In order for this guide to work, you will need two things: Notepad++ and a level to work with. I would recommend using an empty or unwanted level for testing things out, just in case you insert a wrong number and accidentally cause the level to crash.

Notepad++ download: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/

If you are unfamiliar with using Notepad++, here's how it works: when you place down an item or enemy, its IDs are listed in the level.obj file for that floor. There are two main types of IDs to look for: the sprite ID and the object ID. Sprite ID determines how something looks, while object ID (located two lines below sprite ID) determines how it acts in-game. Between those two spaces is the direction (0-360 degrees) it is facing. By changing the sprite and object ID of an item you added to the level, you can add virtually anything to the Level Editor that isn't there by default. Everything below has its IDs listed as (sprite ID, object ID).

NOTE: Changes from Notepad++ will not stay unless you save the level again in the Editor before playing it. Playing the level without saving it from the Editor will not show anything you just added.

When you find a level you are comfortable with editing, pull up its level0.obj file in Notepad++.


You'll be greeted by lots of seemingly-random numbers. Ignore everything except for lines 4, 6, 11, and 13. 4 and 6 deal with characters, and 11 and 13 deal with vehicles. Line 4 replaces the sprite of the character, and line 6 adds the character's unique behaviors.

Here are all of the regular characters' IDs from the Level Editor. After that, I'll go into detail on each unique character not available in the editor by default.

1. Pig Butcher (sprite 12, object 35)
2. Tony (sprite 293, object 169)
3. Corey (sprite 326, object 185)
4. The Soldier/Beard (sprite 533, object 324)
5. The Cop/Manny Pardo (sprite 1243, object 763)
6. Mark (sprite 462, object 859)
7. The Cobra/Jake (sprite 1401, object 866)
8. The Writer/Evan Wright (sprite 2022, object 1048)
9. Alex & Ash (sprite 1735, object 1051)
10. The Henchman (sprite 1786, object 1067)
11. The Rat/Richter (sprite 2394, object 1225)
12. The Son (sprite 2358, object 1347)
13. Biker (sprite 4079, object 2334)
14. Jacket (sprite 4129, object 2335)
15. The Hammer (sprite 4162, object 2387)

IDs: (3390, 1962)

Manny Pardo/The Cop getting up from his nightmare at the end of Caught. Starting a level with this causes him to start on his back, open his eyes, shake his head, and get back up on his feet. After that, he plays as the regular Pardo does.














IDs: (3354, 1941)

The intro vehicle from Caught. Using its IDs in place of a player character's causes it to drive to the middle of the level, where Manny Pardo/The Cop gets out from its lower end. Pardo plays as he normally does from this point on. Placing it past the middle of the level makes it move a few feet before dropping Pardo off.

IDs: (3606, 2104) - Prisoner Richter
(3699, 2157) - Guard Richter

The Rat/Richter in a guard uniform and prisoner jumpsuit from Release. Both characters can fight Prisoners and Guards. They are the only characters that can use the Big Pipe, Glass Shard, and Toothbrush Shiv. They shoot shotguns slower with every shot and use the head bash execution.

Guard Richter will appear as his prisoner variant if he kills an enemy with the Toothbrush while standing up. Picking up another weapon will return him to normal, while executing an enemy will change him into Prisoner Richter as long as he survives the floor.





IDs: (3482, 1225)

Richter carrying his mother Rosa during the outro to Demolition. The player moves slower while playing as this variant of The Rat. He cannot attack enemies, but he can die from their attacks.





IDs:(2393, 1225)

Richter without his rat mask. He cannot attack enemies, and executing enemies crashes the game. Enemies can still attack and kill him. When he dies, his rat mask still drops beside him.

Thank you to Maxim_S for figuring out how this character variant works!

IDs: (3094, 1805)

The Soldier/Beard from his days as a retired store owner. He cannot use weapons or be killed by gunfire or melee attacks. He is best used in cutscenes.





IDs: (1108, 324)

The Soldier/Beard restricted to just his combat knife. He cannot switch to any other weapons without using the WeaponTable object. He can execute and attack enemies as usual. Because he cannot use a gun, he can't kill any Fat enemies you place down, so keep that in mind when using this setup in custom levels.

The other sprite IDs used by Beard carrying weapons are...

• 534 - Flamethrower
  
• 535 - Shotgun
  
• 536 - Heavy Machine Gun
  
• 1092 - Sniper Rifle
  
• 1101 - M16

IDs: (3083, 324)

The Soldier/Beard carrying a wounded Jacket in the final section of Casualties. Like in story mode, Beard moves slower than normal, and a double leg sprite is used while walking. You can execute fallen enemies and be killed by bullets and melee attacks. Dying as this character shows Beard's normal death sprites.





IDs: Replace enemy or object with (1201, 1321)

The Soldier/Beard with Jacket following him around, like in the intro to Ambush. He does not work with any other character, but he does work with all usable vehicles. Jacket only works on the floor he was placed on, and he won't appear on others. If you want him to appear on others you have to place him on other floors. This bug could be used if you wanna get rid of him.
Follower Jacket will also make an arrow pointing left appear next to the Military Jeep. It does not rotate with the vehicle at all.

Thank you to Maxim_S and The Workshop Labs Discord for discovering how to use this!

LSD Son:



IDs: (2059, 1199)

The Son from his drug-induced hallucinations in Apocalypse. He has a lot of unique abilities as a character:
1. He is only visible by placing down an item and replacing its sprite ID with -1 and its object ID with 1186 (this is the blurring effect).
2. His sprite trails behind him while walking.
3. He can only use the shotgun, magnum, and the axe.
4. He has unique firing sounds for the shotgun and magnum.
5. He cannot punch enemies.
6. Attempting to execute any enemy as him crashes the game, and doing an execution on crawling enemies may turn him into another character.
7. He is immune to gunfire, and can only be killed by melee weapons, dogs, or fat enemies.

He is extremely buggy overall, but he has his uses.


Masked/Robber Son:



IDs: (2739, 1347)

The Son in his heister's mask from Blood Money. He has no perks with this active, and behaves like The Hammer in terms of playstyle. To make this work, make a level for The Son and place him down with Dirty Hands, then swap his IDs with the ones above. He will put on his mask when the level starts, and keep it on after the first restart. His mask disappears with some weapons and attacks, but he otherwise keeps the mask on until death.


Son with Mafia Followers:



IDs: Replace an enemy or object with (2806, 1639) for an unarmed Mobster, or (2807, 1640) for a Mobster with a bag.

The Son with his Mobster followers from the intro to Blood Money. They only work with The Son, but they can enter all usable vehicles. One appears as a normal Mobster, and the other is a Mobster carrying a black bag.

Thank you to Maxim_S and The Workshop Labs Discord for discovering how to use this!


Son with No Perks



You can start out The Son without any of his perks with a simple trick in the Editor. Place him down with the Bloodline perk on a floor with no enemies. Even if there are enemies on later floors, he will have to fight them without his MP5s or any other special abilities.


Son restricted to Katana



You can limit The Son to a Dirty Hands-like mode, only with the Katana. You only need the Level Editor to make this work.

Create a level with The Son. Place him down with the Bodyguard perk on the first floor. Go to the second floor and change his perk to Dirty Hands. After that, return to the first floor.



Once you start the level, you will find that The Son cannot drop his Katana or dodge-roll. His attacks and executions work as usual. Attacking a fat enemy will knock them down, and executing it will place The Son back in Dirty Hands mode. His Katana will be gone after this.



You can give The Son a different weapon by changing his sprite ID through Notepad++, though he will be defenseless if you give him a gun. Also, Fat Gang enemies can be knocked down and executed without losing his Katana, though the execution will be bugged and leave the default death sprite behind.

(Thank you to surratm for explaining how to make this character exploit work!)

IDs: (1806, 1067)

The Henchman's special animation from No Mercy, where he removes a silenced pistol from his suit and loads it. This starts the player out with a 12-shot Silencer. Unlike in story mode, you can rotate while this is happening, but you cannot move until the animation is done.





IDs: (1929, 1067)

The Henchman carrying the bag of money from No Mercy's conclusion. He moves slower while holding it and can die if attacked by an enemy. Trying to execute an enemy while carrying it will crash the game.





IDs: (1784, 1067) for Shotgun, (1779, 1067) for 9mm, (1785, 1067) for Silencer without loading animation, or (1787, 1067) for Uzi.

The Henchman is unique in that he always starts with 12 ammo. If you give him a gun, he will have 12 shots in it no matter what it is. This means he can start a level with a 12-round Shotgun or an Uzi with less than half its regular ammo. You can also start him with the Silencer if you want to skip his loading animation.

IDs: (423, 266) - Swan outfit; (2788, 266) - Casual clothes; (2790, 266) - Green towel

Alex from her first appearance in Down Under. She cannot hurt enemies or pick up weapons, and cannot be killed by gunfire or melee attacks. Overall, this is useless in combat, but useful for cutscenes so you don't have Ash tailing you the entire time.

You can also play as Alex's towel and casual clothes sprites with their unique legs by using their sprite IDs alongside the unarmed object ID. 2788 uses her yellow shirt and jeans sprite, while 2790 uses her green towel and bare legs sprite.

This glitch will allow you to play as Alex by herself! Ash will not follow her around, even if you execute enemies. You will need to just do to an exploit in the Level Editor.



1. Create a level for The Fans. Do not put any enemies on the first floor.
2. Move to the second floor. While there, set the character option to "All Fans."
3. Start the level. Pick Tony when prompted to choose a Fan.



4. Have Alex go through the floor transition to the second floor. Do not let Tony go up, or he will appear next instead of Alex.
5. Alex will be by herself in the remaining floors.

Tony will still be on the first floor, but you can get around this by ending the level through a cutscene or with a separate vehicle on another floor. You can also use a cutscene to move Alex to the next floor to avoid the awkward controls of handling two Fans at once.

(Thank you to surratm for explaining how to make this work!)

This exploit is similar to the Alex without Ash glitch. Create a level with the Fans, place down one of the characters on the first floor, then move up to the second floor and change it to All Fans.

When you start the level, you will be able to pick a Fan despite already having one there.



Only the Fan that goes through a floor transition will be able to play the remaining floors. Choosing Alex and Ash will have Ash follow you beyond floor transitions. You can also have two Ashes with you if they are already present.



Starting a level with All Fans and then switching to a specific Fan on the second floor will cause the game to lock onto a blank area of the map. You cannot complete the level like this, and as such will need to quit the level to continue.



(Thank you to surratm for explaining how to make this work!)

IDs: Replace an enemy's IDs with (1740, 1052)

Want to have Ash backing you up all the time, even as characters like Tony? Just replace an enemy with his IDs, and he will follow you around and shoot with the right mouse button! He works well with melee-only characters.

An important thing to note is that the game may crash when ending a level with Ash. This can be avoided by entering the Fans Van or the Mafia Getaway Van at the level's conclusion.

The Writer/Evan Wright without his jacket. Placing down any variant will put him in an "almost rage mode," where his melee attacks kill, but dropping his starting weapon will give him his jacket back. Starting him off without a melee weapon will allow him to execute enemies with a stomp, but picking up a weapon will return him to normal. However, getting two kills will keep Evan in rage mode permanently.

There are several ways you can spawn him in rage mode, but starting him off with a gun will leave him without ammo. So, either use a melee weapon or go unarmed.

(2542, 1048) starts him off with the bat, (2543, 1048) with the chain, (2544, 1048) with the golf club, (2551, 1048) with the pipe, and (2553, 1048) starts him off unarmed.

IDs: (1613, 949)

The Pig Butcher's special attack at the beginning of Final Cut. When the level starts, he will grab a Police enemy from behind and snap his neck. The background will flash when this action ends, and the Butcher will play normally from that point on. No points are awarded for the kill, but a body for the Police enemy will be left behind.

IDs: (1549, 866)

Jake holding the money-filled suitcase from Hard News's conclusion. He cannot attack enemies while holding it, trying to execute an enemy will crash the game, and no weapons can be picked up unless he is swapped out for another character.

To create a level where Mark doesn't use his MP5s, place him down on a first floor with no enemies or elevators. He will start unarmed and continue that way even if enemies or elevators are on the following floors.

By changing the sprite ID of a player character to one of that character walking with a weapon, you can give them a starting weapon of your choice. For example, (3908, 1225) starts Richter off with the Axe. Melee weapons almost always work for this trick, including character-exclusive weapons like the Skateboard.

Unfortunately, guns do not typically work when doing this. They do spawn with the character, but they hold the same ammo as the character does at the start. For most characters, this is 0 ammo. Unless you are doing this for the Ash partner character, the gun you give your character will be empty at the start of the level.

The sprite ID list at the end of the guide lists all of the possible weapons for a character. Look through that for the weapon you want, then use it alongside the corresponding character's object ID.

The abilities of the Oscar mask (Darkness), George mask (Look Further), Rami mask (More Ammo), and Jones mask (More Gore) can be given to characters other than Jacket. To do this, place down Jacket wearing either mask, then replace him with another character through Notepad++.

Do not change the character in the Editor, or the effect will go away. This will limit you to fighting Mafia, Demon, and Prisoner enemies unless you replace item IDs with enemy IDs using Notepad++.

(Thank you to Maxim_S and The Workshop Labs Discord for finding out that the Rami and Jones masks worked with other characters!)

As the last part said, you replace lines 11 (sprite) and 13 (behavior/object) to add new vehicles to your level. They can be whatever you want, even the ones from story mode that aren't currently available.

Here are all of the vehicle IDs. Pictures and descriptions of the unique ones are included below.

1. Fans Van (sprite 392, object 236)
2. Pardo's Car (sprite 1258, object 764)
3. Jake's Car (sprite 1432, object 870)
4. Jake's Truck (sprite 3935, object 2267)
5. Taxi (sprite 1731, object 1049)
6. Golf Cart (sprite 3354, object 2349) - Only works for Pig Butcher
7. Henchman's Car (sprite 1933, object 1147)
8. US Army Jeep (sprite 2225, object 1341)
9. Bus Stop (sprite 3485, object 2040)
10. SWAT Bus (sprite 3737, object 2174)
11. Son's Car (sprite 2439, object 1366)
12. Mafia Getaway Van (sprite 3951, object 2284)
13. Jacket's Car (sprite 4154, object 2345)
14. Biker's Motorcycle (sprite 4094, object 2347) - Only works for Biker
15. Hammer's Car (sprite 4271, object 2394)

The van used by the Russian Mafia during Scene 22: Blood Money. This is basically a reskin of the Fans' Van, only with a discrete paint job. It could fit a number of levels and campaigns, particularly robbery ones.

The escape vehicle used by Richter in Scene 20: Release. This vehicle has a few unique features to it: its fade-out is slower than any other car's, it features an NPC on it, and it can end any level prematurely. Even if a level has not been cleared out, you can enter it and move on to the next one.

These features may limit its usefulness in generic levels, but crafty level designers might be able to make something good with it.

However, it can create issues when used during a campaign: sometimes it functions normally, and other times it will take you to the end cutscene of Release and the beginning of Act 6.

The truck driven by Jake in Scene 16: Withdrawal. It has a unique ability: when used in a campaign, you will skip ahead 4 levels. This can end a campaign early if it is used when the campaign's ending is in 4 levels or less.

My advice would be to save this vehicle for the final outro/level of a campaign. You could also use it for alternate endings, where the campaign stops at a different point than the final level. If your campaign is 4 levels or less, it will end it immediately, but it will just skip ahead 4 levels if it is longer and placed before the final 4 levels.

The full object/behavior and sprite ID lists can be downloaded here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1br7tkh4nrt9u0e/objects.html?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pb1jtorihy4o4b2/sprites.html?dl=0

Hope you all enjoyed the guide! Have fun with the new opportunities for level design, and check for crashes before you post a level to the Steam forums!