TFTD Extender

[Tycho]

OK... A few adjustments... and..

 

update: file removed

[Bomb Bloke]

The pointer can now reach the bottom of the game window correctly, without triggering the resize cursor. However, it cannot reach the top of the window, nor the sides - this actually makes scrolling in those directions impossible during battle. This screenshot shows how close it can get.

 

 

Lights out for me now.

[Tycho]

The pointer can now reach the bottom of the game window correctly, without triggering the resize cursor. However, it cannot reach the top of the window, nor the sides - this actually makes scrolling in those directions impossible during battle. This screenshot shows how close it can get.

 

 

Lights out for me now.

 

Thanks BB. I had to brush up on my algebra and geometry. The problem is calculating the size of the two rectangles to get the difference in their sizes while at the same time factoring in the relationship to the rectangle of the screen was my problem. My first attempts were fine as long as the windows were always starting at 0 (the upper left corner).

 

I've noticed that some programmers were complaining that Vista and Windows7 broke the ClipCursor function, which it didn't but their default windows borders are thicker than XP and earlier Windows so the area in which to constrain the cursor must be made smaller.

[Tycho]

OK. Hopefully the last request for someone with Windows 7 and EU to test my new algorithms for the clip cursor function:

 

update: removed the file.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Tycho

[Bomb Bloke]

That appears to be working perfectly.

 

Well, apart from the "only works until window loses focus" thing. I know your documentation mentions this, making it sound like intended behaviour, but I can't see the point of it.

[localhosed]

I didn't know the documentation mentioned that. It works the same way for me.

 

Registry tweaks didn't change things. source : https://answers.micro...8b-8f4728671ca4 in the answer by 'billy1953'

Edited August 8, 2012 by localhosed

[Tycho]

Seb arranged it that way because any other way and the mouse is constrained to the area even when the game window is not on top. A limitation of using the ClipCursor function. I guess he thought there might be people doing other things while playing XCOM and get upset that they can't reach their other windows with the mouse. I might rearrange it so that the cursor is constrained in the tactical screen but can be freed in the Geoscape. A least I have the algorithms for setting the area working as expected.

[Tycho]

Version 1.05 almost ready!

[Tycho]

Version 1.05:

• Fixes a problem with Liner and Cargo ship mission not handling the summary report correctly if the player aborts or loses the mission.
  
• Fixes a problem where not all stats were being moved when swapping soldiers' positions in craft.
  
• Fixes a minor problem with the decrease buttons on the manufacture screen when Autosell is enabled.
  
• The Manufacturing dialog now prevents players from assigning too many technicians to a project.
  
• Improved Clip Cursor: Works with all versions of windows.
  
• Improved Gauss Tank: Armor is improved but requires research into Aqua Plastics and plastics are needed for production.
  
• Displacer's sonic cannon damage is corrected and now matches the Sonic Oscillator.
  

[Tycho]

Version 1.05 has been posed to the file section! Thanks BB!

[Kasumimi]

So many updates @__@

[localhosed]

Congratulations tycho!

[Tycho]

I was reading Kasumimi's entries about Steam and the Windows Version of Xcom. I was wondering what would happen if you renamed the TFTDextender file to DOSbox.exe... Would this fix the issue of not getting credit for playing the Windows version under Steam?

[Kasumimi]

I was reading Kasumimi's entries about Steam and the Windows Version of Xcom. I was wondering what would happen if you renamed the TFTDextender file to DOSbox.exe... Would this fix the issue of not getting credit for playing the Windows version under Steam?

 

That's what I did Tycho. I get the D3D error only through steam - for both Xcom:UFO and Xcom:TFTD. But it really doesn't matter at all. We don't play Xcom to watch steam count our time played, both games run excellent without steam and that's the whole point.

 

About the D3D error I'm note sure that many others get it. A friend of mine for example can run it through steam without problem, also the error goes away if you disable D3D but we don't want to do that =P

[DarkWolf]

Hello everyone.

 

TFTD Extender run fine for me except for one thing : It doesn't seem to play the original music from the game.

 

Anyway to fix that ?

 

Edit : It doesnt play any music at all. The sound work fine but no music.

[Tycho]

Hello DarkWolf! The only things I can think of that might cause this would be:

• midi sounds are muted or the volume=0 in your OS's sound control panel.
  
• the midi files are not located in the .\TFD\SOUND folder.
  
• the option to play MP3 from either the HD or a CD is enabled: Check the INI and see if Apply=1 under the [Music] section. Change this to Apply=0.
  
• you computer has a problem with its midi emulation: Do you get midi music if you run the game w/o the Extender? Most digital download packages come with a Windows patched version - "Terror from the Deep_patched.exe."
  

[Kasumimi]

Hello everyone.

 

TFTD Extender run fine for me except for one thing : It doesn't seem to play the original music from the game.

 

Anyway to fix that ?

 

Edit : It doesnt play any music at all. The sound work fine but no music.

 

I have the TFTD music converted into MP3s with better sounds ready to use for TFTD. If you are interested I could upload them but I don't know where (20mb)? You could use them with with TFTD extender, that what I did when I had no music

[Tycho]

Darkwolf, just to be sure: you do have the .mid files in the SOUND folder of your TFTD folder, correct? Does the game without Extender play any music?

[Tycho]

It's a very minor issue, and it's easily fixed by switching the names around, but I thought I'd bring it to your attention so that you might consider including it in a future patch. Those are the only tracks that are mixed up as far as I know, the only ones I haven't tested yet is the briefing theme for the Tleth mission, and the one for Base Defense.

 

Well, I need to correct myself. While investigating some other issue, I discovered that the playlist order within the MP3 music function had these two files listed in opposite order from what is in the INI. Which might explain what JurassicUtility pointed out. I have switched their order to match the listing in the INI and will have it in a future patch.

update: Since jurrasic noted that the midi files play the same music for each of these events, it must be how the game designers intended but later were switched when the game was ported to the PSX.

Edited August 21, 2012 by Tycho

[DarkWolf]

Hey guys , thx for replying fast !

 

When I start the game without any modification, Dosbox ( steam verson ), every sound and music work fine. It's only when I use TFTDextender.exe that the music is mising.

 

I installed the TFTDextender the same way it's shown there : https://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2851122 and here https://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1146530.

 

In my sound folder I have 13 files :

 

ADLIB

CDSPEED.DAT

DRIVERS

GM

MUSIC

MVOL.DAT

ROLAND

SAMPLE

SNDEND

SNDSTART

SOUND.CFG

SOUNDDRV

VECTOR

[DarkWolf]

Am I suppose to have those midi file somewhere ? With a fresh install with no mod, I do not have any .midi but the game play the music as it should.

[Tycho]

Am I suppose to have those midi file somewhere ? With a fresh install with no mod, I do not have any .midi but the game play the music as it should.

 

The Extender runs the Windows version of TFTD, which uses .mid files for music. For some reason, some digital downloads don't include these files.

As another user noted, "Indeed, all the SOUND\*.MID files that belong to the CE version are missing from the Steam download. I downloaded the missing files "by other means" and now it works like it should. So yeah... would be nice if the Steam download could be fixed accordingly. "

 

 

update: I've made the files available on the TFTD Extender UFOpaedia page. Follow the link in my signature.

Edited August 22, 2012 by Tycho

[DarkWolf]

Thx a lot for your time Tycho it's really appreciated. Now I shall hunt those alien once again.

[Zombie]

Late reply, but better late than never.

 

I finally was able to look into this more. As I understand it, the placement algorithm seems to favor the center of the base in a row of units. When I reversed the initial optional layout design, which put the airlock and general stores on the opposite side of the base, I still had most of the aquanauts being randomly placed in the same areas. In addition, the algorithm seems to scatter the aliens even more. When I reversed the design, I had even more aliens spawning inside the main base. I think this was done purposefully to make base defense harder on the player.

 

Possibly. Though I think it's more of a case where the map designers hastily put together the spawn points without thinking things through. You have to remember that the people that worked on TFTD didn't really know how to use the map editing tool that the Gollop brothers created for Enemy Unknown. They knew the basics, sure, but I don't think they really understood spawn points and routes completely. This is quite evident while comparing the routes in both games.

 

addendum: A lot of the issues come from how the nodes have been arranged in the base modules. It seems Xcom units tend to favor the sensor and tech modules slightly more than living quarters and storage areas. They did include code that makes the algorithm have a preference for "misc2" nodes.

 

Here again, it may be buggy. The Living Quarters only have 5 spawn points reserved for XCom units which is really low for a facility which supposedly houses only soldiers/aquanauts. LQ also have 3 alien spawn points which I believe may be a bug/oversight (should be XCom reserved with a spawn "weight" of 5, not alien with a weight of 1). As for the General Stores, there are 7 spawn points but the average "weight" of those is very low at 2.7 (most other base modules have a weight of ~4.5). This is due to four spawn points having a weight of 1 instead of 5... which is also probably a bug. I see no Misc2 nodes in an XCom base. Alien Ships, sure, but not in a base.

 

The problem with alien spawning is that with the sub pens containing the subs instead of empty space, the number of spawn points is reduced which means that there is more chances of aliens appearing at neutral spawn points inside the base. I would have to become more familiar with reading the ROUTES.DAT file, but I suspect the problem is there are certain area that have spawn points that heavily favored by the randomizer. In particular, the living quarters. In all my various scenarios, it always seemed that there were often at least two aliens spawned in the first level no matter where in the base I located it.

 

Here's the issue: in an Enemy Unknown base there are 16 alien spawn points in a hangar. In a TFTD hangar/sub pen there are only 13 spawn points. Four of those spawn points are flying reserved, so if there aren't any flying alien units present, they go to waste. Effectively this makes a TFTD hangar have 9 spawn points. And unlike Enemy Unknown where the heavy use of Civ-Scout spawn points were used quite often as a "buffer" (or neutral as you call it) to offer more spots for aliens to show up, in TFTD hardly none of these nodes exist (there is 1 in a Torpedo Defense, 1 in an Alien Containment and 1 in a Sonic Defense, but that's it). No overflow spawn points means that the aliens will go where ever they can fit. Usually in a TFTD base there are multiple LQ's and each of these facilities have 3 alien spawn points with a "weight" of 1. The probability isn't very high that an alien will show up in a LQ, but it's still there, And it isn't a problem of a sub being present in a hangar... there are still plenty of open tiles in a sub pen map the creator(s) could have added spawn points to. For whatever reason, they chose not to, or didn't understand the mechanics of a base defense mission and what part spawn points played.

 

This is only my belief, but it seemed like the map dev(s) created the spawn points for XCom base modules first, and because they were still learning the ropes, they made a lot of mistakes. The lack of overflow Civ-Scout nodes is disturbing on a map where the aliens are virtually corralled into the hangars & access lift with nowhere else to go. It looks like an all-or-nothing type of deal for the devs: either XCom reserved, or alien, but no gray area in between like EU had. Again, I'm not an expert in this field by any means, but I did do extensive research into this for EU ages ago and think I have a solid understanding of the mechanics of spawn points and routes.

 

- Zombie

[JurassicUtility]

Well, I need to correct myself. While investigating some other issue, I discovered that the playlist order within the MP3 music function had these two files listed in opposite order from what is in the INI. Which might explain what JurassicUtility pointed out. I have switched their order to match the listing in the INI and will have it in a future patch.

I actually noticed something else just now. When playing the default midi tracks (after setting mp3 playback to "Apply=0"), the midi versions of those two tracks seem to be reversed in the same way. Would that be a seperate function from the mp3 function, or are they basically the same thing?