... :o
Wait...
Well, just do not abuse with to much heresy my lovely, iconic floaters ;)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.956 Update
Post by: XOps on January 10, 2016, 07:10:23 pm
Finished!
Endgame+Archangel+Codex complete took an eternity and consumed the resources of 4 alien bases (one of them were full of Ethereals what was really not funny)... This mod is a gem! I liked it so much that I almost forgot those small glitches except that somehow it throws me out to desktop whenever Armoured Sectoid Navigator is researched.
I'll try to look into the Armoured Sectoid. It is easy to mess up those interrogation techs. I am very happy that you enjoyed the mod.

In regards to pacing, do you feel that the mod progresses too slowly? (or too slowly or quickly during different parts of the game?) I did need to pad things out a bit in order for the player to make use of the many tech levels the mod offers. Allowing the tech tree to move along too quickly makes the lesser technologies worthless (a big problem in the previous versions of this mod). Anything you think could be improved in this area? Or for that matter, any other feedback you can give me in regards to future improvements or even stuff you would like to see?

Please, just tell me it will not like those crappy faggots from 2000 X-com. >:( Those legless flying droids were a mere joke what they - I really hope and advice for them - accidentally were forgotten in-game. If not they should die for such a blasphemy when the Stargods find them... :o
Wait...
Well, just do not abuse with to much heresy my lovely, iconic floaters ;)
These are the prototypes I have so far (Original floater on the left, redesigns in the middle, heavy version on the right, none of these are final draft)
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/JDHLWBRS011020161149.png)
I know you love your floaters Duke, though I honestly thought they were one of the strangest aliens visually. Even stranger looking than the purple body builders in green wetsuits :). Mostly it's the weird cape, like the floaters wanted to be a legless superman or something.
I know I may earn some ire here, but I thought the alien redesigns on the 2012 version were, for the most part, good. I even thought the floaters looked threatening, at least until they moved around like they were a puppet on strings and let out a battle cry that sounded like a cat being run over by a bus :P. Can't fault the concept artist for bad sound design and animations though.


Posted another update
V0.956
  -Updated a ton of UFOPaedia entry writing. Got 90% of the text done for the new UFOPaedia
  -Converted facility images into gifs since recent updates messed up the pngs' transparency
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.956 Update
Post by: Dioxine on January 10, 2016, 07:41:08 pm
These your new floaters look cool, nowhere near the 2012 design line. I think the key to 2012 design was to make all the enemies look less like intelligent life forms and more like beasts/animals, which I personally find a bit... sad, but then again, I think the whole Firaxis is a bit sad :)

As for the OG floaters... well, I always thought about them as some diabolical weirdos, employing scare tactics because they suck as fighting units. The armored one you've made still looks diabolical, so he's OK :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.956 Update
Post by: Duke_Falcon on January 10, 2016, 11:02:39 pm
Man! You can not just come here and do such things like new Floaters and succeed! Why it is that all your redesigns are so cool that I do want them in-game? That third Floater is just cool. Awesomely cool. Want that in Xops...

About research I meant the final topics took very long to research. Waiting 2-3 months just to go Cydonia is frustrating if you have squads what eliminate any kind of alien threat on Earth. Maybe some research-related aliens? I mean some ultra-powerfull bastards whom appear only if ultimate craft + ultimate codex researched? Or mix crew? I mean hyper-wave decoder helps a lot how to equip your soldiers and thus no challenge remains after a certain point. Mixing crew may provide some edge in this meaning. A crew what's members needs all kind of weapons to deal with could be a real kick-ass when your soldiers have god-like stats and obliterating weaponry.

Otherwise the pace of the game is OK in my humble opinion.
Just miss the dogs. Maybe rottweilers?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.956 Update
Post by: SIMON BAILIE on January 19, 2016, 01:44:03 am
Really enjoying your mod so far, into June of the first year. The codex missions are very nasty but very enjoyable. I like the added graphic touch of the dead corpses thrown out of the harvester, reminds me of the blood & guts laying about everywhere in the Doom games.

--- posts merge ---

First time ever that I've received this in UFO:EU, had got it once before in TFTD-see picture. It was actually quite annoying as it was the first mission versus Carcharodons.
Could you answer me one question, I managed to do some research down the psionic line and have produced one psionic projecter @ XCOM HQ base but I can't equip it, is this a glitch or am I missing out on some research? ps I've almost researched all stage 2 CODEX technology, am ready to build stage 3 ASAP.
Of all the new weapons I must say the sonic cannon is my favourite.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.956 Update
Post by: XOps on January 19, 2016, 06:53:27 am
Could you answer me one question, I managed to do some research down the psionic line and have produced one psionic projecter @ XCOM HQ base but I can't equip it, is this a glitch or am I missing out on some research? ps I've almost researched all stage 2 CODEX technology, am ready to build stage 3 ASAP.

That would be a bug. It should be usable. That's what I get for copy pasting the code from the psi amp. :P
I'll fix it for the next version. I've attached a ruleset hotfix. Drop in Xeno Ops mod rules folder.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.956 Update
Post by: SIMON BAILIE on January 22, 2016, 01:25:51 am
Just a small thing I noticed in the ufopedia, not very important but the text for the following doesn't all show, is there anything that can be done? I tried reducing the video to to 640 x 480 but still the same.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.956 Update
Post by: XOps on January 22, 2016, 06:51:49 pm
Just a small thing I noticed in the ufopedia, not very important but the text for the following doesn't all show, is there anything that can be done? I tried reducing the video to to 640 x 480 but still the same.

The obvious solution is that the mod author needs to tightened up his UFOPaedia entry writing.  :)
I updated the Hypervelocity weapons with a third ammo type, but didn't update the UFOpaeida entry text since the third ammo type scrunches up the text. I fixed it in the current update.

V0.957
  -Shrank size of Codex Recovery Mission slightly to 70x70
  -Fixed PSI amp not being usable bug
  -Updated Hypervelocity weapon UFOpaedia text to fit within new window
  -Floaters Rebooted

(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/YTQNPBSC121620150139.png) (https://www.openxcom.com/content/files/pqAGvXIa/XenoOperations0.957.zip)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: SIMON BAILIE on January 23, 2016, 05:03:49 am
Just updated to v0.957 and I like the floaters ufopedia image, reminds me of the floaters from the 2012 remake. I assume the only change to the floaters is in the ufopedia images and not the sprites in battlescape or are you considering this? I was going to suggest reducing the size of the codex grids as IMHO they were a bit like some of the missions in TFTD, wandering about for ages before you even spot an alien. One final question if I may, is there an earliest nightly I should be using as I'm still running from 2016-01-07-0008. I've had no problems so if I don't have to update all the better. You know the old expression, if it ain't broken don't try to fix it!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: XOps on January 23, 2016, 06:10:48 pm
I assume the only change to the floaters is in the ufopedia images and not the sprites in battlescape or are you considering this?
The battlescape sprite should already be implemented. I replaced the battlescape sprite, UFOPaedia picture, autopsy picture, big objs, and floor objs. The only one I forgot was the inventory screen when they are mind controlled, but I'll fix that next update.

One final question if I may, is there an earliest nightly I should be using as I'm still running from 2016-01-07-0008. I've had no problems so if I don't have to update all the better. You know the old expression, if it ain't broken don't try to fix it!
The oldest nightly that should still be compatible should be one of the November ones I think? The one where new soldier types were added. Any nightly before that crashes I believe since it doesn't recognize new soldier types.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Hoodrich on February 07, 2016, 07:08:34 pm
Great mod, amazing and for me, incredibly difficult!
I believe I have found bugs in the mod, I am not sure if they are in the game by design although I am fairly convinced they are not.( I am using Nightlies 2016-01-30)
-When I start a game and build a base, I have two manufacture options: The Defense Contract and The Laser Sword. I believe Defense contract is supposed to be there but I believe the laser sword is a bug. I have noticed that after researching a few items the in early game I can no longer manufacture the laser sword.
-When I research an alien weapon I cannot equip it in a craft or manufacture it and I have noticed that even after I have researched it, it still reads Alien Artifact in the battlescape, but it appears I can use them on battlescape, but not equip them into  a craft.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: XOps on February 09, 2016, 05:27:12 am
Great mod, amazing and for me, incredibly difficult!
I believe I have found bugs in the mod, I am not sure if they are in the game by design although I am fairly convinced they are not.( I am using Nightlies 2016-01-30)
-When I start a game and build a base, I have two manufacture options: The Defense Contract and The Laser Sword. I believe Defense contract is supposed to be there but I believe the laser sword is a bug. I have noticed that after researching a few items the in early game I can no longer manufacture the laser sword.

So I'm not crazy. I kept seeing that laser sword bug myself, but then it would vanish before I could fix it. Stupid phantom bug.

-When I research an alien weapon I cannot equip it in a craft or manufacture it and I have noticed that even after I have researched it, it still reads Alien Artifact in the battlescape, but it appears I can use them on battlescape, but not equip them into  a craft.

Not a bug, just a lazy modder who needs to update his alien weapon UFOpaedia entries. An inability to use alien weapons is a design feature of the mod. Researching only reveals weapon statistics. Later Codex research gradually unlocks alien weapons for use, but there is no way to manufacture alien weapons, but late game research does allow XCom to build their own versions.

Thank you for the feedback.  :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: chaosshade on February 09, 2016, 05:53:45 am
I love the mod, XOps, been looking forward to the next set of updates.  I love scavving your weapon sprites!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: blackwolf on February 10, 2016, 08:45:46 am
this mod looks pretty cool indeed, i love the high techie sci fi vibe you got here.....and man DAAAAT GIFF THO  8) 8)...i love how a lot of stuff is animated in the missions (i love the harvester bloody carnage feeling you got when you storm the first floor for the very first time :D!)
this is awesome!, imho only miss the commendation and the expanded terrain and map packs and this would be perfect :P :P :P

edit: also juuuuuuuuuuust and small nit-picky annoying thing.
 i notice how sometimes the armors, suits and stuff have the "tanned gray-brownish color"(sorry i dont know how to describe it, but you know,the vainilla POWER SUIT ARMOR COLOR) being the "standard" version of most armors, but the personal armour standard color is a blueish one and its feels odd and my OCD is killing me xD, so i think it should be better if PA its also tan for the continuity and standarish sake ...if you dont care about this i understand it and i would like to know how to fix this ...cheers :p
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: XOps on February 15, 2016, 05:17:00 am
I love the mod, XOps, been looking forward to the next set of updates.  I love scavving your weapon sprites!
Thanks. Hopefully I can release the next update soon. Been really busy on my end. I haven't been completely idle though.

this mod looks pretty cool indeed, i love the high techie sci fi vibe you got here.....and man DAAAAT GIFF THO  8) 8)...i love how a lot of stuff is animated in the missions (i love the harvester bloody carnage feeling you got when you storm the first floor for the very first time :D!)
this is awesome!, imho only miss the commendation and the expanded terrain and map packs and this would be perfect :P :P :P

edit: also juuuuuuuuuuust and small nit-picky annoying thing.
 i notice how sometimes the armors, suits and stuff have the "tanned gray-brownish color"(sorry i dont know how to describe it, but you know,the vainilla POWER SUIT ARMOR COLOR) being the "standard" version of most armors, but the personal armour standard color is a blueish one and its feels odd and my OCD is killing me xD, so i think it should be better if PA its also tan for the continuity and standarish sake ...if you dont care about this i understand it and i would like to know how to fix this ...cheers :p


Thanks for the feedback. The armor naming thing should be fixed on the next update. Also the commendation mod is completely compatible. I should probably mention that on the front page. I hope to add a lot more maps in the future, but I am trying to get the rest of the mod finished first before I start messing with that.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: new_civilian on April 03, 2016, 03:58:05 pm
Here some small tribute screenshots. I have to admit I am using some parts of your mod for my own (strictly personal) mod, I changed the final cydonia map to your base and edited the objectives accordingly... things like that.  :)

Anyway: Your work is just incredible. Thanks for all this.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Vermoin on April 05, 2016, 11:20:21 pm
This mod is wonderful, but I have one problem with it. Melee is bugged: Everytime anything does a melee attack, the game crashes no matter what. So I can't get past any floater terror missions, nor have a good chance of capturing live aliens early game. It means I can never get past the early game, which is really shiet. Can someone help me out?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: johnnyfog on April 28, 2016, 08:12:20 am
Holy Hell!  This is a mod that'll put hair on your chest. 

Everything's nerfed.  Everything. My guns are s*it, my armor is s*it, my grenades are s*hit, my fighters are s*it... even research trees only restore you to the Ufo Defense defaults.

But you know what's sadistic?  Sniper nests in the ufos.  Best I can figure, there are blind spots under the hull, but unless you're in the right spot you can't retaliate.  I nearly captured a "Cloner" ship in January...only to lose my entire team to Chris Kyle on the third level. 

Nearly gave up on reactions training completely..until I found a small ufos with some roachers.

(EDIT:  Oh, and Silacoids are the new Chryssalids.  With no lasers, all you have is rockets--often indoors. have fun with that.)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: AncientSion on May 02, 2016, 08:16:32 pm
I have to say that the visuals of this mod are amazing, Its like its a whole new game with the Ufos, armor, Pedia, weapons. Amazing, amazing job.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: johnnyfog on May 03, 2016, 07:17:29 am
Experimenting with new ways of destroying the transmitters.   Fascinating, this mod.   HWPs fit my play style, because if all else fails you can brute force your way through a map.   But an HWP can destroy your only route(s) out of the temple. 

Question:   if I clean out the temple instead of bombing the codex, do I get a windfall of some sort?  Does the transmitter get added to my inventory?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: ohartenstein23 on May 09, 2016, 08:56:42 pm
Enjoying the mod immensely, especially the early choices between selling UFO parts and breaking them down for codex fragments, and between using the fragments/alloys to make better equipment versus using the materials to tech up.  Also, love the PDWs as starting weapons, I was a fan of giving probably more soldiers than I should the SMGs in Final Mod Pack, it's great that you enabled these weapons as a viable alternative to the assault rifles.

Question:   if I clean out the temple instead of bombing the codex, do I get a windfall of some sort?  Does the transmitter get added to my inventory?

Just completed a codex recovery where I cleared out all the floaters without destroying the device, I didn't see any extra loot from the mission.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: ohartenstein23 on May 18, 2016, 12:03:20 am
Experienced a CTD when attempting to fire the hybrid cannon with the chem (incendiary shells), happens on hitting the target.  I've attached a save where it occurs, just use the selected soldier to fire on the Muton he's facing.

I was able to fix the CTD by changing the lines for the hit sound/animation for STR_HB_CANNON_CLIP2 to
Code: [Select]
    hitSound: 0
    hitAnimation: 0
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: ohartenstein23 on May 31, 2016, 11:38:05 pm
Sorry to be mostly posting bugs here, but I found a glitch with one of the UFO maps.  In the save attached, I'm assaulting one of the very large UFOs from either a infiltration or base construction mission (I'll see at the end of the month).  If you instruct the selected UAV to move up to the next higher level, it does so by pathing through the floor straight into one of the side engine rooms - I had discovered this with the other UAV already in the room, just wanted to make sure it was reproducible.  It's a possible exploit for making the assault easier using armed UAVs or flying armor.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: begri on June 09, 2016, 01:41:44 am
Very good mod.

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Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: begri on June 11, 2016, 10:45:18 am
Crash at extraction recovery mission.

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Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: begri on June 20, 2016, 10:08:04 am
When will come the next release?

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Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: XOps on July 25, 2016, 03:25:32 am
For those wondering where I have been for the past several months, well did you know that launching a book is really hard and time consuming? So basically my time and creative energy has been monopolized on getting my book launched, getting a website set up, design work for marketing materials, etc. However, that does not mean that I have abandoned this mod. I always come back to XCom, and I always end up fiddling with this mod.

I have been working on a few things.
(https://www.openxcom.com/content/modimages/KGRYHQRT072420160816.gif)
But I haven't really had time to sit down and add enough to merit an update. I will post more info when I start working on this mod again. If I can ever find time, I will try to sit down and iron out of the lot of the bugs others have found first.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: ohartenstein23 on August 17, 2016, 03:31:26 am
It's anything that has incendiary explosions and a hit/explosion sound defined - the game has an explosion sound hard coded in based on power, and it conflicts with defining a new one.  See my earlier post for a fix:

Experienced a CTD when attempting to fire the hybrid cannon with the chem (incendiary shells), happens on hitting the target.  I've attached a save where it occurs, just use the selected soldier to fire on the Muton he's facing.

I was able to fix the CTD by changing the lines for the hit sound/animation for STR_HB_CANNON_CLIP2 to
Code: [Select]
    hitSound: 0
    hitAnimation: 0
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Eduard_Nope on September 30, 2016, 05:30:05 pm
Is there any way to implement only visual changes with no effect on gameplay. Because I use FMP and it's not working correct with this mod
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Meridian on September 30, 2016, 05:34:07 pm
Is there any way to implement only visual changes with no effect on gameplay. Because I use FMP and it's not working correct with this mod

Depends which visual changes do you mean exactly.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: ohartenstein23 on September 30, 2016, 06:21:52 pm
The short answer is yes, as long as you're willing to write your own mod to do it.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Wolfstarr on October 01, 2016, 10:47:08 pm
OMG the sprites in this mod are awesome!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Vermoin on November 28, 2016, 12:33:07 am
Hey, this mod is amazing, I got it to work a while back. Problem is though, I can't find where I can activate the TFTD manufacturing rules. Can somebody please help?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: MrFebreze on December 16, 2016, 02:50:34 am
Someone should do an LP of this mod.  I'd do it but my OS is old.

I learned this the hard way: you should hoard alloys.  Then invest in a large lab so you can crack the codex in time. 
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: ohartenstein23 on December 17, 2016, 01:31:14 am
I have a suggestion for the color/camoflage variants of armors: if you set them to all have the same storeItem, then you don't need to manufacture different colors; one item lets you use any color of the armor.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Cristao on December 24, 2016, 12:13:02 am
Error received. STR_MUTON_GUARD not found. Game attached.

EDIT: I looked through the code. I couldnt find an entry for STR_MUTON_GUARD in items.rul. I intend to add the below. I will keep on searching.

  - type: STR_MUTON_GUARD
    size: 0.0
    recover: true
    liveAlien: true
    costSell: 65000

EDIT #2: I looked through ufopedia.rul. I could see an entry for STR_MUTON_GUARD but no entry for the corpse. I understand from looking through the code that the intention is for the MUTON GUARD to only be accessible during the final Cydonia mission. In that case, I propose the below - remove them from the free research available to the medics. I doubt there is any weapon dependent on meeting them. Do confirm if there is.

EDIT #3: Following on from the second edit, I have disabled / commented out the STR_MUTON_GUARD string under the medics. This should solve the problem.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Cristao on December 28, 2016, 10:54:12 pm
I have advanced and am now in Jan 2000. The Aegis, the third generation fighter, seems to have a very short fuel range. Is this for real or does it need a fix?

EDIT: Created mod to change capacity. Did below changes.

  - type: STR_XCF3
    fuelMax: 40
    refuelRate: 10

EDIT 2: Didnt work. I guess I have to look at how speed, fuel and the formula works.

https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Ruleset_Reference_Nightly_(OpenXcom)#Crafts

https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Refueling

EDIT 3: Noticed no infopedia text for Shock (Stun) weapons... There is also a high number of infiltrations. At the moment, all my big payers have been subverted. I suspect that is why you added the money contracts.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Cristao on January 19, 2017, 09:50:45 pm
Deciding to research all the codecs takes a really lonnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggg time!! However you get some pretty sick tech and better ways of making money!
Title: XenoOps + newest nightlies = ?
Post by: VSx86 on May 01, 2017, 06:04:49 am
Is this mod compatible with newest nightlies, e.g. April 2017?
If no, which ruleset/resources patches must be applied?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Mr. Quiet on May 26, 2017, 04:17:16 am
XOps, you still working on this project?

I read your post above. What's the book about? Sci-Fi?
Title: Xeno Operations Mod - is it discontinued?..
Post by: VSx86 on August 09, 2017, 08:31:52 pm
It looks like this really good and promising mod are abandoned...


So, we need to find a not-so-busy and experienced modder,
who will be maintaining the XenoOps Mod:

> fixing future incompatibilities with newest OpenXcom nightlies
and
> probably fix the existing gameplay-related bugs.


(I cannot do this myself because I'm too busy with real life stuff
like cooking, housekeeping, photography tours and, of course, work).
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Yataka Shimaoka on August 10, 2017, 03:19:12 am
I pretty much liked your attitude to this mod, but the XENO OPS mod is compatible with the latest nightlies, my best bet is that for you to use OXCE+ to fix the bugs, been playing it from last year and I continued on upgrading into the newest nightlies were the mod is still working WITH a lot of bugs, that's why I recommended you to use OXCE+, but you must also download the mod "Missing Strings" so the game will work properly without incorrect typos
Title: Re: Xeno Operations Mod - is it discontinued?..
Post by: nadir-1648 on August 15, 2017, 03:51:05 pm
It looks like this really good and promising mod are abandoned...


So, we need to find a not-so-busy and experienced modder,
who will be maintaining the XenoOps Mod:

> fixing future incompatibilities with newest OpenXcom nightlies
and
> probably fix the existing gameplay-related bugs.


(I cannot do this myself because I'm too busy with real life stuff
like cooking, housekeeping, photography tours and, of course, work).

Y'know... unless XOps stays gone for a much longer time without a word, or has given express permission for continuation by an external party, I feel like it's kind of a dick move to write him off as gone and declare that someone else should do his job for him.

Especially if you don't want to do it yourself. What are you, a mod coroner?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Solarius Scorch on August 15, 2017, 05:32:25 pm
Well, not coroner, but I think we could use a mod orphanage... It's a much needed position.

Of course, a mod must be a confirmed orphan before going to the orphanage. ;)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: SteamXCOM on August 15, 2017, 09:45:02 pm
Maintenance is something everyone who is interested can participate in such as what Cristao did for eliminating a problem with  STR_MUTON_GUARD.

He posted the fix and where we can add (or remove ) it ourselves if we are playing that mod.
Title: Re: Xeno Operations Mod - is it discontinued?..
Post by: Wolfstarr on August 15, 2017, 11:07:49 pm
It looks like this really good and promising mod are abandoned...


So, we need to find a not-so-busy and experienced modder,
who will be maintaining the XenoOps Mod:

> fixing future incompatibilities with newest OpenXcom nightlies
and
> probably fix the existing gameplay-related bugs.


(I cannot do this myself because I'm too busy with real life stuff
like cooking, housekeeping, photography tours and, of course, work).

The problem is that we all have busy lives and many of us have our own projects that we are working on here in our limited spare time.

If you want to develop your own mod or a spiritual successor to his work then perhaps invest the time into picking it up yourself, it is quite daunting at first but as stuff starts to work out the ideas keep flowing :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Vermoin on August 18, 2017, 11:31:44 pm
This is easily my favourite mod out of them all for XCOM, and it's pretty sad to see it in a stagnant state. I would love at least a peep from the developer too confirm he is at least alive, you know? Obviously his life takes first priority over the mod, but a word of acknowledgement would be wonderful.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: ohartenstein23 on August 24, 2017, 09:28:07 pm
Small QoL mod for those still playing Xeno Operations - it makes all of those armor color variants use the same armor as the standard version, meaning you only need to manufacture one set of armor to get access to all the colors.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Yataka Shimaoka on September 14, 2017, 02:31:17 pm
Oh cool a sub mod
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Xenobyte on October 21, 2017, 09:58:56 pm
Hello everybody, my name is Dmitriy. You speak, that mod is abandoned and it need a not busy modder. I am not modder, but i can translate it to russian and maybe there are some not busy modders in russian users of OpenXCOM and a XOps mod.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Yataka Shimaoka on October 22, 2017, 07:48:52 am
Well, I'm not the mod 'owner', but a very busy modder. So if you want to translate it to Russian, you can, then I'll implement it to the mod, how about that?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Xenobyte on October 22, 2017, 10:55:17 am
Well, I'm not the mod 'owner', but a very busy modder. So if you want to translate it to Russian, you can, then I'll implement it to the mod, how about that?
Hello. I already started translation, i will message you when i'll done with it. I'll be very honored if you implement my translation in XOps. It will have full translation.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Yataka Shimaoka on October 22, 2017, 11:31:53 am
Nah, just post it here, and I'll do the rest
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Hyper2Snyper on January 23, 2018, 04:51:36 am
the link was invisible.
so here it is.
https://www.openxcom.com/content/files/pqAGvXIa/XenoOperations0.957.zip
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Hyper2Snyper on January 23, 2018, 04:59:56 am
Your welcome
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Yataka Shimaoka on January 23, 2018, 08:20:27 am
Sorry what? The link is invisible? What link? The link of this mod? Its on the first post, there is a photo there that says "download", just press on that
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Yataka Shimaoka on January 23, 2018, 12:13:02 pm
Oh yeah, the link is nowhere in the first post.
I guess it won't hurt if I post the mod here?
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.957 Update
Post by: Yataka Shimaoka on January 23, 2018, 12:23:14 pm
Sounds good to me
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: XOps on January 26, 2018, 04:22:43 am
Hey everybody. I fixed the download link. Uploaded a new version with a few fixes. Sorry about my prolonged silence.

So what’s been happening to me? Well I sortof kindof achieved pseudo internet fame by accident. Those who have dived back in the thread may have noticed something about me writing a book. I spent the last couple of years trying to market it. Well I succeeded, though not how I planned. In an act of desperation, I made a silly YouTube channel where I gave terrible writing advice in a highly sarcastic tone and for some reason it took off. So I make my living now creating videos where I tell people what not to do. Go figure. So basically my creative career ate me.

So is this mod abandoned? Nope. I am just on hiatus until my funds stabilize. This mod is a labor of love, but stuff that pays bills is a priority for me at the moment. I always come back to Xcom as it is still my favorite game. I will be back because there are still so many more things I want to add. Until then, if the mod breaks, please feel free to email me (my email is in my profile info). I will try to lurk here a bit more and I want to keep this mod at least working with the latest nightly. I will also try to fix game breaking bugs when they crop up.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: Meridian on January 26, 2018, 09:17:04 am
In an act of desperation, I made a silly YouTube channel where I gave terrible writing advice in a highly sarcastic tone and for some reason it took off. So I make my living now creating videos where I tell people what not to do.

Link please :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: XOps on January 27, 2018, 03:33:49 am
Link please :)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ogrx6d9oohf6D42G44j1A
My channel page has links to my website as well.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: chaosshade on January 27, 2018, 06:18:25 am
Your channel is hilarious, XOps.  And, more than anything, it's nice to know you're back!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: Solarius Scorch on January 27, 2018, 12:04:15 pm
Great to see you back, man.

Please let us know if you need any X-Com resources; so much stuff was made these past few years, there's a fair chance something you need already exists. ;)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: Yankes on January 27, 2018, 12:38:08 pm
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ogrx6d9oohf6D42G44j1A
My channel page has links to my website as well.
Do you plan add love triangle to your mod? :D
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: SIMON BAILIE on January 28, 2018, 09:12:39 pm
Just tried v0.958 and get a crash upon starting a new game, no save available. Tried it on both the latest nightly and latest opxce+ but save result-see picture. When I tried using opxce+ it will allow me to start a new battle but not new game!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: XOps on January 30, 2018, 08:21:37 am
Great to see you back, man.

Please let us know if you need any X-Com resources; so much stuff was made these past few years, there's a fair chance something you need already exists. ;)

I'm actually more interested in how far openxcom extended has come.

Do you plan add love triangle to your mod? :D
That's just inevitable. There is no escaping love triangles.  :)

Just tried v0.958 and get a crash upon starting a new game, no save available. Tried it on both the latest nightly and latest opxce+ but save result-see picture. When I tried using opxce+ it will allow me to start a new battle but not new game!
Disable all other mods first. See if that's the problem. Anything that messes with soldiers are armors might be the culprit. It runs on both extended and the most recent nightly for me.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: Solarius Scorch on January 30, 2018, 11:06:12 am
OXCE+ has gone pretty far already, and still going strong. :)

Meridian's thread contains a comprehensive list of changes and links to specific features with explanations. But if you want a more direct source of information, I strongly recommend joining Discord (where most of X-Com community does business nowadays) and particularly the Piratez server, where Meridian made a home for OXCE+ development. Meridian is also on the Openxcom server and the X-Com Files server.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: SIMON BAILIE on January 30, 2018, 03:29:35 pm
Found the guilty culprit, seems that the attached mod is incompatible with Xeno Ops.

Edit: The attached mod will allow a new game to start so long as xeno ops is lower in the mods screen-see attached.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: The Think Tank on January 31, 2018, 01:28:42 am
Goodness me, you have no idea how excited it makes me to see this mod is kicking once more. Best of luck to ya, Xeno!
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: Yataka Shimaoka on February 03, 2018, 02:21:35 pm
A quick gift of appreciation to Xops
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: SIMON BAILIE on February 17, 2018, 11:23:03 pm
In my current game I may have found a potential bug. I have kept a record of all live aliens captured which equals a muton soldier, muton navigator and a floater navigator but after researching them, I can seemingly research them over and over again. I should only get a dead body back to my stores. Playing xeno operations v0.958 with oxce+ v3.10a of 31/01/18.

--- posts merged. Why so much double posting lately? ---

Forgot to add on previous post that I really enjoy the new design of the ufos as it adds another dimension to the challenge. In the meantime I'm still keeping a record of the aliens I capture and after researching a particular type/rank I sell it to avoid "cheating".
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: SIMON BAILIE on March 02, 2018, 12:52:58 am
A few observations during my current game: (1) Is it intentional that harvesters don't have a leader? (2) The shock weapons don't appear to have any ufopedia info about them, really do like the shock cannon as a lot of the enemies go down with 1 hit. (3) Currently playing on oxce+ v3.10a of 31/01/18 and I'm into the 2nd year but have only reached stage 3 of the codex.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: blackwolf on March 03, 2018, 07:40:23 am
this mod is absolutely gorgeous, im trapped playing it while also playing the Warhammer 40k total conversion and also the X-files...im like an absolute madman not being able to decide which one keep playing and just keep switching between them but i have to say this is one of my favourites.....if i could only ask or request something..... It would be to have some of your beautiful work on the base tile (i mean the Xcom ones), i play battles time to time just to keep looking to such wonderful sprite work....but always keep wondering if someday the dull gray-brownish ugly tiles/sprites from vainilla xcom base are gonna be washed out like he did with the alien base, i hope that glorius day come (no matter how far it may look i wish that day comes :p).

Ps. maybe i could ask also the sprite for the nerve armour have matching purple lights so they could be EVEN more unique...but thats like nonsensical whinning tho.

Thanks for all your work XOps, im anxious to keep watching (and obviously playing with) all your future work :D.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: SIMON BAILIE on April 19, 2018, 04:58:34 pm
An avoidable crash has just occured as research finishes at midnight-see attached. I can in the meantime just pause the research on the floater medic.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: Yataka Shimaoka on April 20, 2018, 01:17:59 pm
That's a known crash, since muton guards doesn't have any paedia topics, advise is don't research medic classes
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: leekall on June 18, 2018, 07:41:01 am
where is the link to download VR 0.0958
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: yergnoor on June 18, 2018, 08:00:21 am
where is the link to download VR 0.0958
The XenoOperations0.958.zip file is attached to the first comment of this topic.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations Mod -0.958 Update
Post by: Mitra Lightbringer on July 23, 2018, 04:06:03 pm
This is one of the best mods ever.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations v0.96
Post by: Meridian on July 27, 2019, 04:48:00 pm
Updated to be able to run on the latest nightly (and on OXCE).

Download attached.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations v0.96
Post by: The Martian on October 09, 2019, 08:44:18 am
Xeno Operations has some amazing sprite work!

I've been editing a few of the weapons colour schemes and I'm sharing them to save anyone who wants to play with something similar a bit of time.

All of the images are attached to this post in a .zip file and are configured to work with the X-Com: Enemy Unknown palette.

HandObs and FloorObs in each colour are also included in the .zip file.

Here is a sheet with all of the different colour styles available in the attached file, The first image in each line is the original equipment colour scheme:
(https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2913.0;attach=44658;image)


To use these with Xeno Operations just place them in the corresponding weapons resource folder and overwrite the original file.
(Highly recommend making a backup of the original before you do this.)

The path to the resources you would need to overwrite should be something like this:
(Your OpenXcom Mod Folder)/XenoOperations/Resources/Weapons/
(Your OpenXcom Mod Folder)/XenoOperations/Resources/AlienArsenal/


Have fun. ^_^
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations v0.96
Post by: efrenespartano on October 09, 2019, 07:45:48 pm
Xeno Operations has some amazing sprite work!

I've been editing a few of the weapons colour schemes and I'm sharing them to save anyone who wants to play with something similar a bit of time.

Have fun. ^_^

Nice, The Martian! Great recoloring work, thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations v0.97
Post by: Meridian on August 28, 2020, 08:14:17 pm
Updated to be able to run on the latest OXCE v6.6.

Download attached.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations v0.97
Post by: Stricknine on June 20, 2021, 03:54:22 am
I encountered a bug where all of the items in my craft were missing from the ground during the first terror mission. Then, when the mission was over, it said all those items were gone and that I didn't have enough items to re-equip my squad.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations v0.97
Post by: hellrazor on June 22, 2021, 08:43:31 am
Is it fully playable now?
Because I wanna test :)
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations v0.97
Post by: Vermoin on June 25, 2021, 02:09:43 am
Is it fully playable now?
Because I wanna test :)

Sadly I think the mod has been abandoned - hopefully temporarily - as the author is now, well, an author, and runs this YouTube account.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ogrx6d9oohf6D42G44j1A

I'm hoping some day he comes back to finish the rest of the mod, as in my opinion I think it is the best XCom mod ever made, or at least has the potential to be. To answer your question though, it is fully playable, but balancing and research times are all over the place, some UFOpedia articles aren't finished, and late-game content is sparse. It's still an amazing experience imo.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations v0.97
Post by: Vermoin on June 25, 2021, 02:14:58 am
I encountered a bug where all of the items in my craft were missing from the ground during the first terror mission. Then, when the mission was over, it said all those items were gone and that I didn't have enough items to re-equip my squad.

Did an explosion occur in or on your Skyranger? Explosions that are too close to the item pile have a tendency to destroy everything; although I dislike savescumming, its one of the few times I'm willing to do it. If a bug caused it, I don't think much can be done about it considering the mostly-abandoned state of the mod.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations v0.98
Post by: Meridian on December 10, 2021, 10:44:50 am
Updated to be able to run on OXCE v7.1+

Download: https://openxcom.org/oxce/misc/XenoOperations%20v0.98.zip
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations v0.98
Post by: Moon_Dew on February 16, 2022, 07:58:28 pm
Doesn't seem to work on 7.5, doesn't show up in the mod list.
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations v0.98
Post by: Meridian on February 16, 2022, 08:04:33 pm
Doesn't seem to work on 7.5, doesn't show up in the mod list.

it works fine for me
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations v0.98
Post by: Cristao on April 15, 2023, 09:33:08 am
I guess it is time for another playthrough. It has been a while.

Using this - https://mod.io/g/openxcom/m/xeno-operations-legacy
Title: Re: [BETA][WIP][BUNCHOFSTUFF] Xeno Operations v0.98
Post by: Cristao on April 15, 2023, 11:55:24 am
First item to correct is hangar description to note that it can handle two crafts.

NOTE: Comments made in Legacy thread. Ignore this post.
Title: Some problems in XENOPS v0.98 found...
Post by: VSx86 on October 05, 2023, 11:12:28 am
Some problems in XENOPS v0.98 found:

> "invalid MCD file" error just before starting
tactical missions with alien base and one of alien UFO types;

> some text string IDs (STR_) visible (must be texts).

See attached screenshot and logs.

 ;)