[FULL MOD] UFO & TFTD Rework (silent update: Jan 1, 2017)

[new_civilian]

Sorry for my late reply, too 

Here some files, a black/shaded helmet, a silver armor, a greener protoform all with all files required (floor, big, inv) and some screenies

[new_civilian]

screenies and a PCK file of the black armor


Good work with the spawning animation, btw! 

[new_civilian]

some screenshots (with your original protoform color)

and one that shows the white mag ion armor from XenoWiper, which you maybe could consider adding, too?

[new_civilian]

I found two typos/bugs in the protoform research:

One time you wrote Protform instead of Protoform and the other research is missing the  _terrorist at the end.

[Orz]

The ideal would be to represent what you got on the base, but this is not possible.... YET.

Makes little difference to me, just like in UFO/EU where crafts simply disappear from hangars during Base Defense. I wouldn't mind either way, though!

You mean like this?

Yeah, I already tried that. But no, I'm feeling it's gotta be all white/silver. (When I referred to maybe adding hints of blue, I meant on the battlescape sprites rather than inventory image.)

What? Never seen that.

From UFOpedia regarding the Heavy Cruiser: "Contrary to the UFOpaedia description, these craft are found on Alien Interdiction missions"

TFTD is almost an exact carbon copy of UFO/EU, and sub waves in alien missions are no exception except for Heavy Cruiser (Harvester) being swapped for Hunter (Abductor) in their respective missions. So I simply switched them back as vanilla intended. (?)

Here some files, a black/shaded helmet, a silver armor, a greener protoform all with all files required (floor, big, inv) and some screenies

I'm kinda liking the white/silver combo. It'd be nice if the gloves/boots were that same shade of grey/silver just to offer some contrast to the pic (I know the all-white bigOb just looks bland and one-dimensional in game).

The greener Protoform also seems nice. I just wanted a more "aquatic/liquid" vibe to it, so I went with blueish.

Good work with the spawning animation, btw! 

Glad it worked

white mag ion armor from XenoWiper, which you maybe could consider adding, too?

Yes, white does look great on Ion Armor. Thing is, I really like it yellow as vanilla! I'm only trying to change Plastic Armor to more easily/visually differentiate from Diving Suit (like Coveralls VS Personal Armor in UFO/EU). And for consistency's sake, Plastic Armor can't be black (TFTD's style is very bright and colorful like a bubblegum water party!), so I think white would be the best/more consistent way to go?

I found two typos/bugs in the protoform research:

Thanks! I hardly came against Calcinites in my recent playthroughs, so didn't get to test it properly. Fixed for next update. Meanwhile, file attached for quick patch:

[Xeno Wiper]

Yeah, I already tried that. But no, I'm feeling it's gotta be all white/silver. (When I referred to maybe adding hints of blue, I meant on the battlescape sprites rather than inventory image.)

INV dolls <> battlescape?

And what about this? (last try. See attached img.)

From UFOpedia regarding the Heavy Cruiser: "Contrary to the UFOpaedia description, these craft are found on Alien Interdiction missions"

TFTD is almost an exact carbon copy of UFO/EU, and sub waves in alien missions are no exception except for Heavy Cruiser (Harvester) being swapped for Hunter (Abductor) in their respective missions. So I simply switched them back as vanilla intended. (?)

Ah, I was looking on ingame UFO/USOpaedia. Haven't checked online TFTD UFOpaedia in ages...

Yes, white does look great on Ion Armor. Thing is, I really like it yellow as vanilla! I'm only trying to change Plastic Armor to more easily/visually differentiate from Diving Suit (like Coveralls VS Personal Armor in UFO/EU). And for consistency's sake, Plastic Armor can't be black (TFTD's style is very bright and colorful like a bubblegum water party!), so I think white would be the best/more consistent way to go?

Bubble gum water party was attached to this post.

[Orz]

"In our father's image."

Coming soon...

[Solarius Scorch]

Oh. My. Fucking. God.

Best TFTD mod idea ever! Something I've wanted for aeons: an actual Dreamer unit. Or maybe its spawn.

[Arthanor]

Illithids! Awesome idea! I'm looking forward to looking at them in action!

Nicely done sir, nicely done..!

[Hobbes]

This mod has just been picked up by my radar

[Orz]

So... after a 3 month hiatus (and a couple weeks off to play Captain Blood and System Shock 1) I felt it was time to get back to UFO & TFTD Rework! As for the cherry on the cake: I finally decided to give TFTD its long-awaited 5th alien race (affectionately dubbed "Squidface")

What's done: spritesheet, floorOb & bigOb (although bigOb could use some polishing; I'm not 100% satisfied with it). For the spritesheet, I used Dioxine's "Church Priest" as a general guideline, then drew a big, bulbous, squid-like head pixel by pixel (I even added a "wobbling" effect when it walks!) and adjusted height and some minor details afterwards.

What's missing: UFOpedia images (currently using proxy; I'd like to know how to properly convert a regular Google picture into TFTD's pedia, I'm just getting errors—perhaps the image needs to be edited into a different format or TFTD-friendly palette?).

However, before releasing this latest version, I'm having a little issue I'd like some help with: When researching the new alien, I experience a CTD. I've been trying to figure it out all day, I just can't seem to put my finger on it! Below is an example. This is essentially no different than what I have set up for Aquatoid, Gillman, Tasoth and Lobsterman Soldiers (which are not causing any crashes as I just recently tested to be sure). Everything else (items, units, armor, races, missions, extra sprites, strings, sounds, ufopedia entries) is working fine. CTD happens after completion of research on any rank of the Squidface race:

Code: [Select]

research:
  - name: STR_SQUIDFACE_SOLDIER
    listOrder: 9410
    cost: 192
    points: 50
    lookup: STR_SQUIDFACE
    needItem: true
    unlocks:
      - STR_SONIC_PULSER
      - STR_MC_DISRUPTOR_DEP
    getOneFree:
      - STR_ALIEN_PROBE_MISSION
      - STR_ALIEN_INTERDICTION
      - STR_ALIEN_RESOURCE_RAID
      - STR_ALIEN_SURFACE_ATTACK
      - STR_SURVEY_SHIP
      - STR_ESCORT
      - STR_CRUISER


Code: [Select]

ufopaedia:
  - id: STR_SQUIDFACE
    listOrder: 9460
    type_id: 10
    section: STR_ALIEN_LIFE_FORMS
    requires:
      - STR_SQUIDFACE
    image_id: UFOPAEDIA_IMG_SQUIDFACE
    text: STR_SQUIDFACE_UFOPEDIA
  - id: STR_SQUIDFACE_AUTOPSY
    listOrder: 9470
    type_id: 10
    section: STR_ALIEN_LIFE_FORMS
    requires:
      - STR_SQUIDFACE_AUTOPSY
    image_id: UFOPAEDIA_IMG_SQUIDFACE_AUTOPSY
    text: STR_SQUIDFACE_AUTOPSY_UFOPEDIA

Code: [Select]

  - type: UFOPAEDIA_IMG_SQUIDFACE
    singleImage: true
    width: 320
    height: 200
    files:
      0: Resources/Squidface/PROXY_PEDIA.png
  - type: UFOPAEDIA_IMG_SQUIDFACE_AUTOPSY
    singleImage: true
    width: 320
    height: 200
    files:
      0: Resources/Squidface/PROXY_PEDIA.png
And yes, UFOpedia (imageless) entries are displaying just fine when in debug mode, so that can't be it. Something's not allowing (or otherwise interfering with) research to look up "STR_SQUIDFACE". Hope it's something really stupid

Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Currently, Squidface has been renamed Cephalid in-game. Was also considering something in the vein of "Tasoth" and call them the "Ur'lok" or something along those lines. I'm open to suggestions/feedback. Attached is a treat:

[Hobbes]

Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated!

You need to add this entry to research:

Code: [Select]

  - name: STR_SQUIDFACE
    points: 50
    needItem: true

[Orz]

How clumsy of me! Thanks, Hobbes

New UFO & TFTD Rework versions now available for download on first post.

*****************************************
UFO Rework v1.4 & TFTD Rework v1.3e Changelog
*****************************************
>> Made Terror/Battleship & Battleship/Dreadnought 60x60 maps.
>> Reviewed weight for couple weapons, making them a tiny little bit heavier (particularly Heavies).
>> Reduced Ethereal's Laser & Plasma resistances (or they started to look like TFTD's Lobsters).
>> Also gave all Ethereal ranks psionics (higher strength by rank). Reasoning: all ranks in vanilla were psi-apt. Leaving only Leaders and Commanders capable removed Ethereal's former threat.
>> Fixed oversight concerning Gazer's appearance ratios in Harvest (which didn't have any Snakemen in vanilla).
>> Removed Anthropod from alien races, back to original 5 (except Float replaced by Wasp and Snake by Gazer, of course).
>> Reduced alien's Soldier rank psi-strength so that they are easier to control.
>> Added melee animations for Muton, Stun Rod and Chryssalid/Zombie, as well as Triscene, Lobsterman, Thermal Tazer and Tentaculat/Zombie (TFTD still needs better melee hit sounds).
>> Also for Trsicene, added better melee attack sound.
>> Better looking Battlescape UI for TFTD (by Civilian).
>> Strange empty room in Alien Colony pt.1 made accessible; adds doors and lifts (also by Civilian).
>> Cruise Ship improvements: added doors to small dead-end room in the southeast and removed some explosive barrels from the starting area (again, by Civilian).
>> Reduced accuracy of AC/HDJ to 60 (now it spreads out more) and Heavy Laser/Gauss & Plasma/Sonic to 30 and 45, respectively (this to encourage heavies be used up-close while remaining extremely deadly).
>> Reduced recovery pts to 1 for all UFO components with previous value of 2. Also switched up corpse recovery pts so that terrors are 5 and alien races are 3. And also redid pts for weapons (Pistol 3 to 1, Rifle 4 to 2, Sml Launcher 4 to 2, Heavy 5 to 3, Blaster Launcher 5 to 4; everything else left as vanilla: 1 pt -- and dropped Rrenade and Clip pts to 0). Reason: slightly less easy to get incredibly high scores.
>> Also Reduced Power Source/Ion-Beam Accels recovery pts to 10.
>> Heavy Cannon & Auto-Cannon bibOb slight aesthetic restyle. Same goes for Heavy Cannon's handOb and floorOb (looked too "underwhelming" compared to AC before; now looks a bit more "badass").
>> Pasma Rifle & Heavy got slightly more "unique" UFOpedia text (previously merely reiterated what Plasma Pistol said).
>> Paired up Chryssalid with other terror units more often, as well as mixed races.
>> Upped some alien ranks for Cydonia's Assault (Surface).
>> Changed Ethereal Ascendant's sprite from white/negative to purple.
>> Optimized unlocking of Alien Containment (now requires either primary 4 alien races corpses or either Food/Reproduction for UFO and either Cloning/Cryogenics for TFTD).
>> Same goes for Pis/MC-Lab (where the latter requires *both* Learning Arrays and Implanter and the former *either* Entertainment or Surgery).
>> Made Blaster Bomb floorOb match actual handOb (had a blue undegrlow previously).
>> Gave Lobster Commander darker/red spritesheet. Made Lobster Tomb Guard a more "ghostly/radiated" blueish-green instead.
>> Wasp, Gazer & Gill, Tasoth Commanders no longer unlock final mission.
>> Reviewed alien sell costs by rank and race.
>> Removed Pistol/Grenade dependencies from Small/Shokl Launcher, so now it's just Medic.
>> Psi-Amp/Disruptor may be unlocked only by psionic aliens only now *or* any Medic rank.
>> Gave Heavy/Gas Cannon arcing shot, but after playtesting and upon second consideration, decided to revert them to vanilla (arcing shot is too OP).
>> And... FINALLY!! Added a 5th end-game alien race for TFTD: the Squidface.

EDIT (forgot to add):
>> Added Lab Ship to UFO/EU & Predator (renamed Blank's Battlestar) to TFTD. These craft show up at the end of Alien Abductions & Alien Resource Raids, respectively. These missions also have an extra wave now (previously had the lowest compared to other regular missions).

Also included "Add-On" packs (mods adapted and made compatible with Rework):

>> Extra UFO/USOs Add-On (80+ vanilla variants for UFO/EU & 50+ for TFTD)
>> Extra Facilities Add-On (Lrg Stores & Lrg Quarters + 2 Corridor variants)
>> Hobbe's Terrain Pack Add-On adapted for UFO Rework

What's sorely missing:

• Diving Suit pedia image
• Cephalid's pedia image
• Cephalid's bigOb redone

So if anyone wants to lend a hand with that, much appreciated!

[SIMON BAILIE]

Currently I have started a game of TFTD with v1.3e of your rework mod and I'm finding it has made TFTD a good bit harder, not that TFTD was ever easy, but I've noticed something of a minor glitch(graphic wise). I thought all alien colonies had to be located in water but per attached no:2 appears to be located on land? You can still assault it normally but I thought I would bring it to your attention. A really good update for TFTD IMHO.

Spoiler:

Not looking forward to meeting the squidface aliens, triscene's take a bucket load of stuff to go down, totally agree with removing the Gillman commander's psi skill as he was always a bit crap at it anyway and the Hallucinoid having a ranged weapon is good as I had done a stand alone mod for that before. But when I'm mentioning about secondary weapons would it be possible to consider the dye weapon for Xarquids as mentioned in this article: https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Xarquid. I also tweaked 1 or 2 things to better suit my style of play particulary the large and phospher torpedoes as working it out proportionally for its weight compared to the small torpedo the large should be 120 damage and 105 for the phospher.

Looking forward to any future updates.

[Orz]

Currently I have started a game of TFTD with v1.3e of your rework mod and I'm finding it has made TFTD a good bit harder, not that TFTD was ever easy, but I've noticed something of a minor glitch(graphic wise). I thought all alien colonies had to be located in water but per attached no:2 appears to be located on land? You can still assault it normally but I thought I would bring it to your attention. A really good update for TFTD IMHO.

TFTD Rework may be a tiny bit harder than vanilla, but not that much. In fact, some aspects of it were made slightly less overwhelming/tedious (e.g. Alien Colonies having up to 40+ aliens per part or practically every alien race being resistant to Gauss to some degree—both of these issues were "corrected" in Rework). So although slightly more challenging overall, it should also be (hopefully) more enjoyable.

The graphic "glitch" you described is not due to this mod as I haven't fiddled with any aspects of the Geoscape, UFO trajectories or spawning locations. It's certainly odd, but it may be vanilla programming. Never had it happen before.

Spoiler:

Not looking forward to meeting the squidface aliens, triscene's take a bucket load of stuff to go down, totally agree with removing the Gillman commander's psi skill as he was always a bit crap at it anyway and the Hallucinoid having a ranged weapon is good as I had done a stand alone mod for that before. But when I'm mentioning about secondary weapons would it be possible to consider the dye weapon for Xarquids as mentioned in this article: https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Xarquid. I also tweaked 1 or 2 things to better suit my style of play particulary the large and phospher torpedoes as working it out proportionally for its weight compared to the small torpedo the large should be 120 damage and 105 for the phospher.

Looking forward to any future updates.

Spoiler:

Triscenes had their under armor increased from 8 to 60 and their HE resistance slightly increased as well (bear in mind HE damage hits large units x 4, which made Triscenes die extremely easily to explosions before), but their backsides were made somewhat weaker in turn and their Gauss resistance was dropped a little too. They are basically the same as vanilla otherwise, just not so easy to kill by blowing them up.

As for Xarquid's dye weapon, it had actually been implemented back in February but subsequently removed on the next update as stated in previous changelogs. Reason being: it made Xarquids far less deadly/threatening.

(a) If I make the ability too cheap (TUs), they'll snap with it over their regular sonic attack.

(b) If I make it more expensive, they won't have TUs left for 2-3 consecutive sonic attacks (as in vanilla).

And dropping range to just 5 or less doesn't make much of a difference either: once close to your aquanauts, Xarquids will just resolve to spurting ink and then swim around in the dye *without* attacking (tested several times, actually; it seems the AI is incapable of realizing dye is actually harmless, so it thinks it is actually attacking when it's just spurting ink!). This means you could approach them without worry, swim among them and kill them without *ever* taking any damage.

Hope you enjoy the Cephalids!