XcomUtil 9.7 Beta

[BladeFireLight]

Once I renamed that ini.txt to UFOExtender.ini and replaced the default INI with it the graphic's glitch went away. That custom INI is based on an older version of extender so a number of options are missing. But IIRC the Extender will just use the defaults for thoes not provided.

 

-Blade FireLight.

[NateDogg]

Your INI is not the default one that it comes with. I will setup a game with this one and see how it runs.

 

Your debug log shows that you never went byond the system checks and that you ran XcuSetup from Steam, while it should allow for being configured with Extender from DosBox you would need to run RunXcom from windows to acualy use the extender. (I havent tested senario and will do so tonight) You will need to run XcuSetup again and respond Yes to prompts on System Check, Restore and Backup. I use them as exit points for debuging. the next public build will just use pause to avoid acidental early exit.

 

After the file Backup XcuSetup will ask all the questions on what changes to make to the game. Only the Split EXE is on by default.

 

As to being more "consumer friendly". Before Steam and others re-released X-Com most of the online community was filled with old time players from the days of DOS, and doing things manually is something we are used to. The general consensuses in the community has been to not automatically make any adjustments allowing each player to modify the games as they like. Seb and I are also doing this for free, so adjustments are based on what we are willing to take the time to do. Only reason I have made such progress as of late is thanks to being unemployed at the moment.

 

-Blade FireLight

 

I don't know how to run xcom in windows. I just double click on the icon in steam and it open up the dos interface. Does it make a difference you think? You mentioned that extender won't work otherwise. Would it be better if I ran it in windows then? How do I do that?

 

You mentioned in your next post that the ini text extender thing was out of date. That's odd because I specifically downloaded the newest one. Who knows...something must've been lost in translation....

 

I'll do the whole thing all over again and resend the debug stuff.....

[NateDogg]

I got some good news and some bad news. It seems it's working but not without flaws and a little bit of instability. And I always find it hard to try to explain computer behaviour over a forum, but here goes....

 

So the game finally loads up and I start the game on superhuman (to test the difficulty thing). The first thing I check is my base. Seeing that it's setup in defencive layout as promised in xcomutil was reasurring enough that I left.

 

However, I did notice that upon startup, the sound in the intro was just as messed up as before. So the sound's not working properly....

I decided to configure my sound options by selecting "ultra sound" for both music and effects. Next thing I know, the game freezes on intro, as before.

So I reconfigured my sound options to one of the soundblaster pro options and it finally worked. However, the intro's still messed up and the extender audio is not in place. But I guess I need to start up xcom a different way in order for extender to be used? How do I do that? Do I open up xcom via extender loader? Will that include xcomutil?

 

The other thing I noticed is that the "soldier stats, rank, kills, etc are also not showing during the prequip phase of combat. I didn't really explore my base much so I don't know if there was somekind of option to turn that on. I figured it would have already been on since I requested that in the setup.

 

Also, though I was playing on superhuman, I murdered all the aliens at the first crash site flawlessly. Usually I get raped on the easiest difficulty. That can't be right.....maybe I got lucky.

 

I also noted that the game seemed a little choppy and unresponsive. There was just an absolute delay in everything I did, including moving the mouse around. I don't know if that has something to do with the setup or if that's just the way it is and I gotta live with it. There's also a delay in the sound, etc....

 

In any case, if there is anything odd going on that is fixable, I do hope you'll be able to find it in the debug things I uploaded.

 

I am happy to say I feel like we're making progress. But even more so, I hope I can get this thing running properly so I don't have to "live" with any redundant problems that don't actually need to be there.

 

Thanks for your help.

DEBUG.TXT

UFO_Extender.ini.txt

Edited February 10, 2010 by NateDogg

[Dangermouse]

I don't know how to run xcom in windows. I just double click on the icon in steam and it open up the dos interface. Does it make a difference you think? You mentioned that extender won't work otherwise. Would it be better if I ran it in windows then? How do I do that?

 

 

UFO Extender only works with the windows version so launching the dos version from Steam will never apply its modifications. To start the windows version you would normally need to run "UFO Defense.exe" in the XCOM folder. If you want to use extender though you have to run UFOLoader.exe.

 

 

I'm wondering if some of your performance issues could be to do with dosbox settings. I had to edit dosbox.conf to get things, mostly the battlescape, running smoothly.

 

Open dosbox.conf in notepad and look for lines:

 

core=auto

cycles=auto limit 8000

cycleup=500

cycledown=20

 

Change the 8000 to something higher (I use 13000). You could also remove the auto and have something like

 

cycles=13000

 

During play you can press ctrl+F12 to increase, or ctrl+F11 to decrease, the "cycles" until you find a value that works. Press Alt+Enter and you can see the current number of cycles in the title of the XCom window.

 

There are also sound settings in dosbox.conf but I've had no problems with sound so I wouldn't know what to change there.

[BladeFireLight]

If you downloaded it recently and it came with that INI file then you must have downloaded it from some place other then Seb's User Page

 

Your debug shows me there is a bug in the UFO Extender detection when XcuSetup is ran from dos. I have added a fix to the next release.

 

How to "Run from windows"

 

Win95

Click Start > Run > type the path into Run Box

 

Vista / Win 7

Click Start > Type the path into Search Box

 

(64bit Windows)

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\xcom ufo defense\XCOM"

OR

(32bit Windows)

"C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\xcom ufo defense\XCOM"

 

In this folder you should see. UFOExtender and UFOLoader (or UFOExtender.ini and UFOLoader.exe if you have view extensions turned on.) right click on UFOExtender.ini and see if it matches the file you attached. With the .txt extention and the "_" in the name of your file it will not be the active file. Copy and replace the content of the default file with Yours.

 

As your missing the config file for XcomUtil to use UFO Extender you need to double click on XcuSetup and just press enter through each step to re-apply the last settings and create the missing flag file.

 

Then when you double click on RunXcom it will start UFOExtender using the Split EXE's

 

 

If you dont plan on using UFO Extender then just double click on RunXcom.

 

You can avoid having to find the file in the future by right clicking on RunXcom >send to > Desktop as Shortcut.

 

If you would like to have me help you via IM, send me a PM with your Google Talk ID.

 

-Blade FireLight.

[NateDogg]

If you would like to have me help you via IM, send me a PM with your Google Talk ID.

 

-Blade FireLight.

 

ok ok we'll do the IM thing. Just give me a little bit of time to drive up the nerve. Maybe I'll try to contact you tommorrow night or something.

[BladeFireLight]

the nerve?

[BladeFireLight]

Build 333

 

Some Minor tweaks. Only major thing is I have given up on DOSBox 0.73 it's to buggy and crashes often. Although some of the bug fixes I worked out with the DOSBox dev team will not make it in until 0.75. They tell me most of them will be in 0.74 and it should not have this issue.

 

Luckily STEAM uses 0.72 and works as expected.

 

If you run another Command interpreter like 4DOS it should work.

 

• Random alien craft shape now works.
  
• Fixed Text color on BFG prompting on UFO under DOSBox.
  
• XCLoader.exe properly removed on uninstall and Gamefile restore
  
• Fixed display of Unit type on Fighter as transport prompt.
  
• Apply of Seb Loader from DosBox fixed.
  
• Commented RunXcom
  
• Removed Exit Point and replaced with Pauses in XcuSetup
  
• Updated DOSBox 0.73 error (to unstable. frequent buffer overflows setting ERRORLEVEL on program exit.)
  

 

-Blade FireLight

[BladeFireLight]

Build 339

 

This fixes the issue with 4DOS failing to do an initial backup, that lead to SDUMP being unable to apply patches, that led to empty designation files.

9.6 replaced the Hammer Head map by default. 9.7 does not but the unit placement was never updated. The 12 unit placement section has been added to fix units spawning outside the craft. (Scott's version of the Hammer Head is in the patches folder but requires manual modification of the config files to fully use. )

 

• Disable stderr redirection on 4DOS
  
• More debug and ArchFile now able to be run independently
  
• Add unit placement section for standard Hammerhead.
  
• Added Apply of Transport Hard Point.
  
• Fix Missing Terrain on TFTD Very Small
  

-Blade FireLight

[BladeFireLight]

Build 340

 

• Fixed missing label causing exit in build 399.
  

 

-Blade FireLight

[BladeFireLight]

Build 348

 

Fixed some obscure bugs.

Win7 32x on some computers would not run 16bit code(something to to with chip-set drivers and the 16bit xcopy), so now all NT based Windows will use 32bit EXE's.

Some STEAM users had issue with the windows EXE either being replace by or replacing the _patched.exe (f0ders loader) I saw this happen but was unable to repeat it. Hopefully the change of not using short file names when long ones can be will fix this issue.

 

• Fix BFG Prompting Display
  
• replace delete with del in RunXcom
  
• 32bit EXE used on most versions of windows.
  
• Skip copy short file name if can find long file name.
  

 

-Blade FireLight

[BladeFireLight]

Build 350

 

The EXE download now uses an updated script to prompt for steamsetup (if detected) and start xcusetup. This makes it more "consumer friendly".

 

• New SFX Installer Script.
  
• Cleaned up / updated xcomutil.txt and moved to xcomutil folder
  

 

-Blade FireLight

[BladeFireLight]

Build 361

 

By popular demand the EQL now works on any turn.

 

• EQL allowed any turn.
  
• Fix Display of Forced patches for UFO Spanish/Italian
  
• Fix BFG questions to avoid invalid options.
  
• Add Xcom UFO Italian Support
  

 

-Blade FireLight

[mooses_an]

I'm getting a lot open doors after loading a mission save. I just loaded a save and all the doors in the map came open... well it's just the ufo, since it's a desert map. Well, it's kinda helpful now, I don't have to use time units to open the door and step inside the room... This is in the dos version. No idea if it happens in windows version too.

 

Mm... I'm also noticing a lot more promotions. In my third mission one of my soldiers got promoted to Captain and 2 others to Sergeant. Before I found this xcomutil, I had played 3 months and I only had 1 Sergeant... I vaguely remember reading from somewhere that you need certain amount of soldiers with some rank to get one of them promoted? But I only have 8 now.. or do the ones count that I have ordered, but have not yet arrived?

Edited February 19, 2010 by mooses_an

[BladeFireLight]

Thoes in transit are part of that count.

 

The open doors can depend on the state of the door when you save. in UFO if the door is open when you save it now is stuck open on reload. This is part of the game. When you save the game the full Battle Field is saved from memory to a file. Geoscape and XcomUtil's BFG only create a map file grid that Tactical uses to create the full Battle Field. XcomUtil also does not modify the Alien craft Terrain files. It should have no effect on the door state.

[BladeFireLight]

Build 384

 

Lots of bug fixes. Hybrid now working, Fixed issues with auto combat and combining clips.

 

• Fix Hybrid Implementation
  
• Auto Combat will not run on second half of two part using first parts saved data.
  
• Auto Combat will no longer run if combat was won.
  
• MIA Recovery on won combat only
  
• Auto equip no longer triggers on second part of 2 stage missions.
  
• Add skip of combine clips if between stages of 2-3 part missions.
  
• Lost of debug info to in XcomUtil.log
  
• Add Headers to XcomUtil.log section brakes.
  
• XcomUtil's Apply action now in debug.txt
  
• Update and move f0dders read me per his request.
  
• Fixed typo stopping Lab PSI/MC Screen from working.
  
• Fix Infinite loop when not splitting EXE
  
• Fix nonexistent %no% variable
  
• Limit STDERR redirection to MS OS's
  

 

-Blade FireLight

[mooses_an]

Heavy Laser seems super powerful Cyberdisc killer.. one shot and it's smashed. Maybe the damage increase should be 100 only?

 

Now I'm noticing something really weird in a very large ufo. The aliens just vanish if I stun them with the Stun Rod. The alien is still there, I can't move to the square. End turn, the alien shoots me, moves away and becomes visible again. If I shoot them, they will die, but the corpse disappears. If I shoot an invisible alien, then it appears to die, but it's still there and didn't die. I'm using the newest build, dos ufo, all game fixes and some of the other stuffs.

 

I uploaded my save game, which has 2 of my soldiers next to 2 aliens...

GAME_5.zip

Edited February 23, 2010 by mooses_an

[BladeFireLight]

Can you also include a copy of debug.txt and xcomutil.log

[BladeFireLight]

Your playing on superhuman and have overloaded the object table. UFO only allows for 170 total objects in tactical Each unconscious body or dead alien are converted to objects when they fall to the ground. If the table is full then they disappear. This is a limitation to the game MicroProse never addressed. TFTD has a much larger limit. If you use any thing to get around the craft 80 item limit you will hit this limit frequently.

[mooses_an]

Ah, so that's why. In all my earlier games I just abandoned "all" the purchase weapons after I got laser rifles, so I never got this.. and I guess the difficulty reset to beginner bug had some effect on it too.

 

No random ufos for every fight if using the random world map terrain?

[BladeFireLight]

Randomizing the world map textures just effects the terrain battle's are fraught in. random UFO layouts is separate.

[BladeFireLight]

Build 413

 

Fixed Hybrid and Prompted BFG on Windows EXE's. Hybrid now uses Boom Blokes Pallet conversion. (removes lighting artifacts) "XcomUtil uninstall" now removes the hybrid game maps and terrain. Updated the Vista/Win7 patch. Recommend applying if you get odd colors that only go away with a reboot or playing a video in Media Player. Created new Add-on ability to allow others to plug-in to XcuSetup and RunXcom.

 

• Add-on support added. see XcomUtil\XcomUtil.txt and XcomUtil\Addon\Example.txt
  
• Restore and Backup ran second time on Hybrid games to resolve issues with cross pollination
  
• Update Vista/Win7 Patch to address alt + tab color issues. (restores color pallet on next start of Goescape or Tactical. Does not stop the corrupt pallet)
  
• Create windows flag file to force XcomUtil to update windows EXE when playing Xcom Windows
  
• Better UFO Hybrid integration and uninstall of copied files.
  
• Bomb Bloke's Hybrid Pallet Map
  
• command line option for config file now searches %CWD%\, %CWD%\XcomUtil\ and %CWD%\XcomUtil\Batch\
  
• Hybrid path detection change to look for \maps\ATLAN00.map OR %1\maps\URBAN00.map
  
• Move XcomUtRt and LastOp to sub-folders older LastOp moved if it exists.
  
• All Flags moved to the flags folder.
  
• If debug.txt exists zero out file (deletion caused problems with WinTail)
  
• uninstall a few missed files.
  
• Fix debug log of config flags.
  
• Fix echo------ error in RunXcom.bat
  

 

-Blade FireLight

[BladeFireLight]

Build 422

 

• Fixed unit placing where units were placed outside of sub or inside of tanks.
  
• Fixed Display of Starting Transport and Fighter names for TFTD
  
• Updated addon example.txt to streamline and clarify a few things.
  
• Switched to Bomb Bloke updated Color Pallet
  
• Units who bleed to death no longer rise from the grave. (unless they die the same turn as you kill the last alien)
  
• Units under mind control when the last alien dies are no longer MIA.
  
• Fix messed up goto in Line 8 used for addons (Was causing exit of RunXcom)
  
• Fix RME error
  

 

-Blade FireLight

[BladeFireLight]

Build 435

 

Original Sound Effects from UFO were re-sampled to work with 1.4 and CE.

 

• Add Category to option headers.
  
• Improve randomness by using current time instead of game date/time in srand()
  
• Added Option to keep Current terrain/UFO to BFG.
  
• Original UFO 1.2 Sounds for Geoscape and Tactical added as an option for UFO 1.4 and CE.
  
• Force Split EXE on STEAM. Fixes issues with setup failing.
  
• Reset Laser/Gauss craft weapons stats to be default.
  
• Example addon now uses different flag extension to avoid deletion by XcuSetup
  
• fix issue with Lab Screen on DosBox always screening
  

 

-Blade FireLight

[BladeFireLight]

Build 442

 

• Add Batch file for Java Terrain Editor as an example for thoes that want to use it.
  
• Fix BFG placement of units in Alien Base Terrain.
  
• Autocombat: All units with health
• Autocombat: Fixed MIA units on WIN.
  

 

-Blade FireLight

[Justin Lee]

Hmm, it seems like in TFTD CE, the transition between geoscape and tactical is not working correctly. Help?

 

I always get the error with the "Don't send" button, im pretty sure you all know what it is already.

 

But it will work, but its quite weird.

Edited May 7, 2010 by Justin Lee

[thebigbadtofu]

Hey all,

 

I'm having trouble with getting my XCOM to run with DosBox. I installed the latest XComUtil and tried running DosBox 0.72. It gave me an error message that said "Unable to find 16-bit files". When I tried again a little later, it failed and said "Illegal Command: Start"

 

I'm on a Windows 7, 64-bit system.

 

I'd really appreciate any advice, thanks!

 

thebigbadtofu

[BladeFireLight]

What build number are you useing and can you post the log file from the XcomUtil directory?

[Eledhel]

Hello,

 

I downloaded the new 9.7 beta and upon installation it will check to see what operating system is in use. I'm using windows XP on a IBM T42 Thinkpad but xcomutil doesn't seem to recognise the setup. I added a screenshot of the cmd window. I don't think it will affect the ability to use the program since I have been using 9.6 for some time now without problems.

 

Just thought I'd mention it to you.

 

Eledhel

 

Edit:

Well it does affect using the program since it wont go through with the definition of my choices.

I installed the collectors edition in D:\games\Xcom\

Downloaded the installer and ran it, selecting the proper map.

But it won't find my operating system.

Am I doing something wrong here?

(Using the zipfile instead of the installer doesn't make any difference.)

Edited July 9, 2010 by Eledhel

[BladeFireLight]

Can you get a screen capture of the following commands?

 

ver

ver >scrap.txt

find /i "XP" scrap.txt

[Eledhel]

There you go!

 

I verified that scrap.txt exists. And it does and contains the following line "Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]".

I found that the map also contains a scrap.text containing the same line.

 

I use the normal cmd to run xcomutil, not dosbox or something like that.

Edited July 10, 2010 by Eledhel

[BladeFireLight]

try again with the "/" you used "\" that doesn't work.

[Eledhel]

Whoops, my bad!

Here is a correct command response.

[BladeFireLight]

Your output makes me wonder if you have another "find" command in the path. Both the build in XP find and the 16bit find I include for DosBox use that syntax. your screen shot tells me it's not understanding the command

 

Can you do

 

find /?

 

it will display the correct syntax requirements and tell us if it's some third party find command.

[Eledhel]

I think the problem has been found.

Ill save the trouble of the screenshot and just give you the one line of text it gives me.

 

find: /?: No such file or directory

 

This gave me the idea to run xcusetup in dosbox. Which results in the following screen, clearly this could be expected but it seems that the find command in cmd is missing in my version.

 

FIXED IT!

I have WinAVR installed which features a file called find.exe, that messed up the normal find in cmd! When I rename that one to find.bla and rerun the xcusetup it works like a charm! So perhaps you could make it possible to manually select the operation system when the program can't find it automatically.

Edited July 12, 2010 by Eledhel

[BladeFireLight]

When It does not recognize the OS it tries it's best.

[Eledhel]

I know, but because it can't use the find command the program becomes really slow. Though that will probably depend on the specific third party find command it is trying to use. Perhaps place this in a known bug section? With a simple tutorial, I just used the windows search to search for "find.exe" and then (temporarily) rename it to install xcomutil

[BladeFireLight]

I dont expect may programs placing another find program in the path. When I want to overwrite the base functionality of the command line I do so temporarily. to replace standard commands permanently invite this kind of problems so it's not a common practice.

[Eledhel]

I didn't mean to overwrite the base functionality. Perhaps just a little section in the readme file in case anyone runs into the same problems. That way they know what they can try to fix it.

[garret6]

Hi i tried the new Beta build 442 and encountered a odd thing:

 

I ran xcusetup.bat and the util did find my version of TFTD 2.0.

 

it then made restores and backups when i got to the promts and went thru them.

 

i then wanted to do another option so i ran xcusetup again but now the util found TFTD V1...

 

i i started the game and did a ufo recovery mission and got ion beam acceleratiors and magnetic nav.

to verfy what version i got i chekced if i can research mag nav (in v1 one needs a lobsterman navigator for that)

and i really couldnt research it.

 

It seems xcomutil downgraded my xcom V2 to xcom V1

 

I like the fact that the research tree in V1 was more difficult and u get armors very late in the game, but i wonder what that means

for them Bugs that are in V1.

 

can u help me out here? should i allpy another patch to V2 after the xcomutil setup?

 

greez

[BladeFireLight]

Do an uninstall and then run through the same options you did both times and see if it does it again. I should not be patching the sections the are used for version detection.

[garret6]

Do an uninstall and then run through the same options you did both times and see if it does it again. I should not be patching the sections the are used for version detection.

 

i did and now it works fine... got no clue of how that happened... perhaps i did the patching (back then) wrong. well it works now

[Naismith]

Hello, fellow XCOM fans. I've been playing XCOM for a long time, and I've recently downloaded XcomUtil 9.7 and gave it a try with my Win98 TFTD copy (v1) running in Win7 x64. Here's my experience with it:

 

After applying most of the fixes and modifications in XcomUtil, I ran RunXcom.bat. The game began normally and the intro seemed to run as it should.

Then I began a new game (beginner, as I had not played this in years), did the usual setup stuff, etc., and began gauss research.

Got to gauss rifles and built enough for the entire team (using the no clip modification).

As I had still not seen any USOs, I began building a standard sonar just in case.

Then I spotted and destroyed a very small USO (before sonar completion).

At one point the geoscape map became fragmented with weird colors, terrains, and jagged edges jutting out of the planet - looked like some tectonic plates had been ripped loose and turned at ~30* angles. This wasn't game-breaking, so I kept playing. I think eventually it went back to normal after I restarted the game.

On Jan. 24, I had a terror mission. This is where I discovered that scroll speed was way too fast, and setting it to lower levels did not help (also the switch between executables would prompt windows to say the exe had stopped working - solved by clicking cancel and continuing). I went through the mission using trigger scroll to maintain some playability, and finished the mission successfully.

When the end of the month arrived, I got the strangest glitch I've seen so far - I had a rating of terrible (-268,435,916) but a funding increase of +746,000. I just kept playing after that.

In the next month I downed one small USO, and began the second battle with 2 aquanauts from the barracuda. At this point I left the game for 2 days, and I restarted the computer at least once during that time. When I returned, I found that the scroll had somehow changed and was working at a reasonable speed. I finished the mission fairly quickly after that, and went back to the geoscape.

When February ended (only one USO!) I had another terrible rating, though this was 6 figures instead of 9. As this was the second negative rating, I lost the game.

 

So here is my experience - I will soon try playing at again and see if the bugs I saw appear again. I hope the bugs can be ironed out soon, as I really want to play this like I used to be able to with the unmodified version on my WinXP machine.

Please note that I ran this in Windows, not DOSBox, though I have DOSBox 0.74 installed.

Also, I have attached a picture showing the bad rating bug.

[j'ordos]

I had that rating problem as well, using xcomutil and the UFOExtender (xcom1, not TftD), thought it was caused by the combination of the two but maybe it's just xcomutil that's in fault here then? Sadly I have no fix for this problem