Cheats for testing

If you need time to look around type "www.freespace2.com" (preferably during the jump sequence so you don't trigger any HUD commands while doing this). That should activate the cheats (if successful the message HUD will read "Cheats enabled"

After that you can activate certain cheats by pressing the DEBUG_KEY + other keys. The DEBUG_KEY is defined as the tilde key, which is the key to the left of the "1" numerical key (on the normal keyboard, not the numpad).

These are some useful cheats:

DEBUG + I = Invulnerable DEBUG + W = Unlimited weapons energy, missiles and fuel (the gauge for fuel will still optically unload though) DEBUG + K = Kill current target (be careful with this, as it will destroy even invulnerable ships and can destroy the event chain, so rather NOT use this during testing if possible. Use this one only to quickly progress through nav points that you are not testing at the moment.)

PS: We will remove the cheats in the master build, so forget about using these in the final game 😉

Thank you 😉 I didn't know that such a feature existed in FS2 because I never used cheats 😊 But for testing purposes it is a nice feature. Sometimes you're so deep in action that you can't even listen to what the guys are saying, let alone reading 😉

Got a question regarding the kill-key. If the Kilrathi don't manage to kill the flight I'm supposed to be escorting (say, a few bombers), will killing them with ^K yield valid results regarding my objectives?

I'm not sure I understand the question, but the kill command simply does destroy the ship in question. it doesn't do anything else. So the result will be exactly the same as if someone had shot down the ship (except nobody gets the kill score 😉 )

I was trying to fail an escort assignment (Brimstone2, bombers). They didn't get whacked by the cats, so I ^K'ed them and I didn't fail the objective. I was wondering if that was due to using the debug kill or not (ie "dead is dead" -> objective failed).

That is because you can't fail the objective. Bombers are protected against destruction.

To clearify, the only thing you have to do is destroy the capital ships, to win the objective. Whether or not the bombers survive is not checked (because as Tolwyn mentioned, they cannot die)

I don't think there is a way to speed-up the game sometimes (to skip dialogue, longer flights etc.), is there?

No, not without modifying mission code.

Is there a way to disable that automatic pause fetaure when the game window loses focus? Sometimes I just sit here, not doing anything in the mission to see how it turns out but every time I switch to another window the game pauses. Anything I can do about it?

No and everything else will not be implemented. That is standard behavior so the application doesn't keep wasting ressources when switching to a different one. That might make your situation harder but it is expected and wanted in just about every other situation.

Not that it matters for the release, but the DEBUG-W command doesn't seem to give infinite afterburner fuel; not only does the gauge go down, but when it gets to the bottom, you can't use afterburners any more (just like normal). It only seems to give infinite gun energy & missiles.

Then I was wrong, but usually there's enough fuel anyway.

The only mission where you will probably run out of afterburner is the vega 4 mission, otherwise there should be more than enough fuel, especially when Arrow and /or Excalibur is involved.

I don't think I've ever run out of fuel in actually playing a mission; I've sometimes run out while trying strange things to see if they break the mission flow, which was how I discovered this.