Re: The X-Com Files - 3.5: Whispers In The Dark

[Stoddard]

But I have an alternative suggestion: you can get the mod (just the mod) from GitHub. I suppose it should work just fine for you, if you don't mind having a beta version. Especially with OXCE accepting zipped mods now, or at least soon.

Well, that's how it's usually done - put it on github, someone configures a jenkins job or two that watch github, fetch the stuff, repack it or do anything else with it, upload the result wherever, etc. Post notes in discord, on the forum, everything can be automated.

One question is how to know what is a release and what isn't - git tags are usually used for this.

Not at all different from how oxce builds are done.


Edit: like this: https://lxnt.wtf/oxem/#/XComFiles

[Solarius Scorch]

You can just click "save as zip" and use it as any other packed mod... No need for all that.

[yergnoor]

You can just click "save as zip" and use it as any other packed mod.

I confirm. I downloaded the XComFiles-master.zip archive, weighing 121.89 megabytes. When I moved it to the /openxcom/mods/ folder, OXCE for Android accepted it as an X-Files mod and safely launched the game with it. Thank you, this is much more convenient than extracting the mod itself from a common archive containing an exe file, unnecessary on Android. And much faster, unpacking the archive on my slow device takes considerable time.

[Stoddard]

I confirm. I downloaded the XComFiles-master.zip archive, weighing 121.89 megabytes. When I moved it to the /openxcom/mods/ folder, OXCE for Android accepted it as an X-Files mod and safely launched the game with it. Thank you, this is much more convenient than extracting the mod itself from a common archive containing an exe file, unnecessary on Android. And much faster, unpacking the archive on my slow device takes considerable time.

Don't forget that

A) directories override .zips - if there's a directory with older version and a .zip with newer, the results would be interesting.

B) if there is more than two instances of a mod - in a dir and in a .zip - OXCE will not start.

 

[yergnoor]

Stoddard, Thank you for reminding. However, it seemed obvious to me that you can use only one copy of each mod at a time. Although I understand that someone may forget to delete the old version. However, if you update X-Files with this method, then the archive name (given to it when downloading) will be the same - “XComFiles-master.zip”. And this means that when you try to place a second one along the same, the system will give a warning. In Android, you cannot have two files with the same name in the same directory. There will be extra insurance against oversight.

[Stoddard]

Stoddard, Thank you for reminding. However, it seemed obvious to me that you can use only one copy of each mod at a time. Although I understand that someone may forget to delete the old version. However, if you update X-Files with this method, then the archive name (given to it when downloading) will be the same - “XComFiles-master.zip”. And this means that when you try to place a second one along the same, the system will give a warning. In Android, you cannot have two files with the same name in the same directory. There will be extra insurance against oversight.

Problem is that OXCE doesn't care about zip file names. All what identifies a mod is its id in metadata.yml. Warnings will be overlooked, zips will be downloaded straight to mods dir with (1) (2) etc in their names, old directories will be forgotten in place, you get the idea.

[yergnoor]

Problem is that OXCE doesn't care about zip file names. All what identifies a mod is its id in metadata.yml. Warnings will be overlooked, zips will be downloaded straight to mods dir with (1) (2) etc in their names, old directories will be forgotten in place, you get the idea.

This is already a matter of gamer care. But the problem for OXCE for Android users is still not new. And before the introduction of reading mods from zip, players had to remove old versions of mods before unpacking new ones. And before there was the danger of mixing files from different versions. Yes, X-Files and X-Piratez for PC come in a complete set of all folders and files (with the exception of UFO data), which helps to avoid mixing versions of PC users. But Android always had to cope with these difficulties on its own. So, I don’t think that adding mods to a zip will somehow worsen the situation. Downloading on Android usually goes to the Downloads folder, you have to move the downloaded mods to the mods folder yourself (this is not an automatic update), this is where the user should notice the duplication if it happens.

[hubaj]

Can I ask what are you guys talking about with playing XCF on android? I am playing it on android as well and I never had any issues. I just copied the mod folder from regular version to the appropriate folder on android version of OXCE and it seems to work just fine.

[krautbernd]

I have some question regarding mass driver/gauss weapons:

I recently did the David Vincent mission, which netted me a mass-driver pistol. Unfortunately i can't research it (nor mass driver weapons in general) until i research gauss weapons - is this intended? As far as i can tell you only get gauss weapons from Reptoids, and Gauss weapons are - for all intents and purposes - superior to mass driver weapons in every way safe for weight (akin to lasers<->blasters).

What's the point of tying the mass driver weapon prerequesite to gauss weapons?  For that matter, why can we research Gauss weapons straight away upon recovery without any prerequesites? This seems kind of backwards from how it should be.

[Solarius Scorch]

Normally you can only get mass drivers after examining gauss weapons. The MiB do carry them, but it's more of an exception.
I honestly don't know how to rearrange the tech tree without making it awfully complicated.

[krautbernd]

Normally you can only get mass drivers after examining gauss weapons. The MiB do carry them, but it's more of an exception.
I honestly don't know how to rearrange the tech tree without making it awfully complicated.

As far as i can tell it's awfully complicated already, since you need to research gauss weapons to research mass drivers to research...gauss weapons? It just seems to me that is an awfully roundabout way to cut players off from technology they should have no trouble accessing upon recovering any of the mass driver weapons.

I know playstyles vary, but at this point in the game i have unlocked all laboratory types and access to fusion and plasma weapons, but i can not research mass drivers because i have not acquired any of the clearly superior weapons that mass drivers are supposed to be reverse engineered from. This is compounded by the fact that gauss weapons can be researched from scratch upon recovery (no lab requirements) and used, but mass drivers can't. Mass drivers also require STR_POWER_SOURCE_MINIATURIZATION to be researched in addition to STR_MASS_DRIVER_WEAPONS_PREREQUISITE - why isn't that part of the prerequisite to begin with?

My suggestion would be to drop STR_MASS_DRIVER_WEAPONS_PREREQUISITE alltogether, make mass driver weapons researchable upon recovery and unlock mass drivers independently upon researching gauss weapons. Otherwise drop mass drivers from MIB loot tables.

[Solarius Scorch]

In FMP, these weapons also had two tiers and they were simple increments in power: first the weaker version, then the stronger one. It was okay, but kinda dull.
I could drop these from MiBs, but... they also use all sorts of other weapons you shouldn't know at the point where you protect D. Vincent: lasers, blasters, plasma, alien grenades... I realize they don't have their paths as complex as the gauss tree, with retroengineering and all, but I feel we would have to address them as well.
The best I can do is to ensure make captured Mass Drivers researchable so at least you could use them. But I need to move VERY carefully here, because the branches of this tree are quite prone to breaking.

[krautbernd]

In FMP, these weapons also had two tiers and they were simple increments in power: first the weaker version, then the stronger one. It was okay, but kinda dull.
I could drop these from MiBs, but... they also use all sorts of other weapons you shouldn't know at the point where you protect D. Vincent: lasers, blasters, plasma, alien grenades... I realize they don't have their paths as complex as the gauss tree, with retroengineering and all, but I feel we would have to address them as well.
The best I can do is to ensure make captured Mass Drivers researchable so at least you could use them. But I need to move VERY carefully here, because the branches of this tree are quite prone to breaking.

Making recovered weapons researchable would probably make this fit in better, but i still think the tree as a whole is messy, with gauss weapons leading to mass drivers leading to gauss weapons again.

Why not tie recovered mass driver/Gauss weapons to the mass driver prerequesite and power source&power source miniaturization to mass drivers?

Code: [Select]

  - name: STR_MASS_DRIVER_WEAPONS_PREREQUISITE
    cost: 0
    points: 0
    dependencies:
      - STR_GAUSS_PISTOL
      - STR_GAUSS_RIFLE
      - STR_HEAVY_GAUSS
      - STR_GAUSS_SNIPER_RIFLE
      - STR_MASS_DRIVER_PISTOL
      - STR_MASS_DRIVER_RIFLE
      - STR_HEAVY_MASS_DRIVER
      - STR_MASS_DRIVER_SNIPER_RIFLE

  - name: STR_MASS_DRIVER_WEAPONS
    requiresBaseFunc: [IMPLAB]
    cost: 300
    points: 200
    dependencies:
      - STR_UFO_POWER_SOURCE
      - STR_POWER_SOURCE_MINIATURIZATION
      - STR_MASS_DRIVER_WEAPONS_PREREQUISITE
That way players who recover mass drivers later in the game can actually research the mass driver technology tree when they should be able to.

[Solarius Scorch]

The answer is simple: to make this branch different from other branches. I just want it to work in some other way for variety; but I acknowledge some more polish is desired.

[DIhlo]

The answer is simple: to make this branch different from other branches. I just want it to work in some other way for variety; but I acknowledge some more polish is desired.

I'm sorry for butting in, and I haven't personally reached that point in the tech tree myself, but it seems the issue is this: To research weaker guns you need to get and research stronger guns( ...which then lead back to stronger guns you already have?). That seems less a quirk and more a logic and/or common sense error to me, as a player.

Also I'm watching a streamer going through XCF right now, and there seems to be either an error or unclear info on difference between napalm and incendiary grenades. If you judge those by ufopedia articles and stats, then incendiaries are better while given to the player first. They have higher damage and larger blast radius. BUT if you hold alt in inventory screen in-mission napalm shows MORE damage.