orlinos

Works like a charm, thanks!

The game loads and main menu opens, but I cannot use any of the options - they "click" but the menu does not roll out. Even clicking "exit" does completely nothing, I had to ALT+F4 to quit. Bad day for humans, good for aliens. ;-)

Hm, something is wrong with the exe - the game just crashes after pushing "Play" in the launcher. I turned off all mods, except XCE - still crashed. I used the exe from RC2 and it ran just fine, no crashes. I am using Steam version of vanilla, with mods installed manually.

Maybe there are just too many names for the game to handle? I had the sam result before, when I cleaned up the file myself. Crashed less but still crashed. Might be worth it to check it out after limiting the list.

I tried removing non-ASCII characters - using http://textmechanic.com/Remove-Letter-Accents.html and RegEx search in Notepad++ [^\x00-\x7F]+ It seems crashes are recurring less often but they still do. Also, I tried deactivating all other mods (including Khall's More Portraits) and it still crashes. We need to do something about it, since I really love these new names.

Steelgonads - I just checked, I get crashes from time to time too. I looked through your file and started wondering: Does Xenonauts engine like a diacritic mark in a name? It might explain why it SOMETIMES - but not always - crashes during starting a new game - when it generates the names. BTW, it's true that the list is monumental and a great addition to Xenonauts.

I did some experiments - I do not know how the hidden_block_spectre.xml file in xce\tiles\dropships\chinook is supposed to work, but I think it doesn't. I modified the Chinook cabin spectres so the default cabin again has visibilityScore="0.000" bulletScore="0.000" That solved the problem for now, I hope I did not break anything important by such tinkering. ;-)

A problem spotted: Parts of Charlie can be shoot and walked through XCE 0.33 HF2

As can be seen in attached screenshots, after installing XCE 0.33 HF2 - it is possible to shoot through and also go through the Charlie. I checked - it's enough to bring back 0.33 HF1 and the problem dissapears even when restoring the same save (so I guess some spectres got changed?). Only the "pilot" part of Charlie is affected, the soldier part is still solid.

Right! A few additional mods I recommend - which only enhance, but do not change the vanilla experience. 1) Skitso's improved tile art pack - I believe it's best to just copy its content to the main game folder, since it does not work well with modular moding. Check out the screenshots if you want to decide if you like the subtle changes it introduces. 2) Restored Community Map Pack - even more maps, but be careful, some of them are pretty deadly even to experienced soldiers. I still live in horror after one visit to the warehouse on the water and after crossing a bridge while being assaulted by multiple Reapers and sniped by a lonely Sebillian camping in a school... 3) Ambience Forest - more sounds in forest maps. There are even more mods, haven't tried them all, since I yet need to finish the vanilla game. ;-) If you are afraid of breaking something while experimenting with mods - you can just copy the whole Xenonauts folder and install folders into the copy. Have fun!

X:CE 0.33 HF1, definitely. "Hidden movement" is speeding things up a lot - which is important for me, with my cautious approach. Interface improvements work great. AI hides, snipe-camps, strikes from the shadows and massacres poor Xenonauts like hell. ;-) Since door opening action now allows for reflex shots - you can make great traps and shoot damn sebilians running out for a walk from the spaceship or opening a building door. Mind you - this works both ways, so I advise breaching UFO doors with rockets, C4 and avoiding direct contact with aliens, until you thin their ranks.

We both posted almost at the same time, Podesta, cool walkthrough. I would also add few tips: 1) Invest in C4 - invaluable for breaching UFOs and, along with rockets, capable of opening new assault paths and blowing cover. It's sometimes better to blow up a hole in a wall and to spray the aliens from a distance than to risk assault. 2) In the beginning, when there is no armor to increase weight, I equip all riflemen with shotguns. "I like to keep them for close encounters". Just remember, that superb, elite Xenonauts are capable of missing even when being one tile away from their target, so I always assault building using two. Often with a shield to open doors and scout for them, so they can fully use their TUs. 3) I've been also experimenting with a Grenadier custom role. He has a rifle in his backpack (and can act as a backup rifleman) and in his hands holds a pistol and a flashbang or a grenade. Jolding a pistol or a shotgun makes a Xenonaut less susceptible to reflex shots. You can also hold a pistol only and then choose a grenade to throw when necessary - it's still less TUs than throwing a grenade when holding a 2-handed weapon. I also tried giving him a pistol with a shotgun (a dedicated close-combat unit) - but he had nothing to do when fighting in long range.

1) The squad has regrouped in solid cover outside the UFO. 2) The machinegunner has breached the door (since the squad had no rockets or C4). Four aliens still alive. 3) Aliens are hiding, machinegunner is suppressing them. 4) At this point I believe at least one alien has died due to lead poisoning. 5) Another got killed by squad's only shotgunner, the rest of the team is providing support. 6) The squad is very careful and slow. 7) The machinegunner has opened another door. 8) A purple alien has decided to come out and play. The shotgunner was eager to have some fun with him. 9) Getting ready to assault, with shotgunner controlling the corridor and rifleman preparing to throw flashbangs. 10) Here you are, mister alien! 11) BANG!

Here are the multiple save files from each step with full save (at Geoscape) after winning with no losses. Pictures are coming soon.

If I were you, at this point I would just close the door and retreat to rearrange the troops. Myself, I find it much safer to breach the doors first with a rocket or C4 (a high-TU soldier with a shield can even drop it in front of a door after setting a timer and escape). Then I can either safely gas the aliens (if stun rocket is available), rocket the inside to destroy some cover and shoot them with my sniper etc. That should limit their numbers enough for me to get inside. You should use the well as cover for two of your men but maybe C4 the trees and bushes in front to empty the space. Also, I cannot recommend shield-pistol soldiers enough. Before breaching, I usually try to arrange the space arround the UFO in such a way, that my sniper and machinegun/rocket specialist can operate safely from heavy cover and my rifle or shotgun soldier slowly encircle the UFO from both sides, always hiding behind crouched shield soldiers. Obviously these are not the only tactics available. But just opening the door and assaulting the inside is extremely risky, especially if there is more than one alien. Even after succeding, your men will run out of TUs for reflex shots and will be killed by an alien rushing from the next room. Good luck!

Warehouse by the pool. (Or simply on the water?). Sebilians hiding in every nook and cranny. Four Xenonauts dead...

From my experience, if you copy or move the Xenonauts folder to any other location on HDD, it will run DRM-free and with no need for Steam present.

Yes. And you are responsible for countless deaths of my squad members! Jokes aside, I have recently returned to Xenonauts after a long break and I am astonished by the depth of changes and how fluid the gameplay has become. (Even the simple "skip hidden animations" works wonders and works well with my slow and careful gameplay). These damn Sebilians keep setting traps on me - I supress and approach one - only to find his brothers sneaking up on my men, hiding in corners and killing them with a quick shot to the back...

On Steam, you only need to be connected when you download the game - in case of some games you need to be online when you run it - in case of Xenonauts I can even copy it to another folder and run without logging to Steam with no problem. With GoG, there is absolutely no DRM. You can optionally use their new application to help you download stuff, but you never need to - you can just download setup files by yourself from your own account and never need to connect to Internet again. There is no "dialing back home". Humble Bundle Store also offers Xenonauts - both a Steam key and a DRM-free version (no application needed).

If you run the game in a window (selected from the launcher) - you will be able to make screenshots.

It seems, that setting "NightMission = 1" in config.xml makes all normal (campaign) missions set at night, while making quick battle missions to be set at dusk. I returned the value to 0 and checked few times in normal campaigns - the systems seems to work fine then. So I hope it was an unnecessary alarm.

I am not sure if the dusk/dawn system works, it seems to default all night missions to dawn/dusk. I described it in details here: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/13114-X-CE-0-33-RC1-Night-missions-always-at-dusk''>http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/13114-X-CE-0-33-RC1-Night-missions-always-at-dusk' rel="external nofollow"> http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/13114-X-CE-0-33-RC1-Night-missions-always-at-dusk

I believe the night missions at this moment always seem to take place at dusk/dawn. It is evident when playing a Quick Mission (with "Night Mission" set to 1), but I also experimented with moving the Charlie in such a way so as to begin a new mission at app. midnight. To make sure I was not making this up, I deactivated all extra mods and checked the situation using X:CE 0.32 HF3 and X:CE 0.33 RC1. To make sure I did not confuse night graphics with dusk, I manipulated tilerenderer.xml settings in xce mod folder - making Day and Night extremely dark and leavind dawn/dusk at default, so I could easily tell them apart. I did no other changes. <FOW> <Day min="0.0007" max="1.0"/> <Night min="0.00035" max="0.8"/> <DawnDusk min="0.5" max="0.9"/> </FOW> It confirmed my suspicions, day missions became extremely dark, night missions stayed lighter - which means they are in fact using DawnDusk settings. I think it also means "night" missions will also always use "dawn" LOS settings (have not checked that, I'm bad at counting) ;-) Which means, at this moment, there are no true night missions at all? I attach a zip with my saves, using day and night quick battle missions from 0.32 and 0.33. I use Steam Xenonauts (running it as DRM-free, outside of Steam). For the test purposes, I deactivated all mods except for xce, xcesettings and xcebalance. I still use Skitso's improved tile art pack (installed manually into Xenonauts install folder). It's my first post so I want to thank everyone on the forum, with special mentions to X:CE members, Skitso and kabill. If any other details/files/settings are needed to solve the problem, please ask. Xenonauts saves - dusk-night bug.zip Xenonauts saves - dusk-night bug.zip