Mikhail Ragulin

Well, that's kind of the point. As explained in the first post, most of the weapons used would be considered obsolete by the time the game is set in, due to the standardisation of cartridge sizes for NATO. It's not just the Russian weapons that are out-dated. I've included Russian ones for a couple of reasons. Firstly, diversity. I aiming for a weapon selection from all over the world. And secondly, which will most likely apply to anyone doing a mod with more than one ballistic tier, is that the Russian calibres are slightly larger than their western counterparts, which is important when it comes to differentiating between the damage levels of the tiers. Take the AK-47, for example. Now, this isn't in the next edition - it's explained a few posts back that the more well-known/over-used weapons are being culled - but it fit quite nicely. The M'nauts Xenopedia explains that the gun was selected for use due to both its damage model and its versatility, which allows it to function in a variety of climates, and is therefore ideal for the M'nauts. From frozen wastelands to sandy deserts, it works. As for the other Russian weapons, they all fill a niche. The SVT-40, although aged, provides more punch than the L1A1 due to it's larger round. Same too for the PTRS-41. All the weapons in the AT department are obsolete - the Mauser was finished after WW1, the Boys at the advent of WW2. But, in M'nauts, that doesn't matter - progression doesn't necessarily involve inventing new weapons or going for smaller calibre modern guns - it means delivering maximum ballistic firepower to the battlefield, no matter what the era.

Reflections can be a bugger, but I've come up with a good way of dealing with them. I'm a gfx noob, so this is stuff I've taught myself, and consequently might be basic stuff that's taken for granted - you might already be doing it. There are a couple of ways to tackle lens flare. First, the easiest - is if I can't find a weapon with a good photo, I look for a different gun. One with a high-res picture and little or no reflection. But that's cheating. Second, is to sample the colour from near the flare (but notably darker) - for example, if there's a flare above the magazine, I'll pick from a darker spot somewhere along the barrel. Then, select a brush with a soft (transparent) round tip. If possible, this should be larger than the flare area - thought this might not be practical if it's going to overhang the edges (which means more clean-up work). Double click over the area, and it shades it. Bingo. Same applies for buttstocks - just make sure it's a colour that matches, but a transparent light grey usually does the job. For elongated flares, like up the buttstock (matron!), I just dab all the way up. Or if it's really bad, copy another area of the stock, and paste it over, then blend it in with a roughener then a smoother. Good done, world fooled.

That's the second "Michael Bay" reference I've seen you direct at mods recently; the first named XNT and M'nauts as culprits. What gives? And even if they do add "more boom and bang", there's no need to be off about it.

Maybe try setting them to be manufacturable?

It's possible. But a lot of work. Everything needed is in the game already.

Another oft-requested one is ranks. If they could be pulled out into an xml, along with their structure - i.e. based on number of soldiers (like the OG) rather than combat experience - people would be pleased.

So...it's in the equip view back at base, it can be given to a solider...but doesn't show up in ground combat?

Aha! Thanks, I'll go in for round two. Update: It works. Hello disposable RPG's.

Yeah, more stats would be good. Helps one to bond with the 'nauts. How about putting in the kills and mission counts into the GC equip view (like we already have in M'nauts)? I'm pretty sure that it would meet with universal approval. It's in here. Also, Caaygun started a thread a week or two back (here), which has some requests in, in case you've not seen it.

I think some kind of pictorial with clear steps defined is needed, and stickied up top. Basic stuff like where to find the steam game folder, how to copy it to a new location - something foolproof. I'll do one for the next M'nauts release, but if someone wants to beat me to it, go ahead.

And here is some update news. The new version will be finished within a few days. In addition to the changes laid out in the above posts, I've also been working on a few more things: First up, there's been a few weapons replaced. The SMG category has had a full re-work. I've gone for the larger type of SMG, to differentiate them more from the machine pistols, as weapons like the MP5K kind of straddle the two. Also, I wanted to get rid of the more common weapons that are found in games/movies, which means the death of the MP5, MP5k, AK-47, SPAS-12, and H&k G3. They're noob weapons. Anyway, the new line of SMG's, and a tasty new AT rifle (which replaces the ridiculously heavy Solothurn): Some beauties there, and the top two have enormous ammo drums. However, they shoot peas. And that big filthy AT rifle is on the third tier, meaning that the PTRS-41 has moved up to top-dog in the AT's. AR's had a re-jigging, as the AK-47 and G3 have gone. Shotguns too, as I wasn't comfortable with burst fire shotguns - it was a convenient way of scaling damage, as they were all 12 ga. I managed to find a couple of big dirty 10ga to fill the upper tiers - the Ithaca Mag-10 and the Winchester M1901. So, that means bye-bye to the SPAS and the Atchisson. The explosives category, which was filled by half-arsed grenade launchers, has been replaced by the solitary RPG-7. We nearly had a line of Panzerfausts, people, but one couldn't get single-shot weapons to work. Also in the weapons news, there's been a standardisation of recoil (SMG's all do 50, LMG's 60) instead of the sliding scale that is currently in. I'll explain this though when I put the download up. And Ar's were a bit to powerful with the two 3-shot bursts per turn. So, behold the double-tap. They now do a two-shot burst (still twice per turn), that is a tiny bit more accurate. And has a cool new sound-effect, but maybe not as cool as the new SMG sound...which is just adorable. There's been more standardisation across the tiers...bigger calibers equal better guns in all the tiers now, as in some (SMG's, MP's, and shotguns) I was using more shots (or more shots per burst) to simulate progression. So, I'm pretty happy with how the weapons are structured, and extremely pleased with the diversity they offer. Another thing I'm really pleased with is ground combat. I've done a few changes, which I'm still working on. The premise is that UFO's that are shot down yield next to no materials (alloys & alenium). The main source of these is now in landed UFO's (of which there are more). This has given variety to ground missions, as there is no need to enter the UFO in crashed missions, as they are all dead in there (the UFO is a mess). The landed missions, on the other hand, are pretty tough. There is also the danger of more night missions due to the need to secure materials from landed craft. It's development has mainly been occurring in this thread. The AI scripts have been jumbled up a bit too, which again helps with combat variety - sometimes the player is forced onto the defensive, which seems to have gone from vanilla. This depends on mission type and alien race. There's also another change, which I'll keep secret, to ground combat - it's remarkably simple and makes the battlefield more fluid, I'm enjoying it. So, keep your eyes peeled as it'll be ready soon. Almost forgot - here's some of what's planned for the future. Vehicles will be getting the ballistic treatment at some stage. And another thing to look at is the weapon images. At the moment, they're photo's - I'm far better at making them now than the first release. There are some ways at standardising these though, using filters, which would probably be more fitting with the rest of the game. I might turn my attention to it now that all the weapons and images are in place, and go for something along these lines: In hindsight, maybe the StG 44 wasn't the best choice, as that's one of my better images. However, if one zooms in the effect becomes more apparent. The top one is the current image, then the three below have been run through a filter. I copied the image into a new layer, gave it 50% transparency, and then applied an oil painting filter. It comes in 3 choices - rough , medium, or high. I like them all. From a cleaning up perspective the high and medium ones would mean less work. High might be too smooth, I'm not sure, I'll probably go with medium. Or high.

The problem could actually be in items.xml: <Row ss:AutoFitHeight="0"> <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">weapon.AlienPlasmaPistol</Data></Cell> <Cell><Data ss:Type="Number">5000</Data></Cell> <Cell ss:Index="4"><Data ss:Type="String">Capped</Data></Cell> <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">items/assaultrifle</Data></Cell> <Cell ss:StyleID="s65"><Data ss:Type="String">Item.Dispose.Destroyed</Data></Cell> </Row> The entries for other weapons (that we know are useable) are slightly different: <Row ss:AutoFitHeight="0"> <Cell ss:StyleID="s70"><Data ss:Type="String">weapon.pistol</Data></Cell> <Cell><Data ss:Type="Number">0</Data></Cell> <Cell ss:Index="4"><Data ss:Type="String">Normal</Data></Cell> <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">weapons/airplane/rocket</Data></Cell> <Cell ss:StyleID="s65"><Data ss:Type="String">Item.Dispose.Destroyed</Data></Cell> </Row> Try deleting the original entry and putting this in: <Row ss:AutoFitHeight="0"> <Cell ss:StyleID="s70"><Data ss:Type="String">weapon.AlienPlasmaPistol</Data></Cell> <Cell><Data ss:Type="Number">0</Data></Cell> <Cell ss:Index="4"><Data ss:Type="String">Unlimited</Data></Cell> <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">weapons/airplane/rocket</Data></Cell> <Cell ss:StyleID="s65"><Data ss:Type="String">Item.Dispose.Destroyed</Data></Cell> </Row>

You'll regret saying that. First up, inventory container sizes. The appearance can be changed (ie a backpack to 3x3 squares), but the game still thinks it's 5x5. If this could be exported into an xml, that'd be great. Also, how about other things that probably wouldn't be covered by xml exports, such as putting a drop-down soldier role menu in the barracks screen?

I think the problem is likely the whole entry. For the human weapons, there's a slightly different code (it looks more spread out if one opens the file in notepad): <Row ss:AutoFitHeight="0"> <Cell ss:StyleID="s65"><Data ss:Type="String">weapon.pistol</Data><NamedCell ss:Name="_FilterDatabase"/></Cell> <Cell ss:StyleID="s65"><Data ss:Type="String">weapons/ballistic/pistol</Data><NamedCell ss:Name="_FilterDatabase"/></Cell> <Cell ss:StyleID="s65"><Data ss:Type="String">weapons/ballistic/pistol</Data><NamedCell ss:Name="_FilterDatabase"/></Cell> <Cell ss:StyleID="s65"><Data ss:Type="String">ballistic</Data><NamedCell ss:Name="_FilterDatabase"/></Cell> <Cell ss:StyleID="s66"><Data ss:Type="Boolean">0</Data><NamedCell ss:Name="_FilterDatabase"/></Cell> <Cell ss:StyleID="s66"><Data ss:Type="Number">20</Data><NamedCell ss:Name="_FilterDatabase"/></Cell> <Cell ss:StyleID="s66"><Data ss:Type="Number">16</Data><NamedCell ss:Name="_FilterDatabase"/></Cell> <Cell ss:StyleID="s66"><Data ss:Type="Number">15</Data><NamedCell ss:Name="_FilterDatabase"/></Cell> <Cell ss:StyleID="s66"><Data ss:Type="Number">0.9</Data><NamedCell ss:Name="_FilterDatabase"/></Cell> <Cell ss:StyleID="s66"><Data ss:Type="Number">2</Data><NamedCell ss:Name="_FilterDatabase"/></Cell> <Cell ss:StyleID="s66"><Data ss:Type="Number">3</Data><NamedCell ss:Name="_FilterDatabase"/></Cell> <Cell ss:StyleID="s66"><Data ss:Type="Number">2</Data><NamedCell ss:Name="_FilterDatabase"/></Cell> <Cell ss:StyleID="s65"><Data ss:Type="String">ammo.ballistic.pistol</Data><NamedCell ss:Name="_FilterDatabase"/></Cell> <Cell ss:StyleID="s66"><Data ss:Type="Number">20</Data></Cell> <Cell ss:Index="16"><Data ss:Type="String">Ballistics</Data></Cell> </Row> That's for the ballistic pistol - there's extra bits ("filterdatabase") that might be needed for the weapon to appear. Try copying a ballistic entry (ie the pistol), and then fill it in with an alien weapon name etc., and delete the original alien one. And the numbers don't mean much, the only ones that work are the clip size, weight, and size.

Yeah, I've seen your encounters with the fire bug! I wondered what was going on when I set dissipation to 100 and they were still cooking towards the end of a mission. The ufo's get extra help in being cleared now, as I've set light and heavy engines as power cores.

Yep, I missed a torpedo, good spot. Looks like the vanilla airstrike values have gone down somewhere between 1.03 and 1.06, just checked them. Might just nerf 'em a little bit more. The power core explosion for all downed craft is working well. It gives more variety in the missions - there's a big difference between downed and landed ufo's, and not just in the smoke/destruction. In the smaller birds, I've not had to enter the ufo as all the crew have been cooked. It's nice to have missions that don't finish with the inevitable breach-and-shoot-the-command-turkeys. Nice gentle sweeps of the map, usually ending with a nasty bugger holed up on an upper floor of a building. Stark contrast to the fully-crewed landed ships. Downed ufo's are good for team building, and cash, and the serious stuff is in the landed ones. I've also mixed up some of the ai behaviours too, which provides even more variance.

Kabill - I've compiled a list of props that are inside vanilla ships (props that contain alloys/alenium). I might put more resources in them, which would make it necessary to be extra careful on upon breaching. I pulled them out of maps/ufos, do they look about right? Ignore the empty "damaged" row, that's just for the datacore entries.

Hello cowboys vs aliens.

If it won't show up in the equip screen, weapons.xml is the likely problem. If you post the entry you have for any of the alien plasmas from weapons.xml I should be able to figure it out.

It's possible that, if you've been trying to install other mods in the steam folder, the steam folder might not be completely clean (steam won't delete non-steam/extra files which could be causing a problem). I'd suggest deleting the Xeno folder in steam and doing a new download. That's the only thing I can think of, as I haven't had any crashes using it, and no-one else has reported any. Other than that, it might not be compatible with the latest Xeno release (1.05? 06?) - although it should be, as the changes have mainly been in the exe since 1.03.

Maybe with the windows, seeing as how it might look a bit odd with bullets passing through unbroken ones, it could be an idea to set them all (visually) to broken. And then just explain it away as "when UFO's land, they so loud, they break all the windows".

It's best to make a copy of the game folder and placing it out of the reach of steam. I don't use the steam version to play, I just leave that as a "clean" Xenonauts that I copy to elsewhere to play, if that makes sense. It stops steam from altering things.

Probably not many at the moment. When I've done the next update (in a few days or so), I'll look at which ones can be used together (or easily integrated) and do a list. Update news to follow...

It should be, but I can't guarantee it - I can't find a list of what files the portait pack changes, although I doubt they'd be the same ones. Try installing Jsleezy's first, and then M'nauts over the top of it.

Also, bus stops - they use windows too.