Any way\ini line\option to disable mission timers?

[Builder20]

Hi everyone. This is an awesome game, however I have the oh-so-slight issue of not being able to read any text due to it all being in blocks. However, I am an RTS God and was able to beat the first 4-5 or so "levels" (all the way up to the level where the orange guys are coming down that highway at the bottom of the main map and you have to break through and take out like six bases in succession).

I thought I was doing good, I had eliminated maybe three of the bases, but still had two more to take on. When suddenly I heard "60 Second Remaining". Sonofabitch. See, it's not just the text I can't read. It's EVERYTHING. And that includes the timer. Although I heard "FIVE MINUTES" and "THREE MINUTES", it didn't really dawn on me how screwed I was. I was busy creating an impenetrable defense along the chokepoint valley to halt the tank advance (and believe me, it worked... 20 howitzers, dived into four successive battalions, each battalion supported by two tank towers, and helped with a personal radar tower).

So, I am able to play the game. Albiet I have no idea what the f**k I'm supposed to do most of the time, but it is playable, even without any text. However, I am thoroughly screwed when it comes to timed missions (which as I now understand, all of them are). Is there any way to disable the time? I wouldn't care usually, I actually do good in timed missions, but if I can't even read the damn time, it's not so much a difficulty as an unfair punishment.

-Builder

[Frumple]

Two things, yeh.

To get rid of the time, check the cheats section in the Wiki, I think in the manual, or something. There's a debug command that freezes unfreezes the timer, and it is your friend. Besides that, I dunno.

To the blocky text -- try using the stable version (2.0.1 as opposed to 2.1). There's also a thread somewhere in the forum that offers a possible fix. The roll back to 2.0.1 fixed the blocks for me.

[doom3r]

(2.0.1 as opposed to 2.1).

I think you mean 2.0.10 instead of 2.0.1

//Typo

[Builder20]

Two things, yeh.

To get rid of the time, check the cheats section in the Wiki, I think in the manual, or something. There's a debug command that freezes unfreezes the timer, and it is your friend. Besides that, I dunno.

To the blocky text -- try using the stable version (2.0.1 as opposed to 2.1). There's also a thread somewhere in the forum that offers a possible fix. The roll back to 2.0.1 fixed the blocks for me.

I'll check that in a minute, but I think I found something already. Apparently if you hit "t" you can enter cheats, and one of them is called "time toggle". So maybe that'll work. If it doesn't, I'll try and find the debug command. Thanks for the help.

-Builder

[Verminus]

I think you'll find that the white block text has all ready been fixed in the svn /trunk and /branches/2.1 so if you build from source then its all OK.

[Buginator]

I'll check that in a minute, but I think I found something already. Apparently if you hit "t" you can enter cheats, and one of them is called "time toggle". So maybe that'll work. If it doesn't, I'll try and find the debug command. Thanks for the help.

-Builder

Be aware that using that cheat can screw up your game.  The timer is there for a reason, and some events happen at certain times.

[qwerty800]

We should disable by default the timer in the campaign
Exceptions:

• In hard mode
• In the missions where the time limit is justified like in the "evacuate beta base" mission

[EvilGuru]

We should disable by default the timer in the campaign
Exceptions:

• In hard mode
• In the missions where the time limit is justified like in the "evacuate beta base" mission

I disagree. People have come to expect the mission timers in-game and so it would be heresy to totally remove them.

For those that do not want them, cheats work more than well enough.

Without them the campaign becomes extremely easy; you leave an enemy unit around, wait for your power to rank up and you're laughing.

Regards, Freddie.

[Verminus]

A note on the 'time toggle' cheat and transport missions, if you stop the timer before you load up and ride the dropship to the mission site then you will notice that:

• i) : The timer is still running.
• ii) : You can be somewhat short on time.

The second case is especially true if you stopped the timer for a 30 minute transport mission so you could spend 20 minutes recycling and rebuilding your attack force, competing research or building up your base, (or all three), only to find that you arrive at the mission site with the timer ticking and only 10 minutes left on the mission.

However, if you re-enable the timer just before you send off the transport, (by typing 'time toggle' again),  you will still have 30 minutes on the clock when you arrive, (Ok, Ok, 29min and 50 something seconds if you want to be picky).

You can then either stop the timer again, or just keep playing, up to you.

[marcmad]

How you do to need time in the mission?
Just dont lose soldier (or try)
10 soldier and a commander can kill easily  a base in low time.
(1 hour maximum in the second mission you encounter ennemy orange.)
(of course that was not the same think for campaign 3)

[ratarf]

I think disabling the timer should stay the way it is: with a cheat. The timers are an essential part of the campaign and they bring some pace in the game.
But I understand that some people find the timing too tight. Therefore, could be an option:

Easy: timeintervals * 1.2
Normal: timeintervals * 1
Hard: timeintervals * 0.8

[Verminus]

Agree with ratarf.

Although some of the cheats, 'time toggle' included could do with some bug-fixing, its kind of a very-low priority, just slapping a large government health warning on their use should be enough for now.... oh and possibly documenting their behavior better...

[qwerty800]

humm... The debug mode (Shift+Bkspace, cheats, time toggle, etc...) don't seems to works in the beta 2.
In any beta, it is suposed to have a debug mode because... because...
Because it's a beta!

[Arcalane]

You may need to tack the "--cheat" tag onto the end of the command line of the shortcut you're using even if you are still running debug.

[qwerty800]

You may need to tack the "--cheat" tag onto the end of the command line of the shortcut you're using even if you are still running debug.

Oh... :-[ Yes