Space Engineers

Space Engineers

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Change max ship speed/player speed
By darknugget4231
This guide will show you how to change the max speeds allowed for anything movable. Rovers, Ships, Players, cargo drops, etc.

This is a simple process. Easy.
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If you're not sure how to get into Space Engineers' files
Skip this if you already know how to get into Space Engineers' files.
  • Go into your Steam Library
  • Right click Space Engineers
  • Click on Properties
  • Click on the 'Local Files' tab at the top of the window
  • Click 'Browse Local Files'
Next section
If you already know how to access Space Engineers' Files
Once you've opened Space Engineers in Steam apps, your URL should look like
\Steam\steamapps\common\SpaceEngineers\

      OTHER WAYS TO GET TO ENVIRONMENT.SBC
    • Option 1/2 your URL should look something like this:
      you can copy+paste this to open Environment.sbc a little easier Content\Data\Environment.sbc
      Final bit should look like this --
      \Steam\steamapps\common\SpaceEngineers\Content\Data\Environment.sbc
      That might ask you how to open it, Notepad or any text editor will work fine.
    • Option 2/2 Go to Content>Data>Environment.sbc
      You can use Notepad or any text editor to open it just fine.
    • All that's left now is to change the values of SmallShipMaxSpeed and LargeShipMaxSpeed
    Here's what's at the very top of the file. I've removed some of the WWWC's (W3C)links, to make it easier to find the Bolded and Underlined text that you'll be accessing.
  • Last but not least, once you've opened the file, you should be able to easily find the text needed, shown below. A few notes are in the section below this one.

    <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <Definitions xmlns:xsi="">
    <Definition xsi:type="EnvironmentDefinition">
    <Id>
    <TypeId>EnvironmentDefinition</TypeId>
    <SubtypeId>Default</SubtypeId>
    </Id>

    <SmallShipMaxSpeed>100</SmallShipMaxSpeed>
    <LargeShipMaxSpeed>100</LargeShipMaxSpeed>

    <SmallShipMaxAngularSpeed>360</SmallShipMaxAngularSpeed>
    <LargeShipMaxAngularSpeed>180</LargeShipMaxAngularSpeed>
Notes
An important note before I get into further things--Cargo drops on planets will very likely be destroyed and not land, as the parachutes deploy at a set altitude. If moving too fast, parachutes won't stop the cargo in time, and simply explode on impact. Beware the ones that fly away from you in space, as they can and will quickly accelerate. (Hydrogen thrusters are the strongest thruster in the game )


Small Ship Speed includes ALL small grids, as well as Player jetpack Speed. Cargo drops are also Small Ships.
Large Ship Speed includes anything that's a large grid.

It doesn't matter if it has wheels, thrusters, or both! Whatever grid size it's been made with is what speed limit it follows. Players count as small grids.


Understand that the limit of 100 m/s is in place to help ensure a smoother running environment, and Space Engineers can have difficulties calculating values at speeds higher than intended. Simply put, beware lag and lower frame rates upon reaching excessive values. Assigning excessive values itself won't harm the game or the system, but to restate it, when you go fast (like 20,000 m/s fast) and up, expect fps drops.

Fun fact. If you have hardware ( a computer/laptop ) capable of running SE at while you're at high speeds, and are lucky enough to not hit something while accelerating, or an unreasonable amount of thrusters, you can actually clip through asteroids thanks to the way that movement is calculated.
Don't hate, it's thanks to this simplicity in the code that allows many things to run Much smoother, and faster.
11 Comments
darknugget4231  [author] 5 Nov, 2021 @ 2:43pm 
Only possible limitations I can think of would be wheels limits; wheels themselves have a definable speed limit in the control panel

That or it's a large grid ship you're trying to move faster than 100m/s?

You'll need to change both
<SmallShipMaxSpeed>SpeedValueHere</SmallShipMaxSpeed>
<LargeShipMaxSpeed>SpeedValueHere</LargeShipMaxSpeed>

Small ship does what it says (small grids) plus players count as small grids, so your jetpack will have whatever small grid limitations you set
Terny 16 Jan, 2021 @ 3:06pm 
Thanks for this! Since the mod is no longer being updated it's good to know how to do this manually.
Cat Grill Friend 1 Jul, 2020 @ 3:18pm 
Hmm, Okay.
darknugget4231  [author] 1 Jul, 2020 @ 2:41pm 
Here's a fairly old (hopefully not actually outdated, as SE tends to not change values) guide/reference sheet with masses, force, power, etc of everything in the game as of

V 1.180.6
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=422638567
darknugget4231  [author] 1 Jul, 2020 @ 2:35pm 
I don't believe I can give you a good number on that; that sounds like it could be

* An issue/concern regarding design of craft, which would be mostly just calculations on what you need -- mostly to do with the mass of objects, which isn't discussed here unfortunately

* Gyroscopes handle all the angular velocity; if you're referring to turning while flying a ship, it's more an issue of
{} Controlling the power applied by gyroscopes
{} Pilot error


Without mods installed, SE makes each Station/Ship/Rover/Object in game that are connected into one singular piece. Thus, any force applied is always applied to the center mass of an object (which can be found through the station settings; toggle center of mass to view)
Unless you're using sub-grids via connectors, pistons, or other means, angular velocity could only be messed with via Gyroscopes, and without mods would only act relative to the center mass.

Hope this helps somehow
Cat Grill Friend 29 Jun, 2020 @ 8:38pm 
What's a good speed for the angular velocity relative to the max speed?
darknugget4231  [author] 20 Jun, 2020 @ 11:04pm 
It's only for your own worlds, yes. The host will have to change their own settings for their worlds to be updated
ProtogenCayde 17 Jun, 2020 @ 5:46am 
Does this set the speed for all your own worlds and not other people's worlds? (I'd imagine it would, just checking)
-жатка- 4 May, 2020 @ 2:59pm 
@darknugget4231 there is a motto i carried from another game i got which is Universe Sandbox^2 which is "more zeroes":winter2019surprisedsnowman:
darknugget4231  [author] 2 May, 2020 @ 8:07pm 
Speed settings are more to ensure a safe running environment for the PC. I generally use extreme speed values I'd never actually reach, so that in any situation I can move as needed. Doing so adds a bit of difficulty, but also realism in its own way.

I'd say setting 500 m/s as a max is a reasonable increase from the normal 100; it should be fine, but the faster you go, it gets more into user error/preparation.


'If you're not scared, you're not going fast enough'
Simply put, if the PC you're running Space Engineers on can handle the load, any speed is fine. The question is of the skill of the Operator of the vehicle, combined with what options the vehicle has.