Controls

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Attention - This page is currently being actively worked on, and may contain incomplete information

Default Input bindings

Located in the game's setting menu, the player can change the keys that control their character. The game can be controlled either by keyboard & mouse, joysticks, or an Xbox One controller.

Current controls are displayed in-game by pressing the help key (F1). All controlls can be configured using the in-game options.

General

Invert mouse X axis	Reverses the horizontal movement of the mouse
Invert mouse Y axis	Reverses the vertical movement of the mouse
Mouse sensitivity	Changes how sensitive your mouse is to movement
Joystick or gamepad	Enables the control & use of joysticks and gamepads in the game
Joystick sensitivity	Changes how sensitive your joystick is to movement
Joystick gradual precision	Changes how sensitive your joystick is to slow movements
Joystick deadzone width	Changes how much movement of the joystick is needed before it activates

Navigation

Function	Keyboard	Keyboard 2	Mouse
Forward	W	-	-
Backward	S	-	-
Strafe left	A	-	-
Strafe right	D	-	-
Roll left (ship / jetpack)	Q	-	-
Roll right (ship / jetpack)	E	-	-
Hold to sprint	LShift	-	-
Up or jump	Space	F	-
Down or Crouch	C	-	-
Switch walk	Caps Lock	-	-
Rotate left	Arrow Left	-	-
Rotate right	Arrow Right	-	-
Rotate up	Arrow Up	-	-
Rotate down	Arrow Down	-	-

Tools / Weapons

Function	Keyboard	Keyboard 2	Mouse
Use tool / Fire weapon	LCtrl	-	LMB
Secondary mode	-	-	RMB
Equip item from slot 1	1	-	-
Equip item from slot 2	2	-	-
Equip item from slot 3	3	-	-
Equip item from slot 4	4	-	-
Equip item from slot 5	5	-	-
Equip item from slot 6	6	-	-
Equip item from slot 7	7	-	-
Equip item from slot 8	8	-	-
Equip item from slot 9	9	-	-
Unequip	0	~	-

Tools / Weapons 2

Function	Keyboard	Keyboard 2	Mouse
Next toolbar	-	-	-
Previous toolbar	-	-	-
next toolbar item	-	-	-
Previous toolbar item	-	-	-

Systems 1

Function	Keyboard	Keyboard 2	Mouse
Use / Interact	T	-	-
Terminal / Inventory	K	-	-
Inventory	I	-	-
Suicide	Backsp.	-	-
Help	F1	-	-
Hold to look around	LAlt	-	-
Landing gear / Color picker / Connector	P	-	-
Chat screen	Enter	-	-
Console	~	-	-
Reactors on / off	Y	-	-
Toolbar config	G	-	-

Systems 2

Function	Keyboard	Keyboard 2	Mouse
Inertia dampeners	Z	-	-
Jetpack on / off	X	-	-
Broadcasting on / off	O	-	-
Helmet on / off	J	-	-
HUD on / off	Tab	-	-
First-person / Third-person	V	-	-
Lights on / off	L	-	-
Screenshot	F4	-	-
Prev. Color or Camera	[	-	-
Next Color or Camera	]	-	-
Pause game	Pause	-	-

Systems 3

Function	Keyboard	Keyboard 2	Mouse
Rotate block vertical +	Comma	Up	-
Rotate block vertical -	Delete	Down	-
Rotate block horizontal +	Period	Lett	-
Rotate block horizontal -	End	Right	-
Rotate block roll +	insert	Num -	-
Rotate block roll -	PgUp	Num +	-
Change color / weapon mode	-	-	-
Symmetry switch	M	-	-
Use symmetry	N	-	-
Open voxel hand settings	H	-	-
open control menu	-	-	-
Scenario Settings	U	-	-
Station rotation	B	-	-

Spectator

Function	Keyboard	Keyboard 2	Mouse
Player control	F6	-	-
Delta spectator	F7	-	-
Free spectator	F8	-	-
Static spectator	F9	-	-

Controlling the Character

Space Engineers - Alpha Tutorial 10/2013

All players start a new game as an Astronaut character equipped with a jetpack.

Views

The game has two view options available: first and third person view. The player can toggle between these two views using the “V” key (default key binding). The first-person view displays from the perspective of the astronaut character. While the third-person view allows the player to zoom-in, zoom-out and rotate the camera in any direction around the character. The game begins in third-person view.

Movement

The astronaut has two movement modes: walking (on foot) and flying (with jetpack). While on foot the player can walk, sprint, crouch, and jump. While using the jetpack, the player can move and roll in any direction. Currently, use of the jetpack does not consume any resources.

Accessories

The astronaut is also equipped with headlights in the front of suit which act as a flashlight for the player. Currently, using the headlights does not consume any resources either.

Toolbar

At any time, the player can open the Toolbar Config, which allows them to select Tools and Blocks and either drag them to Toolbar or right-click on them, to be equipped using the appropriate hot key.

Piloting Spacecraft

Cockpit view of Space Craft

The controls for flying a ship are the same as those for controlling the player’s jetpack. First person (cockpit) or third person (extravehicular) views are available while piloting spacecraft. In third person view, you can zoom-in, zoom-out, and rotate camera around the space craft. Only small ships will have first person perspective available. The larger ships will be locked into the third person perspective, as they do not necessarily need a "cockpit”. Instead, they are controlled using a computer screen from a control station.

The ship can have headlights installed, like that of the astronaut character. They can be switched on or off using the “L” key (default key binding).

Inertia Dampeners

Inertia dampeners allow the ship to automatically stop its motion when no input is received. Turning off dampeners allows you to fly without being slowed down from the automatic thruster balance. The indication in lower left corner displays the dampener’s current status. Note that thrusters being used by the inertia dampener will be more powerful than when thrusting with the movement controls, making dampeners preferable to manually slowing.