Beta Version Of Xcomutil 9.60

[stjones]

The beta version of XcomUtil 9.60 is now available from my XcomUtil Homepage at http://xcomutil.scotttjones.com. It includes new Farm and Desert terrains and the latest loaders from f0dder.

 

Before I release the official 9.60, I want to add a few new features for Hobbes. They are listed in the "In Progress" section at the end of the documentation.

 

NOTE: The new terrains REQUIRE that you have Java installed, because the program that creates the terrains, XcomUtTE, is a Java program.

[basagulero3d]

hey, thanks alot for this new version, it works on my computer now.

 

Ive also been reading through xcomutil.txt, and ive read that xcom util fixes the body buffer overflow letting the bodies disappear when played in "harder dificulties"...and i was wondering if it was possible to fix the smoke grenade "problem" using the same technique youve used to fix the bodies from disappearing, becoz when there already too much smoke the smoke grenades blow up without releasing more smoke, i think its the same with the fire as well?

[Hobbes]

Just downloaded 9.60 beta and used it to run a HWP Factory building. It works great!

Usually, to get a 40x40 building I'd have to run Tactical 20 times on average. Now with the Skyranger option it's 1 out of 2...and it will get better as I add new 40x40 buildings to be chosen. This will surely help with the playtesting

One thing I've noticed and wanted to ask is if Map Tiles can also process (for lack of a better term) the Terror Sites and use the .cfg data to generate the terrain. If this was done automatically by XCSetup (without need for prompting), then the 40x40s could be a part of terror sites since I've designed them that way.

 

I've almost finished the HWP Factory. Now that there's an easy way to use it with XComUtil, I should publish it in the next days, as soon as I test it a little more.

[stjones]

Just downloaded 9.60 beta and used it to run a HWP Factory building. It works great!

Usually, to get a 40x40 building I'd have to run Tactical 20 times on average. Now with the Skyranger option it's 1 out of 2...and it will get better as I add new 40x40 buildings to be chosen. This will surely help with the playtesting

One thing I've noticed and wanted to ask is if Map Tiles can also process (for lack of a better term) the Terror Sites and use the .cfg data to generate the terrain. If this was done automatically by XCSetup (without need for prompting), then the 40x40s could be a part of terror sites since I've designed them that way.

 

I've almost finished the HWP Factory. Now that there's an easy way to use it with XComUtil, I should publish it in the next days, as soon as I test it a little more. 

 

I hate to tell you this, but XcomUtil.exe has not yet changed. Your 1 out of 2 chance was just luck. As I said at the VERY END of the documentation, that is still "In Progress". I added the questions to XcuSetup, but the code does not yet look at the answers. That's what you get when I release a Beta. If you go back to the first post in this thread, I also mentioned it there.

 

I plan to add that code over the next few days, but I have not yet dug out my C++ compiler again to start work on it. I should release the version you want this week. When I do, the terror sites will also be generated by XcomUtil. The only thing that will be wrong with them is that the streets will not line up properly. I did that to improve the randomness (and because it was easier).

 

I plan to search the list in XcomUtil.cfg for tiles larger than 20x20, then randomly select one of them to place on the battlefield. After that, the rest of the placement will be random. That way, your 50% chance will become 100%. If it is not possible to place both the alien ship AND one of the big tiles on the battlefield. I will randomly select which one to place. In that case, if you get a big map tile, you might not get a ship, just like the case where you select a Battleship for a tiny battlefield.

[Hobbes]

Actually it's 3 out of 5 attempts now. I had thought also that you'd only install those features later but when I ran XCSetup and got these results I thought I had misread something (and I did).

 

These 40x40 buildings can actually serve as UFO replacements, they're even bigger than a Battleship (30x30). When I finish them all I'll simply include them as part of the Area 51 mod as Urban10, 11, 12 and 13. That way you'll be able to get some random diversity on Terror Sites: it can either be composed of several small and medium buildings or a large one. In the case of the HWP Factory it will have to be the single building on the battle area because it uses 232 of the available 255 route nodes. I think it will also turn some missions more like TFTD's Ships.

One

Edited July 19, 2004 by Hobbes

[stjones]

Actually it's 3 out of 5 attempts now. I had thought also that you'd only install those features later but when I ran XCSetup and got these results I thought I had misread something (and I did).

 

These 40x40 buildings can actually serve as UFO replacements, they're even bigger than a Battleship (30x30). When I finish them all I'll simply include them as part of the Area 51 mod as Urban10, 11, 12 and 13. That way you'll be able to get some random diversity on Terror Sites: it can either be composed of several small and medium buildings or a large one. In the case of the HWP Factory it will have to be the single building on the battle area because it uses 232 of the available 255 route nodes. I think it will also turn some missions more like TFTD's Ships.

One

 

I just refreshed the Beta with a version that should support everything that Hobbes has been asking for. If you select battlefield generation by XcomUtil, it places your ship in one corner of a 60x60 map, the alien ship (if any) in another corner, and one greater than 20x20 map tile (if any) in another corner. After that, it just fills in the holes.

 

The program and documentation are now in synch. The version has even been set to 9.51 to force you to use XcuSetup. The next Beta will be released when I have some new research code.

[Hobbes]

This is great!

I've downloaded the 9.51 version and just run several tests on it with several different sized buildings on Terror Sites without any problem.

 

One thing really surprised me when the map showed a HWP Factory plus other 10x10 and 20x20 buildings. The smaller buildings all seem empty of aliens, which made me wonder how you resolved the 255 routes limit. Does the program uses the maximum routes possible then simply starts adding more maps but without their routes?

 

Also, I've altered the frc fields on the .cfg file used the maps up to the maximum slot, 15 (corresponding to the Urban21 map). Since my maps go all the way to Urban32 will those be used if I add more frc columns? My opinion is that the frc columns are great for playtesting since you can set them to play a specific building.

 

One thing that I had forgotten is that you can have 60x60 Terror Sites, which was a nice surprise, since it opens the possibility of 50x50 buildings, although those might be a little too big, especially with the routes limit.

Actually, the 60x60 battle areas have made me question the need to have the program to automatically select and place first one of the larger maps. I've just seen maps with two 30x30 buildings (the 2nd one was placed randomly by the program) and it wouldn't bother me if simply picks buildings at random, regardless of their size, since it would make the battlefield less predictable: instead of always getting a single 40x40 or 30x30, you could also have the battle area filled only with 10x10 buildings.

The Skyranger corner landing is still necessary to ensure a fair probability of the 40x40s (or even higher!) showing up but I think it should be made into an option. The reason for it is that landings get much easier if you land in a corner since you won't be facing aliens from all directions. It might not be sane to land in the middle of the action but sometimes commanders have no option.

 

Maybe these two features (Skyranger at corners and Big Map Choice) could be set as options to maintain a certain unpredictability. Meanwhile I'll keep running more tests to see how everything works out.

Edited July 21, 2004 by Hobbes

[Hobbes]

Just discovered something weird with the 9.51 version that I've never seen before.

Everytime there's an explosion it gets replicated on several other areas on the battlefield in a massive scale. If it's smoke it turns the game speed close to a halt and usually the image weapon on the right gets garbled.

This happened in both Terror Sites and UFO Recovery missions, and not only with my mod but also with the Forest terrain.

[stjones]

Just discovered something weird with the 9.51 version that I've never seen before.

Everytime there's an explosion it gets replicated on several other areas on the battlefield in a massive scale. If it's smoke it turns the game speed close to a halt and usually the image weapon on the right gets garbled.

This happened in both Terror Sites and UFO Recovery missions, and not only with my mod but also with the Forest terrain.

 

This may be a side effect of my increasing the size of the battlefield. I didn't test explosives before I released it last night at 2am. Oh, well, that's what happens with Beta code. Tonight, I'll take out the 2 lines of code that change the size of the battlefield (after verifying the cause of the bug) and will refresh the Beta again. I won't change the version number to 9.52 until I do something that would require running XcuSetup again.

 

By the way, my large tile selection algorithm still might not place a large tile. For a terrain with N different tiles, I randomly select a tile N times. If I don't find a large tile that fits within that number of tries, I just give up and go back to my normal placement algorithm. Thus, you won't always get a large tile, but you usually will.

[Hobbes]

Even if the battlefield has to be reduced to 50x50 that will still be great. I'm not too interested in creating 50x50 maps now because of the work they require.

Your description of the large tile algorithm sounds great also....I assumed wrongly it would always put a large tile on every map.

 

Edit: just altered the .cfg to use all 32 Urban maps and it seems to work fine.

Edited July 21, 2004 by Hobbes

[stjones]

Even if the battlefield has to be reduced to 50x50 that will still be great. I'm not too interested in creating 50x50 maps now because of the work they require.

Your description of the large tile algorithm sounds great also....I assumed wrongly it would always put a large tile on every map.

 

Edit: just altered the .cfg to use all 32 Urban maps and it seems to work fine.

 

The Beta has been updated again. When I tried a grenade with the last Beta, it hung my system. Now it seems to work, but the map is back to its old size. The game must storing the size in more than one place. Oh, well..

[Hobbes]

Oh well indeed

I just created and run a 50x50 map......you can see it on the attached pic. I want to see how many turns it takes getting a soldier to the top of that light pole.

 

Luckily I left enough room to change it into a 40x40 map.

 

I'll check the Beta tomorrow

[Hobbes]

OK, I got it and it seems to work without problems

 

Now that the Beta is functional I've made the files for the HWP Factory available on my page. I hope you like it.

[BladeFireLight]

Even if the battlefield has to be reduced to 50x50 that will still be great. I'm not too interested in creating 50x50 maps now because of the work they require.

Your description of the large tile algorithm sounds great also....I assumed wrongly it would always put a large tile on every map.

 

Edit: just altered the .cfg to use all 32 Urban maps and it seems to work fine.

 

The Beta has been updated again. When I tried a grenade with the last Beta, it hung my system. Now it seems to work, but the map is back to its old size. The game must storing the size in more than one place. Oh, well..

 

Scott how were you resizing the map? I have never had this problem when resizing the map.

 

-Blade FireLight

[BladeFireLight]

Ok. I see what the problem is. I had done my testing in TFTD, so I was unaware of this problem in UFO.

 

The UFO tactical has a limit of about 11,000 map squares for processing explosioons and smoke. so the limit on maps are 50x50x4 and 60x60x3

you can resize a 3 level map to 60x60, not that here aer any of thoes. this is why bases are only 2 levels high.

 

in TFTD the limit is 60x60x4 and everything works just fine.

 

-Blade FireLIght