Mlog: Cheat

Developer / testing helper menu with one toggle: Observer mode. Turns on = spawn an invulnerable ghost satellite with 600km radar range at the center of every sector, revealing the whole galaxy for testing/debug purposes. Turns off = destroy every satellite we spawned.

Introduced mlog062. Uses a custom satellite macro (macro.mlog_da_observer_sat_macro) that inherits from the vanilla Argon satellite component.

In-game view

Layout: one toggle row + one live-count status row. That’s it.

Observer mode toggle

Setting	Default	Effect
Observer mode (spawn ghost sat 600km per sector)	Disabled	When ON: find_sector multiple="true" walks every sector → creates position at sector center [0,0,0] → spawns one mlog_da_observer_sat_macro per sector, owner = faction.player, invulnerable (set_object_min_hull exact="100" = hull cannot drop below 100% of max). When OFF: iterates $ObserverSats list, calls destroy_object on each, clears the list. md.$mlog_da_cheat_state.$Enable_Observer in source.

Live status footer: Active observer sats: N where N = md.$mlog_da_cheat_state.$ObserverSats.count.

Observed sample-save state: 152 active observer sats. That equals the total sector count in the observed save — 152 sectors covered (vanilla base + Terran DLC + Boron DLC + Split DLC + Pirate DLC + mods).

The satellite macro

Full definition at assets/props/equipment/satelite/macros/mlog_da_observer_sat_macro.xml:

Property	Value	Note
class	satellite	Standard satellite class — engine recognizes as a normal satellite.
component	eq_arg_satellite_01	Reuses the vanilla Argon satellite visual. Looks identical to a normal player-owned sat.
identification.name	Mlog Observer Sensor	What you see if you click on it in the map.
identification.deployable	0	Player can’t manually deploy — only the cheat menu spawns them.
radar.range	600000 (= 600 km)	24× the vanilla satellite range (25 km). Enough to reveal the entire visible portion of any typical sector from center placement.
hull.max	1	Combined with set_object_min_hull=100 (percent) applied at spawn = effectively indestructible. Hull can’t drop below 100% of 1, i.e. always at 1.
explosioneffect.strength	0	No explosion visual if somehow destroyed (shouldn’t happen but belt-and-suspenders).

Use cases

• Development / testing: spawn observer sats to instantly reveal the whole galaxy for save-integrity debugging. Useful when you want to see faction placements, station densities, Xenon fronts, etc. without manually flying to every sector.
• Bug reporting: when reporting a save-specific issue to the mod author, enabling observer mode captures full galaxy state so screenshots show the actual thing rather than the fog-of-war.
• Save auditing: verify that faction expansion (Mlog: Extension) is happening where you expect — the map will show every new wharf/shipyard/trade-center placement immediately.
• Cinematic screenshots: the ghost sats are player-owned and invisible in normal play (only appear when you click their sector on the map), so they don’t interfere with gameplay.

Undo / cleanup

• Turn OFF the toggle — removes all spawned observer sats via destroy_object. Clean.
• If you uninstall the mod — the sats become “orphaned” (their macro no longer exists in loaded content). Vanilla engine may not handle this gracefully; the Observer Sats: N field will be lost since the state table also disappears. Recommend toggling OFF before uninstalling.
• Post-toggle-OFF notification: shows Mlog Cheat: Observer OFF - destroyed N sats — confirms cleanup succeeded.

Not in preset scope

The Observer toggle is not a persistent behavior — it’s a one-shot action. Presets don’t manipulate it. If it’s on when you switch presets, it stays on.

Notes

• Not a stealth/hidden feature — the menu is visible and works as advertised.
• Uses vanilla satellite icon so the sats show up on the map as normal satellites (mapob_satellite_01). If you want to distinguish them from real satellites, click on one and check the name: Mlog Observer Sensor vs whatever your real sats are named.
• The same “custom satellite macro with expanded radar range + invulnerability via min_hull=100” pattern is used in the author’s separate Faction Radar Sharing (mlog_frs) mod — not documented on this wiki yet.
• The md/mlog_da_cheat_menu.xml file mentions a placeholder “Safe mode” feature that hasn’t been specced yet — future addition, not visible in the current menu.