Hard Light Productions Forums

Hosted Projects - Standalone => Wing Commander Saga => Topic started by: SpardaSon21 on March 22, 2012, 09:25:17 pm

Title: Cheat Codes
Post by: SpardaSon21 on March 22, 2012, 09:25:17 pm
I can't seem to enable them.  Were they disabled, and if so, why?
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: Tolwyn on March 23, 2012, 08:15:12 am
Try "iamsuchabadplayer"

Other codes were disabled because you can easily break our missions.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: Renegade on March 23, 2012, 10:55:45 am
Now i see that so: if any Mission to hard then toggle to easy or very easy.
I understand Tolwyns opinion. i Self cheated in FS2 with the result that the mission cannot finished because i make a ship invulnerable or other things.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: MatthTheGeek on March 23, 2012, 11:18:53 am
...isn't the ACTUAL points of cheats to break missions to begin with.

Which means there's no reason to disable them in the first place.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: KeldorKatarn on March 23, 2012, 11:41:10 am
...isn't the ACTUAL points of cheats to break missions to begin with.

Which means there's no reason to disable them in the first place.

The point of cheats is to give the developers options to test specific situations. They are not meant for the player at all. Cheats have no please in release builds whatsoever. They are a developer tool, nothing else.

We left the invulnerability heat in (The above cheat activation codeword + Tilde+I after that to activate invulnerability) because it isn't game breaking.
Everything else has no place in a release build.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: Qent on March 23, 2012, 01:56:49 pm
That seems like a very strong statement to be forcing on other people in a single-player game.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: Tolwyn on March 23, 2012, 02:06:53 pm
Considering how our missions are scripted, cheat usage may quickly break the mission flow if you destroy an object which is supposed to stay alive. Add to that inaccurate bug reports and we will be wasting our time chasing ghosts. WCS is a huge game and it is already an achievement that thus far only three minor gameplay issues popped up.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: Woolie Wool on March 23, 2012, 02:13:44 pm
Well you could just ask the reporter if he cheated and state in the bug report guidelines that you will not address bugs triggered when the player was cheating. Pretty much every mod has missions that can be broken by cheating. Even retail can be broken by cheating. If you cheat, you deal with the consequences to the mission.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: jr2 on March 23, 2012, 03:34:26 pm
Why on earth would developer code in a features for their own use, and then, instead of not compiling them into the release build, hide them behind hard-to-type codes such as alafalafel , gabbagabbahey , www.freespace2.com , motherload , iliketocheat <<==!!!!!!!! (developer tool, for sure, this one)... I can see that perhaps they were introduced for the dev console, however, they were left in for the players to fool around with if they so wished.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: KeldorKatarn on March 23, 2012, 05:02:51 pm
Why on earth would developer code in a features for their own use, and then, instead of not compiling them into the release build, hide them behind hard-to-type codes such as alafalafel , gabbagabbahey , www.freespace2.com , motherload , iliketocheat <<==!!!!!!!! (developer tool, for sure, this one)... I can see that perhaps they were introduced for the dev console, however, they were left in for the players to fool around with if they so wished.

Are you a professional game developer? No? I happen to be one, so if you don't mind...

Of course people might leave them in the game SOMETIMES, if they are reasonably sure that it won't break anything or of some of the cheats are even triggering some easter eggs.

Since we are very sure that most of the cheats DO in fact break the missions, we'd rather not see any bug reports for stuff that we cannot do anything about alright?
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: Tolwyn on March 23, 2012, 05:07:07 pm
I would like to point out one thing: Wing Commander Saga is a game primarily for the players out there. It is not just a simple modding toolkit. I have always felt disappointed by the FSO launcher, because it offered a lot of possibilities to break the game.

We always said we will release the tools necessary for modding, but none of the players out there needs FRED or any lab tools or cheats to enjoy the game. The only thing that could come out of that is broken game because people play around with tools they do not understand.

Also...the attitute towards our work here keeps getting more hostile with each passing hour. I personally don't see any reason to support any community that keeps talking to us as if we are stupid and do not know what we are doing only because we happen to decide which plan to pursue with the fruits of 10 years of our work time...
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: Woolie Wool on March 23, 2012, 05:25:52 pm
Is there anyone on HLP who isn't a modder to some degree? Pretty much everyone here mods, or FREDs, or fiddles with the game in some way. One of the keys to success when dealing with an audience is to know your audience, and when your audience is primarily composed of modders and hackers, well...

And really I haven't seen much "hostility" to WCS around here, except for MatthTheGeek, who is hostile all the time so he doesn't count. ;)
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: Mongoose on March 23, 2012, 05:31:08 pm
Is there anyone on HLP who isn't a modder to some degree? Pretty much everyone here mods, or FREDs, or fiddles with the game in some way. One of the keys to success when dealing with an audience is to know your audience, and when your audience is primarily composed of modders and hackers, well...
Um...I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that the WCS team's target audience isn't just HLP.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: Qent on March 23, 2012, 05:37:22 pm
Also...the attitute towards our work here keeps getting more hostile with each passing hour. I personally don't see any reason to support any community that keeps talking to us as if we are stupid and do not know what we are doing only because we happen to decide which plan to pursue with the fruits of 10 years of our work time...
Woah there....

Would you at least consider providing a workaround for those of us who are not stupid enough to report bugs caused by cheats? Because as one of "the players out there" (well, I also tinker... does that disqualify me?), going out of your way to disable cheats is pretty offensive to me. I could talk about it more, if you think that would be useful. But if I were developing a game, I'd be at least a little worried that other players might also be offended.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: KeldorKatarn on March 23, 2012, 05:51:13 pm
You are offended if a game doesn't offer you cheats? Seriously?
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: KeldorKatarn on March 23, 2012, 05:51:35 pm
Um...I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that the WCS team's target audience isn't just HLP.

Actually the HLP isn't even on our list.

The HLP might be the target audience for our SDK though. But considering what's going on here at the moment that becomes more and more unlikely.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: gevatter Lars on March 23, 2012, 05:51:45 pm
As Tolwyn pointed out the goal was to create something people can play. That has been done.
So further support with patches, tools etc. might come...I don't know...at least a patch will come as far as I know to adresse some tech issues.

Frankly I don't get the problems some people have with the release. Its a game, it can be played and if you want to hack it you still can. I don't quite get the point. What was the last game you played that had all the hacking features when it was released?

Just be patiend. First the release, second order is to work out any technical bugs and then its hacking time. ^_^
As far as I heard FRED will be added alonge with some tutorials, so no you haven't been forgotten or will be treated badly. Its just not the top priority and yes the game isn't just for HLP people but also found a good aceptance outside of HLP where people do not know anything about FRED.
So take this also into account when bashing us for releasing something that everyone can enjoy. Thank you !


Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: KeldorKatarn on March 23, 2012, 05:53:41 pm
Most people playing this game don't even know the HLP or FSOpen exist. Heck some people I talked to don't even know what Freespace was.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: Qent on March 23, 2012, 06:10:47 pm
You are offended if a game doesn't offer you cheats? Seriously?
No, I am offended that you took pains to disable them. At first, I thought you were on a moral crusade against cheating in video games. But it's perfectly reasonable just to want to improve tech support, which is why I suggested a workaround, since that would make everyone happy.

I'm not bashing at all, just sharing raw feelings in the hope that they might prove useful.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: KeldorKatarn on March 23, 2012, 06:17:36 pm
They are still in the debug build. And we put pain into whatever we think will improve the robustness of the game.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: The E on March 23, 2012, 06:18:26 pm
Hang on just a second here. "I am offended they removed the cheat codes" is just bull****. Wing Commander Saga is their project, and they forked the FSO code explicitly because the WCS team wanted full control over what features the user gets access to.

KeldorKatarn, Tolwyn, you guys have done incredible work (even though I disagree with some of your decisions regarding the engine, but that's neither here nor there). But, as with all incredible works released here, they get criticized a lot. Some of that criticism is well-founded, some (like this) is not. Personally, I would be disappointed if you were to withhold the release of your SDK from HLP because of the usual bull**** that every game release gets these days; but as with all things, that is entirely your decision.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: Spoon on March 23, 2012, 06:19:16 pm
Woah KeldorKatarn. If anyone is being hostile, its you at the moment! What's with the attitude?

I gotta agree with Woolie Wool here, the players on HLP are for the most part 'die hard' PC gamers. We like having options and we don't like having options taken away from us. Removing things like the F3 shiplab, cheats, shift+ctrl+s in the tech room and things like that will just make us scratch our head wondering why coding time was devoted to that. I mean, removing these things for the average joe who has never heard of freespace seems kinda pointless. As they won't know about these shortcuts anyway!
What personally annoys me is not having full screen windowed mode. I like being able to pause the game for a moment to type a quick reply in irc on my second screen without having the whole game minimize on me.

Anyway the campaign is massive, I've already spend a few hours into the game and I only just reached the double digits. I'm sure that many like me are not even half way through the campaign. So what you guys are hearing right now are mostly initial impressions. Give it some time so people can finish the campaign and give you reviews and all that good stuff!
I for one am quite enjoying what ive seen of the actual campaign so far! Great voice acting for a Freespace mod, if not the best yet. And the campaign&gameplay captures the Wing Commander feel very well!
I'm kinda sad that I'm apparantly not even considered to be the 'target audience' though. Kinda harsh.  :(
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: Renegade on March 23, 2012, 06:21:24 pm

Actually the HLP isn't even on our list.

The HLP might be the target audience for our SDK though. But considering what's going on here at the moment that becomes more and more unlikely.

100 % Agree
People play the game and have fun.
In the moment this thread looks like a crusade.
I see this so: This Game is for all WC Fans all over the World and not only for HLP.

And i am sure that the Dev's release later any tools like Fred or Debug Builds.
But for now People please calm down and enjoy the wonderful game OK?

Thank you all !!!
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: KeldorKatarn on March 23, 2012, 06:32:14 pm

Actually the HLP isn't even on our list.

The HLP might be the target audience for our SDK though. But considering what's going on here at the moment that becomes more and more unlikely.

100 % Agree
People play the game and have fun.
In the moment this thread looks like a crusade.
I see this so: This Game is for all WC Fans all over the World and not only for HLP.

And i am sure that the Dev's release later any tools like Fred or Debug Builds.
But for now People please calm down and enjoy the wonderful game OK?

Thank you all !!!

That was the plan. And we didn't remove the features (except for several command line options which would totally break our game because we simply do not support them with our assets)
lab, cheats etc are all still available in the debug build. FRED is also alive and kicking but has no place in the hands of a normal player.
We will release this stuff when we have prepared it and have gone through it.
We also planned to release texture tutorials, mission templates and a ****load of other stuff. I also just put in several hours of work to re-integrate the old mouse controls, updatig the entire UI screen for that in the process.

So we actually put a lot of thought into providing an SDK and other stuff for people like you.

Excatly because of that we're REALLY pissed at the reception we're getting here. Have any of you ****birds every thought about the possibility that a major release like this might give the HLP and FSOpen as much attention as it hasn't had in years?

Thanks for nothing guys, really. We've gotten nothing but bad attitude here right from the start. And now we're getting nothing but thanks from all the players out there and the only place where we get consistent bad winds is... again... here.

And you guys wonder why me might actually think about turning our backs and just go our own ways?

Guys, I'm a professional game developer and Tolwyn is also freelancing and earning his own money with this kind of work. We don't need any of this ok? We stuck to this community because we really support PC gaming and the modding community. But we DON'T support ****bird who do nothing but critisize when they haven't ever produced anything worthwile themselves.

So think about this before you post another line here next time.

We're more than happy to entertain any suggestions on how to maybe improve the game, we're more than happy to hear your opinions about the gameplay and the overall design. But we don't need this flaming campaign. We've got better things to do.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: Spoon on March 23, 2012, 06:40:57 pm
Wow.
What the hell man, chill out.
Title: Re: Cheat Codes
Post by: Tolwyn on March 23, 2012, 06:56:28 pm
This is seriously getting out of hand. Locked.