Default settings button and the unit spawn/cheat window

[Stratocaster]

Hi,

If you like to open games with the intention of testing units in a sandbox, you tend to change a lot of options such as:

Cheats: enabled
Fog of war: none
Game speed: Adjustable
Game mode: Sandbox
Teams: unlocked

To make things easier to make a game go back to ranked settings instantly, there's a default settings button in the FAF lobby (to the right of the observer button).

I discovered after one of these voluntary bug testing sessions (new patch and Nomads), that I could no longer use Alt-F2 to open the unit spawner window. I troubleshot everything from my mods, to game settings, and found that deleting my game.prefs file (C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Gas Powered Games\Supreme Commander Forged Alliance\Game.prefs) restored my ability to use the unit spawn window. I wound up doing this multiple times and I got tired of needing to spend time to redo my keybinds and settings and templates. I studied the game.prefs file and found the entry related to Alt-F2 and that debug window and made a note of it.

Code: Select all

profile = {
    current = 1,
    profiles = {
        {
            UserDebugKeyMap = {
               ['Alt-F2'] = 'debug_create_unit',
            },

Testing confirmed that the default settings button altered the organization of the game.prefs file, moving various sections around, including the line above. Further testing showed that GAZ_UI, with just a few options enabled like Force Render Enemy Life Bars and Reclaim window enabled, does not cause the issue. The issue is caused from rebinding commands to new keys, which GAZ_UI lets you do (F1 key).

So, my suggestion is to make pressing that Default settings button do the bare minimum to just make a game ranked.

Cheating: Off
Fog of War: Explored
Game Speed: Normal
Prebuilt: Off
Game mode: Assassination

It shouldn't modify keybinds, nor even the unit limit. It should just do what it says it does, return to settings that would make the match ranked. Either GAZ_UI could use a rewrite or this, but in the meanwhile, if you use GAZ_UI and rebind your keys, don't ever press the Default Settings button, unless you have your game.prefs file backed up.

[Ze_PilOt]

For using it regularly, I can assure you that the "default setting" button doesn't remove the debug key.

It's probably another mod conflicting with that function.

[eXcalibur]

i already had the same problem. look here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1600

it happened to me (that alt+f2 stopped working) a couple of times while i had only gaz_ui installed and never happened to me while gaz_ui was not installed. i have to admit that i have almost always gaz_ui installed, though.
i still suspect gaz_ui to be the conflicting mod, although i have to admit that i used and still use the "default" button to reset my options as well.

@Ze_Pilot: he said that the "default setting" button did not remove the debug key, it just MOVES it in the game.prefs file in a way that it "mysteriousely" stopps working...

[Stratocaster]

You're right about it being a conflict with GAZ_UI, though it doesn't become an issue unless you rebind your keys with the mod.

I bound a key to network statistics window, to Shift ~ (Shift and the Tilde key), using GAZ_UI and that was enough to cause this issue. I then rebound it to \ (Backslash) and that did not restore use.

Having GAZ_UI enabled and using only the other features, such as:

Force Render Enemy Lifebars - Enabled
Reclaim Window - Enabled

without any keybinds changed, did not cause a problem. Maybe just binding a key to many of the unused functions on the bottom with a new key caused the issue.

[eXcalibur]

i used gaz_ui to bind shownetworkstats to the * key (numpad) and used some templates as well.

i did not get the impression that binding a key to shownetworkstats made alt+f2 stop working. but i can be wrong about this.

as i described in another post, this is a problem. when you reinstall supcom the game.prefs file gets NOT replaced. therefore an inexperienced user cannot solve the alt+f2 problem intuitively!

[Stratocaster]

Let me simplify: Changing any key bindings with GAZ_UI, then later pressing the Default Settings button, will make the Alt-F2 function not work.

You can have GAZ_UI, and not fiddle with keybindings, and use Default Settings button all ya want and Alt-F2 will still work. Or you can have GAZ_UI and change keybinds and never use the Default settings button and Alt-F2 will still work.

Not many people are aware of game.prefs at all, let alone the AppData folder.

Players like to "test balance" through sandbox games and spawning units at will makes it a lot faster. Experienced users are likely to have used GAZ_UI to rebind keys (hotbuild have this problem?) and... I wonder how much valuable feedback you may be losing due to them not willing to test due this glitch.

[eXcalibur]

thanks for your clarification.