Help with new missions (formerly Quick idea: Half Life mod)

[Axebeard]

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned before (at least Search didn't turn up much), but I think the Half Life universe would make for a great Xcom mod.

Mainly, I would just like to see the aliens from HL replace the stuff from Xcom.
Maybe do something with an alternate version of the HL timeline, with the NATO forces or Xcom or whomever trying to figure out what's going on. Start off with the standard real world weapon, and then with intense research, have the ability to research the gauss and plasma guns.

I remember reading a thing somewhere on how to add aliens into OpenXcom, but I can't seem to find it any more. If anyone wants to run with this idea, I'd be willing to do sprites

Or if someone can point me towards some tutorials on creating content for OpenXcom, that would be appreciated too.

[Solarius Scorch]

I'm actually doping something like this right now, as part of the X-Com Files mod. It's not literally Half-Life, but much of the storyline is similar: there's a group of rogue scientists which experiments with portals and is in contact with aliens from Robin's From The Apocalypse mod.

I'm writing this here to ask what you find most interesting in a hypothetical Half-Life mod, so I could get some new perspective.

Or if someone can point me towards some tutorials on creating content for OpenXcom, that would be appreciated too.

AFAIK there's no tutorial as such, but this is the most essential stuff:
www.https://ufopaedia.org/index.php/Ruleset_Reference_Nightly_(OpenXcom)

I suggest you start with someone else's finished mod (preferably something simple, like a new weapon) and tweak it to get the feel of it. And ask questions on the forum and IRC.

[kkmic]

Correct link: www.https://ufopaedia.org/index.php/Ruleset_Reference_Nightly_(OpenXcom)

[Solarius Scorch]

Correct link: www.https://ufopaedia.org/index.php/Ruleset_Reference_Nightly_(OpenXcom)

Thanks.
The Ufopaedia is having issues and I had to copy the address from another source. My bad!

[kkmic]

Yeah, I've noticed before that if you post a URL that ends with a round bracket (like many wiki links do), the automatic parser does not take it into account, so you need to manually surround the URL with the [URL] tags, to make sure that the ending bracket is properly used.

[Axebeard]

I appreciate the link!

My interest is mainly in having new enemies to fight. It's probably worth noting that my favorite way to play Xcom is with Piratez, because of all of the tactical options.

If I get bored and have the time, I might poke around and merge a few different mods together towards something similar to Half Life. Really just an excuse to do lots of terror missions with a large variety of creatures. I do find it fun to try to figure out how to translate special attacks between games (I mod DOOM a bit), for example the Hound Eye's sonic blast attack.

[Axebeard]

So I've refined my idea a little after looking at what's possible within the Xcom rulesets.

My first order of business, is to increase the frequency of Terror Missions, and to almost eliminate the rest of the mission types for the first phase of the invasion (probably a year or so). I see that this will involve messing with MissionScripits and AlienMissions.

How could I increase the frequency of Terror Missions to about one every month or so, and eliminate the rest? Also, how could I remove the ships buzzing around leading up to a Terror Mission? I'm going on the portal storm idea here, so alien wildlife is warped into cities.

[Solarius Scorch]

How could I increase the frequency of Terror Missions to about one every month or so

A number of ways to play with this, but isn't the Terror Mission already happening roughly once a month? Roughly.

and eliminate the rest?

Add

Code: [Select]

    firstMonth: 12

to the mission script, it'll delay them by a year.

Also, how could I remove the ships buzzing around leading up to a Terror Mission? I'm going on the portal storm idea here, so alien wildlife is warped into cities.

This requires giving it the right trajectory. It's in the ufoTrajectories section, but frankly I no longer remember the details - check Ufopaedia.com.

[Axebeard]

I realized that Terror missions do pop up once a month already, I'd like to have them be even more frequent, but after talking to some people in the IRC I was wondering if this would work instead:

Create a custom mission type that acts like a Terror mission, but instead of having to hunt down every alien on the map, you have to neutralize 75% of them, and after turn 20 or 30 or so, a militia regroups and secures the area, so you can leave without killing everything. I think that would remove some of the tediousness inherent in the normal Terror missions.

Also, after looking at the X-com Files mod, I noticed he used a dummy UFO to avoid having UFO sightings on the early missions. Still not certain how he did it, but I'm new to poking around in OpenXcom, so...

[Solarius Scorch]

I realized that Terror missions do pop up once a month already, I'd like to have them be even more frequent, but after talking to some people in the IRC I was wondering if this would work instead:

Create a custom mission type that acts like a Terror mission, but instead of having to hunt down every alien on the map, you have to neutralize 75% of them, and after turn 20 or 30 or so, a militia regroups and secures the area, so you can leave without killing everything. I think that would remove some of the tediousness inherent in the normal Terror missions.

There is nothing similar in the game, so you would have to code it yourself, or find someone to do it for you. Such tools could be useful.

Also, after looking at the X-com Files mod, I noticed he used a dummy UFO to avoid having UFO sightings on the early missions. Still not certain how he did it, but I'm new to poking around in OpenXcom, so...

To be honest, I never knew how it works code-wise. I just copied what worked, and it worked for me too.

[Axebeard]

Coding anything at this point is beyond me, and I've been digging through your X-files mod and still can't figure much of this out. Are there any mods that add like one single new mission type to them?

[Solarius Scorch]

Coding anything at this point is beyond me, and I've been digging through your X-files mod and still can't figure much of this out. Are there any mods that add like one single new mission type to them?

Hobbes released a few, but I think they're no longer available.

Howe about Robin's MiB? It adds several missions.

[Axebeard]

I'm looking at it now, thanks for the suggestion!

It looks like all that was changed mission-wise was the AlienMissions ruleset. I'm wondering why MissionScripts didn't have to be changed at all?

Code: [Select]

alienMissions:
  - type: STR_ALIEN_RESEARCH
    raceWeights:
      0:
        STR_MIB: 50
      1:
        STR_MIB: 40
      3:
        STR_MIB: 30
      5:
        STR_MIB: 10
      7:
        STR_MIB: 10
If I'm reading this right, on Research Missions, after 5 months in game there's only a 10% chance of encountering the MiB, right? If this is the case, then I'm guessing since the original Xcom1 ruleset has the race weights equal out to 100, then the game must look at the modded ruleset first, roll to see if this MiB race is encountered, and THEN if it's not, rolls on the original ruleset's table, right?

Or maybe I'm reading this wrong, I'm trying to figure out the significance of the 1/3/4/7 numbers before the RaceWeights.

[Hobbes]

I'm looking at it now, thanks for the suggestion!

It looks like all that was changed mission-wise was the AlienMissions ruleset. I'm wondering why MissionScripts didn't have to be changed at all?

Code: [Select]

alienMissions:
  - type: STR_ALIEN_RESEARCH
    raceWeights:
      0:
        STR_MIB: 50
      1:
        STR_MIB: 40
      3:
        STR_MIB: 30
      5:
        STR_MIB: 10
      7:
        STR_MIB: 10
If I'm reading this right, on Research Missions, after 5 months in game there's only a 10% chance of encountering the MiB, right?
If this is the case, then I'm guessing since the original Xcom1 ruleset has the race weights equal out to 100, then the game must look at the modded ruleset first, roll to see if this MiB race is encountered, and THEN if it's not, rolls on the original ruleset's table, right?

You're reading it wrong. Since there are no other race entries for each listed month it will only generate MIBs. You're also misunderstanding how rulesets work. The ruleset files are loaded by order (so xcom1 goes before any mod) and the last ruleset loaded is the one that counts, the game never 'switches' between rulesets as you seem to be implying

Or maybe I'm reading this wrong, I'm trying to figure out the significance of the 1/3/4/7 numbers before the RaceWeights.

0 = January 1999, 1 = February, etc.

[Axebeard]

I tried editing all of the
0:
        STR_MIB: 50

to

0:
        STR_MIB: 99

thinking that would give me a 99% chance of MiBs, but I still keep getting Sectoids...

So the months are what I thought they were at least, it seems strange that there aren't any changes made in vanilla Xcom after the 7th month though.