The LoS Indicator is a mod to bring the feature of XCOM2 back to XCOM EW/LW. With this mod enabled, while moving the cursor around to select a movement target tile enemies that will be visible from that point are indicated graphically on the screen.
The mod contains several configurable variables that may be of interest, see the configuration section below.
The installation steps are different depending on whether you are installing for Long War or Vanilla EW. EU is not supported (but might work?)
- Apply the patch file Sightlines_LW.txt with PatcherGUI
- Copy Sightlines.u to your XEW packages folder (e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\Common\XCom Enemy Within\XEW\XComGame\CookedPCConsole)
- Add the following line to the bottom of the DefaultMutatorLoader.ini file in your XEW Config folder: arrTacticalMutators="Sightlines.SightlineMutator"
- Copy DefaultSightlines.ini to your XEW config folder (e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\Common\XCom Enemy Within\XEW\XComGame\Config)
Installation for Vanilla EW takes several steps, broken into three main sections.
If you have never added any PatcherGUI based mods to your EW installation, you need to take a few steps to enable modding at all:
- Select "Enable INI loading" from the PatcherGUI "Tools" menu.
- Select "Disable Phoning Home" from the PatcherGUI "Tools" menu.
Once modding is enabled, you need to enable mutators. This section is only needed if you have not installed any mutator based EW mods. I am not aware of any others that don't require LW, so odds are good that if you are in doubt, you need to do the steps in this section.
This section thanks to the efforts of Wasteland Ghost, without whose Mutator work most of my mods would not be possible. See https://github.com/wghost/XCom-Mutators, and the included file LICENSE-Mutators.txt for the licensing information for this package.
- Apply the patch file XComMutatorEnabler.txt with PatcherGUI
- Copy DefaultMutatorLoader.ini to your XEW config folder (e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\Common\XCom Enemy Within\XEW\XComGame\Config)
- Copy XComMutator.u to your XEW CookedPCConsole folder
- Add the following line to the [Engine.ScriptPackages] section of the DefaultEngine.ini file in your XEW Config folder (just after XComUIShell): +NonNativePackages=XComMutator
Finally you're actually ready to install this mod.
- Apply the patch file Sightlines_EW.txt with PatcherGUI
- Copy Sightlines.u to your XEW packages folder (e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\Common\XCom Enemy Within\XEW\XComGame\CookedPCConsole)
- Copy DefaultSightlines.ini to your XEW config folder (e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\Common\XCom Enemy Within\XEW\XComGame\Config)
If you skipped section 2 because you already had mutators enabled, you'll need to add Sightlines.SightlineMutator to your DefaultMutatorLoader.ini file as per the instructions in the LW section. If you followed the steps to enable mutators this is already done for you in the file you copied over.
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Uninstall the old patch. In PatcherGUI, click "Show Log" and find the patch script you installed for the Loadout Manager in the list of installed mods. Highlight it and select "Load Uninstaller". Then click "Apply".
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Reinstall as per a normal fresh installation. You may not need to alter the DefaultMutatorLoader.ini, but ensure the correct lines are already there.
The mod contains several configurable variables. These can be modified by changing the appropriate lines in DefaultSightlines.ini.
[Sightlines.SightlineMutator]
OVERWATCH_TOGGLE_DELAY=1.2
SIGHTLINE_TICK_DELAY=1.0
SHOW_FRIENDLY_INDICATORS=false
USE_TOGGLE_HOTKEY=false
SightIndicator=eIndicator_Disc_Green
OVERWATCH_TOGGLE_DELAY controls how long the mod waits when switching back and forth between the red and blue overwatch icons on visible, overwatching enemies. At the default setting of 1.2, the indicator will toggle state every 1.2 seconds.
SIGHTLINE_TICK_DELAY controls the refresh rate of the LoS information. Setting this to a lower value will mean a lower lag time between moving the mouse and updated LoS being displayed on-screen, but may increase CPU use. Conversely, setting this value higher can improve performance at a cost of less frequent LoS updates.
SHOW_FRIENDLY_INDICATORS controls whether or not friendly units (e.g. XCom) are also highlighted using the indicator. This may be useful in LW to determine whether or not a unit will be in sight for Command. It is off by default as some may find all the additional indicators to be distracting.
USE_TOGGLE_HOTKEY controls whether LoS updates and indicators are always on (false, the default) or on only when a hotkey is pressed (true). If enabled, pressing the hotkey once will enable LoS updates, updated on the SIGHTLINE_TICK_DELAY frequency as before. Pressing the hotkey again will turn off all indicators and disable LoS updates. This option can be used if you find the automatic updates slow the game down too much, or if the always-on indicators are distracting. The hotkey must be specified in DefaultInput.ini in your config folder in the XComGame.XComTacticalInput section. Searching the file for "Ability Shortcuts" should get you into the right place. The new hotkey can be added with a line such as:
.Bindings=(Name="V", Command="marketing", alt=TRUE)
This assigns the hotkey Alt-V to the 'marketing' command, which was a debug mode I've commandeered for this mod. The key can be adjusted to any key you prefer, including gamepad buttons.
SightIndicator controls how visible aliens are represented in the game. There are four possible values:
eIndicator_Disc_Green
eIndicator_Disc_Orange
eIndicator_Disc_Gold
eIndicator_Overwatch (Long War only!)
The first three (including the default, eIndicator_Disc_Green) use the unit selection ring to indicate visible units, and the particular value determines the colour used for the ring.
eIndicator_Overwatch is only supported in Long War and uses the overwatch "eye" indicator to indicate visibility, similar to XCOM2's implementation. The icon is shaded blue to differentiate it from overwatching enemies, and will toggle back and forth between red and blue for visible enemies that are currently on overwatch as a reminder.