Let's welcome Robbery525! He's added a significant number of QoL and other improvements to the editor (Released!) and is now a co-developer on this project.


This is a macro-enabled MS Excel workbook that allows you to easily customise Long War. This tool is useful both for people completely clueless about modding as well as veteran tweakers. With it, you can painlessly change item stats, rearrange class perk trees, alter fatigue levels, or make any number of other tweaks. Updated for Long War v1.0!

(Note that this is an independent project not ratified by either Firaxis or the Long War group.)

NEW! I've started uploading video tutorials on how to use this tool. The videos can be found on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmSqyoBy6a__3C2FJ2Cu2XVcFURb2sUPs

Requires Microsoft Excel 2007 or later (thanks for the info, madigan341).

• Here's an alternative suggested by deaconivory: Upload it to Google Drive and then attempt to preview it. This will fail and you can then select "Office Viewer for Google Docs" from "Connected Apps" and it will open in "Excel Online". (Doesn't work.)
• The free Open Office might work too, but you might want to read this: Can_I_use_my_Microsoft_Office_macros (Doesn't work.)
• People with MS Office 2000/2003 could install the Office Compatibility Pack (thanks, deaconivory!): compatibility pack (Doesn't work.)
• Looks like the current version can only run in MS Office. :( I may eventually try to port this to Open Office but am currently too busy IRL to do so. Sorry!
  

Long War, of course, may be downloaded here: http://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/88/?tab=1

The tools in this workbook include the following:

• A DefaultGameCore.ini extractor that pulls information from the DGC file and places it all in an easy-to-read format at the click of a button. Another button recompiles your changes back into an INI file without overwriting the original.
• An INT extractor that helps you make basic changes to item descriptions and class names.
• Editable tables that summarise the most important information in DGC. Press a button to populate a table, and press another button to export your changes.
• A visual perk tree editor.
• A customisable perk/item information window that shows you detailed perk or item descriptions when you mouse-over those entries. From version 1.08, this can be set to automatically size itself to fit the text displayed.
• As of v1.10, there are two dedicated pages for the RoulettePlus ini file, along with a window that can be opened to allow much easier tweaking of the file to your liking. All of the major sections have an easy-to-use tab to add and remove various customizations. This editor was endorsed by the awesome creator of RoulettePlus as well!
  
  
  

OPTIONAL: I have also included an easy way to push in an extensive set of tweaks I've made to change the way the game is played. The major changes are:

• The air war has been made easier: shorter interceptor repair and rearming times.
• Primary weapons now come with an associated perk. E.g., Assault Rifles all come with Suppression while SMGs grant Close Encounters. Give a rookie an AR if you want him to play an infantryman role and an SMG if you want him to act like an assault. This substantially changes the pace and feel of the early game and increases the number of tactical options open to you from the start. Refer to the Weapon Changes screenshot to get an overview of these alterations.
• Higher tier armour come with perks too. E.g., Corsair gives Packmaster while Shadow gives Low Profile.
• Many items now work differently than in default Long War. E.g., Medikits grant the Field Surgeon perk, so as long as someone in your squad carries a medikit, wound recovery time will be slightly shortened. Chitin Plating and Alloy Plating grant the Field Medic perk, so someone wearing either of these gets a free medikit charge (sans the Field Surgeon perk).
• Weapon, armour, and item stats have been altered a fair bit. I have attempted to make choices more meaningful and leave more options viable in the end game.
• SHIVs have been made quite a bit tougher but easier to hit, and are really quite useful especially on terror and bomb missions. (However, if used carelessly, they will draw a lot of fire and die very quickly.)
• Class trees have been completely redone. The base 8 classes now branch into 16 standard subclasses, each with a distinct and important role. Take a look at the "16 classes" picture to get an overview of what these 16 subclasses are about. Since each class gets 2 subclasses (e.g., Sniper is split into Assassin and Hunter), I personally make subclass selections based on gender (e.g., I make all male Snipers Assassins and female ones Hunters). This allows me to see at a glance what subclass a certain soldier is without having to look at his or her perks. Every single subclass feels very valuable to me now because of its unique contributions.
• The psi tree has been altered a little.
• Each subclass has weapon, armour, small item, and psi/gene recommendations to get the most out of them.
• MEC perk tree rework coming soon.
  

My tweaks admittedly make the game easier and may not be suitable for hardcore players, but they are completely optional and you are of course free to use this workbook only as a tweaking tool. Or if you like some of my changes but not others, it is easy to modify my alterations to your liking.

In case you only want to play with these tweaks and do not want to go through the hassle of recompiling the INI and INT files, I have included
the compiled files in the package. Please read the included readme for instructions on where to place the files. (Thanks for the suggestion, BadmanBacon777.)

By the way, thank you, Firaxis and the Long War devs! You guys have made an awesome game/made an awesome game even more awesome!

If you use this tool and spot bugs, please do let me know! Also, if you have any suggestions for better class/subclass names (some of the ones I've come up with are frankly quite silly), please post them too.

Current version(s)
MLW v1.11 - Another round of bugfixes and slight improvements. Added 'Xcom HQ' tab, which allows for various DGC ini tweaks relating to class progression, soldier stats, anything going on in the HQ screen. Now includes a dedicated section that allows the ability to tweak any value you want in the DGC, even if it is not explicitly called out in one of our pre-defined sections.

Previous versions
MLW v1.10c - Now Supports Roulette Plus! Performance Optimizations, minor bugfixes, and progress bars (oh my!).
MLW v1.10 / v1.10b - These versions are functionally identical to v1.10c, except that due to a misplaced subroutine, 1/55 Antivirus companies flagged it with a false positive, which has since been resolved with 1.10c.
MLW v1.09 - minor bug fixes (thanks, LuckyBZ) and changes to the "eastpaw" tweaks. Most importantly, some weapons and small items now 
grant different perks, psi and mimic grenades are now scout-only, some
items are now lighter, and pistols have been altered. Also, I have
worked on the perk trees of the defensive Infantry, offensive Gunner,
both Bombardiers, offensive Sniper, both Scouts, and defensive Guardian.
LW v1.0 / MLW v1.08 - a multitude of changes including compatibility with LW 1.0, bugfixes (thanks, Arnaud2B, jasonbaju, captainInsano, jgbaxter, and everyone else in the discussion threads), an improved perk/item description window, and large changes to the "eastpaw" tweaks.
15e/d2 v1.07 - bugfix (nice catch, giogreymon), QoL, cover stats
15e/d2 v1.06 - minor item changes and bugfix: laser sight now grants Squadsight and marksman's scope now grants Sharpshooter.
15e/d2 v1.07 15e/d2 v1.06 5e/d2 v1.0515e/d2 v1.0415e v1.0315e v1.02 15e v1.0115e v1.0015e/d2 v1.05 - sniper overhaul and QoL changes: Sniper perk tree reworked, various bugfixes and QoL changes (Thanks, BadmanBacon777,
giogreymon, and Truefell.)
15e/d2 v1.04 - perk tree changes: Changes made to the XCom perk trees, weapon stats modified quite a bit, detailed change log tab added.
15e v1.03 - perk tree changes: Changes made to the XCom perk trees, Readme improved significantly.
15e v1.02 - Bugfix: "The code in this project must be updated for use on 64-bit systems. Please review and update Declare statements and then
mark them with the PtrSafe attribute." (Thanks for the bug report, MidKnightReign.)
15e v1.01 - Bugfix: button 7 on the eastpaw tab was not configured correctly.
15e v1.00 - first release for Long War beta 15e.

Note: the 15d2 versions are the same as the 15e versions except that they are meant for LW version 15d2: no Pyrokinesis perk and no ability 
to adjust number of psi/gene/MEC training slots. (Thanks for the suggestion to upload a 15d2 version, jedicars.)