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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

Small Scout


j'ordos

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I as wondering why the small scout doesn't show up in your editor, at first I thought the terrain files weren't 'decoded' yet or something :) , but I managed to put it in manually, and it seems to work fine (asides from complete incompatibility with xcomutil :) ), so did you just forget it?
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  • 4 years later...

Hello,

Am I right thinking that this problem has not been solved for the four years?

 

The newest version of MapView that is available as executable (1.10) has still the line "UFO_01a:U_EXT02 U_WALL02 U_DISEC2 U_BITS" in the default Mapedit.dat. Unfortunately, the map name for Small Scout is UFO1a.map, not UFO_01a.map. And the PCK (image) files set for Small Scout is also different than the given one.

 

I could not be able to compile MapView 1.11 by myself - but I found that nothing had changed in _Embedded\MapEditUFO.dat (inside the source archive) - there is still UFO_01a instead of UFO1a, and there is still the same set of PCK's.

 

Has anybody been successful in correcting this? In other words: what should I write into Mapedit.dat in order to view Small Scout in MapView correctly? It is rather hard to test all possible combinations of PCK's: UFO1, U_EXT01, U_WALL02 etc. All I have recovered so far is that UFO1.PCK seems to be needed - but not on the first position.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

(Another problem, not related to the main thread, is how to compile the newest version: my C# compiler says that the source is incomplete, it reports errors like "The referenced project '..\DSShared\DSShared.csproj' does not exist." etc. So, is MapView 1.11 available in the exe form from anywhere?)

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The Small Scout only uses the UFO1.PCK image files. Not sure how j'ordos was able to manually get it to work. Maybe he'll fill us in if he remembers how. ;)

 

- Zombie

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I only got it to work in one version, never again after that. And don't remember how I did it, though probably just by using that menu in mapview that allows you to add new terrains&maps.

Here's the post where I made a building using the small scout: http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?sh...ost&p=72726

And Exo2000 seems to have gotten it to work as well at some point: http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?sh...ost&p=91631

 

 

edit: just downloaded the latest version of mapedit to do some testing and it appears that editing the map files in the 'paths' menu is broken. Any attempt to save changes erases all the map entries. Are the old versions of mapview available somewhere?

Edited by j'ordos
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I found an old copy of MapView on SourceForge.net here. It's version 1.11. I downloaded it but can't find an executable in the zip. You might be more lucky than me though, so check it out. ;)

 

- Zombie

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I thought 1.12 was the latest. Then again, even 1.11 wouldn't be far enough back for you. 1.06/7 might be better but I haven't found them on the net anywhere. Maybe it's time to contact daishiva... :(

 

- Zombie

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  • 2 weeks later...

On Daishiva's Editor: I have versions (builds) 1417 (1.5), 1460 (1.5a), 1472 (1.6), 1525, 1526 and 1752; the newest one (1752) is marked as 1.10a. AFAIK the version 1.11 is available only as the (C# language) source, and I cannot compile it.

 

Zombie, any ideas where to find 1.12 (if such a version really exists)?

 

In my opinion all the versions do contain errors, some of them are rather nasty (even if the idea of the program is excellent).

 

On Small Scout: You are fully right. I have checked it once again, on an unmodified copy of the game. The "files: Alien" section of MapEdit.dat should look as follows:

 

UFO1a:UFO1

UFO_110:U_EXT02 U_WALL02 U_BITS

UFO_120:U_EXT02 U_WALL02 U_BITS

UFO_130:U_EXT02 U_WALL02 U_DISEC2 U_BITS

UFO_140:U_EXT02 U_WALL02 U_OPER2 U_BITS

UFO_150:U_EXT02 U_WALL02 U_PODS U_BITS

UFO_160:U_EXT02 U_WALL02 U_PODS U_BITS

UFO_170:U_EXT02 U_WALL02 U_DISEC2 U_BITS

 

It looks differently when you leave the default settings of the program, and you should correct it by hand.

 

I have also found some other mistakes, e.g. in description of MCD files. Esp. the "special properties" byte (59) is sometimes described incorrectly. I am about making another post on it, on the proper subforum.

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I tried to add this UFO but never succeded... I supose the MAP file works differently just for this UFO... because the code in the executable before the PCK file address is different from all other UFOs... Check the Map's name offsets in the executable ;)

 

Uncy

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edit: just downloaded the latest version of mapedit to do some testing and it appears that editing the map files in the 'paths' menu is broken. Any attempt to save changes erases all the map entries. Are the old versions of mapview available somewhere?

 

The version 1.10a (1752) works OK even if needs doing some tricks because of internal bugs.

 

Let's say you want to add a node in RmpView window. Right-click on the square where you want the note to be, and then set its properties (Type, Rank etc.) in the left column. Next make a link to another node by choosing its number and setting the link type (Any, Flying etc.). Now the most interesting part :)

 

The program counts the distance between nodes. But if you just leave this, nothing will be saved. You must:

 

1. Click your mouse just after the counted number (let's say that the distance is 14, then click immediately after the digit 4).

2. Immediately after that click once again after any other distance (in the field below or above the one you have just clicked in the point 1).

3. Save the file. Nothing will be broken now, neither the map nor the rmp file.

 

To make the things clearer: Let's assume that after adding a link you see something like this:

 

Link1 30 Any 1

Link2 32 Any 7

 

To add Link1, place your mouse cursor just after "1" and click, and next place it after "7" and click, and next save the file.

 

In other words, the problem is that the famous DaiShiva's editor cannot detect changes properly, and you must help it with the above described trick.

 

 

There is also another problem with the program. Let's assume that you have opened the rmp file with Hex Workshop. It is a program which blocks the edited file and prevents it from being changed by other applications. You can open it in DaiShiva's editor - but do not even think of making any changes with it and saving them as long as the same file is opened in Hex Workshop.

 

An attempt to save changes in RMP file leads to destroying the proper MAP file with DaiShiva's editor. It is so because of a serious bug in the program algorithm. Namely, the program tries to save both MAP and RMP even if MAP has not been changed. First, it cancels the previous contents of MAP. Next, it tries to cancel the old contents of RMP. But the file is open in Hex Workshop, and this trial of DaiShiva's program leads to an error. The procedure hangs in this moment, leaving the MAP file destroyed.

 

Anyway, if you try to behave with attention, DaiShiva's Map Editor works correctly. I have just finished preparing some fixes for TFTD RMP files with it, and I have not spotted a problem (using the described tricks all the time, and not trying to use other programs in the same time). See this post for results if interested.

Edited by grzegorj
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I tried to add this UFO but never succeded... I supose the MAP file works differently just for this UFO... because the code in the executable before the PCK file address is different from all other UFOs... Check the Map's name offsets in the executable ;)

 

Uncy

 

I found all the sources of the problem, after having written my first post in this topic. Uncy, check if these are the source of your problems too.

 

1. DaiShiva's Map Editor is full of bugs, and one of them is in the default configuration file (MapEdit.dat). In order to see (or edit) Small Scout you must make changes as described in a previous post of mine, above.

 

2. XComUtil makes a strange change in the game: it removes Small Scouts completely (as well as the smallest USO in TFTD) without asking. In order to prevent this behaviour you must edit XComUtil.cfg file, restoring the default ship terrain for Small Scout (1 1 2 1 ufo1). In the file you can see first how the default terrain should be (the lines which begin with "// ") and next you see the terrain which the program are going to create. Just edit the second part to look like the first part. It must be done BEFORE you run XcuSetup, as it generates changes in EXE files of the game.

 

3. Unfortunately, it is not all... And I would say that this problem is the most serious bug of XComUtil. Namely, the program changes the original Small Scout files (maps\ufo1a.map and routes\ufo1a.rmp), and overwrites them with its own files which do not contain any UFO data. This is why you cannot see the Small Scout either in the game or in DaiShiva's editor.

 

I said that it is a bug of XComUtil because the installing script of the program should not make such a change if the user does not want them. Even if Small Scout missions are rare, the player may want to see this strange capsule, even if just for fun, once during all the game. Unfortunately, there is no choice left for you - the program just eliminates Small Scout (or Survey Ship) regardless you want it or not. The only way is to restore the original files manually. There is no need to re-install the game or something - they are stored as maps\ufo1a.xcu and routes\ufo1a.xcu. Just change their extensions into map and rmp respectively, overwrite the existing files with such names, and all should work fine now.

 

Even if this is not the strict subject, I think that the following warning should be given in this point. Namely, note that two least ships in TFTD are exchanged in the original game, and XComUtil fixes this nasty bug. The "good" (patched) Survey Ship should be preserved as ufo01.xcu. This is the same file as ufo02.map in the original, unmodified installation of the game (and the original ufo01.map becomes ufo02.xcu after applying XComUtil). Parallel changes are made with RMP files. In other words: do not restore files from the original game but from .xcu files rather, and all will be OK.

 

A save in the attachment was made with DOS UFO 1.4 (should work with Collector's edition as well). Just load it, wait a moment, and you are on a Small Scout mission. Just for testing if the vehicle appears or not in your game.

before_Small_Scout.zip

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  • 3 weeks later...

Instead of editing MapEdit.dat to allow the small Scout to show up (this gets tiresome as you have to do it for new installs), I decided to fool around in the MapView executable today. See, the MapEdit.dat file is created from the executable so therefore if you edit that it should be applied every time. After a couple false starts, I finally got it to work! (Needed some major overwriting to "mask" all the extraneous MCD/PCK files which were included). Anyhow, you can find the updated version over at StrategyCore's Files Section. ;)

 

Late Edit: I also removed the two "garbage" UFOs (UFO_000 and UFO_010) at the beginning of the list from the executable. Clicking on them would sometimes cause the program to crash so off they went. They are not used by the game anyway. :)

 

- Zombie

Edited by Zombie
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