37 replies to this topic

[Gurluas2000]

by copying soldier.dat from tftd i got this unit with an ethereal armor...
however i wont wait 16.000 days for his recovery so im currently trying to manage this with the editor


also notice he has 920 bravery.

Attached Thumbnails

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[Gurluas2000]

all in vain i have tried bringing this units recovery time to 0 days.
i tried with clark wehyr editor...but
he seems to disapeear along with 30 other soldiers when i save the soldier.dat...xcom hack v 2.54 crashes with invalid property valur... any help is appreciated this is maybe the culmination of the ufo story.

dont let me down now... give me a hand.

edit: i didt even gave you a savegame how could i expect a hand...

Attached Files

•  soldier.rar   775bytes   281 downloads

Edited by Gurluas2000, 03 April 2005 - 09:09 AM.

[Archaon376]

I have been talking to Gurluas and he has a very interesting concept going on here. Can anyone help him in this situation?

[Gurluas2000]

... what a night....
YES FINALLY i uncovered the secret of the aliens...
notice that when you get a personal armor or another armor...
both sprite ,body and armor stat changes...
ive now concluded that aliens are just hidden armors ingame...
i didt tested my ethereal armor yet because of the recovery days...
but im pretty sure it is an ethereal.
if this is correct then editors can now get the new armors as an attrivute and players can freely change from sectoid to chryssalid...
sounds like a dream but im close of making the dream reality...
i just need a good hacker to remove the recovery and im a happy man.

[Quantifier]

Soldier entries in file soldier.dat are 68 bytes long in EU, and 70 bytes long in TFTD. If you copy file from TFTD to EU, then soldier data will be shifted, so the armour value could be different from those normally available (0, 1, 2 and 3)

Now, "Ethereal" string is not very far (117 entries to be exact) after the armour strings ("PERSONAL ARMOR", "POWER SUIT" and "FLYING SUIT") in english.dat file. If you ever programmed in C/C++ you would know that arrays don't check range overflow. So, armour string 117 would be string that is 117 after beginning of armour descriptions.

In the battlescape, game will be looking for sprites number 117 and will most likely crash.

[Gurluas2000]

If thats true then wheres the alien skins??
beside we have to test it...
and then 5 6 7 8 can be alien armors in that case...
beside there is an armor named "High"
we also have to test that...
and aliens despite my theory can also just be
appearences...or sec

since you proved yourself worthy then try removing the recovery data and or changing the armor of a few soldiers so we can see
if 5,6,7,8,9 etc. are alien armors.


if you got msn then add me.
gurluas@hotmail.com

edit: i also noticed that some soldiers has unused appearances and are asking for files like
MAN_}.SPK
MAN_P.SPK
MAN_0FP.SPK

Edited by Gurluas2000, 05 April 2005 - 06:46 AM.

[NKF]

Hmm, I guess the game may just be wanting to look for man_(insert number) here. That means that you could probably add additional sprites for X-Com soldiers.

--

Gurluas2000: If you really want to fiddle around with invalid values, you can do it the way I edit the game. You can use a hex editor, or use MS-Edit in binary mode (essentially a hex editor - but you have to work with ascii characters).

First of all, run MS-Edit by typing edit in the command line, or in the start > run dialog.

Do the usual file, open and then search for the savegame directory containing the soldier.dat file that you want to edit.

Select it, then click on the 'open binary' checkbox and then set the rows to 68. Now click on open.

Now every soldier in soldier.dat will be laid out in a nice table. The numbers are in ascii symbols, but you can move the cursor about and refer to the number in the lower right corner of the screen (the bit that says Value:)

The first and foremost rule of thumb is to switch on your cursor overwrite mode so that you overwrite anything you want to edit - or remember to delete the old value. If you add any extra information, everything will shift across and really get messed up.

To actually change any values, you have to use the alt + 3 numpad numbers combination. For a value of 32, you enter alt+032. For 128, alt+128, etc. This doesn't work for values 0 to 26. For these values, you need to hold down ctrl and then press p followed by a letter.

Letter a = 1, b = 2, c = 3 ... z = 26. So to enter a value of 13, ctrl+p then m. To get a value of 0, you need to enter ctrl+P+2 (No, I don't know why 2 gives a value of 0, but it does).

Alernately, you can just cut an paste existing numbers.

Note that most entries will be single bytes (or 8-bit values which can store values between 0 and 255) - these are represented by each letter. Some value are stored as short integers (or also known as a 'Word') (16-bit values, 0 to 65535 (halve this if you want negative values)) - it's stored as two bytes. These can be a bit tricky to work out, but never fear, MS-Calculator (scientific mode) can come to the rescue! (OR if you've got a scientific calculator with N-mode algebra on it)

Note If the following starts to mess with your head, don't worry too much about it. I just had to put it in because the recovery time is a short integer.

To figure out a short int, enter the value into MS-Calculator in 'Dec' (decimal mode), then switch over to hex (hexadecimal mode). In hexadecimal, make sure that the 'Word' radio button is checked. This forces the value into a short integer. Say I want to find out how to enter 65520. 65520 in Hex is FFF0. Split this value into FF and F0. Enter FF into the calculator while in Hex mode then switch over to decimal to get the decimal equivalent. In this case, 255. F0 gives 240. Now we know FF is 255 and F0 is 240. Now, flip this around so that F0 comes first and FF comes last. Then enter the values in that order. Don't ask me why, that's just how the computer stores its information.

(Always work with a four number hex value. If you get a value with only 1, 2 or 3 numbers, add 0's in front of it to make 4 values)

End possibly confusing bit

Now, to get right down to what you want to get done. The bed rest value is a short integer, so you're looking at editing two characters. Rest time is stored in column 13 and 14 (it's actually offsets 12 and 13 - MS-Edit's rows and columns start counting from 1 rather than 0).

Just set whatever values in these two columns (for that weird soldier of yours) to 0 (ctrl+p+2), then save the file. All done!

If anyone of that seemed confusing, just ask and I'll try to clarify.

For more information, Hatfarm's hacking information may be of some help.

- NKF

P. S: Just the obligatory disclaimer. I will not be held responsible for anything odd that may happen to your computer should you fill your files with odd values and the game starts to behave oddly. When I did a few goof ups and entered invalid values, I have had the game lock up the computer or just simply crash after entering values well beyond the valid range in the data files. But whatever.

Edited by NKF, 05 April 2005 - 09:02 AM.

[Gurluas2000]

ty for the help dude;)

il just ask if i need some help... so yeh have msn?

EDIT: cant open ms-edit...
says my autoexec.nt istn working... help

Edited by Gurluas2000, 06 April 2005 - 06:28 AM.

[Zombie]

Moved to X-Com 1: Technical Support.

[NKF]

I could've sworn this topic was already in technical support at one time. It's got a mind of its own it has!

- NKF

[j'ordos]

Actually, I moved it, don't really see anything here that has to do with getting xcom1 to run

[Gurluas2000]

right:)... but i still need some help...
nfk got msn?

[NKF]

Nope, sorry. Best I can do is post on the forums - or use the board's instant messaging service. Well, it's not really instant, but close enough.

- NKF

[Gurluas2000]

Finally an alien pack is done thanks to Quantifier...
we discovered the alien armors and added the
ufograph to them.

enjoy playing as aliens...
and read the readme it is important.

Attached Files

•  pack.rar   27.93K   278 downloads

[Quantifier]

Here is how I think it works:

Armour value in soldier.dat file (offset +3Eh) tells the game what type of unit is used. If it is set higher than values of human armours, game uses data that is directly after normal armours.
- Unit sprites are aliens.
- Pictures in equipment screen are different files (easy to add)
- Names of armour in soldier screen and on crew list are just entries following armour names in english.dat file
- Armour stats (front/rear etc.) are data following normal armour stats.

Last two (names and stats) are screwed. I suppose stats are stored in .exe. I have no clue what will happen after they are modified to be proper alien stats. (Probably it will destroy some other data or code)

Edited by Quantifier, 08 April 2005 - 11:04 AM.

[Gurluas2000]

i feel young again blasting sectoids using sectoids wohooo....
btw heres soldier.dat(to quantifier)
so we can make a tftd version

Attached Files

•  soldier.rar   681bytes   253 downloads

[Gurluas2000]

and here we go a tftd version.

Attached Files

•  pack2.rar   47.61K   295 downloads

[Quantifier]

In TFTD armour value is stored in soldier.dat file at offset +1Eh.

And one more thing. All soldier editors I used are foolproof and don't allow to set armour out of range 0-3. The only way to get alien as X-Com unit is to edit soldier.dat file with binary editor. But that's not really a problem.

[Gurluas2000]

yes but now that we made the discovery ppl can just apply them to the editor...

[Archaon376]

Awsome work gurulas
Can't wait to try it out.

[NKF]

A simple sprite change is good and all, but more importantly: Do you get the damage modifiers?

Try turning yourself into a chryssalid and compare the heavy cannon's AP and HE shells on your soldier. AP shells should do almost twice as much damage as the HE shells on average.

- NKF

[Gurluas2000]

il try ...

ps. the alien effects are there!!
my biodrone died and exploded.

but there is one problem...
the bodies are wierd....
sectoid body is a plasmarifle...


anwyay il try damage modifiers.

Edited by Gurluas2000, 09 April 2005 - 08:42 AM.

[Quantifier]

I just dealt 61 points of damage (not 61 HP taken, just raw damage of 61) to lobsterman with gauss rifle (60 dmg avg). It is not possible to do it with regular, alien lobsterman. I think sets of damage modifiers might be f'd up just like armour stats.

Edited by Quantifier, 09 April 2005 - 11:55 AM.

[Gurluas2000]

here is v 1.1 of the tftd pack.

Attached Files

•  pack2.rar   81.8K   250 downloads

[Gurluas2000]

a little note i forgot to include in the readme...

in the game8 you must remove the armor from the first man or it will crash.

[NKF]

There are a few abilities that are associated with the unit sprite images. For example, the explosion for the biodrones. I think melee abilities are controlled by the alien 'skin' as well, but I cannot be sure. Biodrones and Silacoids for example can burn the floor if under AI control as they are moved about.

Actual armour levels, stats, flight ability, M. C. skills, rank, damage modifiers, what item to drop when unit is unconcious/dead, etc (basically all the stats that really matter) are not controlled by the image. I guess your units just start off as X-Com soldiers, but with a different look - and maybe different armour levels (do the armour levels correspond with the very first value in each unitref.dat entry? 4 being sectoids, 5 snakeman, 6 ethereal, 7 muton... 15 male civilian, 16 female civilian and 17 for zombie?

- NKF

[Gurluas2000]

i know that but it is better than nothing...
and closer to player controlled alien than i could ever immagine:)
beside if you look at the tftd pack game_7
the tasoth soldier is nearly a completely copy of an ordinary tasoth.

[Gurluas2000]

Oooh! Good times! Does this mean you could have a Christopher Walken looking soldier? That would kick so much donkey.

no...it just does so soldiers turns into aliens

Edited by Gurluas2000, 05 August 2006 - 07:04 AM.

[Kratos]

Split topic due to off-topic behavior (self included)

Edited by Kratos, 04 April 2006 - 03:11 PM.

[Kratos]

Once the discussion became off-topic, I contributed to it as well. Just a note.

[Gurluas2000]

oh...um... ok...so...maybe me and quantifier could try to recreate all humanoid aliens in both games like i did for the tasoth in the tftd pack?
also do you know any open source x-com editor?
so me and quantifier could enable aliens by default...

[Gurluas2000]

Update:

Fixed garbled aliens in tftd pack

[Gurluas2000]

Bumped for glorious justice...
Just so nobody misses this as it quite old yet quite interesting.

[Gurluas2000]

Bumping a thread over 11 years old may be odd but..

Does anyone have a copy of these files? I have sadly lost them and I was thinking of restarting a TFTD playthrough with aliens.

Edited by Gurluas2000, 29 December 2020 - 06:57 PM.

[Micah]

I was able to recover most of your attachments in this thread and I made the most recent one, pack3.rar, available here:

https://www.dropbox..../pack3.rar?dl=1

 

Let me know if you need any of the others!

[Gurluas2000]

I was able to recover most of your attachments in this thread and I made the most recent one, pack3.rar, available here:

https://www.dropbox..../pack3.rar?dl=1

 

Let me know if you need any of the others!

 

Thank you so much!

 

Do you have the Ufo Defense version too?
 

[Micah]

More good news! I fixed all existing attachments!