Topics

16

Released Mods / [WEAPON] The MunkeyLord Archives - SA80

« on: October 31, 2013, 07:21:01 am »

First up, the SA-80 for those of you who want UNIT operations against the alien menace.

Bloody good show, old chaps!

I've taken the liberty of converting everything into OXCOM format so all you need to do is work together a ruleset for it.

Also included in SA-80_Original_Mod.zip is the original edited patch for UFO.

17

Suggestions / New Graphic Archive Format?

« on: October 30, 2013, 07:28:09 pm »

Currently, you can define a new PCK file in a ruleset; like:

Code: [Select]

  - type: XCOM_4.PCK
    width: 32
    height: 40
    files:
      0: Resources/CombatArmor/XCOM_4/
whereas you have 288 files within that folder going from xcom_4_000_0.gif to xcom_4_287_0.gif

As more and more mods are created, file #s are going to go up  -- my colored power suit mod has 2,311 files.

I'm wondering if it's possible to use the ZIP format (with stored format / no compression) to replace PCK  -- meaning we wouldn't need to maintain specialist tools for OXCOM modding; so our rulesets would look like this instead:

Code: [Select]

  - type: XCOM_4.PCK
    width: 32
    height: 40
    files:
      0: Resources/CombatArmor/XCOM4.zip

18

Fan-Stuff / Real Life Skyranger!

« on: October 26, 2013, 08:33:41 pm »

From Secret Projects, regarding Scaled Composites SOFTA (Special Ops Forces Transport Aircraft)

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,20555.15.html

MODEL 215 SKIRT TANDEM SUPERSTOL
 Tandem wing, skirt for Super-STOL, rocket assist

Model 215 is a conventional tandem wing configuration for cruise that is optimized for a high cruise L/D using high aspect ratio sailplane-like wings. The aft wing outer panels can be hinged similar to Model 208 for pitch and roll control during cruise. As shown in the section view, the entire fuselage between the canard and main wing contains a drum in which a sail-like “skirt” is rolled up and stowed for cruise. Where runway length allows, the aircraft makes conventional takeoffs and landings without the skirt high lift device. For SuperSTOL operations, the aircraft is slowed to near the stall speed, then is continuously slowed as the skirt is unfurled laterally between the canard and wing. The skirt edges are retained in tracks similar to that used on high performance racing sail boats using a continuous root-to-tip cable loop at the canard and the wing. This geometry transition results in a three-fold increase in aircraft wing area and a significant reduction in aspect ratio, allowing a steep, slow descent into the landing zone using conventional fixed wing aerodynamics. In this configuration, the aircraft is actually a cross between a rigid conventional transport and a rag-wing type ultralight aircraft. When the aircraft is in the flare several feet in the air before touchdown, rocket engines are fired facing forward at the nose. A rocket burn of approximately 2.5 seconds provides a 1.0 G deceleration and reduces the speed to 35 knots within a 75-foot ground roll. Wheel brakes are used for the remaining 50 foot ground roll, providing a total ground distance of 125 feet. Thus, the several minute noise signature of the conventional vertical landing craft is replaced by a very loud 2.5 second “What was that?” type of signature. For takeoff, aft-facing rockets provide acceleration in addition to the turbofan engines and the landing transition is reversed. Total rocket fuel, using a specific impulse of 200 seconds results in a fuel weight of approximately 850 pounds, an excellent tradeoff compared to most vertical landing systems. The rockets are used, of course, only when SuperSTOL performance is mandatory.

19

Suggestions / New UFO Type: Recovery Ship

« on: October 26, 2013, 06:40:31 pm »

In the mIRC chat, we were talking; and Warboy mentioned that UFO crash site length is variable -- with the code being roughly:

RNG::generate(24, 96)*3600

Which is somewhere between 1-4 days.

My idea was this:

If you arrive in the last 20-15% of the RNG generated for an UFO crash site; you run into a special battle type -- the aliens have landed a RECOVERY SHIP -- I'd imagine it to be a slightly modified SUPPLY SHIP, with emphasis on having a lot of medical type equipment -- Luke83 has done some of the artwork for this (see attached photo); and lots of open space full of random piles of alien equipment -- such as melted down ingots of alien alloy from the hull of the ship being recovered.

An even crazier alternate is to have the RECOVERY SHIP be absolutely huge -- huge enough to have the UFO being recovered sit inside a huge hangar bay inside the recovery ship.

This comes from the line of thought I had regarding UFO recoveries -- the aliens have a few choices open to them:

First is to fix the UFO up enough to have it slowly fly off -- feasible for multi-engine ships

Second is to cut apart the UFO into pieces if it's too badly damaged (all power sources blowed up); like with smaller ships -- basically junkyard stripping it and crushing it into a cube.

Third is to obliterate the entire crash site with a UFO laser -- I'd imagine unfeasible for any of the larger ships; plus the huge flash of light and explosion would attract attention from human authorities.

Fourth is to pick up the damaged unflyable ship with a bigger UFO

20

Suggestions / Defining Lighting (aka different Flare types)

« on: October 26, 2013, 06:13:47 pm »

This came to me just now; thanks to the code clean up to reduce electroflare management in the recent nightlies....

Would it be possible to un-hardcode the radius of light that an item throws via the ruleset, so that you could have flares and other light emitting items defined by:

LightRadius: How many squares of light is lit up by the object -- Electroflares are 9.

LightDuration: How many turns the object can emit light once thrown. -1 would be infinite number of turns.

This would enable multiple generations of flares to be used by XCOM -- you could have early chemical flares emitting 4 light and lasting say 8 turns, which aren't recoverable (recover: false) similar to road flares today at the start of the game, giving way to ElectroFlares; 5 light and lasting say 9 turns, and recoverable; ultimately being replaced by Elerium Flares, giving 15 light and lasting infinitely besides being recoverable.

21

Work In Progress / Converting XCUTIL to OpenXCOM

« on: October 24, 2013, 12:54:50 am »

First *crude* attempts at converting some of XCOMUTIL by Scott Jones to Open XCOM.

Rulesets so far -- I'm breaking them up so that they can be as modular as you want them to be.

XCOM1_XCUTIL_Improved_HighExplosive

High Explosive does 200 damage. This adds the ability to blow holes in the sides of alien crafts.

XCOM1_XCUTIL_Improved_Pistol

This adds auto-fire to the pistol. Auto-fire will have the same accuracy and as many Time Units as 3 snap shots. While this may look like a lot of TU's it eliminates the alien reaction chance between shots, giving a chance to kill and not be killed with this weak weapon.

XCOM1_XCUTIL_Skyranger_Weapons

Allows the Skyranger to carry 1 weapon.

XCOM1_XCUTIL_Fighters_Carry_Troops

Allows the Interceptor and Firestorm to carry troops/HWPs.

22

Work In Progress / Color Replaced X-COM Units

« on: October 20, 2013, 02:22:50 am »

Sir, the tech boys have come up with a quick and dirty concept of plating the standard X-COM ARMOR blah blah blah.

Includes a ruleset: Colored_Power_Armor.rul that adds crudely:

Sunfire Suit (orangey tone)
 XCOM scientists have found a way to plate the POWER SUIT with a coating that is highly resistant to plasma weaponry (200% protection). This comes at a cost as it is more brittle against conventional weapons (50% protection).

Psonic Armor (Purple)
XCOM scientists have found a way to plate the POWER SUIT with a coating that increases the wearers' resistance against psonically based attacks. This comes at a cost, as it is 50% more susceptible to damage of all types.

The stats for the Psonic armor don't really work as it's kind of a place holder at the moment.

23

Suggestions / String for SMOKE type weapons

« on: October 03, 2013, 05:32:28 pm »

Is it possible to insert a new string reading "SMOKE" for smoke weapons (damageType: 9), since this has bugged me for a while (see attached).

24

Troubleshooting / 2013-09-29 18:33 GIT no longer sees ruleset strings

« on: September 29, 2013, 08:37:21 pm »

GITBuild 0.9 2013-9-29 18:33 no longer sees strings placed into a ruleset, e.g.

Code: [Select]

extraStrings:
  - type: English
    strings:
      STR_ROCKWELL_TAV: ROCKWELL TAV
      STR_ROCKWELL_TAV_UFOPEDIA: A HEAVY COMBAT AIRCRAFT WITH TWIN SCRAMJET ENGINES.
Same thing happens with additional nations on the globe in my ruleset, with this odd effect:

When the globe is zoomed out far enough so you can't see any text on the globe -- everything moves at a fast clip, but when you zoom in enough to see country names and city names, it all slows down to a crawl.

25

Suggestions / Color of Nation Text Indicates Alien Activity?

« on: September 28, 2013, 10:21:17 pm »

Had this idea for an ADVANCED OPTIONS feature -- toggle on whether the color of the nation text on the geoscape indicates the level of alien activity there?

Basically GREEN (as it is now) little activity, YELLOW, a bit sporty, and RED is alien grand central.

26

Troubleshooting / Slight graphical glitch in Craft equip screen.

« on: September 26, 2013, 03:37:02 am »

Part of the bitmap for the top view is being cut off:

Left is Original DOS UFO in DOSBOX, right is well you know.

Discovered this bug while making a large oversized 15x40~ pixel image for a alien alloy interceptor's hangar top down view.

27

Resources / Palettes for XCOM in GIMP/Paintshop format

« on: September 19, 2013, 12:41:44 am »

Just what the header of this thread says...

Anyone have them?

Admin Edit: Get the latest palettes here: https://github.com/MeridianOXC/OpenXcom/tree/oxce-plus/bin/common/Palettes

28

Released Mods / [GLOBE] Improved Nations Mod

« on: August 29, 2013, 09:42:33 pm »

This mod adds several dozen new nations to the game; along with many more cities.

Basic formula I used to determine funding pricing was:

All nations contribute a flat fee of 75 to the XCOM project.

Then they're assessed a basic GDP contribution fee of their GDP divided by 125. E.g. a nation with $7,751 per capita GDP would have to pay 62.01.

Next up is population contribution fee; population divided by 5,000,000. A nation with 1.2 billion people would then have to pay approximately 240.

Finally there's special fees:

NUCLEAR POWER: 135 (Known nuclear powers like US, UK, France, Israel, India, Pakistan, China, Russia)

SHARED NUCLEAR POWER: 62.5 (People who share nukes under dual NATO control -- Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Turkey)

It's important to note that 1999 was a long time ago regarding economic growth -- Russia was still in the dumps following the breakup of the USSR; along with many former WARPAC states -- Germany was still swallowing up Eastern Germany, etc.

You want to download and use

XCOM1_Improved_Nations_Final.rul

Original post below:

*******************************************************

First of all, I'd like to thank SupSuper for adding LAT/LONG coordinates when you click the cursor in debug mode; that has made adding nations to OXCOM a lot easier.

My current plan is to fill in a lot of the world, as shown by the map, along with doing minor globe nation defended area fixes.

Attached is my current ruleset as of 25 SEP 2013. (Depreciated, go down a few posts for latest version)

Progress on it is:

JAPAN:
Sakhalin Island added to territory

USA:
Hawaii added
Alaska added

Russia
Siberia has been extended a bit towards the pole.
Sakhalin Island added to territory (RUS/JAPAN claim it in real life)

Australia:
Tasmania added to territory
New Zealand added to territory (ANZUS Pact)

Canada:
Territory has been extended a bit towards the pole.

MEXICO has been added.
PHILIPPINES has been added
TAIWAN has been added
--Tapei has been added as a city.
KOREA has been added.
PAKISTAN has been added
IRAN has been added
SAUDI ARABIA has been added
--Riyadh has been added as a city.

29

Fan-Stuff / Any pointers for learning C++?

« on: August 29, 2013, 07:33:46 am »

Currently, I'm playing around in Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 Express; and I've got a ton of C++ books, some on loan from the library, some bought from used book stores; and there's always the INTERTUBEZ to help me.

Right now, I've managed to make a simple Win32 Console CLI application that does simple area calculations (hey a start is a start), but I was wondering if you guys had any specific recommendations regarding books for learning or any rules of thumb that you've painfully learned.

PS - Yes, I admit the big reason I picked C++ to learn was because OpenXCOM is programmed in it 

30

Suggestions / Additional Geoscape Debug Features

« on: August 29, 2013, 07:22:08 am »

Was wondering if it would be possible to toggle drawing the country polygon areas on the geoglobe; along with another debug that shows the current coordinates of the mouse cursor on the geoglobe.

This would make adding new countries to any "extended" XCOM a lot easier and require less trial and error.