Author Topic: [submod] XCom Files Arsenal Additions (ver 0.8.1d Anarchic Anachronism)  (Read 51271 times)

Offline 8mono

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Re: [MOD] XCom Files Arsenal Additions
« Reply #15 on: June 07, 2021, 10:47:37 pm »
I think I need to better structure out what I want to do so it's better explained but, leaving sizes aside I would like to have a number variable (originally this was size, and it was related to the physical space it took up, soldier is 1, tank is 4) that would be in every transport and it would more or less limit the number of units based on this number, lets call it VehicleAllocatedSize, plus another one stating that this is a Vehicle/Big unit and not a soldier

your regular HWP's being heavy have a number of 4
your large drone (lets say this was rebalanced) being less heavy and less armored/armed has a number of 3 (it takes up 4 spaces still!)
your LWP would take up either 2 or 3 depending on configuration
your regular soldier would take 1 (or maybe even 2 if wearing some sort of super powered suit?)

Now we have our Skyranger with a capacity of 14, and a MaxVehiclesAllowed variable of 3 (hell, imagine if we could have a MaxVehicleSizeAllowed and have vehicles dedicated for heavier tanks as well, that'd be cool but it would obviously be too much micromanaging at some opint)

That means we can have either 14 soldiers OR a combination of soldiers and specific vehicles
Combination 1:
10 Soldiers 1 HWP
Combination 2:
2 Soldiers 3 HWP's
Combination 3:
3 LWP's (with a VehicleAllocatedSize of 2) and 8 soldiers, you cannot fit 4 LWP's because the MaxVehiclesAllowed is only 3 even if their VehicleAllocatedSize would allow for more

There IS a vehicles variable but I think it works universally, you will still only be able to bring two LWP's in your transport if its set to 2

I wanted an incentive to use these lighter vehicles even if they took up the same space but were weaker, I think I will not be able to do this in any case because if it is an engine thing well thats one thing, but even if it isn't and I manage the deployment zones correctly this might actually alter the main mod's balance and focus too much, something I wouldn't want to do but I think it is a neat idea for some other mod at another time perhaps   :)
 
« Last Edit: June 07, 2021, 10:52:57 pm by 8mono »

Offline 8mono

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Re: [MOD] XCom Files Arsenal Additions
« Reply #16 on: June 08, 2021, 07:46:51 am »
I'm very stuck with this currently:
the first two files are the GuiSoldiers file I have my 3 extra sprites, all the sprites show up BUT they have ugly brown like pixels which I cannot figure out where they come from, ive color picked every single bit and the spacing is identical between all sprites, its just always my 3 new ones getting these ugly bits

Now one of the main problems I have is that whenever I convert palettes its always turning my transparency to black, which is a bit of a problem

the other 2 pictures are the spritesets I have that also don't work and I suspect its the same issue with the transparency, I'm aware gimp is not perfect and I am not attached to it in any way it's just the one that's free to use, (along with Irfview but that one seems to work wonders so far)

Offline krautbernd

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Re: [MOD] XCom Files Arsenal Additions
« Reply #17 on: June 08, 2021, 12:24:40 pm »
Could you upload in-game screenshots illustrating the issue you are encountering?

Offline 8mono

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Re: [MOD] XCom Files Arsenal Additions
« Reply #18 on: June 08, 2021, 08:52:01 pm »
Could you upload in-game screenshots illustrating the issue you are encountering?

I highlighted the two soldiers, there's missing frames or the order of frames is altered so when I move it will turn partially invisible or have a weird arm floating, the soldier to the right was mid-movement

for the armor previews the last soldiers should all have black behind them because that's whats in the background but my sprites have weird brownish solid pixels

Offline krautbernd

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Re: [MOD] XCom Files Arsenal Additions
« Reply #19 on: June 08, 2021, 09:17:45 pm »
Ah sorry, I missed it the first time around - in reagards to your GUIsoldiers: your transparency (i.e. the background) does not match the transparency on your palette. Transparency/"Background" ist at color index 0. You have used 224-239 from what I can tell.

Is the riot armor included in the mod archive? Because this might be due to your rul-files/sprite definitions.

I don't know how exactely your workflow looks like for creating sprites, could you elaborate?
« Last Edit: June 08, 2021, 09:35:51 pm by krautbernd »

Offline 8mono

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Re: [MOD] XCom Files Arsenal Additions
« Reply #20 on: June 08, 2021, 11:11:03 pm »
Ah sorry, I missed it the first time around - in reagards to your GUIsoldiers: your transparency (i.e. the background) does not match the transparency on your palette. Transparency/"Background" ist at color index 0. You have used 224-239 from what I can tell.

Is the riot armor included in the mod archive? Because this might be due to your rul-files/sprite definitions.

I don't know how exactely your workflow looks like for creating sprites, could you elaborate?

Yeah sorry about that, they're actually pretty much disabled (the RiotVest along with all its dependencies,items,research,sprites etc) and I had to change some things to bring them back to work just for the picture in so that's on me, the files are in however, I haven't removed anything just "disabled" them

For my workflow I use gimp in indexed mode, if I need to do a recolor for example I switch from indexed (palette) to rgb, apply my effects or what I'll be doing and then switch back to my indexed palette, I export this and run it through Irfview again selecting the palettes, this has worked 90% of the time except when I'm working with pure black colors which is probably the discrepancy you noticed

I've talked on the discord and it's been evident that I really need to switch to something like asesprite because gimp's optimization of palettes does not help my case, thank you very much for taking the time reading and replying

I'm going to upload here the current configuration I have, Im testing them on the New Battle mode (Riot Vest) this is how I left it for those screenshots I took



Offline The Martian

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Re: [MOD] XCom Files Arsenal Additions
« Reply #21 on: June 09, 2021, 12:45:00 am »
Now one of the main problems I have is that whenever I convert palettes its always turning my transparency to black, which is a bit of a problem
I'm also using GIMP, and when making X-Com sprites it does fight you.

If you are not already using it you should look at Falko's Modding Tool's Palette converter, if you run an image through that and the background becomes green you are usually fine.

Falko's Modding Tool's OpenXcom forum thread: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2980.0.html

Falko's Modding Tool: Palette converter: https://falkooxc2.pythonanywhere.com/spritepalette

The modding tool works directly off a website so no need to install or download anything.


If your image's background is Black, Yellow or White unexpectedly I've found this works to fix it:

[1] Open the image in GIMP.
[2] Create a new layer (Do not duplicate the layer of the image with the incorrect background)
[3] Copy your image to the new layer.
[4] Selected the "Select by Colour Tool"
[5] Change "Threshold" to 0.0
[6] Select the rogue background colour by clicking on it in the image.
[7] Press the Delete key.
[8] If this works you should have an empty transparency area where the colour was, but we're not done yet.
[9] In the menu's drop down selection of "Image -> Mode" select RGB.

Now you will need the GIMP palette files for UFO: Enemy Unknown/X-COM: UFO Defense (Or X-Com: Terror From The Deep which uses a different palette)

I've attached both the UFO & TFTD GIMP Palette files I use to this post.


[10] Download and install into GIMP the Enemy Unknown/X-COM: UFO Defense palette.
[11]<Optional> Download and install into GIMP the X-Com: Terror From The Deep palette.

[12] Now in GIMP's menu's drop down selection of "Image -> Mode" select "Indexed..."
[13] Select XCOM-BattleScape.gpl  palette file.
[14] Make sure "Remove unusued colours from colourmap" is left unchecked!


[15] Press "Convert"

Final steps, you should now have an image with the correct colour palette and a background that is a transparency area, however to make 100% it works every time now do the following:

[16] Open Falko's Modding Tool: Palette converter.
[17] Click the red box marked "Drop files here or Click to upload multiple images."
[18] Select the files you want to convert.
[19] Since you are using the UFO palette the default settings are fine (Note: If using TFTD then click "fix-palette(ufo-battlescape)" and change it to a TFTD setting.)
[20] Press "Convert" and wait. (Large sprite sheets take a second, BigObs, FloorObs & HandObs are almost instantly done.)
[21] After you've pressed the "Convert" button it will gray out, when it returns to normal press "Download" and obtain your converted images.

[22]<Optional> If you want to see the images before downloading click "Show Images" in the upper right or the "Show" button beside the file entry you are converting, then select "images" from the "Show" button's menu


If Falko's Tool has converted the image to having a green background then it usually is going to work in OpenXcom without a problem.
(Note: If the background has simply changed colour and is now White, Black or Yellow. Repeat the above steps and it usually becomes the expected bright green.)


Hope that helps. (It sounds like a lot of steps, but it is actually really fast once you get used to doing it.)


I've also attached a version of your "RiotArmor.png" & "RiotArmor_H.png" that have already been put through the above process:
Spoiler:




Here is an example of what you should see if you use Falko's Modding Tool: Palette converter:
Spoiler:
« Last Edit: June 09, 2021, 01:12:16 am by The Martian »

Offline The Martian

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Re: [MOD] XCom Files Arsenal Additions
« Reply #22 on: June 09, 2021, 01:07:46 am »
I highlighted the two soldiers, there's missing frames or the order of frames is altered so when I move it will turn partially invisible or have a weird arm floating, the soldier to the right was mid-movement

When I load a sprite sheet and there are limbs, torsos, etc missing from some of the frames it is usually a problem with the selected drawingRoutine: being used for that unit in the armors: section of the .rul file.

Here is a link to the Ruleset Reference Nightly's armors: section, just scroll down a few lines to find the part on the drawingRoutine: variable.

Link:
https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Ruleset_Reference_Nightly_(OpenXcom)#Armor

At a glance it looks like the sprite sheets your working with should be using drawingRoutine: 0 (The one for X-Com Soldiers & Sectoids)

The other thing to check is that in the extraSprites: section you have assigned the correct height and width to image when loading it. (But that 'usually' ends in a crash if it is wrong instead of missing frames.)
« Last Edit: June 09, 2021, 01:15:23 am by The Martian »

Offline 8mono

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Re: [MOD] XCom Files Arsenal Additions
« Reply #23 on: June 09, 2021, 02:07:37 am »
I'm also using GIMP, and when making X-Com sprites it does fight you.

If you are not already using it you should look at Falko's Modding Tool's Palette converter, if you run an image through that and the background becomes green you are usually fine.

Falko's Modding Tool's OpenXcom forum thread: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2980.0.html

Falko's Modding Tool: Palette converter: https://falkooxc2.pythonanywhere.com/spritepalette

The modding tool works directly off a website so no need to install or download anything.


If your image's background is Black, Yellow or White unexpectedly I've found this works to fix it:

[1] Open the image in GIMP.
[2] Create a new layer (Do not duplicate the layer of the image with the incorrect background)
[3] Copy your image to the new layer.
[4] Selected the "Select by Colour Tool"
[5] Change "Threshold" to 0.0
[6] Select the rogue background colour by clicking on it in the image.
[7] Press the Delete key.
[8] If this works you should have an empty transparency area where the colour was, but we're not done yet.
[9] In the menu's drop down selection of "Image -> Mode" select RGB.

Now you will need the GIMP palette files for UFO: Enemy Unknown/X-COM: UFO Defense (Or X-Com: Terror From The Deep which uses a different palette)

I've attached both the UFO & TFTD GIMP Palette files I use to this post.


[10] Download and install into GIMP the Enemy Unknown/X-COM: UFO Defense palette.
[11]<Optional> Download and install into GIMP the X-Com: Terror From The Deep palette.

[12] Now in GIMP's menu's drop down selection of "Image -> Mode" select "Indexed..."
[13] Select XCOM-BattleScape.gpl  palette file.
[14] Make sure "Remove unusued colours from colourmap" is left unchecked!


[15] Press "Convert"

Final steps, you should now have an image with the correct colour palette and a background that is a transparency area, however to make 100% it works every time now do the following:

[16] Open Falko's Modding Tool: Palette converter.
[17] Click the red box marked "Drop files here or Click to upload multiple images."
[18] Select the files you want to convert.
[19] Since you are using the UFO palette the default settings are fine (Note: If using TFTD then click "fix-palette(ufo-battlescape)" and change it to a TFTD setting.)
[20] Press "Convert" and wait. (Large sprite sheets take a second, BigObs, FloorObs & HandObs are almost instantly done.)
[21] After you've pressed the "Convert" button it will gray out, when it returns to normal press "Download" and obtain your converted images.

[22]<Optional> If you want to see the images before downloading click "Show Images" in the upper right or the "Show" button beside the file entry you are converting, then select "images" from the "Show" button's menu


If Falko's Tool has converted the image to having a green background then it usually is going to work in OpenXcom without a problem.
(Note: If the background has simply changed colour and is now White, Black or Yellow. Repeat the above steps and it usually becomes the expected bright green.)


Hope that helps. (It sounds like a lot of steps, but it is actually really fast once you get used to doing it.)


I've also attached a version of your "RiotArmor.png" & "RiotArmor_H.png" that have already been put through the above process:
Spoiler:




Here is an example of what you should see if you use Falko's Modding Tool: Palette converter:
Spoiler:

Wow I'm still reading both of the replies, but this really hit the spot for what I needed I'm sorry if I should've posted this in the modding help channel, but you still answered in depth. SUPER appreciated  :) :) :) :) :)

Offline 8mono

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Re: [MOD] XCom Files Arsenal Additions
« Reply #24 on: June 10, 2021, 08:01:52 am »
0.38 Is up, I've started updating sprites with this new update, Riot Vest sheet is still in progress but I wanted to at least put in the new revolvers I've been cooking up using aseprite instead of mspaint (at last!) I think they look much better than any previous attempt at sprites I've made, but

balance is still pending but the spritework has been completed! including some new armor preview icons

things coming up:

Howitzer Cannons
Stocks for the Full-Auto Mauser (unreleased), Glock and  Beretta 93 R as well as for the BlackOps Machine Pistol (unreleased)
These work as a no time manufacture process which will either consume a stock you can purchase and return it if you decide to disasemble the gun via another project OR you can assume X-COM has an endless supply of stocks lying around, in any case these are meant to help with the machine pistol's characteristic of being very hard to control in exchange for making it a two-handed weapon with penalties associated for using it one-handed, these are weapons you'd use before you unlock true submachine guns and rifles (except the black ops machine pistol, that's just a different version of the SMG, with a much higher RPM, it's meant to be an AUTO-9 from the Robocop universe WITHOUT the special ammunition of course... unless you want that, it just feels weird having special ammo on something other than shotguns that isn't just straight up AP vs HP rounds )
« Last Edit: June 10, 2021, 03:01:55 pm by 8mono »

Offline krautbernd

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Re: [MOD] XCom Files Arsenal Additions
« Reply #25 on: June 10, 2021, 10:36:57 am »
Just a bit of a heads-up - currently your mod is kind of messy to look at and sort through (for bug finding & troubleshooting, among other things). Best practice - at least as far as I can tell - is to seperate files per rul-section (e.g. research: , manufacturing: etc.), not on a per-item basis. Otherwise you end up with a steadily growning number of files with varying section lengths and no clear naming scheme. You might also want to package your mod into its own folder.

Offline 8mono

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Re: [MOD] XCom Files Arsenal Additions
« Reply #26 on: June 10, 2021, 10:57:42 am »
Just a bit of a heads-up - currently your mod is kind of messy to look at and sort through (for bug finding & troubleshooting, among other things). Best practice - at least as far as I can tell - is to seperate files per rul-section (e.g. research: , manufacturing: etc.), not on a per-item basis. Otherwise you end up with a steadily growning number of files with varying section lengths and no clear naming scheme. You might also want to package your mod into its own folder.

I thought I would be at 0.4 by now, that's when I was going to do a purge of the duplicates and unused files as well as a restructuring, for the last part do you mean having a folder right before all the files? (XCFAdditions Folder --> Files ?) I should probably start doing it right now before it gets bigger, thanks for the heads up

update: I think it should be good now, better organized and closer to the XCF's structure
« Last Edit: June 10, 2021, 11:51:15 am by 8mono »

Offline 8mono

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Re: [MOD] XCom Files Arsenal Additions (ver 0.4 the Anti Tank Trio)
« Reply #27 on: June 19, 2021, 12:40:37 pm »
v 0.42+ is up! New anti-tank rifle sounds are in

new toys im tinkering with:
- Overdrive Injector: will boost your soldiers stats for a brief time but any wounds sustained in that period are doubled, and you will ALWAYS end up with at least 1 wound at the end of the effect
- Psi-Shield: this will essentially convert your soldier's morale and sanity into extra health while it is primed, I will probably have to make it so it scales properly with your psi skill or psi strenght so it's just not an automatic morale/sanity to hp converter
like the Resuscitator these are not meant to be replicable or manufacturable, or at least not in their current state and will probably add versions of these that have a much lesser effect or are more expensive but manufacturable
-Tracite Armor decay effect: Tracite and Infernite (wip) will burn away part of the target's armor for a few turns, if this seems too much I might just make a chem based status effect instead
-Biological Warfare expansion: toxin, acid, flesh eating gas like Xenonauts X-Division etc
« Last Edit: June 23, 2021, 07:05:10 am by 8mono »

Offline 8mono

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v 0.5 is out!

I set myself to learn how to script about 10 days ago or so and I'm seeing the fruits of my labor now because the thing that made me want to make a mod for XCF so bad was wanting flare rounds for my mortar...and guess what, functionally we're there, I would still love if it were possible to have them slowly fall from the sky each turn as they illuminate the area , for now they just illuminate, additionally Proximity Mine Launchers are now a thing! again

I have stated this before in my other mod but I want to say it here as well, if you like anything here , specially script-wise (which would be the more lets call it... "made from scratch" by me) I would be more than happy to see your take on it or how you use it on your own mods/edit it to your liking, all I ask is a small mention (and it's more so I can see what you come up with when you use it or how you would use it) and that's it, you're free to do with it what you want, this community has provided so much for me and its members without charging a dime and I am very thankful for that. These last months have been honestly hell and even if this is merely a measly submod for a mod (a GREAT and AMAZING mod) I feel happy if I can provide even a fraction of the enjoyment or fun that these big mods can capture or perhaps even enhance the experience that is the X-Com Files (trying!).

So yeah, and also sorry for the speech, thank you!
« Last Edit: June 28, 2021, 01:02:53 pm by 8mono »

Offline 8mono

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Re: [submod] XCom Files Arsenal Additions (ver 0.5.2 The Big Boys)
« Reply #29 on: July 03, 2021, 04:14:11 am »
We're back in business, culprit was a misbehaving commendation ruleset  8) 8) 8)

Also, if I get permission I will be adding 60mm's Tactical Lightning mod patched to work with X-Com Files and adjusted the stats to make it an option for tactical deployments at night as well as being undetectable, mostly the graphics 60mm has made are dope af and they fit with my idea of an improved Lightning craft I wanted to make for a while, I think we already have said mod but it uses the graphics from vanilla

Scripts have been re-enabled for 0.5.3! The mod should be fully back to normal now

https://openxcom.mod.io/tactical-lightning
« Last Edit: July 03, 2021, 08:40:52 pm by 8mono »