Options

Options can be accessed in-game by pressing ? then 2 or in the "Help" menu at the start screen. If you delete the options.txt stored in "Data" the game will create a new file.

General

Autosafemode on by default

(default: false) If true, auto-safemode will be on after starting a new game or loading.

Turns to reenable safemode

(default: 50, Max: 100) Number of turns after safemode is re-enabled if no hostiles are in safemode proximity distance.

Periodically autosave

(default: false) If true, game will periodically save the map (the game will save the game every x time).

Real minutes between autosaves

(default: 5, Max: 127) Number of real time minutes between autosaves.

Game turns between autosaves

(default: 5, Max: 30) Number of game turns between autosaves.

Enable Item Auto Pickup

(default: false) Enable item auto pickup. Change pickup rules with the Auto Pickup Manager in the Help Menu ?3.

Auto Pickup Safemode

(default: false) Auto pickup is disabled as long as you can see monsters nearby. This is affected by Safemode proximity distance.

Auto pickup 0 vol light items

(default: 0, Max: 20) Auto pickup items with 0 Volume, and weight less than or equal to [option] * 50 grams. '0' disables this option.

Circular distances

(default: false) If true, the game will calculate range in a realistic way: light sources will be circles diagonal movement will cover more ground and take longer. If disabled, everything is square: moving to the northwest corner of a building takes as long as moving to the north wall.

Size of cities

(default: 4, Max: 16) A number determining how large cities are. Warning, large numbers lead to very slow mapgen.

Dangerous pickups

(default: false) If false will cause player to drop new items that cause them to exceed the weight limit.

Delete world

(default: 0) Delete saves upon player death. 0 - no (default), 1 - yes, 2 - query (you'll be asked after each character's death).

Drop empty containers

(default: 0) Set to drop containers after use. No - don't drop any (default), Watertight - all except watertight containers, All - all containers.

Mutations by radiation

(default: true) If true, radiation causes the player to mutate.

Safemode on by default

(default: true) If true, safemode will be on after starting a new game or loading (the game will start with safemode turned on).

Safemode proximity distance

(default: 0, Max: 50) If safemode is enabled, distance to hostiles when safemode should show a warning (setting it to 0 sets it to the default viewdistance).

Spawn rate scaling factor

(default: 1.0, Max: 50.0) A scaling factor that determines density of monster spawns.

Interface

24 Hour Time

(default: 12h) Display the time either using AM/PM (12h, example: 7:31 AM), 24h military (example: 0731) or 24h normal (example: 7:31).

Force Y/N in prompts

(default: true) If true, y/n prompts are case-sensitive and y and n are not accepted (so you have to press Y or N).

Hide mouse cursor

(default: show) Always: Cursor is always shown. Hidden: Cursor is hidden. HiddenKB: Cursor is hidden on keyboard input and unhidden on mouse movement.

Centered menu scrolling

(default: true) If true, menus will start scrolling in the center of the list, and keep the list centered.

Move view offset

(default: 1, Max: 50) Move view by how many squares per keypress (when shifting the view).

No Bright Backgrounds

(default: false) If true, bright backgrounds are not used -- some consoles are not compatible (it is only for Linux play through the console, and it is intended to extend support to terminals that do not have 16 background colors).

Query on disassembly

(default: true) If true, will query before disassembling items.

Rain animation

(default: true) If true, weather animations will be displayed.

Ask to save before sleeping

(default: false) If true, game will ask to save the map before sleeping.

Shift list item view

(default: true) If true, shift the view toward the selected item if it is outside of your current viewport.

Sidebar style

(default: standard) Switch between the standard or a narrower and taller sidebar. Requires restart.

Snap to Target

(default: false) If true, automatically follow the crosshair when firing/throwing (the view-screen will start centered on cursor when aiming).

Use Celsius

(default: Fahrenheit) Switch between Celsius and Fahrenheit (temperature will be displayed in Celsius).

Use Metric System

(default: mph) Switch between Km/h and mph (vehicle speed will be displayed in Km/h).

Use Metric Weights

(default: lbs) Switch between kg and lbs (for the display of all the items and vehicles weight).

Fullscreen

(default: false) SDL ONLY: Starts Cataclysm in fullscreen-mode. Requires restart.

Use tiles

(default: true) If true, replaces some TTF rendered text with Tiles. Only applicable on SDL builds. Requires restart.

Viewport width

(default: 12, Max: 93) SDL ONLY: Set the expansion of the viewport along the X axis (changes the size of the window and allows to see more tiles). Requires restart. POSIX systems will use terminal size at startup.

Viewport height

(default: 12, Max: 93) SDL ONLY: Set the expansion of the viewport along the Y axis (changes the size of the window and allows to see more tiles). Requires restart. POSIX systems will use terminal size at startup.

Debug

Classic zombies

(default: false) Only spawn classic zombies and natural wildlife. Requires a reset of the save folder to take effect. This disables certain buildings (like fungal spires, labs, beehives, etc).

Initial points

(default: 6, Max: 25) Initial points available on character creation (the number of points at the start of a new character).

Initial time

(default: 8, Max: 23) Initial starting time of day on character generation.

Maximum trait points

(default: 12, Max: 25) Maximum trait points available for character generation.

Random NPCs

(default: false) If true, the game will randomly spawn NPC during gameplay.

Season length

(default: 14, Max: 127) Season length, in days.

Skill rust

(default: Vanilla) Sets the level of skill rust. Choices:

• Vanilla: Vanilla Cataclysm
• Capped: Capped at skill levels 2
• Int: Intelligence dependent
• IntCap: Intelligence dependent, capped
• Off: None at all.

Static NPCs

(default: false) If true, the game will spawn static NPC at the start of the game. Requires world reset.

Static spawn

(default: true) Spawn zombies at game start instead of during game. Must reset world directory after changing for it to take effect (the spawn of wildlife, swamp creatures, triffids, fungaloids, etc will still be dynamic, though).