Xenonauts: Community Edition 0.30

Xenonauts: Community Edition 0.30 is now available!

(There is no version 0.29, as 0.30 includes some larger changes.)

Installation:

If you have Xenonauts on Steam, just right-click the game and from the Betas tab select the Community branch. Steam will update.

To install manually, download X:CE 0.30 from the downloads section, run the game, and install the downloaded file as a mod from the mod tools in the game launcher. Then exit the launcher, go to assets/mods/xce, and copy Xenonauts.exe (and other executables if you want them) to the top level folder of your game installation. Run the game again and verify the game version in the launcher is correct.

After that, it's strongly recommended that you install X:CE settings and X:CE balance(this is automatic on Steam), otherwise several important features will be disabled.

Changes summary:

• In addition to the xcesettings mod there is now also xcebalance mod. Mod xcesettings includes X:CE changes compared to the official game from Goldhawk that should not alter game balance in any way (such as showing all radar ranges when building a new base), while xcebalance includes changes that may possibly alter balance compared to the offical game (such as alien AI in air combat). It is recommended to use X:CE with both xcesettings and xcebalance mods (previously xcesettings included both of these kinds of changes).
  
• Changes to how shooting in the ground combat works. Ideally the changes should be minimal when not using xcebalance, while allowing fixes/improvements when xcebalance is used.
  
• Various UI improvements.
  
• Faster game startup and GC loading.
  
• Changes to counter exploiting some game mechanics.
  
• Support for mod localsettings for local setting changes.
  
• Many fixes.
  

General improvements:

• faster game startup and GC loading
  
• GC loading tips about X:CE features that are not present in vanilla game
  
• options for separate cost of opening/closing small/large door in config.xml
  
• implemented reaction fire on door opening, to make it possible to avoid door spamming exploits (not enabled by default, see config.xml)
  
• options for blocking closing of door that's been opened on the same turn, to make it possible to avoid door spamming exploits (not enabled by default, see config.xml)
  
• starting human airplanes are fully configurable in gameConfig.xml
  
• option to show predicted funding change only as an imprecise text, e.g. making alien bases harder to detect (gameconfig.xml)
  
• make it possible to specify per-tileset music in sounds_gc.xml .
  
• mod "localsettings" will be always the highest priority (to be used for local changes instead of modifying game files).
  

UI:

• show door icon only when over door
  
• show maximum non-overburdened weight a soldier can carry when equipping
  
• click masks of many Geoscape items have been enlarged to make clicking them easier
  
• Enter and Escape work in dialogs where appropriate
  
• UFO engage dialog always slows down time (useful e.g. when deciding to tail the UFO)
  
• improved layout of soldier equip screen, making the soldier and weapon lists larger, play invalid sound when action is not possible
  
• make the clipboard in personnel view larger, making it show more soldiers without scrolling
  
• improved soldier hiring screen layout, and it now provides more information
  
• play invalid sound when it is not possible to hire a soldier
  
• in base management screen it is necessary to explicitly enter a building mode by selecting a building first, otherwise it is possible to click on buildings to enter their base screen
  
• keyboard shortcuts for switching between base screens
  
• make soldier role selection dialog tall enough for default roles
  
• explicitly say in the end combat screen that a casuality has been revived (to prevent confusion when a player does not know the feature)
  
• show shot path also for throws (note that arc throws often go to higher levels, which can be seen e.g. using the mouse wheel)
  
• show shot path also for shots/throws that are out of range, making it easier to find e.g. maximum throwing distance for a grenade
  
• make it possible to disable all explanatory dialogs including mission briefings
  

Shooting/throwing changes:

• it is possible to target any specific tile of a multi-tile object, instead of having to always target the center
  
• make it possible to target tiles that are obscured by objects such as walls, so that it is possible to e.g. heal unconscious soldiers in such places
  
• it is no longer possible to get a 'miss' result when a shot hits a tile with a character, the shot will continue in its trajectory until it hits something
  
• missing a shot in smoke increases a chance of the shot scattering, because otherwise there could be a good probability of hitting the target anyway
  
• vehicles and soldier with shield now have a higher chance to block a passing shot, thus providing also better cover to soldiers behind them, as a consequence this also makes vehicles and soldiers with shield easier to hit
  
• use leaning around corners also for throwing
  
• make (non-broken) windows also work correctly as (partial) cover
  
• fixed cover that is more than a tile away (center to center) to block shots in all cases
  
• show invalid cursor for flying soldiers when trying to shoot or use items, to reflect the fact that they cannot use items while flying
  
• halve projectile speeds of all grenades to make it easier to see where they land
  

Modding:

• report in error log also when an XML file fails to open (for example because of corrupt XML)
  
• fixed a problem of .lua scripts not being read from mods in some cases
  
• the game error log no longer uses "PlayFirst" in its path, the path is now e.g. "<user>/Application Data/Goldhawk Interactive/Xenonauts"
  
• UFO and alien base crews can be defined to have any main race now, not just Caesans/Sebillians/Androns. ufocontents/races.xml lists the races that can be considered a "main race"
  

Balance:

• reduced roll side speed on higher difficulties to make it still sufficient to evade missiles but no longer sufficient to make airplanes circle-strafe
  
• escort UFOs on higher difficulties turn to face interceptors even before air combat starts, so Heavy Fighter is no longer practically harmless if the UFO has been tailed first
  
• slightly improve the chance the AI will decide to switch to a better target in air combat
  
• squadron is no longer considered unable to do evasive rolls as a whole for autoresolve when one airplane/UFO in it cannot do it, this e.g. makes Foxtrot-only squadrons usually take more damage when attacking escorted UFOs
  
• weapon's melee attack (M key by default) is no longer 100% successful against enemies
  

General fixes:

• fix showing ground in some specific cases (around UFOs)
  
• make sure extended UFO information is available when the UFO is within the range of any base that has Quantum Cryptology Center
  
• fix drawing problems of heading in air combat
  
• fix crash after UFO attack on undefended Xenonauts base
  
• properly record the type of the last mission where a soldier died
  
• do not autosave at the beginning of a month when the game has been lost
  
• do not crash after finishing Operation Endgame
  
• fix showing targetting cursor for aliens right next to UFO
  
• do not show (random) flag for vehicles
  
• do not show gray healable part of the HP bar when there is nothing to heal, such as when the soldier is dead
  
• make sure destroyed vehicles do not return from ground mission
  
• fix base thumbnails in base selection buttons sometimes not being drawn
  
• fix showing of expected wages shown in hiring screens
  
• use a scrollbar in the dialog informing about newly built buildings if necessary
  
• show correct refund value in building tooltips
  
• fix and make it possible to remove a base by removing its Command Center
  
• immediately show base build cost when entering base build mode in Geoscape
  
• remove backpack grenades from the Assault loadout to reduce the chance that most new soldiers will be immediately overburdened
  
• allow few more special characters in save game names
  
• show proper ammo level in the airplane base screen
  
• fix Medical Center to actually make a difference
  
• allow demolishing a Medical Center even when in use, and show used medical space progressbar in base view as full when the space is insufficient
  
• fix aliens opening door from one tile away
  
• do not always use up all missiles in air combat autoresolve if not necessary
  
• fix scroll for list of building to build, if there are more than fit
  
• fix renaming of a dropship causing soldiers to be assigned to a non-existent dropship
  
• fixed crash when loading GC save from GC.
  
• fix showing ground around UFO walls.
  
• do not hide the GC loading screen a bit too soon.
  
• prefer burst fire when shooting while berserking, also fixes soldiers with burst-only weapons to fire in such cases at all.
  
• enemy alerts are shown properly when a map has been fully revealed (e.g. during a terror mission after 20 turns).
  
• fixed revealing of alien bases to happen only when there is also a soldier in the command center, not just no alien in it. Full visibility of an alien base will be available only as long as there is a soldier in the command center.
  
• fixed the game prefering some soldier faces after startup.
  
• futher reduce the chance there will be two soldiers with the same face.
  
• hopefully avoid a possible lockup with SkipHiddenAnimations option enabled.
  
• avoid a possible lockup during GC loading.
  

Notes for mappers:

Since the game game now uses windows properly as a cover, it is necessary to ensure bulletScore of window objects in normal state is not 0.000 (as was the case with game's windows) if your maps contain new window props.

As mentioned in the changes, the SkipHiddenAnimations optimization has presumably been fixed, so it should be safe to enable it again in order to get faster alien turns. See http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/11931-Xenonauts-Community-Edition-0-27?p=135185&viewfull=1#post135185 for details.

Unless somebody can confirm that the previous problem still exists with 0.30, the optimization will be enabled by default for 0.31.

Also, whoever has downloaded from the downloads section before 0.30 was announced here, please update.

Finally, if you are going to report a bug, please see http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/33-X-CE-Bug-Reports first (it's been made sticky in the bugreporting subforum).

OMG so many changes. Excelent work!

ok I seem to be having a problem on being to play this on steam. I have it set up to automaticly install but for some reason, I still see only the vanilla version of xenonauts. is there a code I need to be putting in to sign up to play the CE version?

ok I seem to be having a problem on being to play this on steam. I have it set up to automaticly install but for some reason, I still see only the vanilla version of xenonauts. is there a code I need to be putting in to sign up to play the CE version?

Yep, just do this:

If you are on Steam and on Windows, all you need to do is to change to the Community branch:

Right click on Xenonauts >>> Properties >>> Betas >>> Community

You can revert to the standard official branch at any time by selecting the "NONE" option from the same list.

I just tested out the 'skip hidden animations' mod (and I guess the end turn auto save since they're together) and it worked just fine. Significantly speeds up GC, thanks!

Wait, to install XCEsettings and XCEBalance, how do I do it? Do I copy the files to the assets/mods/XCE folder or do I install with the tool in the launcher?

Install with the launcher or unpack them in assets/mods like you'd need to with other xce mods

All windows have 100% blocking chance until broken in this version. Using tile folder from RC3 fixes the problem.

All windows have 100% blocking chance until broken in this version. Using tile folder from RC3 fixes the problem.

yes, this bad ...