The HUD (Heads-Up Display) displays helpful info such as player/ship status, GPS markers and radar signals, chat, crosshairs and help tooltips, warnings on your screen.
You toggle the visibility of the HUD by pressing the (TAB key) which cycles the HUD through full, minimal, and off. Toggling the HUD off can be beneficial when taking screenshots.
The HUD was overhauled from the alpha version in Update 01.179 Major (Video), along with the rest of the User Interface.
In this screenshot, you see the HUD along the bottom of the page and the crosshairs in the center. There is also a signal from the beacon block visible.
Cycling HUD Visibility[]
You can cycle your HUD through three states of detail by pressing (TAB key).
- Press (TAB key) once to hide the help tooltips from the HUD.
- Press (TAB key) a second time to hide the whole HUD. Useful when taking screenshots.
- Press (TAB key) a third time to cycle back to the default HUD with all tooltips visible.
Signals and GPS[]
- Main article: Signal
Signals are the short floating words that appear on your HUD to provide you with additional information about your surroundings, such as the presence of players, bases, vehicles/ships, or ores. Some signals are controlled by GPS, or by Antennas and Beacons.
Press (H key) to cycle your own HUD to either fully show all signals, show minimal signals, or hide all signals. This toggle has no impact on what other players can see.
Players can toggle their suit broadcast on/off by pressing (O key). Other players can only see your signal if you have it toggled on.
Status HUD Breakdown[]
Player Status[]
See also Life Support.
| Part (#) | Description |
|---|---|
| Helmet (1) | Close or open the suit's helmet using the 'J' key by default. Bright indicates helmet on, dull indicates off.
E.g. if engineers open their helmets in no or low oxygen areas, they will lose health (suffocate). |
| Jetpack (2) |
Toggle the suit's jetpack on and off using the 'X' key by default. Bright indicates jetpack on, dull indicates off. If magboots are enabled, this icon switches to a boot. |
| Broadcasting (3) | Toggle the suit's signal broadcasting on and off using the 'O' key by default. Bright indicates broadcasting, dull indicates listening. |
| Light (4) | Toggle the suit's lights on and off using the 'L' key by default. Bright indicates lights are on, dull indicates off. |
| Engineer Health (5) | Bar showing the percentage of engineer's health. |
| Oxygen (6) | Bar showing the percentage of oxygen remaining in the suit. The small bottle icons show how many usable bottles of oxygen there are in the player's inventory. |
| Suit energy (7) | Bar showing the percentage of remaining energy of the suit. If it is depleted, the engineer will start to lose health. |
| Hydrogen (8) | Bar showing the percentage of hydrogen remaining in the suit. The small bottle icons show how many usable bottles of hydrogen there are in the player's inventory. |
Toolbar[]
| Part (#) | Description |
|---|---|
| Inventory capacity bar (1) | This capacity bar indicates the percentage of inventory taken in the engineer's suit (but not the grid's inventory). Turns red when nearly full. Press 'I' to access the inventory. |
| Toolbar (2) |
Icons indicating tools or blocks that can be placed. '0' changes to the engineer's empty hand (no block to be placed). Press 'G' to show the Tool Bar Configuration screen. |
| Toolbar selection (3) | The engineer has 9 Tool Bars at their disposal. Press ',' and '.' to cycle through each hotkey bar, or use CTRL and the number (as shown) to go directly to a tool bar. |
| Mirror mode (4) | Toggle Creative Mirror mode using the 'N' key. Bright indicates mirror mode is on, dull indicates off. |
| Auto-rotation (5) | Toggle block placement auto-rotation using the 'T' key. Bright indicates Auto-rotation on, dull indicates off. |
| Grid size (6) |
Indicates the grid size of the block the engineer is placing. Press the block slots number on the toolbar again to toggle between small grid and large grid. For example, in the image above, pressing '1' would select a large grid Armor block, and pressing '1' again would select a small grid armor block. |
| Environment (7) |
Shows the oxygen and temperature in the environment. Oxygen can be either none, low, or high. Temperature can be freeze, cold, or warm. The environment has an impact on the energy use of the suit's life support and the player's health. |
| Help button (8) | Press F1 to show the help menu. |
| Gravity and horizon indicators (9) |
Indicates the current artificial gravity (A-gravity) and planet gravity (P-gravity) in metres per second per second. The globe indicates the horizon of the engineer, and a cross indicates the current heading relative to this horizon when moving. In zero g the circle remains empty. |
Ship/Vehicle Information[]
| Part (#) | Description |
|---|---|
| Parking Brake / Handbrake (1) | Toggle Parking Brake and lock states of Landing Gear or Connector blocks using the 'P' key. |
| Broadcasting (2) | Toggle ship broadcasting/listening using the 'O' key by default. Requires an Antenna block. |
| Power (3) | Toggle this grid's power on or off using the 'Y' key by default. |
| Mass (4) | Indicates the mass of the ship including cargo. |
| Remaining power (5) | Indicates the time remaining before the grid runs out of power if you continue doing what you are doing right now. |
| Power usage percentage (6) | This bar indicates the percentage of available power currently being used. If it indicates medium to low values, your power is adequate. If this bar is 100% full and turns red, then the power needed is greater than the power available. (Add e.g. more batteries to resolve power shortages.) |
| Hydrogen percentage (7) | This bar indicates the percentage of Hydrogen available in the ship. If the bar is 100% full, then all tanks are full. Useful as fuel gauge for ships with Hydrogen Thrusters. |
Crosshairs[]
The crosshairs help you aim when interacting or shooting, but they don’t look good on screenshots. You can select the option to show/hide the crosshairs on the HUD through the Options > Game menu.
The crosshair is separate from the aiming reticle while using Block Weapons. For information on the aiming reticle, see Target Locking.
Chat[]
- Main article: Chat
Text chat appears on the bottom left side of the HUD. The chat box can be opened by pressing (ENTER key), then type your message, and press (ENTER key) again to send the message or close the chat.
Help and Warnings[]
By default, game performance warnings appear along the top of the HUD, you can control their appearance in the Warning Options.
Help info boxes (for beginners) and Block Tooltips (for everyone) appear along the right side of the HUD.
Some warnings and tips also appear as text in the middle of the HUD, see Options how to disable them.
HUD mods[]
The HUD can be fully modified by the community. Some examples of mods that change the HUD include:
- An example HUD Mod was supplied by Keen Software House when the HUD was released. This mod simply makes the HUD colourful: A simple HUD mod to add colors to the main status bars
- HUD - Modern and Fancy by Adriano