This guide is intended to go beyond what a player has access in the normal game menus. Many tweaks rely on modifying .ini configuration files. Most tweaks are for customizing game settings that I think should be adjustable by the user. This may change as the game is patched. I don't plan on doing overall image quality tweaks, since many adjustments are minor or do nothing visually. I'll expand as I find settings that actually make a difference. I'm looking to post what is most useful to most players, not maxing out the image quality for now.

Sanctum 2 is an Unreal Engine 3 game, so most info is refrenced from http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UE3Basics.html. Other information is derived from other searching and my own testing. Credit or links will be added as needed or requested.

As with most tweaks, you do so at your own discretion. It is highly recommended to backup any files that will be modified, even when the game or Steam will potentially replace or redownload them if required. I am not responible for tweaks causing your game to corrupt, PC to burst into flames, or Lumes to invade your closet.

Many settings are stored within .ini configuration files. These are basically text files that contain lines of text that you can edit. The files that you will modify can be found here:

UserName\My Documents\My Games\Sanctum2\SanctumGame\Config

This section will be layed ot by the .ini file named along with the location in brackets [StuffGoesHere] that the tweaks go under. I have added dashes after sections to help visually seperate the important sections.

SanctumEngine.ini --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[URL] ----------------------------------------

LocalMap=LegalLevel.sanctum

Delete LegalLevel.sanctum to skip the startup logos.

MipFadeInSpeed0=0.3
MipFadeOutSpeed0=0.1
MipFadeInSpeed1=2.0
MipFadeOutSpeed1=1.0

Set these all to =0 to no longer see texture streaming. Other commands to disable texture steaming just result in no/black textures.

bSmoothFrameRate=TRUE
MinSmoothedFrameRate=22
MaxSmoothedFrameRate=62

Set bSmoothFrameRate=FALSE will disable the framerate cap. Or set MaxSmoothedFrameRate= to what you want your max framerate to be, preferably your monitor refresh rate.

SanctumSettings.ini --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[SanctumGame.SGSystemSettings] ----------------------------------------

mFOV=70.000000

Changes your FOV. You can set this higher or lower than what the menu allows. Very high or low values will result is render errors.

mBigHeadMode=False

Set to =True to turn on big head mode. Characters have gigantic heads! This also unlocks in the Graphics menu when you reach Level 20.

[SanctumGame.SGGib] ----------------------------------------

mCustomLifespan=10.0

Changes the fade time of gibs.

[SanctumGame.SGLocalPlayer] ----------------------------------------
(Note: This section will not appear unless you have altered a keybinding for some reason)

AspectRatioAxisConstraint=AspectRatio_MaintainXFOV

Change XFOV to YFOV to change the game's FOV from Vertical Minus to Horizontal Plus.

Examples of Vertical Minus and Horizontal Plus on a FOV of 120:

XFOV - Vertical Minus (default setting)


YFOV - Horizontal Plus

SanctumSystemSettings.ini --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[SystemSettings] ----------------------------------------

MaxDrawDistanceScale=1.000000

Affects the when certain objects switch to a higher LOD model. If you see parts of the map pop in and out of high/low detail raise the value to 4 or 6. For distant off map objects higher values may be needed.

The console (not an Xbox360 or PS3 mind you) is a command line tool that is used by the game devs and/or admins of game servers generally. It allows to you to make changes, execute commands, or display debug information while in-game. This section will list what commands you can use and what they do.

Normally the ~ tilde key is used to enable the console, but frequently it is disabled. In the case of Sanctum 2 it is disabled and methods to get it to be enabled don't seem to be working. However, commands can be set to a custom keybind and still work. The method for modifying keybinds wll be in the next section.

The listed commands are ones I found to be most useful. I haven't tested all the commands the game engine accepts. Many commands don't work either due to being disabled in a file, hardcoded, or not implemented. Any commands I do list I have tested and ones that don't work or cause crashing/oddities I won't list.

See http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ConsoleCommands.html and http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ExecFunctions.html for details and more potential commands.

Any commands that allow you break/troll other people's games please do not use. Any commands found that allow such abuse should be reported to Coffee Stain Studios so they can be fixed.

suicide

Kills yourself. Same as hitting suicide in the escape menu.

stat fps

Toggles your FPS on/off. Displays in the top right corner in small green text.

exit
quit

Instantly quits the game. Both commands do the same thing.

togglehud

Toggles the HUD off/on. Useful for screenshots and videos.

shot

Takes a screenshot in .bmp format. Saved to your "UserName\My Documents\My Games\Sanctum2\SanctumGame\Screenshots\Win32" folder.

tiledshot

Allows for taking screenshots beyond your monitor's resolution. Your game will freeze for a bit while it generates the screenshot. These files will be very large since they are high resolution .bmp files. They are also located in the screenshot folder listed above for the shot command.

See http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/TakingScreenshots.html for more details.

Comparison example:
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=146479857
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=146481174
500% crop of the images:


As you can see tiledshot creates much sharper/cleaner looking screenshots.

NOTE: I have not tried using tiledshot while in a multiplayer game yet. Since it will freeze your game up for bit or a lot depending on the settings, it could cause issues.

While you can modify your keybinds in the game options, you are limited to what keys you can use. Modifying the keybinds manually will allow you to use modifier keys like Control, Shift, and Alt and use console commands. You modify your keybinds in the SanctumInput.ini file located in the same location as the previous stated .ini files.

SanctumInput.ini --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[SanctumGame.SGPlayerInput] ----------------------------------------

mSprintToggle=True
mSprintDeadZone=0.600000
MoveForwardSpeed=1200.000000
MoveStrafeSpeed=1200.000000
LookRightScale=300.000000
LookUpScale=-250.000000

The lines above will be the only things visible in this section of the .ini if you are using the default keybindings. Change a keybind in the game menu to have this populate with all the keybindings. Either all or no keybinds need to be here. If you manually add only one keybind below this, that will be the only key that will work. This specific location is where I got keybindings to work since this where the game puts your game menu modfied keybinds. If someone knows a better way, feel free to post.

Here is the list of all the default keybindings http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=tUQPDvQh. Copy and paste below LookUpScale to fill out the default keybinds if you don't want to first change a key in the game menu.

Keybinding --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To specify a custom keybind place/edit it below [SanctumGame.SGPlayerInput] as said above.

Example of a custom keybind:

Bindings=(Name="F1",Command="stat fps",Control=False,Shift=False,Alt=False,bIgnoreCtrl=False,bIgnoreShift=False,bIgnoreAlt=False)

this also works

Bindings=(Name="End",Command="suicide")

Use Control, Shift, and Alt to =True to get a keybind like Ctrl+F9. Extra paramaters not needed if not used, as shown in the second example. The game just populates all potential parameters by default.

See http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/KeyBinds.html for more details.

As stated in the introduction this guide is mainly designed for making the game more functional. I will expand the guide as myself or others find/suggest things. Again, be sure to keep track of what you are tweaking and backup any files you are going to modify. Good luck fellow Core Guardians!