XMC Part 1: (Ground Combat) Version 1.0 for XCE 0.33 HF1

[aajs]

XMC Part 1: (Ground Combat) Version 1.0 for XCE 0.33 HF1

NOTICE!

I will soon be supporting only XCE 0.34 for my mods.

This is to allow me to create some new dropships.

Additionally I was asked a while back if I could make the Ammo that a soldier already had in his backpack/belt upgrade alongside the weapon. Its small request however needs a lot of work as I have to pretty much give each weapon its own ammunition. When I start this, I have no idea what will happen to people who are part way through a game and then upload an update.

Therefore its easier for me to stop supporting for 0.33 and start up a new thread.

Introduction:

“Xenonaut More Choices” is designed for players that liked the look, feel and playability of the vanilla version but would just like more content in the game. This is pretty much a total overhaul mod but has been broken into parts to allow players to more easily pick and choose what add-ons they want in their game. If you do not like a certain part of this mod just swap it out with another mod of you choice.

PART 1 - Ground Combat:

This is the main part of my mod and this is pretty much required to make the other mods work well. It all about soldier equipment and adds tons of items and weapons to the game.

The Mod is quite heavily weighted around ballistics and like such TV programs as Stargate etc. Ballistic weapons are still viable even when more (powerful) plasma weapons exist.

We have tried to create a slightly more RPG feel to the Mod and have given an impoverished start to the game. This reflects the fact that the Xenonaut operation was never really taken seriously until the Aliens invaded, this is why you start with even lower Tech weapons than the vanilla game. However, when the invasion started you were suddenly taken very seriously and nations began funding you. To that end you start the game cash rich but with very little equipment.

Features at a Glance:

• Unique Drag Textures
  
• Tons of Items/weapons
  
• Estimated Research Time for Projects in Man Days (Allows better planning)
  
• Impoverished Start – (Weapons start lower Tech than vanilla version)
  
• Easily identifiable weapon tiers (Weapons have been ranked)
  
• Weapons/Items Sorted for easy location
  
• Unique Particle effects, Sounds etc.
  
• New Weapon Classes (all upgradable)
  
• New Tech Trees
  
• Weapon Ranking System
  

Economy:

Originally my set of mods had lots of manufacture for profit options, however after extensive play testing it has been decided that it makes the game a little boring. So the list of equipment that requires manufacture has been greatly reduced. However there is still plenty of opportunities still left to make money through selling alien artefacts and manufacture. (Sorry if this disappoints anybody)

NOTE: Many items are now returned to the stores and are not automatically sold off at the end of ground missions. This decision is now yours to make; Do you sell them off for profit or keep the to create new technologies?

GUI Changes:

I have tried to keep them to the minimum however some of the menus needed to be widened to take longer weapon and manufacture descriptions. I have not tested any other GUI overhaul mods with this Mod, however as long as this Mod is number one in the list it should work fine.

Installation files:

Download the mod.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/hp2m59x7tjzgrq0/ChoicesPart1.rar

Unpack the file to your mods folder as usual.

(My files have bee .rar'd rather than .zip'd for better compression and faster download time)

This mod requires to be the highest priority number on in the list. (Number1). Then all other XMC mods need to follow in sequential order...(Of course you may not want to use all). Finally adjust all of your other mods to be prioritised after the XMC Mods.

Recommended Mods and Priory order for amazing play-through:

1. Choices Part 1 – Ground Combat

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/hp2m59x7tjzgrq0/ChoicesPart1.rar

Details: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/13248-XMC-Part-1-%28Ground-Combat%29-Version-1-0-for-XCE-0-33-HF1

**** Minor Update of Missing Strings 20/10/2015 ****

2. Choices Part 2 – All Things Alien

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/rr1zmlf3bhpck6a/ChoicesPart2.rar

Details: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/13249-XMC-Part-2-%28All-Things-Alien%29-Version-1-0-for-XCE-0-33-HF1

**** Fixed Bug that crashed game on launch 28/10/2015 ****

**** If you had a previous version the delete the whole Choices Part 2 mod before downloading new one ****

3. Choices Part 3 – Aircraft

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/297oc99mupat8c6/ChoicesPart3.rar

Details: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/13250-XMC-Part-3-%28Aircraft%29-Version-1-0-for-XCE-0-33-HF1

**** Couple of minor bug fixes for manufacturing aircraft 20/10/2015****

4. Choices Part 4 – Armour

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/98qfc7m2n7vr76t/ChoicesPart4.rar

Details: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/13251-XMC-Part-4-%28Armour%29-Version-1-0-for-XCE-0-33-HF1

**** Updated with Max's Improved Xenopedia Entries 06/10/2015 ****

5. Choices Part 5 – Buildings

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/1bhwt79ov0rbtbb/ChoicesPart5.rar

Details: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/13252-XMC-Part-5-%28Buildings%29-Version-1-0-for-XCE-0-33-HF1

**** Updated again as last upload appeared to have failed 01/11/2015 ****

6. Choices Part 6 – Vehicles

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/012wj05okbijasz/ChoicesPart6.rar

Details: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/13292-XMC-Part-6-%28Ground-Combat-Vehicles%29-Version-1-0-for-XCE-0-33-HF1

**** Updated Missing Shadows on Jeep 06/10/2015 ****

7. Armoured Assault!

Download: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=12

Details: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/11692-v1-5-X-CE-Armoured-Assault%21-A-Vehicle-Rebalance-Mod

Note: Mod Already Included in XCE 0.34

8. Fire in the Hole (My Favourite Mod)

Download: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=18

Details: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/10909-v1-5-X-CE-Fire-in-the-Hole%21-Destructible-UFO-Hulls-%28v1-3-3%29

9. Kabill's Random Map Artic Collection Download: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=14

Details: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/11422-v1-5-X-CE-Kabill-s-%28Sort-of%29-Random-Maps%21

Note: Mod Already Included in XCE 0.34

10. Kabill's Random Map Pack Dessert Style

Download: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=13

Details: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/11422-v1-5-X-CE-Kabill-s-%28Sort-of%29-Random-Maps%21

Note: Mod Already Included in XCE 0.34

11. Kabill's Random Map Pack Farm Edition

Download: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=6

Details: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/11422-v1-5-X-CE-Kabill-s-%28Sort-of%29-Random-Maps%21

Note: Mod Already Included in XCE 0.34

12. Khall's Tundra Set

Download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fb91wkio5t65fks/Khall's%20Tundra%20Tileset.rar

Details: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/10627-Khall-s-Tundra-Tileset?highlight=tundra

Note: Mod Already Included in XCE 0.34

13. Khall's More Portraits

Download: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=53

Details: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/12212-V1-09-X-CE-0-30-Khall-s-More-Portraits-Pack-V1?highlight=khall%27s+portraits

Note: Mod Already Included in XCE 0.34

14. Lore+

Download: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=55

Details: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/9159-The-Lore-project

Note: Mod Already Included in XCE 0.34

15. New Cars

Download: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/12275-XCE-0-30-HF1-New-Car-Mod?highlight=cars

Details: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/12275-XCE-0-30-HF1-New-Car-Mod?highlight=cars

Note: Mod Already Included in XCE 0.34

16. Skitso's Sounds of Pain

Download: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=102

Details: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/12266-Skitso-s-Sounds-of-Pain?highlight=Skitso%27s+Sounds+Pain

17. Skitso's Ultimate Megamix Map Pack 2000

Note: Mod Already Included in XCE 0.34

18. Furies, Terror and Dreadnoughts Oh My

Note: Mod Already Included in XCE 0.34

19. Skitso's Alien Base Booster Pack

Note: Mod Already Included in XCE 0.34

20. Skitso's Improved Tile Art Pack

Note: Mod Already Included in XCE 0.34

21. Restored Community Map Pack

Note: Mod Already Included in XCE 0.34

22. Ambience Forest

Note: Mod Already Included in XCE 0.34

23. Extended Weapon Descriptions for Fighters

Note: Mod Already Included in XCE 0.34

Then of course any Mods you like followed by the usual X:CE mods

Mods known to be completely incompatible with the Choices Mods

Below is a list of Mods proven to completely mess up the choices mods.. If you use any mods in the below list then I am afraid I cannot provide any support.... However, this does not mean that any of these mods listed here are not excellent mods in their own right.

1) X-Division (Not compatible as its a complete overhaul mod, I still recommend playing it but not with my mods at the same time)

Starting Funds:

2,000,000 Original Vanilla Amount.

This has now had lots of testing, if you set it any higher you will be able to build to much at the beginning and it will really spoil your game.

NOTE: If you are providing us feedback on game balance etc., then please let us know if you have changed your starting funds from the default before posting as our game balance is not just based on stats but also on how expensive and difficult items are to produce.

LIMITATIONS:

In order to get the game to play as I intended I had to add an additional manufacturing category that was not intended to be available to the players. Unfortunately I cannot prevent it appearing in the manufacturing category list. If you stumble across it, then you will find an additional category with no name and all items within it are labelled none. Please ignore this as it is there to provide game functionality and none of the items labelled none are intended to be created. In fact the requirements to create them don't even exist. I am only mentioning this as some players stumble across it and think it is a bug.

TIPS:

This game deliberately has a lot of content, hence the name "More Choices", however it is not a requirement to research everything. You can complete the game using many strategies, however most vanilla research projects have reduced completion timescales. To help you plan estimated research times have been added to all project descriptions. Have fun.

History:

This is part of an older Mod I wrote a while ago, I then added a lot more content and split it into categories so players could pick and choose the parts they want and more easily incorporate other mods they like.

CREDITS:

Big Thanks to:

Drages (My Unofficial Mentor)

Specialist Skill: Knowing Everything

Reactocore (Playtesting and feedback)

Specialist Skill: PR Expert

Rallige (Playtesting / Balance & Bug Reporting)

Specialist Skill: Finding Bugs

Soul Filcher (Graphics Support)

Specialist Skill: Photoshop & Blender Expert

Content Updates:

We still have plenty of content to add and will release small updates to this Mod from time to time, however it should not effect the play through of you game if you decide to update as newer versions are released. (I will include update entries for all my mods under this post for easy reading)

Next Mini Update Version:

Additional XMC Breifings Done

Finer Tuning of GC Weapons Done

Xenopedia Update Done Big Thanks to MAX

Slight GUI Tweaks Done

Missing Sprites Done

Starting Funds Review Done

Longer Game Done

Garage with Starting Vehicle Done

Depleted Alienium Weapon rebalance Done

Future Versions:

Counter measures on dropships (Partial)

Possible localised fire when using laser weapons

Research / Manufacture re-balance Done

Armour Stats Available in Game

Ammo Swap on Weapon Upgrades

New Aliens Partial

3d Drag Textures for Vanilla Lasers etc Partial

Larger Garage in Buildings Mod Done

Feedback

We are very interesting in your ideas and will obviously try to take on board all of your points, however some requests are directly at odds with those of others, which will mean we can obviously only implement one of them.

Additionally when providing feedback of weapons balance, please remember weapons are not just balanced on the stats that you see in the tool tips. It includes weight, Inventory Size, the usual stats but additionally, how much, how long and how expensive it is to produce. Additionally we have hidden some slightly overpowered weapons down some weaker starting technology branches. This was intended and was meant to keep players on their toes and add a little extra angle to the game.

However, if you feel like you have found a weapon that is way out of balance we are keen to hear about it.

What People are Saying:

- The general design of the mod is astonishing, graphic design is clean, the line-up of the game is intuitive and very well done. I was really surprised with "Refit" feature of this game. Bravo! Well done AAJS.

- The general rules of targeting, distance and accuracy are awesome! I need to say that is the best part of the game, the difference of accurate shot at distance and burst shot in short range is incredible. Other Bravo for that!

-AAJS! My congratulations about your work, the art is amazing, the choices are incredible and the game is pretty near to vanilla game in concept and artwork.

Tactical Dragon

Forgot to thank you once more for this mod, and than everyone else who's helping you. This little gem, while still somewhat rough around the edges, is damn close to being "the way Xenonauts were meant to be played".

Rallige

What you have here, when released, is practically a new game experience entirely. That's a big deal, almost akin to a release of a new xenonauts game. People like xenonauts and would be thrilled with something that expands and changes it significantly.

Reactocore

...your mod(s) my favorite and I love how much effort you put into support. Just created an account so I could let you know about this stuff.

Hibblebeep

Edited January 2, 2016 by aajs

[Rallige]

I am literally in tears of joy. Can't wait to play it for 48 hrs straight. Who needs to study medicine anyway? (I'm a medical student )

[Reactorcore]

Hmm, for the sake of easier viewing and easier advertising when putting up links to let people know the mod exists and make it easier for them to get the whole picture instantly that this is a massive mod split in 5 parts for modularity, along with all the download links in one place for the sake of convenience, you could make a new thread like an index for all five mods that has links to their respective threads (for more information) and also all five download links (for convinience).

Or alternatively, have links to other parts in each thread, so while people browse one part, they can jump to another one from any other part.

Either way, I'm pretty excited to give this a playthrough in full force a bit later (a tad busy with real life atm), along with the recommended list you put up there. Thank you for finishing this! : )

[q3ker]

Recommended Mods and Priory order for amazing play-through:

1. Choices Part 1 – Ground Combat

2. Choices Part 2 – All Things Alien

3. Choices Part 3 – Aircraft

4. Choices Part 4 – Armour

5. Choices Part 5 – Buildings

6. Choices Part 6 – Vehicles (When Available)

7. Armoured Assault!

8. Fire in the Hole (My Favourite Mod)

9. Random Map Pack Arctic Collection

10. Random Map Pack Dessert Style

11. Random Map Pack Farm Edition

12. Khall's Tundra Set

13. Khall's More Portraits

14. Lore+

15. New Cars

16. Skitso's Sounds of Pain

So, where in this list to put XCE mod? I mean, priory order.

[aajs]

So, where in this list to put XCE mod? I mean, priory order.

They are always last (for any mod), I did not mention them specifically as they are not really optional but required.

Sorry for any confusion.

Also I am going to drop some links in for my mods and other mods I am recommending to make things a little easier. (Reactorcore suggest it and I thinks that's a good idea)

I will pop a little note at the bottom for others who may have the same question.

Edited August 10, 2015 by aajs

[q3ker]

They are always last (for any mod), I did not mention them specifically as they are not really optional but required.

Sorry for any confusion.

Also I am going to drop some links in for my mods and other mods I am recommending to make things a little easier. (Reactorcore suggest it and I thinks that's a good idea)

I will pop a little note at the bottom for others who may have the same question.

Thank you.

Intuitively I did so, but there were doubts...

And how about Skitso's Map Pack - is this compatible?

[aajs]

Thank you.

Intuitively I did so, but there were doubts...

And how about Skitso's Map Pack - is this compatible?

Not sure about Skitso's Map pack, I don't generally like to miss out on any of his mods, but I think some of his maps got integrated into game and some are not modular. I am afraid I have not done any testing with his map pack... I think he also had a mod to add more choices to base missions but again don't know if that got integrated into game or not.

[q3ker]

Khall's Tundra Set - can you reload this mod? Attached link dont work

I find this mod in other place, but mod launcher did not recognize him

[aajs]

Khall's Tundra Set - can you reload this mod? Attached link dont work

I find this mod in other place, but mod launcher did not recognize him

Okay I updated the link I had to his mod, however he also has it published on Steam if you have access to that.

[q3ker]

Okay I updated the link I had to his mod, however he also has it published on Steam if you have access to that.

Thanks, link now OK, but this mod is stil doesnt work.. oh, whatever

[KevinHann]

Just bypass the mod installer and unrar it in your game folder.

[q3ker]

Just bypass the mod installer and unrar it in your game folder.

I try it, but nonetheless. Mod launcher just dont see this folder.

[SoulFilcher]

I try it, but nonetheless. Mod launcher just dont see this folder.

Make sure you don't have another folder inside the main mod folder. Everything should be inside the main folder or the game won't find what it needs to recognize the mod.

[q3ker]

Make sure you don't have another folder inside the main mod folder. Everything should be inside the main folder or the game won't find what it needs to recognize the mod.

It seems like everything is in order:

http://joxi.ru/a2X7kbYsYWYlmg

Maybe some key files it missing or damaged? But i download this mod from different sources and all the same.

[KevinHann]

Does it not work if you paste it in the main game folder (not the mod folder)?

[q3ker]

Does it not work if you paste it in the main game folder (not the mod folder)?

Maybe, but how to find out if it work? Wait until tundra map randomly appears?

[aajs]

Maybe, but how to find out if it work? Wait until tundra map randomly appears?

Personally I would not bother adding it if its giving you problems, Its nice having the map packs but you will already have some artic maps from the other mods in the list.

Its not worth getting frustrated over. I am sure somebody will be creating another map pack soon which you can just add in when its ready... I am going to have a go at making my own map pack shortly but just want to get some more vehicles made first.

[q3ker]

Personally I would not bother adding it if its giving you problems, Its nice having the map packs but you will already have some artic maps from the other mods in the list.

Its not worth getting frustrated over. I am sure somebody will be creating another map pack soon which you can just add in when its ready... I am going to have a go at making my own map pack shortly but just want to get some more vehicles made first.

Thank you. And then it 6 part (Vehicles) be ready, it will require to start new game?

[aajs]

Thank you. And then it 6 part (Vehicles) be ready, it will require to start new game?

The vehicle mod will be okay to add at any point in your game, however you will not be able to research the vehicles that's research trigger has already been met.

For example if the vehicle relied on you first researching alieniun then this vehicle would not be researchable if you researched that before adding the mod. However that would not matter as that vehicle would probably be considered too low tech for you to bother building by that stage anyway.

So in short it won't matter when you add the mod, but you will only be able to research vehicles that area higher tech level.

Hope that kind of makes sense.

There is a slight delay on the vehicle mod as I ran out of skills. I have some 3D models that I am struggling to convert into sprites. I so far have only one vehicle (soulfilcher kindly conveted it for me). So I have had to stop progress in order to aquire some "Blender" skills. Hopefully Ican get this done before you complete your playthrough.

[Flyingsub]

I like it when your soldiers weapons automatically get upgraded when researched. Very nice.

[Rallige]

I like it when your soldiers weapons automatically get upgraded when researched. Very nice.

That's nice indeed. I wish their ammo would upgrade though - after I swapped my AKs for M16s, my guys still had those bigger clips on their belts.

[Rallige]

So, I'm playing on the Veteran difficulty and the only problem I have so far (apart from random typos in xenopedia) is pretty much the unlimited budget you have from the start. Seriously, I got like what, 30 million dollars? I already have 3 interceptor bases in october and NO WAY to spend that money anymore. And thanks to wast interception coverage, It's highly unlikely I'll be losing any nation from the council any time soon. And my income is only rising thx to relations getting better and better.

Is this a planned feature or some kind of mod conflict? I have additional mods enabled, but none of those screw with economy, at least as far as I know.

[Havlicova]

I ran into two things:

-the Xenopedia Pictures of the Hero and the Seeker Armor are switched, I believe. In the Equipment screen the Hero Armor has the visual of the Seeker armor and vice versa.

-Using the advanced shields renders my soldiers invisible

[aajs]

That's nice indeed. I wish their ammo would upgrade though - after I swapped my AKs for M16s, my guys still had those bigger clips on their belts.

Aahhhh this is due to a slight technical issue I imposed on myself...(its the modding equivalent of painting yourself into a corner)

Basically I added a lot more ammo types as you can see to keep things interesting, however I still have some ammos that are shared across weapon ranks or classes, therefore if I upgrade the ammo along with the weapons, some weapons that have not yet been upgraded will suddenly have no ammo available. The only way around this and to make it totally foolproof is to give every weapon its own individual ammo...

I will put this into a later version of this mod but its not a complete show stopper for now, just a little annoying.

I have some other pressing things to sort out first and want to get my vehicles part of the mod finished before going back and tidying some of the other issues.

So hope you can live with it for now:)

Edited August 17, 2015 by aajs

[aajs]

So, I'm playing on the Veteran difficulty and the only problem I have so far (apart from random typos in xenopedia)

Haha I knew I would get picked up on the typos, I have updated those xenopedia entries so many times and every time I go back in there I still find spelling and grammatical errors. I have even run multiple spell checkers....

This I am definitely going to get back to.

is pretty much the unlimited budget you have from the start. Seriously, I got like what, 30 million dollars? I already have 3 interceptor bases in october and NO WAY to spend that money anymore. And thanks to wast interception coverage, It's highly unlikely I'll be losing any nation from the council any time soon. And my income is only rising thx to relations getting better and better.

Is this a planned feature or some kind of mod conflict? I have additional mods enabled, but none of those screw with economy, at least as far as I know.

Doh! No this is not supposed to happen, I have messed up somewhere here, I planned to give more money than the original version however sounds like a may have accidently added a zero somewhere along the line(When Testing). I think the vanilla game start with 2 million and my mod is supposed to have 3 million not 30.

Now days I run a separate modular mod called testing and put all my temporary values in that.(So never goes out accidently)

This is one I may not be able to leave for my next release.. I can only apologise, I hope that does not ruin your game experience too much as I don't know how you can suddenly dump a load of cash.

*Hope I has spelt this correct*

Actually if its not too much trouble, the spelling I can probably manage with a better spell checker, but if you notice any xenopedia entries that make no sense or think you can do better...(not too difficult I know) let me know.

Edited August 17, 2015 by aajs