[Crafts][Weapons] XCom Armoury Expanded - v1.03

[Arthanor]

Awesome! There are surprisingly few mods for laser weapons. Lots for conventional ones and some for plasma, but no love for lasers..? They are by far my favorite weapons.

Thank you!

[Solarius Scorch]

Awesome! There are surprisingly few mods for laser weapons. Lots for conventional ones and some for plasma, but no love for lasers..? They are by far my favorite weapons.

They're so good, they don't need mods.

[Arthanor]

haha well, that might be right. Hopefully the laser sniper rifle and scatter laser find some takers. I'll use 'em for sure!

With the new laser and plasma research mods, plus an added emphasis for alien alloy, it should make the game pretty cool.

I'm thinking of at least recommending your jump armor (the one made from the floaters), as it makes sniper rifles much easier to use. In my few games, my dedicated sharpshooter is spending so long getting in position (usually clearing a building while trying to get on its roof) that the rest of the squad has had time to finish off all the aliens before I get to snipe anything Being able to just float up would make a huge difference (and might be a bit OP, but I'm thinking of adjusting aimed shots so you can only get one, and floating armor to reduce the soldier's accuracy since armor can impact stats).

[Solarius Scorch]

I'm thinking of at least recommending your jump armor (the one made from the floaters), as it makes sniper rifles much easier to use.

I would suggest using Clownagent's Grav Armour mod instead. It includes my Jump Armour, but also a Grav Module which is just a flying backpack and is available before the Alien Alloys are researched. It also uses IMHO better sprites, more consistent with the Personal Armour design, but if you want the green version, use the Jump Armour graphics.

[Arthanor]

Awesome suggestion! I haven't mined the forums for all the gems lying there, only the mod website (and even that probably not entirely).

I will certainly use the grav armor, it looks like a great mod! Probably leave it as is and add it to the list of suggested mods.

Thank you!

[Arthanor]

Alright! A new version of the XCom Armoury Expanded that includes all the weapons.

Recommended mods:
- Alien Armoury Expanded
- Grav Armors
- Combat knife
- Plasma Needs Elerium Expanded (from this post above)
- Laser tech tweak, tank first (from this forum)
- Quickdraw mode A (uses belt slots)

I have an issue in the mod, where the shotgun uses some sprites from the sniper rifle (That doesn't happen in the shotgun mod I took, but I don't know why it happens here). And there is another issue in the sniper rifle mod where the sprites are not displayed properly, which is still present in this one. If anyone has an idea how to make them work, I'd be VERY happy to learn.

Let me know how it goes,

[Arthanor]

AH! Found it! I just realized that there needs to be a gap between the IDs you give to different handobs, otherwise they overwrite each others. (8, I guess, for the 8 directions for which handobs are created).

Here is version 7.1, for which the shotgun works perfectly. The sniper rifle is still a bit wonky, not sure why...

[Aldorn]

AH! Found it! I just realized that there needs to be a gap between the IDs you give to different handobs, otherwise they overwrite each others. (8, I guess, for the 8 directions for which handobs are created).

8 for handobs, 35 for bulletsprites

To not forget it, I always add it as comment

Example

Spoiler:

# Toxigun
items:
...
  - type: STR_TOXIGUN
    bigSprite: 706
    floorSprite: 706
    handSprite: 716 #IncOf8
    bulletSprite: 20 #20x35=700
    fireSound: 706
  - type: STR_TOXIGUN_FLASK
    bigSprite: 707
    floorSprite: 707
    hitSound: 19
    hitAnimation: 707
...

extraSprites:
...
# Toxigun
  - type: BIGOBS.PCK
    files:
      706: Resources/HellMod/Weapons/Plasma/Toxigun_BIGOBS.PNG
      707: Resources/HellMod/Weapons/Plasma/ToxigunFlask_BIGOBS.PNG
  - type: FLOOROB.PCK
    files:
      706: Resources/HellMod/Weapons/Plasma/Toxigun_FLOOROB.PNG
      707: Resources/HellMod/Weapons/Plasma/ToxigunFlask_FLOOROB.PNG
  - type: HANDOB.PCK
    width: 256
    height: 40
    subX: 32
    subY: 40
    files:
      #IncOf8
      716: Resources/HellMod/Weapons/Plasma/Toxigun_HANDOB.PNG
  - type: Projectiles
    height: 3
    width: 105
    subX: 3
    subY: 3
    files:
      #IncOf35
      700: Resources/HellMod/Weapons/Plasma/Toxigun_BulletSprite.PNG
...

It is important when you are building a big mod as FMP and others

Here is version 7.1, for which the shotgun works perfectly. The sniper rifle is still a bit wonky, not sure why...

Nice dude

[Arthanor]

8 for handobs, 35 for bulletsprites

To not forget it, I always add it as comment

[...]

It is important when you are building a big mod as FMP and others

Thank you for the info! When your source of information on "how to build a mod" is other people's mods with no instructions on how to do it, extracting all the information is tricky. I'm glad to have figured it out and now have the hypothesis confirmed! The comment tip is good too. I had seen that comment but did not know what it meant...

You also gave me some extra info on how to approach the sniper rifle bullet issue. There is one included in the mod, but I don't as of now understand how the bullet sprite works.

Side note: still no idea why the sniper rifle looks weird in the battlescape. That one is annoying!
Side note2: Build 0.71 had a bad reference for alloy shotgun shells bigob, which caused the game to crash upon entering the inventory screen, and several other minor bugs. I have attached version 0.72 and will remove the link to 0.71 from above.

[Aldorn]

Thank you for the info! When your source of information on "how to build a mod" is other people's mods with no instructions on how to do it, extracting all the information is tricky. I'm glad to have figured it out and now have the hypothesis confirmed! The comment tip is good too. I had seen that comment but did not know what it meant...

Many here are qualified to answer your questions and are ready for, but you are right, it is some sport to start modding

If not already the case, you should have this as shortcut, with a bit of experience, you will find many info

You also gave me some extra info on how to approach the sniper rifle bullet issue. There is one included in the mod, but I don't as of now understand how the bullet sprite works.

Does it work or not ?

Ran seems to be an expert  , you should perhaps ask him on this thread

Side note: still no idea why the sniper rifle looks weird in the battlescape. That one is annoying!

Could you post a screen shot so that we don't have to install and test your mod for now ?

Handobs are very difficult to design : size, perspective, position vs soldier, and also removing some pixels to uncover soldiers right hand on any position not doing this automatically...

[Arthanor]

There is so much information out there, sometimes just under your nose, and yet if you don't realize it is there, it might as well not be. Thank you very much for bringing this ressource to my attention. It will be very useful!

I will look a little bit more into my issues. Now that I know what the properties of different things can be, I can look for what might be missing.

Thanks again!

[Arthanor]

Well, it's been quiet over here, but that's only because I have been busy. Here comes the XCom Armoury Expanded, version 0.8!!

New stuff:
- Craft and craft weapons stats tweaks: The interceptor and starting weapons are now weaker, better develop new tech! Alloy Interceptor + Alloy Cannon bring things close to previous levels, but missiles are also less reliable.

- New Craft Weapon: Elerium Rocket
Requires Elerium Bombs for small launcher, either with the mod, or as part of an further expanded Alien Armoury Expanded. An elerium intensive craft weapon to take out big UFOs, but not quite as intensive as the Fusion Launcher. Works well to bridge the gap between laser cannons, plasma beams and fusion launchers.

- ListOrder fixed for all entries. If you find something out of place, let me know!

- Increased Research Tree complexity. Getting lasers is no longer a quick thing to do, you have time to "enjoy" conventional weapons and alloy ammo. Research tree added within the mod zip file in case you get lost.

- A brand new extra ruleset containing "utility" weapons (taken from Ryskelinii's GunsNGadgets mod, but with combined sprites so it works under unix systems).

- Lasers now require Alien Alloy to be built (explaining why humans did not have them to begin with.. few weeks research by a few scientists? Weapons manufacturers would have developed it already!)

Needed stuff:
- Sprites for the alloy ammo (pistol, shotgun, rifle, sniper rifle, Heavy Cannon, AutoCannon)

- Sprites for the Elerium Rockets

Recommended Mods:
- Alien Armoury Expanded
- Elerium Bombs (WARNING: not compatible with the Alien Armoury as of now, needs fixing by adding a 4th loadout in the Elerium Bomb mod, or adding the bombs to the Armoury)
- Combat knife
- Grav Armours
- Laser Tech Tweaks: Tank First
- Moriarty's Plasma Cannon
- Plasma needs Elerium (Expanded version, to go with the Alien Armoury)
- Quickdraw A (To make pistols/knifes more relevant, plus quick access to more ammo for utility weapons)
- Stun Grenade
- Your favorite variety of new races/maps to expand the experience. The game/research now takes longer, variety is great.

Enjoy! And please let me know what you think of it!

[XCOMFan419]

- Quickdraw A (To make pistols/knifes more relevant, plus quick access to more ammo for utility weapons)

I recommend Extra Pockets instead. Much more versatile.

[Arthanor]

I saw that one too, but it's too much of a change for me compared to the original. I like the quick draw mod for how it makes single shot weapons and emergency pistol shooting worthwhile. The other one.. emergency rifle?! pockets everywhere?

It definitely does get the job done, if not better, but it's not quite the job I want done. I just want something that makes carrying a pistol meaningful, which the quickdraw mod (A, since it doesn't add any storage, just adds a quick-access slot), does perfectly.

[XCOMFan419]

- New Craft Weapon: Elerium Rocket
Requires Elerium Bombs for small launcher, either with the mod, or as part of an further expanded Alien Armoury Expanded. An elerium intensive craft weapon to take out big UFOs, but not quite as intensive as the Fusion Launcher. Works well to bridge the gap between laser cannons, plasma beams and fusion launchers.

I think I smell the Alenium Torpedo from Xenonauts.

But that's none of my business