Changing Sandbox Preferences

Overview

In this window you can change the default preferences of the Sandbox Editor in order to customize the look and functionality of Sandbox.

Accessing the Preferences

On the menu bar, select Tools -> Preferences.

General Settings

General

General Settings
Show Geometry Preview Panel	Display a preview window of the selected object in the RollupBar.
Show Geometry Tree Browser Panel
Hide objects by config spec	Makes an object non-selectable, depending on it's minimal spec and the present config spec.
Enable Source Control	Exposes the Sandbox to Perforce version control.
External Layers: Save only Modified	Saves only modified external layers (default = false).
Freeze Read-only external layer on Load	On level load, it freezes read only external layers (default = true).
Frozen layers are selectable	Objects inside frozen layers are selectable (default = false).
Console Background	Change the background color of the console.
Show Welcome to Sandbox at startup	Enable or disable the welcome screen (default = true).
Auto-load last level at startup
Show Time In Console
Toolbar Icon Size	Customize the size of the Toolbar icons (default = 0 (32px)).
Enable Double Clicking in Layer Editor	Backwards compatibility with previous Layer Tool behavior in RollupBar. Master switches at the top can be used, and/or double-clicking individual layers.
Undo
Undo Levels	The number of times you can undo the level (Default = 50).
Deep Selection
Range	The distance of objects from the cursor to be included in Deep Selection (Default = 1).
Vertex Snapping
Vertex Cube Size
Render Penetrated BoundBoxes

Files

Files
Backup on Save	Create a backup file (.BAK) when you save.
Scripts Text Editor	Enter the name of the Text Editor used for Script Editing.
Shaders Text Editor	Enter the name of the Text Editor used for Shader Editing.
BSpace Text Editor
Standard Temporary Directory	Specify the location of the default Temporary directory (default = `<root>\Temp`).
Texture Editor	Enter the name of the Texture Editor. Enter Photoshop to use Photoshop, for example.
Animation Editor
Instantly Save Changed Camera Tag Points	Creates a `tags.txt` file inside the level folder & stores the locations of the Camera Tag Points (Remember/Goto Location).
Text Editors	Displays the current text editors recognized by sandbox.
Auto Backup
Enable	Enable or disable automatic backing-up of your work.
Auto Backup Interval (Minutes)	Set how often Auto Backup is scheduled.
Maximum Auto Backups
Auto Remind Every (Minutes)	Turn on backup reminders and specify how often they occur.

Viewports

General

General Viewport Settings
Synchronize 2D Viewports	Synchronize the 2D viewports to move and correspond to each other.
Perspective View FOV	The extent of the level observable in the viewport.
Perspective View Aspect Ratio	Set the length of the aspect ratio of the viewport (where the height is 1) e.g. a value of 1.33 would give a ratio of 1.33:1 (4:3) or 1.78 a ratio of 1.78:1 (16:9).
Enable Right-Click Context Menu	Enable or disable the menu that pops up when right-clicking the mouse inside the perspective viewport.
Viewport Displaying
Show 4:3 Aspect Ratio Frame	Display a 4:3 aspect ratio frame that shows what is visible in game mode.
Highlight Selected Geometry	Will add a highlight effect to any selected geometry.
Highlight Selected Vegetation	Will add a highlight effect to any selected vegetation instance.
Highlight Geometry On Mouse Over	Highlight geometry under the cursor.
Hide Mouse Cursor When Captured	Hide or show mouse cursor in perspective viewport. Example, when turning the viewport camera.
Drag Square Size	Define a movement threshold to prevent accidental moving of objects when selecting.
Display Object Links	Makes any created Entity Links visible in the viewport.
Display Animation Tracks	Display an animation path of any objects in track view, 1 line is 1 frame.
Always Show Radiuses	Makes the area of effect (radius) of certain entities visible.
Always Show Prefab Bounds	Displays Prefab boundary helpers at all times.
Always Show Prefab Objects	Displays Prefab Objects helpers at all times.
Show Bounding Boxes	Displays a boundary box around each object.
Always Draw Entity Labels	Displays the name of all entities in yellow.
Always Show Trigger Bounds	Displays Trigger boundary helper at all times.
Show Object Icons	Display object icons.
Show Helpers of Frozen Objects	Display frozen object helper icons.
Fill Selected Shapes	Highlight the inside area of a shape when selected.
Show Snapping Grid Guide	Display the grid in the viewport.
Display dimension figures	Display the measurement dimensions of selected asset(s). Helpers must be enabled.
Map Viewport
Swap X/Y Axis	Swaps the X and Y axis, useful for particle placement.
Map Texture Resolution	Set the resolution of the displayed map from 128 to 4096.
Text Labels
Enabled	Display the name of all objects.
Distance	Set the visibility distance for text labels.
Selection Preview Color
Prefab Bounding Box	Color selection for Prefab Bounding Box.
Group Bounding Box	Color selection for Group Bounding Box.
Entity Bounding Box	Color selection for Entity Bounding Box.
Bounding Box Highlight Alpha	Amount of alpha added on the bounding box.
Geometry Color	Color of the geometry.
Solid Brush Geometry Color	Color of the solid brush geometry.
Geometry Highlight Alpha	Amount of alpha added on the geometry.
Child Geometry Highlight Alpha	Amount of alpha added on the child geometry.

Movement

Camera Movement Settings
Camera Movement Speed	The movement speed of all movements made in the main perspective viewport.
Camera Rotation Speed	The movement speed of the mouse while controlling the viewport camera.
Fast Movement Scale (holding Shift)	Fast camera movement speed multiplier i.e. a value of 2 will double the movement speed.
Wheel Zoom Speed	The movement speed of the mouse wheel camera zoom.

Gizmos

Axis Gizmo
Axis Gizmo Size	The size of the X/Y/Z axis gizmo.
Text Labels on Axis Gizmo	Display X/Y/Z axis labels.
Max Count of Axis Gizmos	The maximum number of the X/Y/Z axis gizmos displayed on screen at one time.
Helpers
Helpers Scale	The size of various on-screen helpers, including AIAnchors, Tagpoints, CoverSurfaces, etc.
Tagpoint Scale Multiplier	Scale the Tagpoint helper sphere in addition to the base "Helper Scale" value.
Ruler Sphere Scale	Scale the size of the locator spheres when using the Ruler tool.
Ruler Sphere Transparency	Set the transparency level of the locator spheres when using the Ruler tool.

Debug

Profiling
Show Mesh Statistics On Mouse Over	Displays LOD Tris/Verts information on selectable objects when mouse cursor is placed over them.
Viewport Warning Settings
Warnings Icons Draw Distance	Define how far to display warning icons in the perspective viewport.
Show Scale Warnings	Place an icon next to and mouse-over text on objects that have been scaled. "Warning: Object Scale is not 100%"
Show Rotation Warnings	Place an icon next to and mouse-over text on objects that have been scaled. "Warning: Object is rotated non-orthogonally"

Flow Graph

General

ExpertOptions
Automatic Migration	When enabled will automatically update and reconnect any port connection changes.
Show NodeIDs	Display an ID for each node.
Show ToolTip	Display tooltip supplementary information when the mouse pointer is hovered over a node.
Edge Selection Threshold	Deprecated - The distance for edge selection to work.
Highlight incoming/outgoing edges for selected nodes

Colors

Detailed control over the many various color schemes of the Flow Graph Editor.

Texture Browser

General

Texture Browser General Options
Texture Cell Size	Set to 128 by default.

Mannequin

General

Mannequin General Options
Default Preview File	Default: Animations/Mannequin/Preview/playerPreview1P.xml
Size of tracks	Specify the size (height) of the tracks for the dope sheet. Min 14, Max 32.
Hold Ctrl to snap scrubbing
Timeline Wheel Zoom Speed	Controls the sensitivity/speed when using the Mouse wheel to zoom on the Mannequin timeline.

Accessing the Preferences