XMC Part 1: (Ground Combat) Version 2.0 for X:CE 0.34.1 and Above

[Reactorcore]

Playthrough LOG 5:

Complete Global Saturation, Reapers, Androns and Loads o' Money.

More UFOs, this time the corvettes arrive, along with all the horrible things inside them, namely Reapers. And androns too, but I don't mind them too much.

My team is pretty much outfitted as randomly as it can get. The prototypes provided by the science team allows me to have a the latest and best tech outfitted for each soldier. Since I'm all for a varied experience, no soldier is same. Theres a sniper, theres a rocketeer, shotgunner, rifle man, shield units with pistols, phasers and a lot of other good stuff.

On the geoscape, research is progressing so fast that I'm completing projects faster than what I get, thanks to three bases with a total of 165 scientists across multiple bases collaborating together. One base is completely dedicated to pumping ridiculous money via alenium grenades, totaling about 65 million dollars so far.

All bases are coming fully online, providing full complement of 6 fighters per base and triple radar arrays, covering almost the whole map. Each also have 4 defense cannons against invaders, a med bay and a crew of 10 soldiers incase of an invasion.

By the end of this session, I now have access to plasma weapons and other Rank 4 weaponry. The rate at which I unlock new tiers is really fast, that I barely even got that much use from Rank 2 or Rank 3 equipment.

I was positively suprised by the command center upgrade, as it shrank and gave space to 3 slots in the base that was otherwise completely filled. I would prefer if the research option would display a loud warning that this is a one-time thing for existing bases only, otherwise players will find themselves dissapointed that their newly constructed bases after this upgrade wont have this feature. Additionally, it may be wise to provide 3 research opportunities to perform this research, to give 3 chances during a playthrough to upgrade the command centers.

Meanwhile, I was left confused with the Troop conditioning and Genetic treatment, as it did not outline clearly what benefits do I get ingame for researching these things.

I also discovered a nasty bug with the medbay. If I upgrade it, the option to build a new medbay or its upgraded version DOES NOT EXIST. If I want to build a new base and want a medbay in it, then I'm out of luck there.

Also some research projects did not display the time they take to complete. These were Troop Fitness, Lightscout Transport and Alien Precision Plasma. There may be more. Check them.

During a corvette ground combat, I ran into something new... the alien stealth spy.

Although, that guy was a bit of a wierd one. He came out standing out in the open, fully detected by all my troops who had conviently already taken fully fortified and armed positions, absolutely destroying him with a wall of lasers and bullets. In the debriefing, it said he was dead, as he surely was. Yet despite this, I got xenopedia entries for him not only being alive, but actually fully armed and terrorizing in my base, then later on also given a xenopedia analysis on this shady character for free.

I also ran into some fun moments during ground combat with buildings partially erased from existence, black spots of void where no one can enter, bushes placed infront of doorways, a lone caesan backing into the most obscure corner of the map and successfully capturing a reaper. So far I have not had a single casualty since the last time, so things are great. RNGesus seems to be on my side, I'm doing my part in being careful and aliens are often more scared than dangerous, often missing or running away.

When landingships, cruisers, alienbases and such arrive, I feel things might get tough however...

Until next log.

[aajs]

Hi Reactocore.

I have fixed the alenium grenade exploit, but don't wont to upload my next version just yet.

Regarding the spy, its more of a Alien specialization. There is more than one. The one in your base was just one of many.

You will find them on other missions as well.

[Reactorcore]

Hi Reactocore.

I have fixed the alenium grenade exploit, but don't wont to upload my next version just yet.

Regarding the spy, its more of a Alien specialization. There is more than one. The one in your base was just one of many.

You will find them on other missions as well.

I'm already aware you did fix the alenium grenade exploit as you mentioned earlier, so no worries about that. Since its already present in the current playthrough, I might as well use it. It actually gives me a bigger berth at testing all the content and even makes some logical sense for xenonauts being able to make millions on selling alien tech, overcoming money as an issue all together.

About the spy, I was just kind of expecting having to stun him to get the analysis, not get his data for free from the corpse alone.

[EchoZeroJ]

@ aajs

Nice idea to use a main battle tank. I shall definitly use this tactic once i've established a third base and have upgraded my carrier.

@Reactorcore

Great log! I enjoy reading them. Makes me even more excited to continue this road to victory. Although i will start a new game. Since im new to this game i've made some big mistakes at start. But that's ok i've learned something. Think its a good start to have more researchers, and to upgrade the aircrafts first.

I shall try out some of the tactics you guys are using. Like a shield squad to start with and work my way up to a special assault team. And later on a main battle tank to support my troops

[Grimples]

If you really want to share these mods use a user friendly host.

http://www.mediafire.com/error.php?errno=398

Edited January 26, 2016 by Grimples

[Reactorcore]

Playthrough LOG 6:

Dun dun duuuuuuun, abrupt technical issues ahead!

This is what happened today when I tried loading any one of my last 5 saves. gg.

This what my load order looks like. No extra mods installed and completely running on a fresh install:

Here are my save games in a .rar package.

http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=84497368526398070396

Damn, I hope maybe restarting my pc might fix this or something. I was having plenty of fun this run. : (

[EchoZeroJ]

Oh man that really sucks dude! I also wonder what could be the cause. Could it be some weapons mod or anything?

I tried your saves and had the exact same problem with those 5 saves. Only your last 2 saves worked. But i did notice something strange.

When i clicked on one of the soldiers with standard weapons, i could press i for inventory and everything works well. The weapons are visible on the soldier as well.

However, i noticed that the soldiers with hightech weapons, the weapons were not visible on the characters itself. Like it's missing, the soldier is just standing there with open arms. And as soon as i press i to view the inventory, the game crashed..

Edited January 26, 2016 by EchoZeroJ

[Reactorcore]

The wierd thing is that the game worked fine in the last session yesterday. I decided to stop for the day, save and quit, amicably closing the game with no issues at all. However, then I come back the next day (today) to continue where I left, yet suddenly all but the last two saves just gave a crash.

[EchoZeroJ]

The wierd thing is that the game worked fine in the last session yesterday. I decided to stop for the day, save and quit, amicably closing the game with no issues at all. However, then I come back the next day (today) to continue where I left, yet suddenly all but the last two saves just gave a crash.

Hmm, are you sure all the Mods are active that you need? Because when i loaded your save, some of the soldiers were missing weapons, it caused a crash when i checked their inventory.

In your list i see a mod called Furies, Terror, and Dreadnoughts Oh My. it's non active. But i'm not sure what this mod does though.

[Reactorcore]

Yeah, they are all active and unchanged. I triple checked to see if the mod loader magically got out of order by itself, but no, it didnt.

I also tested loading the oldest save and accessing inventory, but it works flawlessly and everything is visible. I'm guessing it crashed for you since perhaps the load order wasn't the same as mine. I technically could continue the game from that oldest save and keep going, but I'd rather wait to see if Aajs might want to check out the saves and find the bug. Now that there is a real risk of this save corruption happening again, I'd want to stay cautious and pause the playthrough for now.

I personally don't like the Furies, Terror and Dreadnoughts mod, so I had that disabled from the start. Either way that mod cannot be the cause of the crashes unless Aajs hardcoded XMC to require it, but even that seems unlikely, considering I've gotten so far in the game.

[aajs]

Mwwwaa haaa haaa

I finally got the big garage bug to occur on my machine, yipeee and It was just near a save so could replicate it whenever I want.

So a little tinkering and its now fixed.

This will be included in my version 3 mods. Right back on with the play testing and tidying up..

Oh a quick thanks to all the latest feedback it really helps.

Better sort out the medical buildings....and a few other thing reactocore found.

And also a thanks for the positive feedback and thank-you's..... that really makes it worth while.

[aajs]

Errrmmm, just been reading the save game problem.... That is definitely not good. I don't suppose there was anything nice and helpful in the log files.

Before I download them and start checking. are the saves during Ground combat or during the GeoScope?

[Reactorcore]

Both. The ones named "Combat" and the quicksave are GC, while most of the others are Geoscape.

By the way, what log files? Where can I find those?

[EchoZeroJ]

@Reactorcore,

I did some testing with your saves again. Our load order is basicly the same, although we have some different mods. First i turned off all the mods except for XCE main mods. ALL of the saves are crashing even the last 2.

So i activated all the mods again, and the last 2 saves worked. All weapons are visible and i can check the inventory.

Except for this weapon, it's not visible on the soldier, and when i try to check the inventory, the game crashes. I cant seem to figure out what kind of weapon this is. I'm not sure maybe it has to do with a mod?

[Reactorcore]

XMC weapon

Quad Rocketlauncher Rank 4

Loaded with finite Armor Piercing rockets

No problems there. I loaded the game up, booted the 1st working save and burstfired my squad into mush. Works fine. The problem isn't there.

Speaking of Armor Piercing rockets, I wanted to mention that the blast radius on those things is very tiny and the accuracy of the launcher is very bad for trying to land precision shots. Bigger radius on AP rockets pls.

[aajs]

Both. The ones named "Combat" and the quicksave are GC, while most of the others are Geoscape.

By the way, what log files? Where can I find those?

Okay got a bunch of things to answer so one at a time.

I have steam so my log files end up here:

C:\Users\aajs\AppData\Roaming\Goldhawk Interactive\Xenonauts

Hope that helps

[aajs]

Ahh this weapon is in my choices part1 mod. its a quad rocket launcher.

Not sure why its breaking stuff. maybe it has a missing graphic.

[EchoZeroJ]

Lol nice killer weapon But ok i googled and i read there's alot more people with corrupted savegames even from 2 years ago.

This is a reply from someone who had the same problem:

"SOLVED! I forgot I used Lore+ Project mod as well and due to the recent update the savegames with that mod were not working anymore. Thankfully the mod creator released a new version that is compatible with the latest patch and all is well now again, I can resume my game!".

Sometimes steam mods update automaticly. The only steam mod that has been updated today is "psionyze this". But i dont think you use this one?

Edited January 26, 2016 by EchoZeroJ

[Reactorcore]

@aajs

Yes indeed that does help, I found the log file.

Tue Jan 26 23:47:22 2016: Xenonauts, version .

Tue Jan 26 23:47:22 2016: Pixel Shader Version: ffff0300

Tue Jan 26 23:47:52 2016: MOD ERROR: Element without MODMERGE has both children and attributes: spectre

Tue Jan 26 23:47:52 2016: MOD ERROR: Merging XML for units/xenonaut/armour.wolf_4/weapon.combatshieldo.PistolConverted/soldier_spectre.xml from mod mods/choicespart2/ failed.

Tue Jan 26 23:47:52 2016: MOD ERROR: Element without MODMERGE has both children and attributes: spectre

Tue Jan 26 23:47:52 2016: MOD ERROR: Merging XML for units/xenonaut/armour.wolf_3/weapon.combatshieldo.PistolConverted/soldier_spectre.xml from mod mods/choicespart2/ failed.

Now, this is what the log says if I load one of the WORKING saves. If I load one of the saves that DONT work, then only the two first lines appear.

@EchoZeroJ

Its a completely fresh install.

Using the Properties->Betas->Community Edition branch, I installed the game, along with all the pre-packaged mods that came with it. I then threw in the XMC parts 1 through 6 into the mods folder. Finally, following the load order guidance on the first post of this thread, I rearranged the mods into the correct order, with the only exception of NOT turning on Furies, Terror and Dreadnoughts mod.

No additional mods. All that came with the default installation and thats it.

I tried deactivating lore+, which came with the X:CE 0.34.1 by default, just to try your theory, but it crashed anyway, so I'm guessing its not causing the problem.

[EchoZeroJ]

@ reactorcore.

Nevermind what i said yesterday. It seems i was missing some part 4 files because i changed something. Now everything is fixed and i can see the quad rocket launcher now. But also have the same problem as you with those exact same MOD ERROR. I deleted all 6 parts, reinstalled everything. And the log file still has errors with alot of "does not exist" in the XML file.

----

Now, i tried my own savegames, and in the log file i can't find any errors or "does not exist" anymore so far. It's all clean.

Allthough i'm still at Month 2 with all the basic soldiers and weapons still.. So maybe there's a bug with a high tech pistol or soldier?

Edited January 27, 2016 by EchoZeroJ

[EchoZeroJ]

Or there are some files missing. Not sure if you have any "does not exist" in the log file. Because i did with your savegame.

[TideofKhatanga]

Hello there !

I decided to take another go at Xenonauts, with this mod instead of X-Div for a change of pace. I've only done a quick scan for now, letting the game run until game over to see the new tech tree, and I must say I'm impressed with the creativity. In particular, I love the new dropships/escorts and the tradeoff between having a fast assault craft and a slow but heavily protected dropship. That and having proper base upgrades, though the lack of retrofitting is a bit of a downer (much less so that the bugs, obviously, but I didn't see those yet).

Anyway, I spotted a couple of issues from this first glance. The first is some weirdness in the Xenopedia entries, mostly grammar and typos but the first Stun Weapon research seems to have lost its introduction paragraph. The second is the inconsistency in manufacturing for profit. I have a Excel spreadsheet to calculate the profit I'll make on each item, factoring in diminishing returns and salaries. Most items (that I've seen) stand at the "technically profitable" mark, where they merely pay for the work hours spent on building them, with spare cash for a sandwich in some cases. On the other hand, stun grenades can pay for the entire base and, from what Reactorcore says, it only gets worse from there. I think they should get a cut on the sale price to stop Xenonauts from printing their own money.

[Reactorcore]

Just a quick mention.

I woke up today and had the log file open in notepad++, I noticed that it was asking if I want to reload the file, since apparently xenonauts dumped more info into the log after a short while of crashing with the corrupted save. This is what it wrote:

Tue Jan 26 23:51:39 2016: Xenonauts, version .

Tue Jan 26 23:51:39 2016: Pixel Shader Version: ffff0300

Tue Jan 26 23:52:08 2016: Lua error: cannot open scripts/messageboxdirect.lua: No error

Might be nothing, might a bug in X:CE or in this mod... somehow(?). Thought it was worth mentioning.

[EchoZeroJ]

Yes when i loaded your save, i had this same Lua error in the log file. In my log there's also this Pixel Shader Version: ffff0300. But i can't find any error in the log of my own save so far. Not sure what could be the cause of this..

[aajs]

I think, I can see the issue here.

Basically, the unit sprites exist for the converted pistol in both in choices part2 (where the pistol originates and part4 (where all the armours are) The log is complaining because its being told to overwrite the values in part4 but does not have the modmerge replace value present. If you delete the folders mentioned in the log from the choices part2 folder, this may well fix the issue.

Unfortunately, I cant test it as I am now running choices version 3.