Type these into the in-game message bar (press ENTER first). Commands
starting with + are engine commands; most of them are not really “cheats”
but quality-of-life switches Cavedog never put in the options menu.
The community classic you are probably looking for:
+atm— +1000 metal and energy. The core of every “I’ll just build one more Big Bertha” moment.+nowisee— disables fog of war (full map visibility).+shootall— your units fire at everything in range, including metal extractors and factories they would otherwise politely ignore. Toggle: type it again to switch back. Arguably not a cheat at all — arguably the correct way to play.+iwin/+ilose— instant victory / defeat.
Where cheats work (and where they don’t)
TA distinguishes three tiers:
- Universal commands — work everywhere, including campaign, and count
as legitimate engine commands in multiplayer (no “cheats enabled” vote
needed). Sharing commands,
+shootall,+noshake, view options etc. - Exploit cheats (
+atm,+nowisee,+meteor,+doubleshot,+halfshot,+iwin,+ilose) — work in skirmish always, in multiplayer only if cheats are enabled at game start, and never in campaign missions. - Developer mode cheats — require the dev-mode sequence below, and only work in skirmish.
Developer mode
Type this (case-sensitive, spaces included) into the message bar:
+now Film Chris Include Reload Assert
It’s a nod to the Cavedog dev team — Film, Chris, and friends got their names immortalized as the key to the toy box. With developer mode active, these become available in skirmish:
+control/+control #— take control of your own (0) or another player’s entire force.+ai/+ai #— toggle the AI for a player.+UNITNAME— spawn any unit at your mouse cursor by its FBI designation:+CORCOM(CORE Commander),+ARMPT(Skeeter),+ARMDEV1/+CORDEV1(the Implosion Device). Add a player number to spawn it for someone else. Crashes the game if that player doesn’t exist — spawn responsibly.
This also unlocks the remaining “cheat” commands (resource zeroing etc.) in game modes where they would otherwise be locked.
The practical ones (not cheats, just useful)
These work everywhere and are honestly the best part of the list:
| Command | Effect |
|---|---|
+shootall | Units target everything in range (see above) |
+shareall | Share metal, energy, radar and map info with all allies at once |
+sharemetal / +shareenergy / +shareradar / +sharemapping | Individual sharing toggles |
+setsharemetal # / +setshareenergy # | Share resources but keep a stockpile of # for yourself |
+give # ## metal/energy | Send resources directly to player # |
+noshake | Disable screen shake from explosions — your wrists will thank you |
+showranges | Select a unit, hold SHIFT: shows weapon range, sight and build distance |
+contour # | 3D contour map overlay (1–255) |
+clock | Toggle the game clock |
+bps | Show network transfer rates |
+dither | Fog of war as dither instead of solid grey |
+sfx | Reduce special effects (no nanolathe sparks, no smoke) — big FPS win on old hardware |
+logo # | Change your team colour (0=Blue, 1=Red, 2=White, 3=Green, 4=Dark Blue, 5=Purple, 6=Yellow, 7=Black, 8=Light Blue, 9=Gold) |
+iface 0/1 | Swap left/right mouse behaviour for move-to-rally vs. deselect |
+sing | Units sing jazz. We don’t know why either. |
View & performance tuning
The options menu is a cage. These commands go further:
| Command | Effect |
|---|---|
+gamma # | Screen gamma, 0–255+ (the menu slider stops at 20) |
+scrollspeed # | Arrow-key scroll speed, 0–255 (menu slider stops at 65) |
+shadow / +fshadow / +tshadow | Toggle all shadows / feature shadows / unit shadows |
+antialias / +shading | 3D model anti-aliasing / shading |
+light # | Light level with shading enabled |
+sound3d | Toggle 3D vs. mono sound |
+cdplay # / +cdstop | Play/stop CD audio track # |
Out-of-game secrets
- DRDEATH — on the single-player menu screen (New Campaign, Skirmish…),
type
DRDEATH. A small bone appears below the Load Game button; clicking it unlocks every campaign mission on both sides, no progression needed. - More than 4 players in skirmish — on the skirmish setup screen, type
*followed by a Roman numeral for the desired player count.*Xgives the maximum of 10. (Yes, Roman numerals. 1997.) - Repeat last cheat — pressing or holding
\repeats the last entered cheat. With+atm, hold\and watch your storage fill.
Keyboard shortcuts worth knowing
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| ENTER | Open message bar (where all the commands above go) |
| PAUSE | Pause the game |
| CTRL+F9 | Screenshot |
| F1 | Info on selected unit |
| F2 | Options menu |
| F3 | Jump to last unit that reported something |
| F4 | Multiplayer scorecard |
| F5–F8 | Jump to map bookmark |
| CTRL+F5–F8 | Set a map bookmark at the cursor |
| F12 | Clear chat messages |
A note on “cheating”
+atm in a single-player skirmish nobody watches is a sandbox toy. In a
multiplayer game with cheats enabled, it’s an agreement between everyone in
the lobby. And in the campaign, DRDEATH is simply the right of every
player who has already beaten a mission fair and square and just wants to
revisit the fun ones. Use your powers accordingly, Commander.
If you spot a command missing or behaving differently than documented (different patch versions changed a few), let us know — see the Imprint for contact.