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Chat Commands

Added a system for user-defined "chat commands" - cheat/debug-style commands that the local player can trigger by typing them into the in-game chat window, prefixed with a slash (/money). They are defined in an optional ChatCommands.ini file.

Enabling the chat window in Singleplayer

Chat commands work in singleplayer and skirmish games only. By default the chat window cannot be opened there, so you need to enable it in GameData.ini:

  • EnableSingleplayerChatwindow = Yes

With this set, the in-game chat window can be opened (Enter key) in singleplayer/skirmish. (See GameData.)

Usage

Open the chat window and type the command name prefixed with a slash, for example /money. The first word of the message, with the slash removed, is matched against the defined command names. If it matches a ChatCommand block, the command is executed for the local player and the message is not sent as chat. A message that does not start with a slash is always sent as ordinary chat.

The name is matched case-insensitively, so /MONEY works as well as /money. The slash is only how the message is recognised as a command - it is not part of the name in ChatCommands.ini.

ChatCommands.ini

Each command is defined as a ChatCommand <name> ... End block. The <name> is what the player types to trigger it. All attributes are optional - a command can do one or several things at once.

  • AddMoney = 0Signed amount of credits to add to the player. Default = 0
  • AddRank = 0Number of ranks (general's promotions) to grant, capped at the max rank. Default = 0
  • ReadyTimers = NoIf Yes, set all of the player's special power timers to ready.
  • SpawnObjectAtCursor = <ObjectTemplate>Spawn the given object template for the local player at the mouse cursor. The player can type an object name after the command to spawn that instead, in which case the name here is only the default. The name may be left blank to always require a typed one. See Spawning a typed object.
  • TogglePrerequisites = NoIf Yes, toggles ignoring unit/building build prerequisites. Science requirements still apply.
  • ToggleInfiniteEnergy = NoIf Yes, toggles infinite power for the local player.
  • GrantAllUpgrades = NoIf Yes, grants the local player all player-type upgrades.
  • AddVeterancyLevel = 0Acts on the selection. Promote the selected units by this many veterancy levels; negative demotes. Capped to the valid range.
  • AddSalvageTier = 0Acts on the selection. Change the selected salvagers' crate-upgrade tier by this much; negative removes. Capped 0..2.
  • ProductionSpeedMultiplier = 0.0Build-speed multiplier for the local player; > 1 builds faster. 0 means the field is absent / no change.
  • SetSelectedOwner = <who>Acts on the selection. Give the selected objects to another player. One of ENEMIES, NEUTRAL, ALLIES or SELF. See Changing who owns the selection.
  • AddHealth = 100000Acts on the selection. Add this much health, raising the maximum as well as the current health; a negative amount damages instead. The value may be left blank to use the default. See Adding health.
  • KillSelected = NoActs on the selection. If Yes, kill the selected objects outright.
  • KillSelectedPilots = NoActs on the selection. If Yes, kill the crew of the selected vehicles, leaving them unmanned. See Sniping the crew.
  • ControlPlayer = NoIf Yes, take control of the player named after the command. See Controlling another player.
  • SubdueSelected = NoActs on the selection. If Yes, disable the selected objects the way an EMP does. See Disabling with an EMP.

Adding health

AddHealth raises the maximum health of everything selected and adds the same amount to their current health, so the units come out tougher rather than merely repaired. Leaving the amount blank uses the default, which is past any unit's own maximum and so makes the selection unkillable:

ChatCommand hp
  AddHealth =
End

A negative amount damages the selection instead, as ordinary unresistable damage, so an amount larger than what the object has left kills it properly - with its death animation, explosion and score - rather than parking it at zero health:

ChatCommand hurt
  AddHealth = -1000
End

Anything without a body, such as a piece of terrain scenery, is skipped.

Controlling another player

ControlPlayer hands your own controls to another player, so their base and units answer to you and the view, shroud, radar and command bar all follow. It is the quickest way to check what an opponent is building, or to play both sides of a test.

ChatCommand control
  ControlPlayer = Yes
End

The player is named after the command, either by number - counting the playable players from 1, in the order the map defines them - or by name:

/control 2
/control PlyrChina

The neutral player that owns the map's civilian objects cannot be controlled. Switch back the same way, with your own number.

Disabling with an EMP

SubdueSelected fills the selected objects' subdual damage, which is what an EMP weapon does, so they sit disabled and powerless until it wears off.

ChatCommand emp
  SubdueSelected = Yes
End

How long that lasts is the object's own business: subdual damage drains at the rate its data sets, and the amount is capped by its SubdualDamageCap, so filling the pool holds it for as long as that data allows. An object with no subdual settings at all cannot be disabled this way and is left alone - this is a property of the unit, not of the command.

The damage is dealt as unresistable, so armor cannot shrug the pulse off the way it can reduce the vehicle and building subdual types.

Sniping the crew

KillSelectedPilots deals the same damage as Jarmen Kell's shot, so the selected vehicles lose their crew and are left unmanned for anyone to take over.

ChatCommand decrew
  KillSelectedPilots = Yes
End

An unmanned vehicle turns grey, is disabled and passes to the neutral player, exactly as one sniped in play. A combat bike is scuttled instead, since it carries a rider rather than a crew - and if it is moving at the time it simply explodes. Anything that is not a vehicle is left alone, so mixed selections are safe.

Changing who owns the selection

SetSelectedOwner hands whatever is currently selected to another player, which is the quickest way to get a unit onto the other side and watch it fight, or to take a captured one back.

ChatCommand giveenemy
  SetSelectedOwner = ENEMIES
End

ENEMIES and ALLIES pick the first player holding that relationship to you, so on a map with several opponents the objects always go to the same one. NEUTRAL gives them to the neutral player, which is how civilian structures are owned. SELF gives them back to you.

The selection is cleared as the owner changes, since objects you no longer own cannot stay selected. Nothing happens if the map has no player with the relationship asked for - a one-on-one skirmish has no ally to give anything to.

Spawning a typed object

SpawnObjectAtCursor accepts an object name typed after the command, so a single command can spawn anything instead of needing one command per object:

/spawntank                       spawns the object named in the INI
/spawntank AmericaTankCrusader   spawns that object instead

The typed name is matched case-insensitively, so americatankcrusader also works. If no object of that name exists, a message says so and nothing is spawned.

A command counts as a spawn command as soon as SpawnObjectAtCursor is present, so the value can be left blank for a command that always expects a typed name:

ChatCommand spawn
  SpawnObjectAtCursor =
End

That command needs a name: /spawn AmericaTankCrusader spawns, while /spawn on its own reports what it expects instead.

Example

ChatCommand money
  AddMoney = 10000
End

ChatCommand maxrank
  AddRank = 5
  GrantAllUpgrades = Yes
End

ChatCommand fast
  ProductionSpeedMultiplier = 5.0
  ToggleInfiniteEnergy = Yes
End

ChatCommand spawntank
  SpawnObjectAtCursor = AmericaTankCrusader
End

With these defined (and EnableSingleplayerChatwindow = Yes), typing /money in the chat window grants 10000 credits, etc.

Notes

  • Commands run only for the local player, in singleplayer/skirmish. They are intended for testing/debugging and custom cheat setups.
  • The fields marked "acts on the selection" above read the whole selection, including objects the player does not own, so a unit given away with SetSelectedOwner can be selected and handed back.
  • KillSelected performs the same kill as the hand-of-god debug mode, which reaches it through a message that only exists in a debug build. The chat command calls it directly, so it works in a release build and takes the whole selection at once.