Messages

2086

Work In Progress / Re: Map Modding Questions

« on: June 17, 2014, 09:19:04 pm »

A few additional questions:

6) Map sizes need to be in multiples of 10 (10x10, 20x20, I'm guessing 30x30 and higher as well) but do they need to be square or can they be rectangular shaped (10x20, etc.)?
7) What is the difference between frequency and MaxCount in the rulesets?

2087

Work In Progress / Re: Map Modding Questions

« on: June 17, 2014, 08:34:47 pm »

I found this long topic, an year old

https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=1321.0

and the source code is on

https://github.com/pmprog/OpenXCOM.Tools

I am modding this PCKView to convert the PCK of TFTD

I've seen this post but I haven't tried it because progress seems to have stalled.

PCKView can already convert a TFTD's palette: open a TFTD .PCK file, save the individual images as .BMPs, open a UFO .PCK file and load the .BMP files. I'm not sure exactly of the steps but I did something similar when I was converting Port to UFO.

You can also try this: Bomb Bloke's Toolkit

2088

Released Mods / Re: [ENEMY] Men in Black 3.1 | Cover Alien 1.9u | Gazer Alien 1.2u

« on: June 17, 2014, 07:31:09 pm »

Thanks, I'll had him too in the readme credits.

Actually Area51 was completely created by me, so there's no need to mention him unless you use Dawn City's tiles. I simply mentioned him as an example of a good practice regarding crediting one's work.

2089

Released Mods / Re: [ENEMY] Men in Black 3.1 | Cover Alien 1.9u | Gazer Alien 1.2u

« on: June 17, 2014, 06:56:27 pm »

Yeah, sorry. I didn't know how to get to you to ask for permission. I was modding non-stop and I just used it.

No worries, you don't need my permission to use or modify the tilesets on any way you want since this is all open source. But it is appropriate to give credit to whom it is due, for instance Nachtwolf (a UFO2000 developer) was the designer of many of Dawn City's graphics and I always include him on the credits.

The tileset is awesome, the only thin I don't like it that the external brick wall is too resistant (large rockets don't do anything, I haven't tried with blaster bombs but  personally I think a small rocket already should be capable of punching an hole in it). The internal "ufo-like" blue wall on the other hand is fine if it is as resistant as ufo's.

I will redo Area51's tileset in the future after I'm done with the other terrains so I'll keep that in mind.

2090

Released Mods / Re: [MAPS] (UPDATE v1.4) Hobbes Terrain Mods for OpenXCom

« on: June 17, 2014, 06:48:29 pm »

Hobbes, I'm thrilled to be on the same forum as the greatest member of the X-Com community! Your Unknown Menace remains one of my very favourite fanfics ever! (Especially considering most of my other favourite fanfics involve teenage girls doing cute or naughty things to each other. )

Sometimes I wonder how I was able to write something so big

Hobbes, would it be possible to make a combined terrain mod with Luke's expanded terrain? I really like his works too, and wouldn't want to have to go with just one mod. (Because only one ruleset can be active at a time - the latest on in the config file.)

Of course I could make a combined version myself, but it's more complicated than adding a new gun and maintaining such a combination (to include updates etc.) is a nightmare. Besides, I'm sure most people wouldn't be able to do it by themselves.

I haven't seen luke83's latest work (I send him a msg yesterday asking for something) since 2 years ago when he asked me to use the Dawn City tiles on his mods. Back then there was already an issue since I would update the tilesets and the changes would reflect on his maps, until I finished the updates. Now, since it is possible to use more tiles I'll definitely introduce a few more tiles, although I will do it through separate files rather than editing the existing files. In any case since there are so many terrains I really want have finished tilesets before moving to the next terrain, so that others can start using them.

The question of adding luke83's expanded terrain is something I don't have an answer yet, since I'm still considering the possibility of getting more collaborations for the terrains/craft that I never bothered with (UFOs, Desert/Forest/etc). The main issue to me is that I've learned a few basics about how to design maps for UFO through trial and error (room for the AI to move effectively, map sizes, etc.) to increase playability (IMHO) and I'd like to keep those basics on this map set.

2091

Programming / Re: openxcom mapblock new xml format for usage in tiled (modified for openxcom)

« on: June 17, 2014, 06:32:05 pm »

Can someone export real xcom tiles to png image? At least some for demo purposes

This are some of Dawn City's tiles in png format

2092

Work In Progress / Re: Map Modding Questions

« on: June 17, 2014, 06:09:31 pm »

This is a think that I could try to resolve

I will check in OCX Tools if the issues is open too

Do you see the new tools ?

I discovered the MCD editor remake, after I found out that the older version didn't work on windows anymore. Any other tools that I should know about?

2093

Released Mods / Re: [ENEMY] Men in Black 3.0u | Cover Alien 1.9u | Gazer Alien 1.2u

« on: June 17, 2014, 06:28:23 am »

The MiB base is already a custom building built with a custom tileset:


If I'll ever do maps again for the MiB mod, it would be variants to the terror village. But I'm already working on something else so I don't think it'll happen.

I think I recognize that tileset

2094

Work In Progress / Re: Map Modding Questions

« on: June 17, 2014, 06:04:21 am »

Hi Hobbes

I hope that your help the community will have a lot of new Terrains/Maps to play that you develop for UFO2000 too

From the first moment that I found OpenXCom, I wish an evolution to an hybrid game with TFTD or ,
at  least, import from TFTD some contents starting from the terror missions (Island, Port, Cruise).

My first idea is to convert the TFTD  files .PCK  to the UFO palette.
the new .PCK are total different from the original.
The maps and the other files could be xcopied from legal installation of TFTD

Some terrains on UFO2000 map sites uses the same .PCK (Slum, Railyard, and so on)

But I am a true rooky of OX and I am a newbie in game programming therefore i could get some error about it 

An other OX member named Civillian, more more skilled that me, tried to collect already some of your terrains/maps

I hope that you help us to reorganize your original works

Well, if I can help with anything just ask.

My personal advice is to get Notepad++ and read this https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Rulesets_(OpenXcom) page before trying to edit the ruleset files. Took me a while before I managed to add Mad City due to the CTDs but I've done it following the instructions. The coding has a few kinks but the more I do it, the better I'll get

2095

Released Mods / Re: [MAPS] (UPDATE v1.4) Hobbes Terrain Mods for OpenXCom

« on: June 17, 2014, 05:28:03 am »

Version 1.5 uploaded to this post.

Changes:
- Added Mad City terrain
- Removed Area51, Hive and City terrains until they are reworked

I kept Port disabled until I can figure out the issues, so currently the mod only has Dawn City and Mad City terrains. Took me a while to figure out the exact way to create the ruleset files but no more CTDs so I think I got it. I still want to try to add extra tiles to Mad City tomorrow or so when I get the time. Then I'll focus on seeing what can be expanded in Dawn and fixing Port before adding more terrains.

2096

Released Mods / Re: [MAPS] (UPDATE v1.4) Hobbes Terrain Mods for OpenXCom

« on: June 16, 2014, 06:44:54 pm »

I've been going through my files to check how I left things when I stopped modding for XCOM a couple of years back. My latest project was to mod all of the existing terrains one way or the other, either by adding new terrains or adding map blocks to the terrains that contained UFOs. Unfortunately not much was done other than finishing the Dawn and the Port terrains to replace the Urban (Terror) maps, but with OXC now opens interesting possibilities since everything is automated.

Here's a rough idea of what I'm thinking atm:
* Urban - add Native, Mad City (complementing the original terror map blocks), Port, Polis and Dawn City. Dawn City can definitely be enlarged but not to the scale of UFO2000 since I don't want to make maps higher than 4 levels (experience tells me that battles simply get too big plus FPS skyrockets). Polis needs a bit of adaptation and work (there's no RMP files for the AI) but it has a lot of 4x4 map blocks that should make for some interesting fights. Native should be ready to go, although I'll probably set it only for Terror Sites on the Southern hemisphere. I'm still doing some changes to Mad City but they shouldn't take long and Port is also set to go. The City terrain will get dropped since I dislike its graphics and design. 
* XCom Base - here I already got one mod for the original terrain to prevent the common chokepoints. Another idea would be to set Area51 as an optional terrain: it has Hangars, Command Posts, Barracks, Radar Stations, etc. It will require work though since it has never been adapted to be a specific XCom Base terrain.
* Alien Base - a bit clueless here. Hive is too rough to be used, although it's the same setting.
* Farm - I have a Modified Farm terrain with extra map blocks that can be added, like Mad City.
* Polar/Mountain/Desert/Jungle/Forest - these should be the least changed since the UFOs & Skyranger don't leave much space left on the maps.

2097

Work In Progress / Re: Map Modding Questions

« on: June 16, 2014, 06:23:38 am »

welcome back to the fold!

1) new limit is 2,147,483,647, or 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 if you use the 64-bit builds.

This is great. The main problem right now is that MapView can only present 256 tiles while designing maps but the no MCD entries limit means that the maps with UFOs and XCOM craft can be designed using the 256 limit, which basically means the double of available tiles in the case of UFOs.

2) not via ruleset, but we can see about this.

It's not a big issue at the moment since I'm not currently planning to do the type of map generation rules that Dawn City had on UFO2000, where there could be more 2 or more parallel roads and dead end roads because that's a lot of work. But if you're thinking about porting TFTD into OXC then you'll need to deal with the different rules that are used for the Port/Island terrains.

5) sure it can, the file format isn't any different, the palette will be your only major hurdle here.

There's a converter available made by Bomb Bloke that switches the palette on terrain files from UFO to TFTD so that isn't a problem. I already had converted TFTD's Port terrain for UFO before but the main question here is copyright, specially of the images. Since you guys require a full installation of the original game you have that covered, but distributing modified versions that use the original images is always a risk, specially since you are hosting the mods.

2098

Open Feedback / Re: Congratulations

« on: June 16, 2014, 06:09:36 am »

Thanks for the support. Good to see OpenXcom has finally leaked into other XCom communities. Big fan of your modding work on the original.

Well thanks. Seeing the Dawn City terrain on the 1.0 presentation video was quite a nice surprise

It's been a while since I've done anything for the original but OXC is simply superb for adding new terrain/maps without the hassle of having to use XComUtil or be always copy/pasting everything and only being able to use one mod at a time.

2099

Open Feedback / Congratulations

« on: June 16, 2014, 05:02:34 am »

Well guys, for the past years from time to time I'd notice something mentioned on the XCom websites about OpenXcom and it looked interesting but I had never tried it until now.

Now, I've just tried it today and I only got 2 words for it: great job!

This is one of the best things ever to come out for XCom. Congratulations

2100

Work In Progress / Map Modding Questions

« on: June 16, 2014, 03:47:42 am »

Well I guess I'm back to modding XCom after finally trying OpenXcom

I already got how Rulesets work but I have a few questions regarding the original game's limits regarding maps:

1) Does the original limit of MCD entries still apply (256)? If not, what is the new limit?
2) Is it possible to create new rules for map block placement, like 2 N-S roads?
3) Related to the previous, is it possible to have 2 or more maps defined as a N-S and will the game choose randomly between both?
4) What are the height limits?
5) I supposed there's no way for the rulesets to use mapDataSets from both the UFO/TFTD games but might as well ask. Probably the best way is to convert the TFTD mapdatasets to the UFO palette.

And great work to everyone involved.