This mod makes hundreds of changes, large and small, to the vanilla version of the game. It is harder and longer than the vanilla version but gives you many more tools to combat the alien threat.

Post feature Report RSS Frequently Asked Questions

Common and not so common questions are answered!

Posted by on

General Questions

Q: I love this! Can I give you something?
A: For those who want to directly support the modders, you can do so here, but we are not allowed to request, reward or publicly acknowledge any specific gifts (sorry, but we really are deeply grateful), In addition, you're always welcome to buy JohnnyLump's sci-fi novels through his homepage here.

Q: I'm fairly new to XCom. What difficulty should I start with?
A: Normal.

Q: I'm an XCOM veteran. What difficulty should I start with?
A: Normal.

Q: But I'm really awesome at --
A: Sorry to interrupt, but just start with Normal. We don't have easy difficulties in this mod that hold your hand while you learn the ropes and we've removed every bit of code we can find that cheats for the player on the lower difficulties. It's going to be hard. The other difficulties are just harder versions of Normal; feel free to move up when you get a handle on all the new mechanics.

Q: Say what? Ten HP Outsiders with regeneration in the first downed UFO mission? I love all the new XCOM options but don't like the difficulty. Why did you make a mod that is so hard?
A: This mod was made by people who loved the vanilla game and saw lots of opportunities within the engine for much deeper strategic and tactical play and a greater variety of problems to throw at the player. When someone tells us it is too hard, there might be any of three things going on:

  • The player hasn't adapted to the changes in the mod and expects their suboptimal strategies to succeed (we believe this is the case with outsiders). We have a Long War Strategy subforum you can go to for advice.
  • The player's definition of fun is different from ours; they expect the game to provide them easier situations, make solutions more readily available or be geared to provide the illusion of challenge but actually make it pretty easy to win. In this case the player should play an easier difficulty setting and/or use the Cinematic Mode Second Wave option, which gives accuracy bonuses to both XCOM troops and aircraft. They player can also mod Long War to their personal preferences or play another mod. Long War isn't for everyone.
  • The mod really is unreasonably hard (or bugged in a way that makes it too hard) and should be changed. Specific feedback about the situation and how you attempted to address helps us; general complaints about difficulty really won't induce us to make any changes.

Q: I want to mod feature X myself. How do I do that?
A: Many, many game settings are contained in the file DefaultGameCore.ini in the game's Config folder, which can be edited with a text editor, and your changes should take effect the next time you load the mod (no other changes are usually necessary!). In-game text is in .INT files in the localilzation folder. If it's not in either of those files, you'll probably have to make hex changes to the game's *.upk files, which is considerably more complicated. See the Modding Long War subforum or the general XCOM Mod Talk forum on the Nexus Forums for details.

Q: Okay, I get it; it's hard. But I'm a casual player without a ton of time or Grognard levels of strategery. What starting settings would you recommend?
A: Play normal difficulty with only the Dynamic War and Cinematic Mode Second Wave options activated. This is probably somewhere close to vanilla classic levels of difficulty and Marathon duration.

Q: It's still too hard.
A: Long War includes an alternate config file that contains most of the settings of the game. The file is "DefaultGameCore.ini" and it is in your equivalent of C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW\XComGame\Config. Go there, and you'll find a file, DefaultGameCore - Training.ini. Rename it DefaultGameCore.ini (after renaming the regular version of the file) and you will find a set of four easier settings to play. Note that text is unchanged, the fourth level is still called "impossible," although it is not.

Q: I'm made of tough and insist on playing Ironman.
A: You're not really asking a question, but understand there could be campaign-ending bugs or corrupted savegame issues that we can't do anything about. Periodically back up your savegames or face the prospect of losing all your work. You've been warned.

Q: I want you guys to add feature X. How do I tell you?
A: Post in the Long War Feature Requests and Suggestions subforum. We do read the suggestions and have adopted many of them that sound fun and are technically feasible. We can't always reply, though.

Q: I want to make some changes and redistribute my version of your mod. May I?
A: Contact JohnnyLump via the Nexus messaging system. Permission is NOT granted unless he says it's OK.

Q: Can you make a shorter version of Long War?
A: Try the "Dynamic War" Second Wave option.

Q: Can you make a longer version of Long War?
A: Try the "Liberators" Second Wave option.

Q: Do I still have to disable phone home like in Long War Enemy Unknown?
A: No longer! The mod fixes the game's executable so that is no longer required.

Q: Can I use other mods like ToolBoks with Long War?
A: It depends, but probably not. Other large-scale overhaul mods (if anyone ever makes any others) will not be compatible, nor will mods that change INI settings or in-game text by overwriting INI and INT files. Mods that make individual changes *may* be compatible if they search and replace hex. If they search by absolute offset within the *.upk files (like ToolBoks does), they will not be compatible unless they are made specifically for Long War. Keep an eye on the Modding Long War subforum; we'll post possible changes you can make yourself if they are easy to implement and frequently requested.

Q: I keep getting the same maps every other mission! Is there a fix?
A: Press Alt+F10 once during the game. The only feedback you will see is the XCOM shield spinning briefly in the lower-right corner, but this resets the file that tracks which maps you've already played. What is happening is some of Long War's repurposed maps are being treated as "new" and repeatedly pushed to the top of the queue; by resetting your log the game will treat all maps equally.

Q: I installed the mod, but got error 0xc0000142 when I try to run the game.
A: This error is known to occur when people install mods on pirated copies of XCOM. The mod only works with legitimate Steam versions of the mod. This includes the boxed DVD version, which requires Steam to install. While this occurs because of something the pirates did (and not us), we don't support pirated versions and will not troubleshoot these problems; the solution is to buy a legit copy of the game.

Gameplay Questions

Q: How do I win?
A: Win the Temple Ship mission, same as vanilla.

Q: How do I lose?
A: All 16 council countries have to defect from XCOM. That's it. A successful assault by the aliens on XCOM HQ no longer ends the game.

Q: Hey, I lost a country with little panic in the first month! Is that supposed to happen?
A: Yes. And if the aliens grow strong enough, they'll do this again, although you can stop those missions once launched (it's just really hard). Find and defeat the alien base in lost countries and you can get them back.

Q: A really big UFO just landed in my home country in March! How am I supposed to beat that?
A: Basically, you're not (it's possible, though). The aliens have an active strategy now, gathering resources and conducting research and going on other missions not directly related to XCOM's operations. They're going to do their thing, and sometimes you'll cross paths with them when they are doing something they feel is rather important and have brought along a massive force to defend it. The penalties for XCOM aborting that mission early on are usually small, so don't feel obligated to sacrifice your force to win that one.

Q: It's early in the campaign and I just ran into a mission with tons of powerful aliens. How am I supposed to beat that?
A: Again, you're not. Part of the tactical challenge of the mod is to recognize a bad situation and retreat. Of course, later in the game, the aliens' development may outpace yours.

Q: What's that little shield by each country in the Situation Room?
A: That represents the country's ability to defend itself from the alien incursions. Fulfilling council requests from that country fills the shield and increases that country's ability to resist panic increases caused by alien activity and helps protect any satellites overhead from detection by alien scouts.

Q: Why do all my starting soldiers have Gene Mod armor?
A: That's a new armor, the tac vest, which anyone can wear. Long War Enemy Within introduces 7 new armors (for a total of 14) generally built as lighter armors allowing more mobility at some cost of protection; we used the Gene Mod armor bases to represent these armors. If you don't like the look, try some of the alternate decos, which will minimize the sleeveless effect.

Q: Why do my starting soldiers have EXALT weapons?
A: EXALT weapons have been repurposed in Long War and now serve as the default ballistic weapon set (along with the traditional shotgun). EXALT lasers are now the Beam Laser class of weapons; vanilla XCOM ballistic weapons are now the Gauss class of weapons, and XCOM lasers are now the Pulse Laser class of weapons.

Q: One of my weapons did zero damage after a hit! Is that supposed to happen?
A: Yes. When this happens, you'll usually see a blue icon with a shield and a number. That's a measure of Damage Reduction, i.e. how much damage bounced off the enemy after a hit.

Q: I just bagged a sectoid that had mind-merged to another sectoid, but it didn't die; it only took some damage. Is that supposed to happen?
A: Yes. XCOM psionic troopers can get mind-merge, too, and we suspect you wouldn't want the effect to kill two XCOM troopers at once, would you?

Q: My soldier's status shows "fatigued." What does that mean?
A: After missions, soldiers need to rest for several days to recover from the intensity of combat and exposure to strange alien chemistry. During this time, they will not be auto-loaded into mission rosters. You can still send them on a mission (with no loss in capability), but after the mission they will suffer a light wound, representing exhaustion, and will be unavailable until they recover.

Q: Why are my arc thrower stun chances so low?
A: Arc Throwers are no longer nearly automatic; your best case is a 55 to 60 percent chance to stun an alien. This is to make capturing aliens a meaningful and dangerous challenge. With Long War's increased mission count, you'll have far more opportunities to stun aliens and get their stuff, and you wouldn't want Alien Containment to overflow, would you?

Q: I only got a few Meld from a canister on the first mission? Is that supposed to happen?
A: Yes. The amount of Meld you get will vary, based on something we'll let you figure out.

Q: I saved some of the civilians on a terror mission but panic still went up! Is that supposed to happen?
A: Yes. Your job on terror missions is to minimize damage by saving lives; every civilian killed raises panic in both the country and on the continent.

Q: II captured an alien but can't interrogate it. What's up with that?
A: Review the tech tree and you'll see that you need to perform an autopsy on a species before being able to interrogate it.

Q: How do I set default colors for my soldiers?
A: Look for the file DefaultGameCore.ini, which is in C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/SteamApps/common/XCom-Enemy-Unknown/XEW/XComGame/Config in a standard Steam installation. Open it in a text editor like Notepad. About 40 percent of the way down you'll see a comment Initial soldier appearance. The next several lines set various default appearance numbers for various classes. EDIT THIS FILE AT YOUR OWN RISK. The range of allowed colors and styles are in a separate text file, Long_War_EW_Armor_Kit_Codes.txt.

Q: I have lots of detailed questions about mechanisms within the game. Is there a wiki?
A: Work on one has begun on the UFOpaedia, here. It needs contributions.

Post comment Comments
flighter
flighter

A very hard mod indeed.
But i also had a question: how do i increase the weapon fragment drop rate? It is very low and requests are just coming for it over and over again.

Reply Good karma Bad karma+1 vote
Post a comment

Your comment will be anonymous unless you join the community. Or sign in with your social account: