I am happy to announce the release of Xenonauts: Community Edition 0.35.
What is the Community Edition?
The Community Edition is a source-modified version of Xenonauts, produced to improve the stability and gameplay experience of Xenonauts, as well as to give modders access to more features. X:CE contains hundreds of bug fixes, crash fixes and quality of life improvements, while remaining very close to the vanilla gameplay. More information about X:CE in general can be read here.
How do I install X:CE?
Steam users -Switch to the Community branch in Steam by right-clicking on Xenonauts, selecting Properties, going to the Betas tab and selecting Community. No access code is needed.
Other users (including GOG):
1. Download X:CEfor manual installation.
2. Extract the X:CE archive into your game installation folder, overwriting existing files.
3. Launch the game. Answer "yes" if prompted to update load order. The game launcher should display X:CE 0.35 in the top-right corner.
Can I continue a vanilla game in X:CE?
Yes, X:CE can load saves from the vanilla 1.6X version of Xenonauts, and older versions. You can then continue the game with X:CE.
The future of X:CE
With the release of 0.35, the Community Edition is nearing the end of its development. I'm aware of a few more minor bugs, and I've received a good list of various small issues to look into. Some of those I'd like to fix, and surely something will crop up in 0.35 that necessitates a fix. But with Xenonauts 2 now entering a more mature phase in the development, I don't foresee much active work on X:CE beyond an eventual 0.35.1 with some minor fixes.
Minor update 0.35.1 (May 5, 2020):
A minor update was pushed to address Reapers one-shotting vehicles, and the psionic combat still sometimes using the wrong old formula.
As was the original design intention, Reapers should now need 2-3 attacks to destroy a Hunter car.
Changes from 0.34.3:
Version 0.35 brings a lot of improvements for modders, new translations, and a fewgeneral fixes.
New translations:
- The French translations have been updated, authored by Rodmar18. The translations are for X:CE itself, and some mods.
Traduction en français
Le mod communautaire X:CE 0.35 comprend une extension et une révision totale de la traduction française, à la fois du jeu de base et de la plupart des mods inclus. Le lanceur du jeu devrait automatiquement détecter la langue de votre système d'exploitation (le français), mais il vous est toujours possible de choisir votre langue dans le gestionnaire de mod de ce lanceur. Rendez-vous sur le forum de Goldhawk Interactive pour discuter de cette traduction car elle est tout à fait perfectible.
Mod updates
- The bundled Fix Pack has been updated and renamed to [XCE] Xenonauts Fix Pack. The rename avoids a conflict with Steam workshop, which has an older (and buggier) version of the mod.
Bug fixes and general changes:
- It's now possible to rename bases. Click the base name in the base screen.
- Psionic combat calculations fixed to work as originally intended in the game design. Previously it would essentially be random rolls only slightly affected by the soldier's and the alien's stats. Now the psionic strength (for aliens) and bravery (for soldiers) contributes 50% to the score calculation as intended. From a player perspective, you should actually notice higher bravery soldiers being more resistant to psionic attacks now.
- "Go to base" will open the workshop view after a manufacture has been completed.
- "Go to base" will choose a base with idle scientists after a research has been completed.
- Afterburner in air combat now has "A" as a keyboard shortcut.
- Zoom in/out shortcuts will also work in air combat.
- Correct alien base name will show in the dialog window when a dropship reaches the base.
- The "incendiary burst bug" is fixed. The bug was - if a weapon of incendiary type fires a burst, and first hits terrain and then an enemy, then the shots hitting the enemy would do extremely high damage.
- Fixed a rare bug where destroyed airplanes in transfer would forever occupy hangar space in the new target base.
Modding enhancements:
- Reaper zombification is now damage-based, that is, Reapers zombify when target HP is 0. It's thus possible to have them do normal damage. The base game now just sets the Reaper weapon damage to a very high value to ensure instant zombification.
- Item transfer time between bases can be modded in gameconfig.xml.
- If Xenonaut base retake missions are enabled, they can be made to happen in the Xenonaut base tileset in gameconfig.xml. Previously only the alien base tileset was available.
- Morale cap for ground combat can now be customized so mods can enable morale of over 100.
- More flexibility for radar ranges - up to 13 are now supported.
- The LockManufacture command has been fixed to work reliably.
- Fixed escort chances for UFO missions in the AM_*.xml files. Only mods with more complicated AM_ files were affected, so this is not a base game change.
- It's now possible to specify alien sight range per alien rank. If rank sight range isn't specified, the race range is used instead.
- Base evacuation feature completed: if retaking Xenonaut bases is enabled, then personnel and planes from lost bases will evacuate to other bases. It's actually visible on the map with planes flying out, etc.
- New alien abilities for aiprops: Infiltrator and Ghost. Infiltrator makes the alien look like a friendly unit - green cursor, no reaction fire, and so on. Ghost makes the alien act like an object, no special cursor at all, but it can be reaction fired upon if moving.
- gameconfig.xml can now control the various speeds of air combat.
For X:CE 0.35, I want to again offera big special thanks to @Charon and @Rodmar18.
