Is there an overview post?

[knowltok]

I hope I'm not missing it but I'm looking for a broad overview of what the various main mods do.

I'm getting a PC again for the first time in a very long time and loved this game as a college student low these many years ago.  So I'm looking to recreate and expand the magic.

What I've been able to gather so far is that:

• Openxcom - fixes bugs and modernizes the game.  Hopefully that isn't an undersell, since it sounds amazing.
• Final Mod Pack - expands the game but keeps it lore friendly
• Openxcom extended - I'm not quite sure.  Some places I see that Final Mod Pack can work with this, but I'm not sure if it is required, expected, etc.
• Are there any other main mods that stick to the basic concept of the game(s?)

So ultimately I'm looking for the cliff notes version for the end of 2023 which would tell me things like, "Oh, don't use [X], it has been replaced by [Y]", and "You really need to use this mod or that version for best mainstream results.

Also, any reason not to buy this off of Steam, and are the mods for anything more than X-COM and TFTD?

Thank you, and apologies if I just should have clicked on that one thread over there.

[Yankes]

OpenXcom Extended - Fork of OXC that put emphasis on moding capabilities and QoL improvements. Most of big mods use it.
As you can't make omelet without breaking some eggs, some mechanics in OXCE work slightly different than OG, this mean if
you want 99.9% same as original then you should choose OXC instead of OXCE.

[knowltok]

OpenXcom Extended - Fork of OXC that put emphasis on moding capabilities and QoL improvements. Most of big mods use it.
As you can't make omelet without breaking some eggs, some mechanics in OXCE work slightly different than OG, this mean if
you want 99.9% same as original then you should choose OXC instead of OXCE.

Thank you.  OXCE is definitely more what I'm looking for. 

If OXCE is OG plus, what should I go for if I want OG expanded?  I see Final Mod Pack and X Files by the same author, is X files the new standard for that 'same concept and ideas as the original, but really expanded'?

Also, is a Steam purchase of this okay?

thanks

[psavola]

If you liked TFTD, go for TWoTS mod to get the expanded experience.
If you liked UFO, try X-Com Files (though FMP might also work).

There are also quite a few more or less "total conversion" mods, but if you want the experience to have some basis on original games, I suppose those two might be the best places to start.

[knowltok]

If you liked TFTD, go for TWoTS mod to get the expanded experience.
If you liked UFO, try X-Com Files (though FMP might also work).

There are also quite a few more or less "total conversion" mods, but if you want the experience to have some basis on original games, I suppose those two might be the best places to start.

Thanks.  I'll probably start with X-Com Files.  I liked both games once upon a time, but TFTD didn't hit quite the same way and IIRC, was a hell of a lot harder.

[Yankes]

For original data, Steam version will work fine, I my self use it.

[ps]

There are two forks of OXCE that even more expand further:
From the Ashes - TC mod that change code too to add some custom gameplay mechanics
BrutalAI - Change a lot how AI work to make it harder

[Juku121]

There are more mods that tweak the original game than anything else, but comparatively few of them are of the same scope as the megamods.

The only reason not to buy this off Steam is that you hate Steam and love GoG. Okay, there are some more esoteric reasons, too.



There are many mods that largely go outside the UFO theme. The most prominent example is Piratez, which is a... piratepunk?... total conversion loosely connected to the original. There is a Halo mod, a War of the Worlds mod, a Dune mod, an Apocalypse conversion (and OpenApoc, but that's a different story), a magical invasion mod instead of ETs, etc. And more tweaking of the OG and TFTD than you can shake a mouse at.



FMP and its OXCE version are possibly the closest to a relatively faithful expansion of the original. It came to be as a community mod pack of the best mods of the time (and that time was quite a while ago), and has been making tiny steps towards being X-Com Files lite after Solarius took over. (XCF is a sort of spiritual successor to FMP.) These steps stop quite a distance away from being a version of XCF, of course.

Probably the biggest modern reimagining of UFO is Reaver's Harmony mod. It focuses more on variety of tactical/strategic choices rather than content addons like FMP. There are a lot more, in various states of completion.

X-Com Files itself is the closest thing to the original that makes full use of OXC(E)'s modding capabilities and adds tons of content. But do beware that the mod itself has been thematically shifting away from a tale of alien invasion into something different. You'll be mainly fighting an array of shadowy Earth organisations, from gopniks on alien steroids to Dagon cultists to world-spanning conspiracies. Heck, you'll be working for one of those yourself. Aliens are a lot more scarce and there are several factions of those, including a toned-down version of TFTD, an alternate take on Apocalypse and several Hollow Earth types. And I hope you enjoy shooting cryptids in the snout, because you'll be doing that a lot in the early game.



As to TFTD, right now the World of Terrifying Silence seems to be the most polished and popular TFTD reimagining. There are two more of roughly the same scale, but not the polish, and a smattering of smaller ones.



And of you are worried about the game being hard, stay away from Brutal AI (a tweaked version of OXCE).



TLDR: I recommend trying out Reaver's, FMP and XCF for a few in-game months first and see which you like best. They all have different strenghts and what works for one player might not work for another. There are others, but less complete and/or feature-rich, like Awesome Guns, the UN mods, Reaver's other mod, XenoOps and more.

[Yankes]

I see that Juku121 forget to mention 40k mods that available. Similar to Apocalypse mod, they have top quality of new asserts.

[Solarius Scorch]

Another mod worth mentioning is Robin's "From The Apocalypse". It's a loose adaptation of X-Com Apocalypse.