Originally developed by
Firaxis Games
Developed for Mac by
Feral Interactive Limited
Published for Mac by
Feral Interactive Limited
This document is intended to help you answer any questions that you may have about XCOM 2
Yes, achievements are supported by XCOM 2.
If you are signed in to Steam, your achievements will be visible to you in-game and also to other players through the Steam application.
You can purchase DLC for XCOM 2 from the game's page on the Steam store:
XCOM 2: Digital Deluxe Edition contains the base game, XCOM 2, and the following additional content:
To access the Reinforcement pack:
The three DLC packs included in the Reinforcement pack will be released one-by-one following the release of XCOM 2. If you have bought XCOM 2: Digital Deluxe Edition, you will receive these DLC packs automatically as and when they are released.
To access the digital soundtrack:
Open the Steam application.
Select Library.
In the list of games on the left-hand side of the window, right-click on XCOM 2, then select Properties.
Select the Local Files tab.
Select Browse Local Files….
The “XCOM 2” folder, which contains the digital soundtrack, will open in Finder.
In this folder, you'll find a folder named XCOM 2 (Original Soundtrack from the Video Game), which contains the original soundtrack in both .wav and .ogg format.
The contents of the Resistance Warrior pack are added to the game automatically. The additional soldier customisation options are available when customising soldiers' appearances in the Armory. The “Survivor of the Old War” will be a member of your squad when you start the game; check your soldiers' biographies to find out who it is!
There are two ways to install mods: you can either subscribe to mods via the Steam Workshop (this installs the mods automatically), or you can download mods from other sources and install them manually.
Once you have installed a mod, you can enable it by using the Mod Manager. To access the Mod Manager, select the Mod Manager tab on the pre-game Options window (this is the window that appears when you launch the game).
You'll find full instructions on using mods below.
The vast majority of mods are made by amateur developers: many mods have not been thoroughly tested, and some may cause crashes or other stability issues.
Many mods are incompatible with each other. Enabling incompatible mods may cause the game to crash. If you plan to enable multiple mods at once, we recommend checking the mods' documentation for information about their compatibility with other mods.
It is possible to add mods to a saved game: you can enable mods and load a saved game made before those mods were enabled. However, we recommend enabling any mods you want to use before starting a new game, rather than adding them to an existing game.
It is not possible to remove mods from a saved game: if you save a game while using one or more mods, you must always have those mods enabled while playing that saved game. If you disable any of those mods, you will be unable to load the saved game.
The easiest way to install mods is to subscribe to them via the Steam Workshop. Subscribing to a mod installs it automatically.
To subscribe to a mod:
Open the Steam application.
Select Library.
In the list of games on the left-hand side of the window, highlight XCOM 2.
In the list of links on the right-hand side of the window, select Community Hub.
Select the Workshop tab.
Use the Browse tab in the workshop to search for mods. To subscribe to a mod, click on the Subscribe button (“+” icon) on the mod.
The next time you launch the game, any mods to which you have subscribed will appear in the Mod Manager on the pre-game Options window.
To unsubscribe from a mod:
You can also unsubscribe from mods via the Steam Workshop. To do so:
From the Workshop tab, place your mouse pointer over the Browse tab, then select Subscribed Items from the drop-down menu.
A list of the mods to which you are subscribed will appear. Click on the Unsubscribe button next to a mod to unsubscribe from it.
Once you have unsubscribed from a mod, it will no longer appear in the Mod Manager.
It's also possible to download mods from sources other than the Steam Workshop. In this case, you'll need to install the mod manually.
To install a mod manually:
Open the Steam application.
Select Library.
In the list of games on the left-hand side of the window, right-click on XCOM 2, then select Properties.
Select the Local Files tab.
Select Browse Local Files….
The “XCOM 2” folder will open. Navigate to XCOM2Data/xcomgame/mods. If the “mods” folder does not already exist, you should create it yourself.
Copy the folder of the mod you want to install into the “mods” folder.
From the “XCOM 2” folder, navigate to XCOM2Data/xcomgame/config.
Open the defaultmodoptions.ini file in a text editor.
Add a line to the bottom of the file that says:ActiveMods="[MOD NAME]"
…where [MOD NAME] is the name of the mod file you are adding, excluding the file extension. For example, if the mod is called LW_SMGPack.XComMod, you would add the line ActiveMods="LW_SMGPack"
Save the defaultmodoptions.ini file, then close it.
The next time you launch the game, the mod will appear in the Mod Manager on the pre-game Options window.
To uninstall a mod that you've installed manually, you must delete its folder from the “mods” folder. You should also remove the line from the defaultmodoptions.ini file. Once you have deleted a mod, it will no longer appear in the Mod Manager.
Once you have installed a mod, either by subscribing to it in the Steam Workshop or by installing it manually, you must enable it using the Mod Manager before it will appear in the game.
To enable a mod:
From the pre-game Options window, select the Mod Manager tab.
The name of the mod will appear on an icon in the Mod Manager. Click on the red Off button next to the name of the mod to switch it to On.
The next time you launch the game, the mod will be enabled.
To disable a mod:
To disable a mod, open the Mod Manager and click on the green On button next to the name of the mod to switch it to Off.
XCOM 2's modding tools are not compatible with the Mac or Linux versions of the game.
On Windows, XCOM 2's provided modding tools are an extension of Visual Studio, Microsoft's proprietary integrated development environment (IDE). At present, Visual Studio is only available on Windows, meaning XCOM 2's modding tools are not available on other platforms.
If you own the Steam version of the game, you can still download and use mods using the Mod Manager. See How do I use mods in the Steam version of XCOM 2 for Mac? for more details.
Yes.
However, you must first enable the secondary click function on your mouse or trackpad. This will enable you to perform a right-click by clicking the right-hand side of your mouse or trackpad.
To do this, follow these instructions:
Open System Preferences ( Menu → System Preferences).
Select Mouse or Trackpad (depending on which you are using).
Select the Point & Click tab.
Check the Secondary Click checkbox.
Finger "gestures", which are used by Magic Mice and Trackpads to switch between windows and applications, can disrupt your game if used inadvertently.
To disable them, follow these instructions:
Open System Preferences ( Menu → System Preferences).
Click on Mouse or Trackpad (depending on which you are using).
Select the More Gestures tab.
Uncheck all the checkboxes.
The dock or notifications may occasionally appear while you are playing XCOM 2, or the desktop cursor may replace the game cursor. This can disrupt a game.
You can prevent them from occurring by checking the Hide the Dock (disables notifications) checkbox in the XCOM 2 pre-game Options window. To do so, follow these steps:
From the XCOM 2 pre-game Options window, select the Display tab.
Check the Hide the Dock (disables notifications) checkbox.
Yes.
To run XCOM 2 in windowed mode, follow these instructions:
From the XCOM 2 pre-game Options window, select the Display tab.
Check the Run in a window checkbox.
Click the Play button. The game will start in windowed mode.
NOTE: Enabling windowed mode may decrease the game's performance.
Yes.
If you have a Retina display, you will be able to take advantage of the extra pixels by running XCOM 2 in native resolution. This means that the game will display one pixel for every pixel on your display.
To do this, follow these instructions:
From the XCOM 2 pre-game Options window, select the Display tab.
Select the largest resolution from the Resolution drop-down menu to play the game in native Retina resolution.
Click the Play button. The game will start in native Retina resolution.
NOTE: In many cases, increasing your game's resolution will impact upon its performance.
By default, music playing in iTunes will be paused when you start playing XCOM 2.
To turn this feature off, follow the steps below:
Double-click on the XCOM 2 application icon. The pre-game Options window will appear.
Select the Extras tab.
Uncheck the Pause iTunes while playing XCOM 2 checkbox.
Select the Play button to start playing.
To turn this feature back on at a later date, simply check the Pause iTunes while playing XCOM 2 checkbox and then select the Play button.
Your saved games are stored in your game's preferences folder.
To open this folder, click the Open Preferences Folder button in the Support tab of the pre-game Options window.
To take screenshots while playing XCOM 2 you should use the following key command:
Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + P
When you press all three keys at once, a single image of the on-screen contents will be saved in the Feral Interactive folder in your computer's ~/Pictures folder (the "~" symbol refers to your home directory).
The JPEG image contains metadata in a string in the following format.
GameName/Version Number (OS Version; CPU Speed; Installed RAM; Video RAM; Current Graphics Card)
For example in XCOM 2 the string might look a little like this:
XCOM 2/1.0 (macOS 10.15; 3.0; 8.0; 4.0; AMD Radeon R9 M395X)
This information can be easily removed by exporting the screenshot into a different format using Preview or another image editing tool.
NOTE: None of the metadata stored can be used to identify the user.
No. XCOM 2 has been tested with the basic formatting option for Mac OS X, which is HFS+. This system is not case-sensitive and identifies files by name without checking capitalization.
The capitalization of filenames is not consistent throughout the game. While this will not always prevent the game from running on case-sensitive file systems, it may lead to crashes and other unpredictable behaviour.
If you have to run a case-sensitive setup and you experience problems with XCOM 2, please install the game on a standard formatted partition or read/write disk image. In most cases this will allow you to play the game on your machine.
There are several factors which have an impact on the speed at which XCOM 2 runs. Please see the XCOM 2 Performance Tips section in the ReadMe for ways to increase the speed at which the game runs on your computer.
Please read the technical support information in the ReadMe; this tells you what to check and if necessary, how to contact Feral Technical Support with your issue.