Magic Box Glitch

The "Magic Box Trick" is the main method of gaining access to Omega Strain's Beta Weapons, weapons which are not an "official" part of the game and were dropped during the game's development stage.

In addition to being able to obtain normally unattainable weapons and equipment, players can use this method to obtain great weapons on very low levels (equipment which normally needs to be unlocked by typical means), this method can greatly aid players to get certain Ratings (such as Tactical Explosives Specialist) with ease not to mention that weapons with abnormal (much larger) magazines will be available for use

Essentially, the objective is to make certain special weapon crates give you a different weapon which is not normally included in them (note that the trick only works with certain weapon crates).

Box Trick

Step 1 - Special Weapon Crates

First of all, certain "special" weapon crates are necessary to perform the trick, look for crates which try to "take" your weapon away instead of giving you a new one (the kind of crates in which the agent can deposit the weapon of the same kind).

For example, let's suppose our Agent is carrying a FA-MAS assault rifle, upon interacting with a crate it will normally give the player the option to pick up additional ammo, those are the standard crates, which won't work for this trick. What we're looking for is a crate which, upon interaction, will not show any available weapon (instead it will have an empty "Available" item window).

The most popular and easy-to-use special crates can be located in the Carthage 2 (Warehouse District) mission:

After starting the mission walk a bit forward and then turn to the right and walk into the room with a train and various terrorists which are talking (and some who are patrolling). Turn to the left and climb up, to the train platform, again turn left and climb the stairs, you should see the crate which is necessary to perform the trick (the crate which contains a FA-MAS under normal circumstances, memorize it).

Step 2 - Weapon Selection

Equip your agent with a FA-MAS assault rifle (through the pre-mission Equipment Selection screen or by capturing one from the enemy but not from that specific crate). That specific crate normally gives a FA-MAS assault rifle (if no Back weapon is carried, or if a different back weapon is carried) but for the trick to work we cannot take one of the rifles from that specific crate), the objective is to obtain the same type of weapon which is included in that crate after interacting with it.

Step 3 - How it Works

Essentially, the box will "convert" it's usual weapons (FA-MAS in this case) to the weapons we want depending on the number of rounds which are left in the magazine of our own rifle.

1. After carrying a FA-MAS and getting to that specific crate in Carthage 2, opening the interaction window should show that nothing comes up under the "Available" option;
2. If you have your FA-MAS with a full 25-round magazine press X , your weapon should have "vanished";
3. Interact with the weapon crate yet again and note that it contains something;
4. Press X to obtain the weapon (null), if you use it it won't show any weapon;
5. Pause the game (Start button) and go to 'Equipment' (alternatively press and hold the Left directional button and highlight the new weapon);
6. Press Down (directional button) and drop the weapon.
7. Pick it up again (it should show up on your back).
8. You can now use it as another weapon.

The crate is now "full" with this weapon (null), the XM29 OICW.

The reason the crate spawned this weapon (and "converted" it's stored FA-MAS) was because of the number of rounds in the magazine (in this case - 25).

If you had 24 rounds it would spawn an MGL (check the list below for the number of necessary rounds and the weapon it will spawn).

Step 4 - Increasing the Array of Possible Obtainable Weapons

Since the FA-MAS haves a limited 25-round magazine, it won't allow the player to obtain the weapons above 25 by itself, meaning that to obtain a weapon such as the Flamethrower (requires 158 rounds left in the magazine) it is necessary to obtain a weapon with a much larger magazine.

This is where the M249 (with a 200-round magazine) comes in:

1. Repeat the following steps but this time leave the FA-MAS in the crate with a 20-round magazine (fire 5 rounds and make sure the magazine haves 20 left).
2. Obtain the M249 SAW machine gun and the number of possible obtainable weapons increase dramatically (because of the 200-round magazine).
3. (Optional) If you need additional ammo to reload the freshly-obtained weapon make sure you drop your current one and pick another one from the box (you can collect it's ammo, abling you to reload the machine gun's 200 round magazine). / After you have reloaded the M249, drop the reloaded weapon and pick the one from which you obtained the ammo. / Drop the empty weapon in the box and pick your loaded machine gun.
4. Fire the number of rounds to match your wanted weapon (see list below), for example let's suppose you want an M134 Minigun (93 rounds).
5. Fire until you have 93 rounds in the M249 magazine then drop it in the crate again.
6. Go to the equipment screen then drop it, then pick it up again.
7. If you need extra ammo (which is understandable, given the M134's wild fire rate) repeat the first part of step 3, only with the Minigun.

Important Notes

• Not all weapons which are able of being spawned in the crate are 'Back'-carried ones, other equipment can be also obtainable (for example an Auxiliary weapon such as the Helico 960 Submachine Gun), make sure you drop the weapon of the corresponding type (if you're carrying it) to being able to pick the new one up.

• In the European (PAL) version of the game, other types of weapons (such as Auxiliary or Melee weapons) cannot be spawned through a crate which spawns a Back-carried weapon (such as the FA-MAS crate which was mentioned earlier).

Theoretically though, it's still possible to obtain other weapons via special crates corresponding to the specific type of weapon (for example, in the PAL version it's still possible to obtain a Desert Express .50 by using a crate which normally spawns sidearms (such as the Desert Sniper .44 or Jerico-9 in the Arms Bazaar in Yemen 1), the same is true for Auxiliary weapons (such as the Uzi crate in the same Arms Bazaar). The main problem is that there's no M249 to allow the player to obtain other weapons which require a larger number of rounds (such as the Helico Pistol-950 which requires 133 rounds in the magazine, for example).

If a Back-carried weapon crate is used it won't simply spawn a new weapon (other than a Back-carried one which functions normally).

Weapon List

Here's a list of the currently known Magic Box obtainable weapons (make sure the number of left rounds on the magazine match the specific weapon you want the box to spawn):

Number of Rounds Left in the Magazine	Weapon
0	M16
1	Desert Express .50
2	92F
3	M16 A1
4	M4
5	Uzi
6	Uzi 45
7	Tec .45
8	Tec 9
9	Jerico-41
10	G 53
11	C11
12	C-36 Rifle
13	SG-36
14	C8 Rifle
15	SG-8
16	Mark 23
17	G51 A3
18	MC 36
19	M1 Super 90
20	M-249 SAW
21	M4 Carbine
22	MAK-10 10mm
23	Mak 32
24	MGL
25	OICW
26	ShotHammer
27	PSM
28	RPG-7
29	SSG 550
30	ACR
30	ACR
31	ABRAM 2000
32	Air Pistol
33	M82 BFG
34	AK-47
35	93R
36	Combat Shotgun
37	Biz 9
38	SSG 550 Sniper
39	D229
40	SKS
41	SMAW_Old
42	Helico 960
43	China Type 56
44	China Type 67
45	M1911 A1
46	CZ 75
47	CZ Mach-9
48	Desert Eliminator .357
49	Dragunov
50	FA-MAS
51	FAL
52	SSP 90
53	Galil AR
54	Galil SG-1
55	G-17
56	G-18 MP
57	G-20
58	G 33E
59	G 33SG-1
62	PPK
70	M16K
71	MDS A4
76	FAL SG-1
77	Scorpion
78	GAWS 12ga.
79	DSC-1
81	SKS SG-1
82	M1 90
83	Desert Sniper .44
85	Marakov
86	HK_MSG90
87	Spectre
88	Tanfoglio_Ta90
89	USAS 12
90	RAS-70
91	UNP 45
93	M143 Minigun
94	(Uzi)
95	AK-47
97	SG 36
98	(UNP 45)
99	Base
100	Combat Shotgun
101	C8 Rifle
104	Jerico-9
105	AK-74 SU
106	92F
107	C-11
108	RPK
109	VSS-Special
110	Shot Defender
111	Stava SG-76 H-Bar
112	Mark 23 SD
113	SR-15
114	AU300 Mod-R
115	Marz FMG
116	Vek R4
117	M16 A2
118	Sawed Off
120	M79
122	Riot Shotgun
123	Riot Pistol
124	TH3 Blaster
125	Stava M85
126	MDS-7
128	DSC-1 Thermal
130	Slug Defender
131	AU300 SMG
132	AU300 H-Bar
133	Helico Pistol-950
134	CZ-58
135	C3 Assault Rifle
136	G-22 SD
137	Grenade Launcher-69
138	M4_M203
139	SPA-15
140	SPA-12
141	MDS SD2
142	MDS A3
143	Slughammer
144	MDS-K PDW
145	SKSM
146	Sweeper 12 Gauge
147	US M60 E3
148	VSS-DU
149	Stava B1
155	Dragunov_Snow
157	SP-57
158	Flamethrower
159	SMAW
161	Shovel