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X:CE 0.30 Release Candidate 1


llunak

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In the downloads section you can find release candidate of X:CE version 0.30 .

This is an unstable release. It contains a relatively large number of changes (which is also why it is not 0.29) that would need testing before a proper 0.30 release. Please join the testing (see below for specific areas which especially need testing).


Changes between RC3 and final 0.30:

  • 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.
  • Fix cursor position when targetting multi-tile objects in some cases.
  • Make it possible to specify per-tileset music in sounds_gc.xml .
  • Hopefully avoid a possible lockup with SkipHiddenAnimations option enabled.
  • Avoid a possible lockup during GC loading.
  • Mod "localsettings" will be always the highest priority (to be used for local changes instead of modifying game files).

Release Candidate 3 is now available (xcesettings and xcebalance are the same as for RC2). Changes from RC2:

  • Fix crashes related to burst-only weapons.
  • Prefer burst fire when shooting while berserking, also fixes soldiers with burst-only weapons to fire in such cases at all.
  • Disabling of closing of door opened on the same turn is configurable per door type.

Release Candidate 2 is now available. Changes from RC1:

  • Fixed crash when loading GC save from GC.
  • Fix showing ground around UFO walls.
  • Fix autoresolve computing of normal missiles against evading targets, Condor vs Light Scout has again 100% chance to shoot down the UFO.
  • Do not hide the GC loading screen a bit too soon.

Installation:

  • In the game launcher, use "Install New Mod" in "Modding Tools" to install X:CE and the mods from the downloaded mod .zip files.
  • Exit the launcher.
  • Copy executables from assets/mods/xce to the toplevel game directory.
  • Launch the X:CE executable and verify in the launcher that it is the correct version.

Large 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.
  • Many fixes.

General improvements:

  • faster game startup and GC loading
  • GC loading tips about X:CE 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)
  • option 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)

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"

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

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.

Testing

Please test this release candidate. The areas that especially need testing are

  • changes related to shooting (see the relevant section)
  • changes listed in the balance section
  • any other changes listed
Edited by llunak
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Wow, many things!

I'm sadly not going to be able to help test it (too busy!) but a quick question: with the changes to windows, have you implemented code that allows non-blocked shots to break the glass (a la vanilla) or have you just turned off the 'window' variable for them and turned them into regular cover props? (like I did with my old window 'fix')? Thought it might be useful to know for testing purposes (and also because if it's the former, that's really cool!).

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I'm sadly not going to be able to help test it (too busy!) but a quick question: with the changes to windows, have you implemented code that allows non-blocked shots to break the glass (a la vanilla) or have you just turned off the 'window' variable for them and turned them into regular cover props? (like I did with my old window 'fix')? Thought it might be useful to know for testing purposes (and also because if it's the former, that's really cool!).

Guess :). Or read the description of that item carefully again.

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I'm currently on a playthrough with 0.28 and encountered this bizarre thing:

Screenshot 2014-09-24 03.31.46.jpg

I blew up the building at the top right, causing it to collapse. While it turned into the collapsed planks, the cruiser next to it also had its entire first floor turned to broken planks too.

Just reporting in case it may be relevant to 0.30 by chance.

Screenshot 2014-09-24 03.31.46.jpg

577e7d26a4c0a_Screenshot2014-09-2403.31.

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I'm currently on a playthrough with 0.28 and encountered this bizarre thing:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5577[/ATTACH]

I blew up the building at the top right, causing it to collapse. While it turned into the collapsed planks, the cruiser next to it also had its entire first floor turned to broken planks too.

Just reporting in case it may be relevant to 0.30 by chance.

"And here's the safety"

"Missile Launches"

"Damn it Carl!"

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There's still black tiles under ufos. (light scout at least)

Could kabill's enhanced crash sites cause this, or have I messed something with the installation or are all the LoS related changes in the .exe?

Another minor issue I'm experiencing is an ugly lag spike whenever a new ufo wave is spawned.

Edited by Skitso
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Could kabill's enhanced crash sites cause this, or have I messed something with the installation or are all the LoS related changes in the -exe?

I'm not sure ECS should make a difference unless the fix was applied directly to the submaps. You've reminded me, however, that I need to work the XCE cruiser fix into ECS and see about updating it to the modular system (I don't use it in preference to FitH so I'd completely forgot about it!).

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Thanks kabill, but I think you misunderstood my point. What I meant is that with the new CE 0.3 I can disallow manually closing any door the same turn it was opened. While I like the mechanic, it really doesn't make any sense other than with ufo doors. So the situation atm is that either I can open and close doors at will or not do it at all and I'd like to have this new mechanic, but only with ufo/alien base doors.

Edited by Skitso
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What I meant is that with the new CE 0.3 I can disallow manually closing any door the same turn it was opened. While I like the mechanic, it really doesn't make any sense other than with ufo doors. So the situation atm is that either I can open and close and doors at will or not do it at all and I'd like to have this new mechanic, but only with ufo/alien base doors.

I can add an explicit option for that, but to me it doesn't really make any sense to have it selectable. Door spamming is always the same case, it's just that with UFO doors there are more opportunities to do it.

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Yeah, it's more of a personal logic issue for me than a game play related problem. It just feels odd I can't open and close a normal household door within a single turn. It just makes more sense to limit it to hydraulic/sci-fi/alien/automatic doors (a'la Star Trek/Wars) that just takes their time before closing again.

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And there it goes my hope that modders will get few new things to tackle with ..I am all for general improvements like "many UI improvements" and bug fixing but can't we ( modders) get some of requested things (I know you made expectation that you are not doing requests but cut us some slack ok ?).

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