What kind of things does TA:M switch?
TA:Mutation is a switcher.
It turns on and off items so you can play them when you want, or keep them for another time when you want.
There are 5 different items that TA:M switches for you.
Total Conversions
A TC is a datafile that is considered a "Major Alteration" to TA.
Examples include the Uberhack, TA:BugFix or XTA.
Download these here:
Uberhack
TA:Bugfix
XTA
Since TC's are major alterations, only one is allowed to be switched on at a time.
Installing TC's is just a matter of copying the data file and its partner text file into your TA-Mutation folder.
Tell me more.
Mutators
A Mutator is like a mini-TC.
It consists of specific unit changes to existing units (and in some cases entirely new units as well).
The whole point of a Mutator is to make changes to some of the existing units in TA (and/or the currently installed TC).
The Mutator does this by using the .ccx file extension, which TA considers to be a higher priority over .hpi and .ufo extensions.
A Mutator is normally not a total revision of all/most of the units, so it is very likely that multiple Mutators can exist at the same time and not conflict with each other.
Its up to you to decide which Mutators to switch on at the same time. You are allowed 32 at the same time, so you could make some fairly interesting combinations of TA changes.
Mutators are found in the TA:M interface on the second tab, and highlighted items indicate active mutators which will be loaded when you run TA.
NOTE: if you install two or more Mutators that modify the same unit, you will probably have unpredictable results. For example, TA:Mutation comes with two mutators named KroggyComm and Blackout.
KroggyComm has a modified version of the Commanders. It turns the Commander into a Krogoth.
Blackout has modified versions of all the units that have radar and sonar. The radar and sonar has been removed from all these units. Since this setting is stored in the "FBI" file for each unit, Blackout has all new FBI files for each of the units involved in the Mutator.
Well, the Commanders have radar. This means that both Mutators have new FBI files for the Commanders. Only one can be loaded by TA, and it is unpredictable which one will get loaded, since all Mutators have the same priority level.
In short, don't have the KroggyComm and Blackout Mutators selected at the same time. Use good judgement to decide which Mutators will not conflict with each other. TA:M will not give you a warning message.
Artificial Intellegence
AI's affect how the computer plays TA. They affect how it builds, what it builds, and how much of each unit it builds, and when and how it attacks.
People create AI's to make TA more interesting or challenging. There are many many AI's written for TA, and many of them use custom units that we players have no access to.
It has been an age old problem in TA for the inexperienced user to control which AI is active, and not get the TA folders all messed up. TA:M handles this for you.
TA:M compatible AI files are contained in their own folders. There can be many files inside the folders, and TA:M does not concern itself with the contents of each folder, it simply moves the folders around and renames them, just like it does for other data files.
Things stay clean, because TA:M only allows one active AI at any given time.
AI folders are all named beginning with the two characters "^^"
AI's have partner text files too that control which folders get renamed to what. The partner text files have the same name as the folders, beginning with "^^" and have the extension ".ai"
AI's are found in the TA:M interface on the third tab, and the highlighted item is the currently selected item.
3rd party UFO files
Additional units or maps can be added to your game by dropping the UFO files into the UFOManager folder that is inside your TA-Mutation folder.
You must create a text file for each UFO that describes it and lists what TC's it is compatible with. This file is the UFO's partner text file and must have the same name as the UFO, but with the extention ".txt"
UFO files can be switched on or off using the TA:M interface in the fourth tab. They are found in the right column list. You can have many UFO's selected at the same time, and highlighted items indicate which UFO's are currently active.
UFO packs
UFO Packs are just text files that contain a list of UFO's you want grouped together.
Any UFO file can be listed in multiple packs.
UFO Packs are switched on and off using the TA:M interface in the fourth tab. They are found in the left column list. You can have many UFO packs selected at the same time, and highlighted items indicate which UFO packs are currently active.
Also, if you select UFO's individually and happen to select all the UFO's in a particular pack, that pack will be highlighted to let you know that everything in its list is active.