Installation process

[thanquol99]

Hello everyone,

I got the urge to play this game again. Last time was about 15-20 years ago. I got hooked again by NeptunesNookGames Let's Play series. All these mods are very interesting.

I've been trying to install this OpenXcom and the Redux mod for the past 2 days without success. Nook tried to help me in the comment section of one of his Let's Play on YouTube, but I think I'm too much out of touch with this kind of thing to understand.

First off, I do have a copy of the original game that I bought from Steam. It now resides in this folder on my computer...
C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\XCom UFO Defense\

Every attempt to install OpenXcom has resulted in a failure, except the "milestone" version. However, with the "milestone" I can't get the Redux mod to work.

I would like to have a very "dumb down" install walkthrough, since I know I doing this wrong. Pretend that you are trying to explain to your mother how to install OpenXcom.

Your help will be very appreciated.

Also, from what I've seen on Nook's Let's Play, you guys have done some incredible work. I can't wait to explore OpenXcom and all the mods available for myself.

Keep up the great work.

Thanks.

[DracoGriffin]

I will help, but only if you promise you will reply afterwards, what was it you did wrong...

0. turn on your PC, log in, make sure you are connected to the Internet
1. download latest nightly build from here: https://openxcom.org/git-builds/
2. put it on your desktop
3. extract the content of the archive
4. go into the subfolder called "UFO"
5. open the "README.txt" file... it says which files from the Steam game you need to copy over
6. copy the files
7. run by double-clicking on "OpenXcom.exe"
8. enjoy

You can check also a video I made earlier... it shows more than just this, the only part you need is between 02:24 and 04:17, please ignore the rest.
Link: https://youtu.be/UpuGyPSEA-g

There's a good example and video by Meridian. Essentially, check the mod for what Nightly it requires (usually linked by the mod author), download that and install it to a OpenXcom folder of your choice. Extract the mod into a user/Mods subdirectory in the OpenXcom folder you just made.

Make sure you copy the UFO/TFTD files from C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\XCom UFO Defense\ (all of them) and put them into the /UFO and /TFTD subdirectories in the OpenXcom folder you created.

Start OpenXcom and go into the Options then Mods section; change the Game type from UFO: Enemy Unknown to the mod you downloaded!

[thanquol99]

Thanks Draco for the information and Thanks to Meridian for the instructional video. I seemed to have been able to install OpenXcom properly. Now the Redux Mod is causing me problems. The mod says it requires this nightly 2015_10_01_0503 or later. This nightly is no longer there. So I downloaded 2015_10_10_0133 instead since the latest Redux version is Oct. 14, 2015. I followed step by step what Meridian did on his videos with the versions  I have. The game opens with the nightly version on the title screen. And I play/tested a little bit of the game and all seems fine. What I go to options and then mods, I see where I can potentially change the mod from UFO to an installed mod. So I believe I have this part figured out.

I've tried to install the Redux files a few different ways, but I can't seem to get the Redux version in the Options/mods selector.

So now I have a folder on my desktop called "openxcom". Inside I have the folders "common, standard, TFTD(empty, i didin't buy this game yet), UFO(with the files from GEODATA to UNITS in steam folder as per Meridian videos instructions). And 4 files "changelog.txt, license.txt, openxcom.exe, and readme.md".

I now have the redux download extracted on my desktop in a folder called "redux". This is where I seem to be stuck. I tried to integrate this files several different ways. Nothing seems to work. Please note that after every attempt, I make sure that the files are back to where they were before trying to install redux.

Sorry to be a bother with this, as it should be simple enough, but I can't seem to get it to work.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Marc.

[DracoGriffin]

Ok, starting from your desktop:

Copy the Redux folder
Open the OpenXcom folder
Open the \user subfolder (or create it if it's not there)
Open the \Mods subfolder (or create it if it's not there)
Paste the Redux folder into the \OpenXcom\user\Mods subfolder

Start OpenXcom from the OpenXcom folder on your desktop and you should be able to change the mod from UFO to Redux.

Hope you enjoy OpenXcom!

[thanquol99]

Perfect!!!!

It works. I just completed one crash site and all is well. Thanks DracoGriffin. The problem I was having is that I had the user and Mods folders seperate. After following your advice of putting the Mods inside the user folder, everything works perfectly.

Thank you very much.

Now I just hope I don't pull an all nighter and be forced to call in sick for work tomorrow morning. I remember pulling a few all nighters back in High School.

Marc.

[CthuluIsSpy]

There's a good example and video by Meridian. Essentially, check the mod for what Nightly it requires (usually linked by the mod author), download that and install it to a OpenXcom folder of your choice. Extract the mod into a user/Mods subdirectory in the OpenXcom folder you just made.

Make sure you copy the UFO/TFTD files from C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\XCom UFO Defense\ (all of them) and put them into the /UFO and /TFTD subdirectories in the OpenXcom folder you created.

Start OpenXcom and go into the Options then Mods section; change the Game type from UFO: Enemy Unknown to the mod you downloaded!

Quick question - is there a way to get steam to open TFTD with OpenXCOM as well as UFO:Defense?
I would like two shortcuts, on that opens TFTD with steam and OpenXcom, and one that opens UFO: Defense through steam with OpenXCOM.
I have the latter done, but I haven't set up TFTD yet.

Also, is TFTD at a good place? Is it completely ready to play now, or are there still some tweaks?

[Warboy1982]

yeah, from what i understand you can simply install openxcom to steam's tftd folder, rename openxcom.exe to dosbox.exe and you can launch it through steam, it'll track your hours played, do the overlay, save your screenshots to the cloud, the whole shebang.

as for level of completeness, TFTD is pretty much done at this point.