Rebalance Mod 4.1 Ready!

[Slaughter]

Ouch! That sounds like a nasty bug!

[Cpl. Facehugger]

Tell me about it, I went from 20 bases to 5!

[UfoMan]

I believe that you are exactly right, Slaughter.

 

I have gone in and studied the files, now that you pointed me in the right direction.

 

I did indeed install the MegaMod2 long ago, and I thought that it was uninstalled long ago as well, because I didn't like the way the tactical missions were going with it, and there seemed to be other problems as well. I don't know what went wrong, but both the Megamod2 and the Aralez 3.3 use the same Mod subdirectory to store their files, so the two have apparently been mixed together on my hard drive.

 

The MegaMod2 does indeed have a config for the Geoscape, and the Aralez 3.3 does not.

 

So, I have gone on with installing and uninstalling the Aralez 3.3 Rebalance ever since. But meanwhile, parts of the MegaMod2 have been apparently floating around in the background giving me the ultra fast helicopter on the Geoscape that I like so much - the fast instantaneous helicopter which makes the HARD setting playable without getting overrun early in the Geoscape. At the Hard Difficulty, the delegates are almost always being always overwhelmed and losing their delegated missions.

 

It's interesting to note that the Rebalance 4.1 undoes the fast helicopter of the MegaMod.

 

So now, thanks to Slaughter's input, this is how my current modding mix now appears to be. I start with the MegaMod2, and override parts of it with the Aralez 3.3 Rebalance. Then I add the GurkoZ Sound Module, and mix in the MusicMod for good measure, and then create a new Game Profile.

 

Now I just wish I could figure out which mod is supplying me with the endless streams of soldiers. Is it leftovers from the MegaMod2 or is it the Aralez 3.3? I can't seem to figure that one out. I am guessing as well that the Retihalf and Halfgray characters are coming from the Aralez 3.3, but I no longer know for sure anymore.

 

I like the fast helicopter. When it comes to rebalancing, I think that ALTAR should have given us two or three helicopters at the beginning of the game. And, I think that ALTAR should have let us research ever increasingly faster modes of getting to the battlefield as the game goes along.

 

I also liked the idea of endless streams of replacement soldiers, especially at the HARD difficulty setting when you do indeed lose your soldiers during tactical missions.

 

I have since gotten a message from the creator of the MegaMod, and he told me that he never designed the thing to chopper in extra soldiers from the replacement pool as soldiers died on the battlefield so that we always have seven soldiers in a tactical mission as long as there are replacements back at the base to chopper in. He said that that particular feature was a wish or a patch suggestion to ALTAR. He would need ALTAR's help to make it reality. I thought that it was a cool design concept, a neat rebalance. You could in theory have the game on the hard difficulty setting and go up against the super reticulans at the end of the game, and even if you lose your original seven soldiers in the slugfest that follows, the game would continue on as replacements are choppered in.

 

Anyway, if I didn't like the way that my current mix was going, the only 'realistic' solution would be to uninstall, completely purge all the directories and files including any past saved games, and then reinstall and mod from there. You would have to do that each time you wanted to try something new, and I probably should have done that to try the Rebalance 4.1. But, it's very time consuming to have to start over from ground zero with a new game profile, and I have actually gotten a ways into my Megamod2 mucked up Aralez 3.3 game, with the GurkoZ Sound and MusicMod.

 

Now, I am wondering if parts of the Rebalance 4.1 are in there influencing them, but I think the Rebalance 4.1 is limited to the two files, the cfg.vfs and the localization.vfs. I can only hope. Though, now that I think about it, I don't think I have re-replaced the Rebalance 4.1 localization.vfs with the original, now that I am back to the Aralez 3.3. I have to now go check and see if the Aralez 3.3 did that somehow. Nope, it didn't! What a mess! And, like I said before, I am so confused!

 

Most of us didn't like the original balance or feel of the Geoscape tactical aspect of Aftermath. We like the foundation or the potential, but not the actual implementation. There should have been two helicopters, and they should have gotten faster as the game goes along. Second only to the serious lack sound in Aftermath, complaints against the balance of the original game seem to be the most common complaint. Most of the initial mods have been aimed at improving the balance and the play of the game, with some pleasing results, I might add. Now we are getting sound mods.

 

The mods can point ALTAR directly to the flaws of the original game. That's why it is fitting that ALTAR dedicate some time and pay attention to what the modders are doing. The modders have indeed made the game better in my opinion.

 

Here and elsewhere, I have read a lot of derogatory comments about the 'lack' of genius there at ALTAR. Not too many people out there now who believe that ALTAR has the resources to do the impossible. So, some people aren't too sure that ALTAR can pull off anything significant for the modders, but until the future 'modding' patch arrives, there is still time for ALTAR to work out a system that will provide a 'magical' solution to all the current modding woes. I don't know if anybody can find a way to get all the mods to properly coexist, and someone should probably set a rule so that the mods are modularized.

 

I think that part of the problem with the Rebalance Mod 4.1 is that he moved from adjusting config files to creating and adjusting the cfg.vfs, and he moved from pure rebalancing to sounds as well. Of course, the other part of the problem is dumb people like me who are in there trying out as many of the different mods as seems realistically possible.

 

And now, of course, I don't want the Rebalance 4.1 Mod in there, if I no longer have the instantaneous chopper that I have gotten used to. Furthermore, I would need the Rebalance 4.1 Mod to somehow work properly with and update the unsullied original saved games that I still have in the Default Profile from the original Aftermath 1.2. Starting over is hard to do, especially at the Hard Difficulty setting. There's usually twenty or thirty aliens out there, and getting to your destination in a tactical mission can take an hour or two per tactical mission on the hard setting. It's possible that the MegaMod2 gave me nearly endless streams of aliens on the battlefield that I might now be working through.

 

Anyway, we need pure rebalancing mods, pure geoscape fixing mods, pure musicmods, and pure sound mods, without the various mods crossing the boundaries. Then we can mix and match mods. I don't know if ALTAR could referee, plus they haven't seemed too eager in the past to get directly involved with the details. ALTAR needs to assign a programmer or a designer to do public relations and have contact directly with the modders. We all wonder if ALTAR is paying attention to what's going on in the modding community. They, ALTAR and the modders, could accomplish more if they coordinated their efforts.

 

Anyway, it will be interesting to see if ALTAR has some sort of master plan, or if we will continue forward with mods stepping on the toes of other mods far into the future even after the modding tools and modding improvements have come out in future patches.

 

I am guessing that in a future ALTAR patch, I will have to save the subdirectory of my Default Profile, completely uninstall and erase everything, reinstall the game, patch the game with the new patch, copy over my saved games, and then see if my pure saved games from 1.2 still work. They probably won't work.

 

And then we'll all start over with a new game profile, and then we figure out what's wrong and what ALTAR left unfinished as we play the game again. And then all the new mods will start coming once again about the time that we finish playing a new game with the new patch and have gotten done complaining about what was wrong with it. The new super duper mods for the new patch will make a partial attempt to fix or improve what should have already been fixed and improved in the original game. And so the cycle goes. <grin>

 

I would like to see ALTAR get involved actively directly with the modders, but I imagine that ALTAR will be just as overwhelmed with the modding that's going on as they were with the development of the original game. So much potential, and so little time. Instead, we get the ALTAR of silence. Or, as has been suggested, SILENCE is their specialty over there at ALTAR. Now, I guess that it's time for people to write and tell me that I should expect nothing from ALTAR, that they are a small company from a third world country, and that they should be given some slack because they have starving families to feed. Except ALTAR really is the ones who got paid to develop the game, and not the modders who have been giving it their best, and not the paying players who are trying as well to make sense of it all.

 

I like what the modders have done to the game, and I hope that ALTAR will give the mods a try and take some notes and gain a new perspective. As someone has already said here on the boards, the game is still fixable - all we need is for ALTAR to observe and learn.

[LT Mor]

Is IT me ...

 

I have Install the game again, install the 1.2 patch instaled the 4.1 Mod (didnt install the 3.3).

 

Started the game witu play 4.1 mod.

in the MS - DOS window that opened It informed me that the mod is being started, but for every line I had "Bad command or file name".

even so it said just befor the game started that the 4.1 was instaled.

 

But when I start a new game I dont see the new ammo for the UZI or the Shotgun ...

 

If I install the 3.3 Mod befor I see the new ammo & to change a base tape takes 24 houres but I dont see the new armor.

 

Is it mean that the 2nd option is the best one ?

 

I am waiting for an anser because I dont wont to start a new game for noting.

Do I need to reinstall the game for evrey Mod ?

I must say that the instll of the 3.3 Mod was more easy.

[UfoMan]

I guess I am not ready to do a purge, uninstall, reinstall, and repatch in order to get Rebalance 4.1 to work. Plus, I enjoy the fast instantaneous helicopter of the MegaMod too much.

 

ALTAR should be paying attention to some of this so that they make sure that they give the modders more to work with, in my humble opinion.

 

It would be nice if the original Aftermath was patched in such a way that it actually has a balance that we all like. Then we wouldn't need a rebalance mod, only extra critters and weapons and stuff.

[Slaughter]

@LT Mor: Okay, let's forget the .bat file then. Here's what you do: Copy the cfg.vfs file from the rebalance4.1 zip file into your Aftermath directory. That is the same directory as you'll find the UFO.exe file in.

 

Then you go into the localizationpack folder, in the Aftermath folder, and make a backup of the localizationpack.vfs file. Just name it something else or whatever. After that is done, copy the localizationpack.vfs from the rebalance4.1 file into your localization folder. Then start the game as normal with ufo.exe Start a new game for the mod to work I believe...

 

If you want to start with two cyborgs, copy the contents of the cyborg.zip into your profiles/current profile/saves folder, and load the cyborg game.

[LT Mor]

O.k. I will try this, but I will be back home only on Sunday (visiting my wife famliy ).

[Slaughter]

Are you unhappy about visiting your wife's family? Can't figure why...

[Chryssalid_Victim]

Awesome Mod guys. Thanks a lot.

 

Using the Alpine Program I've installed this and the Music Mod and have only come across the one problem where when I got a new recruit and the Head pic crashed the game but since I'm a frequent saver (hey aren't most players) I reloaded and I didn't get the offending head the next time so it's running perfectly, even subbed some of my own mp3's into the Music mod

 

Currently experimenting with the C4 :devil: Heh Heh...WIPEOUT!!! :devil:

 

Loving it, great jobs guys.

[Aralez]

I've sent a small update to fnurg which removes the bugs from the "crew-pool". Maybe he will post it soon. There's one nasty drawback to it, though: The cyborgs won't be in your crew-pool anymore, you'll have to use the savgame (included in 4.1) to get them

 

Eventually i have some free days next week, so i can do some more modding.

But no promises...

 

 

Sorry for the lack of updates, i have too much work (job) atm

 

See you, and thx for the nice comments.

[Slaughter]

You have done a great job already Aralez! Looking forwards to your next work when you get the time!

[Chryssalid_Victim]

Update: I may have discovered a most troubling bug, I can't seem to get biomass repulsors. I make sure to get planters that have never landed, but I still get no node material! It doesn't even show up on my not ready for research list!

Hi Guys

 

Sorry to cast a downer on this fine piece of modding, and believe me it's been great so far and thanks for the pic_fix, but this has me quite concerned.

 

I would like to know if anyone else has had this probmlem with the 4.1 rebalance or whether this is just an isolated incident.

 

This is in no way an attack on the mod or a suggestion that it wasn't well done. i love the mod and it's got me back into UFOA after a short period away from it but if there are problems, especially ones with the potentially devastating consequences such as this (i.e. No win game bwana), I think that we need know

 

Thanks

 

Boomer

[Slaughter]

Haven't played that much with the mod, so I wouldn't know...

[Aralez]

The mod doesn't alter any files regarding the Biomass (believe me, i know them ALL) So the problem has to come from somewhere else. I played through the whole game three times with the mod installed and had no trouble (except the "head-template" error). There was a bug like this in version 1.0 of the game, but the official 1.2 patch corrected it. What version do you use?

[Chryssalid_Victim]

I'm using 1.2. This isn't my problem I just am voicing a possible concern. If this is an isolated incident then I am perfectly content and thank-you for a brilliant piece of modding

[LT Mor]

Slaughter, In one Word : " Thanks "

 

It is working, and I convinced my wife to come home one day early

[Cpl. Facehugger]

I am using 1.2

 

Perhaps I was just unlucky 15 times. I hope so because I love the Rebalance mod!

[gurkoz]

Hey, well... where to start. Just saw the news about this new mod and that my sound mod was added. Funny i thought, seems very familiar. Whenever i do some of these enhancement mods to any game, they allways end's up in another dudes mod. The thing is that i don't really have anything against it, but all im asking is can't someone just ask me BEFORE?, but then again, i can't do shit about it. But all im asking is some respect. Aralez couldn't you have contacted me and we could have talked about this?. Then again, now it's too late. Other than this, i can't even find any credits or remote information in your readme that points out that you've used some of my sound mod?. Im at work now (As usually), so i can't really test the mod out. So can't you, or anyone else please explain what the features of this new mod has? I understand you just want to make a cool mod, but we really need to stick together we modders. Last time something like this happened to me, a dude just copied my entire mod and replaced my name with his. After that he had the guts to accuse ME of stealing his mod. Bah! It all ended up with me leaving the modding scene for that game. When doing mods, you spend most of your freetime creating it. Neglecting friends and loved ones just to get the that piece out to the fans of the game. And then seeing other people taking it apart really makes you sad.

 

I in general different people do their small mods focused on different aspects of a game, like sound, tweaks and graphics. Thats swell, and i like that. Thats the way i think it should be. Different people, focusing on different things they do best. But what i don't like, is a second part, that takes all mods and slap em togheter to make some kind of "megamod" thingy out of it. (And, not giving the people credits for their parts). This might not be the case this time, since we really only can have one extra vfs file at the present. But i really feel that in the future, when we can have different mods running, we should have the mods separated so that people really can have the abillity to choose what aspects of the game they would like to change.

 

The only lesson of this really should be.

 

Try and ask modders for permission or what else before using their mods.

[Aralez]

Gurkoz, i never included your sounds in the mod, this is a typo from Slaughter. Your mod isn't and will never be in the Rebalance Mod. Promised.

 

Please Slaughter, correct that error on the main screen.

 

Argh, so much trouble for nothing than a typo....

[gurkoz]

I see man, then it's all dandy. ;o) I just had to respond, hehe.. im pretty fed up with this kind of things happening to me, so i just had to make sure. no hard feelings ;o)

[BlackAlmaz]

gurkoz we are all want u to make more mods...when u have more time....and i noteced that Aralez sounds where....lets say a disappointment....no offence Aralez i love your mods...no realy i do....but gurkoz....i cant wait untill u make more sounds...and hopefully skins...read some of the other forems....they have great ideas....(m4 with a m203)

 

*kneels on his knees and prays to the heaves above*

 

Best of luck to both of u....i know it will be time untill more mods are made...but i can wait...afterall with out u guys this game would be just a bit dull...."just a bit"!! (for all u fans)

 

 

ohh!!...and gurkoz i like your site.....i love your picks....i took some down if u dont mind...i really like them....i use to draw like that but my study took that avay from my...i know thats no excuse....but uyour site made me get back into it again....hehehe....thanks

[Slaughter]

*looks around*

 

All this because of me?

 

*looks at feet*

 

I may have made a small mistake when posting the news...sorry! I just mixed up a bit when posting. Will try to avoid more things like this! I know that Aralez would never steal someone else's work like this.

 

What I do think however is that Gurkoz's mod SHOULD be included in the rebalance mod. And I'd love to see some more stuff from you Gurkoz!

[Aralez]

@BlackAlmaz: HOW dare you ???

 

No, you're right, i only enhanced the original sounds with an equalizer effect, so they had a bit more Ooomph Gurkoz completely re-made and replaced the sounds , which is quite some effort. And he did a good job.

 

Btw, i contacted gurkoz a loooong time ago about including his work in the Rebalance Mod, but he decided not to answer, so this is a NO to me. (as i will respect the ownership of the work of others).

 

I even thought about altering the installation routine of the Rebalance Mod with fnurgs help to make it possible to use both mods, but that proved a bit tricky, so i decided to leave it as it is.

[BlackAlmaz]

It nice to see that u have sense of hummer bout the small things in life...hehehe

 

I don't know how long u have been moding but your doing a good job....i have said this a few times and I mean it....

 

Have a look at the alpine mod.... Slaughter suggested this not to lnog ago....that u should work on this ...and make mods as plug ins....i know it's a different language and might take a wile to master but if Fulby did a good job with that stun rod...so maybe just maybe u can have a try please!!!!

 

It would be good to see some of your mods on that option screen

[Chryssalid_Victim]

Well you can use Alpine (the latest one v2.2) to insert the Rebalance mod into UFOA. I've currently got the Rebalance 4.1b, Stunrod and Music Mod (Changed with my own mp3....kicking ass to War of the Worlds is just amusing ) plugged in using Apline v2.2 and they all work perfectly.

 

Just keep up the good work there