What's with the DEBUG button??

[Roland]

So I happened to notice this Debug button at the bottom of my menu that I had never noticed before, and I'm surprised to see no topics discussing it.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3482260411

It even has a controller prompt of Y button.
So what's the deal with this?
Any ideas on how to activate it?

Update:
Some I've been doing some testing.
It definitely appeared after my run that unlocked Vixen Vamp, as can be seen in the last few seconds of the video I made of that run.
It DOES NOT appear if you start a run, grab the free territories and Restart Campaign.
It DOES NOT appear if you start a run, go to a heist and Baker dies.
It DOES NOT appear if you start a run, grab the free territories, go to the next day, then start a heist with Baker and die.

Update 2:
It just appeared while I was typing out Update 1. I alt tabbed typed up the info go back into the game to start a new run and it's there. Now I'm wondering if the game just has to be open for a given amount of time.

Update 3:
I started a campaign and then hit Restart Campaign and the button is gone again.

Update 4:
After sitting at the main menu to type Update 3 it appeared again. I think it may just appear after the game is open for a set period of time.

Update 5:
I FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE IT APPEAR.
You need to change input devices. If you are using a keyboard, press a button on a controller. and if you are using a controller press a button on the keyboard. (alt or ctrl are perfect)
This explains why it appeared after I alt-tabbed to update this thread.

Next step is figuring out how to activate it.
I can tell you adding '-debug' to the launch options does not work, and I've tried the Konami code in a few places with no luck.

Update 6:
Me and Copilot talked through some things to try but none of them have worked.
At this point it's basically telling me "the devs could have used anything for their 'enable debug' command"

I can tell you the debug plugin used was dbghelp.dll
And I can tell you in the save folder there is a DeveloperSettings folder which has a Dev_DebugSettings.ini file, but said file is blank.
Beyond this I got nothin at this time.

[Roland]

I'm not even sure how to make it appear. I think it showed up after a campaign run, but I also did some multiplayer in that same session

[Roland]

So nobody knows anything about this?

Google only brings up some ♥♥♥♥♥♥ cheat menu BS. Am I really the only person to ever see or at least take note of this button?

[Rocky McRockerson]

Have you edited any files or downloaded mods? That's the only thing I can think of.

[It's Adam Lazlow]

I don't have it, but I have completed and unlocked all standalone plotlines prior. So no idea on that one. Probably a bug the developers left in, they probably used it to access all standalone plotlines easier for developement.

[Roland]

Originally posted by Rocky McRockerson:

Have you edited any files or downloaded mods? That's the only thing I can think of.

Nope.

Originally posted by It's Adam Lazlow:

I don't have it, but I have completed and unlocked all standalone plotlines prior. So no idea on that one. Probably a bug the developers left in, they probably used it to access all standalone plotlines easier for developement.

I'm just kinda surprised I'm the only one to discover it.

And it's not always there to be clear. If I open the game right now it won't be there. I'm pretty sure it only appeared after I completed a run in the base roguelite mode. (it was the run where I unlocked Vixen Vamp in fact) I think I might screw around a bit this afternoon and see if I can make it appear again.

Edit:
I don't have to mess around this afternoon, I just checked my Vixen Vamp video and in the last few seconds you can see the button appear. It definitely appeared after that run.

Edit 2:
I updated the first post with info about tests I'm doing to try to make it appear.

[Roland]

Several more updates to the first post because this button is elusive and I'm updating the thread in real time.
Edit: Button is no longer elusive and I know how to make it appear now.

[Roland]

Updated the first post ONE more time for now.
I need to step away from this for a bit and eat something before i bite my keyboard, or worse get obsessive and forget to eat.

If anyone has any ideas, please do chime in

[Insomnia]

Did you get anything else on this Debug button? When we spoke, I remember you saying you figured out how to get it to show up consistently. Can you remind me what you told?

[Fasckira]

Originally posted by Roland:

and I've tried the Konami code in a few places with no luck.

Amazing

Its just a UI glitch, with debug functionality removed from the build before building the release candidates.

[darksquallleon]

Originally posted by Fasckira:

Originally posted by Roland:

and I've tried the Konami code in a few places with no luck.

Amazing :Garbo:

Its just a UI glitch, with debug functionality removed from the build before building the release candidates.

This is most likely the right answer, I don't know of any developer that has letf an active debug functionality on a released game from the top of my head, so it's probably just an UI issue that they forgot to fix/remove maybe.

[Roland]

Originally posted by Insomnia:

Did you get anything else on this Debug button? When we spoke, I remember you saying you figured out how to get it to show up consistently. Can you remind me what you told?

Just change input devices at the Plotline screen to make it show up

Originally posted by Fasckira:

Originally posted by Roland:

and I've tried the Konami code in a few places with no luck.

Amazing :Garbo:

Its just a UI glitch, with debug functionality removed from the build before building the release candidates.

Originally posted by darksquallleon:

Originally posted by Fasckira:

Amazing :Garbo:

Its just a UI glitch, with debug functionality removed from the build before building the release candidates.

This is most likely the right answer, I don't know of any developer that has letf an active debug functionality on a released game from the top of my head, so it's probably just an UI issue that they forgot to fix/remove maybe.

While you're most likely correct, it used to be very very common for debug features to be left in games but tucked away behind a key combination or ini edit.
Here's a directory of some of them:
https://tcrf.net/Category:Games_with_debugging_functions

And this game left a great deal of files lying around for something they ripped out. There's an entire save folder with blank ini files labeled dev_*.ini

It also is not uncommon for such a feature, like unlocking plotlines, to be tucked away and hidden but still functional so that in the event a user's save is broken, the devs can tell them to make a change to their save file to fix it. Like for example adding

bdebugmode=1

to engine.ini (and yes I did try that and it didn't work. the command could literally be anything=1)

If someone were to reverse engineer the game we could be certain, but personally I'm not up for learning that skill right now, so it will not be me.

[Insomnia]

Originally posted by darksquallleon:

This is most likely the right answer, I don't know of any developer that has letf an active debug functionality on a released game from the top of my head, so it's probably just an UI issue that they forgot to fix/remove maybe.

I know that Lego Star Wars The Complete Saga for the Nintendo DS has a hidden debug menu when you input a bunch of buttons in the title screen.