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X-COM: Apocalypse

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
X-COM: Apocalypse
X-COM: Apocalypse cover
Developers
Mythos Games
Publishers
MicroProse
Current 2K Games
Release dates
DOS July 15, 1997
Windows July 15, 1997
Windows (DOSBox) September 4, 2008
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Turn-based
Perspectives Bird's-eye view, Isometric
Controls Point and select
Genres Strategy
Themes Sci-fi
Series X-COM
X-COM: Apocalypse on HowLongToBeat
X-COM: Apocalypse on IGDB
X-COM: Apocalypse guide on StrategyWiki
X-COM: Apocalypse on MobyGames
X-COM: Apocalypse on Wikipedia
X-COM
X-COM: UFO Defense 1994
X-COM: Terror from the Deep 1995
X-COM: Apocalypse 1997
X-COM: Interceptor 1998
X-COM: Email games 1999
X-COM: Enforcer 2001
XCOM: Enemy Unknown 2012
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified 2013
XCOM 2 2016
XCOM: Chimera Squad 2020

X-COM: Apocalypse is a singleplayer bird's-eye view and isometric strategy game in the X-COM series.

General information

UFOpaedia - A huge wiki for the XCOM series
StrategyCore
xcomufo.com
GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
DOS
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Still, technically, has CD Check enabled. See Issues fixed for disabling it. Pre-packaged with DOSBox.
Windows
Green Man Gaming
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Humble Store
DRM-free
Included in X-COM: Complete Pack, with X-COM: UFO Defense, X-COM: Terror from the Deep, X-COM: Interceptor and X-COM: Enforcer.
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Still, technically, has CD Check enabled. See Issues fixed for disabling it. Pre-packaged with DOSBox.
Windows
GamersGate (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Windows
A free demo version is available from Archive.org.

Essential improvements

Run in DOSBox

To improve DOSBox performance, make some changes to the DOSBox configuration file.
Change DOSBox configuration file[1][2]
  1. Change fulldouble=false to fulldouble=true
  2. Change output=surface to output=opengl
  3. Change memsize=16 to memsize=64
  4. Change blocksize=X to blocksize=4096
  5. Change prebuffer=X to prebuffer=20
  6. Change rate=X to rate=22050

Notes

If you still suffer from poor performance, try changing cycles=auto to cycles=max.
You may need to use Ctrl+F11 and Ctrl+F12 to control the speed of DOSBox's emulation.

Recommended Mods

  • A Patcher: Fixes bugs and can unlock incomplete parts of the game. Effectively XcomUtil from earlier games remade for Apocalypse.
  • RoadWar: Rebalances the vehicle combat, adding more game emphases to it.
  • Karadoc's Apoc Mod: Rebalances tactical missions, can make the both more fair and challenging.
Additional mods and other files for Apocalypse can be downloaded at StrategyCore here.

OpenApoc

An open source reinterpretation of the game's engine that's currently in a pre-alpha state.

Further details can be found on the project's official website, GitHub repository, and project forums.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
DOS
Windows <path-to-game>\[Note 1]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/7660/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game data location

System Location
DOS
Windows <path-to-game>\SAVEGAME[Note 1]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/7660/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game options menu.
In-game options menu.

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
For DOSBox toggle with Alt+ Enter (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
For DOSBox use an unofficial build (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
60 FPS and 120+ FPS

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Controller types

Audio

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Most speech is text-based.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
For DOSBox change the priority background value in the DOSBox configuration file.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
German
Retail only; download for digital releases.
Brazilian Portuguese
Retail only: BraSoft.
Russian
Fan translation by «UFODefense.narod.ru» download link #1 and #2 Features a dub with alternate music.
Spanish
Retail only; download for digital releases..

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
Hotseat. Was scrapped prior to release but can be enabled using A Patcher. Works surprisingly well for a unstable pre-alpha feature.
LAN play
2 Versus
Was scrapped prior to release. Can be enabled using A Patcher, however usually crashes immediately after selecting the option from the menu.
Online play
2 Versus
See note above.

Issues fixed

X-COM asks for CD

The Steam version sometimes asks for the CD, preventing progress.
Extract folders from cd.iso and place them in the game's directory folder[3]
The Steam version is set to "Minimal Install" in order to conserve space. The installer on the ISO can be used as an alternative, overwriting the existing installation with the "huge" setting.[4] Certain files, such as the music and videos, will still remain on the disc image, however, so they should be copied to the appropriate subfolders.
Use a later version of DOSBox (0.74 or newer; Steam uses 0.72)[5]
Use a No-CD patch

Choppy cutscenes

Use DOS32A[citation needed]

Bind it to SMKP.EXE with the following command: sb /r Smkp.exe

Replace the builtin player[6]

Use this patch from StrategyCore user Bomb Bloke.

Included Smacker Video player may hang in DOSBox. This can be fixed by upgrading it to the latest version here. Batch scripts may also need to be edited depending on the game's directory.

Black screen on startup

This game has issues with certain SVGA cards (both real and emulated). It can be fixed by using this patcher. Note hat tthis program requires Windows and will not run in DOSBox.

Game hangs after entering the Alien Dimension

Certain versions of the game shipped without the map files for the Alien Dimension. They can be downloaded here.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Software renderer
DOS video modes SVGA
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio Human Machine Interface (HMI) audio drivers
Cutscenes Smacker Video Cutscenes remain on disk in the retail version.

System requirements

DOS
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 5.0
Processor (CPU) Intel 486 DX/4 100 MHz
System memory (RAM) 8 MB (DOS)
16 MB (Windows 95)
Hard disk drive (HDD) 20 MB
Video card (GPU) SVGA


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).
  2. 2.0 2.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/7660/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (7660) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. DOSBox wiki - GAMES:X-COM: Apocalypse - last accessed on May 2023
  2. The game is choppy - Comment #12 - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  3. XCom Apocalypse needs CD - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)
  4. Insert Cd... - Comment #6 - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  5. X-Com Apoc, Stability and mounting the ISO - last accessed on May 2023
  6. Apocalypse's Smk Player - Comment #29 - last accessed on 9 June 2023