Can you cheat?

[Darq]

Last time I played this you couldn't cheat, only edit some starting money value in some file.
Is that scrambled money etc still active?
One fo the reasons why I didn't buy it was that you couldn't cheat.

[Graygan]

There is all kinds of editing possible.

You can change your starting mech lineup to be all Atlas IIs if you want... with 8 Gauss Rifles and 16 Gauss ammo in your equipment list.... and anything else, really.

You can change the price of stuff in the stores. You can change what shows up in the stores. You can change the likelihood of stuff showing up. You can change your starting pilots stats. You can change how much heat stuff generates. You can change.... well... just about everything.

All you have to do is be willing to mess around with your JSON files.

If you're asking if there is a cheat console that makes that stuff even easier, no there isn't.

**********

I'm a firm believer in the idea that playing the way you want and that's fun for you is always the right way to play.

That said... this game is so absurdly easy I always wonder at why people want to cheat.

[Darq]

Because I don't like running out of money

[Boneyard Bob]

Originally posted by Graygan:

I'm a firm believer in the idea that playing the way you want and that's fun for you is always the right way to play.

This. I'm not a fan of cheating unless it's the only way to get around a bug, I prefer the challenge. On the other hand, a friend of mine cheats the hell out of SP games and gets hours of enjoyment out of it. As long as it's not an MP game, cheat away, cheat away.

BTW: I notice you're currently playing Pathfinder. How do you like it?

[Darq]

But you can't cheat wiht Cheat Engine. Or can you meanwhile?
Last time I checked the save games were encrypted and the memory locations were protected by some obsufaction technique.

[Captain Cosmo]

Cheating in single player is just fine. Who's going to know besides you and whoever might be in the room? It doesn't hurt anybody and there's really no reason to be judged for it. People who get butthurt about it must think that it somehow affects them, even though it doesn't.

I edit the hell out of my .json files because I've beat the game and now I want to have fun trying all kinds of different things. I keep it simple - more hardpoints on mechs, less weight on components. It more or less completely breaks the game in terms of difficulty, but blasting stuff with several ppcs or large lasers is, to me, super fun. My latest thing is to make medium and large lasers do heat damage, so I get to watch mechs overheat like crazy.

The only problem is that every time they make a major release you have to do your edits again. It's a necessary evil, of course, because even if you save your mods, they still might have made changes to the templates.

Always remember, though - if the game refuses to load after you make changes, you've messed up. Either a semi-colon is missing or in the wrong place or a comma, etc. BE VERY PRECISE and don't forget what you changed if you don't want to be left in the dark grasping at straws. If all else fails (and you didn't save a backup before you started editting), Properties - Check File Integrity. The first time I did I needed to do that to reset it.

Good luck and happy modding. Oh, and never EVER take your mods into multiplayer. That's just wrong and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Mod for yourself, not to win against other people because you just suck.

[watchdog79]

Originally posted by __:

Because I don't like running out of money

Change the value of any weapon/component to make it like 600,000,000 instead of 60,000, sell a few (for 60,000,000 per item), change the value back, and you will never run out of money. Mind, that the game is unable to sustain more than about 1,800,000,000 or so. Your balance will then switch to negative and you are screwed royally.

[chefcook90]

Originally posted by __:

But you can't cheat wiht Cheat Engine. Or can you meanwhile?
Last time I checked the save games were encrypted and the memory locations were protected by some obsufaction technique.

I don't think Cheat Engine works, but you can edit all of the game constants by opening up the game's JSON files in Wordpad or a similar text-editing app.

You can find the files under SteamLibrary > steamapps > common > BATTLETECH > BattleTech_Data > StreamingAssets > data

And when I say "all of the game constants," I mean ALL of the game constants. Right now I'm playing with headshot chances severely reduced and cover / guard / bulwark reduction set to 40% / 60% / 80% instead of the usual 20% / 40% / 60%
And yeah, I usually set crew wages to 1/10th their usual value.

Just keep in mind that if you want to add entirely new lines of code you'll want to use a dedicated text-coding app like Notepad++

>>> The EASIEST way to cheat in this game is to edit the values on brand-name rare weapons & modules, since the AI never uses them.
For example, you can take the ExoStar Small Laser and edit it so it has +20 accuracy, +1000 range, and deal 100 heat damage on hit lol

[Mistfox]

Originally posted by __:

But you can't cheat wiht Cheat Engine. Or can you meanwhile?
Last time I checked the save games were encrypted and the memory locations were protected by some obsufaction technique.

Don't need to, just use wordpad or notepad to edit the files, it's mostly in English, not some programming language. In fact, I edit them to eliminate some bugs from the game like the Holly to hit bonus typo.

[Coyote]

Cheating at this game ruins a large majority of the fun.
This is a management simulator and when you take out the management aspect then you are left solely with the combat... Which is fine... But will get repetitive and have less of an impact to the overall experience without the financial management attached to the outcome of said combat.

[Gravedancer]

Originally posted by __:

Because I don't like running out of money

You dont need to cheat to not run out of money.

[Mannschaft]

Originally posted by fireborn:

Cheating at this game ruins a large majority of the fun.
This is a management simulator and when you take out the management aspect then you are left solely with the combat... Which is fine... But will get repetitive and have less of an impact to the overall experience without the financial management attached to the outcome of said combat.

That's your opinion, not fact. Some people have beaten a dozen careers and just want to watch ♥♥♥♥ blow up at this point while waiting for the next DLC.

[Mistfox]

Originally posted by Mannschaft:

Originally posted by fireborn:

Cheating at this game ruins a large majority of the fun.
This is a management simulator and when you take out the management aspect then you are left solely with the combat... Which is fine... But will get repetitive and have less of an impact to the overall experience without the financial management attached to the outcome of said combat.

That's your opinion, not fact. Some people have beaten a dozen careers and just want to watch ♥♥♥♥ blow up at this point while waiting for the next DLC.

In that case, I recommend changing the starting lance. To something like 4 Atlas IIs

[Mannschaft]

Originally posted by Mistfox:

Originally posted by Mannschaft:

That's your opinion, not fact. Some people have beaten a dozen careers and just want to watch ♥♥♥♥ blow up at this point while waiting for the next DLC.

In that case, I recommend changing the starting lance. To something like 4 Atlas IIs

I prefer to run around in heavies and some select lights. 3 Ravens supported by a Catapult, so hot right now.

[Gravedancer]

Originally posted by Mannschaft:

Originally posted by fireborn:

Cheating at this game ruins a large majority of the fun.
This is a management simulator and when you take out the management aspect then you are left solely with the combat... Which is fine... But will get repetitive and have less of an impact to the overall experience without the financial management attached to the outcome of said combat.

That's your opinion, not fact. Some people have beaten a dozen careers and just want to watch ♥♥♥♥ blow up at this point while waiting for the next DLC.

When I got to that point, I modded in the Wolf's Dragoons logo, and a bunch of their iconic mechs from tabletop.

[chefcook90]

Originally posted by Mistfox:

Originally posted by Mannschaft:

That's your opinion, not fact. Some people have beaten a dozen careers and just want to watch ♥♥♥♥ blow up at this point while waiting for the next DLC.

In that case, I recommend changing the starting lance. To something like 4 Atlas IIs

And then edit the Atlas II chasis data so they can equip 8 jump jets and raise the base cooling per turn from 30 to 200

And maybe swap out the AC20 for dual Gauss Rifles while you're at it