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. You can find the preferences under Edit -> Preferences.

Every page has a button called Reset to Default. This will reset all the values in that specific page to their default settings, e.g. if you're in Audio -> General, clicking this button will reset those settings to default, but not the ones in AI -> Navigation.

Search Bar

The search bar in the top left will let you search for topics in the left column.

AI

General
Disable Navigation Regeneration on Level Load	Disables the navigation regeneration when the level is loaded.
Initial Navigation Area height Offset	Initial navigation area height offset from the terrain when the area is created.

Audio

General

General
Mute Audio	Mutes all audio coming from the game in sandbox, both when in Edit mode and in Game mode.

Flow Graph

General

ExpertOptions
Automatic Migration	When enabled will automatically update and reconnect any port connection changes.
Show Node IDs	Display an ID for each node.
Show ToolTips	Display tooltip supplementary information when the mouse pointer is hovered over a node.
Edges On Top Of Nodes	Displays the lines (edges) in the Flow Graph on top of the nodes.
Spline Edges	When on, the lines (edges) in the Flow Graph will be smooth and curved; when off, they will be angular.
Highlight Selected Edges	Highlights the incoming lines (edges) from a node in red and outgoing edges in blue.

Colors

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

General

General
Show all windows in taskbar (requires restart)	Displays the Sandbox and its windows as a single tab on a taskbar.
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).
Console
Show Time In Console	Displays time stamps in the Console.
Deep Selection
Range	The distance of objects from the cursor to be included in Deep Selection (Default = 1).
Performance
Priority To User Input after (ms)	When specified, forces the user input to be exclusively processed when the frame time takes longer than the user-defined threshold limit.

File

Files
Backup on Save	Create a backup file (.BAK) when you save.
Text Editors
Open C# solution instead of files	When this is on, opening a C# asset in the Asset Browser will open Visual Studio (or any other C# Text Editor you have specified in the Preferences). In Visual Studio, the whole solution will then be opened, including all associated C# assets. Note that the C# asset you double clicked originally will be opened in the Visual Studio window. When this is off, only the C# asset will be opened in the Visual Studio window, not the whole solution.
C# Text Editor	Enter the name of the Text Editor used for C# Editing.
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	Enter the name of the Text Editor used for BSpace editing.
Standard Temporary Directory	Specify the location of the default Temporary directory (default = `<root>\Temp`).
Texture Editor	Enter the name of the Texture Editor used.
Animation Editor	Enter the name of the Animation Editor used.
Auto Back-up
Enable	Enable or disable automatic backing-up of your work.
Auto Backup Interval (Minutes)	Set how often Auto Backup is scheduled.
Maximum Auto Backups	Set the maximum number of Auto Backups that are made.

Snapping

Grid Snapping
Grid Size	Customize the size of each grid step. Translating an object will have it snap every nth unit.
Grid Scale	Grid size multiplier. If grid size is 4 and scale is 2, grid size will be 8.
Grid Major Line	Only used in 2D viewports (ex. Front, Left, Top). In these viewports, every nth line will be a darker color.
Angle Snapping
Angle Snap	When rotating, the object will only be transformed by n degrees from its initial rotation at a time.
Vertex Snapping
Vertex Cube Size	Determines the size of the vertex cubes when Vertex Snapping is enabled.

Mannequin

General

General
Default Preview File	Default: gamesdk/animations/mannequin/preview/sdk_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	Snaps the cursor to the time ruler.
Timeline Wheel Zoom Speed	Controls the sensitivity/speed when using the mouse wheel to zoom on the Mannequin timeline.

Node Graph

General

General
Dragging button	Controls which button is used to navigate around the graph by dragging.

Notifications

General

General
Allow Pop-Ups	Enable/disable notification pop-ups for warnings, asserts and errors. These will still be stored in both the notification list and history.
Combine Notifications	Enable/disable warnings, asserts and errors being combined into a single notification when the max number of notifications is displayed in the notification list.
Max Notification Count	Maximum number of notifications displayed before they are combined into a single notification in the notification list.

Painting

Adjusts the Hardness and Radius Sensitivity options that affect Terrain Editor's brush. For more information, please refer to the Terrain Editor page.

General

General
Hardness Sensitivity	The rate at which the Hardness of the brush changes per pixel.
Radius Sensitivity	The rate at which the Outside Radius of the brush changes per pixel.

Alternatively, you can adjust the Sensitivity values by scrolling up or down while holding Alt + LMB. For more information, please refer to the Terrain Editor page.

Track View

General

General
UI refresh rate (fps)	Defines the maximum refresh rate of the Track View window when the animation is active. So if the animation speed is 30 frames per second, and the UI Refresh Rate value is 15 frames per second, the track-viewing will be updated approximately on every second frame of the animation.

Version Control

General

General
Version Control	None - don't use version control Perforce - use Perforce for version control and lets you

Viewport

General

General
Hide objects by config spec	Objects can be hidden by config spec, for example some objects are only shown in Very High spec.
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.
Display
Show 4:3 Aspect Ratio Frame	Display a 4:3 aspect ratio frame that shows what is visible in game mode.
Hide Mouse Cursor When Captured	Hide or show mouse cursor in Perspective Viewport. For example, when turning the Viewport camera.
Drag Square Size	Define a movement threshold to prevent accidental moving of objects when selecting.
Tools Render Update Mutual Exclusive	Makes it so only the viewport which is in focus is updated. This is useful when working on multiple tools that have their own viewport but the user is only interested in updating the current one he's working with (this improves performance since not all viewports need to be updated).
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.

Debug

Warnings
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".

Gizmo

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.
Interaction for Rotation Gizmo	Dial - Changes interaction style for the rotation gizmo to Dial. Linear - Changes interaction style for the rotation gizmo to Dial. For more information on these rotation styles, see this page.
Helpers
Scale	The size of various on-screen helpers, including AIAnchors, Tagpoints, CoverSurfaces, etc.
Ruler
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.
Tag Point
Tagpoint Scale Multiplier	Scale the Tagpoint helper sphere in addition to the base "Helper Scale" value.

Helpers

Setting	Description
Shrink Helpers in Distance	Shrinks helpers that are at a certain distance or further away.
Hide Helpers in Distance	Hides helpers that are at a certain distance or further away.
Hide Labels Distance	Hides labels that are at a certain distance or further away.
Hide Selection Helpers in Distance	Hides selection helpers that are at a certain distance or further away.
Render Icons on Top of 3D Objects	When enabled, shows helper icons in front of 3D objects.
Highlight Materials
Breakable Materials	Highlights materials that are breakable. Surfaces will flash green that are breakable
Missing Surface Types	Highlights surface types that are missing. Surfaces will flash red that are missing a surface type
Designer Volumes
Area and Clip Volumes	Fills area and clip volumes.

Movement

General
Viewport Panning Style	Push Content - when panning with the middle mouse button, dragging the mouse down will move the camera down, up goes up, left goes left and right goes right. Drag Content - panning directions are inverted compared to Push Content.
Speed Height Relative	When enabled, adjusts the speed of camera movement based on the height of the camera above terrain or objects. The camera speed is multiplied by the height in meters (clamped to a range of 1-1000). This lets you move precisely when close to the ground, or quickly to different parts of the level, without constantly adjusting the camera speed slider.
Collisions
Terrain Collision	Toggles terrain collision on and off. When turned on, the camera does not go through the terrain when hitting it, but will always move along it. This option also affects Speed Heigh-Relative: when on, camera height is measured above terrain or objects; when off, terrain only.
Object Collision	Toggles object collision on and off. When turned on, the camera does not go through objects on the terrain when hitting them, but will always move along them.
Speed
Movement Speed	The movement speed of all movements made in the Viewport.
Rotation Speed	The movement speed of the mouse while controlling the Viewport camera.
Fast Movement Multiplier	Fast camera movement speed multiplier when Shift is pressed and held, i.e. a value of 2 will double the movement speed.
Wheel Zoom Speed	The movement speed of the mouse wheel camera zoom.
Mouse Wheel Behavior	Zoom - Mouse wheel will zoom only, just like in old legacy editor. Change Speed - Mouse wheel will only change the movement speed Zoom, Change Speed When Moving - (default) Mouse wheel controls the speed while zooming and zooms while stationary.

Selection

General
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.
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.
Hightlight Color	Controls the color of highlighted objects.
Selection Color	Controls the color of selected objects.
Outline width	Width of the outline of selected objects.
Outline Ghost Alpha	Controls the amount of blending of the ghosted outline.
Geometry Highlight Alpha	Controls the amount of blending of the highlight and selection colors with the scene.
Solid Brush Geometry Color	Color of the solid brush geometry.
Child Geometry Highlight Alpha	Amount of alpha added on the child geometry.