Right, we haven't detailed this part in any of the videos because it is not directly connected to a sigil. Let me try to help. You need to find a secret passage on the top floor of the building. It is hinted at by a doormat. Also, you can actually see the passage when looking into the mirror on the same floor.

i know i am late but where do i even input the code in the masters residence? like i found the hints to what the code is and i found the code but where ids it needed? i looked in the guide videos and the secret passage is simply blocked off and i cant even get back to other puzzles ? please help im very lost

Thanks a lot for your detailed feedback! We can relate to most of what you write, especially that some of the levels have interesting concepts but maybe could have been presented better (like making Disconnect less cramped or Trials less dangerous).

Of course it is difficult to put ourselves in the players' shoes. It would be nice to try out our own mod, not knowing anything about the levels - would we actually like it or not? Anyway, at some point we had to call it complete :)

The game not closing after the credits is intended. We thought it might be fun for players to explore the final room as long as they want ;)

"Disconnect" is the most interesting and difficult level. As already said, it is very cramped and this spoils it greatly. On the third floor, I never reached the original solution; instead, I pulled out both connectors one by one through the double gates (it’s quite possible to do this in time) and, blocking the lasers with a clone, opened all the passages. In principle, almost the same as intended. But it’s too unobvious due to the structure of the level. I kept trying to get through the second floor so that the passage remained open (but this is impossible). I also spent a lot of time)
"Master's Island" is pretty mediocre, to be honest, although Passage is not bad. Well, as I said, an unusual ending.

By the way, for some reason the game does not turn off after the end credits (with Sam and the Monster) , is that how it should be?

Passed! Quite a good campaign, the second half is quite unusual (these cutscenes, hehe). I would like to advise in the future to make clearer wires to each receiver and pressure plate, this is important, in my opinion.

Regarding the levels themselves:
"Playground" - OK
"Rise and Fall" - Nice!
"The Trials" is conceptually great, but it's not very pleasant to play through - constant death due to any mistake. I spent a lot of time, especially getting the star
"Water Effects" - New mechanics are always great. But, again, the level takes a very long time to complete due to the fact that it is quite easy to “lose” the cube near the surface. You can also drag both connectors to the gate and go through without this amazing final chord with dropping the cube into the water (it would have taken me a long time to get to this intended solution))

El juego no está nada mal, a veces es incluso algo adictivo por querer seguir pasando niveles... Pero de vez en cuando te frustras para conseguir alguna estrella que son bastante difíciles sino te ves algún tuto!!

@ineluctable_assasin Yeah, moddable mode is not needed for The Game (as we don't modify any main game files). Even though during our testing moddable mode worked just fine, it definitely opens up more possibilities for things to go wrong. Will add a recommendation to play in regular mode to the description.

I've found out what was going wrong. Was launching in moddable mode and this makes some things not function. IE the trials stage 4 was too sensitive. I was having simliar woes trying to play abomination where you have to lay a cube near a bomb. Anyway, I thought you had to launch mods in moddable mode - my mistake! I still hate the trials though :).

I'm really running out of ideas here, since we are just using a standard Talos water fluid with no modifications at all. Just to summarize what we looked into:

- Checked with The Flood (another mod) that uses the same water as we do. Works as expected (meaning: as in the solution video, cannot produce any other behavior like you describe).
- Installed lots of other mods to see if their presence affects water behavior (theoretically they might overwrite a relevant file). None of them did, works as expected.
- Tested on three different computers. Works as expected.
- Tried in modded Talos runtime mode (not needed for The Game, but maybe you are running it this way). Works as expected.

I'll ask in the Talos editor discussion thread, maybe one of the experts has an idea how water could behave that differently in different installations.

Thanks for your continued input!

@Beid Bellebie: yes- definitely dropping the box in the air. I've been getting some varied effects, including MA's one of the box stopping half way down. Also, the box may not fall squarely onto the plate so the gate doesn't open. I've tried dropping the box from the edge of the pool as well as from the steps. The only time I successfully used only the one box was from the pool edge- and this is the one that stopped half way down. The 2 box method - sometimes both boxes stay on top of the water, and sometimes both boxes stop descending half way down. All this probably doesn't help much from a bug fix perspective - sorry about that! Replicating a result consistently is not happening for me. BTW, really enjoying the water mechanic anyway :)

I had a similar thing happen in Water Effects quite often where I would drop the box just like you do in the solution video but it doesn't fall far enough into the water to hit the button and gets stuck

@AG Glad to hear you were able to work around it. However, the same workaround may not be possible in the main stage of the puzzle.

Just to check, you are dropping the box "into the air" when it shows the usual visual drop indication (basically the same indication that you look for when building underwater stairs)? And what does it does then - does it drop somewhat but not completely to the bottom, or does it not drop at all but stay afloat at the surface?

Still could not reproduce, and I don't see any reason why the water should behave differently (apart from maybe some other mod overwriting relevant files, but somehow I consider that unlikely for water stuff).

@Beid Bellebie: found a quick fix for the 2 cube Water Effects bug. When the 2 cubes begin to sink onto the plate, I quickly grab the top cube. The bottom cube continues to sink until the gate opens. Game On :)

@Beid Bellebie: thanks for that. I've replicated the 'glitch' 3 times, so can't solve Water Effects. Will move onto The Trials- looks dangerous!

Hehe, there you try to be nice to players, put the switch close to the gate so it is well visible through the water... and what do they do :D

Seriously: nice effort, great catch! I think that warrants a fix with the next update. Luckily, it really isn't much of a shortcut though :)

I noticed you can activate the switch in Water Effects through the gate instead of doing the intended solution

@AG Thanks for reporting! This never happened to us when testing, but we will take a look for the next update. And you are right - if that happens, you could be tricked into thinking both boxes would need to be dropped. We are thinking about a small modification to the initial area to make it obvious that one box needs to be kept.

In the first stage of water effects, 1 cube wasn't heavy enough to sink onto the plate. I had to stack the other cube on top of it before it would sink to the bottom..I'll try again. Of course, need that second cube for the next stage

@thomasallenonline If this helps, we didn't actually modify any Talos mechanic at all. We just took standard Talos water and items and found the cubes behave somewhat interesting in water, then turned it into a puzzle. In that sense it's still pure :)

It's just one water puzzle by the way, the others are pure without a doubt :)

I've played TTP, RTG and just about all of the other campaigns (over 700 hours). As a purest, messing with the original game mechanics (cubes in water) was a non-starter for me.

Really strange. It's hard for me to think of anything that could cause this (assuming that your game files are ok). Could you try two things just to get a better picture? Both are to be done from the starting point and the first one will softlock the level, so you will have to redo the lower two floors in between:
- If you place the connector on the plate as you did, but not in video mode, then do a recording, then the playback, do both beams (of the real and the ghost connector) behave the same, or does one collide and the other goes through?
- If you place the connector on the opposite plate, below the green emitter, and connect it to the blue emitter, instead (so the "mirror" setup), does the same effect occur during playback?

https://youtu.be/1IdlWUOhe_E

@separion This looks very strange. I tried but could not reproduce this. I only noticed that, when placing the first connector, I don't connect the blue emitter whereas you do, but this shouldn't make a difference.

Unfortunately your video, during playback, doesn't show the spot where the green beam is supposed to collide with the red one. I guess it still looks like they are colliding (but the red one is just not interrupted)?

Why is red beam broken on records, but is not on playback? https://youtu.be/a5GQx_y__4I

Once you have all stars, you can get to the Master's Islands. Disconnect could wait until the very end, when you need to complete the green arranger. The puzzles on the Islands (not that there are that many) are actually easier, I'd say.

When retrieving all the boxes in stage 3, it's basically only doing guided jumps. I think you don't ever need to do a jump without footstep indication. As there is no time pressure, what can help is, for every jump involving moving mines, to watch the next footsteps appear and disappear a couple of times until you feel confident in the timing... and only then execute the jump.

I did just manage it - sadly got blown up retrieving the boxes in stage 3. The margins are too tight for a puzzle game I think. It's not meant to be dark souls levels of punishment is it?

Yes, it's on the snap point. It will fall in front of the box - or I will get blown up edging forward.
Currently softlocked on top level of disconnect - too hard for me :(. I can't get to the master's island without it, right? Not that I expect things will get any better for me there :)

Unfortunately I'm no expert on graphics settings, maybe someone else can share their thoughts or experiences.

Just to double-check: First you placed the box on the snap point on the ground, not anywhere else, right? So it snapped into place? Then, for the connector, it should just be the "normal" item snap point you always find on a box. If you somehow managed to place the box in front of the snap point, maybe the connector wants to use our snap point (the one on the ground) instead. I suppose it's unlikely, but just to check.

What you could do to rule out anything strange is to just try the placement in some other, safe location: Place the box anywhere and then see if the connector snaps on top of it. That should work, right?

I'm literally copying your every move on stage 4 of the trials but the connector won't go on the box - it always falls behind it. It seems impossible - I would say it IS impossible, but I did it once. I've gone back for the star. I've got v-sync on and 60fps limit - could it be something stupid like that?

@separion About the fan: You will receive it after completing one of the computer terminal dialogs on the moon. You have to select the three "correct" answers though - there is only one path leading to the fan. Maybe you just haven't hit the right one yet.There should be just a few paths through the quiz that make sense and are worth trying.

If you completed the quiz and the prisoner robot told you it would give you the fan, but then didn't, maybe something is wrong. Still, in that case, one you restart the game or rewind, the fan should be available for you to take from that cage through a gap in the fence.

@ineluctable_assasin No worries, we value your feedback :)

Too bad that you didn't do the star right away when you got the sigil in The Trials. If everything is set up from the first round, getting the star is actually quite a bit easier than getting the sigil.

Is that the only star you are missing? If so, it's all that stops you from reaching the Master's Islands. Let me know - maybe we can add a cheat/shortcut to the star, so you can proceed.

The good thing about Disconnect is that it's optional for the time being and you can also leave it to the very end, still completing 95% of the game (and experience the part with the Master's house).

however, I'm stuck on the fifth star. For some reason the master doesn't want to give me the fan

It is very strange, I completed the trials without any hints and I liked it

Not what you're looking for, but I too hated the trials. It took 50 attempts and I couldn't face attempting the star after that. Anyway, I got to disconnect and can't see what's even going on so sadly I gave up. Mind you, I never liked the record mechanic or crossed beams tricks.
The only thing that could redeem it is checkpoints. It's never fun going back to the beginning.

@MrBBEye Thanks for sharing your perspective on "The Trials". It's very welcome and we can somewhat relate to it.

Personally I think that stage 4 (mixed items) does have some merit in terms of puzzleyness. Apart from that it's indeed a different kind of challenge. We liked the idea that players may first think the goal is simply to pass the mines but then realize that they really need to get every single item through as well. We will see - maybe we will find a way to improve the execution of that idea without completely erasing the level.

So far from the feedback we got it seems quite a few players found "The Trials" annoying for one reason or another. We would be curious to hear if there is actually anyone who liked it :D

@Grentouce Congrats for finishing, we are happy to hear you enjoyed it! The small cut scenes are really not masterpieces, but it's probably obvious that we had lots of fun making them :)

My 2c rant: "The Trials " is not a puzzle and it is the stupidest challenge I've encountered so far. It's not even slightly puzzley, It's simply a case of item placement which in Talos is a rather wonky mechanic, hoping that an item places out far enough before a blink of an eye boom!. "The Trails" should be removed completely.

Just completed the mod and what an amazing experience. Struggled a bit on disconnected but overall its good. The cut scenes are so complex than any other mod. Great work!!!

@Grentouce It seems you don't have the Prototype DLC installed. Together with Gehenna, it should be listed as required DLCs in the right sidebar on Steam. Usually, Steam should also display a warning is you are missing required content, but it is easy to miss.

i coudnt load the map, i always get "Cannot open file Content/Talos/Databases/FastLight/MedievalTorch_Secret_01.rsc". I only have this mod and additional laser colors - mapping resource from the workshop. Any fix? Thanks. Looking forward to play this

Ah, so it's working for you now? Glad to hear that.

Sorry for the trouble - in our testing it was working every single time. Seems we hit the center each time without noticing there might be a problem.

I'm sure at some point we'll ship another update to the game. We'll check if we can make the fenced area a little smaller to prevent this from happening. It's early in the puzzle but still annoying to have to rewind.

Thanks again for reporting!

I`ve done. Just need to hit the exact center of the platform

@separion Strange. I guess you tried it a couple of times, right?

I just checked the expected behavior in workshop-installed version again and also verified the objects in Talos Editor, to rule out any obvious mistakes.

In the past, sometimes there have been reports of some workshop content breaking other content due to (unintentionally) overwriting standard files, Depending on what other Talos workshop mods you have installed, this might be the case here. It seems unlikely because it's just a plasma barrier and a pressure plate - still, it already happened that the standard fan behavior was overwritten. Maybe you could try (temporarily) uninstalling other workshop content and check again if that resolves the issue.

You may also want to run the Steam check to see if the installed Talos game files are corrupted, just in case.

Did anyone else experience the issue reported here? The video by separion doesn't include any spoilers.

Why didn't plasma gates open? https://youtu.be/C9XsrjX6EVU

@beid bellebie - took a quick look, the update to Water Effects is fantastic! Definitely an improvement over what I proposed.

RolandsSh I hope you like how we took up your suggestion for Water Effects.

Our thought process: We wanted to avoid allowing a third box into the level, which would enable the user to build "real" stairs anywhere (by switching the third box with a connector the box would get freed). So we came up with something that would lose the extra box again immediately and at the same time familiarize the player with another relevant concept: dropping a box into the water from the surface and having it sink slowly.

Hello everyone, just published an update. Main features are adding a training area to "Water Effects", to get familiar with the new mechanic. The solution video will be updated soon as well. Also improved visibility into the back side of "Disconnect" a bit.

@RolandsSh Will get back to Water Effects later, just quickly about the other topics:

Yes, the AI robots get replicated during recordings (which is actually funny to watch from the back side of Disconnect), so I plan to check if that's causing the issues.

About the last green sigil: We considered leaving the alternative red beam solution in, but then realized that as a consequence would also have to allow a more direct connection from the Star 4 roof area (without involving Playground at all), which so far was also only blocked by an invisible barrier. So it didn't feel fair to prevent that one but allow the other. And tbh, we also feared that the unintended solution might be what 90% of players would end up with :)

For Water Effects - here's a quick diagram of my idea how it could be introduced to the player:
https://imgur.com/a/BIDY8dr
It would really require just changing the first pool, past the plasma gate the level would be functionally the same. That does introduce the 3rd box to the level though, so it opens up some possible 3 box exploits, but the walls generally seemed high enough. Might need to add an arch above the gate that lowers in the end, though. Still - looking for cheeses/alternate solutions/exploits is a large part of what makes Talos so fun, so fixing ALL of them is not necessarily required, just don't make it too easy and blindingly obvious :)

P.S. I love that you are making this together with your daughter - that is sooooooo cool!

Yeah, by size I meant the elements needed to be tracked rather than only physical dimensions. Most large areas I can think of are hub worlds without that many puzzle elements (Abomination 2, Schroedingers Cat, Only Puzzles 3), and some of the "larger" puzzle worlds (Abomination 2 Ruins&Ending area, Only Puzzles 4 Egypt) weren't exactly issue free. I didn't even think of the AI robots - they get replicated during all recordings as well, right?

I agree, I also really like the mirror portal mechanic . In fact, I think you shouldn't have disallowed sending the red beam from previous areas for the last green sigil. It's a nice alternate solution that ties the whole world nicely together, and it's involved enough that it does not feel like a major cheese.