Saving the Masters of the Elements From Getting Lost to Time: Part 5
Published at , last update 2025-11-14 14:11:58#windows #retrogaming #preservation
While working with the game files of Masters of the Elements, I found something exciting hidden in one of the script files: Multiple, undocumented cheat and debug codes.
Well, they were undocumented up until now, so without further ado, but a hefty spoiler warning, let’s see how we can bend the laws of time, train bats, or get infinitely lucky.
I broke down the debug and cheat codes into three sections: Common codes, room codes, and debug codes. The common codes are primarily used for navigating between the different rooms. The room codes, however, will trigger specific actions that are present in this room only. The debug codes are interesting, but not really useful except for development purposes.
To use a code, all you have to do is type it at the correct location (or everywhere if no location is specified). There is no visible input field or cheat mode you have to enter before typing the first code. Capitalization does not matter; for documentation purposes, I left them as they are written in the game files.
Common cheat codes
| Code | Effect | Needs master control |
|---|---|---|
| willy | Enable master control code. | no |
| allPages | Immediately collect all 5 pages that are hidden in the rooms. | yes |
| allStories | Immediately unlock all story pages in the entire book. | yes |
| noStories | Remove all story pages from the book. | yes |
| intro | Go back to the intro screen | yes |
| goGrav | Enter the Room of Gravity | yes |
| goWarm | Enter the Room of Warmth | yes |
| goTime | Enter the Room of Time | yes |
| goElec | Enter the Room of Electricity | yes |
| goLight | Enter the Room of Light | yes |
| goChance | Enter the Garden of Chance | yes |
Room codes
| Code | Effect | Location | Needs master control |
|---|---|---|---|
| IJsfontein | Enable/disable two player mode in the juggling game. The blue hand can be controlled using the Ctrl and Alt keys. | Room of Gravity | no |
| Bombilla | Enable/disable aim assist when trying to catch the flies. | Room of Light | no |
| Merlyn | Re-shuffle the locations of all windows in the tower. | Room of Light | no |
| twoHands | Enable two player mode in the juggling game. The blue hand can be controlled using the Ctrl and Alt keys. |
Room of Gravity | yes |
| oneHand | Disable two player mode in the juggling game. | Room of Gravity | yes |
| Spiral | Immediately finish the electric loop puzzle. You may have to change locations within the Room of Electricity in order to see an effect. | Room of Electricity | yes |
| Poort Gate |
Open the small gate at the end of the electric loop puzzle. Both cheat codes work exactly the same. | Room of Electricity | yes |
| Train | The train holding the battery will immediately appear. | Room of Electricity | yes |
| Co | Summon your companion, even if you haven’t solved the juggling game yet. | Room of Light | yes |
| Pan | Immediately catch the bat and start your journey to the top. | Room of Light | yes |
| BigBen | Toggle between night and day mode. You will have to wait up to one minute until you see an effect. | Room of Light | yes |
| Mirror | Automatically orient all mirrors to their correct location. | Room of Light | yes |
| boom | The railway gate will open at the next drop. | Room of Time | yes |
| fuel | The train to the Room of Electricity will depart soon, all aboard! | Room of Time | yes |
| plant | The plant will grow by one step. But be careful, it will die very quickly too! | Room of Time | yes |
| fire | Immediately ignite the stove. | Room of Warmth | yes |
| boat | Skip all mini-games. | Garden of Chance | yes |
| lucky | Use the cheat code, press and hold the Ctrl key at the very last choice you have to make in the game, and your luck will increase to infinity. | Garden of Chance | yes |
Debug codes
| Code | Effect | Needs master control |
|---|---|---|
| showmem | Show memory information. | yes |
| removemem | Hide memory information. | yes |
| serial | Show internal serial number. Purpose unknown. | yes |
| machineslow | When starting the game, it will calculate your current system speed and make some adjustments to it dynamically based on the results. This mainly affects drawing and animation speed, so slower machines are not overloaded. The higher the “slowness” value, the slower the game runs. Not relevant on modern machines, based on testing, the “cut-off” speed is somewhere above a Pentium 133 MHz where no slowdowns are introduced. | yes |
| setms1 | Restore the playback speed, simulating a system that is powerful enough to run the game at full speed | yes |
| setms2 | Set slowness factor to 2 | yes |
| setms3 | Set slowness factor to 3 | yes |
| setms4 | Set slowness factor to 4 (almost unplayable) | yes |
| setms5 | Set slowness factor to 5 (unplayable) | yes |
| unloadcast | Appears to trigger a function that unloads cast members.Function call seems to be broken, no visible effect. Do not use. | yes |
| directsound | Show DirectSound information. | yes |
| SoundOff | Disable audio output. | yes |
| SoundOn | Enable audio output. | yes |
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