Trouble in missions

[Thursday]

So installed Terror From The Depe again on a nostalgia trip. I've played it many a time before, but right now I'm playing on a Windows XP platform.

 

During missions, both downed subs and terror attacks, the mission is often aborted. What happens is that the mission is ended, and I get the result from the last ended mission, meaning that the end of mission screen with points and statisitcs for the battle is identical to the previous mission I finished, wether it was finished properly, aborted, or crashed. I believe there is a cheat code that achieves the exact same thing, at least for UFO: Enemy Unknown, but this happens without any intervention on my part.

 

Further research has yielded that the mentioned forced abortions often happen when a unit, be it alien or civilian or an X-COM agent, walks out into thin air, often down stairs, or when they take one step off an edge to go down one floor.

 

Is anyone familiar with this bug, and is there away around it, apart from obscene amounts of saving and reloading? Is this related to Windows XP, or a general bug?

[NKF]

I'll just copy and paste a message I posted on the XCommand forum a few days ago, as it's quite relevant:

 

This is not a problem with WinXP in particular. It's a problem with ALL copies of UFO and TFTD for the PC. It happens, only it happens a lot worse on some computer configurations.

 

I've posted, not a solution, but some suggestions that you could try (or rather, what I do) to get around this problem. Although they suggestions were for UFO, they apply just as well for TFTD, seing as TFTD is UFO with a cosmetic change plus a few extras dumped in.

 

Anyway, here are some that I can remember:

 

- Start a new game. Play one mission, (hopefully without a crash) then return to your old game and see if the problem persists.

 

- If that doesn't work, delete all the files in the missdat directory then try again. Don't worry, missdat files are just a temporary copy of the results of your previous mission (hence why you get them after breaking program execution with ctrl+c).This might not do much, but give it a shot anyway.

 

- Return to a mission just before your current game.

 

- Try waiting for a few turns before stepping out. Do something else.

 

- Don't step out just after the equipment pile (In UFO, this is the left side of the ramp, in TFTD, this is on the right (your left) just outside the Triton). Again, it might not always help, but I've noticed it happens a lot more frequently just after the equipment pile.

 

- As a last resort, make a backup of your savegame directories (save_1-10), delete the game, reinstall it and restore your savegames.

 

* * *

 

There will always be the occasional unexpected crash when you step out the troop carrier, so frequent saves in the Geoscape just before a mission are a real boon. Do NOT save during a tactical mission until you've at least successfully deployed some troops. If you saved a game while it's in an unstable state, your savegame might have been corrupted, and any subsequent reloads of that game will continue to have the inconsist state and cause a crash. Keep that in mind.

 

I find it happens a quite often immediately after I botch a mission and lose a troop carrier. It happens at other times too, but losing a troop carrier usually does it for me.

 

- NKF, He who speaks too much has The Sticky Fish of Doom™ stuck up his ear. I tell you, it's definitely no babel fish. Not one bit.

 

Micah, the fellow who followed up on my reply in the UCC, also had a good suggestion: Delete all the files in one save slot, load your game and then save the game in the empty space. Probably not in that order, but that's the gist of it.

 

Remember, these are not definite solutions, but I have been able to get around the problem in such a manner, so that is why I'm suggesting them.

 

* * *

 

Also, I would like to stress to everyone not to use the ctrl+c 'feature'. It's not a cheat, per se. It's just a command used to halt execution of a program. UFO and TFTD's keyboard handler didn't know how to trap this command so it stopped the currently running program. And since the game ran off a batch file, it kept running the game, pulling the old results out of the missdat directory, since tactical.exe never got a chance to update the files.

 

Odd errors and instabilities can be caused when using this 'feature'. For example, suddenly having a ship with a cannon called "medic-1" that takes Avalanche rocket launchers (or DUP launchers in TFTD) as ammunition, or ye horrors, the memory dump in mode-13h text bug. At one very odd time, I had a 'battleship-1' under my command. I could actually fly it about, but it had no base of origin. The moment I had it attack something, the game crashed rather badly. Wish I could get another one... the medic-1 cannon is more common though. Pretty powerful too. It can sometimes destroy battleship in one shot just like what a plasma cannon can do to a small scout.

 

CEd players need not worry about this. The program's keyboard handler already knows how to trap the ctrl+c command, so it won't work.

 

- NKF

 

P.S.: I realise now that this only deals with the crash that occurs when exiting the troop carrier. It doesn't quite deal with crashes in general. I don't know how you can get around those, as they do tend to happen, and usually due to a variety of odd reasons.

 

However, my note on the ctrl+c 'feature' still applies, as it is sometimes the cause for the instabilities that eventually make the game crash unexpectedly.

[umbriel]

An another way is perhaps to try to get the platinium version of the game... They work really good on Windows...

 

Except if u get a Geforce card (like me), u need to disactivate something in directx to make the game work correctly.. I dont remenber what is it exactly...

 

Umbriel the small veteran

[Thursday]

An another way is perhaps to try to get the platinium version of the game... They work really good on Windows...

Do you know if I can download it anywhere? Even if I did have money to spare to buy a game I already have, I'm not sure I'd be at all able to find it; I haven't seen it in any store in quite a few years.

[umbriel]

Try on *censored*... (french site)

 

Look in strategy game...

 

Umbriel the small veteran

[Thursday]

Thanks, umbriel. Worked like a charm, only thing is that the music won't play (sound effects work fine, better than before, in fact), but I couldn't get it to work with the version I had earlier either.

 

Thanks!

[InsaneLapin]

downloading UFO on internet is illegal.

[ApOcaLyPSe_1985]

Who cares, it's so old now, the makers don't even look back to see if there's some illegal activities going on somewhere.

I have all X-COM games except for Enforcer bought original so don't even think about blaming me for warez junkie or something

I already ordered X-COM Enforcer via Amazone.co.uk so soon my collection will be complete ! MUHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!

[Warlord]

He's merely stating that the download of any of the X-Com games is illegal, and he's right. The games are not classified as abandonware at this time.

 

X-Com Tactical Command does not endorse the downloading of copyrighted software in any form. If you intend to illegally download this program, please make such arrangments through some method other than these forums.

 

Warlord

Site Administrator

www.x-com.co.uk

[Thursday]

downloading UFO on internet is illegal.

Then make him edit the link out.

 

I have paid for both UFO and TFTD, I have the physical discs, but those versions won't work with my current setup, for some reason, as outlined above. Me downloading a version that is slightly different might not be 100% legal, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that would deem it wrong.

 

This is speaking about my case, though, not downloading games in general.