Cheats, development keys and public reports

Scope: the supplied Earthsiege 1.0 DOS simulator. These findings were checked against its command tables and instructions; the direct movement controls also have original-code execution captures. They must not be mixed with Earthsiege 2 cheat lists. Launch arguments, including -eggplant, are explained separately in COMMAND_LINE.md.

Direct movement controls

These branches are in the ordinary HERC command handler DBSIM 0x11050. The weapon list receives the command first. There is no separate cheat-enable condition inside these branches. These are immediate actor-position/heading writes, bypassing the ordinary gait movement for that command; a subsequent simulation update can still apply its normal collision or mission rules.

The nine numeric choices are 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000, 4500, 6000, 7500, 9000, respectively. Both values start at 2000 in the constructed original fixture. Translation uses world-coordinate units; rotation uses the engine's 65,536-units-per-turn angles. The same number therefore has different units in the two operations. Local axes rotate with the HERC; these are not fixed compass north/east movements.

tools/check_development_controls.py executes 216 commands: all nine step settings, four cardinal headings and six movement/turn commands. The real world, player, weapon-command precedence and complete HERC handler run unchanged. development-controls.json retains inputs and resulting positions/headings. This establishes handler behavior, not every possible cockpit/dialog event-routing context.

Other unusual controls

• Ctrl+1 toggles 0x919ce between +1 and -1 (0x5a070). The normal movement consumer 0x11afc uses this for its forward/reverse control regime and throttle limits. It is a movement-mode control, not a weapon or invulnerability cheat.
• Alt+S toggles the recording/playback pause flag 0xb5b92, but only when recording or playback is enabled (0x59e5d). It is not an unrestricted normal-mission AI freeze in this ES1 build.
• Alt+Ctrl+P calls 0x15a5c. This computes nearby friendly and opposing strength, subtracts 600 from friendly strength with a floor at zero, then repeatedly calls the controlled HERC's damage routine with (64,64) while opposing strength exceeds it, reducing the assessed excess by 400 each time. This can damage the player; it is not a kill-all-enemies or god-mode command. The branch and full consumer are identified statically; an interactive purpose and complete execution trace are still unconfirmed.

Ordinary controls and dispatch precedence remain in INPUT.md. The raw command tables retain the complete numeric codes and branch addresses, including normal cockpit/weapon controls.

What was already public?

The public ES1 material checked describes a single-mission/instant-action loadout leaking into a career exploit. One archived description also discusses swapping patched and unpatched GO.EXE versions. This is a reported shell/save state exploit, not evidence for a secret simulator key. It has not yet been reproduced in our supplied installation. See the Game-Cheater ES1 entry.

ES2 has a published -SPRUNKNOWN cheat mode, repositioning/turning keys, AI pause and other commands. Their existence is relevant prior art, but does not establish the ES1 key mapping or gating. In particular ES2's reported Alt+S meaning must not be copied over the ES1 recording guard. See GameFAQs' ES2 list.

The exact ES1 step selector and handler behavior above were not found in the ES1 sources checked during this audit. That makes them useful findings for this analysis, not a substantiated claim of first discovery. Old FAQs, magazine material or other research may already document them.

The manual also exposes invulnerability/unlimited-ammunition choices in mission parameters. Those are ordinary game options, not newly discovered cheats. A systematic search of every text-entry, shell and modal callback is still needed before claiming this is an exhaustive list of all possible secrets.