I know I'm really late to the party, but in case anybody else is wondering, going above rank 6 works fine. I don't know what happens if you input a value that's higher than any existing rank though (idk why you would anyway). This is useful to know with mods that make the game harder for whatever reason, or if you just want to give yourself a bit of a starting edge on higher difficulties.
@@TheDriftersBroadcast It's been a ton of fun so far. Easy on the tactical map, but the roster of 11 (well 10... there was a squaddie that got instant killed by a purifier grenade) makes it tough to field a full squad after wills go down a bit. Everybody is tired, or shaken, and I'm running out of will faster than it regenerates :(
@@thomdennett960 Yeah, it's tough. best advice I can give is hunt the Chosen fighting the Templars as quickly as possible with your covert ops. This will increase your standing with the faction and they may give you the Noble Cause resistance order which would help. But it's not a guarantee. :(
21:19 I wish I saw this earlier lol. I had an idea to use the Playable Aliens mod to do a run with aliens only, but I could not figure out what I was doing wrong even with the previous steps.
I'm starting a new Covert Infiltration campaign and had to revisit this video. So I did a lot of testing on this today. I wanted to start with the basic barracks, but to have a few sparks in the mix to augment the group since I find CI to be a bit punishing early game on will. And also because I like proficiency Sparks. To add to the good advice in this video: +bRemoveStartingSoldiers=true; True is the default. Setting this to 'false' ADDs the soldiers you put in the list to the ones in that are set into the barracks by default/automatically. Leaving it as 'true' will replace the soldiers in your starting barracks with the soldiers you add to the .ini file. This can allow you to start with a larger than normal barracks. Or to add a specific set of soldiers to the barracks at certain ranks/classes to augment the starting soldiers pulled from your character pool. Leaving/Setting this as 'true' overrides the second boolean. +ReplaceStartingSquad=true; True is the default. This one will only take effect if the above is set to 'false'. If set to 'true' with the above set to false, this boolean will replace the starting squad for Gatecrasher, by taking the first 4/6 (depending on mods and settings) characters from the list. NOTE: This will override the starting hero too; even if you select "Start at Reapers/Templars/Skirmishers". If there is no hero class in your list, there won't be one on your Gatecrasher if you set this boolean to true. If you set this to 'false' while the above is set to 'false', the soldiers in your list will be added to the barracks, but not put on Gatecrasher. TL;DR +bRemoveStartingSoldiers=true; AND +bReplaceStartingSquad=true -- The soldiers in the list will replace the randomly generated barracks and the first set will be put in the starting squad. +bRemoveStartingSoldiers=false; AND +bReplaceStartingSquad=true -- The soldiers in the list will be added to the randomly generated barracks and the first set will be put in the starting squad. +bRemoveStartingSoldiers=false; AND +bReplaceStartingSquad=false -- The soldiers in list will only be added to the randomly generated barracks. (All of this could break if the modder updates it or you have another mod that interacts wierdly with the mod, but that's the nature of the mod game. Happy Alien Slaughtering!)
Great video! However, by using this mod, I don't get the random faction soldier at the beginning (with Lost and Abandoned disabled). I've tried leaving one of the four starting slots as +CHARACTER_INFO=(SoldierName="",SoldierClass="",SoldierRank=1) and it just generates a random soldier instead of the faction one. Is my only choice to specify a class?
Hey, is there a way to play with the customized soldiers from your playthroughs? Can you make a video or say how to import those? And what mods do I have to use? How do you use the character pools?
If you check my latest XCOM run, there's a link to the character pool in the description. No mods required. Check out this video for how to import characters. th-cam.com/video/fo_AlvNvfa8/w-d-xo.html
Anyone turned off by the extra downloads, you don't actually need them. I used notepad (regular) and found the mod manually. My file route to the mod matched his in the video, so it is likely yours will too. Make sure to launch the 2K launcher, enable your mods, check the file location by following the route in the video, and then you can just edit the same file with notepad. Fair warning: you won't get the useful coloration of the code like it is in the video, you are going to have to keep track of it yourself.
Anyone turned off by the unnecessary comment when the creator says "these downloads will make it easier" thus entailing that you do not need them but they can be helpful?
Out of curiosity, does this mod disable achievements? I want to do some of these challenges but I don’t want to lose out on the chance to unlock achievements on steam.
Hi i know you will probable not see this but i might aswell try. So i did everything you said in the vid but im not trying to use guys like rangers and Reapers and other guys like that. Im actually using a modded class and when i go into a game it only gives me a chance to get them. I don't know if its something a did in the coding or what but i really want a barracks of 10 of the moded units (the 4 starter troops included) and yet i only managed to get only 1 of my guys in the "gatebraker" mission. What should i do?
Some people have had success replacing the "+" at the start of the line with a "." so that may be worth a try. Also, the mod won't work non-human modded classes. And lastly, make sure the person you're trying to add is in your character pool. Hopefully one of those things fixes the trouble you're having.
so the mod is working fine until/unless i try to make all of my soldiers Templars then it only gives me 2, one form my pool and one from the resistance base. any ideas? Also the tutorial is amazing
I have just had a look at this. It turns out if you want more than 2 of a hero class, you have to make them in the character pool first. So lets say you want to start with 10 Templars. You need to make 10 Templars in the character pool and then put all 10 of them into the ini file. It won't work with randoms for some reason, but it will work if the Templars are being taken from the character pool. Hope that makes sense. Let me know if you need anymore help.
@@stevenwright366 Just like the in video, bro. Add in a new line in the INI file and set the soldier class to templar and the soldier name to whatever the name in the character pool is. I've got a discord if you want to send your INI file through to me and I can have a look at it.
Yeah, they will function just like a rookie, until you build the psi chamber and level them up that way. There is a mod on Steam that adds them in as a class that levels up like normal soldiers, so you could consider grabbing that too. I don't remember the name though, sorry.
@@TheDriftersBroadcast I believe it's called "Psi Rookies" (Mod ID: 1139003562). The Psi Operatives this mod gives is less overpowered than the vanilla ones and disallow training in the Psi Lab.
@@TheDriftersBroadcast I think it is since I tried to play with this mod enabled and I did all the notepad++ stuff but it wasn't working. Then I got the AML and it started to work, but I only have 9 starting soldiers instead of 12, which is the amount I have typed up.
Everything I've found about this mod - including the mod itself in the Workshop - fails to address what the final two lines of code *actually* do. The language used in the comments for those two lines is ambiguous to me. In testing when they're both set to true it completely wipes/ignores my Character Pool - but not before duplicating some of my soldiers in the StartingSoldiers.ini into the Recruit screen (and probably generated missions). It *should* pull soldiers from the CP, remove them from selection by the Recruit pool or missions, and NOT destroy the rest of the CP. I don't understand any other way someone would want to implement this mod. This mod is starting to become more pain than it's worth!
Hey there. I did a lot of testing on this today. I wrote a top level comment that basically outlines what those two lines do. I did about 10 starts to get it the way I wanted. I wanted some Sparks in my starting barracks but not on Gatecrasher. But so you'll hopefully get the notification: If you set +bRemoveStartingSoldiers=true, it will remove the default generated barracks (from your character pool) and replace them with the soldiers you add to the list. If you leave the SoldierName, and SoldierClass as "", it will generate a random character, not pull from your character pool. Leaving +bRemoveStartingSoldiers=true also sets +bReplaceStartingSquad=true. If you set +bRemoveStartingSoldiers=false, any soldiers that you put in the list will be ADDED to the generated barracks from your character pool. Setting +bRemoveStartingSoldiers=false and +bReplaceStartingSquad=true will add any characters from the list to the Barracks, but the first 4 (or 6 with certain mods) will be sent on gatecrasher. This WILL override the hero selection. If you set +bRemoveStartingSoldiers=false and +bReplaceStartingSquad=false, the soldiers in the list will only be added to the generated barracks.
I know I'm really late to the party, but in case anybody else is wondering, going above rank 6 works fine. I don't know what happens if you input a value that's higher than any existing rank though (idk why you would anyway). This is useful to know with mods that make the game harder for whatever reason, or if you just want to give yourself a bit of a starting edge on higher difficulties.
Thank you so much for this guide and the links to the other apps used, you're a legend
You are an excellent explainer! Not rushing. Showing and telling what (and why) you are doing things as you go along.
Just started my Sparks only run with this mod. Thanks for the guidance Drifter!
Thanks, I wanted to do this, and try an all Templar run, and your video made that possible. Much appreciated
You're very much welcome. Let me know how the Templar only run goes. :)
@@TheDriftersBroadcast It's been a ton of fun so far. Easy on the tactical map, but the roster of 11 (well 10... there was a squaddie that got instant killed by a purifier grenade) makes it tough to field a full squad after wills go down a bit. Everybody is tired, or shaken, and I'm running out of will faster than it regenerates :(
@@thomdennett960 Yeah, it's tough. best advice I can give is hunt the Chosen fighting the Templars as quickly as possible with your covert ops. This will increase your standing with the faction and they may give you the Noble Cause resistance order which would help. But it's not a guarantee. :(
Absolutely helpful video! Clear and precise! Thank you!
16:08 You can use hold Ctrl+Alt and drag mouse at the start of all those lines. Then type ;
I've always been clueless with shortcuts. Thanks for the info.
thank you for uploading this
21:19 I wish I saw this earlier lol. I had an idea to use the Playable Aliens mod to do a run with aliens only, but I could not figure out what I was doing wrong even with the previous steps.
Oof, that's annoying. Better late than never, I guess haha.
I'm starting a new Covert Infiltration campaign and had to revisit this video. So I did a lot of testing on this today. I wanted to start with the basic barracks, but to have a few sparks in the mix to augment the group since I find CI to be a bit punishing early game on will. And also because I like proficiency Sparks.
To add to the good advice in this video:
+bRemoveStartingSoldiers=true;
True is the default. Setting this to 'false' ADDs the soldiers you put in the list to the ones in that are set into the barracks by default/automatically. Leaving it as 'true' will replace the soldiers in your starting barracks with the soldiers you add to the .ini file. This can allow you to start with a larger than normal barracks. Or to add a specific set of soldiers to the barracks at certain ranks/classes to augment the starting soldiers pulled from your character pool.
Leaving/Setting this as 'true' overrides the second boolean.
+ReplaceStartingSquad=true;
True is the default. This one will only take effect if the above is set to 'false'. If set to 'true' with the above set to false, this boolean will replace the starting squad for Gatecrasher, by taking the first 4/6 (depending on mods and settings) characters from the list. NOTE: This will override the starting hero too; even if you select "Start at Reapers/Templars/Skirmishers". If there is no hero class in your list, there won't be one on your Gatecrasher if you set this boolean to true.
If you set this to 'false' while the above is set to 'false', the soldiers in your list will be added to the barracks, but not put on Gatecrasher.
TL;DR
+bRemoveStartingSoldiers=true; AND +bReplaceStartingSquad=true -- The soldiers in the list will replace the randomly generated barracks and the first set will be put in the starting squad.
+bRemoveStartingSoldiers=false; AND +bReplaceStartingSquad=true -- The soldiers in the list will be added to the randomly generated barracks and the first set will be put in the starting squad.
+bRemoveStartingSoldiers=false; AND +bReplaceStartingSquad=false -- The soldiers in list will only be added to the randomly generated barracks.
(All of this could break if the modder updates it or you have another mod that interacts wierdly with the mod, but that's the nature of the mod game. Happy Alien Slaughtering!)
Great Video got it working first try.
Buah this helped me alot thanks
This will be useful when I get the game itself on PC, thanks a bunch ^^
You are most welcome. Hope it helps.
thanks
Great video! However, by using this mod, I don't get the random faction soldier at the beginning (with Lost and Abandoned disabled). I've tried leaving one of the four starting slots as +CHARACTER_INFO=(SoldierName="",SoldierClass="",SoldierRank=1) and it just generates a random soldier instead of the faction one. Is my only choice to specify a class?
Yeah, I think you need to specify the class for hero units and SPARKs.
@@TheDriftersBroadcast Thanks!
Do you by chance know if its possible to put mods on xcom for the Nintendo switch?
As far as I know, it's not possible, sorry. :(
Hey, is there a way to play with the customized soldiers from your playthroughs? Can you make a video or say how to import those? And what mods do I have to use? How do you use the character pools?
If you check my latest XCOM run, there's a link to the character pool in the description. No mods required. Check out this video for how to import characters. th-cam.com/video/fo_AlvNvfa8/w-d-xo.html
Anyone turned off by the extra downloads, you don't actually need them. I used notepad (regular) and found the mod manually. My file route to the mod matched his in the video, so it is likely yours will too. Make sure to launch the 2K launcher, enable your mods, check the file location by following the route in the video, and then you can just edit the same file with notepad. Fair warning: you won't get the useful coloration of the code like it is in the video, you are going to have to keep track of it yourself.
Anyone turned off by the unnecessary comment when the creator says "these downloads will make it easier" thus entailing that you do not need them but they can be helpful?
Out of curiosity, does this mod disable achievements? I want to do some of these challenges but I don’t want to lose out on the chance to unlock achievements on steam.
I don't believe mods disable achievements, but I'm not 100% sure, sorry.
Note: At least on EU you have to use a . instead of a +. If you do not do this, you will only get 1 soldier and thats it
Where do i put the dot
Hi i know you will probable not see this but i might aswell try. So i did everything you said in the vid but im not trying to use guys like rangers and Reapers and other guys like that. Im actually using a modded class and when i go into a game it only gives me a chance to get them. I don't know if its something a did in the coding or what but i really want a barracks of 10 of the moded units (the 4 starter troops included) and yet i only managed to get only 1 of my guys in the "gatebraker" mission. What should i do?
Some people have had success replacing the "+" at the start of the line with a "." so that may be worth a try. Also, the mod won't work non-human modded classes. And lastly, make sure the person you're trying to add is in your character pool. Hopefully one of those things fixes the trouble you're having.
so the mod is working fine until/unless i try to make all of my soldiers Templars then it only gives me 2, one form my pool and one from the resistance base. any ideas?
Also the tutorial is amazing
I have just had a look at this. It turns out if you want more than 2 of a hero class, you have to make them in the character pool first.
So lets say you want to start with 10 Templars. You need to make 10 Templars in the character pool and then put all 10 of them into the ini file. It won't work with randoms for some reason, but it will work if the Templars are being taken from the character pool.
Hope that makes sense. Let me know if you need anymore help.
@@TheDriftersBroadcast Thanks for the help, your explanation makes perfect sense.
You are awesome dude
@@stevenwright366 Back at you, bud. :D
@@TheDriftersBroadcast how do i put them into the ini file?
@@stevenwright366 Just like the in video, bro. Add in a new line in the INI file and set the soldier class to templar and the soldier name to whatever the name in the character pool is. I've got a discord if you want to send your INI file through to me and I can have a look at it.
Hoping this works with mod classes
It does.
Does this work with moddded classes
Only if they're human classes, I believe.
I changed one of my classes to a psi operative but its abilities are locked, do I need to build a psi lab?
Yeah, they will function just like a rookie, until you build the psi chamber and level them up that way. There is a mod on Steam that adds them in as a class that levels up like normal soldiers, so you could consider grabbing that too. I don't remember the name though, sorry.
@@TheDriftersBroadcast oh ok thanks bro
@@TheDriftersBroadcast I believe it's called "Psi Rookies" (Mod ID: 1139003562). The Psi Operatives this mod gives is less overpowered than the vanilla ones and disallow training in the Psi Lab.
Is the XCOM 2 AML required or does it make things easier?
I think some mods don't work without it. Not sure if this is one of them or not.
@@TheDriftersBroadcast I think it is since I tried to play with this mod enabled and I did all the notepad++ stuff but it wasn't working. Then I got the AML and it started to work, but I only have 9 starting soldiers instead of 12, which is the amount I have typed up.
Dont know if im missing a trick ... but still cant get this to work, anyone got a file for the templar run?
Are the Templars in the character pool? I've found the mod doesn't always work if you try to generate random hero soldiers.
@@TheDriftersBroadcast WOrked it out ...... mod only worked if you use the AML thing ......
Everything I've found about this mod - including the mod itself in the Workshop - fails to address what the final two lines of code *actually* do. The language used in the comments for those two lines is ambiguous to me. In testing when they're both set to true it completely wipes/ignores my Character Pool - but not before duplicating some of my soldiers in the StartingSoldiers.ini into the Recruit screen (and probably generated missions).
It *should* pull soldiers from the CP, remove them from selection by the Recruit pool or missions, and NOT destroy the rest of the CP. I don't understand any other way someone would want to implement this mod.
This mod is starting to become more pain than it's worth!
Hey there. I did a lot of testing on this today. I wrote a top level comment that basically outlines what those two lines do. I did about 10 starts to get it the way I wanted. I wanted some Sparks in my starting barracks but not on Gatecrasher. But so you'll hopefully get the notification:
If you set +bRemoveStartingSoldiers=true, it will remove the default generated barracks (from your character pool) and replace them with the soldiers you add to the list. If you leave the SoldierName, and SoldierClass as "", it will generate a random character, not pull from your character pool. Leaving +bRemoveStartingSoldiers=true also sets +bReplaceStartingSquad=true.
If you set +bRemoveStartingSoldiers=false, any soldiers that you put in the list will be ADDED to the generated barracks from your character pool. Setting +bRemoveStartingSoldiers=false and +bReplaceStartingSquad=true will add any characters from the list to the Barracks, but the first 4 (or 6 with certain mods) will be sent on gatecrasher. This WILL override the hero selection.
If you set +bRemoveStartingSoldiers=false and +bReplaceStartingSquad=false, the soldiers in the list will only be added to the generated barracks.
"Too many mods to keep track of like I have.."
*looks at your 85 mods total*
*looks at my 400+ total*
Huh..
Thomas Elizabeth Young Donald Perez Robert
If I watch tutorial this length for every of 100 mods I use I won't have time to play the game.