Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: JGZinv on March 20, 2012, 12:21:35 pm
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Since I'm not getting any feedback on game hacking specific forums...
I've been looking around for information via Google on how to activate debug mode (in general) on games
and to my surprise, there really isn't any. Most of what is out there is references to existing features in games,
not how to open up these treasure troves of features.
I do have Tachyon the Fringe in mind, where we have a majority of the files opened up, and there
are key chart listings that mention a multitude of debug features. But no good clues on how to get it running.
ACTION = DEBUG_MISSION_WIN,NONE,NONE,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG__MISSION_LOSE,NONE,NONE,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_CAMERA,X,CTRL,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_SCENE,P,CTRL,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_SHOW,F5,CTRL,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_F10_MODE,F10,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_SPEED_SCENE,Tab,NONE,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_SPEED_GAME,E,CTRL,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_SHOW_COLLIDE,F6,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_GATE_ANIM,C,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_FLUSH_TEXTURES,G,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_SHIP,S,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_OBJECT,D,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_FLIGHTGROUP,F,CTRL,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_SOUND,S,CTRL,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_SOUND_3D,C,CTRL,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_HW3D,S,CTRL_SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_NEXT,Comma,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_PREV,Period,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_PAGEDOWN,Page_Down,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_PAGEUP,Page_Up,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_DCB,O,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_SERVER,I,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_QUADRANT,Q,CTRL,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_TRIGGER,T,CTRL,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_GATE_PILOT,A,CTRL_SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = DEBUG_MUSIC,M,CTRL,NONE,NONE
ACTION = KILL_TARGET,Backspace,CTRL,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_ESC,Esc,NONE,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_QUIT,F11,CTRL,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_INC_RED,R,NONE,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_DEC_RED,R,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_INC_GREEN,G,NONE,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_DEC_GREEN,G,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_INC_BLUE,B,NONE,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_DEC_BLUE,B,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_INC_AMBIENT,A,NONE,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_DEC_AMBIENT,A,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_SELECT,F11,CTRL,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_INC_YAW,Y,NONE,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_DEC_YAW,Y,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_INC_PITCH,P,NONE,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_DEC_PITCH,P,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_INC_LT_RED,1,NONE,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_DEC_LT_RED,1,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_INC_LT_GREEN,2,NONE,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_DEC_LT_GREEN,2,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_INC_LT_BLUE,3,NONE,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_DEC_LT_BLUE,3,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_INC_GAMMA,4,NONE,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_DEC_GAMMA,4,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_INC_SAT,5,NONE,NONE,NONE
ACTION = ART_DEBUG_DEC_SAT,5,SHIFT,NONE,NONE
Yes I've tried the F10 and F11 mentioned above.
There is a in game cmd line entry field that's used for cheat codes primarily.
Haven't been able to find any combination of terms so far that do anything else.
So what are some ways of finding out how to activate debug mode in general, that I might try here?
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Er... I think it's going to be specific to whatever game you're dealing with. I think I've seen command line tags used a lot, like putting -dev at the end or something.
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It's very very specific. "Debug" features found in commercial games are most often leftover bits of code from the QA stage. And of course, there are cases where those debug features are only accessible in development builds, i.e. builds produced during development. Note that, to take FSO as an example, certain functions of the executable are only compiled in when the debug switches are turned on during compilation, like logging. In a release builds, these functions are #ifdef'ed out, and in no way accessible.
In short, if you do not have the source available, or are not capable of decompiling the exe and reading the output, it's very very hard to find all the debug features available.
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I once ran a exe stripped of copy protection through a decompiler, but I certainly am not able to read it to any good degree myself.
I've been trying to ask the ex-developers, but they go silent on me whenever it's brought up.
If it's not do-able then it simply isn't...
I would have thought, ease of use wise, it'd be accessible via the command line interface, or as others have said, a shortcut flag.
Tach was rushed and thrown out on the street though, wouldn't surprise me if they buttoned it up in a hurry.
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Reason being, NovaLogic's debug modes had been used by miscreants to create cheats in the past.
I sometimes also think that there just isn't any debug mode, per se, in any of Nova's games. Any debug tools they've used would've been stripped out once the engine was confirmed working with a handful of objects and let loose from there. Remember, one of their mantra's is to build their games in assembler directly.
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I've been trying to find data even for other nova games (delta force, f-22, etc) and the only thing I came across was where they were banning people for having windows debugging
going on while connected online, as though they would be able to find out something that way.
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I've been trying to find data even for other nova games (delta force, f-22, etc) and the only thing I came across was where they were banning people for having windows debugging
going on while connected online, as though they would be able to find out something that way.
They where probably trying to crack Nova's encryption codes, possibly to try to take over their servers. But then again, I really have no idea other than wild speculation at this point.