Hi all,

FIlmBoy84 from the OpenApoc team here

This week we've had a number of users reporting various issues with the GOG release of the Original Game.

From strange organisation behaviour to problems with the marketplace, economy, and recruitment.

On further inspection we identified that the GOG.com release has altered two files, deleting one with the contents of the other

UFOEXE should contain the following files

UFO2P.EXE (1,702,206 bytes)
UFO2P4.EXE (1,705,790 bytes)

Instead it appears to contain only UFO2P.EXE but on disassembly of the EXE it is apparent that this is indeed the original UFO2P4.EXE just renamed to UFO2P.EXE

This is causing SERIOUS problems with mid to late game progression as players will notice strange marketplace behaviour like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRVIjf40U_M

And many more effects such as missing engineers and other recruits, organisations changing their allegiances with no warning or reason, etc.

Can the GOG staff please look into this and restore the original versions of both files to the UFOEXE folder please?

Something has gone horribly wrong with the GOG distribution recently by making these changes and players will find the game breaks halfway through a run

Kind Regards

JacobD88 / FilmBoy84

Further testing has revealed a similar problem with the TACEXE directory also

TACP.EXE (3,161,594 bytes) is present in the directory
TACP4.EXE (3,161,594 bytes) is missing entirely

The difference between EXEs in both the TACEXE and UFOEXE directory is down to the architecture they were designed for

The UFOEXE UFO2P.EXE is actually the UFO2P4.EXE on the GOG version due to cross-naming and is aimed at 486 architecture (hence the 4 in the original name)

The TACP.EXE in the TACEXE directory in the gog release is the Pentium version of the EXE (as it's not cross named with the TACP4.EXE)

This means that the two halves of the game are communicating data between two assumed architectures leading to a lot of the problems in the GOG release

GOG needs to do the following to fix this:

1) Ensure that TACEXE has both the original versions of TACP and TACP4, correctly named, and present in the folder with all the other associated files
2) Ensure that UFOEXE has both the original versions of UFO2P and UFO2P4, correctly named, and present in the folder with all the other associated files
3) Update their installer to make sure the above is the case

For now users with the GOG release should open the XCOM.CUE/BIN disc image from the CD directory with an appropriate disc image tool.

Navigate to XCOM3/TACEXE and copy the files within to their GOG TACEXE folder over-writing as necessary (copy everything within out, not just the executables)

Navigate to XCOM3/UFOEXE and copy the files within to their GOG UFOEXE folder over-writing as necessary (copy everything within out, not just the executables)

You WILL have to start a new game. Sadly existing games started with the current GOG executable mess will be corrupted and display problems in the mid to late game. There is nothing that can be done to fix them

Ok so there's a bug if you sell alien artifacts and then buy them back.
You get 0$ for selling them so why would you want to do that in the first place?

GOG messed up badly here. They've basically broken the game, only it's only visible to players who play long enough to see the corruption. Fix it GOG!

GOG team please fix that issue

Go on then, keep shouting into the void. You'd have better luck asking the actual developers at the rate of going than contacting GOG support; but a better question would be: Why not see if OpenApoc fixes the issue?

I had several issues with the GOG version of the game that kept me from playing it.

I would suggest that someone needs to contact support and let them know that they made a mistake when they compiled this game.

I know that they don't read the forums very often. It might take a few months but with something like this where we can say "hey, this is what happened and this is what needs to happen." They will eventually fix it. Just yelling it is wrong on the forum will never actually get it fixed. Now if we let them know through the channels they established just for this sort of thing then they will actually eventually fix it.

I received an email back from gog.com stating that they have forwarded to the product development team the issue with x-com apocalypse.

And did you tried this project yourself before making this suggestion? It's on feature incomplete development stage, unsuitable for campaign walkthrough yet. Not even a beta.

The difference in the files you expect to find and the ones present was not caused by GOG per se.

I have my GOG installer, as well as my original CD from the '90s, and four other CD images that "got around" in the past.

I tested them all in DOSBox, running the installer from the CD for each in both Minimum and Optimal installations (did not bother with Standard). GOG's version is simply a Minimum install performed from its own CD image (which I know should be Optimal, for different reasons, and it is what I use when playing).

All versions I have install the exact same EXE files as the GOG installer. If this causes a bug, as you describe, then it is the fault of the original game distribution. If having both EXEs in both directories solves the problem, then you just found a bugfix for a bug that has existed for 23 years in those distributions.

May I inquire as to how did you confirm the EXEs being present solves the issue? I'd like to replicate the issue and solution myself if possible.

Also, which version of the game installs the two EXEs in each directory by default? I have at least two distinct distributions, according to their readmes. The README.TXT file from my original CD (and GOG's version CD image) is dated 1997-06-19, and two of the other CD images have it dated 1997-06-25.

That sounds very plausible. Let us know how it goes with support. They seem to be a bit swamped at the moment. I'm guessing the CP2077 refund onslaught is still raging.

Has the problem been corrected yet?

Unless you use Galaxy's Verify/Repair and run into the same issue as the OP (which apparently is not even 100% sure to happen), there is no problem.

If you use Galaxy and want to make absolutely sure your installation is correct, download the offline installer instead of installing from Galaxy.

Thank you for the information.

Fortunately I am not currently using Galaxy.

*nevermind*