XCOM: Enemy Unknown

This page is for the reboot. For the original game, see X-COM: UFO Defense.

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

Warnings

Key points

The game suffers from an abundance of bugs. Some bugs were game-breaking as of 2012.^[1]

General information

PC Report - XCOM: Enemy Unknown on Linux

UFOpaedia - Wiki for the series

Official Forum - not PC-specific

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability[edit]

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
Developer website		Elite Edition. The Complete Edition also available.
GamersGate		The Complete Edition also available.
		The Complete Edition also available.
GOG.com		The Complete Edition.
Green Man Gaming		The Complete Edition also available.
Humble Store		The Complete Edition also available.
Mac App Store		Elite Edition.
Steam		The Complete Edition also available. Steam CEG 1.1.0.2100. Demo is available: `steam://install/216690`

All Linux versions require Steam DRM.

Version differences[edit]

GOG.com version is single-player only.

Complete Pack and Complete Edition include all the DLC.

Elite Edition for OS X includes the two DLC packs, but not the Enemy Within expansion.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Elite Soldier Pack	Pre-order bonus, also available for separate purchase.
Slingshot Pack
XCOM: Enemy Within

Essential improvements[edit]

Skip intro videos[edit]

Use the `-nostartupmovies` command line argument^[2]

Enable armor tint options[edit]

Enable armor tints^[3]

Go to the configuration files location.
Open XComGame.ini or DefaultGame.ini.
Add the following lines at the end

[XComStrategyGame.XGCustomizeUI]
bArmorDecoAvailable=true
bArmorTintAvailable=true

XCOM Map Patches[edit]

Fixes bugs in the vanilla maps.

May cause issues with VAC in multiplayer.

Game data[edit]

In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\XCOM - Enemy Unknown\XComGame\Config\ %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\XCOM - Enemy Within\XComGame\Config\
macOS (OS X)	~/Library/Application Support/Feral Interactive/XCOM Enemy Unknown/
Linux	$XDG_DATA_HOME/feral-interactive/XCOM/WritableFiles/

This game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.

Save game data location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\XCOM - Enemy Unknown\XComGame\SaveData\ %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\XCOM - Enemy Within\XComGame\SaveData\
macOS (OS X)	~/Library/Application Support/Feral Interactive/XCOM Enemy Unknown/
Linux	$XDG_DATA_HOME/feral-interactive/XCOM/savedata/ $XDG_DATA_HOME/feral-interactive/XCOM/XEW/savedata/

Savegames will start appearing in the wrong order once there are around 100.

Having too many savegames can cause slowdowns, which can be fixed by regularly purging them.

Savegames are game localization specific. Hence they are not usable if language is switched after campaign start.

If savegames are not showing when starting the game in Linux after playing it in Windows, go to the savegames location in Linux and change the name of the folder SaveData to savedata.

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video[edit]

In-game display settings.

In-game graphics settings.

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor		See the WSGF entry to fix the game rendering upside-down.^[4]
Ultra-widescreen		Mouse position is off the further it gets from the center of the screen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed	Includes "Borderless Window" display mode.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)	FXAA, cannot be disabled. Lowest setting is "Low". SGSSAA is available with the flag `0x000100C5`.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS	No frame rate or refresh rate cap^[5] except for cutscenes at ~30 fps.
Color blind mode	Game's color scheme is inherently friendly (no dedicated mode).^[6]

HBAO is available with the flags 0x00000010 or 0x00000020.

The SLI flag 0x02422405 may offer better performance.

Enemy Within's XComEW.exe isn't listed as part of XCOM Enemy Unknown's Nvidia profile, requiring it to be added manually or the profile duplicated using Nvidia Profile Inspector.

Input[edit]

In-game input settings.

In-game input settings, menu bindings.

In-game input settings, tactical bindings.^{[Note 1]}

Keyboard and mouse, touch	State	Notes
Remapping		Can bind two key combinations for each function.
Mouse acceleration		Some in-game functions cause mouse to accelerate wildly (e.g., any area-of-effect ability).
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Touchscreen optimised		Requires Enemy Within DLC.^[7] Must be first enabled in options.
Controller
Controller support		Must be first enabled in options. KB/M is disabled while controller is enabled.
Full controller support		If Enemy Within is installed, use `-FROMLAUNCHER` parameter to launch base game. For the expansion instead replace `<path-to-game>\XEW\Binaries\Win32\XCOMLauncher.exe` with `XComEW.exe`
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers
DualShock button prompts
Light bar support
Connection modes	unknown

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Button prompts
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M		KB/M is disabled while controller is enabled.

Audio[edit]

In-game audio settings.^{[Note 2]}

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound		With surround sound enabled certain sounds such as dialogue audio cannot be heard.^[8]
Subtitles		At least a few subtitle lines are bugged that will show code references instead of subtitles.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Normal UE3 -LANGUAGE and -LANGUAGEFORCOOKING override parameters are broken in base game^{[Note 3]} and will always fallback to English

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Hungarian				Fan translation, link #1, link #2.
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Russian
Spanish

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

Type	Players	Notes
Local play	2	Versus Use Nucleus Coop & Unofficial mod.
LAN play	2	Versus
Online play	2	Versus

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Turn off multiplayer chat[edit]

Turn off multiplayer voice chat^[9]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open `XComEngine.ini` or `DefaultEngine.ini`. Find the `[VoIP]` section Change the value of `bHasVoiceEnabled` to `false`

VR support[edit]

3D modes	GG3D	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision		Use Helix Mod to improve 3D support.
TriDef 3D
vorpX	G3D Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Issues fixed[edit]

Save game slowdowns[edit]

Having a lot of savegames might cause the game to momentarily freeze while loading the "Save Game" screen.

Delete unnecessary save games^[10]
Save games can be found in save game data location.

Windows[edit]

Game appears to run in slow motion[edit]

Using Gigabyte's OC Guru overclocking tool can cause the game to appear to run in slow motion, then jump forward in time every few seconds.

Close the OC Guru overlay^[11]
In the taskbar, right click on the Gigabyte OC Guru and click Close. You may need to click show hidden icons to see the icon.

Game crashes or runs extremely slow (AMD Bulldozer CPUs)[edit]

See Steam CEG protected games crash or freeze the system^[12]^[13]

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9
Shader Model support	3

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)			This 32-bit-only macOS game does not work* on macOS Catalina (10.15) or later.*
Linux

Middleware[edit]

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX	2.8.4.6
Interface	Scaleform
Cutscenes	Bink Video	1.99a
Multiplayer	Steamworks

System requirements[edit]

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	Vista	7
Processor (CPU)	2.0 GHz Dual Core	AMD Athlon X2 2.7 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	20 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT	ATI Radeon HD 3000 series Nvidia GeForce 9000 series

Windows XP is not supported, but the game can be made to run on it using this guide.

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10.8.5	10.9.5
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
System memory (RAM)	4 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	20 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon HD 4000 Series Nvidia GeForce 9000 Series 256 MB of VRAM	512 GB of VRAM

The following cards require 8 GB of RAM: Nvidia GeForce 320M, Nvidia GeForce 9400 and Intel HD3000.

The OS X version is not supported on these graphics cards: ATI Radeon X1xxx series, ATI Radeon HD2xxx series, Intel GMA series, Nvidia GeForce 7xxx series, Nvidia GeForce 8xxx series.

Linux
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	Ubuntu 14.04 64-bit
Processor (CPU)	2.0 GHz	3.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	4 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	16 GB
Video card (GPU)	AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series Nvidia GeForce GTX 600 Series Intel Iris Pro Graphics 512 MB of VRAM	Nvidia GeForce GTX 700 Series 1 GB of VRAM

A 64-bit operating system is required.

Notes

↑ XCOM:Enemy Within DLC adds one additional option, Toggle Overhead Camera, default binding is O.
↑ Soldiers' Language option is only available when playing XCOM:Enemy Within DLC.
↑ For some reason XComGame internally returns the arguments value with an extra ". Double quotes are a reserved character in all Windows file systems, so every CreateFile call fails.

References

[Note-7] XCOM:Enemy Within DLC adds one additional option, Toggle Overhead Camera, default binding is O.

[Note1-9] Soldiers' Language option is only available when playing XCOM:Enemy Within DLC.

[Note2-11] For some reason XComGame internally returns the arguments value with an extra ". Double quotes are a reserved character in all Windows file systems, so every CreateFile call fails.

[1] Dedicated Bug Reports - 2K Forums

[2] Want to skip the intro videos? :: XCOM: Enemy Unknown General Discussions

[3] tppiel on [GMG] 9th 666 Sale: DmC, Walking Dead, Euro Truck Sim 2, Darkout, XCOM, EVE Starter Pack

[4] ttp://img.wsgf.org/f/u/imagecache/node-gallery-display/contrib/dr/23733/ingame_3x1.jpg

[5] New 120Hz Games Report

[6] XCOM Enemy Unknown (PC) | AbleGamers.com

[8] :: Enabling Touch-Input on PC -- Steam General Discussions

[10] Can't hear sound/voice from soldiers? Click here. - Steam discussion forums

[12] Shutting off in-game Mic? :: XCOM: Enemy Unknown General Discussions

[13] Better performance after removing old saves :: XCOM 2 General Discussions

[14] PC - Choppy / Lagging graphics issue.

[15] Help - computer keeps restarting since installing steam/xcom :: Steam Community Discussions

[16] Somehow also reported by Mirh on an AMD E-350

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[Note 1]

[7]

[Note 2]

[8]

[Note 3]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

Developers

	Firaxis Games
macOS (OS X)	Feral Interactive
Linux	Feral Interactive
Publishers
	2K Games
OS X, Linux	Feral Interactive
Engines
	Unreal Engine 3
Release dates
Windows	October 9, 2012
macOS (OS X)	June 27, 2013
Linux	June 19, 2014
Reception
Metacritic	89
IGDB	89
Taxonomy
Monetization	DLC, Expansion pack
Microtransactions	Cosmetic, Finite spend
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Turn-based
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view
Controls	Point and select
Genres	Strategy, Shooter
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Sci-fi
Series	X-COM