Even before its official release, Firaxis Games confirmed that XCOM 2 would be mod-friendly and it is! In addition to mods, the game is also highly tweakable with most of the game files out in the open to be experimented with.
For more help on XCOM 2, read our PC Tweaks Guide, How to Unlock Hero Characters and How to Unlock Psi Operative.
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All that you need is a free text editor like NotePad and some basic knowledge of what you are doing. However, it is also a good idea to back everything up before doing anything so that you can easily remove any changes in case something goes south. This guide basically details some basic and advanced tweaks so that you can alter the game as you deem fit.
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Do note that in order to change these files; you need to head over to the following directory:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\XCOM 2\XComGame\Config
This folder basically contains all the files that we need to change in order to tweak the game:
How to Increase Squad Size
This is pretty self-explanatory and can be done so rather easily. First, you need to open up ‘DefaultGameData.ini’ and find ‘MaxSoldiersOnMission’. You can set it to whatever value you prefer, but note that the game’s default UI only supports 8 soldiers in the equipment screen, but you will get the remaining soldiers once the operation starts.
Low HP Enemies
In order to decrease the HP or any other stat of enemy soldiers, you need to open up ‘DefaultGameData_CharacterStats.ini’ and then search for ‘AdvCaptainM1’. In case you are looking to decrease their HP, you need to find ‘CharacterBaseStats[eStat_HP]’, but remember that you can do so with other stats as well.
Another thing that you need to note here is that the game’s difficulty setting overrides these settings and you should also change the values under difficulty settings as well by continue searching for ‘AdvCaptainM1’ in the said file.
Magnetic Rifle Damage
In order to make changes to your Magnetic Rifle, you need to open up ‘DefaultGameData_WeaponData.ini’ and then find ‘AssaultRifle_Magnetic_BaseDamage’. Once there you will see the default values as Damage=6 with Spread=1.
What this basically means is that your weapon has range of 6 which can go up or down by 1 i.e. 5 or 7. Considering these things, you can change as you see fit. Moreover, you can also change Pierce Value or Shred Value in order to ignore or shred that much armor.
Grenades’ Explosive Radius
In order to change these settings, you need to open up ‘DefaultGameData_WeaponData.ini’ and then find ‘FragGrenade_Radius’. You can set this value to 30 in order to destroy an entire area block or to anything else you prefer.
Clothes and Beard
You can have your staff wear more clothes or come up with facial hear by opening up ‘DefaultNameList.ini’ and finding ‘NewSoldier_HatChance’. Once there, you can change these settings according to your preference. For example, you can set HatChance = 0.10 in order to get your recruit 10% chances of wearing a hat or NewSoldier_BeardChance = 0.99 in order to have your recruit 99% of having some sort of facial hair.
Movement Speed While Carrying
If you want to give your game some realistic touch and make your life a tad more difficult, you need to open up ‘DefaultGameCore.ini’ and find ‘CARRY_UNIT_MOBILITY_ADJUST’. Once there, you can add ‘-1’ to decrease the movement speed of your characters while they are carrying another teammate.
Better Shadowstrike and Conceal
You need to open up ‘DefaultGameData_SoldierSkills.ini’ and find ‘ComGame.X2Ability_RangerAbilitySet’. Once there, you can change ‘STEALTH_CHARGES’ and ‘SHADOWSTRIKE_CRIT’ in order to increase critical hit chances and stealth that can be used per mission.
Specialist Shotguns
In order to have your Specialist Class equipped with shotguns, you need to open up ‘DefaultClassData.ini’ and then search for ‘Specialist X2SoldierClassTemplate’. Once there, you need to change ‘AllowedWeapons=(SlotType=eInvSlot_PrimaryWeapon, WeaponType=”rifle”)’ to ‘AllowedWeapons=(SlotType=eInvSlot_PrimaryWeapon, WeaponType=”shotgun”)’.
Powerful Weapon Attachments
In order to change these, you need to open up ‘DefaultGameCore.ini’ and then find ‘XComGame.X2Item_DefaultUpgrades’. Once there, you can change values as you deem fit. For example, changing ‘FREE_KILL_BSC’ to 99 will give you 99% chances of instantly kill an enemy. Moreover, you can also change ‘FREE_RELOADS_BSC’ to 0 to completely remove basic autoloader’s limitations.
More Enemies in a Mission
In order to have more enemies in a mission, you need to open up ‘DefaultMissions.ini’ and then find ‘ADVENT ENCOUNTER DEFS FOR’ for all missions. Once there, you need to find ‘ConfigurableEncounters’. In order to increase enemy numbers, you need to increase the value of ‘MaxSpawnCount’.
If there is something else you would like to know, make sure to let us know in the comments section below!
