UFO Extender

[ManyPath]

Extender is awesome Tycho, and I really appreciate all of your work on it. Are the hacks still working? I copied the hacks section from the readme with a 1 on Big Brother and Alien Pets with no results. Thanks!

[dobragab]

Hey, Ive just downloaded UFO Extender, and i really like it! You did an amazing job guys, thanks. AAnd I tried to do something yesterday, but couldn't find any documentation for it: I switched on the Laser Tank Mod, and I miss one thing: the TUs, I'd like to edit it, but i couldnt find its location. Maybe it's in UFO Defender.exe? (Im using CE) But where? I guess it's around the armor stats (that u've succesfully edited).

I think a laser tank is still useless for scouting with these settings, cuz when i got the research my soldiers are even faster.

 

Thanks for ur help in advance.

 

P.S. I found some problems in ur mod but i will check older posts if other users reported them as well.

[Tycho]

Extender is awesome Tycho, and I really appreciate all of your work on it. Are the hacks still working? I copied the hacks section from the readme with a 1 on Big Brother and Alien Pets with no results. Thanks!

I disabled all the hacks from the release version since most were intended to be developer only. I'll see about enabling the two that allow people to play both sides since I know some people do that and it doesn't unbalance the game.

[Tycho]

Hey, Ive just downloaded UFO Extender, and i really like it! You did an amazing job guys, thanks. AAnd I tried to do something yesterday, but couldn't find any documentation for it: I switched on the Laser Tank Mod, and I miss one thing: the TUs, I'd like to edit it, but i couldnt find its location. Maybe it's in UFO Defender.exe? (Im using CE) But where? I guess it's around the armor stats (that u've succesfully edited).

I think a laser tank is still useless for scouting with these settings, cuz when i got the research my soldiers are even faster.

 

Thanks for ur help in advance.

 

P.S. I found some problems in ur mod but i will check older posts if other users reported them as well.

Thanks for support! You can find those offsets on ufopaedia.org in the files section under the geoscape.exe entry (they refer to everything like it was the DOS version but there is info on the CE version.) However, the offsets in the UFO Defense.exe will alter the TUs for all the tanks. I had to add special code for improved laser tanks to the routine that creates the units in UNITREF, as well as, a lot of code to update the stats in the ufopaedia.

 

It isn't meant to be a super awesome upgrade but tougher than the starting frames with a better weapon.

 

Hope this helps.

[dobragab]

Thanks for support! You can find those offsets on ufopaedia.org in the files section under the geoscape.exe entry (they refer to everything like it was the DOS version but there is info on the CE version.) However, the offsets in the UFO Defense.exe will alter the TUs for all the tanks. I had to add special code for improved laser tanks to the routine that creates the units in UNITREF, as well as, a lot of code to update the stats in the ufopaedia.

 

It isn't meant to be a super awesome upgrade but tougher than the starting frames with a better weapon.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for help and fast answer, i didn't expect this

 

I've tried to catch HWP info in ufo.exe with HxD but it was too chaotic for me, so i downloaded an editor program, I could make the modification. (btw as u said, it modified all normal tanks but atm that doesnt count for me, cuz at the game progress I got through old tanks But since you added special code to improve laser tanks, I bet it takes 30 seconds to add one more change to that code: making its TUs around 85-90, because with old 70 it's useless for scouting, so not useful even ur mod.

 

I'd like to report a bug as well, maybe this was posted earlier, I started to check older posts but I gave up around Page 4, it is too much for me.

I don't know which setting does it, but at Equipment Screen, before battle unloading weapon does not work, however it will be OK during the mission. I think applying Equipment Screen is the reason, but I haven't tested it yet.

My EQ Screen settings are:

 

Show Stats=1

Save Equipment=0

Show Grenade State=1

Auto Flares=0

 

I have some ideas to improve, too. Mostly these are small changes, but can make our life easier

 

1.Reorder Soldier in Crafts: amazing idea, I immediately switched it on, and I had the idea: something Drag & Drop move, because it needs a lot of concentration to move one soldier down 5-6 places, and it is also annoying that if I have many soldiers unselected for the craft, and I want to move e.g. the first to the last place, it takes much time, and long click doesn't even help since it puts him at the bottom of all soldiers, which is confusing for me.

 

2. I mentioned the Laser Tank mod, I think you should increase it's TUs to 85-90 as well.

 

3. Assign All Personnel: my first idea was having the same code for removing all wokers: when all available scientists are working, clicking on Up arrow could remove all workers, but that will also have problems: if I'm researching 2 things at the same time, one is finished, and I want to add everyone on the other one, it will be tiring to do that exactly, so I believe the best way would be 2 extra buttons instead of double-function buttons.

 

4. True Cautious Mode: it is really useful, I can save E-115 with that, but I have another idea: what if true cautious mode set the stance range to the longest weapon range? That would be useful at avioding shots or leaving ufos fast.

 

5. Roswell mod is really nice, I like the crash reports the best, but I wonder if Terrain indicating would be available for all grounded ufos, it is important at tactics for me.

 

6. Heavy Laser & Stun Fest mode: I added normal auto-fire to heavy laser in OBDATA.dat section, and I enabled both these mods, so the game crashed. (I believe too many options at menu.) Now I had to choose 2 of them to use heavy lasers. It would be really nice if Heavy Laser mod disabled Stun Fest only for Heavy Laser. Or is there a possibility in OBDATA.dat section to do that manually? what should I write there then?

 

7. Alternate Research Tree: Have you ever played Civilization 3? It is a really nice game with a function that makes sense. It has a diagram for research tree, like this:

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8Gt7aCalrOQ/Th2FL80lMVI/AAAAAAAAAGc/GpV41mO0G3g/s640/CIV3+Tech+Tree+-+Middle+Ages.jpg

I will do that for UFO normal settings by myself, it would be nice if you changed that as you modified research tree.

 

I hope my ideas are not hopeless, or more people would support it, and thanks for improving this nice mod anyway.

 

dobragab

[Tycho]

Version 1.32 is available. See the original post for information. I recommend reading the information on all the changes before installing.

 

I need some feedback on the timing for the alien turn. The values I gave for the timing of the throw animation seemed very slow on my system (but I have an old laptop) so I need feedback from players with faster systems. Does this also fix some of the other speed issues with the alien turn? In my research on this, I found a bug which reset the fire speed to 3 whenever the aliens threw a grenade. I am unsure what was the intent of the code. I suspect it was not in the DOS version but added in the port to Windows.

[3DMaster]

Uh, how do you perform autopsies if bodies are automatically sold.

[Tycho]

Uh, how do you perform autopsies if bodies are automatically sold.

Only the "bodies" that would be generated from "transferring" the unwanted aliens in containment. Bodies on the battlefield are recovered as normal.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I just wrote a better description for it.

[Echelon117]

Hi Tyco,

 

Am I right in assuming the mods that are included in the "enhanced game" mode are no longer available to individually enable/disable?

[Tycho]

Am I right in assuming the mods that are included in the "enhanced game" mode are no longer available to individually enable/disable?

Correct. All are now part of one larger mod. Feedback on any of the changes is always welcome.

[ElfKaa]

Hi Tycho,

v 1.32 gave me the HyperWave decoder at the beginning of the game (first ufo) played as the Beginner even I have not physically yet built or discovered it. I know it is very early alpha build..

 

At second, while I set mod for Assign All Personnel, then it cycles while pressing and holding the down arrow.. I think this should not happen as then it is very difficult to set none (zero). Better could be if it can behave like that you released the button while all of them (or none) have been set (and to be able to set back zero by pressing up arrow - so then it will need to be pressed again).

 

I don´t know if you again activated the hacks that you have previously disabled, but I think to be better to stay as they can always be disabled by the ini and there is no reason to remove any functionality even they are just for fun or testing. It seems it is a pity to remove any functionality..

 

Played with 1.31.9 crashed to me at 0x444B67 with error 0xC0000005 trying to access 0x9046FBEA at ufopaedia directly after researching Sectoid Corpse, selecting research report (So the Sectoid Corpse screen appeared) and then pressing OK button (to trying to return to game).

[Tycho]

Hi Tycho,

v 1.32 gave me the HyperWave decoder at the beginning of the game (first ufo) played as the Beginner even I have not physically yet built or discovered it. I know it is very early alpha build..

 

Played with 1.31.9 crashed to me at 0x444B67 with error 0xC0000005 trying to access 0x9046FBEA at ufopaedia directly after researching Sectoid Corpse, selecting research report (So the Sectoid Corpse screen appeared) and then pressing OK button (to trying to return to game).

 

Did the hyperwave issue occur once or was it active the whole game?

 

For the error.. Does the error always occur? If so, PM me your INI of the game where the error occured.

[dobragab]

 

I don´t know if you again activated the hacks that you have previously disabled, but I think to be better to stay as they can always be disabled by the ini and there is no reason to remove any functionality even they are just for fun or testing. It seems it is a pity to remove any functionality..

 

 

Hey Tycho,

 

I agree with ElfKaa, and some other things, as well: I think when you changed the INI layout you removed the UFO Extender's biggest advantage, that a user could set everything as he wanted one by one. Just an example of mine, I can't stand doubleclick movement since I'm used to old game, I don't move soldiers by mistake, but I really admire other mods (you just put under bug fixes) like reorder soldiers, etc. And this happens to new balance changes, too. I like some of the balance changes, some not. Then what should I do? I wanna try new mods which would be nice, but I want to set options one by one like in 1.31. So I'm hesitating, but I believe I will stay at 1.31. And I think I am not the only one who is feeling the same.

 

Thanlks for the updates and new mods anyway.

 

dobragab

[ElfKaa]

Hi Tycho,

it seems the crashes at this address always appear also on version 1.35 (maybe some other later or/and previous ones) but does not appear on 1.30 (I don´t know the exact build but it has 245 kb) I am sending you the working one link:

https://1541.678.cz/ufo/patcher.dll

 

This one seems to me stable and by disabling (put ";" at the beginning of the line) the Screen Ratio setting on INI then it has also correct aspect for me on 4:3 CRT display.. So for now I will be using this one..

[Tycho]

Hi Tycho,

it seems the crashes at this address always appear also on version 1.35 (maybe some other later or/and previous ones) but does not appear on 1.30 (I don´t know the exact build but it has 245 kb) I am sending you the working one link:

https://1541.678.cz/ufo/patcher.dll

 

This one seems to me stable and by disabling (put ";" at the beginning of the line) the Screen Ratio setting on INI then it has also correct aspect for me on 4:3 CRT display.. So for now I will be using this one..

Your missing entries in the INI for 1.31+ since you're attempting to manually update the INI from previous versions.

For the problem you have now, you need to add to the [mod] section

 

Alternate Research Tree=0

Hey Tycho,

 

I agree with ElfKaa, and some other things, as well: I think when you changed the INI layout you removed the UFO Extender's biggest advantage, that a user could set everything as he wanted one by one. Just an example of mine, I can't stand doubleclick movement since I'm used to old game, I don't move soldiers by mistake, but I really admire other mods (you just put under bug fixes) like reorder soldiers, etc. And this happens to new balance changes, too. I like some of the balance changes, some not. Then what should I do? I wanna try new mods which would be nice, but I want to set options one by one like in 1.31. So I'm hesitating, but I believe I will stay at 1.31. And I think I am not the only one who is feeling the same.

 

You could try playing at Veteran level. Many of the changes are implement to work only on Genius or Superhuman difficulty.

[ElfKaa]

Well, the crash didn´t appear after adding the line to the INI file! So this is fixed - but for next releases please do something to avoid crashes while the line is not present..

 

The second problem still remaining. The Hyperwave decoder I have for every UFOs - game played from the beginning - does not depends on what level you are playing..

[Kir'jaeden]

concerning 1.32 version

aliens whacked me swiftly

zero costs on alien stuff are something brutal

Battleship now could down several Avengers before its downed itself - it is something nasty ((

I should rethink my strategy totally

Bugreport: Tactical crashes every time when aliens use their psionics:

save game attached

end the turn and see:

crashed at 10033C95 err C0000005 trying to access E603271D

1.31.9 is free of this bug

I tried some different battles and always the same crash , only last address differs

GAME_2.rar

[Tycho]

concerning 1.32 version

aliens whacked me swiftly

zero costs on alien stuff are something brutal

Battleship now could down several Avengers before its downed itself - it is something nasty ((

I should rethink my strategy totally

Bugreport: Tactical crashes every time when aliens use their psionics:

save game attached

end the turn and see:

crashed at 10033C95 err C0000005 trying to access E603271D

1.31.9 is free of this bug

I tried some different battles and always the same crash , only last address differs

 

If your playing your old game with 1.32, you've lost all the countries so the cost of alien items is zero. You've lost the game unless you go to Cydonia. Don't forget that craft plasma weapons (UFO and xcom) all do 60 points of damage.

 

The error is occurring when aliens do psionics? The error message address occurs in code for the psionic attacks by soldiers...

[Kir'jaeden]

If your playing your old game with 1.32, you've lost all the countries so the cost of alien items is zero. You've lost the game unless you go to Cydonia. Don't forget that craft plasma weapons (UFO and xcom) all do 60 points of damage.

 

The error is occurring when aliens do psionics? The error message address occurs in code for the psionic attacks by soldiers...

Soldiers use their psionics without problem. The crash appears during alien turn as soon as "psionics bell" sounds.

[Tycho]

Soldiers use their psionics without problem. The crash appears during alien turn as soon as "psionics bell" sounds.

Thanks for the save. I found the problem: In the routine to make aliens prefer to use panic on soldiers not in line-of-sight, one of the registers being used must have had old information in its upper part, even though only the lower part of the register was being used. This was causing the game to look at the wrong memory offset when it was getting the soldier's location data.

[Tycho]

Just posted 1.32.1:

• Fixed problem with units not taking damage
  
• Fixed several random crashes.
  
• Celatids have have a limited cloning ability as per description.
  
• Player now gets the destroyed value of the UFO when it is shot down over water.
  
• DoubleClick Movement now independent of Enhanced mod.
  

 

[ElfKaa]

Hi Tycho,

 

I am a little confused with the new extender since 1.32..

 

I tried new 1.32.1 extender. I created the new INI from the one included inside new extender package, but I am unable to make it work like my old original UFO game. I mean to let my settings and options untouched only with a few new fixes and little improvements (as you can see in the included attachment). The HyperWave Decoder issue still remaining while I am trying to make it work. I only added a few bug fixes from the INI-readme options to the bug fix section of the new INI file.. Also I have a lot of freaky behavior and crashes. E.g. I tried to played the game from the beginning (as beginner) and select to intercept first ufo. The Interceptor has been from 3 quarters destroyed by one UFO shoot and after intercepting the second UFO the game has crashed with the message: XCOM crashed at 0x1002D404 with error 0xC0000005 trying to access 0x0000FFCA.

 

I also don´t like new INI format and to me it seems everything this started with this new format of the INI file. Before that the game was working much better and the game was much stable then now. Now I can not clearly control the behavior of the patches and don´t know what is turned on and what is off.

 

Can you make some debug info with the info created after patched applied or not after the game has been patched before game start? To be clear what is on and what is off (what has been patched and what has not?

 

Thanks

Lukas

UFOExtender_1321.zip

[Echelon117]

Double click movement still seems to be enabled regardless of selecting it to '0', and I also get the same crash as ElfKaa after having shot down a UFO

[Tycho]

Double click movement still seems to be enabled regardless of selecting it to '0', and I also get the same crash as ElfKaa after having shot down a UFO

 

Sorry about that. I didn't properly enable the line to check for the DoubleClick entry under the [Mod] section. I found the issue with the crash. It had to do with getting the coordinates for the UFO to assign points to the region where it crashed. The code didn't crash in my interception test case but, since you guys reported it, I was able to reproduce it with a new game.

 

The new file I just posted should fix both issues.

[Echelon117]

Thanks Tyco, will report any new bugs I come across