XCOM (Firaxis)

[HereComesPete]

Seems like they just released the elite soldier pack that was bundled with the pre-purchase. The guy in the yellow armour looks like a fatty.

[friznit]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I pre-purchased - am I meant to have seen something different, cos I'm not sure if I've noticed anything specific.

Edit: Oh I see. It's the different hats and what makes my entire squad pink.

[friznit]

Not specifically XCOM, but an interesting read about nostalgia and why everyone is raging about XCOM not being X-COM
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/10 ... he-future/

[friznit]

By the way, if you were enjoying some of the early mods such as Warspace Expansion, you will need to ensure you are playing in Offline mode. Firaxis just shifted the config files to the internets to prevent mods working. Odd move.

[spoodie]

I'd like a mods that fix the bugs, Firaxis aren't doing it. I had that same annoying problem with the UFO roof obscuring my view, requires fiddling with rotation, level and peaking through small holes in the roof. And sometimes the line-of-sight can be off.

And mentioned on the Giantbomb podcast was some kind of potential line-of-sight indicator. Like the shield indicator for cover, but shows which, if any, aliens you'll be able to see if you move there. I've had a problem with windows not allowing line-of-sight on a level with a diner in it.

[FatherJack]

I've had a problem with windows not allowing line-of-sight on a level with a diner in it.

It's because the windows are so greasy.

[spoodie]

I've had a problem with windows not allowing line-of-sight on a level with a diner in it.

It's because the windows are so greasy.

Probably, those American diners in Nigeria aren't kept very clean.

[buzzmong]

Playing Classic with the Warspace Extension mod. It does stuff, but notably when you miss an abduction mission, it only pisses off the one country, not the whole continent.

I've noticed that's been updated again, you still playing with it Friz? It does look like it could be the de facto mod for the game.

[friznit]

Not actually played since Firaxis changed the config from the interwebs breaking mods things. Suddenly appear to have rediscovered GTAIV and things.

[HereComesPete]

... GTAIV ...

I just can't get into gta iv, I've tried so many times and I find it boils my piss too much, it's like grinding mobs to get more story in mmongs. I may try again and use dirty cheats because the story seems quite good.

[Thompy]

... GTAIV ...

I just can't get into gta iv, I've tried so many times and I find it boils my piss too much, it's like grinding mobs to get more story in mmongs. I may try again and use dirty cheats because the story seems quite good.

I just fired that up for the first time today, and the fucking thing won't let me invert the camera's x-axis. I tried with M&K but it seemed incredibly clunky. Suffices to say I'm not particularly enthusiastic about playing now.

[buzzmong]

As I got this yesterday due to buying Bioshock Infinite, I thought I'd actually try it out.

Except it BSOD's my machine. Anyone had any problems with it?

[Mr. Johnson]

It's goes a bit spacky sometimes, like certain actions not lighting up when they should, not being able to select options, and the huds in the base overlapping each other. And once it started autoscrolling on it's own and the cursor got stuck in the corner of a map, but these were immediately resolved and I never had anything as severe as a BSOD.

[FatherJack]

I haven't had a BSOD in anything in Win7 other than hardware failure, CTD, yes - but not not BSOD.

[buzzmong]

Hmmm. Very unusual that it's causing my machine to BSOD upon loading the game, sometimes I can get to the main menu, mostly it bums out on the intro videos.

Might delete and redownload then if this current pass of validation doesn't work.

Edit: Double hmm, my BIOS is quite a bit old, 6 versions and 11 months behind to be exact. I'll try that first.

[FatherJack]

Disabling Desktop Composition on the actual EXE works for most spacky intro-video woes, but an actual BSOD is a bit worrying.

I get black screens where nothing seems to be happening or sound without the vid quite a lot, which desktop compo usually sorts. On older games a CTD is not entirely uncommon, though most often owing to the curse of dual monitors where the cursor becomes detached and I inadvertently 'click' on the other screen.

Seriously I've not had a BSOD since I've been using Win7, other than when my PSU/GPU combination was on the way out (I changed them both, never fully determined where the problem was). XCOM is a 32-bit game, it really shouldn't be able to access drivers in a way that could possibly cause a system crash (assuming you're on Win7-64 bit). I'd have a poke around elsewhere and see if any other installed games are suddenly producing similar effects.

At worst, on a 64-bit OS (with 32-bit apps running [sort-of-]emulated) a rogue application might lock you up for a few seconds before the kernel is like "fuck you" and kills the process, a full system crash really shouldn't be possible.


The BIOS is usually the last place I look for solutions, unless dealing with a known issue, like I've added a new hardware component which is documented to specifically need an update. I've never updated mine and it's seven years old.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

What FJ said, a bios usually effects low level things, like hardware working or not. Bios issues usually don't really come into it once you've made it into windows.

I'd be looking at video/sound drivers, if its shitting itself on cutscenes it could even be a codec issue, I've had that before.

What does the bsod say?

[buzzmong]

Well, on the occasions it BSODs and doesn't just reset, then it's a 0x0000000001 stop error, which is unhelpful.
I've hunted down a possible hotfix, but it's from 2011, and I'd imagine if that was actually the problem it would affect other games.

It's only XCOM which is bumming out, everything else is pretty solid.

As for the BIOS, it actually could be an issue with it, not directly with the BIOS, but because I'm running an FX8120, which being honest, aren't very good CPU's and I've read that there are some problems deep down with them. It's a stab in the dark but it's not without reason.

All the other culprits like DirectX, graphics card drivers and even Windows are all up to date.


Edit: BIOS Updated, game redownloaded. Can actually get to the menu. All seems groovy.

[fabyak]

XCOM for £9

http://savygamer.co.uk/2013/03/23/xcom- ... n-pc-8-99/

If you go through Topcashback http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/fabyak ... ellafriend it drops to £8.10 (you get 10% of the price back)

[buzzmong]

This game is both quite addictive and hard as nails. Mind you, I am doing an Iron Man run on Normal with all the second wave stuff on.

Now, I will say this: As a UFO/Xcom game it falls short of its predecessors in terms of base/economy management and a few other features (notably I find the lack of inventory and fixed classes rather wrong), but taken as its own game it is rather good.

A few niggly bits, the biggest for me being the way the enemy is "spawned" rather than them just being free roaming on maps leading you to accidently set of multiple group spawns unexpectedly, stop this from being "really rather good" but I'll heartily recommend everyone should play it.