Operation: Inner Space

This page details bugs of Operation: Inner Space.

Ship Entering Mid-Wave Overwrites Identity of Another#

Sometimes, when a ship enters mid-wave, the identity of a ship already present is, in what is likely a pointer or indexing bug, overwritten with that of the one coming in. The affected ship may then behave like (and think they actually are!) the ship that has just entered, including a change in relations. This can lead to consequences that would not otherwise have occurred; for example, if it was a Patrolman who'd entered and the identity of a friend got overwritten by that of the Patrolman, he could start acting like a Patrolman would, and if you attack him, that will count as a crime on your part, which could, in extreme cases, lead to a Terminator coming after you, and if it was a Terminator who'd entered, the affected ship could then act like one, which includes killing someone "because they needed to use force", even if the target had not done anything. The ship's graphics may also be corrupted. The "switch" is often temporary (lasting only for the current wave), but, in extreme cases, it could be permanent. Confusing matters more is the fact that the real incoming ship will be perfectly intact, and as far as the game is concerned, there's two of that ship in the wave.

Another possible, though less common symptom of the pointer/indexing error is a ship being on a different team to the one he's supposed to be on, and therefore having a different relationship to you to what they're supposed to have. In this case, the identity of the incoming ship is not fully intact. This is seemingly a partial overwrite of another ship, whereas the above is an almost complete overwrite.

Strange Behaviour of Enforcers Hit by Grappling Hook#

Hitting an Enforcer with Grappling Hook causes strange behaviour on their part, which they do not normally exhibit: if you hit a Patrol Enforcer with Grappling Hook, he'll arrest you himself (as opposed to calling an Intercept Enforcer to do it), and if you hit a Terminator Enforcer who's after someone else, he'll arrest him instead (himself), which is possible because Enforcers are automatically given Handcuffs, even though Patrol and Intercept Enforcers already have it as their initial weapon, which also means they actually have two lots of Handcuffs. This is impossible to notice unless you go to the online help for the ship: the dropdown menu lists everything pertaining to it, including all the weapon it has; Handcuffs will be listed twice, whereas for Terminator Enforcers (who do not have Handcuffs as their initial weapon), it will only be listed once.

Disinfect Virused Icons#

An icon can be virused (green slime) or frozen (blue icicles), but apparently they cannot be both. A virused icon can be frozen with Snowball, which simply erases the virus from it. Frozen icons cannot be captured, but can be reheated with Fireball, which instantly returns it to the normal state (as opposed to the frozen or virused states). The icon can then be captured, value intact, as if it had never been virused (But careful! Even though a frozen icon instantly returns to the normal state, it takes a moment or two for it to be fully thawed. If you attempt to capture the icon before it has fully thawed, it'll crack, or, worse, smash to pieces (depending on the circumstances). If the latter, because it's technically a good icon, it counts as Destroying An Icon (as in the crime). Whether this is an oversight/bug is unclear, but it's possible.). As the online help explicitly states that virused icons must be destroyed, being able to cure virused icons is very likely to be an oversight.

Terminator Comes After You for Seemingly No Reason#

Enforcers can misattribute deaths of those on their team. A noteworthy (and serious!) consequence of this is a Terminator Enforcer coming after you the following wave (he'll either follow you in, or be lying in wait for you), even if you had not attacked any Enforcers. This seems more likely to occur if you hang around an Enforcer closely (as opposed to from a distance) as they get killed, and can occur even if the Enforcers are your allies and you have no outstanding arrest warrants.

Possibly related is the fact (possibly a bug) that simply going near a ship is sometimes interpreted as an act of aggression. This does not affect your relations with said ship or its team, as you have not actually done anything, but it counts against you nevertheless. As Enforcers do not respond to this kind of "aggression" the way other teams do (Enforcers respond only to crimes being committed and actual shots fired at them), one possibility is that this "aggression" silently stacks up against you as you hang around Enforcers, eventually passing the Terminator threshold, and the first you know of it is the Terminator coming after you the next wave for apparently no reason, leaving you wondering what the heck you are supposed to have done! A Terminator following you into, or lying in wait for you in, a wave is only supposed to happen if you've killed an Enforcer.

This is distinct from a Terminator entering mid-wave to kill you, which can happen for seemingly (but not actually) no reason if, for instance, you fly around the wave firing Doughnuts everywhere: even though the Enforcers love Doughnuts (and will actually go out of their way to eat any and all Doughnuts that appear, regardless of the source), Doughnuts are weapons, and so them eating a Doughnut that you had fired counts as you having attacked them, which can trigger a Terminator entering mid-wave to kill you. This is by design, and not a bug, though whether Doughnuts were actually meant to be considered weapons for this purpose (given the Enforcers' love of them) is unclear.

Game Gets Confused#

The game can also simply get confused. This can cause things including, but are not necessarily limited to, ships doing something for the wrong reason (though whether they actually are doing it for the wrong reason or it's just the Watch Window giving the wrong information is unclear).

Intercept Enforcers Rendered Unable to Arrest Anyone#

If an Intercept Enforcer is killed but later gets called into the wave, he'll lack Handcuffs, meaning he cannot arrest anyone. He'll just keep spamming arrest messages endlessly. Apparently, the game just revives the existing Interceptor/Lethal Weapon instance, which, as he'd died, no longer has Handcuffs (they are not re-given them), as the weapon would have been expelled from him in the resource pack. Terminator Enforcers are also affected: they will only have guns, not the Heatseeker Missiles they're usually equipped with. In both cases, the issue only lasts for the current wave; Enforcers are reset (at least in this regard) each wave.

Enforcer Sirens#

Intercept#

The first time an Intercept Enforcer enters a wave, the sirens will be quiet or inaudible, unless he's coming to arrest you. If it's not the first time he enters the wave, sirens will be audible regardless of whom's he's coming to arrest.

Terminator#

When a Terminator enters the wave for the first time (mid-wave or not), there are no sirens. But, if one enters the wave for a second time (and every time thereafter), sirens will sound. Normally, sirens only sound when an Intercept Enforcer comes in to arrest someone.

Stuck in the Ambulance#

To do: Is this version-dependent?

Occasionally, you get stuck in the Ambulance when leaving it, rendering you unable to do anything.

Terminators in Demon's Gate#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: This may have been fixed in later versions.

Terminator Enforcers can pursue you into Demon's Gate. If he is killed there, he, because it's Demon's Gate, releases the key to the Inner Demon's lair instead of a normal resource pack, which it is possible to capture without the force Noble Weapons because the "boss fight" hasn't been triggered. The key should only be released if you defeat "your other self" (the "boss") there. Therefore, in theory, it is possible to enter the Inner Demon's lair (and perhaps even beat the game?) with only Enlightenment; normally, you need all the Noble Weapons to do so.

"AFTER WITNESSING YOUR DISGRACEFUL"#

To do: Does this string appear in the Hall of Justice, as intended?

In ENG_LANG.DLL, there is the string "AFTER WITNESSING YOUR DISGRACEFUL". This is clearly meant to be used in the Hall of Justice, as it tells you about how an Enforcer witnessed the offence you were arrested for, as well as the fact that it is always your disgraceful, never anyone else's. But, it can appear in the watch window as an offence someone is being arrested for, which is clearly not intended, as it results in the string "I'm Arresting For AFTER WITNESSING YOUR DISGRACEFUL" (which makes little sense) being displayed there.

Selling One Weapon and Buying Another#

To do: Does this only happen when your arsenal is full, or does it happen at other times too?

If you sell one weapon and buy another in the same ambulance session, the purchased weapon may fail to appear in your arsenal, forcing you to buy it again and thereby pay for it twice.

Directory Listing Gets Corrupted#

To do: Does this prevent you from beating the game the capture-or-destroy-all-icons way?

Sometimes, if too many changes are made to the contents of the drive the game is operating on (that is, the drive the game reads from), the game gets confused as to its contents and what has and has not been completed. Directories that have been completed can be marked as not complete, and icons can simply "go missing". This only affects savegames; the game takes a clean reading of the drive's contents on new games, but loading a save merely updates its (the save's) existing reading.