Launch Game

OpenCAGE allows Alien: Isolation to launch with a number of configurations.

Loading to a map

By patching the game's binary, OpenCAGE can load directly into a map. This is useful for testing changes to a specific map's files, or for skipping straight to a moment in the game that you're after. Just simply select a map from the main UI to load to it.

The "Frontend" map is the main menu, so select this if you wish to launch the game normally.

UI Tweaks

Before launching, you might want to enable some additional UI options. These range from debug checkpoints, in-game map selection, and even showing the current map on the loadscreen.

To enable these options simply check the related checkbox above the launch button - this will alter your UI.PAK file to enable the requested feature. To disable it, just uncheck the checkbox.

Accessing debug checkpoints

If you enable the debug checkpoints option, debug checkpoints can be found in the pause menu under the "Load Game" option.

Checkpoints are per-map, not per-mission. Load into a map to see all of its debug checkpoints. A debug checkpoint loads your game into a specific state (configured by a Cathode script), which can be useful for jumping around maps and getting to certain events/missions when required.

Accessing in-game map selection

If you enable the in-game map selection option, this can be found on the main menu where you would usually load a save.

Additional hooks/patches

Other options are available through reverse engineering the game's binary, which include...

Cinematic Tools [STEAM ONLY]

OpenCAGE ships with a fork of Matti Hietanen's Cinematic Tools for Alien: Isolation. Check the "Enable Cinematic Tools" option to inject the tool into your game once it starts up.

Hot Reloading [STEAM ONLY]

Enabling hot reloading gives you the option to press the "INSERT" key in-game to reload the current level. This is super useful for debugging scripts without restarting the game every time!

UI Memory Overlay

Alien: Isolation has a variety of debug renderers, one of which is "cUI" which is included in the released build of the game. By re-importing debug_font assets, OpenCAGE can enable the cUI rendering. Check "Enable UI Memory Overlay" to patch the game's binary to show the UI performance stats using cUI.

cUI is separate to text that would be rendered by Cathode DebugText and DebugTextStacking calls.