HPL3/Amnesia: Rebirth/Modding/Developer Debug Menu

When developing your mod, it is important to be able to have a fast feedback loop and have extensive set of tools which can help to test our mod. Exactly for that reason, we have the Developer Menu. This article goes in detail over the menu and all of its features.

Keyboard Shortcuts

The following keyboard shortcuts are enabled during dev mode:

Shortcut Key	Action
F1	Brings up the developer debug menu. This needs to be done in order to have full access to the developer features when running a game in debug mode.
F2	Pauses / Resumes the game world processes, basically makes the game freeze. Note that you can still noclip in this state.
F3	This makes the game run 4 times faster (by default). It is good if you want to skip specific sections in the map.
F4	This makes the game run 4 times slower. It is good if you want to want to focus on something that happens very fast in the map.
F5	Reloads the current map.
F7	Enables / Disables spectator camera mode (noclip).
F8	Takes a screenshot of the game and saves it inside the main game folder.
F9	Quick-saves the game.
F10	Quick-loads the last save.
Insert	Starts / Stops quick input recording and saves to the file QuickRecord.sav.
Home	Starts playing back the last quick input recorded file.

Debug Menu

The debug menu is where most of the work happens. There, you can find a list of useful actions which will help you in your mod development.

You will find the actions and option grouped in the following categories:

CMD Debug

Commands can be entered after pressing F1. Type the command and press Enter.

Command	Action
help	Prints usable commands to the Debug Log
ailog	Opens the AI Log
dlog, debuglog	Opens the Debug Log
einfo, entinfo, entityinfo	Toggles the Entity Info debug option
fps	Toggles FPS counter
fpsg, fpsgraph	Toggles the FPS Graph
god	Toggles God Mode
hpllog	Opens the HPL Log
light, lightlvl, lightlevel	Toggles the Light Level Info debug option
minfo, mapinfo	Toggles the Map Info debug option
mem, memory	Toggles the Memory Usage graphics debug option
mess, messages	Toggles debug messages
module, modout, moduleout	Toggles the Module Output debug option
notes	Toggles the Notes debug option
pdebug, physicsdebug, physics	Toggles Physics Debug
poverlay, physicsoverlay	Toggles the Physics Overlay (if physics debug is enabled)
coll, pcoll, pcollider, collider	Toggles visibility of the player collider
profile, profiler	Toggles the Profiler
rinfo, rend, rendering	Toggles the Rendering Info graphics debug option
sdebug, scriptdebug, debugscript	Toggles Script Debug
hide, show, output, debugoutput, hidedebugoutput	Toggles the Hide Debug Output debug option

Game & Script

The game section of the menu includes general-purposes option which affect how you play and move in the game. It also displays debug information such as scripting errors.

Option	Description
Reload	Reloads the current map. If the option 'Reload from current pos' is checked, the player will retain the current position instead of starting at the beginning of the map.
Pause	Pauses the game
Reload	Reloads the game
Fast	This makes the game run 4 times faster (by default). It is good if you want to skip specific sections in the map.
Slow	This makes the game run 4 times slower. It is good if you want to want to focus on something that happens very fast in the map.
Script Debug	Script Debug enables further scripting features that won't work otherwise, such as OnAction. It is also useful to make your map behave differently. In your map script file, you may want to change the behavior of your map depends if the script debug is enabled or not. For example: // This script will enable the player's flashlight only if the script debug is on. void OnStart() { if (cScript_ScriptDebugOn()) // Checks if Script Debug option is turned on or not { Player_SetFlashlightDisabled(false); } }
God Mode	Makes the player invincible and prevents from getting chased by enemies.
Spectator Cam	Enables / Disables spectator camera mode (noclip).
Slo-mo	Toggles slow motion camera movement
Speed	Sets the spectator camera movement speed
SM Move	Sets the spectator camera slo-mo movement speed
SM Look	Sets the spectator camera slo-mo turning speed
Cam->Player	Teleports the spectator camera to the player
Player->Cam	Teleports the player to the spectator camera.
Player-SpecCam auto-teleport	Enabling this will cause the player to always teleport to the spectator camera after toggling the camera off.
Recompile Script and Lang	Desc[Clarify]
Merge Lang Files	Desc[Clarify]
Reload script at task switch	The script file for the map will be updated when a task switch has been performed. Meaning, as long as you do not go back to the game after changing the script, the new script won't be updated in the game.
Reload script constantly	The script file for the map will be updated every frame. Meaning any changes made to the script will immediately be loaded in game. Usually you can just use the task switch option instead.
Show Garbage Collection	Shows a graph of garbage collection. [Clarify]
Skip AI Rebuild On Reload	Unknown option. [Clarify]
Fast Physics Load	Unknown option. [Clarify]

Map & Scene

The map section of the menu includes settings and actions which are related to maps in general, as well as the currently-loaded map.

Option	Description
Load Map	Select a map file to load in the game. HPL3 Map File (.hpm) and HPL2 Map File (.map) are accepted. Fast Physics Load can be enabled here before loading the map. Warning: Some things are almost guranteed to not load correctly when loading HPL2 map files, mostly related to issues with static-objects. This is due to the internal structure of the .map files and how it handles assets information.
Test Change Map Save	Unknown option. [Clarify]
Teleport to start pos	Teleports the player to a specific PlayerStart Area that can be selected from the dropdown list. Useful for skipping areas in a map.
Map Batch	Unknown option. [Clarify]
Preload Map	Loads another map in the background so it can be loaded later much faster. Main article: Level Streaming
Start Preloaded Map	Loads the pre-loaded map. If no map has been pre-loaded, the button will do nothing.
Preload Map Batch	Unknown option. [Clarify]
Preload Priority	Sets the priority of the map preload process. Ranges from Paused to Very High
Preload Time	Lists the time in seconds it took to load to preload the map.
Keep Previous Map Loaded	Keeps the previous map loaded. This is useful if you want to go quickly switch between two maps.
Export Map to Mesh	Exports the map geometry to an .obj file. Allows inputting a distance from the camera to export meshes from.
Trigger Permafail	This calls the _Global_TriggerPermaFail() function found within FearHandler.hps. Normally used to trigger a permafail (effectively a death) for testing, however the function can be edited to allow for custom functionality.

Logging

Option	Description
HPL Log	Opens a window showing the current contents of the log file
Show Error List	Shows a window listing the logged errors only
AI Log	Opens a window showing AI debug messages (created via script with the cLux_AddAIDebugMessage() function)
Debug Log	Opens a window showing the debug log, listing all previous debug messages.
Resource Logging	Logs game resources. [Clarify]
Show non-preloaded resources	Lists resources which are not preloaded by the game. [Clarify]

Debug

Option	Description
Hide Debug Output	Check to disable debug output being printed to screen.
Module Output	Shows information about different user modules. Add custom debug outputs in the modules DrawDebugOutput() function.
Map Info	Shows the amount of entities in the map and their state.
Entity Info	Shows information about different entities (such as agents) in the map. If an entity is using the pathfinder component, area nodes and the navmesh will be visible. Add custom debug outputs in the entities DrawDebugOutput() function.
Light Level Info	Displays information about lights in the map.
Messages	Toggles debug message visibility, including debug messages added with cLux_AddDebugMessage().
Notes	Toggles visibility of notes placed on objects in the map editor.
Pause on assert	Unknown option. [Clarify]
Debug Info	Toggles the Debug Info window. [Clarify]
Hide Sleeping	Makes sleeping entities invisible in the map. To do: Link to source about sleeping entities
Inspection Mode	Enables inspection mode, which displays information about assets used in the map, such as texture files, location on disk, size, etc.
GUI Debug	Displays pink overlay which represents intractable GUI elements.
Hide crosshair	Hides the player crosshair. This includes crosshair and interaction icons.
Hide hints	Hides hints from showing up. They'll still trigger but won't be visible.
Hide popup icons	Unknown option. [Clarify]
Hide tentacles	Hides the fear tentacle effect that occurs when you have high fear. Useful for screenshots.
Display Safe Area	Allows you to reduce the area that the debug outputs display in.
Player Collider	Toggles visibility of the player collider (only visible when spectator camera is enabled).
Physics Debug	Displays physics bodies (pink) of static objects and entities in the map.
Overlay	Displays physics debug + normal game meshes.
Light Level Grid	Displays the light grid. [Clarify]
Deep Shadow	While Light Level Grid is enabled, only display points that are in shadow.

Graphics Debug

Debugging the graphic performance of a level is vital to understand which parts are causing the bottleneck. It can also be used to find bugged/incorrect meshes or entities. With this section of the debug menu, you will be able to find which parts of the scene take up the most performance.

Option	Description
FPS	Shows the game FPS.
FPS Graph	This option displays on the screen a graph that shows FPS peaks on a time scale. It's useful for finding areas in a map that reduce FPS the most.
Memory Usage	Shows information about the game memory usage: Memory Usage: The amount of VRAM used by the renderer. This contains frame buffers, shadows, terrain and post-effects. It is greatly affected by the resolution of the window. Texture Memory Usage: The texture memory used by the level. This contains all the textures used for the materials of the objects. Texture memory is reduced by a lot with just a few changes in the config file. Vertex Memory Usage: The amount of VRAM used by meshes and decals. The imporant difference between Vertex and Texture memory is that Vertex memory can't be reduced by changing a setting. It takes up as much space on a good and a bad computer. Total Memory Usage: The sum of the above memory usage.
Rendering Info	Shows information about the game rendering: Draw Calls - The number of objects rendered in the current scene. Rendered Triangles / Vertices - The total number of triangles and vertices rendered per frame. Queries - A special draw call used to check if an object is occluded. It is more expensive than a draw call. State Changes - [Clarify]
Print Container Debug Info	This button prints container debug info to the screen.
Render Portal Debug	Desc [Clarify]
Use Portal Culling	Enables the game to use portal culling in the map. It is recommended to always leave that on, unless you want to see the difference in performance. To do: add reference link for portals
Draw Skeletons	Enables visibility of entity skeletons.
Offset Skeletons	Offsets skeletons a few meters in front of the entity.
Wireframe Mode	Enables wireframe rendering.
Previous Frame Occlusion	This option pauses the occlusion culling and renders the scene with the occlusion culling from before the checkbox was ticked. This is used to see how effective the occlusion culling is in the specific scene. After activating this you can switch to to spectator camera mode and look at the scene from another angle to see where the culling fails. Activating this will disable rendering of translucent objects since they can be unstable.
Debug Mode	Offers a set of display modes to help catch rendering issues
Gamma	The gamma slider increases / decreases the gamma. Note the gamma also affects the debug menu itself so be careful not to set it too dark.
Brightness	The brightness slider increases / decreases the brightness of the game. Not to be confused with gamma.
Contrast	The contrast slider increases / decreases the contrast of the game. Be careful not to set it too low or the entire game, debug menu included, will be solid grey.
Disable Textures	Unknown Option. [Clarify]
Disable Post-Effects	Disables all post effects. [Clarify]
Occlusion Culling	Enables occlusion culling (Skips rendering polygons that are not in the view of the player).
Draw Shadows	Toggles shadow visibility.

Resources

Option	Description
Auto reload resources	This makes the map reload resources (mostly game assets) automatically, should you change or add something to the mod.
Load files in _temp folders	Allows loading of assets found in _temp folders. This is off by default.
Find Duplicate File Names	Prints duplicate files to the debug log.

Sound

Option	Description
Show sounds playing	Shows a list of all the sounds that currently play in the map, and information about them.
Show sound params	Adds further information to the sounds playing list (distance from player)
Show sound categories	Shows a list of all the different sound level categories.
Show sound AI events	Shows a message when an Ai agent has heard a sound.

Music

Option	Description
Play Music	Allows you to manually play an .ogg music track.
Stop All Music	Stops all currently playing music tracks.

Voices

Option	Description
Show event/voice messages	Does not work. [Confirm]
Show Missing Voice Error	Lists voice subjects which have missing voice files.
Play Voice Subject	Allows you to manually play a voice subject (Seems to list only global voices [Confirm])
Reload Voice Data on Taskswitch	Reloads .voice files on task switch [Confirm] (see 'Reload Script at Task Switch' for more info)

Events

Option	Description
Show Event Messages	Unknown Option. [Clarify]
Show Event Facts	Unknown Option. [Clarify]
Disable Flashbacks	Unknown if this option works [Confirm]

Input

The Input section of the menu includes tools and option for capturing and analyzing user input.

Option	Description
Gamepad Input Only	Disables mouse and keyboard inputs (can still be used on the debug menu)
Record Input	Starts / Stops input recording and saves to file.
Playback Recorded Input	Play selected input recording.

Stress Test

This is a tool used to test the map under heavy performance conditions.

Option	Description
Analyze Map	Analyzes and prints potential map issues to the HPL log (temp materials, invalid materials, objects placed outside of the clip range, etc).
Analyze Entities	Analyzes and prints entity info to the HPL log (instances, triangles, etc).
Analyze Materials	Analyzes and prints material info to the HPL log (instances, VRAM usage, etc).
Analyze Active Entities	Analyzes and prints active entities to the HPL log.
Print Resource Usage	Enter the name of a resource and press button. [Clarify]
Random Input	Spams random mouse and keyboard inputs. Can result in stuck keys when released.
Random Physics Forces	Applies random physic forces to all entities in the map.
Stress test map batch	Unknown Option. [Clarify]

Profile

Option	Description
Show Profiler	Enables the CPU Profiler.
Show GPU Profiler	Enables the GPU Profiler.
Pause Profiling	Pauses profile updates.
Profile Longest Frame	Only profile longest frame.
Profile Filter	Enter profile layers. Separate with a space. Valid options are: EngineLoop GameLoop RenderAll Variable Message_PostUpdate HPL_Scene_PostUpdate Physics

Debug UI Settings

Option	Description
Debug Lines	Changes the max number of lines that can be printed to the in game debug log (bottom left messages).
Pause game when open	Toggles pausing the game when opening the debug menu (defaults to on)
Set Fast Forward Mul	Allows you to change the speed of the Fast Forward option (F3). Defaults to 4.

Platform & Language

Option	Description
Set Suffix	Set custom platform suffix [Clarify]