Exploits (DX)

This page lists various exploits for Deus Ex.

General

IMPORTANT! More than 250 unique item instances will crash the game when calling PickupHandler (picking up or highlighting a pickup item) as it cannot use more than 250 iterations. Stackable items count as a single instance while non-stackable items all have their own classes. This can cause a hardlock and make a save unusable if the player saves right before calling an iterative function such as allimages.

• Getting rid of excess items:
  • killall <class> (and traveling back to the map to generate the ones that already existed)
  • Augmentation upgrade canisters can be quickly used up by decreasing CurrentLevel (0 for Tech 1 to 3 for Tech 4) for an available augmentation (hasIt=True). If you have 40 excess canisters and the augmentation is at Tech 4 (CurrentLevel: 3), set CurrentLevel to -37.
  • Getting rid of the entire inventory can be done by traveling to the Secret MJ12 Facility if holding 42 items or less (this will always be the case if stacking is not used as the inventory is 6x5=30 slots). The game will attempt to shift all items to a designated spot in the armory until it runs out of spots.

New Game Plus

Unless already enabled, enable cheats.

• Input the "legend" into the game console (i.e., press the Talk key to open the console, remove "say", type in "legend", and press enter to input the command) to bring up the debug menu.
• Click Edit Flags and remove all of them. (You might want to keep MS_InventoryRemoved or add it back with no expiration.)
• Click Load Map, select 01_NYC_UNATCOIsland, make sure Travel is checked (or you'll lose all of your items) and then click on Load Map again at the bottom.
• You should now have started a new game with your current inventory, skills, skill points, augmentations, images in the datavault as well as all Nanokeys you previously found. If done after having completed mission 5 once, this will allow the player to escape by opening the door normally. Notes (the game's and the player's) will also remain intact.

Frobbable perfect aim

If a frobbable (selectable and clickable) element is covered by a surface but the textures are misaligned, it is possible to click through the obstacle. Example usages include the following.

• Inaccessible character being killable during Training by shooting through thin wall spaces. Some of these characters are normally invincible, but have instances that are set to be killable during the training mission. Killing them may break the game if those characters are important for the storyline.
• Early New Dark Age and Invisible Hand endings by crouching and clicking the switch in the Area 51 Sector 3 Reactor Room (without clicking the ion switches and turning off the coolant in Sector 4) and Sector 4 Infusion Room (without disabling any of the Blue Fusion Reactors).
• Frobbing otherwise inaccessible items, movers or pawns. This can also be done using the console by increasing frob range (in map units; 1 DX foot = 16 map units).

Save anywhere

Binding a save and load alias in user.ini allows the user to save anywhere, including during datalink transmissions, map transitions, cutscenes and while dying. If the game is reloaded after a datalink or map transition, a missing URL error may occur and send the player back to the intro. If the game is reloaded after death, a player can either use Dead Man Walking as speedrunning stealth tactics or change maps to loot their own corpse while leaving items on it (see Elevator of Death).

Skip Vandenberg

The player can directly skip to the gas station if they hit or shoot the map exit point (it is always active and in midair, by the area where Tracer Tong and Jock are waiting after the map is complete). This can be done as early as the intro sequence on the roof by using a weapon with proper range, accuracy and a high amount of tracers (such as the Assault rifle). Accurate highjumping allows a player to do so without exhausting ammo and while carrying something.

Bypass all fights

A pawn set to RunningTo will give up if stuck or unable to find a pathpoint before they exit the player's line of sight. This allows the player to keep all boss characters in the game friendly. This can be done without any aug or item as long as the pawn is not directly in sight or within collision range. Interrupting dialogue before a script turns them permanently hostile (instead of temporarily from provocations) will cause the same effect.

Free skill points

The following areas have skill point triggers that are repeatable for unlimited skill points.

• Brooklyn Naval Shipyards (8th Mission) - This map has two repeatable skill point triggers:
  • In the office of the first warehouse, there is a keypad-activated door that grants 20 SP when the door is opened. The keypad is activated by the "2249" and can be used to repeatedly open and close the door, for 20 SP each time the door is reopened and closed. This process is repeatable as long as the door is not destroyed.
  • The locked door at the end of the catwalk between the two warehouses gives 30 SP every time the door-opening animation finishes. This door is opened by a NanoKey found in the office of the first warehouse. Once the nanokey has been obtained, the door can be repeatedly closed and reopened, for 30 SP each time. This process is repeatable as long as the door is not destroyed.
  • The keypad that raises the ramp to the freighter (activated by the code 6655) can be used repeatedly, for a gain of +30 skill points each time the ramp is raised or lowered. This exploit is available only in the Game of the Year Edition version of the map, and not in the maps of Deus Ex versions 1002f and 1003_F/I8.
• Vandenberg Air Force Base (11th Mission) - You can also get infinite skill points at Vandenberg by finding a set of yellow power generators near the west end of the compound with a small grey panel on the side of one of them. Opening this panel reveals a keypad. You can enter the code "5868" repeatedly into this key pad (activating and deactivating the generators) for 100 skill points each time.
• MJ12 Sub Base (12th Mission) - On the rooftop of the sub base, make sure your inventory is full before talking to Gary Savage after returning from the Ocean lab. Upon talking to him, you will receive 500 skill points and he will offer you an augmentation upgrade canister if you previously rescued Tiffany Savage. If your inventory is full, you can repeatedly talk to him for 500 more skill points each time.

Bypassing laser beams

Simply walk close to beam(s), do a quicksave and while saving hold down Up Arrow. When the save is complete, you should be on the other side of the beam(s) without triggering any alarms.

Instant Lockpicking

Find a locked door and use a lockpick on it. As you start to pick the lock, go into any of the menu or subscreens. After 10–20 seconds (it depends on the lock and your skill level), leave the menu and return to the game. You will have instantly picked the lock using a single pick, even if it required more than one! This trick will also work when using multitools to bypass keypads and devices.

NPCs open locked doors

Locked doors can be opened by pushing a random NPC on the way to a locked door. The NPC will open it for you after touching it. This can sometimes be the best way to open special doors (e.g. leading Kaplan to the door of UNATCO HQ) or common doors. A variation of this exploit that involves a gas grenade can be used to let Private Lloyd open the front door of the UNATCO HQ in the first mission. Simply throw a gas grenade at the right side of the UNATCO HQ. It will aggro Lloyd and he'll run outside to avoid the gas clouds. This doesn't always work, however, as it requires a bit of luck.

More skill points at the start

On the character creation screen, downgrade "Pistol" to Untrained and start the game with 1575 additional skill points. Because the game will always start with this skill at Trained without checking for the skill, you will retain the skill points.

Super Jump

With the Speed Enhancement augmentation active, entering into the Settings > Game Options menu while the game is paused will re-apply the effects of the aug, greatly increasing jump height, as well as reducing fall damage. This can be repeated as many times as desired.

Minimal Energy Lifting

After lifting a heavy box or barrel with the strength augmentation, aim the box into a wall or other place that isn't a valid drop. Now disable the augmentation. The item drop is only checked at the moment the augmentation is disabled. If it cannot find a valid place to drop, it stays in your hands with no energy cost.

Inventory

Free Items

Make sure your inventory is full before attempting this. Go up to anyone who will sell you items and make a purchase. Look down at your feet. The item you tried to purchase will be down there if you have a maximum stack of the item (e.g. 1 for aug upgrades, 20 for lockpicks) in the inventory. This can also be done for items given to you, such as the upgrade canister given to you by Jaime Reyes in Hong Kong. This trick can be done as many times as you like, as long as your inventory is full.

Bring items back to the first mission

Start a new game in the middle of a mission while holding the last item you picked up. All items picked up before this item will be with you at the beginning.

Unlimited inventory space

Once you run out of inventory space, click and drag away a large item from the inventory and then press I to click off the screen. The next item you collect will appear under the large item you dragged off. This can be best exploited with large weapons like the GEP gun, the plasma rifle, or the flamethrower.

Infinite crate items

Take any supply into a loading screen. Whichever item was inside the crate will be duplicated and fall into the new map. This can be done infinitely so long as the crate is not broken.

Keep your items

After you are arrested by Gunther at the end of the 4th mission, the game will load into the first map of the 5th mission. Immediately after the map loads, hit F1 to access your inventory. Drop all your items and pick them back up. You will keep your items, and will not have to retrieve them.

Because this method will not work if the player dies after sending the signal and talking to Paul or has way too many items for the game to store in the armory (which can lead to lag and/or crashes), it is a much faster alternative to simply add the MS_InventoryRemoved flag before mission 5 (Boolean, True, set to expire on mission 6 to keep the flag list clean). This will completely prevent the game from running the inventory removal loop when mission 5 starts, which will also load the map much faster.

Elevator of Death

Go to Smuggler's Lair in Hell's Kitchen, make sure you have very low torso health and a few packs of cigarettes. Press the elevator button and then smoke another pack of cigarettes. When done right you'll die, but the elevator will go down and trigger the transition to Smuggler's Lair, causing you to spawn with zero or negative Torso health. Simply press the elevator button again to lower the elevator and loot your corpse. You can do this over and over again to clone items. (This exploit was found by YouTube user IllterateChild in his Glitchy Walkthrough series of videos.)

Physics

Grenade climbing

Find a wall and face it in the crouching position. Stick a grenade to it (you can disable it, so it won't get triggered by an NPC). Now jump on the grenade and place another one above it. Jump on it too and remove the previous one. Repeat.

Grenade jump

Jump and throw a grenade (preferably EMP, so you won't kill yourself) while aiming down. If you time it correctly, you'll bounce off your own grenade and jump higher than you would be able to otherwise.

Grenade falling

Similar to the previous exploit, throw a grenade down when falling from a high building. You'll bounce off it without taking falling damage.

Grenade clipping

By standing on a grenade thrown near a vertical surface when it flips you get pushed inside the wall. Most of the time it equals a telefrag and your death, but with thin vertical surfaces like glass or fences you get moved to the second side, along with a bonus of weirdly turning camera.