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Kyzrati
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Wizard Mode How-to

Wizard Mode instruction manual including a full list of debug console commands and special feature toggles.

Cogmind Wizard Mode is made accessible by adding the attached file to your game directory. Please don't share this file around, it's only for patrons of the Wizard tier and higher. Note this key will also sometimes change with a new release, though in any case the version for which the latest key is applicable is noted at the bottom of this page.

There will be occasional announcements about more Wizard Mode features.

With the file in the game directory, hit Shift-Alt-d on the main UI, and then again to confirm. Welcome to Wizard Mode.

Wizard Mode gives access to the debug console, which you can pull up on the main UI with that same command. I'll be doing a more in-depth post about Wizard mode soon, but until then here are some of the main console commands to get you started (commands are not case-sensitive):

Note the debug console has a command buffer identical to that featured in machine hacking

And here are some special non-console features that only work while in Wizard Mode:

Some behaviors unique to wizard mode:

Regarding your player metadata, I've tried to ensure that nothing done in Wizard Mode can affect your non-Wizard Mode data, but it was a lot to cover so there's always a small chance I missed something. So it's safest if you play with Wizard Mode using a separate copy of the game, though whether you do or not, I appreciate any feedback regarding confirmed effects on player data to ensure that it's safe for wizards to enter this mode without harming their own data.

It's extremely possible to crash your game with Wizard Mode, so there's no need to tell me about crashes or other bugs caused by this mode. Wizard Mode won't crash if you're doing stuff that's normally done in the game, just saying that obviously you can indirectly enable really weird stuff with it and the game is not set up to deal with situations outside the realm of what's usually possible.

In conclusion, here's a tribute to Cogmind and Wizard Mode by "8FPS, a science corps soldier."

Addendum 1: Map Abbreviations

The "go/evo" commands use three-letter map abbreviations, the same ones you can find used in scoresheets, and in most cases these are equivalent to the first three characters of the map name, e.g. "DEE" for Deep Caves. The only exceptions so far are either obvious, or major spoilers and can still be found in scoresheets, so they aren't currently listed here.

Addendum 2: Robot Tags

With the "pe/pa/pap/paw" commands, and internally, robots are referred to by their tag rather than name. In the game data this makes it possible to have different versions of robots which outwardly appear to be the same. In most cases a robot's tag is the same as its name, so you'll be familiar with them and able to create them as necessary, but below is a list of tags for robots that require them (this list does contain some SPOILERS, so if that bothers you consider ignoring it until you have some wins under your belt--most robots are accessible via name anyway).

CaptainWinky on spawning heroes: "I have them all with me now and it's like an 80s action movie with all the one-liners and explosions."

Addendum 3: Cell Tags

As with robots or any other game objects, cells are referenced by tag rather than name, and in Cogmind pretty much all cell tags are different from their actual names. You'll need to use these in combination with the "cc" command.

Simple cell tags:

Most tags are a combination of the general type and the map abbreviation. This is because each map has its own wall type, for example, so that they can assign their own unique values.

Composite cell tag types:

The full tag for a cell is created by appending the relevant map abbreviation, for example "wall_fac" specifies the Factory wall cell.

This feature was added rather quickly and can probably cause a number of oddities or crashes since it may not apply all possible secondary requirements for manipulating some cell types, I just needed it to make a few simple map edits for screenshot purposes when releasing Beta 13, and piggybacking on the robot creation code was a relatively easy way to do that. If anything, it may be especially bad to try to spawn cells from one map onto another? Haven't tested any of that stuff, no idea :P

Addendum 4: Changing Robot Faction

Although there are already commands for adding new robots directly into "factions" via various placement commands, it's also possible to change the faction of one or more existing robots. One possible use of this feature is to create custom Botcubes that are hostile with one another.

Before doing so, you might want to first use the "f" command to set the target faction. The default is MAIN.C faction, while the others available are:

Uncontrollable Cogmind allies will follow Cogmind, though a faction change does not otherwise reset a robot's other AI settings. However, an AI will naturally reset their own hostility memory when it's their turn in order to avoid attacking former enemies with which they're now allied, for example.

Addendum 5: Player 2 Mode

If combining Wizard Mode and the Player 2 special mode, you should exit the Scrapyard  (skipping straight there via Ctrl-Shift-Alt-n is fine) to properly spawn and team up with Player 2, since they have a special place in the game state. For the same reason, although it's possible to spawn additional "Player 2"-like allies, they will not be treated in full as the same kind of special ally, e.g. no damage mirroring, no evolution, no special AI behaviors like helping attack non-hostiles, or avoiding going after new enemies that haven't spotted Player 2 without Cogmind attacking first; also no dialogue, nor dedicated loadout window. They will basically just be allies that can manage their own parts (and limited to their basic starting slots and stats).

Note additional "Player 2" allies can only be manually spawned by using "pap" rather than "pa," because the latter type is controllable by Cogmind, which forces a different kinda of AI on them.

Teleporting to a new map always brings along the special mode's real/dedicated Player 2. Teleporting to a new location on the same map will also bring them along, but only if they're adjacent to Cogmind when left-clicking on the target.

Key!

Download the latest key below. Applicable version: Beta 16 X1 and later.

Comments

Doubt it, they're likely internally allied with W there so they act in concert with other bots on the map. (What I meant is *if you put one there*, because as stated that's not supposed to be a thing to begin with. It's an unnecessary complication.)

Kyzrati

I assume a example of this would be KTG not caring if you attack Warlord bots in the base in the seeds where they spawn there?

Plasmoid Dude

No replying late, is fine, it's a long-term guide, after all :) Also that's one of the newer features added to wizard mode only this year! From Cogmind's perspective there's not much difference, though theoretically there could be a difference in some maps and in terms of their response to certain actions, yeah? Like if you have a Warlord bot in Scraptown, they're not going to be affected by the hostility of Scraptown if you attack, since they're not supposed to be there to begin with. Gotta think from all angles on that one.

Kyzrati

I know I'm replying late, but what is the difference between Warlord and Scraptown as factions? as if they were the same, I assumed they just be a general "friendly derelict faction"

Plasmoid Dude

Yeah as described in the guide above there are infinite ways to crash the game via wizard mode, no need to report them unless you find an issue that can actually be recreated in the normal game.

Kyzrati

btw if you turn certain bots to controlled allies with the use of f c going into order mode crashes the game but i guess it's expected

Minty.

ooh thanks so much for explanation! :D

Minty.

Hi Minty! Thanks for the support :D The Addendum just provides additional details, for the actual commands used in combination with those features you'll have to look at the command lists. What I've done with the guide is try to keep all the commands in the main list without repeating them elsewhere, so that there aren't a lot of duplicates which can also eventually lead to inaccurate information if something is changed somewhere but not in all locations. (It's a common possibility, even if one is aware of it...) *Currently* the command list says 'Shift-Alt-LMB on a robot to assign it the faction specified by the "f" console command'

Kyzrati

hey, thanks so much for working on the game! I appreciate it ^^ I can't seem to understand how to use "f" command to change robot faction(ad4)

Minty.


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