No Man's Sky: Best Settings to Change for Safety and Handling

To protect your save and improve handling in No Man's Sky, immediately disable player-versus-player damage, restrict base editing permissions, and switch your controls to locked flight. By default, multiplayer combat and base editing are enabled, which exposes new saves to hostile encounters and griefing in shared systems.

Configuring these settings in the main Options menu secures your bases and gives you direct control over your starship before you warp to new systems or visit public hubs like the Space Anomaly.

Disable PvP and Restrict Network Permissions

Opening the Options menu and selecting Network lets you shut off hostile player interactions without disconnecting from cooperative multiplayer. You will still see other travelers in community hubs and join group missions, but strangers cannot damage your character or tamper with your installations.

Configure the following network permissions:

• PVP (Damage from other players): Set to No One. This blocks all weapon and starship damage from other players.
• Can edit base: Set to No One or Friends / Group. This prevents visitors from placing structures or trapping your spawn location.
• Can delete base parts: Set to No One. This prevents other travelers from deleting your walls, storage containers, or power grids.
• Can edit base terrain: Set to No One. This stops players from excavating craters or filling in building interiors with the Terrain Manipulator.
• Can access refiners: Set to Friends / Group or No One. This protects resources being processed in your portable refiners from theft.

Optimize Flight Controls and Camera Views

Default flight and camera settings can feel unresponsive during planetary navigation and combat. You can swap camera modes at any time using the in-game Quick Menu under the Utilities icon.

Camera Perspective Options

Third-person on-foot view pulls the camera back, expanding your peripheral vision to spot aggressive fauna, Sentinel drones, and resource deposits like Oxygen and Sodium. First-person on-foot view remains practical for tight interior spaces or precise mining beam excavation.

Control Handling

In the Controls tab, evaluate your flight and movement preferences:

• Flight Controls Style: Switch from Tethered to Locked. Locked flight anchors the starship's nose directly to your reticle input for responsive aiming, whereas tethered flight introduces a delayed turning curve toward a directional pointer.
• Flight Sensitivity: Increase this value by 10% to 20% above default if low-altitude atmospheric banking feels sluggish.
• Sprint Mode: Change from Hold to Toggle. Toggling sprint keeps your controls free to manage jetpack bursts, mining, and scanner sweeps during extended foot travel.

Adjust Difficulty and Resource Sliders

The Difficulty tab in the Options menu allows you to modify operational mechanics on existing saves:

• Fuel Usage: Lowering this slider decreases fuel consumption rates for Launch Thrusters, Hazard Protection, and Life Support. This prevents situations where a ship is stranded on an extreme world without Starship Launch Fuel or Uranium.
• Inventory Stack Limits: Expanding stack sizes mitigates early inventory bottlenecks before you unlock additional Exosuit cargo slots.

Next Step: Reach the Space Anomaly and Fund Early Tech

After securing your settings, proceed with crafting a Hyperdrive to reach your second star system:

1. Follow the primary mission prompts to acquire the Hyperdrive blueprints, then gather Chromatic Metal and Condensed Carbon to build an Antimatter Housing and Antimatter.
2. Combine these components into a Warp Cell, fuel the Hyperdrive, and warp to an adjacent star system.
3. Entering your second system triggers the communication beacon that allows you to summon the Space Anomaly, granting access to technology research terminals managed by Priest Entity Nada and Specialist Polo.
4. To finance these technology purchases, search planets for transmission towers or distress beacons to claim crashed starships.
5. Repair only the damaged ship's Launch Thruster and Pulse Engine using basic Ferrite and Di-hydrogen, fly the hull to the local Space Station, and scrap it at the Starship Outfitting Terminal for trade valuables and upgrade modules to sell for Units.