Investigating my Own Ghost: Findings

[Isabelle]

Upon starting a fresh sandbox save you might have tried to scan your own fingerprints off an object-

What a rabbit hole that leads to.

I looked my character's name up in the city directory, skiffed my own fingerprint off a coffee, and set out to break into my own house (That I didn't ever own!) I have the "start with apartment" setting off.

The room was almost entirely empty aside from the basic set of furniture items in a fancy apartment. Looking in the bedroom, I found money in the drawers that did not count as stealing when taken. The game must think it's mine.

There were at least nine other fingerprints in "my" house, all as of yet unidentified. One drawer contained a shopping list, with nothing on it but "chataeu d'arc" wine.

The cruncher in the bedroom had no profiles on it. The room safe appeared to have the default code of "1234", and there was nothing inside.

No work rotas were found, but a file box containing ONLY my own birth certificate and rental agreement was in the closet, giving me my own birthday and blood type. B negative, for the record.

There was an address book, and no shoes in the area where the shoes under the address book usually spawn. The address book was empty except for two vertical black lines.

The book was absolutely COVERED in fingerprints, much like everything else in the house. Complete strangers.

[Psyringe]

Yep, I fell into that rabbit hole as well. This is clearly not working as intended, but it's broken in an eerily interesting way. :)

When I tried that, I didn't find a file box or address book though, only empty furniture. So there seems to be some variation - or I overlooked something, which is possible.

The random fingerprints are normal for unoccupied apartments. If you scan for fingerprints in any unoccupied apartment (or empty store room in a basement), you'll find lots of fingerprints from random strangers, all of them leaving just one print each.

My guess is that the game tries to determine the owner of the apartment, reads an undefined variable (since there is no owner), and gets a random value in return, which it then tries to interpret as a fingerprint ID.

[Isabelle]

Originally posted by Psyringe:

Yep, I fell into that rabbit hole as well. This is clearly not working as intended, but it's broken in an eerily interesting way. :)

When I tried that, I didn't find a file box or address book though, only empty furniture. So there seems to be some variation - or I overlooked something, which is possible.

The random fingerprints are normal for unoccupied apartments. If you scan for fingerprints in any unoccupied apartment (or empty store room in a basement), you'll find lots of fingerprints from random strangers, all of them leaving just one print each.

My guess is that the game tries to determine the owner of the apartment, reads an undefined variable (since there is no owner), and gets a random value in return, which it then tries to interpret as a fingerprint ID.

Oh god, the most terrifying part? I phoned a nearby apartment from mine, as part of an investigation, and when I broke into their apartment- Their phone rang at 3 in the morning. I shat myself in fear when I was rooting through drawers and heard the BRRRRRING.

i slowly turned around and thought about all the horror movies that go this way.

I answered the phone-

And there was nobody on the other end.

My character started talking to themselves, about how I "always do this".

Creeeeeeepy.

[sam.mckie]

Really interesting read - never thought to try and investigate my own character!

[Isabelle]

Originally posted by sam.mckie:

Really interesting read - never thought to try and investigate my own character!

Hearing a forum mod / game dev say this makes it even more interesting. Makes me wonder if this is all some strange coincidental quirk of the proc gen.

[EliteForceQc]

My fingerprint change over the course of a gameplay. I began with type A fingerprint .. and at some point (i think when i move to another appartement) my fingerprint change for another set.
I was type A, im now type GO

[Isabelle]

Originally posted by Psyringe:

My guess is that the game tries to determine the owner of the apartment, reads an undefined variable (since there is no owner), and gets a random value in return, which it then tries to interpret as a fingerprint ID.

My only question would be- How does the game keep track of fingerprints?

I doubt it labels them after letters (A, B, C) in the actual code. So, logically, if I can get fingerprints from myself, there's something in the game applying fingerprints of my own on the item.

By that token, the player would have a fingerprint ID that's unique and identifiable in the code, right? I assume it's the default 0000 or whatever- however the game tracks it.

[Isabelle]

Originally posted by EliteForceQc:

My fingerprint change over the course of a gameplay. I began with type A fingerprint .. and at some point (i think when i move to another appartement) my fingerprint change for another set.
I was type A, im now type GO

It's based off the order you scan them in.

[EliteForceQc]

Originally posted by Isabelle:

Originally posted by EliteForceQc:

My fingerprint change over the course of a gameplay. I began with type A fingerprint .. and at some point (i think when i move to another appartement) my fingerprint change for another set.
I was type A, im now type GO

It's based off the order you scan them in.

Yep, i scan my fingerprint on a cofee when enter a new game. But now if i do buy a item and drop it, it now type GO. It change a some point. The fact the player files never update the fingerprint, the game must have generate another set of print when a checkpoint is reach. And i think buy a appartement cgange your fingerprint (need verification)

[Isabelle]

Originally posted by EliteForceQc:

Originally posted by Isabelle:

It's based off the order you scan them in.

Yep, i scan my fingerprint on a cofee when enter a new game. But now if i do buy a item and drop it, it now type GO. It change a some point. The fact the player files never update the fingerprint, the game must have generate another set of print when a checkpoint is reach. And i think buy a appartement cgange your fingerprint (need verification)

That's... really weird. I'll look into that and see what I can dig up. Maybe the game generates a new print if you reload the save, because it doesn't store that print information anywhere?

[The Formal Goat]

I started to investigate myself but hit a dead end when I got no prints, and had no date of birth