Xcomutil Forces Game Changes

[ALF]

I just started using Xcomutil and was suprised to see that the interceptors could now carry troops. Reading through the documentation I see that the program also alters the carrying capacity of some transports.

 

Xcomutil gives you a list of changes when first run, but those can simply be set to no. The changes to the transports are done without prompting the user and seemingly can't be disabled. Is there a way to disable them? Are there any other "hidden" gameplay alterations Xcomutil makes?

 

I'm probably nitpicking, but this kind of stuff bothers me. I'm only interested in the little useability tweaks: the altered starting base and automatically renaming, reequiping, and sorting troops. It doesn't feel like real X-COM with the other stuff.

[Guest Azrael]

Moved to XCOMUTIL forum.

[Morken]

Answer: simply dont ever put troops on the interceptors.

 

More importantly, with xcomutil, Ive noticed these bugs:

 

1) Plasma cannon takes 80 workspace to manufacture.

 

2) Avenger: Diagonal corner walls can be shot thru by the aliens, sometimes by your soldiers on reaction.

Aliens can throw grenades thru the diagonals also.

The craft exit has a 'magic screen' that you can move and see thru but stops all enemy fire.

PLEASE FIX THIS it is lethal

 

Note: I also use the slowdown patch from

http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?sh...pic=4469&st=210

 

so my bugs could be a result of the combination of the 2 but I doubt it

[ALF]

And here I was wondering where my post had gone, not noticing that there was an Xcomutil forum.

 

It seems that Xcomutil’s author has addressed this before, each time giving the non-answer of “nobody’s forcing you to use them.” That statement’s inherently meaningless; he can no more force someone to use these altered craft than he can force them to dance the macarena. What he is forcing every user to do is alter their copy of X-COM in a way many would find undesirable, without their knowledge or consent. Will the next version install pop-ups and porn dialers, under the justification of “nobody’s forcing you to click on them”?

 

Changing xcomutil so that it can be used with the ships in their original configurations doesn't seem to be too difficult. I'll fool around with it and post what I learn.

 

EDIT: It turned out to be pretty easy to keep the old ships. Here's what you do:

1. Extract Xcomutil to your X-COM directory.

2. Delete the six maps that come with it.

3. Right-click on XcuSetup.bat and select "edit," then delete the flag "shp:cfg".

4. Run XcuSetup.bat and set it up however you like.

5. Go to you MAPS directory and rename "avenger.xcu" to "avenger.map".

 

To partially answer my own question about other Xcomutil changes, it seems like it might change the craft laser cannon's stats even if the option to use the new laser weapons is disabled. I'm not sure, though...

Edited August 16, 2005 by ALF

[StarweaverBlue]

XCOMUTIL automatically backs up your map files -- look for e.g. AVENGER.XCU in the maps directory.

 

Also, the "new laser weapons" option is just the part that modifies the manufacturability of lasers and plasma, tweaks the tank, etc; all the actual weapon stats are changed by the "new weapons" option (i think).

[ALF]

XCOMUTIL automatically backs up your map files -- look for e.g. AVENGER.XCU in the maps directory.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for pointing that out, I'll edit my post above to reflect it.

 

Also, the "new laser weapons" option is just the part that modifies the manufacturability of lasers and plasma, tweaks the tank, etc; all the actual weapon stats are changed by the "new weapons" option (i think).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Judging by the stats in the UFOpaedia, Xcomutil always changes the laser cannon's stats, irregardless of whether "improved weapons" and "new laser weapons" are enabled. However, when using the method I outlined for keeping the old ships, the laser cannon will always retain its old stats. Apparently laser cannons are independent of those two options.

[stjones]

It seems that Xcomutil’s author has addressed this before, each time giving the non-answer of “nobody’s forcing you to use them.” That statement’s inherently meaningless; he can no more force someone to use these altered craft than he can force them to dance the macarena. What he is forcing every user to do is alter their copy of X-COM in a way many would find undesirable, without their knowledge or consent. Will the next version install pop-ups and porn dialers, under the justification of “nobody’s forcing you to click on them”?

 

You have got to be kidding! I don't think I have ever been so offended. Your comments make me sorry that I ever released XcomUtil to the public.

[BladeFireLight]

Will the next version install pop-ups and porn dialers, under the justification of “nobody’s forcing you to click on them”?

 

Is that a feature request? If your to lasy to add the popups and Porn Dailers yourself I'm sure we can point you in the directon of some programs to do it for you.

 

Give me a brake. Scott does this on his _own time_. Time he takes away from his family to work on xcomutil. Just because he has not made the installer ask for a few options that are not game stoping, (and it also fixes some game stoping bugs with out asking to) does not mean he has some evil designes on your computer.

 

All files are backed up. you can undo any changes done by xcomutil and you can mod the config to change what is modified. (I alwase turn off the settings that mod the interceptor)

 

If you dont like the way the installer works. Change it to ask and submit it to Scott. He is quite receptive to thoes that want to help.

 

If you take the time off from your busiy scedual to help make the program better. then he may take some time from his live to implemet them.

 

I for one am glad for xcomtuil. I dont play with out it. I thank scott for the sacrifies he has made for the last 10+ years to work on xcomtil. I hope he is willing to continue working on improving it.

[[Blehm 98]]

Yes, that is a totally insulting thing to say, not to mention it was stupid. If you don't want Xcomutil, then how about this: "DON'T USE IT"

 

Also, how many people actually use the laser cannon?

 

Also, as a final comment, you need to watch what you say, because offensive and totally stupid comments tend to get people to dislike you VERY easily. I'd watch what you type or you'll get in trouble.

 

Too bad i didn't see that sooner....

 

edit: Holy crap, i see azrael posted here, i look at it, and i see 123 Globals(Azrael, Dippy, J'ordos) looking at this....

Edited August 22, 2005 by blehm

[Guest Azrael]

It seems that Xcomutil’s author has addressed this before, each time giving the non-answer of “nobody’s forcing you to use them.” That statement’s inherently meaningless; he can no more force someone to use these altered craft than he can force them to dance the macarena. What he is forcing every user to do is alter their copy of X-COM in a way many would find undesirable, without their knowledge or consent. Will the next version install pop-ups and porn dialers, under the justification of “nobody’s forcing you to click on them”?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Control your comments, this is a warning, if you don't like XCOMUTIL, don't use it.

[Kratos]

I believe the author earns respect for the hard work he has done. If you don't like it, A give your opinions in a "polite" and "respectful" manner, B don't use it . If you can't decide either options, then don't bother posting.

 

edit: its annoying me that when I tried to make a "B" and a ")" together it makes a smiley and I left it there for a while not knowing I did that.

Edited August 23, 2005 by Kratos

[ALF]

I alwase turn off the settings that mod the interceptor

You couldn’t be bothered to post and share that knowledge when I needed it, yet you’re the first person here to flame me? Magic.

 

Holy crap, i see azrael posted here, i look at it, and i see 123 Globals(Azrael, Dippy, J'ordos) looking at this....

A couple of people throw temper tantrums, more then a hundred give tacit approval. What does that tell you? Maybe that if you’d read my post without frothing at the mouth, you’d see that at no point did I insult or attack Scott Jones. If criticizing a program is wrong, maybe you should some posts in the X-COM forums. There are lots of people pointing out poor programming choices in games made by *gasp* Microprose themselves! Release the hounds!

 

My criticism was harshly phrased, and I am sorry that I offended him. But I don’t apologize for writing that post. Read through this forum; for years people have been saying “please excuse me Mr. Jones, but in my humble opinion I think it’s possible you might potentially not be entirely right about that design choice.” Hopefully now he will admit, at least to himself, that he made a mistake.

 

And it is a mistake. Look at the effort people have made to restore things as inconsequential as the old sound effects. Look at how many people still play X-COM when newer, more advanced strategy games are available. It’s a safe bet that players are interested in preserving the game and careful about how they modify it. It was certainly within his abilities to allow people to keep their game unchanged; if someone as dense as myself was able to figure out how to do it, I refuse to believe it would have taken Scott more than a minute to add a batch prompt doing the same. If I manage to beat normal X-COM I’ll probably give the new ships and weapons a try, but the decision on when and how to alter their programs should always remain with the users.

 

For the record, I don’t have anything against Scott. He seems to be a nice person, and aside from one glaring flaw Xcomutil is an excellent program. But like every person, he shits from time to time, and like every person, it is unpleasant and smelly.

[j'ordos]

You seem to be missing the point of xcomutil: it is mainly some sort of 'mod' to make xcom harder, or enhance the game in some ways, by adding new tactics (troops on interceptors), making unused items better (laser cannon) etc...

It is not an editor that only alters what the user wants to alter.

[[Blehm 98]]

and J'ordos sums up the entire thing pretty easily

 

now, juding by how this topic is going, it isn't ontopic at all anymore

 

Can someone please close this?

[Guest Azrael]

Just stay on topic.

[BladeFireLight]

You couldn’t be bothered to post and share that knowledge when I needed it, yet you’re the first person here to flame me? Magic.

 

Sorry, I forget that most people tend to _not_ RTFM.

 

to reset the ships back change xcomutil.cfg

 

Lines 617-621 are the xcom thips.. original stats are on lines 552-556

 

so 617-621 need to be.

  760     2  1500   150    0   14    3
3100     8    30   800    1   12    0
5400    10    60  1200    2   26    4
2100     3  1000   100    2    0    0
4200     9    20   500    2    0    0

 

copy ufo\maps\avenger.xcu over ufo\avenger.map and ufo\maps\avenger.map

copy ufo\maps\lightnin.xcu over ufo\lightnin.map and ufo\maps\lightning\map

 

then run xcusetup.bat and the ships will be back to normal.

[ALF]

Thanks BladeFireLight, but like I said in my second post I figured out how to keep the original ships more than a week ago. The way I did it’s a little simpler; it’s easier to delete one flag than to change a multitude of values. It also keeps the laser cannon’s original stats, though as others have pointed out cannons aren’t likely to see much action anyway. If I ever become competent at writing batch files I’ll try my hand at changing XcuSetup to ask the user if he wants that flag set.

 

You seem to be missing the point of xcomutil: it is mainly some sort of 'mod' to make xcom harder, or enhance the game in some ways, by adding new tactics (troops on interceptors), making unused items better (laser cannon) etc...

It is not an editor that only alters what the user wants to alter.

And yet the first thing seen when running it is dialog asking the user what he wants to alter. The author clearly recognized that different people would want to change their game in different ways, which makes it surprising that he would then force certain modifications upon them.

Edited August 25, 2005 by ALF