Jump to content
XCOMUFO & Xenocide

Frequently Asked Questions Discussion


Serge

Recommended Posts

Can I use the new graphics engine in order to "upgrade" the old battlescape section of UFO? This means i would be able to play the normal game but with the new graphics for the battlemap.

Reply added to FAQ.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The game shows strange messages in the console, something about wrong crc, NID errors, ...

These all are the debug messages used by the game engine. Such messages usually mean that the game state on your and remote computer is not synchronized (for example, the soldier has died on your computer, but is still alive on the remote).

Can u be more specific about wrong crc...why or when exactly it happens... and how to prevent it from happening...

 

When playing Rome Total-War on LAN with a friend of mine it also happened. Thats why i ask. :innocent:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

First I'd like to thank you all for the hard work put into this, as a programmer I know it can be frusterating and very tedius at times.

 

 

I'm having trouble with the screen display.

 

On the default settings it comes up as a black screen, but with music.

 

I tried changing the boolean flag for full screen to 0 and that fixed problem, but gave a new problem.

 

With the flag set for a default small window screen, the graphics display, but I have to manually refresh the screen for to see any change by draging the window off the screen. I can sometimes manage to get it functioning correctly by moving my cursor and right clicking, but it's very hard to be successful. If I am successful, it gets corrupted again if I move the screen.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thank you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm having trouble with the screen display.

 

On the default settings it comes up as a black screen, but with music.

 

I tried changing the boolean flag for full screen to 0 and that fixed problem, but gave a new problem.

 

With the flag set for a default small window screen, the graphics display, but I have to manually refresh the screen for to see any change by draging the window off the screen.  I can sometimes manage to get it functioning correctly by moving my cursor and right clicking, but it's very hard to be successful.  If I am successful, it gets corrupted again if I move the screen.

 

Any ideas?

That's all very strange and seems like a very rare problem. What OS and hardware do you have? What version of ufo2000 was used?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Serge.

Sorry it took me a while.

 

I remember the version I downloaded said it was the latest stable version. I looked up in the readme file and it says the following

 

"UFO2000 0.4.2 **

** aka X-COM: Gladiators **

** http://ufo2000.sourceforge.net/ **

** English Manual "

 

So it must be version 0.4.2, but I'm not 100% sure because I thought the numbers may have been different and they are no longer on the icon from installing, but I could be wrong.

 

I do remember for certain it said it was the latest stable version and I would think 0.4.2 is correct if that's what it says.

 

I'm using Windows XP. As far as hardware I'm not sure how to check what kind of graphics card this computer has, because I can't find it in the control panel.

 

What is strange is that I figured out a way to fix the problem in a way. I figured out, with a small screen, if I right click the top of the window and click "move" (which changes the windows cursor to a multiarrowed cursor), then move this cursor over the inanimate cursor in X-COM and click, suddenly it works. It can get corrupted again if I minimize or move the screen, but I can quickly fix the problem when it happens by repeating that.

 

Strange huh?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...
I know that this doesn't belong here, but here it goes. What does "dDeviation" mean

in weapons.LUA file? Is it the ability to penetrate armor? It is important to me, so please don't ignore this.

Working with dDeviation in the Aurora (aka Galactic) weapon set, my conclusions are that it is code for setting random damage. ie: Mad Disk is 99% dDeviation of 200 damage. You prime it and throw it on the gound, then a enemy unit walks on it. They will either have the effect of 200 +- 200(99%) of damage. The enemy unit has a chance of living if he gets the 200 - 200(99%). But, if he gets the 200 + 200(99%), the enemy unit will be destroyed (due to that no units have that much health and armor put together to live such a blast). Feel free to ask more questions.

 

Your post is a question however, so I will let Serge decide if he wants to delete it or not. Questions are always welcome. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello!

 

I'm desperately trying to get ufo2000 running in vain...

 

see this thread:

http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-405083.html

 

as it seems, allegro 4.2.x won't work with ufo, as i get errors when compiling..

 

I'm currently struggling with scons not finding allegro.h though it's there in /usr/include ...

maybe exactly that's my problem?

 

cool if anyone could help me!

 

tia,

 

thomas

 

EDIT: forget this, i did not realize in two months until analyzing the sources that you have to modify your ~/.ufo2000/ufo2000.ini and not the global /usr/share/games/ufo2000/ufo2000.ini

maybe this helps someone stuck with the same problem...

Edited by tbart
Link to comment
Share on other sites

forget this, i did not realize in two months until analyzing the sources that you have to modify your ~/.ufo2000/ufo2000.ini and not the global /usr/share/games/ufo2000/ufo2000.ini

maybe this helps someone stuck with the same problem...

It is good that you resolved the problem. What was the option in the default ufo2000.ini that was causing troubles?

 

Also it is strange that scons can't find allegro.h (considering that you may also want to try the latest beta version). It works perfectly for me. Please paste scons output here, also try running 'allegro-config --cflags --libs' to see what it shows. I'm sorry for using you as a guinea pig, but we need to test the new build system based on scons before the next stable release :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
Another question: do you plan to switch to 1024x768 resolution in the near future? Will there be any possibilities of adding decent art to the game in the near future? What graphic improvements will be implemented?

 

Now now, no insulting X-COM's graphics. :P

 

Sometime in the far future, XC2k may go 3d, a bit like Xenocide, but that's far, far future.

 

And at 1024... do you have ANY idea how small things will be at that size?!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And at 1024... do you have ANY idea how small things will be at that size?!
I meant redoing all of the graphics to the 1024x768 reolution. But I guess asking that was a stupid thing to do, becuse of so few artists working on this project. Either way... The reason that I asked this was that I tried to make a few fotorealistic weapons today. I could not, the main reasons were:

1)It's so hard to work with with such a small number of pixels.

2)The weapons I tried to make were black, so some of their parts looked terrible in the armory. So I thought maybe some graphic improvements are on the way. Guess not :) .

If it's not such a big deal, I would like to ask to make the background in the armory a bit brighter (To be honest I liked the one in Jagged Alliance). It would also be useful if you would allow soldiers to carry larger weapons, or increase the size of those "blocks" in the armory. This way people could make more detailed weapons.

Edited by Leimrei
Link to comment
Share on other sites

All of the graphics are from X-COM, or at least about 90% are. It would take months to redo all the tilesets. Might as well wait until XC2k goes totally own-graphic for anything like that.

 

Soldiers can already carry 3x4 in their backpacks and 2x3 objects in their hands. Don't get much bigger. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I meant redoing all of the graphics to the 1024x768 reolution.

One of the possible targets for UFO2000 can be portable devices. They do not have high resolution screens, so increasing minimal screen resolution requirement might be not a very good idea. Also see the following links:

http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8181

http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8451

 

But I guess asking that was a stupid thing to do, becuse of so few artists working on this project.

Comparing with a *zero* number of artists we had for the last few years, now we have a real breakthrough :) But looks like currently we are short on programmers, that limits our possibilities to add new graphics and a lot of completed sprites are still waiting in our issue tracker for inclusion into the game.

 

Either way... The reason that I asked this was that I tried to make a few fotorealistic weapons today.

Actually not everyone thinks that photorealistic images are the best for the game, many prefer cartoon style graphics, I'm lazy to post links to the threads where this is discussed, but you can find this information in the forum yourself. It does not mean that we should stick to carton style, actually we are trying to make the game as flexible as posssible. But seems like cartoon style is what most artists working on the graphics for the game prefer at this moment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually not everyone thinks that photorealistic images are the best for the game
Of course they're not. Making photorelistic images with so few pixels can be a real pain.

 

Thank you for answering, but I would like to know would it be possible to brighten the background in the armory a bit in the next releases. I was planning to make a serious weapon set with weapons and relistic sounds, but I had some difficulities:

1) Many weapons are fairly dark, they don't look very good in the armory.

2)Long barreled weapons (DMR, MG, snipersistems) don't "fit" the weapon slots in soldiers inventory. Currently, only weapons that are 2x3 or smaller fit in there.

If it's no pain, maybe you could fix this in the new betas. I'll also attach some weapon images so you can get the point.

post-6368-1135634426.png

post-6368-1135634451.png

post-6368-1135634481.png

post-6368-1135634881.png

post-6368-1135635638.png

Edited by Leimrei
Link to comment
Share on other sites

are those guns ripped from images of other games? if so, its generally easier to make your own images from scratch that'l look heaps better. I think one of the devs also had a weapon set on the go. It had such guns as the FAMAS and the AK74 etc. it looked good but needed some finishing
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think one of the devs also had a weapon set on the go. It had such guns as the FAMAS and the AK74 etc. it looked good but needed some finishing

 

There is weapon set made with weapons designed by Munkeylord. It contains:

 

Rifles: AK47, M-16, M-4, SA80, FAMAS, G3

Pistols: P227, Glock, Beretta 92D, MP5K

MGs: SAW

Grenade Launcher: M16/M-203

 

They all have inventory, ground and handheld pictures, but those need to be added a transparency. It also require some more weapons, namely grenades, sniper rifles, submachine guns, machine guns, grenade launchers/RPGs to be complete.

Edited by Hobbes
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
Medi-packs, electroflares, motion scanners, and mindprobes are the only things I see in the nearest future, yet still going to take a while. Psi-amps and blaster launchers are a little undecided though, due to this is made to make the original UFO much easier when it came to AI. Since it is currently only human players, which can result in 1 turn wins (functionality nerfing maybe necessary). The current battle system also makes this a problem, such as scout and snipe tactics...this gets overused at times as it is. As you can see, its a more complex decision than just dumping it in the game like the others. I seriously doubt they will be left behind, but will take a little more time for planning.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi

 

@ Leimrei & everyone who's making realistic weapons:

 

This site might help a lot

 

http://world.guns.ru/main-e.htm

 

 

it contains every weapon (i think), ever made by humans.

Dam, it even have a special underwater round created in the cold war.

(Sorry alien arsenal not included ;) )

 

 

I think you should see the diferent types of ammo available for the M79 40mm grenade launcher.

There are only two available in the beta. It would be nice to have some more ammo types.

 

In my opinion there are some legendary weapons that deserve to be made for ufo:

Steyr AUG

P90

FN FAL

UZI

AK47

M4

Edited by ShellTox
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Will there be tanks, psi-amps, or motion detectors implemented in the game at some point in time?  What about medi-packs or something of that sort?

 

 

Medi-packs, electroflares, motion scanners, and mindprobes are the only things I see in the nearest future, yet still going to take a while. Psi-amps and blaster launchers are a little undecided though, due to this is made to make the original UFO much easier when it came to AI. Since it is currently only human players, which can result in 1 turn wins (functionality nerfing maybe necessary). The current battle system also makes this a problem, such as scout and snipe tactics...this gets overused at times as it is. As you can see, its a more complex decision than just dumping it in the game like the others. I seriously doubt they will be left behind, but will take a little more time for planning.

 

Suffice to say, I think Tanks are low priority. Medpacks I could see coming soon, then Motion Detectors. Psi-Amps would have to be limited to some kind of stun/panic effect, IMO, and Blasters could essentially be an Alien Rocket Launcher (rather than a Missile, like it is now) and as Kratos says, it's obscenely... well... cheesy. If you knew the starting positions, you could nuke the entire team before the game had even started if you could use guided Bombs! And that wouldn't be fun. =p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think this question could be added to the FAQ since it usually pops up with new players:

 

Q: What about the missing features like HWPs, Terror units, Medikits, Motion Scanners, Psi-Amps, etc. Will they be implemented?

 

A: For the time being there is no work being done to add those features to the game due to other priorities. Also, some features might not also be advisable to have on multiplayer, like Blaster Launchers or Psi-Amps, because of their potential to unbalance the game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
My Windows crashed while I was connected to the official server and I was playing... when I want to log in again, I got the error message 'username already in use' (or something like that)...

What can I do ?

 

Probably the server still have you registered as connected and it might take a while. Retry until you get connected (it might take a while) or temporarily use another username.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Hi

 

I logged on the official game server yesterday, using the name "deepblue", but i didn't enter any password. I was allowed to play, but later i read the readme file and learned that password and username was required for the server to record my stats. So i tried to log in again using the name deepblue, and adding a password, but the game said "incorrect password", although i was allowed to enter without a password.

-Does that mean my stats won't be recorded on the server?

-Or will they be recorded, but anyone can enter the game using the name "deepblue", and ruin my stats?

-How can i add a password to my username?

-If i can't add a password, how can i delete this username to create it again with a password? (I'd really like to play by the name deepblue...)

 

Can someone help me?

 

-deepblue

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I logged on the official game server yesterday, using the name "deepblue", but i didn't enter any password. I was allowed to play, but later i read the readme file and learned that password and username was required for the server to record my stats. So i tried to log in again using the name deepblue, and adding a password, but the game said "incorrect password", although i was allowed to enter without a password.

-Does that mean my stats won't be recorded on the server?

-Or will they be recorded, but anyone can enter the game using the name "deepblue", and ruin my stats?

-How can i add a password to my username?

-If i can't add a password, how can i delete this username to create it again with a password? (I'd really like to play by the name deepblue...)

 

Can someone help me?

There is no easy way to change password or delete account currently. I want to make a web based interface for user accounts management, but it still needs to be written. Right now the most easy solution is just to register a new account as old account has an empty password.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry to look in old post's but i can start to translate it to POLISH:D

 

You no our city "Wylotowo" where every year UFO comes and do pictograms:) Translator ready for duty:D

Well, as stated before, this might need some time. I will let all of you know once we are in need of translators. For now CTD is searching for talented writers for the XNet entries.

 

 

I logged on the official game server yesterday, using the name "deepblue", but i didn't enter any password. I was allowed to play, but later i read the readme file and learned that password and username was required for the server to record my stats. So i tried to log in again using the name deepblue, and adding a password, but the game said "incorrect password", although i was allowed to enter without a password.

-Does that mean my stats won't be recorded on the server?

-Or will they be recorded, but anyone can enter the game using the name "deepblue", and ruin my stats?

-How can i add a password to my username?

-If i can't add a password, how can i delete this username to create it again with a password? (I'd really like to play by the name deepblue...)

 

Can someone help me?

There is no easy way to change password or delete account currently. I want to make a web based interface for user accounts management, but it still needs to be written. Right now the most easy solution is just to register a new account as old account has an empty password.

 

 

 

TRUE

Right now the most easy solution is just to register a new account as old account has an empty password.

TRUE

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the quick reply, Sarge!

 

I've already found the answer to my question(more or less) in the topic "Ufo2000 Account", and as soon as i finished reading all the posts there, your answer was already here :). I think i'll just enter my name in a different way, like deep_blue or something, and this time i won't forget to add a password.

You guys are doing a great job with this game, though based on my first impressions with the game it needs serious balancing (here i'm thinking of overpowered flying units, and the advantage of the attacker using explosives to wipe player2's starting area in the first turn, and these two issues combined.) As soon as these problems are fixed, it'll be my no.1 online game for sure!

 

Regards:

deepblue

 

EDIT: And before i finished writing this, anen has made a reply too, thanks for that too! There is quite a bit of activity here :D

Edited by deepblue
Link to comment
Share on other sites

(to add to the FAQ)

 

Q: What is the bugtracker and how do I use it?

 

A: The bugtracker can be accessed at http://ufo2000.xcomufo.com/mantis/main_page.php

 

You can read all current bug and feature request issues there. To make a post you'll need to be registered. Before posting please check to see if the issue has not been already proposed/reported.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

(to add to the FAQ)

 

Q: What is the bugtracker and how do I use it?

 

A: The bugtracker can be accessed at http://ufo2000.xcomufo.com/mantis/main_page.php

 

You can read all current bug and feature request issues there. To make a post you'll need to be registered. Before posting please check to see if the issue has not been already proposed/reported.

 

Thanks, Hobbes, that's perfect

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Hey Guys,

 

Just come back to UFO2000 and wow - lots of progress which is awesome to see :D The last time I played the game must have been ~ 0.4.x.

 

One thing that I dont like is how zoomed in the graphics are again. I liked the whole 'zoom to fit resolution' of the previous and early 0.3.x releases. Scale2x4x is ok but it makes it look a bit washed out. Any plans to go back to the previous system or is scale and small view points the way the project is going ? :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing that I dont like is how zoomed in the graphics are again. I liked the whole 'zoom to fit resolution' of the previous and early 0.3.x releases. Scale2x4x is ok but it makes it look a bit washed out. Any plans to go back to the previous system or is scale and small view points the way the project is going ? :(

It is a config option, you can use the higher resolution if you want.

There is discussion to change the default setting of that option.

 

http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=242026530

http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=242027004

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing that I dont like is how zoomed in the graphics are again. I liked the whole 'zoom to fit resolution' of the previous and early 0.3.x releases. Scale2x4x is ok but it makes it look a bit washed out. Any plans to go back to the previous system or is scale and small view points the way the project is going ? :(

 

Hey

 

If you press * it will switch between scale 2x and normal view.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
I'm having trouble with the screen display.

 

On the default settings it comes up as a black screen, but with music.

 

I tried changing the boolean flag for full screen to 0 and that fixed problem, but gave a new problem.

 

With the flag set for a default small window screen, the graphics display, but I have to manually refresh the screen for to see any change by draging the window off the screen. I can sometimes manage to get it functioning correctly by moving my cursor and right clicking, but it's very hard to be successful. If I am successful, it gets corrupted again if I move the screen.

 

Any ideas?

 

 

I take it this has not been fixed? I installed the game on another PC (Windows XP) and I'm getting the same problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

It's there a way to play "offline" games on a server (AKA email games or send turn by web), or any other way to play withouth need to do at the same time with your opponents.

 

Hotseat saving and emailing turn everytime?

 

Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Some answers to FAQ are out of date.

 

1. I can't run UFO2000, it shows a message box (error message in console for Linux or FreeBSD? version) with error message about missing files, what to do?

 

 

UFO2000 requires data files from the original "UFO: Defense" game or freely available demo. It uses them for displaying graphics and playing sounds. Please read the instructions in INSTALL file provided in the UFO2000 distributive.

Now UFO2000 does not require files from neither the original "UFO: Defense" game nor its freely available demo.

 

 

3. I cannot connect to the server when I click "connect to server" It always says unable to connect. Or even worse, my firewall pops up and warns about trojan activity

When you run the game and select 'connect to internet server' option in the main menu, the game tries to connect lxnt.info on TCP port 2000 (or 2001 for beta versions). ...

The game default server now is ufo2000.xcomufo.com, not lxnt.info

 

6. The game shows strange messages in the console, something about wrong crc, NID errors, ...

 

 

These all are the debug messages used by the game engine. Such messages usually mean that the game state on your and remote computer is not synchronized (for example, the soldier has died on your computer, but is still alive on the remote). Continuing to play the game at this point does not have much sence, you will only get more errors or the game can crash. ...

In fact, continuing the game has sense. This year I've played about twenty games on beta 0.9.1105 and was able to finish matches with CRC and NID errors every time I encountered them (2-3 occasions), without further disruption.

 

 

8. What about the missing features like HWPs, Terror units, Medikits, Motion Scanners, Psi-Amps, etc. Will they be implemented?

For the time being there is no work being done to add those features to the game due to other priorities. ...

Medikits are implemented more than 2 years ago. Edited by Fomka
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some answers to FAQ are out of date.

Thanks, that's a good catch. Maybe it's better to scrap this FAQ instead of updating it? And just use wiki?

 

6. The game shows strange messages in the console, something about wrong crc, NID errors, ...

These all are the debug messages used by the game engine. Such messages usually mean that the game state on your and remote computer is not synchronized (for example, the soldier has died on your computer, but is still alive on the remote). Continuing to play the game at this point does not have much sence, you will only get more errors or the game can crash. ...

In fact, continuing the game has sense. This year I've played about twenty games on beta 0.9.1105 and was able to finish matches with CRC and NID errors every time I encountered them (2-3 occasions), without further disruption.

Yes, some of such errors may be self-correcting, for example when soldier location becomes different on local and remote computer, but on the next turn this soldier walks to another place and the game gets synchronized again. Some errors may be non-critical for the game outcome, for example remaining health points of a wounded soldier get out of sync, but as long as this souldier does not get hurt again, it does not matter in the end.

 

But some of sync errors are quite fatal and you may get ghosts enemies (soldiers which are considered to be dead by your computer, but still alive on the remote one) causing even more problems if some of your souldiers get killed by such ghosts. Inconsistent game results are also easily possible (both players may think that they have won the game for example).

 

All these problems are caused by some bugs in the code and need to be corrected.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...