Cheatbox

The Cheatbox is a collection of cheats and keybinds for Spore that predominantly focus on expanding the functionality of the Editors.

Note: this mod must be installed with either the Spore ModAPI Launcher Kit, or Spore Mod Loader, and can only be used when running the game with the respective programs. Running the game normally will not cause issues, but will not allow the cheats and keybinds to be used.

Features

Keybinds

The mod includes a number of keybinds, sequences of keys that when pressed perform a certain function. Each keybind also has an attached cheat that does the same as the bind in the event that the keybind is unavailable for some reason, such as being tied to something else outside of Spore, also including in some circumstances sound cues and/or on-screen hints for feedback.

Note: all of these keys are single-fire, meaning they don't need to be held.

Among the binds and their respective cheats, there are:

Hide Parts ("Masking")

Using a series of keybinds revolving around the L button, users can now selectively hide parts in Build Mode for a variety of purposes, namely reaching parts made inaccessible by other parts, quickly accessing the skin, etc.:

The keybinds are activated only when interacting with a selected part, or when the cursor is hovering over a part (indicated by a subtle blue tint on the hovered part). A selected part takes priority over a hovered part for hiding:
- The L key, when pressed, will hide the selected/hovered part from view while the creation is stationary in Build Mode. If the creation is an animating Creature, once the Creature starts animating, the part will be rendered visible again until the animation is interrupted and it returns to its "edit pose".
  - Pressing Alt+L will hide the part symmetrically.
- Pressing Ctrl+L will reveal all hidden parts.
- Pressing Shift+L will hide the given part, and all parts attached to it sequentially.
  - Pressing Shift+Alt+L will do the above symmetrically.
- Pressing Ctrl+Shift+L will hide all regular placeable parts, except the limbs and the vertebra pieces of a Creature.
Can also be used on Building and Vehicle parts, even in the Paintbrush mode of Paint Mode.
Part hiding does not persist in Paint Mode, Test Drive Mode, or outside of the Editor.

Editor Properties

A set of keybinds that change the functioning of the Editor itself:

Alt+S. Toggles animations from playing, including the breathing animation of Creatures, and certain motion effects of Building and Vehicle parts.
- Behaves oddly when switching between Build Mode and Paint Mode for Creatures: the Creature will continue its animation cycle, stopping abruptly after a few seconds. During this time, attempting to add or manipulate parts will be possible, but the parts will either be invisible or changes made will not show up until the Creature stops animating by itself or the action interrupts it as normal. Also does not affect Test Drive Mode.
- Can be detrimental when dealing with complex Creatures, as animations stopping are an effective way of determining whether or not it has reached the Safe Limit of around 256 parts / rigblocks.
- Does help when using the Camera Panning bind (Ctrl+Alt+C, see below), as it prevents the camera from being recentered whenever a Creature switches animation states.
Ctrl+Alt+S. Toggles validation checks, allowing the creation to be saved or loaded where that would normally be impossible.
- Essentially renders Force Save mods obsolete, though itself becomes effectively useless with those mods installed as they hard overwrite the validation checks.
- Disabling validation checks may have unexpected consequences, namely allowing creations to be saved without a name. Such creations will automatically disappear from the Sporepedia, and will require manual recovery. Use this bind or cheat only when you are certain you are ready to save.
- Overrules the implementation of the prop command to toggle validation if using that particular tweak.
Ctrl+Shift+S. Toggles shadows in all modes of the Editor.
- Does not include "painted-on" ambient occlusion shadows cast by parts in Paint Mode.
Ctrl+Alt+C. Toggles camera panning, allowing the camera to be dragged horizontally and vertically while holding Shift or Ctrl key.
- Shift or Ctrl are mutually exclusive, using both will have them cancel each other out.
- If a Creature switches animation states, the camera will be reset to its original position. Use the Animation Toggle keybind (Alt+S) outlined above to work around this.
- If using Dark Injections's Flexible Camera component, the vertical panning is broken.
S. Toggles displaying the Creature's spine. Useful to quickly access it while it's obstructed by parts.

Misc. Keybinds

Binds that don't belong in the above categories:

T. Switches certain properties of a given part that affects their behaviour when placing them.
- In Vehicles, this allows Chassis and Cockpits to be placed like Normal Parts and vice-versa.
- In Creatures, this allows Hands and Feet to be placed like Normal Parts, with some limitations depending on whether or not one has the Spore Stacker mod installed.
- Note: These property changes are not retained when the Undo or Redo actions are used, nor after reloading a creation, i.e. a Chassis will go back to behaving as it normally does.
- Creations made using this technique are shareable within certain limitations.

Adventure Editor

Binds specifically for the Adventure Editor:

Ctrl+Shift+H. Toggles displaying Ghosted assets, those that are hidden during an act (tinted dark blue), from view in Edit Mode. Useful for previewing without needing to enter Play Mode.
Ctrl+Shift+I. Toggles displaying Icons for certain times of assets, namely Audio and Effect assets, at a certain distance.

Cheats

True to the name of the mod, it contains over two dozen-or-so cheats. This list can be viewed in-game by entering help_cheatbox into the console. Use help <cheatname> for more specific information about each cheat, this list also contains the keybind (in brackets) associated with the same function where applicable.

Note: the droplist is huge and won't render properly if the console window is too thin, expand it horizontally if needed.

Hide Part Cheats:

hideSelectedPart (L). Hides the selected part. Use with option -sym for symmetrical hiding.
hideSelectedPartChain (Shift+L). Hides the selected part and all parts attached to it. Use with option -sym for symmetrical hiding.
hideHoveredPart (L). Hides the hovered part. Use with option -sym for symmetrical hiding.
hideHoveredPartChain (Shift+L). Hides the hovered part and all parts attached to it. Use with option -sym for symmetrical hiding.
hideAllParts (Ctrl + Shift+L). Hides all parts except for certain types of Limbs and Creature vertebrae.
unhideParts (Ctrl+L). Unhides all hidden parts.

Editor Cheats:

toggleEditorAnimations (Alt+S). Toggles animations in Build Mode.
toggleForceSave (Ctrl+Alt+S). Toggles validation checks when saving or loading creations.
toggleSpine (S). Toggles displaying the spine of a Creature.
toggleEditorShadows (Ctrl+Shift+S). Toggles in-editor shadows.
toggleEditorCamPanning (Ctrl+Alt +C). Toggles camera drag-panning with Shift or Ctrl.
togglePartOTS (T). Changes the behaviour of the selected or hovered part when placing it.
playModeLighting. Lists or sets the lighting environment of the Play Mode environment. (experimental; background lighting currently not affected)
setPartBools. Lists or sets some properties of a part. (experimental)
editorManipulators. Lists, sets, adds or removes certain Editor functions, such as limb manipulation. (experimental)

Adventure Cheats:

setCaptainSize. Sets the size of the avatar in all modes.
setCaptainPos. Sets the (absolute) position of the avatar in all modes.
setCaptainRot. Sets the (absolute) rotation of the avatar (in radians) in all modes.
getCaptainSize. Gets the size of the avatar.
getCaptainPos. Gets the position of the avatar.
getCaptainRot. Gets the rotation of the avatar.
getAdventureData. Displays some basic debug information about the adventure.
setAdventureCam. Sets the position, rotation and distance of the Edit Mode camera when used in Play Mode. (experimental)
resetAdventureCam. Resets the adventure camera to a safe position when run from Play Mode in the event of bugs.
toggleGhostedObjects (Ctrl+Shift+H). Toggles displaying act-hidden (blue tinted) objects in Edit and Terraform mode.
toggleHiddenAEIcons (Ctrl+Shift+I). Toggles displaying icons for certain assets at a distance.

Other Cheats:

getCamData. Displays some basic debug information about the camera, including adventure-specific info when in that Editor.
help_cheatbox. Displays this list.

Known Issues

These issues are known (most of them noted above) and being worked on when time permits. Do not create Issue threads about them.

Camera Panning resets to center when Creature starts animating. (appears to be related to more complicated functions, may not be fixable)
Part OTS setting does not persist after Undo and/or Redo are used. (this is true for most properties covered under setPartBools)
playModeLighting does not affect backgrounds. (this seems to be a problem with the model used by the background not having the right shader properties to be tinted)

Note: Open-source project files pending. Finalising comments.

Special Thanks

emd4600. Creator of the Spore ModAPI SDK.
Liskomato. Bug and feature testing; advice and code snippets.
ThePlantGuy. Bug and feature testing.