Detective License

You're a detective. Now you can have the paperwork to prove it. Visit City Hall and talk to the staff on shift to buy one of two documents. Licensed investigators can also use the public records.

Crime Scene Permit — 100 crows

• Legal access to every open murder case for 4 in-game hours: the place the murder happened and the victim's home.
• Uses the game's own guest passes, so you're simply allowed to be there. People inside won't treat you as an intruder, and cameras and laser grids at those addresses won't react to you being there.
• If there are no open cases, the clerk says so and you aren't charged.

Private Investigator License — 1,500 crows

• Permanent access to every open murder case (murder site and victim's home), for as long as each case stays open.
• Residents are more likely to let you in. "Can I come in and take a look around?" gets a +30% bonus, more with people who trust authority and less with people who distrust it.
• Public records access (see below).
• Saved with each save file. Once you own it, the permit and license options disappear from City Hall.

Public records — license holders only

Ask a City Hall clerk "I need to check the public records." They'll give you their computer login, and the clerks' computers in the City Hall lobby get the citizen database: the same search-and-print program as the Enforcer offices, and the same citizen file you'd otherwise have to break in for.

• Each printout costs 50 crows, charged when it prints. If you can't pay, the computer beeps and nothing prints.
• Without a license the clerk turns you away, and nothing changes at the lobby computers.
• The Enforcer offices and hospital wards work exactly as before.

Credentials card

Pause the game to see what you hold: the license, and every crime scene permit still running with its time left. If you also have Sanitation Department, its licenses and jobs appear on the same card.

What it doesn't do

• It won't let you barge into random homes. Anywhere that isn't an open case works exactly as before; you still need to be invited in.
• Illegal actions are still illegal. Picking locks, breaking things or stealing makes you an intruder again, license or not.
• A solved case's locations are no longer covered.

Prices use the game's own dialog costs, so the options grey out when you can't afford them, and you're only charged when the clerk agrees.

Configuration

After the first launch, edit BepInEx/config/sodmods.detectivelicense.cfg (or use r2modman's config editor):

Safe to remove?

Yes. Your license and permits are kept in a small file next to each save, not in the save itself. Without the mod your saves load normally; the license and permits just stop applying (money already spent isn't refunded). Citizen files you've already printed stay in your inventory as ordinary game items.

Compatibility

• Requires BepInExPack IL2CPP and SOD.Common (both installed automatically by r2modman/Gale).
• Built for the main (IL2CPP) branch of the game, not the mono beta branch.
• The license adds to the same "look around" modifier as the relevant sync disks, so they stack.

Feedback

Found a bug or have a suggestion? Please leave a comment on the Thunderstore page.

Made with the help of AI (Claude, by Anthropic). Designed, play-tested and released by The Protectorate.

Changelog

1.2.0

• New: public records for license holders. Ask a City Hall clerk to check the public records and they'll give you their computer login; the lobby computers then have the citizen database (the same one as the Enforcer offices). Each printout costs 50 crows (Records.PrintCost). Without a license the clerk turns you away.
• Fixed: mod conversation options (from this mod and Sanitation Department) could all disappear after loading a second save without restarting the game.

1.1.2

• Added a note that the mod is made with the help of AI. No changes to the mod itself.

1.1.1

• Added a "Safe to remove?" note to the description and a link to the source code. No changes to the mod itself.

1.1.0

• New: a Credentials card on the pause menu shows your license and any crime scene permits still running, with the time left. Shared with The Protectorate's other mods: Sanitation Department adds its own section to the same card.

1.0.0

• Initial release: Crime Scene Permit (100 crows, 4 hours) and Private Investigator License (1,500 crows, permanent) sold at City Hall. Covers open murder cases (murder site and victim's home); the license also improves "Can I come in and take a look around?" odds.