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Mikhail Ragulin

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Posts posted by Mikhail Ragulin

  1. Ddtlgov.jpg

    Download & Installation

    This has moved to the completed mods sub-forum, over here.

    What is Magnum-nauts?

    Magnum-nauts is a weapons replacement mod for Xenonauts. It follows on from Magnum Force, which was only for v21, and is compatible with the full game. The concept is that the Magnum-nauts have to fight the alien threat by using only ballistic weapons - no more lasers, plasmas, or MAGs, for the ground troops, as we cannot yet harness that technology into portable infantry weapons, (we can only manage bulky lasers etc., which means they can only be vehicle-based).

    But why's it called Magnum-nauts? What's that all about? Well...it's because we get our combat revolvers from Smith & Wesson, makers of a variety of magnum calibre weapons, punk. The most famous of which, popularised by Dirty Harry, is the model 29 .44 cal magnum, which, you guessed it, is in this mod. Not once, but twice.

    Unlike in Magnum Force, there are no "prototypes" or "experimental" weapons, meaning all the weapons are pre-1980. Our scientists have found that the key to defeating the aliens could come from weapons from an earlier era; before the modern standardisation of calibres. Many of these weapons could be classed as outdated for man-on-man warfare, but our analysts theorise that the larger calibre weapons could prove to be very effective against the ET's.

    The weapon progression follows the same concept as vanilla - there are four researchable "tiers", providing our troops with better weaponry. This is mainly achieved through procuring larger calibre weapons for the troops. However, in Magnum-nauts, there is a greater variety of weapons - a total of ten different classes, adding 38 new weapons to the game (and at the same time, removing the vanilla weapons). The classes are as follows:

    - shotguns

    - SMG's

    - assault rifles

    - battle rifles

    - anti-tank rifles

    - machine guns

    - explosive launchers

    - revolvers

    - machine pistols

    - melee

    They can be found under five different tabs:

    - breaching (shotguns and SMG's) - formerly the ballistic tab

    - rifles (AR's, BR's, and AT) - formerly the laser tab

    - heavy (MG's and explosive) - formerly the plasma tab

    - sidearms (revolvers and MP's) - formerly the MAG tab

    - melee (which is located where the rocket ammo tab used to be)

    This picture shows the new tab system, and some of the weapons:

    8dh3vkm.jpg

    The mod is balanced by respecting the vanilla GC system, and erring on the side of caution. Meaning that the idea is to have the weapons be roughly 10% less powerful across the board. However, there are some weapons that defy this, and are below this threshold (as I reckon the late-game guns, especially MAGS, are overpowered), so generally the game play is a little bit harder than vanilla. There is a link to the stats in the "stats" section near the end of this post.

    There are some changes to how the existing weapons classes operate. The semi-auto shotguns, and the full auto one, can now burst fire. AR's, to reflect their dominance in modern warfare, are capable of burst firing twice per turn. This makes them effective at all ranges...unlike in vanilla, where they are crap at all ranges. Heavy weapons (AT's, mg's, explosive) suffer a move penalty, and recoil is a factor for more weapons. This is all explained in-game via tool-tips in the soldier equip screen.

    And speaking of the equip screen...you may have noticed the reduced backpack and belt sizes in the picture. This affects how the player will equip the Magnum-nauts. Primary weapons (apart from SMG's) no longer fit in the bag, spelling the end for the "universal soldier" effect. Medikits now fill the bag, and have therefore given birth to the medic class. Want healing? Shout "MEDIC". I do, pilgrim. Anyhow, here's some more waffle about the new classes...

    Breaching

    SMG's are roughly the same power as shotguns. Capable of 3 bursts per turn, due to their high rate-of-fire, they can be devastating up-close...in the right hands. Weaker soldiers may not be able to handle the recoil, and could end up spraying into the wind. Here's a tastefully-arty Clint to show you our breaching selection:

    5gsDBUf.png

    Rifles

    AR's are capable of burst fire, and twice per turn at that. Our BR's do not have this function - however, their larger cartridge size gives them more power. They do not suffer from recoil like AR's do, as only weapons that are capable of burst fire have this drawback. BR's are a cross between the vanilla AR's and snipers. The AT's, or anti-materiel rifles, are immensely powerful (the most powerful line of weapons that the 'nauts can field) yet very cumbersome, capable of firing only once per turn. Here's the lot:

    htMSOoM.png

    Heavy

    The MG's are capable of firing once per turn, and the number of bullets per burst is relative to their RoF. The explosive weapons replace the vanilla rocket system...the last two are devastating, as they are automatic grenade launchers. Devastating to both sides if in the wrong hands, as they have enormous recoil and low base accuracy. Take it away, ghostly Clint:

    Cg0eHmk.jpg

    Sidearms

    The pride of the Magnum-nauts arsenal. All of our sidearms are one-handed weapons, and can fit in the backpack (they are, along with the SMG's the only weapons that can fit). The revolvers all retain the vanilla firing systems, with the exception of the scoped 29, which also has an accurate ranged shot option. The MP's are nasty little buggers, spitting out two bursts (of varying lengths) per turn, but have a range similar to the shotguns (about half that of the revolvers). Feeling lucky?

    MHUfq7c.jpg

    More features

    - UI improvements in the equip screen. A larger drop-ship assignment button so that it really stands out. Also, assignment window (bottom left) is larger, which means no more scrolling or cut-off names.

    - Weapons are no longer manufactured. To balance this out, armours have had a 50% increase in build time (keeps the engineers busy), and doubled cost (to account for getting the new weapons for free). The process of researching the weapons has been extended by 50%, so the time taken from initialising research to fielding the weapons is roughly the same as vanilla. Seems to play out quite well. Manufacturing weapons that are available on the market doesn't make sense, so this is how I've circumvented it.

    - Drop-ship capacity. Charlie increased to 10, Shrike 11, and Valkyrie stays at 12. This is to stop the feeling of soldier bloat that can creep in when getting a new drop-ship. Getting a new drop-ship in vanilla usually sets off my loss of interest. However, with just an increase of 1 soldier capacity, it makes role choice more important - that extra troop is valuable, as opposed to a bloated feeling. Also, early UFO's have got extra personnel in them, making ten troops seem just about right. Ten troops also allow more tactical load-outs, especially when coupled with the smaller backpacks.

    - Nades. Flashbangs need researching, they come with stun weapons now. Makes them Caesan and Seb light scouts much more fun. Stun gas is replaced by tear gas (which, strangely, knocks out some aliens) which comes later on. Other nades (alenium, plasma, etc.) are gone, which of course raises the difficulty. Nades are too much of a "get out of jail free card", especially the electroshock and stun ones. So, stunning is carried out via the new truncheon, tear gas (has a smaller cloud than vanilla stun gas), and cattle prod, which is surprisingly effective against robotic enemies. The truncheon and the prod are smaller than the vanilla baton, and can fit on the belt or in the bag. Range on nades is slightly less too (15), just less than a revolver (16).

    - Armours. Specifically, predator. The "big guns" that the predator can use are all of the mg's, explosives, and AT's.

    - Mission & kill counts in the ground combat equip window. The kill count updates during the mission too.

    an0SRUg.jpg

    - The odd graphic change, here and there. There's a new launcher screen (so one knows that one has loaded Magnum-nauts), white smoke in the smoke grenade...and these new, alarming, difficulty images...

    vyFToJQ.jpg

    Nothing quite says "you shouldn't be playing on easy mode" like this picture.

    Hints/tips

    It's pretty hard early on due to the extra ET's in the UFO's. Breaching isn't an option until stun is researched, so blow the doors off instead (I usually use C4, but just shot one through with an AT rifle). Take advantage of the diverse weapons...in a ten man squad, i have a shotgun, smg, AT, 2xAR, 2xBR, mg, explosive, and a dedicated medic (sidearm of choice, one medpack in bag, one in hand). Don't waste carrying capacity with medikits for all. Treat the AT rifle like a mg or launcher...keep it hidden/stationary until there's a clear target, then it's a one-shot killer. Don't move before firing it, as the heavy weapon penalty kills it (along with the mg's and explosives).

    The 'nauts start off with no weapons equipped, so make sure you arm them before the first battle (this is because all vanilla guns are out of the game).

  2. AAhhh haa I managed to get it done.

    For anybody else who want to do the same. I edited the sequipview.lua script file in notepad. This script lives in the assets/scripts folder as was stated in an earlier post.

    The parts I modified were:

    {

    name = "weaponselect",

    x = kMax - (wsw * 1.0),

    y = 0,

    w = wsw,

    h = wsh * 1.25,

    image = "ui_screens/ui_stores/speechbubble",

    bordersize = 4,

    headersize = 23 * screenScaleY,

    and a little bit further down

    {

    name = "weaponwindow";

    x = wsw * 0.04,

    y = wsw * 0.2,

    w = wsw * 0.94,

    h = wsh + (wsh * 0.13),

    Window

    This now lets me see more weapons without scrolling.

    A quick word of warning. This method actually breaks the scroll bar:

    W9YSeR3.jpg

    I have twelve weapons in this category, but can't access them all due to the scroll bar not working. I shall take a look at it in due course.

    Like this quite a bit. Good to see the kills and missions in there.

    Yeah, it's one of the first things I noted to be missing when I got the game. Little things like that to help me bond with my 'nauts.

    edit:

    The scroll bar was borked because the weapon window was too big for its container (the weapon select window), which doesn't really matter unless there are extra weapons in the category. So, the bit in "weaponwindow" that says h = wsh + (wsh * 0.13) should be changed to h = wsh * 1.1, which keeps it within the boundaries and with it a functioning scroll bar.

  3. Another nice feature is getting the kills and no. of missions in the ground combat view:

    5ffk3sh.jpg

    Here's how:

    Find this bit:

    Container

    {

    name = "gcstats",

    x = 10,

    y = 20 * screenScaleY + 7,

    change the y = 20 to y = 10, which moves the panel up a bit. Bung these two into the dotted label container section:

    DottedLabel

    {

    font = XenonautsLabelFontMediumOrange,

    name = "statmissions",

    name = "statmissions",

    x = 0,

    y = 10 * screenScaleY + ( 14 * screenScaleY ) * 6,

    w = kMax - 5,

    h = 14 * screenScaleY,

    left = "SEQ.STATMISSIONS",

    right = "undefined",

    leftcolor = OrangeTextColor,

    dotscolor = WhiteColor,

    rightcolor = OrangeTextColor,

    fontScale = screenScaleY,

    },

    DottedLabel

    {

    font = XenonautsLabelFontMediumOrange,

    name = "statkills",

    x = 0,

    y = 10 * screenScaleY + ( 14 * screenScaleY ) * 7,

    w = kMax - 5,

    h = 14 * screenScaleY,

    left = "SEQ.STATKILLS",

    right = "undefined",

    leftcolor = OrangeTextColor,

    dotscolor = WhiteColor,

    rightcolor = OrangeTextColor,

    fontScale = screenScaleY,

    },

    and also change y = 10 to y = 15 (keeping all the bits after it) in the primweaponframe, which moves it down a bit.

    The kill total updates during the mission too. Could probably do with some cleaning up, maybe even moving to a different space.

  4. Example 1:

    mS03tuM.jpg

    The critter has had the floor tile shot out from under him, but there he stays. He didn't even have the decency to come on down.

    Example 2:

    0cq0hoT.jpg

    This time, the 'nauts did it. A boob-up involving c4 resulted in three floor tiles on the first floor disappearing. However, just like Indiana Jones in his Last Crusade, my heroes managed to traverse the void.

  5. There's a missing animation in v1.0. It's one that isn't used though, hence why I'm not putting it in the bug forum.

    Basic armour, pistol. "crouchburst_nw" should be called "crouchburstshoot_nw", which is why there's no animation. Pistols don't burst fire in vanilla, but useful for anyone using spectres for new weapons.

  6. Probably related to the code which auto-swaps weapons? I presume you can't manually place the rifle in the backpack and it only happens when you swap the pistol in for the rifle.

    If that's the case, you probably can't do anything about it as it's probably in the source code. (For what it's worth, it works fine in vanilla if there's other items blocking all the valid tiles. What happens if you place a item on the left hand side before the pistol? Does it do the same thing then, or does the other item block it? Dunno if knowing that would be useful, just trying to think of work-arounds.)

    Cool idea by the way - always feels to me like there's far more inventory space than necessary to make loadouts require some choice.

    I think it's probably source code stuff...I changed the shape of the belt, putting extra slots under the two left ones, but I could only place single space items in there, ones that were say 2x1 (like shotgun shells) wouldn't work, as if the tiles weren't being recognised properly. Yeah, the two weapons will only swap position if I place them directly over each other (and only in the gc weirdly, doesn't do it in the base screen), so there's not much chance of a workaround.

    I think it looks far better with the smaller containers. Reduces the universal soldier effect too. The other way to do it, which is what I'm doing now, is kinda the same, but doesn't look as slick. I'm making items bigger, but it looks a bit clumsy:

    OWlEWDa.jpg

    Primaries are now 6x2, so they don't fit in the pack. Nades are tricky, they look odd taking up four spaces, that'll probably be changed to 1x2. I toyed with putting them in molles (like the ammo in the pic), which works quite well because of the separate quick throw image being left as a normal un-molled nade. So it's wrapped up in the bag or belt, then taken out of the pouch for throwing. The general idea is to try and make things take up "x" amount more room...nerfing the backpack was something like 60% less capacity (5x5 to 3x3), that worked well.

    EDIT: I've actually cracked it now, by a combination of the two approaches. I loaded up the small 3x3 backpack, but kept the primary weapon size as 6x2, and they don't swap. I think with the primary being too big for even the original size backpack (which probably ghosts in the background of the smaller one when modded in), I have managed to fool it.

  7. So, I altered the backpack and belt (in both sequipview and sequipview_gc) to make them both smaller, like so:

    5qO5t8d.jpg

    But...when in the ground combat view, I'm able to swap the rifle and the pistol. I shouldn't be able to as the rifle is to big to go in the backpack. The image distorts and hangs past the edge of the backpack, like it's using the space that is normally there (i.e. a 5x5 pack rather than 3x3). Anyone know why this happens, and if it's preventable?

  8. And speaking of the next download, here's a brief taster...

    The big change is how the weapons are available, and how they progress. There are 34 new weapons, split into five categories: breaching, rifles, heavy, sidearms (all of these have eight weapons), and melee (just two of them). The four main categories replace the vanilla tabs in the equip screen (ballistics, lasers, plasmas, and mags), and are all unlocked from the start, with two weapons in each, as each new section contains two types of weapon. Breaching has shotguns and smg's, rifles has AR's and marksman, heavy has MG's and explosives, and sidearms has pistols and machine pistols. You follow? Well, here's Clint to help you out:

    dY7xBYm.png

    UplNFon.png

    IUD6rEn.png

    KIjpyAP.png

  9. Can we get a version without the additional geoscope changes like money and dropship changes once the game reaches status complete?

    Sure, I'll include a version sans-geoscape changes in the next download.

  10. The Browning Auto-5 is giving me flashbacks of BF1942: SWoWW2.

    Turns out that it likes to pop up in a variety of places, according to the imfdb. Along with 1942, it's apparently been handled by the likes of Chuck Norris and R Lee Ermey.

    The BA5 also makes it into the next edition of Magnum Force, featuring a whopping 34 new weapons. Be ready soon-ish.

  11. Updated the first post with the download link, and more info.

    Weapons spoiler...

    S&W Model 629

    Browning Auto-5

    AK-47

    SVD

    M60

    Carl Gustav 84mm

    Nova XR-5000

    SPAS 12

    M79 GL

    AGS-17

    Saco MK19 AGL

    IMI Mini-UZI

    Armsel Striker

    SIG SG 542

    L115A1

    M249

    Desert Eagle MKVII, 50 cal

    IMI Micro-UZI

    KS-23

    Barrett M82

    M134

    Browning M2

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