This page goes over the Setting menu, each settings tab, and what every setting is. A default setting and a config default will be displayed for those who want to revert settings either in game, or how they would appear after deleting the config file (settings.cfg)
Settings
This section contains most of the settings related to audio and the window/display, whilst also containing camera and tutorial settings.
Language
This dropdown menu allows you to change the language.
Default: English
Difficulty
This option dictates how the storyteller provides events.
- Balanced provides the default and intended gameplay experience. Hostile encounters will be suppressed if your ship isn't doing well.
- Peaceful will prevent hostile encounters.
- Challenging provides the same experience as balanced, however it does not care about your ship's condition.
Default: Balanced
Full Screen
This option dictates the fullscreen behaviour of the game, or if you want to run it in a window.
- Full screen puts it in a standard full screen window, however some overlay or screenshotting tools may have issue with this.
- Borderless window still appears fullscreen, but will make it act like it's a windowed application.
- Windowed puts the game in a window, where it can be scaled and moved about.
Default: Full screen
Display
This option allows you to switch the display the game is running on, given you're running fullscreen and have no way to move it otherwise.
Default: Display 1
Tutorial
This option is enabled when you first start up the game, or when the config file first generates. This will put you through to the game's tutorial when active, and will disable itself afterwards. It can be re-enabled at any time however.
Default: On (until tutorial has been completed)
Smart Camera
This option controls how the camera behaves.
- Smart Camera has the camera change position based on what is going on. It will steadily drift towards the cursor when it is moved, and will drift back to the centre after a moment where the cursor isn't moving. If the camera is zoomed in or out, it will attempt to zoom back into a medium zoom after nothing has happened for a moment. If the excavator is open, it will zoom in as far as possible automatically to provide the best view of it, and zoom back out to the previous zoom level once it has been closed (it does not occur if the excavator is held open after being double-tapped).
- Direct Camera has the camera follow the cursor directly. It can be very sharp, and is dependent on the mouse's movement directly to adjust.
- Smooth Camera is similar to Direct Camera, except the movement is smoothed out.
- Fixed Camera has the camera fixed onto the ship, only allowing it to be zoomed in or out.
Default: Smart Camera
HUD Size
This setting scales the HUD to be bigger than it appears by default. It's more useful on very high resolution screens.
Default: 0%
Double-tap sensitivity
This setting changes how quickly the user has to double tap to keep the excavator open (or if enabled, keeping the weapons firing)
Default: 50%
Volume
The next four sliders affect volume.
- Master Volume affects the game's volume as a whole, and scales the other sliders respectively
- Music Volume affects the game's music volume
- Effects Volume affects many sound effects including collisions and other UI sound effects
- Ambient Sounds affects sounds that may play repetitively, i.e. nanodrones
Default (for each slider): 100%
Don't pause when in background
This toggle when enabled stops the game pausing whenever another window is present above the game's window
Default: off
Lock mouse to window
This toggle will ensure that the mouse cannot leave the game window when it is selected. This is most useful when running multiple monitors or having the game windowed as it prevents other windows from being clicked on without manually tabbing out.
Default: off
Automatic video memory conservation
This option determines how the game allocates and uses video memory.
- Fast Loading ensures that the game uses as much video memory as it needs, preventing the game from unloading data to ensure the game runs at it's smoothest.
- Automatic video memory conservation only unloads and un-allocates data when it sees fit to do so or video memory is running low.
- Conserve video memory will only use whatever is needed at that time, anything not directly needed at that moment is unloaded.
Default: Automatic video memory conservation
Controls
This section goes over the control schemes for the game. Controller users are unable to rebind controls, and thus will not have to worry about this section.
Manual Control
- Forward:
Default: W - Backward:
Default: S - Strafe Left:
Default: A - Strafe Right:
Default: D - Rotate Left:
Default: Q - Rotate Right:
Default: E - Torch:
Default: SHIFT
Autopilot Control
- Forward:
Default: UP - Backward:
Default: DOWN - Strafe Left:
Default: NOT BOUND - Strafe Right:
Default: NOT BOUND - Rotate Left:
Default: LEFT - Rotate Right:
Default: RIGHT - Stop Ship:
Default: X - Target Object:
Default: F - Disengage Target/Autopilot:
Default: G
Other Controls/Settings
- Fire Weapons:
Default: SPACE - Open Excavator:
Default: ENTER - Open Onboard Maintenance System:
Default: J - Activate/Deactivate Adrenaline:
Default: T, ALT - Zoom In:
Default: PAGE DOWN - Zoom Out:
Default: PAGE UP - Zoom Sensitivity Slider:
Default: 50% - Camera Sensitivity Slider:
Default: 50%
Details
This section dictates many of the various visual effects that the game.
Gamma Correction
This slider, alongside an accompanying visual, allows you to manually adjust the game's gamma, and does directly come with it's own reset button for more easily reverting this change. This in it's own right is a form of a brightness slider, but affects everything including bloom.
Default: 50%
Physics Simulation FPS
This setting lets you set the target that the game will try to run the physics engine at. If your computer is running slow, it might be advisable to reduce this.
Default: 60 FPS
FPS limit
This option directly affects the game's render FPS independent of the physics FPS. This acts as a target, and is much more prone to fluctuations than the Physics Sim FPS may be.
Default: 60 FPS
Menu Background FPS
This setting adjusts the framerate of the game when behind a menu. This option is most obvious when at Enceladus Prime's dock, as that section can get very graphically intense at times.
Default: 30 FPS
VSync
This option dictates whether the game should aim to match the game's framerate to the monitor's refresh rate.
Default: off
Bloom
This option changes whether bloom is active on everything, not on the HUD, or disabled entirely.
Default: Bloom
Graphics Sliders
These are the several sliders after the main section that affect graphics and are grouped together. All share the same default of: Default: 100%
- Background Particles - Affects the intensity of the background particles. Setting to the minimum disables them entirely.
- Shadows - Affects the intensity of shadows. Setting to the minimum disables them entirely.
- Explosion Particles - Affects the intensity of particles generated by ablated or destroyed ringroids. Setting to the minimum disables them entirely.
- Rocket Plumes - Affects the intensity of the plumes from rockets. Setting to the minimum disables them entirely, but does not affect on the ZAP's purple flame.
- Simulation Range - Affects the range at which ringroids are allowed to spawn and interact.
- Lights - Affects the intensity of light-emitting parts. Setting to the minimum enables an Asteroids-themed easter-egg.
- Resolution Scale - Lowers the game's rendering resolution and scales to fit the monitor's resolution. Useful for very large resolution monitors where performance is an issue due to the amount needing to be drawn.
Postprocessing
This toggle enables some post-processing video effects, alongside and most notably, the galactic star field in the background.
Default: on
Hardware Mouse
This toggle dictates whether the cursor should be controlled by the game or the operating system. If disabled, the game controls it and the cursor will hide after a small moment of inactivity, but is locked to the game's framerate and may be harder to use on lower-end systems.
Default: off
Dynamic Temporal Simulation Simplification
This setting makes the physics simulation skip steps when processing to ensure the game can keep up, but does lose clarity and physics artifacts will occur if enabled.
Default: Depends on hardware
Accessibility
These settings give some accessibility options to the visually or hearing impaired.
Colorblind Mode
This option allows the color schemes to be changed to help anyone with colorblindness. A bar is supplied above this option to help aide with the proper color scheme. Offers from 5 options: Colorblind modes 1 through 4, and OFF.
Default: OFF
Music Visual Cues
This toggle provides a colored vignette visual for any event-based music that may be playing due to nearby events.
- A blue question mark checker pattern is used for the mystery music.
- A darker blue set of streaked lines are used for the spooky music
- A pulsating red border is used when there is combat nearby, or your ship taking moderate to extreme damage
These colors can be mixed in the same way that the music can mix and fit together.
Default: off