9th Company: Roots of Terror

9th Company: Roots of Terror

Not enough ratings
How to avoid bugs and finish the game.
By Samz
Workarounds and ways to avoid all the gamebreaking bugs present in the game as well as a good few tips for gameplay.
   
Award
Favorite
Favorited
Unfavorite
Introduction.
While 9th Company-Roots of Terror is an interesting little strategy game, it sadly suffers from a bunch of bugs, I seem to have worked out how to avoid them, if you encounter any other bugs/ways to avoid them, message me.
Minor Bugs and Tips.
The AK74U doesn't share ammo with the full size AK nor can it get AK ammo from the AK ammo crates, since no enemies use it, this makes AK74U ammo extremely limited, I therefore do not recommend using it on most levels, while it does weigh less than the full-size AK, it's a difference of only 0.3 Capacity, it's not worth the inability to re-stock ammo outside of friendly units.

Your troops need to use up a full magazine of ammo (30 for the AK74U, 60 bullets for the AK74, 10 SVD rounds, 8 Makarov rounds or 100 PKM bullets), and reload to be able to pick up more ammo at all. (So someone who only fired 6 AK bullets cannot pick up more.)

The pick-up ammo command will always go for the closest source of available ammo for that weapon, this means troops will trade ammo with each other instead of picking up more ammo from dead bodies usually if the alive friendlies are closer, so move your troops closer to fallen enemies/away from each other to pick up ammo from corpses first.

While you normally are unable to pick up any weapons during a mission (With the exception of Turrets/Mortars and vehicle weapons.), you can pick-up grenades if you have an empty grenade slot and enough weight to carry them. (So an PKM User with the heaviest armor who can't bring grenades into a level can infact pick-up grenades once he's used a PKM Belt or two and has the spare weight to pick them up.)

The Difficulty Options effect damage for everyone it seems, so playing on Private will also make the enemies take more damage, I'll need to do more testing to confirm for sure.

This is more of an one-off tip, but Enemy Snipers (SVD and Lee Enfield) carry Makarov Handguns, while I've never seen them use them yet, you can search dead snipers for Pistol Ammo. (Since no ammo crates containing any show up outside of the tutorial.)

The AI in this game makes no attempt to avoid friendly-fire, I highly suggest turning off Friendly Fire if you don't want your units instantly killing each other by shooting their friend in the back of the head at a point-blank range.

A bug in the English Steam version (Russian walkthroughs online do not have this bug however but I'm unsure if this is due to them being Physical or some bug unique to the English digital version.) makes it so that vehicles without drivers can still move on scripted paths/when ordered to by the player as well as attack enemies of the previous user automatically in the case of Tanks.

Go to your game files then the DATA Folder then open config.ai with notepad and search for TankIgnoreDrivers and set it to false, now this bug is fixed and vehicles will properly no longer move without any drivers.

"Vehicle is moving" bug for entering turrets, the turret is still trying to "Aim" at one of your soldiers due to an error when the enemy using it was killed, move any soldiers nearby til' you find the one the turret is tracking and have them move far enough away it can no longer see them, you should be able to get on the turret now, this is also fixed by the TankIgnoreDrivers fix.

While it might seem cosmetic at first, Vehicles that catch fire are actually slowly draining health, while you can still use them for a little while, they will eventually explode so make sure to get your vehicle crew/passengers out before that happens.

There's no means of repairing vehicles, try to make sure they don't get hit by RPGs if possible but don't worry too much about losing them since they don't carry over between missions.

Pressing F12 Hides the Hud, this will make the menu screens entirely blank, simply press F12 again when this happens.

Pressing the U key messes up the screen, just like the F12 thing, just press U again to fix it.

To Enable the Cheat Console, got to the DATA Folder in the Game files then open config.cfg, search for showconsole then replace false with true, the cheats are:
SetAdditionalFireSupport() Additional artillery support for next mission
God (0, 0) God mode
God (0, 1) Unlimited ammo
Win () Victory
Mission Breaking bugs
Save game bug
If you save and quit mid-mission, if that mission has a automatic bit where it moves the Camera later on, the game will fail to pan the camera/update your objectives and you'll get spammed with objective messages that pause the game, it's therefore best to just play the missions in one sitting to avoid this bug.

You can freely load the auto-save after completing missions (at the map screen) without issues.


43KM Mission
You cannot save and load for the first half of the mission or the triggers will bug out after you beat that, you'll get a defend section.
To defend against if the mission doesn't end properly.
You need a save roughly 12 minutes left on the survival timer. (this is what worked for me, don't worry, there's no more camera pans so you can safely quit and try again later if it doesn't work.)
So, you beat this mission and seemingly nothing happened? well that's the result of a bug, after a certain point, the enemy is supposed to panic and retreat, which wins the mission however sometimes this doesn't happen.

So either load a save you made earlier before the timer expired or restart the mission. (Alternatively you could use the mission complete cheat or the cheats to spawn friendly units to steamroll the mission that works without enabling debug mode.)


Prisoners Mission

If you save and load after the second flyby camera (possibly having to quit the game first.), the game will seemingly glitch it's triggers and mission fail you if you go inside the village.

It seems it can be salvaged by simply killing enemies from the outskirts of the village.

Stinger Hunt

The script for this mission is misleading, you need to investigate every truck parked at one of the villages despite the messages implying you've already fully checked the place after taking out all the enemies inside each village.

Convoy Mission
During a late mission where you need to protect a Convoy, the Convoy timer will end instantly if you save and load during the first half.
When it is safe to save.
This is not a complete list, I have also not tested quitting the game and then loading back in as that adds allegedly adds additional bugs, if you discover any game breaking issues with the game's scripts yourself when loading/quitting at several points, please tell me. (I am unsure if merely saving/loading causes the bugs or outright quitting the game is required.)

As a general rule of thumb to remember, if the mission has a scripted "Camera Pan" where it automatically moves the camera, this will break if you save and load. (Maybe you need to quit first, I'm not sure.)

I will also be re-stating the critical mission-per-mission bugs here just-incase.

Bagram Airdome

It is completely safe to save/load in every section of this mission (presumably past the opening helicopter), quitting hasn't been tested.

Pandzher Path

It is save to save/load at every section, quitting hasn't been tested.

46th Kilometer.

There are a good few camera pans early on. (When you start and after destroying the Shilka)

Saving and quitting after your allied reinforcements shows up seems to prevent the "Enemy Retreating" message popping up and prevents the mission being completed.

I'm not too sure if loading/quitting before that point is 100 percent safe but I have managed to beat the mission after resuming play after quitting during the timer but before allied reinforcements.

Prisoners.

After the camera pans when both sets of friendly reinforcements appear and are playable and you've blocked off the escape route, the game's scripts seem to semi-break, the mission can be completed but the game will trigger a fail state if you actually enter the village at some points, so you have to pick off enemies from the outskirts as much as you can then quickly clear the rest when you have to move in.

There will be no (in my experience) broken triggers to prevent you just rushing the village in the
mission if you don't save/quit at all. (I had those bugs in my first playthrough but no issue on a second playthrough where I did the entire mission in one sitting so I presume saving/loading is the culprit, this mission would need to be tested a decent bit.)

Stinger Hunt

Thankfully this mission seems to be completely safe, at least without exiting the game as there's no camera pans. (Though you need to actually get right next to the truck with the stingers to complete the level, the game will say the villages are clear but you need to find the actual stinger truck in a "clear" village to win the level.)

Oil Rig

There is a single scripted camera pan after the initial defensive section, after that, you're free to save and load.

Recruits

You have one camera pan at the very start and another after defending the hill, once you get told to fall back to the other village (With some reinforcements showing up.) near the start, it's save to save after the camera pan.

Remote Outpost

No bugs with saving/loading as far as I'm aware.

Column

The timer until your allied convoy you need to protect will instantly go to zero and they'll arrive if you save/load before the timer ends, afterwards saving/loading works with no known issues.

Height

The final (Non-Bonus) Level, there's no save/load issues here either that I'm aware of as there's no camera pans.

Secret

No Save bugs but make sure to use the fix for the "Driverless Tanks" since this mission will get much harder otherwise.
Video Walkthrough
I was able to find a Russian complete walkthrough of the game, while it may have Russian text, if you're stuck or if you have a feeling that something scripted didn't trigger that was supposed to, you should be able to check with it to an extent. (Such as text boxes/events failing to trigger.)



https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVKVY3qLjXKti-PoF9nQfkbiw54si-wbK
14 Comments
Samz  [author] 27 May, 2022 @ 5:03am 
Yeah the autosaves work, I ment in that you can't save and quit Mid-mission, saving and loading in-between missions on the map screen is fine.
commandernikz 4 May, 2022 @ 7:55am 
The game has an autosave feature between missions, so you don't have play through the whole game in one sitting nor have to repeat missions you've completed. The autosaves seemingly worked fine
Sorcerer117 3 May, 2022 @ 4:37pm 
Let me see if i undertood correctly.
I can save scam and finish 1 mission at time?
Lets suppose:
- Start mission
save - load
save - load
Finish the mission.
Goes to Mission 2.
Close the game.
This will make the game bug?
Samz  [author] 18 Apr, 2022 @ 3:49am 
The actual palace storming happens off-screen, in the secret mission you're just the team assigned to make sure enemy tanks don't show up as reinforcements.
Samz  [author] 18 Apr, 2022 @ 3:49am 
Not sure if you'll see this Commadernikz but the initial tanks ARE intended to be driverless, infact if you have the AI vehicle fix, you're actually intended to steal these tanks (it's why you're given spare tank drivers) then use them to fight the rest of the tanks that'll come down the road from another small base, more AI enemies will try to get in the tanks once the alarm is raised and come down the road, the empty are are intended for you to use or at least prevent the enemy from using them.
commandernikz 20 Feb, 2022 @ 6:00am 
Column: Split your forces into three, secure each position and hold them, easy enough. No idea about saving and loading
The Height: Tough mission, defend from the East, then West and then hold the center. Just retreat to the center when you're told to hold the main point
Secert Mission: Broken. You're tasked to destory enemy tanks, however, you can't target them as there's no actual crew in them, only blowing up one t-40 in the North-East finished it. Press alt to see the one highlighted in red you can target. Only finished via spawning Helios. No idea if it goes further, like storming the palace, still got mission completed.

Hope this was of use, and thanks Smazy, it was an intresting game
commandernikz 20 Feb, 2022 @ 5:59am 
Alright, so finished the game and even got the secert mission. There's 11 missions in total excluding the tutorial.
The whole campagin gets pretty straightforward and easy after the oil rig mission. That one is tough due to difficult start, and you have to keep all your vehicles in check by the time you must defend the settlement. Shilka is super nessecary
The recruits mission; just don't save and when defending the settlement, make sure every enemy is dead, your then reinforced a 2nd time and its an easy victory
Remote Outpost: At least for me, you can save and load whenever, at least when after the 2nd tasking of taking out the settlement. Pretty easy as your heavily reinforced and just need to block a few points.
Samz  [author] 19 Feb, 2022 @ 2:39am 
Troops have to use up a full magazine before they can pick-up more ammo.

The game actually does keep-track of individual calibers (though the AK47U uses it's own unique caliber and isn't used by enemies at all so you only get what your troops bring.), this means you should zoom in to see the enemies guns next to their corpses. (You can't use M16 Bullets in an AK or Lee-Enfield ammo in a SVD, though enemy snipers always carry Makarov Ammo if you need that.)

The game will prioritize picking up the "closest" source of ammo. (So Allies right next to the unit will be gone to first to trade/pick up ammo before enemies.)

There's no weapon trading, only picking up ammo. (Though you *can* pick up grenades if you have a empty grenade slot and enough spare weight as the single exception.)

You can't repair vehicles at all. (Also if they start burning, get out because it drains the HP until the vehicle explodes.)
commandernikz 18 Feb, 2022 @ 8:38pm 
"though the enemy should stop spawning in soon after they appear in my experience."
I saved and loaded in this mission, but once they dropped off, the eneimies kept coming and there's no mission update. Could require a single sitting, and no saving and loading.
"Do enemies stop spawning in Recruits?"
Yeah it seems so.
BTW, how you do you restock from boxes and dead enimies? Is there a hotkey? I press the command on the UI, but only seems to work with dead allies. Also, is there a way to repair vehicles?
Thanks for the additional updates
Samz  [author] 18 Feb, 2022 @ 1:32am 
For Oil Rig, once the helicopter drops off more allies, you're told to counterattack the mortars, though the enemy should stop spawning in soon after they appear in my experience. (my last save that I loaded was before arriving at the village you fall back to maybe saving when you actually arrive bugs it out since that's when the game changes mission scripts potentially.)

Do enemies stop spawning in Recruits? (For when 46th KM, the first survival mission bugged out on me, the game would stop spawning enemies as well, even flying a cheated in Heli there was simply no one left alive on the map.), it could be bugged but both levels also go on for a good bit longer than you'd expect. (And I beat recruits without saving so I'm not sure if that can bug it out.)

I am going to link a Russian walkthrough I found incase it helps in the guide. (Oil Rig lasts nearly an hour in it, it simply might be that it just goes on so long you start thinking it's bugged out.)