Xcom 2 Modding Tools

Xcom 2 Modding Tools

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On Windows, XCOM 2's provided modding tools are an extension of Visual Studio, Microsoft's proprietary integrated development environment (IDE). At present, Visual Studio is only available on Windows, meaning XCOM 2's modding tools are not available on other platforms.

Either alongside or shortly after the turn-based strategy sequel's launch in November, Firaxis plan to release tools they used to make the game, sharing the gameplay source, the editor, and the assets. It'll have Steam Workshop support too. Expect grand mods.

There are some mods available for Enemy Unknown at the XCOM Mod Nexus, yes. But without dedicated dev tools and an established community, the mod nexus offering will never be as robust as, say, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 's 581 pages of Steam Workshop mods .

The examples of dynamic creation, as well as the tools used to create things with more complexity looked entirely seamless. It was impossible to see the edges where one PCP pushed against another, and each biome piece was flawlessly integrated into the scenery. Pulling back to the editor, it was easy to see that over 20 different map pieces were used to create this demonstration layout. Seeing how the modding community has breathed new life into other games, it spells a very bright future for XCOM 2. Couple that with the ability to push mods directly to Steam Workshop, or even zip your creations and distribute themselves, the only limit is truly your imagination.

XCOM 2 is promising to go "all out with modding," the game's creative director told IGN, meaning players will get the tools and the editor Firaxis developers themselves use to create whatever they wish with it.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Enemy Within did not have formal mod support, though that didn't stop some dedicated fans from taking a worth shot at it (The Long War, notably.) Garth DeAngelis, XCOM 2's lead producer, acknowledged that the lack of modding on the first XCOM was a missed opportunity, and said XCOM 2 modding is a gesture of thanks and respect to a loyal community.

Long War has received praise from both video game journalists and from the developers at Firaxis. It has been downloaded over 1,000,000 times, by almost 400,000 different users. Firaxis pointed to the popularity of Long War as a reason they added built-in support for modding into the sequel XCOM 2, and used Long War Studios to provide initial add-ons for the game at release. On 19 January 2017, the core team that released Long War, now going by the name Pavonis Interactive, released Long War 2 for XCOM 2.[1]

The mod has also been warmly received by video game journalists. Wired praised the amount of content added by the game and called it "the absolute best way to play XCOM".[12] In a video explaining the mod, Eurogamer's Chris Bratt also praised the amount of new content, but was especially appreciative that the mod forced players to develop new strategies instead of relying on the tactics they used in the base game.[10](at 1:20) Alec Meer of Rock, Paper, Shotgun complimented the mod for keeping the game fresh and capturing the feeling of surviving impossible odds, and gave the mod his strongest possible recommendation.[9] The mod was profiled in PC Gamer's "Mod of the Week" feature in late 2014,[8] and in a separate piece a year later, the publication praised how much the team behind the mod was able to accomplish considering that the base game was not built to support modding.[15] Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Adam Smith, in an article announcing that the Long War team were in "pre-Kickstarter development" of their own game, called Long War "one of the best mods of all time".[16]

In his article recommending the mod, Alec Meer of Rock, Paper, Shotgun speculated that the Long War mod influenced the development of XCOM 2.[9] One area where Long War's influence was acknowledged was in the decision to support modding. The development team recognized that Enemy Unknown and Enemy Within were exceptionally difficult to mod, and aimed to make modding more accessible in the sequel. At a panel with XCOM 2 developers, Ryan McFall remarked that "we kind of watched in morbid fascination the Long War crew kind of hacking our game apart" before going on to provide a list of features and assets that would be available to people interested in modding XCOM 2.[14] Jake Solomon pointed to the successes of Long War and mods to games in the Civilization franchise in explaining the decision to support modding.[18][19]

Pairing Replay Mode with the debug camera is an especially powerful tool. Go turn by turn and take amazing screenshots of your most intense moments. Capture your Gunslinger taking out an entire pod of ADVENT, or your Grenadier bringing down the floor from right out under his or her enemies. The tools are in your hands to immortalize those moments.

*Please note that the game modes and commands listed above are developer tools and not player-facing features. Using these tools will allow players to see the game in ways that were not part of our original vision for XCOM 2. Players may see some debug text and visual oddities while in the debug mode, but this should be considered normal. When in debug mode, you are no longer in the final release build of the game.

The modding guide is a "how-to" approach to modding, step by step. We've divided it in several groups, from more basic to more advanced. It also includes explanations about the different types of scripts that we can find in the game.

As defined by Wikipedia, modding is "the alteration of the program code of a video game in order to make it operate in a manner different from its original version." Stonehearth was developed to support modding.

Before delving into the particularities of modding, it is always a good idea to plan carefully what you want to add to your mod.Sometimes there are so many ideas that one wants to include, that it's hard to know where to start. Then, after some hours, days, or weeks, real life gets in the middle and you either lose interest, or don't have time anymore. By planning your desired features and organizing them in small bits, you will have more chances to finish your mod successfully. It's always better to start small and expand onto that.

Everything begins by designing and planning. So take a moment to write your ideas down, express how do you want the game to behave, and once you've taken a look at the several systems of the modding API, think of different ways to achieve your goals, and split those into small tasks.

Starting out with MO2 can be a bit intimidating. Several things about the tool may be unintuitive. There are some hidden features that affect how you mod your games. It is strongly recommended to do a little bit of research before jumping feet first into modding.

During a Q&A at the end of the panel, one fan asked if the tools would be flexible enough to create a co-op mod. And it turns out that yes, they would. Modders would need to supply their own matchmaking server, but otherwise, the possibility is there.

The team behind Long War for XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Long War 2 for XCOM 2 is operating under a new name, Pavonis Interactive, and at a new web site, www.pavonisinteractive.com. Pavonis Interactive Design Lead John Lumpkin said the name change is intended to mark that the company's future work will go beyond modding XCOM and focus on developing independent original titles, including Terra Invicta, a grand strategy alien invasion game. Going forward, "Long War" will remain exclusively linked with the XCOM franchise.

Long War Studios announced today that it has partnered with Firaxis and 2K Games to provide multiple mods for XCOM 2 that are planned for release when XCOM 2 launches on Feb. 5. Details on mod content as well as XCOM 2's modding tools will be available when LWS design lead John Lumpkin appears at the Firaxis Megapanel at PAX South in San Antonio at 12:30 p.m. CT on Jan. 30. The panel will also be webcast live here.

"Originally made in a fit of frustration with the modding tools, it went on to get some press, shaming me into actually making it functional," he said. "So here it is, the functional version of this terrible mod."

We eagerly await details on the mods to be revealed at the XCOM PAX South booth. If your familiar with the unreal engine 3 toolset you can already set to work creating replacement assets or planning your epic total conversion!

Now we are super busy finishing up the modding tools for everyone and hope we can release them very soon.The plan is to have an open-beta for the first set of tools soon over the Steam beta channel so we can collect feedback and fix all the bugs you guys may find.

Anyway, to show you a bit more in detail what you can expect from our map editor, we did a 3 part preview of the tools with me making a level from scratch.You will be able to make your own campaigns and/or edit existing levels.

We hope this gives you a good overview of what you will get with the map editor. There are more tools for adding new art or for changing other parts of the game, but this will be part of another video tutorial series.Here is a small overview of some of the more recent articles about Halfway:

Steam, Nexus Mod Manager, and the Twitch Desktop App are also tools for managing your mods. They show you the mods you have installed, include abilities to enable or disable individual mods, and can help let you know when an update is available.

That said, there are some mod management tools available that help in specific games. If your game of choice has enough mods, chances are someone has developed a manager for them. Here are a few popular ones:

Fixing bugs and enhancing system compatibility are the key reasons for technical modding. Sure, it may feel like every classic game is getting an HD remaster this week, but not all fan favorites are so lucky. A supportive modding community can help add a much-needed layer of modern polish. 2b1af7f3a8