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Topics - Meridian

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31
[I.D.T.] thereaverofdarkness
Large units can see behind themselves in certain directions. Bug?

Warboy
evidence? they should only have a 90 degree cone like everyone else
(sorry if that came across dismissively)

[I.D.T.] thereaverofdarkness
I frequently have large units spotting things which clearly should be outside of their cone of vision, usually to their side.
Today, I had a unit rush up behind a Cyberdisc. It turned and did reaction fire. Tried again, same result. Tried moving up to the other tile which was behind it, it did not react.

Warboy
had he previously attacked it before making his approach?

SkyHawk
I believe HWPs/SWSs "see" from their turret, not the chassis
So if the turret is not straight-ahead, the unit will not see straight ahead.

Warboy
that's HWPs/SWSes though, cyberdisks don't have turrets

SkyHawk
Sorry, I thought he was talking about large XCom units. Ignore me.

[I.D.T.] thereaverofdarkness
Here is a vanilla save which demonstrates it. Try to walk behind the cyberdisc.
Attachment file type: unknown
Cyberdiscs_see_behind_themselves.sav
261.00 KB

[I.D.T.] thereaverofdarkness
no
I find it happens to tanks as well as mind-controlled cyberdiscs and reapers, in terms of the unit I control being able to see things it shouldn't be able to see
Today I had mind-controlled a Reaper and was running it out of the barn it spawned in. As it exited and turned, it was facing along the wall and was able to see the Floater at the window above it, to its side, and a tile behind its head--so the rear of its two side tiles.

Warboy
ty, will look into it

32
Playthroughs / OG TFTD playthrough
« on: April 02, 2022, 04:59:56 pm »
Hi all,

I'm considering making a new TFTD playthrough of the original game (without any mods, patches or anything... no XcomUtil, no UFOextender, etc.).

For me, it will be a valuable source of OG saves for testing and debugging; for you an opportunity to save humanity (or not).

If you'd like to sign up as cannon fodder (or fish food), feel free to do so in this thread.

The LP will likely start in a couple of weeks.

EDIT: playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe0K-GUDQkNJ7nM7qeWoXyDruhqirg6ht

Cheers,
Meridian

33
OXCE Suggestions DONE / [DONE] base preview
« on: February 12, 2022, 10:13:14 am »
Related threads:
1. craft preview: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,10370.0.html
2. craft type preview: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,10371.0.html
3. base preview: this thread

This feature allows you to preview your base facilities.

You can start the preview by clicking on the Access Lift facility.

If there is at least 1 combat-capable soldier in the base (HWPs don't count), the preview will start.

You will have 1 soldier with unlimited movement to walk around the base for fun.

To finish the preview, click on the End Turn icon.

34
OXCE Suggestions DONE / [DONE] craft type preview
« on: February 12, 2022, 10:11:18 am »
Related threads:
1. craft preview: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,10370.0.html
2. craft type preview: this thread
3. base preview: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,10372.0.html

This feature allows you to preview and modify the deployment table of this craft type.

You can start the preview by clicking on the Preview button in the Stats for Nerds GUI (only when opened from the geoscape/globe menu).
Presence of a (previously defined) custom deployment table is indicated by an asterisk on the 'Preview' button.

Any changes will apply to all your current craft (of this type) and also to any craft you buy or manufacture later in the campaign.
(The saved craft previews will also invalidate in the craft type deployment table is modified.)

You start with the maximum number of (dummy) soldiers.
Each soldier represents one row in the deployment table.
Soldier names correspond to row numbers.

You have unlimited movement on all your units.
You can also use the Ctrl+W key combo to teleport your units instantly.
Press and hold 'Alt' to highlight valid unit positions.

To provide space for a 2x2 unit, place 4 soldiers in a 2x2 square.
If space is not provided, the 2x2 unit will be missing in a real battle.

Click on the 'Abort Mission' icon to save a custom deployment table (positions + facing).
The game tells you how many units are on valid positions and how many are outside.
Saving is possible only if all units are on valid positions.

Click on the 'End Turn' icon to exit the preview.

The saved information is bound to the craft type (i.e. not to any particular craft or any particular units).
If you want to remove your custom changes, you can press and hold CTRL while saving.

Please note that these changes override mod settings, and if a modder changes the mod settings, they can become incompatible with your saved deployment table.
In worst case, the game could crash.
In such (unlikely) scenario, you'd need to remove your custom definitions from the save file manually.

35
OXCE Suggestions DONE / [DONE] craft preview
« on: February 12, 2022, 10:10:48 am »
Related threads:
1. craft preview: this thread
2. craft type preview: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,10371.0.html
3. base preview: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,10372.0.html

This feature allows you to preview and customize the deployment of your units (in a given craft) at the beginning of a battle.

You can start the preview by clicking on the Preview button in the Craft Soldiers GUI.
Presence of a (previously defined) custom deployment is indicated by an asterisk on the 'Preview' button.

If there is at least 1 soldier or 1 HWP onboard, the preview will start.
You have unlimited movement on all your units.
You can also use the Ctrl+W key combo to teleport your units instantly.
Press and hold 'Alt' to highlight valid unit positions.

Click on the 'Abort Mission' icon to save a custom deployment (unit positions + facing).
The game tells you how many units are on valid positions and how many are outside.
Saving is possible only if all units are on valid positions.

Click on the 'End Turn' icon to exit the preview.

Note that adding any new soldiers or vehicles to the craft automatically invalidates the saved custom deployment.
(removing units will not invalidate)
(changing soldier armor from 1x1 to 2x2 also invalidates)
This is a feature, not a bug!
The saved information is bound to this particular craft with these particular units.

Saving is also disabled on craft, which have more than one possible battlescape terrain (since they can be completely incompatible between each other).

If you want to make a more permanent craft deployment changes, you can use the craft type preview feature: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,10371.0.html

36
For a longer time, people have been asking for more control over difficulty coefficient impact on the Dogfight, especially UFO firing rates and UFO escape countdown.

These two have now been reworked and can operate also on a percentage base, instead of flat base.

Besides them, I have also added 4 more attributes related to difficulty coefficients.
Vanilla values are in the example below and can be modified easily.

You can use all, some or none of these new attributes.
If you don't use a particular attribute, the game will behave as until now for that particular functionality (100% back-compatibility).

Code: [Select]
difficultyCoefficientOverrides:
  ufoFiringRateCoefficients: [100, 95, 90, 85, 80]          # percent of default... percentages instead of vanilla flat values
  ufoEscapeCountdownCoefficients: [100, 95, 90, 85, 80]     # percent of default... percentages instead of vanilla flat values

  retaliationTriggerOdds: [4, 8, 12, 16, 20]                # vanilla percentages
  retaliationBaseRegionOdds: [50, 56, 62, 68, 74]           # vanilla percentages

  aliensFacingCraftOdds: [0, 20, 40, 60, 80]                # vanilla percentages

  monthlyRatingThresholds: [-900, -800, -700, -600, -500]   # vanilla points; please note that only NEGATIVE numbers are accepted here

https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Ruleset_Reference_Nightly_(OpenXcom)#Difficulty_Settings

37
OXCE Suggestions DONE / [DONE] Units ignored by the AI
« on: February 04, 2022, 03:12:01 pm »
Units (aliens and civilians) can now be marked as "ignoredByAI".

This will make AI ignore them.

Currently it has the following effects:
1. aliens will not attack ignored civilians
2. civilians will not attack ignored aliens :D
3. civilians will not react to ignored aliens
(4. aliens can't react to civilians in OXC either, so this was not necessary to implement)

Tip for modders: you can use this for example to better implement a hostage rescue mission... enemies will not attack the hostages (at least not directly)

Example:

Code: [Select]
units:
  - type: STR_HOSTAGE
    ignoredByAI: true        # default is false

PS: I tested the most common situations, but I can't guarantee that all situations are covered... should you notice that in some situations it's not working, report it

38
OXCE Suggestions DONE / [DONE] Cosmetic units
« on: February 04, 2022, 03:01:46 pm »
Units (other than geoscape soldiers) can now be marked as "cosmetic".

This will reduce their presence in the soldier diaries and in the commendations.

Currently it has the following effects:
1. killing/stunning/panicking/mindcontrolling a cosmetic unit will not be written into the soldier diaries... which in turn will prevent them from triggering friendly fire commendations
2. civilians marked as cosmetic will not count towards "STR_CIVILIANS_KILLED_BY_XCOM_OPERATIVES", "STR_CIVILIANS_KILLED_BY_ALIENS" and "STR_CIVILIANS_SAVED" debriefing stats... which in turn will prevent them from triggering saved-all-civilians commendations

More features may be linked with this flag in the future.

Example:

Code: [Select]
units:
  - type: STR_SECURITY_CAMERA
    cosmetic: true        # default is false

39
You can now define events, that won't be "scheduled", but will pop up instantly for selected triggers:

1. `successEvents` = mission success
2. `failureEvents` = mission failure (does NOT include mission site despawn)
3. `despawnEvents` = mission site despawn

Each attribute is a weighted list.
One item is picked from the list randomly (considering weights).

Example:

Code: [Select]
alienDeployments:
  - type: STR_TERROR_MISSION
...
    successEvents:
      STR_TEST_EVENT1: 100
    despawnEvents:
      STR_TEST_EVENT2: 50
      STR_TEST_EVENT4: 50
    failureEvents:
      STR_TEST_EVENT3: 100
...

40
All 3 script types now have access to 3 different kinds of counters:

1. mission script `varName` counter... you can find it under `alienStrategy:` in the save file

2. global object counter... you can find it under `ids:` in the save file
- this contains the number of various generated game objects, most notably mission markers

3. custom global object counter... this is also under the same `ids:` in the save file
- this contains modder-defined counters, that can increase or decrease after mission success/failure/despawn

The `varName` can be accessed via `missionVarName`.
Global counters (both default and custom) can be accessed via `missionMarkerName`.

The counter is then compared against the limits defined via `counterMin` and `counterMax`.

IMPORTANT: please note that `ids:` in the save file hold a value of the counter plus 1. For example if the game generated 2 terror site, the save will contain `STR_TERROR_SITE: 3`.

Example for an event script (same syntax is valid for mission scripts and arc scripts):

Code: [Select]
eventScripts:
  - type: STR_TEST
...
    missionVarName: shippingLanes           # varName from mission scripts
    missionMarkerName: STR_TERROR_SITE      # marker name from alien deployment
    missionMarkerName: CUST_TERROR_SUCCESS  # custom counter name from alien deployment
    counterMin: 3
    counterMax: 3                           # -1 = infinity/unlimited
...

Please only use one of the `missionVarName` and `missionMarkerName` at a time; they share the `counterMin` and `counterMax` values.
Default for `counterMin` is 0 (zero).
Default for `counterMax` is -1 (unlimited).

41
OXCE Suggestions DONE / [DONE][Suggestion] More constraints on craft crew
« on: January 09, 2022, 08:08:51 pm »
Craft ruleset now has 8 more fields:
`maxSmallSoldiers` = maximum allowed number of 1x1 soldiers, default -1 (unlimited)
`maxLargeSoldiers` = maximum allowed number of 2x2 soldiers, default -1 (unlimited)
`maxSmallVehicles` = maximum allowed number of 1x1 vehicles, default -1 (unlimited)
`maxLargeVehicles` = maximum allowed number of 2x2 vehicles, default -1 (unlimited)
`maxSmallUnits` = maximum allowed number of 1x1 soldiers and 1x1 vehicles, default -1 (unlimited)
`maxLargeUnits` = maximum allowed number of 2x2 soldiers and 2x2 vehicles, default -1 (unlimited)
`maxSoldiers` = maximum allowed number of 1x1 soldiers and 2x2 soldiers, default -1 (unlimited)
`maxVehicles` = maximum allowed number of 1x1 vehicles and 2x2 vehicles, default -1 (unlimited)

Of course there are still the two existing fields:
`soldiers` = total of all imaginable units, default 0
`vehicles` = all units minus 1x1 soldiers (i.e. 1x1 vehicles, 2x2 vehicles and 2x2 soldiers), default 0

42
OXCE Suggestions DONE / [DONE] AoE explosion animation radius
« on: January 02, 2022, 10:20:33 am »
Small question:
When we use "FixRadius: 1" for super-powerful weapon, the explosion animation still showed over whole screen, not just normal blast. Is it intended?

It's both intended and not. Kinda. Hard to say.

But it is a thing that could use more modding options.
I will add something in the next release... just need to figure out what exactly.
Stay tuned.

43
EDIT: another related topic available since OXCE v7.9: [DONE][Suggestion] Aliens should build a base where the (final) UFO lands: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,10860.0.html
--


In OpenXcom, all site type missions (the ones with `objective: 3`) work only with point areas (representing cities).

Since OXCE v7.3, it is now possible to use also non-point (i.e. rectangular) areas and the exact mission site coordinates will be chosen randomly from that rectangle area.

Please note that for mission sites spawned directly, the entire area is considered valid and no additional checks are performed:
- no check for ocean texture
- no check for fake underwater texture
- no check for being inside the region

For mission sites spawned from a landed UFO (only since OXCE v7.3.3), there are additional checks performed if `objectiveOnTheLandingSite: true` (see below)
- check for ocean texture is done
- check for fake underwater texture is done
- but the check for being inside the region is not done (intentionally)
Note that if a valid landing site is not found after 100 random attempts, UFO will still land (on water or invalid texture).


More technical details below, just copypasted from the source code comments:


// -----------------------------------------------------------
// Summary of mission site spawning algorithms (objective: 3)
// -----------------------------------------------------------

// Type 1:
// - no UFOs involved
// - only 1 wave
// - the wave specifies the alien deployment directly (e.g. `ufo: STR_ARTIFACT_SITE_P1 # spawn this site directly`)
// - example (1): STR_ALIEN_ARTIFACT (TFTD)
// Support for non-point areas: yes, without any additional ruleset changes required

// Type 2:
// - no UFOs involved
// - only 1 wave
// - the wave does NOT specify the alien deployment directly (e.g. `ufo: dummy #don't spawn a ufo, we only want the site`)
//   -> option A: alien deployment is chosen randomly = from the area's texture definition
//   -> option B: alien deployment is specified by the mission's `siteType` (overrides option A if both are defined)
// - example (2A): STR_ALIEN_SHIP_ATTACK (TFTD)
// - example (2B): none in vanilla, only mods
// Support for non-point areas: yes, without any additional ruleset changes required

// Type 3:
// - with UFOs waves
// - only 1 wave with `objective: true`
// - the wave does NOT specify the alien deployment (because it already specifies the UFO type)
//   -> option A: alien deployment is chosen randomly = from the area's texture definition
//   -> option B: alien deployment is specified by the mission's `siteType` (overrides option A if both are defined)
// - example (3A): STR_ALIEN_SURFACE_ATTACK (TFTD)
// - example (3B): none in vanilla, only mods
// Support for non-point areas: yes, but it is recommended to use one more wave attribute: `objectiveOnTheLandingSite: true`
//   -> false: UFO always lands in the top-left corner of the area; site spawns randomly inside the area
//   ->  true: UFO lands randomly inside the area; site spawns exactly on the UFO landing site



Minimum required OXCE version for non-point areas:
------------------------------------------
since OXCE v6.8: support for 2a and partially 3a
since OXCE v7.2.1: support for 3b and 2b, full support for 3a
since OXCE v7.2.2: support for 1

since OXCE v7.3: support for old save conversion (i.e. older saves can be loaded even if modders remove/delete technical mission regions used previously... for example XcomFiles v2.2 and higher)
since OXCE v7.3.3: support for checks for valid land point for site spawns by a landed UFO



Don't hesitate to ask if unclear.


PS: also when defining areas in your mission zones, keep each individual mission zone either with 100% point areas or 100% non-point areas... don't mix them (in some uncommon cases, this will lead to unexpected behavior and/or crashes)

44
Troubleshooting / Fixed `maxRange` calculation for 2x2 player units
« on: March 06, 2021, 04:29:37 pm »
Fixed in OXC nightly build 2021-02-26; and in OXCE v7.0.

The maxRange for 2x2 units was calculated only around the "main" tile of a 2x2 unit.
Now all tiles of a 2x2 unit are considered.

Attached picture illustrates the change:
- pink color = 2x2 unit
- pink and green color = range 1 around the unit
Old behavior on the left, new on the right.

45
Until now this information was not saved.

Since OXCE v7.0, it is saved as well... which means you don't have to manually reload fixed weapons before each mission... the ammo assigned to the weapon in the base equipment will be remembered and applied automatically.

This applies to:
- automatically saved last equipment layout of a soldier
- temporary soldier templates (hotkeys C and V)
- personal soldier templates (hotkeys S and L)
- global soldier templates (hotkeys F5 and F9)

The saves are backwards-compatible with older OXCE versions and also with OXC.
(meaning the newly saved information is ignored and doesn't cause a crash)

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