SimpleBlackBox

Written by Claude & Chonk

A flight recorder for the Company Cruiser, plus tools for testing and saving positions, for Lethal Company v81.

When the cruiser blows up or someone in it dies, SimpleBlackBox explains why, in chat, and saves a full report for a closer look.

It's a testing tool. Every command below works only when you're alone, or when everyone in the lobby has SimpleBlackBox too (for group testing). If anyone without it is in the lobby, the commands are locked, you're told why, and god mode and cruiser invulnerability switch off.

It's quiet until you turn it on. Recording, crash reports and jump reports all start off, so nothing shows up in chat until you ask for it.

Recorder

While recording, it keeps the last 120 seconds of cruiser movement and every collision, damage and stress event.

How it explains a crash

• Stress explosion: what stressed the cruiser, and for how long before it blew.
• Battle damage: every hit, how big it was, and where it came from.
• Deaths in the cruiser: a sudden stop (with the speed before and after), a fall, being crushed in a rollover, an explosion, or drowning. It also counts deaths within 5 seconds of leaving the seat, which covers being thrown out.
• What contributed: top speed, turbo, time in the air, time rolled over, and brakes.

Full reports are saved to BepInEx/config/SimpleBlackBox/incident_*.txt.

It records crashes even when another player is driving. The data is most detailed when the host is the one driving.

Lag tracking

While recording, it also logs any frame that takes more than 80 ms and is at least three times slower than normal, with what the cruiser was doing at the time. Separately, it always times the slowest parts of landing and takeoff, such as saving and the magnet. Both go to the BepInEx log.

HP on the HUD

Saved positions

Save where you or the cruiser are, then return there later. Host only, because these move things.

Testing tools

For practising and testing. They change how the game plays.

God mode and cruiser invulnerability last until you restart the game.

At the terminal

Type bb at the terminal to open the BlackBox screen. Every command above works there without the slash or the bb (seed scan experimentation mansion 20, report, log list), and the reply shows on the terminal instead of chat. Long commands only fit on the BlackBox screen: the game's own screens allow 25 characters.

Settings

Everything is configurable in local.simpleblackbox.cfg.

Install

Drop SimpleBlackBox.dll into BepInEx/plugins, or install with a mod manager. Requires BepInEx 5.4.2100.

Changelog

0.1.6

• Travel to any moon for free while testing: /bb moon <name> routes there without paying the terminal's reroute cost, and /bb moon <name> <seed> routes and forces the seed for that landing in one line. /bb moon on its own lists the moons and marks the one you're at. Works on the bb terminal screen too.
• Routing only works in orbit, and forcing the seed is still host only; a client can route.
• Same testing lock as the rest of SimpleBlackBox: alone, or everyone in the lobby has it, and never during a tournament.

0.1.5

• The startup line no longer counts SimpleBuy: its commands are part of SimpleSell now.
• No more "testing commands are locked" spam. Being locked isn't announced any more: a command says so when you try to use it. The "everyone here has SimpleBlackBox" line stays, and so does the warning when god mode or cruiser invulnerability is switched off because someone joined without it.

0.1.4

• Seed finder for building tournament kits (host only, testing lock applies). /bb seed scan <moon> <interior> [count] lists seeds that give that interior, using the game's own pick on the real moon data, and shows the moon's scrap range and the interior's odds. /bb seed <number> forces the next landings to that seed until /bb seed off, so a candidate can be landed and its scrap and hives checked.
• The seed scan predicts scrap. Each seed shows its scrap count, and single-item days are marked with the item. Filter with scrap <n> or single, use any for every interior, and random to start somewhere random: seed scan march facility 20 scrap 21 random. An impossible scrap target is refused straight away. Only hives still need a landing.
• The seed scan predicts infestations and indoor fog too, and can look for a particular single-item day: seed scan exp any 10 single gold random, seed scan march any 10 infest nut, seed scan rend any 10 fog. Marks: * single-item day, ! infestation, ~ indoor fog.
• Meteor showers are predicted too (meteor, marked ^, with the time the shower starts), and the scan's depth is yours: tries 20000000 looks through more seeds.
• bb seed dump writes every moon's own numbers (interiors, scrap, monsters, weather) to BepInEx/config/SimpleBlackBox/moons.txt, for working out seeds outside the game.
• BlackBox at the terminal. Type bb at the terminal to open the BlackBox screen. Commands typed there skip the bb (seed scan experimentation mansion 20, seed 1234, report, log list) and their replies show on the terminal instead of chat, so long commands and seed lists fit. The vanilla screens only allow 25 characters, so type long commands from the BlackBox screen. Same locks as chat.

0.1.3

• Tournament mode (SimpleHQ): while a tournament runs, this mod's commands are off and its gameplay extras switch off, so the game plays as close to vanilla as possible. Every command is off, god mode and cruiser invulnerability stand down, and the HP number is hidden.

0.1.2

• Testing lock. SimpleBlackBox is a testing tool, so its commands only work when you're alone or everyone in the lobby has SimpleBlackBox. With anyone else there, every command is locked with a warning, and god mode and cruiser invulnerability switch off.
• HP on the HUD is off by default (it isn't vanilla). Turn it on with /bb hp on. It's also hidden while the testing lock is on.

0.1.1

• Credit line: written by Claude & Chonk.

0.1.0

First release on Thunderstore.

• Cruiser flight recorder that keeps the last 120 seconds of movement and every collision, damage and stress event.
• Crash reports that explain stress explosions, battle damage, and how people in the cruiser died, with a full report saved to a file.
• Jump reports and stats, and a live wheel contact readout.
• Lag tracking for slow frames and for the slow parts of landing and takeoff.
• HP number on the HUD.
• Saved positions for you and the cruiser (host only).
• Testing tools: god mode, cruiser invulnerability, and a key press finder.
• Everything except the HP display starts off, so it stays quiet until you turn it on.