OpenXcom Forum

Modding => Work In Progress => Topic started by: Hobbes on January 20, 2015, 07:51:50 pm

Title: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Hobbes on January 20, 2015, 07:51:50 pm
The propose of this thread is help Modders, LPers or Players select a nightly build (https:///git-builds/) to use while working or simply for playing. While Developers will want to use the latest nightly, all the rest of the community will want builds with some 'stability', so this thread is to discuss nightlies that might be appropriate.

To participate, simply post the current nightly that you are using and your overall impression.

Please note: this thread is not meant for bug reporting - that should be done using the bugtracker (https://openxcom.org/bug-tracker/).
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Hobbes on January 20, 2015, 07:54:18 pm
And to start, I've currently upgraded to built 2015-01-18 03:22. I haven't done much use of it since I'm in the middle of some major ruleset changes but so far it works without the issues of the previous builds.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: jackstraw2323 on January 21, 2015, 06:13:21 am
I'm using openxcom_2014-11-25_14-28-33

but that was just to get two weapon HWP's. haven't updated since then since I'm on a mac and it's a little more involved, and for my development purposes it's been fine for now.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Warboy1982 on January 21, 2015, 08:43:52 am
just as a public service announcement: promotions were broken between builds 2015_01_07_0017 and 2015_01_21_0537
@jackstraw: is https://bitbucket.org/grrussel/openxcomosx (https://bitbucket.org/grrussel/openxcomosx) of no use to you?
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: jackstraw2323 on January 21, 2015, 03:21:18 pm
The OS X build at the Bitbucket link works, and that's what I'm using. Weirdly you can replace the files in the 1.0 release as it complains about finding the soldier names folder. Running from the command line however does work. I just haven't upgraded since I've been more focused on writing mod rules and getting sprites imported.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Hobbes on January 21, 2015, 04:34:26 pm
just as a public service announcement: promotions were broken between builds 2015_01_07_0017 and 2015_01_21_0537
@jackstraw: is https://bitbucket.org/grrussel/openxcomosx (https://bitbucket.org/grrussel/openxcomosx) of no use to you?

Thanks Warboy, it would also be useful to have this kind of announcements here I think.

Can you set this thread as a sticky?
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Hobbes on February 05, 2015, 08:09:10 pm
Well, I guess it's time to upgrade to a newer nightly. Any suggestions? I understand that the latest releases have changed things with the Terror Sites and Cydonia settings.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: volutar on February 05, 2015, 08:41:36 pm
Current changes about mission sites are preparative, they are not ironed out yet. Better to wait for couple of next commits. At least on this particular section.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: CryptoCactus on February 06, 2015, 07:52:10 pm
Since the OXC default ruleset is in its own subfolder now, does that mean mod subfolders are a possiblity in the near future?
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: SupSuper on February 06, 2015, 11:08:15 pm
Since the OXC default ruleset is in its own subfolder now, does that mean mod subfolders are a possiblity in the near future?
Yes, but don't mess with it just yet because we'll probably be changing the mod structure further in the near future (it's kinda necessary to have UFO and TFTD side by side).
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Solarius Scorch on February 09, 2015, 03:18:53 pm
Since the terror site seems to have been unhardcoded now (with emphasis on seems to), does it mean we can have other special missions now? Like the alien raid mission that Hobbes made?
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Arthanor on February 12, 2015, 07:33:57 pm
Although I don't really support its use as a milestone, I currently use the October 27th nightly (https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/commit/fe85f68a423b2a1c83301f21791da6888e5c3ea4).

Much like jackstraw, I got it to use 2 weapon HWPs at the time when everyone was excited and wanted some. I think it works pretty well as far as my needs go and it would have been a good v1.1 since it introduced a rather major (or very successful) feature.

I think we should pick something relatively recent (post map scripts) for our first "community milestone", but before the new mission stuff since that's not finished. Unfortunately, I can barely compile nightlies for myself (on Linux) so I certainly would not be able to offer much in the way of support... I very much support the idea though, and you love to base the XAE (and other mods I have on the planning stage) on more stable releases than the nightlies...
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: robin on February 12, 2015, 08:00:43 pm
Tested for some months of campaign on "01_23_1405", now unavailable.
Now I've been using "02_02_2100", seems fine for now but I've just begun with it.

Only strange thing I noticed is that explosive and melee damage seem to be on the high side of the dice. I wondered if melee damage bypassed the armor (which isn't the case) after a chryssalid insta-killed one of my tanks.
But since I'm using my mod which messes with everything, it might very well be some wonky values I entered here and there, that need to be fixed.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Hobbes on February 12, 2015, 08:08:38 pm
At this stage I'm following volutar's advice and sticking with build 2015_01_21_0537 until the new mission rules from TFTD are implemented. If you're creating/expanding a mod it's better for your sanity to finish it first before upgrading to a more recent build.

Robin, your description makes wonder if it the melee mechanism has been changed to TFTD but wonky values are usually the better explanation ;)
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Yankes on February 12, 2015, 09:26:47 pm
I think you should then crate "mod" on mod site that will have this build. This will simplify for other people grabbing this build.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Arthanor on February 12, 2015, 09:45:36 pm
But having the OpenXCom Extended "mod/build", the Extended Vision "mod/build", the Commendations "mod/build", the High Resolution "mod/build" and the Modders' Edition "mod/build" means we're just fracturing the community even more and we all know that people will still most likely use the latest milestone (good ol' 1.0 unless modders can make it change) or the nightly. Plus you have to update your build all the time (and I don't know who would be willing/able to do that either).
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Warboy1982 on February 14, 2015, 12:24:23 am
guess it's worth making another public service announcement:

as of build 2015_02_12_0912 all dogfight timing values have been doubled, to bring everything in-line with vanilla.

affected values:
ufo breakoff times
ufo reload times
all craft weapon reload times
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Hobbes on February 14, 2015, 06:09:42 pm
I've updated yesterday to openxcom_git_master_2015_02_12_2025. One thing I've noticed is that terrains/texture assignment doesn't seem to be working as before (I've posted a bug report).

And something unrelated but that can be of interest to modders. I've joined together the entire XCom1Ruleset into a single .rul file. It can't be used to run the game but to me it's easier to consult from a single file when modding than having to open several smaller ones. The ruleset is attached below.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: kikimoristan on February 15, 2015, 05:34:02 am
Tested for some months of campaign on "01_23_1405", now unavailable.
Now I've been using "02_02_2100", seems fine for now but I've just begun with it.

Only strange thing I noticed is that explosive and melee damage seem to be on the high side of the dice. I wondered if melee damage bypassed the armor (which isn't the case) after a chryssalid insta-killed one of my tanks.
But since I'm using my mod which messes with everything, it might very well be some wonky values I entered here and there, that need to be fixed.

You might have gotten a 200% crit. I think they are capable one shoting anything almost anything as they can deal a max of 180 damage before armo with default rulesets . I think tanks take reduced melee damage but not that much. I think 80%  that's still enough damage to kill a tank. Tanks have what 90 health. Being able to attack max 10 times if you're unlucky it can probably kill 4 tanks  in one turn. 
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Yankes on March 12, 2015, 07:20:21 pm
Today was introduced "breaking" change to nightly build.
Up to this point every solder armor was always recolored (face & hair) by game, now its require rule change to enable this.
If you want maintain current behavior you should add this lines to any armor used by solders and showing skin:

Code: [Select]
  spriteFaceGroup: 6
  spriteFaceColor: [96, 96, 96, 96, 160, 160, 163, 163] #M0 F0 M1 F1 M2 F2 M3 F3
  spriteHairGroup: 9
  spriteHairColor: [144, 144, 164, 164, 245, 245, 166, 166] #M0 F0 M1 F1 M2 F2 M3 F3
Where group is index range of color form palette, e.g. 6 give range form 96 to 111, all pixel with that colors will be replace by new values.
Game extract shade part of that pixel and add value form color array based on race & gender, result value is displayed in place of original pixel.

One new feature is that code is enabled for aliens and civilians too, but position in table is choose at random when unit is created.
I hope it will be useful.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: kikimoristan on March 13, 2015, 02:20:40 am
NICE is this the new nightly??
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Yankes on March 13, 2015, 07:05:03 pm
Yes
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Hobbes on March 14, 2015, 11:46:38 pm
Today was introduced "breaking" change to nightly build.
Up to this point every solder armor was always recolored (face & hair) by game, now its require rule change to enable this.
If you want maintain current behavior you should add this lines to any armor used by solders and showing skin:

Code: [Select]
  spriteFaceGroup: 6
  spriteFaceColor: [96, 96, 96, 96, 160, 160, 163, 163] #M0 F0 M1 F1 M2 F2 M3 F3
  spriteHairGroup: 9
  spriteHairColor: [144, 144, 164, 164, 245, 245, 166, 166] #M0 F0 M1 F1 M2 F2 M3 F3
Where group is index range of color form palette, e.g. 6 give range form 96 to 111, all pixel with that colors will be replace by new values.
Game extract shade part of that pixel and add value form color array based on race & gender, result value is displayed in place of original pixel.

One new feature is that code is enabled for aliens and civilians too, but position in table is choose at random when unit is created.
I hope it will be useful.

I'm going to use this for the Mercenary units. I don't suppose it would be possible to have additional heads with sunglasses or beards/mustaches? Some mods already use those a bit.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: kikimoristan on March 15, 2015, 12:31:19 am
the ability to get heads in rul using extraSprites for bigobs/battleobs  would be great  combined with this you can make as many guys look as you want and you won't need 4 different inventory types but only 2 body types that match with the sprited heads
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Yankes on March 15, 2015, 01:54:44 am
I'm going to use this for the Mercenary units. I don't suppose it would be possible to have additional heads with sunglasses or beards/mustaches? Some mods already use those a bit.
You can hack it, select some unusual color and depend on what you want set it to skin color or to different color representing beard or sunglasses.
Right now you can only replace 2 colors, I could easy expand it to 4 colors but this would require permission from Warboy.

the ability to get heads in rul using extraSprites for bigobs/battleobs  would be great  combined with this you can make as many guys look as you want and you won't need 4 different inventory types but only 2 body types that match with the sprited heads
This is very easy to do, right now all part offsets are hardcoded but it can be easy move to rule set. In theory you could have 8 different heads.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: kikimoristan on March 15, 2015, 02:24:41 am
8 heads per gender or in total? that's pretty cool. thanks yankes. i love these lil hacks. the day when i can customize the look of my soldier from soldier menu in base is coming closer and closer.  now can easily be done from save game but would be nice to have it in game.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: kikimoristan on March 15, 2015, 03:08:58 am
Yankes. Would it be possible to link this with StatStrings? Like making scouts blue, making firing accuracy guys red etc etc. Have col group based on stat strings or something like that.  ?
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: volutar on March 15, 2015, 06:14:12 am
Unfortunately these custom recolored sprites won't work for tftd, since their units are painted with yellow, and blond hair colors are mixed with ion armor's. Face coloring tho can work. 
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Yankes on March 15, 2015, 03:23:38 pm
ups... after close analyzing it I find that indeed there is some rogue pixels that don't obey color group of rest pixels.
Thank the God that is fixable. I could fix personal armor that have same hair and face color group then this will be easer to fix.

Thax to you volutar for pointing it out.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Hobbes on March 16, 2015, 07:57:02 am
Yankes, I've been trying this and any possibility of this to work with enemy units? This would be a nice feature to have for hostile human factions, instead of having cloned soldiers for each rank.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Yankes on March 16, 2015, 09:24:32 am
Coloring based on rank is not done yet. But I'm working on it.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Hobbes on March 16, 2015, 08:15:21 pm
Coloring based on rank is not done yet. But I'm working on it.

Great to hear. I've got a human faction that has different uniform colors for some ranks. The uniforms are essentially reworked XCom starting armor, so it would be nice to get the head/gender variety with them.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Meridian on March 17, 2015, 10:03:30 pm
As of build 2015_03_03_0153, mods which mess with alien missions need to review their ruleset... there are several new required attributes and also some attributes were made obsolete...
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Yankes on March 26, 2015, 06:57:28 pm
OK breaking time :)

because of bug in yaml-cpp I was forced to change implementation of saving recoloring.
This cause problems with loading battlescape saves.
Easiest way to fix broken saves is remove stored recolor values form file.
Go to save file, open in your preferred editor and replace (usually Ctr+H):
Code: [Select]
recolor:with
Code: [Select]
recolorX:This will fix saves.

Good things is that I add some new stuff, like
Code: [Select]
spriteUtileGroup: 3
spriteUtileColor: [] #work like spriteHair
spriteRankGroup: 5
spriteRankColor: [] #values choose based on unit rank, work for solders and aliens, civilians have random value form 0-7
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Solarius Scorch on July 28, 2015, 07:57:53 pm
The recent nightly description contained some scary crap regarding missions:

Quote from: Warboy1982
included mission script provides details and examples of what things mean
and replicates xcom1's behaviour nicely. if all went well, players should
notice absolutely nothing different between this version and yesterday's
modders, on the other hand...

Does it mean Redux, Hardon Mod, FMP etc. are broken now?
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: hellrazor on July 28, 2015, 08:20:32 pm
The recent nightly description contained some scary crap regarding missions:

Does it mean Redux, Hardon Mod, FMP etc. are broken now?

Probably Yes.
But i already know what is broken so i can fix it :P
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Solarius Scorch on July 28, 2015, 08:25:31 pm
Probably Yes.
But i already know what is broken so i can fix it :P

Please don't let me stop you from sharing the knowledge. :P
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: hellrazor on July 28, 2015, 08:43:06 pm
Please don't let me stop you from sharing the knowledge. :P

Well essentially, if you have shuffled the alienmission List, and have a specific Mission as the first Mission of the game, since the behaviour so far was,
that the first Race and the first Mission in the Missionlist will be executed as the first Mission in the game, then your Mod is broken.

Which is the case with my Hardmode Expansion Mod and also with UFO Redux.

But this is not a big bother, since we only need to redefine those Missions, and can let them execute with the normal defined Alien Research Mission.
This opens up a lot of possibilities.
Since you can let the normal alien missions run as normal and define all the Missions for Custom Factions as seperate Missions, which will be executed ontop of the normal ones.
It also opens up the possibility to let research topics trigger Missions, which is awesome.
For example in the FMP you could bind your "Alien Diplomacy" Missions (the one with the golden UFO) towards a specific research Topic, which for example, requires a specific Item, which needs to be researched first and also needs to recovered from another mission which is sceduled ba something else.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Solarius Scorch on July 28, 2015, 09:02:52 pm
Well essentially, if you have shuffled the alienmission List, and have a specific Mission as the first Mission of the game, since the behaviour so far was,
that the first Race and the first Mission in the Missionlist will be executed as the first Mission in the game, then your Mod is broken.

Which is the case with my Hardmode Expansion Mod and also with UFO Redux.

So essentially, in order to make the game work correctly (like in vanilla), I need to make sure that the first alien mission listed in the ruleset is Alien Research, and the first alien race in the ruleset is Sectoid. Yes?

But this is not a big bother, since we only need to redefine those Missions, and can let them execute with the normal defined Alien Research Mission.
This opens up a lot of possibilities.
Since you can let the normal alien missions run as normal and define all the Missions for Custom Factions as seperate Missions, which will be executed ontop of the normal ones.
It also opens up the possibility to let research topics trigger Missions, which is awesome.
For example in the FMP you could bind your "Alien Diplomacy" Missions (the one with the golden UFO) towards a specific research Topic, which for example, requires a specific Item, which needs to be researched first and also needs to recovered from another mission which is sceduled ba something else.

Okay, this is indeed critically cool. :)

Thanks!
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: hellrazor on July 28, 2015, 10:39:15 pm
So essentially, in order to make the game work correctly (like in vanilla), I need to make sure that the first alien mission listed in the ruleset is Alien Research, and the first alien race in the ruleset is Sectoid. Yes?

Nope the first mission is defined in the missionscript. Since the code for the initial Mission has been removed, to make place for the Missionscript stuff.

Okay, this is indeed critically cool. :)
Thanks!

There is short documentation in missionScript.rul take a look at it :)
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Solarius Scorch on July 28, 2015, 11:12:28 pm
Started a new game, I get two terror missions per month. Apparently two counters are running simultaneously, but I don't know why - I really haven't changed anything.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: hellrazor on July 28, 2015, 11:51:44 pm
Started a new game, I get two terror missions per month. Apparently two counters are running simultaneously, but I don't know why - I really haven't changed anything.

Try what will happen if you uncomment the PORT_ATTACK stuff from the terrainpack, it could be the culprit or something is wrong with OpenXcom.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Solarius Scorch on July 28, 2015, 11:58:58 pm
Try what will happen if you uncomment the PORT_ATTACK stuff from the terrainpack, it could be the culprit or something is wrong with OpenXcom.

I don't have this mission - I don't use Terrain Pack as such, only its components, built into FMP.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: hellrazor on July 29, 2015, 12:08:07 am
I don't have this mission - I don't use Terrain Pack as such, only its components, built into FMP.

Well i also and one of its components is the PORT_ATTACK.

EDIT: ok i see you do not have it in the FMP as such.
Could you try a couple of unmodded runs to see if you still get the double terrormissions?
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Hobbes on July 29, 2015, 12:29:21 am
Mission scripting... finally! :D
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Solarius Scorch on July 29, 2015, 01:46:13 am
Well i also and one of its components is the PORT_ATTACK.

EDIT: ok i see you do not have it in the FMP as such.
Could you try a couple of unmodded runs to see if you still get the double terrormissions?

Yeah, and I didn't get the double terror. So it's the mod's fault.

(BTW had to delete all config files after disabling FMP, because the game would crash at start.)

EDIT: I'll attach the ruleset in question.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: SupSuper on July 29, 2015, 10:38:38 pm
I should mention that's probably the last major change for TFTD, so if you were waiting until the waters calmed, now's the time to start updating your mods for 2.0.

We'd really appreciate it if modders could start reviewing all their content, old and new, to make sure they're fully-functional for the next version and self-contained, so new players can easily install them just by dropping them into the "mods" folder (either manually or through third-party programs ;)). Feel free to update other's mods as well if the original author has vanished.

I'll check with Jo5hua if we'll need some kind of version filtering on the site to avoid mixing up old and new stuff (obviously the old stuff will still work but the install is different, so it's important to distinguish).

Edit: Also remember now that mods have their own folder, you are free to organize files inside however you see fit. You don't need to put all your resources in one folder, all the rules in one file, etc. Use whatever conventions suit you (plus it's faster to parse multiple rulefiles than a single huge one).
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Hobbes on July 30, 2015, 06:36:08 pm
I've just confirmed the bug with a 2nd terror mission being generated. I've edited the missionScripts.rul file and deleted the entry for the monthly terror site generation. Then I started a new game without any mods and a terror mission was still generated check pic (ignore the Mixed race).

Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Solarius Scorch on July 30, 2015, 08:21:47 pm
As I already (sort of) reported on the IRC, I had to delete my own missionScripts version to make the second Terror go away. I deleted out vanilla missions before introducing them again in the ruleset, but apparently it was not working.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: SupSuper on August 28, 2015, 02:18:39 pm
I figure I should clarify why some stuff about TFTD mods is broken and how you can avoid it for now.

So let's talk about resource IDs. You know, sprites, sounds, etc. OpenXcom has many many checks to make sure these don't go awry

For example you have a new weapon:
Code: [Select]
id: STR_THE_COOLEST_GUN
floorSprite: 20
handSprite: 50

When loading your mod, OpenXcom will check if your sprite ID is vanilla or mod by cross-checking with the reserved vanilla IDs. If it's vanilla, it stays as-is, otherwise the ID is put into the reserved mod region to avoid conflicts with other mods.
The problem is all these checks were designed with UFO in mind. After all, surely vanilla will never change? :P But of course TFTD is completely different: more sprites, more sounds, different files, so we need to rewrite all that. And that comes second to getting TFTD stable.

So until then, here's what you need to know for TFTD mods:
- Using new IDs (extraSprites/extraSounds) should be fine, just make sure you're using big IDs to not accidentally overwrite TFTD stuff.
- Using vanilla IDs means walking into the ~~danger zone~~, and will only work if it happens to be within UFO limits.
Too confusing? Don't worry, if your mod crashes the game you'll know. ;)
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Hobbes on August 28, 2015, 03:05:09 pm
The problem is all these checks were designed with UFO in mind. After all, surely vanilla will never change? :P But of course TFTD is completely different: more sprites, more sounds, different files, so we need to rewrite all that. And that comes second to getting TFTD stable.

And hopefully designing mod implementation for TFTD without much of an impact on the existing UFO mods, all of which takes time.

Thanks for the explanation SupSuper :)
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: SupSuper on September 13, 2015, 09:36:27 pm
TFTD mods should work correctly on the latest nightly now. All the changes were purely code-based so everything that worked before should still work (let me know if this isn't the case :P).
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Orz on September 13, 2015, 10:36:03 pm
TFTD mods should work correctly on the latest nightly now. All the changes were purely code-based so everything that worked before should still work (let me know if this isn't the case :P).

I can attest to this. What previously was crashing my game is no longer doing so. So far so awesome :)
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Orz on September 14, 2015, 03:47:24 pm
I don't know if this has come up with already or I am an isolated case. But to to follow up on the above, the latest nightly (2015_09_13_2018) causes my UFO/EU game on Ironman mode to crash every time it automatically attempts to save (like immediately after landing on a crashed site). Aside from that, the game works as normal.

So I reverted back to openxcom_git_master_2015_09_13_1549 for the time being.

I'm sure all shall work perfectly again with the next fixes!
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Solarius Scorch on October 14, 2015, 04:09:30 pm
So, I heard that recent nightly changes break mods (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2027.msg52621.html#msg52621).

Is this true? If so, how do I fix it?

EDIT: See Hellrazor's post (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2027.msg52628.html#msg52628) for a neat explanation for this.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Arthanor on October 14, 2015, 07:31:11 pm
From a look at the changes, I suspect it breaks saves that came from older versions (since the old way to define soldiers was type: XCOM, but the new way is Type: STR_SOLDIER). So if you purchased soldiers in a previous version, you had a bunch of XCOM which the new game doesn't really know what to do with because now it is looking for STR_SOLDIER.

I'd expect that if you start a new modded game with the newest nightly, it should work fine, but that it's not really working for old saves being loaded in.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Solarius Scorch on October 14, 2015, 08:36:14 pm
From a quick test of the FMP, it seems to be working correctly. We'll see if there's trouble.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: SupSuper on October 24, 2015, 02:13:23 am
From a look at the changes, I suspect it breaks saves that came from older versions (since the old way to define soldiers was type: XCOM, but the new way is Type: STR_SOLDIER). So if you purchased soldiers in a previous version, you had a bunch of XCOM which the new game doesn't really know what to do with because now it is looking for STR_SOLDIER.

I'd expect that if you start a new modded game with the newest nightly, it should work fine, but that it's not really working for old saves being loaded in.
The types were never used before so it shouldn't cause troubles, but I added some safeguards just in case.

So, let's talk about soldier types! OpenXcom has always had "soldiers.rul" with a lot of potential but no actual execution... so I decided to fix that. :P
To clarify, "soldiers" in this context are just X-COM units that can be levelled and equipped (unlike HWPs which are fixed items), they can look like a robot or an alien or whatever you want. Soldier types let you mix up the body pool. For example:

You can use them like Apoc soldiers, where you have a bunch of types with different starting stats:
Code: [Select]
soldiers:
  - type: STR_SOLDIER
    costBuy: 40000
    costSalary: 20000
    minStats:
      tu: 50
      stamina: 40
      health: 25
      bravery: 10
      reactions: 30
      firing: 40
      throwing: 50
      strength: 20
      psiStrength: 0
      psiSkill: 0
      melee: 20
    maxStats:
      tu: 60
      stamina: 70
      health: 40
      bravery: 60
      reactions: 60
      firing: 70
      throwing: 80
      strength: 40
      psiStrength: 100
      psiSkill: 16
      melee: 40
  - type: STR_SUPER_SOLDIER
    costBuy: 400000
    costSalary: 200000
    minStats:
      tu: 500
      stamina: 400
      health: 250
      bravery: 100
      reactions: 300
      firing: 400
      throwing: 500
      strength: 200
      psiStrength: 0
      psiSkill: 0
      melee: 200
    maxStats:
      tu: 600
      stamina: 700
      health: 400
      bravery: 600
      reactions: 600
      firing: 700
      throwing: 800
      strength: 400
      psiStrength: 1000
      psiSkill: 160
      melee: 400

You can use them to emulate turning aliens to your side:
Code: [Select]
soldiers:
  - type: STR_MUTON_SOLDIER
    requires:
      - STR_MUTON
    armor: MUTON_ARMOR0
    costBuy: 100000
    costSalary: 50000
    minStats:
      tu: 56
      stamina: 90
      health: 125
      bravery: 80
      reactions: 60
      firing: 54
      throwing: 62
      strength: 70
      psiStrength: 25
      psiSkill: 0
      melee: 76
    maxStats:
      tu: 56
      stamina: 90
      health: 125
      bravery: 80
      reactions: 60
      firing: 54
      throwing: 62
      strength: 70
      psiStrength: 25
      psiSkill: 0
      melee: 76

The sky's the limit! One problem you might've noticed is, what happens if you give the same armor to different soldier types? They'll all look the same! Not to worry, you can restrict armors per unit to make sure each soldier type gets the appropriate appearance. Does this mean you have to make X new armors for every Y units? Well, yes and no. You need to make new armor types, but they can all use the same item, effectively working as armor variations (you can use the same trick for cosmetic armor changes):
Code: [Select]
  - type: STR_PERSONAL_ARMOR_HUMAN
    spriteSheet: XCOM_1A.PCK
    spriteInv: MAN_1A
    storeItem: STR_PERSONAL_ARMOR
    units:
      - STR_SOLDIER
  - type: STR_PERSONAL_ARMOR_ALIEN
    spriteSheet: XCOM_1B.PCK
    spriteInv: MAN_1B
    storeItem: STR_PERSONAL_ARMOR
    units:
      - STR_ALIEN
  - type: STR_PERSONAL_ARMOR_ANDROID
    spriteSheet: XCOM_1C.PCK
    spriteInv: MAN_1C
    storeItem: STR_PERSONAL_ARMOR
    units:
      - STR_ANDROID
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Dioxine on October 24, 2015, 03:21:32 am
Awesome! Nothing seems to be missing. Great feature.
....Ohhh yeah. How are the death sounds defined? One per armor, or is there some way to have 6 unique sounds per soldier type (3 male/3 female), like with default soldiers?
Oh and what about names?
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: R1dO on October 24, 2015, 11:00:16 am
This is a cool addition.

Although i am wondering what will happen if a muton defected to the xcom side decides to use it's default armor only to discover it's masters build in a safeguard against defecting mutons, eg:

Code: [Select]
soldiers:
  - type: STR_DEFECTED_TO_XCOM_MUTON
    armor: STR_PERSONAL_ARMOR_MUTON

Code: [Select]
  - type: STR_PERSONAL_ARMOR_MUTON
    units:
      - STR_ALIEN_MUTONS
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: SupSuper on October 24, 2015, 06:51:50 pm
Awesome! Nothing seems to be missing. Great feature.
....Ohhh yeah. How are the death sounds defined? One per armor, or is there some way to have 6 unique sounds per soldier type (3 male/3 female), like with default soldiers?
Oh and what about names?
Hmmm this will probably require more potential breaking changes... but you're used to those right. :P

This is a cool addition.

Although i am wondering what will happen if a muton defected to the xcom side decides to use it's default armor only to discover it's masters build in a safeguard against defecting mutons, eg:

Code: [Select]
soldiers:
  - type: STR_DEFECTED_TO_XCOM_MUTON
    armor: STR_PERSONAL_ARMOR_MUTON

Code: [Select]
  - type: STR_PERSONAL_ARMOR_MUTON
    units:
      - STR_ALIEN_MUTONS
The limitation is only for the player, the game doesn't really care.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Dioxine on October 24, 2015, 07:01:11 pm
Hmmm this will probably require more potential breaking changes... but you're used to those right. :P

Hey this was just a simple question, not a request :) So does the system use the same soldier/civvie random 6 death sounds (3 male, 3 female) for armors? Does forcing gender on an armor limit it to 3 sounds, like with the civvies? Is it possible to force a deathsound through unit definition (as in currently existing mechanic)? Would, say, an X-Com Muton be named based on normal soldier names? I just wanted to know. I think all we need to close that would be:
1. making deathsound a list, adding female deathsound to override if unit is 2-gendered - in unit definitions
2. making an option for a soldier-unit to use modded namefiles list (override for global list)
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: SupSuper on October 31, 2015, 06:27:43 pm
Units and Soldiers are completely different ruleset-wise, and I'd rather not get in the messy business of trying to combine them. So for now you'll just have to deal with apparently "duplicate" information. :P

Anyways, you can now have per-soldier-type death sounds and names. See the default rulesets for details: https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/commit/61c2601c628d99083669be613876b50b74e67a8e
Cons: There are no longer any "default human sounds", so if you have any custom civilians or whatever, you'll have to assign them a death sound (the "female" flag no longer does anything).
Pros: You can now have multiple death sounds per unit (variations).
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: SupSuper on November 29, 2015, 03:42:21 am
You can now make medal mods! See the Soldier Diaries (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,1718.msg55250.html#msg55250) thread for an example.

And you're no longer restricted to the default UFOpaedia categories. Though you can only fit around 10 on the UI. :P
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Warboy1982 on April 10, 2016, 07:41:43 am
general announcement to any modders:

 if you have a waypoint weapon in your mod, you need to update it for the nightly, "waypoint: true" just became "waypoints: n" (note the S) where n is the numerical limit, and -1 means no limit.
-1 would be preferable to using 100000, as it flags the AI to use a difficulty based formula instead: (6 + (difficultyCoefficient *2))
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Arthanor on April 10, 2016, 08:39:26 pm
Nifty! Now XCom can start bending bullets (https://youtu.be/lGZQi3ODB-U?t=18s) with 1 waypoint rifles and pistols.

Sectoids won't know what hit them!
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Hobbes on May 12, 2016, 06:04:42 pm
ICYMI - Warboy1982 has implemented armed civilians with the latest nightlies, allowing civvies to have weapons, defined through builtInWeaponSets and upgrading their AI

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18824603/screen036.png)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18824603/screen037.png)
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Warboy1982 on May 13, 2016, 04:31:58 am
to further explain: builtInWeaponSets work much like builtInWeapons, but multiple sets can be defined. one set will be picked at random according to the alien item levels table. effectively this means you can have terror units upgrade over time, just like everybody else, simply by defining 3 sets of weapons for them.

both builtInWeapons and builtInWeaponSets will work on civilians as well as xcom and alien units, but xcom units won't get a randomized weapon set.
this is by because the player upgrades their equipment via research, not random chance.

as for the AI, the civilians and aliens now use the same functions and routines, the only differences are the faction flag checks, and civilians can't take part in reaction fire.
again, this is by design, given that civilians never DRAW reaction fire, it seemed a little unbalanced to allow them to perform it.
if you want some sort of in-lore justification, keep in mind that xcom recruits are supposedly the best of the best that the world's military has to offer, so it stands to reason that the general populace may not have the conditioned reflexes or training required to perform such an action.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: robin on May 13, 2016, 09:33:27 am
megapol ON
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Solarius Scorch on May 13, 2016, 10:43:11 am
as for the AI, the civilians and aliens now use the same functions and routines, the only differences are the faction flag checks, and civilians can't take part in reaction fire.
again, this is by design, given that civilians never DRAW reaction fire, it seemed a little unbalanced to allow them to perform it.

Yes, it makes sense as a solution, and I understand why it was introduced. But I wonder if it shouldn't be tweakable. Being completely outside of the reaction fire mechanics makes the player question this mechanics' consistency. If I can reaction fire and be reaction fired at, and the aliens can reaction fire and reaction fired at, why can't Megapol agents Robin mentioned? What is the ontological difference between us and them? This is something the player will recognize very quickly through experience alone, as long as there are armed civilians to observe (which is the point of this feature).
The suggestion: perhaps the 'no reaction' rule should only apply to a civilians with no builtInWeaponSet defined? If you're a normal civilian, you're immune to reaction fire, since nobody thinks of you as a threat. If you're a policeman with a .38 revolver, you are treated as an enemy and draw reaction fire. This should keep the vanilla experience intact and also make the mechanics a bit more seamless.

Of course it's just an idea, I have no idea if it's as feasible as it appears to me.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Meridian on May 13, 2016, 12:35:49 pm
FWIW I vote against it.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: robin on May 13, 2016, 02:42:09 pm
I guess that enabling reaction fire to/for civilians is also going to make the alien/civilian turns longer; not really nice to sit through longer AI turns.

if the game had a robust factions system in the geoscape, which translated in frequent battlescapes alongside the allied AI factions, then having them deprived of reaction fire would be more jarring. But this system isn't there.
I'm a fan of the 1:1 design, as in: "the AI should be able to do what the player can do". Though in this case I don't see the merit, all things considered (see my first point).
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Hobbes on May 13, 2016, 03:18:41 pm
I'm a fan of the 1:1 design, as in: "the AI should be able to do what the player can do". Tough in this case I don't see the merit, all things considered (see my first point).

The 1:1 design still applies: the AI is unable to reaction fire Civilians, which the Civilians can't do as well to the Aliens
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Xtendo-com on May 13, 2016, 11:07:50 pm
given that civilians never DRAW reaction fire, it seemed a little unbalanced to allow them to perform it.
I don't see any unbalanced change with enabled reaction fire. You can set reaction fire to very low value, allowing civilians rarely but perform a reaction fire. Also notice that civilians don't have a morale loss calculation and they very bravery (80) by default.
Title: Important - Ruleset Update Required
Post by: Hobbes on August 14, 2016, 08:03:16 am
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18824603/ColorBases.png)

Thanks to Warboy1982 a few new features for modders were implemented on the last days :)

However, those will require a small update to the alienDeployment entries concerning Alien Base Assaults.

Specifically, genMissionType was replaced by genMission (and needs to be replaced on mods that use it). This was done so that instead of a single mission (on vanilla, Supply) alien bases can now generate weighted tables of alien missions.

So now an alien base can generate different types of missions. As an example, the red base on the image above generates either Retaliation/Supply missions, the orange one Infiltration/Supply, and the pink one just Supply. And the yellow base generates any of the previous 3 bases (red, orange, pink) or a Supply mission.

And the second new feature (no ruleset updates required) is that it is now possible to add new markerIcons for bases :)

PS - there's a caveat with MissionGen, it can be used to generate any alien mission, except objective 3 missions (Alien Terror). If you assign those missions to a base, it will generate the UFOs but they will land on the cities and never launch the terror mission.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: SupSuper on October 19, 2016, 01:33:36 am
Heads up to all the modders. Now when OpenXcom runs into something missing in a mod, like a sprite or an item or something, it will no longer just unexplicably crash. Instead it'll show a much more helpful "STR_FOO_BAR not found" message, and then crash. Hopefully that should help you find your typos more easily without me having to break out the debugger.

Anyways it's possible I've added too much error checking, so modders and players using mods, keep an eye out for any "not found" error messages that shouldn't be happening and report them please.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Solarius Scorch on December 26, 2016, 04:46:05 am
How do we use builtInWeaponSets?

Because doing it the normal way, like:

Code: [Select]
    builtInWeaponSets:
      - STR_SNUBNOSE_PISTOL_CIV
      - STR_MAKAROV_CIV
      - STR_BERETTA_92FS_CIV
      - STR_GLOCK_18_CIV
      - STR_COLT45_CIV

doesn't work.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: KyronStarkiller on December 26, 2016, 08:29:48 am
Hey Scorch,
I have only seen multiple lines in the built in weapons work is in the equalterms 2.0 mod for new tanks.
In that mod it is listed as ...

builtInWeapons:
  - AUX_TANK_SMG
  - AUX_HWP_SMG
 
I edited my post I found in Migeul's pickup resistance mod also uses multiple listings in the builtInWeapons: field
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Yankes on December 26, 2016, 11:12:16 am
How do we use builtInWeaponSets?

Because doing it the normal way, like:

Code: [Select]
    builtInWeaponSets:
      - STR_SNUBNOSE_PISTOL_CIV
      - STR_MAKAROV_CIV
      - STR_BERETTA_92FS_CIV
      - STR_GLOCK_18_CIV
      - STR_COLT45_CIV

doesn't work.
because `builtInWeaponSets` is list of list:
Code: [Select]
    builtInWeaponSets:
      - - A
        - B
      - - AA
        - BA
With list will be chooses is based on current item level.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Solarius Scorch on January 11, 2017, 10:40:09 pm
because `builtInWeaponSets` is list of list:

Thanks. I suspected something like this, but there was no example to follow anywhere.

EDIT:

Another question:

Can someone please explain to me vanilla missionScripts?

Code: [Select]
  - type: recon
    firstMonth: 1

  - type: invasion
    firstMonth: 6

There is no reference to any missions or indeed anything except for the month. What do these scripts do?
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Meridian on January 11, 2017, 10:46:59 pm
Can someone please explain to me vanilla missionScripts?

Code: [Select]
  - type: recon
    firstMonth: 1

  - type: invasion
    firstMonth: 6

There is no reference to any missions or indeed anything except for the month. What do these scripts do?

They generate standard vanilla missions from a mission table (which is in your save under "alienStrategy", generated at the start of the game, slowly shrinking, and regenerated after 2 years I think).

Documentation from the .rul file:

Code: [Select]
#    missionWeights:                     # the type of mission to spawn (omit to pick one from the mission table) (default none)
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Solarius Scorch on January 11, 2017, 10:54:11 pm
OK, thanks. But how is this table defined? missionWeights in regions.rul?

(This is something I tried to find info on for, uh, I think two years by now.)
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Meridian on January 11, 2017, 11:12:36 pm
Yes, the mission table is built from region ruleset.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: robin on January 15, 2017, 09:50:39 pm
because `builtInWeaponSets` is list of list:
Code: [Select]
    builtInWeaponSets:
      - - A
        - B
      - - AA
        - BA
With list will be chooses is based on current item level.
Is this vanilla OXC or OXCE/OXCE+? seems vanilla OXC
Also, does the list of lists works in conjunction with alienItemLevels?
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Hobbes on January 15, 2017, 11:34:26 pm
OK, thanks. But how is this table defined? missionWeights in regions.rul?

(This is something I tried to find info on for, uh, I think two years by now.)

https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Alien_Missions_in_Enemy_Unknown_(OpenXcom) (https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Alien_Missions_in_Enemy_Unknown_(OpenXcom))
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Meridian on January 15, 2017, 11:54:12 pm
Is this vanilla OXC or OXCE/OXCE+? seems vanilla OXC
Also, does the list of lists works in conjunction with alienItemLevels?

It's vanilla OXC.
And yes, it works with alienItemLevels.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: robin on January 16, 2017, 11:01:10 pm
It's vanilla OXC.
And yes, it works with alienItemLevels.
Ruleset reference says it picks a set randomly, but if it uses alienItemLevels it shouldn't be "random".
Sorry for being annoying, just want to know what is what before editing lots of stuff.

Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Meridian on January 16, 2017, 11:46:56 pm
Ruleset reference says it picks a set randomly, but if it uses alienItemLevels it shouldn't be "random".
Sorry for being annoying, just want to know what is what before editing lots of stuff.

I don't know who writes ruleset reference, I am looking only at the code.

Code says:
1. for XCOM vehicles... only the first item set is taken... others are ignored
2. for aliens... item set based on alienItemLevels probabilities for the current month is taken
3. for civilians... item set based on alienItemLevels probabilities for the current month is taken

https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/commit/e25e34575e11cc7c02027704e3b01ec43427c66a

There's always a small chance I may be wrong, for 100% certainty, ask Warboy :)
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: robin on January 17, 2017, 12:00:56 am
I don't know who writes ruleset reference, I am looking only at the code.

Code says:
1. for XCOM vehicles... only the first item set is taken... others are ignored
2. for aliens... item set based on alienItemLevels probabilities for the current month is taken
3. for civilians... item set based on alienItemLevels probabilities for the current month is taken

https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/commit/e25e34575e11cc7c02027704e3b01ec43427c66a

There's always a small chance I may be wrong, for 100% certainty, ask Warboy :)
Thanks.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: SupSuper on July 09, 2018, 05:19:06 am
Just a heads up for modders, as of the 2018_07_08_2236 nightly, unit capturability (i.e. can they drop unconscious) is now defined by ruleset. This means every unit, even explodey ones, are now capturable by default unless you explicitly set them to "capturable: false".

On the bright side, you can now apply this to any unit!
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Ethereal on July 15, 2018, 07:45:27 am
I, too, will wait for developments. I see no sense in such changes. Especially by default to do this... Would put it as a separate option - that is another matter.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Hobbes on July 19, 2018, 06:41:14 pm
This is a heads-up for all mods that include changes to the appearance of alien races because of a recent nightly change.

Before the nightly change, races in alienMissions followed this monthly progression:
Code: [Select]
  - type: STR_ALIEN_RESEARCH
    raceWeights:
      0:
        STR_SECTOID: 70
        STR_SNAKEMAN: 10
        STR_FLOATER: 20
      1:
        STR_SECTOID: 60
        STR_SNAKEMAN: 10
        STR_FLOATER: 30
      3:
        STR_SECTOID: 30
        STR_SNAKEMAN: 10
        STR_MUTON: 30
        STR_FLOATER: 30
      5:
        STR_SECTOID: 20
        STR_SNAKEMAN: 10
        STR_MUTON: 40
        STR_FLOATER: 30
      7:
        STR_SECTOID: 30
        STR_SNAKEMAN: 10
        STR_MUTON: 30
        STR_FLOATER: 30

After openxcom_git_master_2018_07_19_1404, this is the new progression for all alienMission entries (not just Alien Research):

Code: [Select]
alienMissions:
  - type: STR_ALIEN_RESEARCH
    raceWeights:
      0:
        STR_SECTOID: 70
        STR_SNAKEMAN: 10
        STR_FLOATER: 20
      1:
        STR_SECTOID: 60
        STR_SNAKEMAN: 10
        STR_FLOATER: 30
      3:
        STR_SECTOID: 30
        STR_SNAKEMAN: 10
        STR_MUTON: 30
        STR_FLOATER: 30
      6:
        STR_SECTOID: 20
        STR_SNAKEMAN: 10
        STR_MUTON: 40
        STR_FLOATER: 30
      9:
        STR_SECTOID: 30
        STR_SNAKEMAN: 10
        STR_MUTON: 30
        STR_FLOATER: 30

Now, why were months 5 and 7 replaced with months 6 and 9 you may ask?

The answer is that the original info on UFOPaedia.org regarding alien missions, which was used when OXC was first implemented, has recently been discovered to be incorrect by magic9mushroom and this has been confirmed by Warboy through examination of the original code.

The original author wrongly induced from empirical data that the progression of months was 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, but further testing of the original game and a code dig revealed it to be 0, 1, 3, 6, 9 instead, and thus the nightly has been fixed.

The practical implication of this change is that the appearance of Mutons/Ethereals on Terror missions has been pushed forward to July (month 6) and the same for the appearance of Ethereals in Infiltration and Base missions. And other smaller changes.

The propose of this post is to warn modders because this change can lead to ruleset/balance issues if your mod doesn't take into account the new monthly progression.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: SupSuper on September 29, 2018, 09:36:28 pm
Just a heads-up for modders, we've been improving mod loading in OpenXcom by optimizing extraSprites, since they were the biggest culprit in big mods. For example, now instead of loading everything right at the start, extraSprites are only loaded the first time the game needs them, which significantly improves initial load time and memory consumption. Let us know if this made things better or worse for you, and if you see any bugs from these changes such as graphical glitches.

Only downside for modders is that now "Image not found" errors will only occur in-game, instead of right at the start. If this is a concern, you you can go back to the old loading by setting "lazyLoadResources" to "false" in options.cfg.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Yankes on June 08, 2019, 05:02:26 pm
BREAKING CHANGE INCOMING

SupSuper merged my PR that change how OXC handle negative indexes and common surfaces for all mods.

This mainly affect `bigSprite`, where OXC use negative indexes for terror unit weapons. Right now they are now invalid, game will reject mods that use them. Only exception is `-1` but it now mean no-sprite not terror weapon sprite.
If your mod still need this surface there are still available but under different syntax:
Code: [Select]
bigSprite: { mod: master, index: 61 } # under this we have old "-1" sprite, 60 is "-2" etc. for UFO, XCOM2 have different offsets because it have more surfaces
This new syntax allow you to access resources of other mods (work for sound and other shared surface sets too).

Code: [Select]
bigSprite:
  mod: MyOtherMod #id of mod from `metadata.yml`
  index: 120

Old syntax still work
Code: [Select]
bigSprite: 120
and is equal to
Code: [Select]
bigSprite:
  mod: current #alias for current mod
  index: 120

Example of change I made to make Final mod pack to work with this new version:

https://github.com/Yankes/Final-Mod-Pack/commit/bdad8bb33713577259d0f36a779d50da295a9dd3


some additional changes:

added `ignoreInBaseDefense` from OXCE as some mods used negative index to limit usage of items.
if you exceeded `reservedSpace` for your mod, game will fail to load.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: hellrazor on June 14, 2019, 07:32:15 pm
One stupid Question how did the indexing of bigSprites now changed?

And how do i have to change the indexes in my mod so that things loads normally?
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Meridian on June 14, 2019, 07:53:44 pm
One stupid Question how did the indexing of bigSprites now changed?

Negative indexes are not allowed anymore.

And how do i have to change the indexes in my mod so that things loads normally?

1/ Easier method: Copy the terror weapon bigob sprites into your mod and give them positive indices.

2/ Easy method: Reference the existing terror weapon bigob sprites from xcom1 as described by Yankes above.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: The Martian on August 01, 2019, 04:24:57 pm
Only downside for modders is that now "Image not found" errors will only occur in-game, instead of right at the start. If this is a concern, you you can go back to the old loading by setting "lazyLoadResources" to "false" in options.cfg.

That's handy.

Thank you for providing that toggle option.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: hellrazor on January 19, 2020, 02:54:03 am
Today was introduced "breaking" change to nightly build.
Up to this point every solder armor was always recolored (face & hair) by game, now its require rule change to enable this.
If you want maintain current behavior you should add this lines to any armor used by solders and showing skin:

Code: [Select]
  spriteFaceGroup: 6
  spriteFaceColor: [96, 96, 96, 96, 160, 160, 163, 163] #M0 F0 M1 F1 M2 F2 M3 F3
  spriteHairGroup: 9
  spriteHairColor: [144, 144, 164, 164, 245, 245, 166, 166] #M0 F0 M1 F1 M2 F2 M3 F3
Where group is index range of color form palette, e.g. 6 give range form 96 to 111, all pixel with that colors will be replace by new values.
Game extract shade part of that pixel and add value form color array based on race & gender, result value is displayed in place of original pixel.

One new feature is that code is enabled for aliens and civilians too, but position in table is choose at random when unit is created.
I hope it will be useful.

Could someone explain to me how i found out which bit value is which color and or range?
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: Meridian on January 19, 2020, 09:49:41 am
Could someone explain to me how i found out which bit value is which color and or range?

Attached.
Title: Re: Nightly Builds Discussion for Modders/LPers/Players/etc.
Post by: hellrazor on January 19, 2020, 10:47:08 am
Attached.

Thanks. So it basically is a table 16x16. Count starts at zero.
The ruleset variable name is not initiutiv in this case.

Me and graphics...