identifying ufo eu dos-version

[gogoland2002]

hi there,

just found this forum about three weeks ago, started playing again after ~8 years and profited a lot from all your threats and all the info on the pages in here. a big THANKS to all of you for all the input you gave!

after two long-time campaigns and some hex-editing i wanted to increase difficulty w/ xcomutil. after playing a bit and some reading in the forums and in the info of xcomutil i found out, the only way to make full usage of xcomutil is to use a dos-version.

i have an windows-version v1.4, and now wanna get a dos version.

 

problem is: how do i identify a dos-version. is there a special file-size or filenames used? does anyone know details? would be greatly appreciated.

 

thx for your time!

greetz

gogoland2002

[Gimli]

There should be a difference in the dos/win version, which is an additional file called UFO Defense.exe. That should be the Windows version, so simply put your mouse over the file, and if it says Hasbro Interactive for the Company Name, that's it. Additionally, you can check for sure by downloading DosBox 0.70 (even if you have an older version of Dosbox, it's really worth it). Then simply try to run the gmae from Dosbox. If you get an error saying that the program can not be run in Dos mode, it's the windows version. Otherwise it's the dos version.

[Bomb Bloke]

DOS version has these three folders in it:

 

RUNEXE

UFOEXE

UFO2EXE

 

Windows version lacks these. As for telling which DOS version you're running, there's usually a "readme.txt" file which'll tell you. If you want to run the most up to date version, you can find all the patches here.

[gogoland2002]

thanks, guys. i will try to find such a version then.

[NKF]

A couple of other clues include:

 

*.mid files in the sound folder. This is only available in the CE version. The dos version had all the sound and music in .cat files.

 

The program you use to start the game in the dos version uses a .bat or .com extension. The CE is run through UFO.exe or UFO Defense.exe.

 

Actually, the current version of XComutil works just as well with the CE or dos version of the game, so it shouldn't matter too much which version you use it with.

 

- NKF

[gogoland2002]

(...)Actually, the current version of XComutil works just as well with the CE or dos version of the game, so it shouldn't matter too much which version you use it with. - NKF

 

Thank you, NKF. I wonder why some of the XComutil-features activated through xcusetup don't work w/ my version then. any idea?

 

 

1.

Do you want to use the improved tanks? (Y)

Do you want to use the improved weapons? (Y)

Activated, but in Ufopedia all have the same values as when i start the game w/o XComutil.

 

2.

Do you want to get research help from captured aliens? (N)

Do you want to see XcomUtil messages after combat? (N)

Both activated, but all I see is, that research takes much more time. 50 scientists are working almost 9 weeks on heavy plasma now. Besides, I capture aliens on almost any mission and never get to see any of those messages after combat, or ever have the impression it has any effect on the research-speed. [i do kill soldiers w/ grenades, when "accidently" capturing them.]

 

3. I'm not sure about this option:

Do you want stat strings added to the names of your troops? (Y)

What i thought it would do, is add some stat-strings to the screen, when i individually equip the soldiers one by one directly before combat, which is not happening. But maybe i misunderstood?!

 

4. These other activated options seem to be working alright:

Do you want rank indicators added to the names of your troops? (Y)

Do you want their number of kills added to the names of your troops? (Y)

Do you want your troops automatically sorted before combat? (Y)

Do you want to automatically re-equip your troops before combat? (Y)

Do you want to fight all battles in daylight? (N)

Do you want to randomize alien ship floorplans before each battle? (N)

Do you want the random ships to have random shapes? (Y)

 

Thanks for your input and your time!

Any ideas?

greetz,

gogoland2002

[NKF]

Have you checked the tanks in the battlescape to see if their stats have changed? I don't think the ufopaedia entries on the tanks will reflect your tank's actual stats.

 

Your improved weapons should have taken effect. What stats do you see in the ufopaedia for the heavy laser?

 

The research help is meant to increase the difficulty of research by forcing you to capture aliens to reduce the research time. The actual changes to your research happen after every battle. Xcomutil cannot work while the game is in progress, but it can jump in and make the changes take effect between the battlescape and geoscape.

 

The same applies for appending the name stat strings. After each battle, XComutil will add a / and then a series of letters on every soldier to reflect their stats.

 

- NKF

[Bomb Bloke]

I thought the changes made to tanks when installing XcomUtil were present regardless as to whether you ran XcomUtil from then on.

 

I also thought that the "alien research help" thing was supposed to function by boosting your research in other subjects whenever you succesfully researched a captured alien. I didn't think holding them in the cells helped on it's own.

 

Though I could be wrong.

[gogoland2002]

Have you checked the tanks in the battlescape to see if their stats have changed? (...)

What stats do you see in the ufopaedia for the heavy laser?

 

deleted my old savegames and restartet. haven't reseached heavy lasers and used any tanks yet. will look that up as soon as possible..

 

The research help is meant to increase the difficulty of research by forcing you to capture aliens to reduce the research time. The actual changes to your research happen after every battle. Xcomutil cannot work while the game is in progress, but it can jump in and make the changes take effect between the battlescape and geoscape.

i understood that. in the xcomutil.txt it says "This enables the display of messages between the tactical and world views to report AutoCombat results and any research help acquired by capturing aliens" though. thus i thought since i have research-help turned on and captured some aliens i should get to see the info between battle and worldview. all i see is the normal afterbattle-report.

 

The same applies for appending the name stat strings. After each battle, XComutil will add a / and then a series of letters on every soldier to reflect their stats.

aah, okay. got that. must have misunderstood the xcomutil.txt on that point.

 

thanks for your time!

greetz, gogoland2002