All privileges default to off (prisoners won't work/go to programs)

[daz_ian]

It's been reported elsewhere that all privileges, including permission to work or go to programs, default to off for all security levels. I'm surprised to not find a thread about this in this forum.

The recommended workaround, getting the Cleared For Transfer DLC, unlocking Prison Policy, and manually setting the policies you like, only works for minimum, medium, maximum, and supermax. I'm not able to fix the policies for death row, protective custody, or criminally insane because those levels have their privileges locked. I expect, especially, that this would break criminally insane, since they rely on the psychiatric treatment program.

Regardless of whether the defaults get fixed, could the lock be removed so we can modify privileges for all security levels? Especially visitation and mail; I think it'd help gameplay to have more control over how we let family need get satisfied.

 

[Enigmaticrose4]

I've reported this to the devs and will keep y'all posted on a fix.

 

[daz_ian]

More information which may be helpful (whether to the devs or to other players I'm not sure):

After unlocking the Policy tab in one prison and setting all the privileges I wanted set (and could set), I started up another prison. When I unlocked the Policy tab in the new prison, I went to set up the privileges again and they were already set how I like (except for the security levels where I couldn't change them).

That made me suspect this is a global setting, not per prison. I found what looked like relevant settings in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Introversion\Prison Architect\preferences.txt. Since this file includes settings for which privileges Death Row, Protective Custody, and Criminally Insane have, in addition to the ones I can change in game, I tried to modify this file to give those 3 security levels privileges. This didn't work, because the game edited this file to revert my changes and take the privileges away again.

I didn't try to change with Notepad the privileges for levels I could change in game, but someone still having trouble might want to give it a try and report if it works. The settings look something like this, duplicated for each security level (prisoners in this security level are allowed visitation, mail and wellness programs only):

        BEGIN Privilege 
            None                 true 
            Visitation           true 
            Mail                 true 
            PrisonLabour         false 
            Programs             false 
            WorkPrograms         false 
            EducationPrograms    false 
            WellnessPrograms     true 
        END

 

[bonjowie]

Hello, I only have the free for life DLC and that's when the issues started. Found the text file you referred to and changed it all to true. It allows me to save the changes and fixed the issue.

I didn't have the same file path so had to search for "preferences.txt" which delivered the file I needed.

You have to make the edit across all prisoner types if you want it on all of them. You can alternate depending on what you want for each. I dont know if this works mid-save but can double check.

 

[BastyDayz]

I've reported this to the devs and will keep y'all posted on a fix.

how do i fix that?

 

[Enigmaticrose4]

how do i fix that?

Policy Privileges:
There's currently still an issue with any save that was created on the Crowbar Hotel (Free for Life) patch. If you go and open a save file from before that, then create a new prison, your policies will be correct for protective custody, death row, and criminally insane. I've reported this to the devs. I can't promise that there's a fix, but we'll look into it.

 

[Maviscass]

Policy Privileges:
There's currently still an issue with any save that was created on the Crowbar Hotel (Free for Life) patch. If you go and open a save file from before that, then create a new prison, your policies will be correct for protective custody, death row, and criminally insane. I've reported this to the devs. I can't promise that there's a fix, but we'll look into it.

Is it still bug? I can't adjust them for Deathrow, PC and Criminally Insane

 

[Enigmaticrose4]

Is it still bug? I can't adjust them for Deathrow, PC and Criminally Insane

View attachment 895495

Yes, it’s fixed on new saves. If you do see it as an issue still, open a save from before Free for Life, then create a new prison.

 

[EmPup1234]

For anyone wanting to enable privileges for any of the locked security levels (death row, protective, insane sec) on a prison they are currently playing;

I have found a way to edit privileges for any security levels, even the locked ones.

Firstly, you need to open up the specific save's .prison file in notepad or something similar. If you don't know where to find this file you can find it using either of these 2 ways:

- Loading up Prison Architect, clicking on "Load Prison", then clicking on the file path that is shown at the very bottom of all your prisons. This will open up a folder, find the .prison file that is named the same as the prison you wish to change the privileges of, then open with notepad or a similar program

- If you are on Windows (I'm sure there is something slightly different for others, but I'm unsure, so you might need to look it up), open up the start menu (bottom left) then search for %localappdata% and click enter. Then scroll down to find the folder "Introversion", open it then click on "Prison Architect", then "saves" and you should see the .prison file named your prison's name in that folder, which you can then open with notepad

Once you have opened up the .prison file in notepad, go to edit > find, and then search for "privilege". You will see 6 (or 7 if you have psych ward) different policys, 1 for each security level that you have. Since I have psych ward, each of the sections (starting with "BEGIN (number from 0-5/6)") correspond to the different security levels as such:

Min, Med and Max - 0,1,2

Protective - 3

Super Max - 4

Death Row - 5

Insane - 6

So if you want to change the protective custody privileges, look at the text between "BEGIN 3" and "BEGIN 4" and change anything in the bottom line (starting with "BEGIN Privilege") that says "false", to "true" to allow inmates in protective to have those specific privileges. (Or similarly, change true to false if you don't want them to have access to certain privileges)

So for example, looking at the privileges for protective, if I wanted them to have access to all of the privileges, the bottom line would look like:

"BEGIN Privilege None true Visitation true Mail true PrisonLabour true Programs true WorkPrograms true EducationPrograms true WellnessPrograms true END"

Make sure that once you have edited the privileges for each of the security levels, that you save the changes by going to file > save, then when you open up PA next and play that prison, you should hopefully see all privileges have been ticked for protective custody. I hope that was clear enough to follow, let me know if something didn't work or I explained a part poorly.

 

[Schtekberg]

Yes, it’s fixed on new saves. If you do see it as an issue still, open a save from before Free for Life, then create a new prison.

So I'll have to start over with a new prison? I created a new prison last week but still can't adjust privileges for DR, CI or PC. I have not yet loaded a pre-Free for Life save though. Will I have to create a new prison for this bug to be resolved, is my current prison lost?

 

[Enigmaticrose4]

So I'll have to start over with a new prison? I created a new prison last week but still can't adjust privileges for DR, CI or PC. I have not yet loaded a pre-Free for Life save though. Will I have to create a new prison for this bug to be resolved, is my current prison lost?

To fix it without editing the save file, yes, you'll need a new prison. You can always try the post above yours from Empup, they found a work around.

 

[Schtekberg]

To fix it without editing the save file, yes, you'll need a new prison. You can always try the post above yours from Empup, they found a work around.

Ok thanks for your help.