Wrong. It's not an "exploit", the code was deliberately set to 00000 to reward players who try to guess the code. If they'd intended it to only be accessible by hacking, they would have given it a more randomized code.

Just making an unsolveable keypad seems pretty easy, you set its code to a negative number or a number shorter than 5 digits.

Making it shorter just pads it out with zeroes. The actual code in the editor is 0, not 00000. I have not tried a negative code.

Wrong. It's not an "exploit", the code was deliberately set to 00000 to reward players who try to guess the code. If they'd intended it to only be accessible by hacking, they would have given it a more randomized code.

I don't really think that sounds right. The developers specifically put the "hacking introduction" help terminal right next to that keypad for a reason. There are absolutely no hints at all that players should even try guessing a code, and the mechanic is never used anywhere else in the game. This isn't like "Calvo" in Deux Ex where there are environmental clues and actual game design to support the intent. There's literally nothing in the game to suggest the player should even be trying to guess any keypad. Every keypad up to this point (the one in training and the first one in medsci) have had seemingly random passwords to a new player. Now they are suddenly supposed to guess, right when the game is explicitly telling them to use hacking?

Even if they ARE intended to guess, it's an awful mechanic - the game is effectively telling the player that hacking can be bypassed by guessing, as if that's a real mechanic, but jokes on them because every other code they try to guess will just waste their time. It's a bait and switch that purposely punishes the player for being clever.

Unless there's an actual quote from a developer saying that this was their intent, I really find this difficult to believe.

It seems far more likely to me that they either didn't set a code (because you're supposed to hack it) and it defaulted to 0, or they set it to 0 for testing with the intent to set it to something later (say, when an audiolog that never made it into the game was added) and never did.

I would honestly not be surprised if every single playtester tried to hack that keypad, or avoided it due to not having the skill. It probably never even occurred to the developers to change it to something else.

Regardless of what their actual intent was, we're all on our hundredth playthrough now, and the code is well known. If it was supposed to reward players ingenuity, the "guessing" gameplay has certainly run it's course - guessing anything that doesn't change can only ever work once, after all. After that, it's just an exploit because you know that you need to guess and you know what to guess - it's metagaming at that point. We can never get back the guessing aspect of their intended design because the code is already known. Even if it was changed, it would just lead to the same problem again next time when people guess the new code. Meanwhile, hacking the panel is completely useless because everyone already knows the code and there's no reason to spend resources to open it. By removing the outdated (and no longer functional to anyone who has already guessed or otherwise knows the code, such as from a guide) guessing mechanic, we can at least make hacking that keypad actually viable as a strategic option - trade some CM investment and some nanites for some benefit, which is exactly how hacking works everywhere else in the game. To me, getting a balanced outcome on every playthrough is more important than a one-off guessing game experience. I doubt many people would use a mod like this on their first playthrough anyway, and even if they did, they can't possibly experience the guessing game mechanic anyway since this thread contains the code and thus ruins it for them, so they might as well use the mod.

Obviously, this also applies to the other codes in the game - after your first playthrough, anyone can memorize any of the codes and bypass/undermine various intended hacks, sequence break, and otherwise do unintended things in the game. I intend to fix those for the same reason. The only reason I did this one first is that there is no audio logs or emails associated with it, so it's a much easier fix.

Certain mods (*cough* RSD *cough*) put items there with the intention of them being balanced around the player choosing hacking. It seems obvious to me that hacking was their intent, which is why I made this.

I would suggest against moving it to the modding subforum, as my intent is to take the mod further, but I need some help. I would prefer to move it once I have had a crack at randomising all keypads and doing the audiolog reset thing. I just don't know where to really start on that.

I basically want to make the game sequence-break proof. It's so tempting at times to gain access to things I shouldn't be able to much earlier (like the medsci armoury) because I know a code that I really shouldn't at that part of the game.

Also, a more apt analogy would be people who like to disable or limit save scumming in games. This sits firmly in the "the game has a certain feature, but I am too weak willed to use it in the intended way" category. Exactly the same as the QBR Disabler mod. There's nothing stopping people from just not activating them, other than temptation.

I have no idea why you think you need to send parameters to Squirrel scripts. If you want things to happen to keypad codes when the code is obtained, you need to set up a QB trigger (Simple QB Trigger (-2498)) for the code's quest note,  linked to a script that restores the code.

Okay, I think I will slowly figure it out, thanks.

Actually... since a big chunk of this is already being done in Squirrel, there's no need to involve the vanilla scripts at all. You can just monitor the quest state directly.
class keypadLock extends SqRootScript {
function OnBeginScript() {
if (HasProperty("QBName") && !IsDataSet("done")) {
local code = GetProperty("KeypadCode");
if (code <= 99999) {
SetProperty("KeypadCode", code + 100000);
}
Quest.SubscribeMsg(self, GetProperty("QBName"), eQuestDataType.kQuestDataCampaign);
OnQuestChange();
}
}

function OnEndScript() {
if (HasProperty("QBName")) {
Quest.UnsubscribeMsg(self, GetProperty("QBName"));
}
}

function OnQuestChange() {
if (Quest.Get(GetProperty("QBName")) > 0) {
unlock();
}
}

function unlock() {
SetData("done", true);
local code = GetProperty("KeypadCode");
if (code > 99999) {
SetProperty("KeypadCode", code - 100000);
}
}
}

Okay so I tried getting the transmitter working.

Apparently I can't set up traps the same way, they don't seem to actually respond? I don't know what's going on, I am probably making a silly mistake.

Also there has to be a better way to do this than using 4 traps, so I will look at your scripted method too. The only thing I am having trouble with is figuring out how to actually pass the QB name to the script.

Okay, I have now properly tested this and it works for every single keypad in the entire game!!!

I originally had an issue where it was not working for the Transmitter on Deck 5, was only working in-editor, but that is now resolved too.

I have also removed the dml edits that made the medsci2 armoury hackable. I may re-release it as a separate minimod.

This should now be ready to be moved to the Mods subforum, assuming I haven't done anything particularly stupid with the code. @voodoo47 or @ZylonBane, I was hoping one of you could look over it to make sure everything is okay.

Also, does SCP modify the quest notes (or add any additional ones)? If so, then this mod requires SCP.

Interesting, I thought the new notes were part of SCP, not ss2tool

I still remember playing Vanilla back in the day and having to write down the art terminal notes on a piece of paper.

Would a CD install even have NVScript or Squirrel/DML support? Seems like this mod wouldn't even load.

Well, this seems to work alright.

If there are no objections, I was hoping to get this moved to the Mods subforum.

Yeah probably, would just require changing the script.

But why?

I guess if you're okay with editing it yourself, you could just go into sq_scripts/sargeRandomKeypad.nut and change line 31 from

SetProperty("KeypadCode", code + 100000);
to
//SetProperty("KeypadCode", code + 100000);

I haven't tested it, though.

(This still requires you to "know" the code before it tells you what it is, can't have it be a blatant cheat, can we?)

ok to kill all the downloads but 1.1 in the first post?

The PS2 version of Deus Ex solves the same problem (that a player with fore-knowledge of the keypad codes can use them before they strictly should) by removing the ability of the player to manually enter the keypad codes. Instead, when you first activate the keypad, then if your in-game character has earned the password/code, then the password or code is automatically entered, otherwise you just get the old incorrect password type message.

It's a good, simple way to bypass the problem. Unless you want to exploit the game, in which case you're out of luck