Hidden Campaign Co-op mode in XWA!

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Hidden Campaign Co-op mode in XWA!

bazr
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Post by bazr » Fri Jan 08, 2016 5:49 pm

Recently me and a gameranger buddy of mine "Justagai" have been testing a hassle free campaign co-op mode that he found in the exe and is testing it with a trainer. This is NOT the same as the existing way people play campaign co-op where you have a skirmish temp.tie which you have to copy over inbetween missions this is a genuine campaign co-op mode that has always been there since retail but never enabled. You can see the new found interface in this video and a working multiplayer briefing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcwMiNGsIik

Since the trainer is only needed on the host end this means anyone can join without any special files needed (the same multiplayer rule applies where everyone is using the same install ie the upgrade 1.3 pack or normal install). To be hassle free completely ideally the original campaign missions need to have the flyable craft playerslots at the top so they match up with the skm files so it it is easier for the host.

For the host the original co-op .skm files are handy to work out playerslots, but they don't always match up to the original singleplayer campaign mission. The the flyable craft must be in the 16 player slots in the skirmish window and must always match up within the first 16 playerslots of the campaign mission you're playing (which can be seen in the Allied editor). If they dont match up you could end up flying your x-wing within the liberty ship slot which will more than likely crash when you try and hyper out. Most of the time the unaltered campaign missions are ok for 2 player co-op providing you know where the flyable craft slots are in the original campaign .tie mission. The amount of playerslots will vary for 2 to 16 depending on the nature of the mission.

This is why the old co-op mode release was so useful, I matched those temp.tie mission files to their corresponding campaign .tie mission names so they also matched the playerslot of the skm. They would still work in singleplayer too. These files were for the original xwingalliance install. They will work with the upgrade but you won't get the nice mission tweaks/backdrop updates that comes with upgrade 1.3 install.

I have edited the xwa upgrade 1.3 .tie files so they get these multiplayer slots match flyable craft positions of the old co-op release so that those original skm files can be used to match the playerslots. This has actually broken some of the upgrade campaign missions even though i've matched the flyable craft to the original co-op release as best I could.

Perhaps someone out there who released worked the original co-op mod can also edit upgrade 1.3 campaign mission so that people can have those nice updates too with this new campaign co-op.

This all might sound quite complicated but it will mean that all that would be needed is these updated campaign missions to have a fun hasslefree campaign co-op experience with more than 2 players. As for the host one key press is all it takes to enable this hidden co-op mode with a trainer exe running in the background which is still being tested.

There will hopefully be a player/game friendly mod perhaps with hooks that will enable this hidden co-op mode in a better way. Since this is classed as a 'hack' in its present form and will likely be flagged by anti virus software I doubt Justagai will release it just yet.

There are only a few missions that will not and probably never work. The last death star mission is a prime example. Also flying into a hangar will crash. This is probably why campaign co-op mode was taken out by the devs originally or they didn't have the time/budget to continue testing.

Anyone able to make the xwaupgrade 1.3 mission function like the original co-op release ones would be greatly appreciated. I have attempted this but someone better with Allied will fix it better than I can, I'll be happy to send the files over just pm me here, on gameranger or steam (Bazrrrr).

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Jaeven
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Post by Jaeven » Tue Jan 12, 2016 4:53 am

Not sure how I missed this thread. But do keep us up to date about this, this sounds really interesting. In theory, you could be able to play a bunch of custom missions online with a partner. And that is a major game changer.

bazr
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Post by bazr » Wed Jan 13, 2016 8:58 pm

Well you can play custom missions by skirmish and swapping files around. This new co-op discovery will allow proper briefing and debriefing screens too. Played this mod many times on gr and people are begging for a release. It will be released soon by the guy who discovered it. Lets just say many things are in motion right now so hopefully soon.

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Trevor
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Post by Trevor » Tue Jan 19, 2016 11:02 pm

I had a look on the net for more info... it seems its still an alt-tab hack replacing temp.tie?

If this is a new hack to actually avoid doing this, can you confirm this?

Trev

bazr
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Post by bazr » Wed Jan 20, 2016 1:27 am

This is still very new and yes there is no alt-tabbing or .tie replacing. A trainer with a hack is being used while testing which only the host needs. For 2 player co-op the original singleplayer campaign .tie can be used with the hack without being touched. The original guys who created the co-op missions are helping out too so it should be a better co-op experience all round with possibly upto 8 playerslots for every mission with difficulty adjusted accordingly.

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Trevor
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Post by Trevor » Wed Jan 20, 2016 2:51 pm

Wow, sounds great.

"For 2 player co-op the original singleplayer campaign .tie can be used with the hack without being touched."

So, simply copy the campaign missions into the skirmish folder and load XWA, go to multi pod and select single mission? You mentioned a "New found GUI " so, the multi player pod actually has a new button on the bottom saying campaign? I couldnt see anything in your vid, I might be blind hahaha

Trev

bazr
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Post by bazr » Wed Jan 20, 2016 6:33 pm

The new gui is shown in the first several seconds of the video, where the two teams of a normal skirmish mode become 16 player slot on rebel side with some graphics from the selected mission taken from the campaign. The clients need nothing to play. The host has the trainer open before launching XWA and presses a keybind to activate the trainer (ALT + 1) then selects what mission they want to do with the new arrows that have appeared at the sides. Once the mission is selected the host then clicks on the skirmish button to load a skirmish playerslot layout matching the original .tie file for available flyable craft slots for that campaign mission. Once the players have been put in their slots, the host then presses ALT + 1 again to go back into campaign mode, this time with the players in their slots (as shown in the video) and everyone readies up as normal. Only the host can skip the briefing screen. This will probably be how it will be done in the final release too except without the use of a trainer, a hook of some kind that enables a keybind to activate the hidden co-op campaign mode hopefully.

Atruejedi
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Post by Atruejedi » Mon Apr 18, 2016 10:27 am

This would be amazing!

fergalmonaghan
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Post by fergalmonaghan » Thu Sep 29, 2016 8:18 pm

This would be incredible! Please do update if anything has happened since?

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