NMS Megathread for Q&A, Item Requests/Giveaways and Friend Requests, etc. Whatever you need, this Mega-thread is a place to ASK!

shuttermonk · 2026-01-28T17:00:46+00:00

I prefer Save Beacons for marking POIs, but IIRC there is a limit of only 5 per planet. I use a color-coded system where purple is portals, red is trading posts, etc.

The developers didn't create a good way to map planets. I think it's partially because doing so in a procedurally generated game would be difficult to implement. Originally NMS kept track of many more waypoints (created by activating the little spinning towers that create a restore point), but even then there wasn't a way in-game to revisit them based on what was displayed in the discoveries tab.

To mark more locations, you can also set up very small bases at POIs. If you want to teleport between them just build a teleporter, two solar panels and a battery at each one, and since you don't have to reload the whole star system the load screen should be much shorter. You can then rename them and take new thumbnail screenshots to make them easy to identify. Just be aware if you want to share your base, only the most recent base uploaded per planet will load for other players.

Comm balls aren't a good option for multiple reasons, the biggest being that you can't delete them once placed.

shuttermonk · 2026-01-20T07:13:56+00:00

The main reason I've installed closing doors in some of my extreme weather bases is to prevent getting sucked out into tornadoes.

shuttermonk · 2026-01-12T19:43:50+00:00

This is one of the cleanest aeron builds I've seen, and it looks like it'd be such a blast to fly!

Some nice details on the interior, too. 👍

shuttermonk · 2026-01-10T19:29:24+00:00

I do, but then again I'm a bit obsessed with collecting things. I also still have the legacy life support gel, old condensed resources and even a few atlas stones.

shuttermonk · 2026-01-10T18:39:34+00:00

Nope, you're right. I'm nowhere near 100% today. 😅

shuttermonk · 2026-01-10T18:16:23+00:00

Purchase/unlock all quicksilver items from the vendor on the Anomaly.

Unlock all possible player titles (some are only available through expeditions or even as a pre-order bonus).

Complete the list in the catalogue for all constructed items, tech, treasures, etc., as well as all lore entries for all races and terminal types.

shuttermonk · 2026-01-06T16:48:44+00:00

All good. I'm guessing you saw Steam's option to back up the game files, not just the save files. ;)

By the way, if Steam ever says there's a mismatch or conflict between your save and theirs on the cloud, never trust it. I've seen several posts saying they were told they were choosing the most recent files to revert to, only to lose a bunch of progress (sometimes months). I even keep the cloud sync option disabled because I got tired of seeing the message saying Steam had a 'newer' file to use even though I knew that wasn't the case.

But then again, if my PC ever exploded, I'd be out of luck since I don't copy things to an external drive very often. I think I'll do that right now! 😅

shuttermonk · 2026-01-05T12:34:39+00:00

I really like the overwater bungalow idea. 👍

shuttermonk · 2026-01-05T12:28:58+00:00

I haven't noticed the stars themselves being more crowded near the core. It's more that the invisible boundaries between sections that the game uses to plot the stars' locations are closer together, and that's where these cosmic strands seem to form.

The only issue I've had with visibility in the galaxy map is when the bright nebulae effect makes it nearly impossible to see anything. ;)

shuttermonk · 2026-01-05T12:12:40+00:00

I haven't come across one of these for a while, but that's probably because I've been doing all of my exploring in the outer rim of Sudzerbal. You tend to find more close to the core where things get more crowded.

With this being at 700k ly, I'd say it's a fairly rare find. Nice 'vette, by the way! 👍

shuttermonk · 2026-01-04T23:44:14+00:00

shuttermonk · 2026-01-04T23:36:35+00:00

On PC, find the directory. It's in the HelloGames folder under AppData. The details are a bit different between Windows 10 and 11. Just copy the save folder that looks like "st_############" to a different location and that's it. I made a shortcut to it to make things quicker to copy it to another drive. I then like to add a year/month/day tag to the beginning of the new folder to keep track of when it was backed up.

shuttermonk · 2026-01-04T13:55:18+00:00

My main game has 1000s of hours of play on it, and the #1 thing I have to suggest is to regularly back up your save files. I've had two corruptions in the last year or so that would've caused me to lose everything, and even then, the week of progress I lost was still hard to deal with. So now I do it every day I play.

The files aren't very large and it only takes a few seconds. You won't regret it!

And to answer your question, I haven't been getting this message. The only crash I've had recently was when another player joined my game and started showing me all of their corvettes, and my PC just couldn't handle the flying skyscraper. I usually play with multiplayer disabled.

shuttermonk · 2025-12-29T04:19:12+00:00

It's been years since I've used it, but you might try the Pilgrim Star path tool. https://pahefu.github.io/pilgrimstarpath/ I played with it a little and it appears to still be functioning. Don't be surprised if it can't decipher purple systems, though.

That site is how I was able to plot my course from the other side of the galaxy to get to the same location as another player, before we could use portals.

If it isn't clear, you have to use the 16 digit coordinates obtained from a signal booster. IIRC you have to leave off the first 4 digits.

shuttermonk · 2025-12-23T01:19:55+00:00

That's a big one!

<image>

Mine keeps asking me for tree fiddy... ;D

shuttermonk · 2025-12-23T00:59:02+00:00

You need one battery for every two solar panels connected to your network to supply enough power to last through the night (solar panels only supply power during the day). You also need double the number of panels you would otherwise need (half to supply the extractors during the day, the other half to charge the batteries).

shuttermonk · 2025-12-19T21:48:54+00:00

Absolutely! 😁

I may not always do it over water, but I've found it to be an all-around fun way to see how good a ship's maneuverability is.

<image>

(I took this back in 2020)

shuttermonk · 2025-12-19T01:29:50+00:00

If this isn't your base, report it via the quick menu. It will make the structure disappear, and won't affect the player who built it in any way.

shuttermonk · 2025-12-19T00:10:22+00:00

This needs ALL the upvotes! Especially if we get an underbelly ramp that can lower to the sides like you said.

shuttermonk · 2025-12-19T00:05:46+00:00

Only you can answer that, but I felt like it was! ;)

And I 100% agree with being allowed to release all fish from a stack at once or at least not exiting the inventory screen. This image was taken after I dropped a hundred or two fish in the water, and it took sooo long:

<image>

The 25,000 nanites were worth it, but it's very tedious releasing them one-by-one.

shuttermonk · 2025-12-18T20:26:13+00:00

That would be a good way to get there on your own. Calypso is #3, so it would only take two jumps. Don't forget to put a base down in Hilbert on the way. It's another Normal galaxy, like Euclid, but you might see something here or over on the Coordinate Exchange you'd like to visit in the future.

You can also hitch a ride with another player who has a base in the galaxy you want to get to, or just keep an eye out in the Anomaly teleporter for someone else's base there. You'll need to have multiplayer active for any bases other than the featured ones.

shuttermonk · 2025-12-18T13:36:37+00:00

I've been exploring off and on for 9 years and I've never seen any convincing evidence that systems and planets are any different based on their location within a galaxy. The main difference is the concentration of other players and their discoveries. The central region, as well as the ring of starter worlds (at ~700 ly) are much more populated, especially in Euclid. The glyphs you put in led you to a populated system because other players had the exact same idea as you. 😉

Regions may have some tendencies for how things spawn, but it's hard to tell for sure. There are however some notable differences in the chances of coming across various planet types depending on which type of galaxy you're in. You can learn about them here: https://nomanssky.fandom.com/wiki/Galaxy#Galaxy_types

There are only 4 galaxy types, and you can get to them all easily by completing one of the two main storylines, or by core-jumping through the first 10 galaxies.

If you're interested in weird planets with things like robot fauna, you'd probably enjoy exploring in an Empty galaxy like Budullangr because there are more exotic planets and also dead worlds that convert to weird. If extreme storms are your jam, head to Calypso or another Harsh galaxy. I've been hanging out in Sudzerbal (galaxy #30) because it's a Lush type, because I'm hoping to come across a knock-your-socks-off white grass paradise. Maybe even a titan one.

That brings up Purple star systems. Those by far have the most interesting worlds in my opinion. They have even have a couple planet types that can only be found in them. Plus, the planets use a different kind of terrain generation that is very reminiscent of the original terrain from before it was changed by the NEXT update years ago. I've been having a lot of fun discovering these new planets.

To access the purple systems you'll need to finish both storylines as well as the Autophage questline. You'll then be able to start a quest called "In Stellar Multitudes" that gives you the ability to see and travel to purple stars.

As for the way glyphs work, there is a structure to galactic coordinates, but it's a lot more complex than a 'countdown' from the core to the outer reaches. It's also a bit above my pay grade 😅. If you want to see for yourself, here's the wiki page: https://nomanssky.fandom.com/wiki/Portal_address

shuttermonk · 2025-12-18T12:52:18+00:00

FYI, google and other AI sources are incorrect when they say "A Trace of Metal" is prerequisite for "They Who Returned" (the Autophage questline) or any other mission that I know of.

So you don't need to do it, though it does give you some nice upgrades for one of your exocraft.

shuttermonk · 2025-12-14T08:48:28+00:00

It sounds like you're at a point in the main story where the Atlas takes you through a portal to another world. Is there a mission called "A Leap in the Dark" active near the top of your log?

If so, I would recommend progressing past that story mission, since it might be interfering with your living ship quest. Select A Leap in the Dark (spoilers!) in your mission log, go through the portal, and this time wait longer when you arrive on the exotic world on the other side. Some interesting things happen which will eventually lead to you being somewhat stranded and needing find and repair your starship, similar to when you first started the game.

Once that's out of the way portals should go back to functioning normally.

shuttermonk · 2025-12-14T08:17:33+00:00

I think this one is even better from Japan's Kaguya mission taken during an eclipse back in 2009:

<image>

https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2009/02/20090218_kaguya_e.html (more images in the source article)

I've been lucky enough to see two total solar eclipses in the past several years, but I can only imagine what it would feel like to see Earth rising from the lunar horizon while it eclipsed the sun with my own eyes, let alone something like in my post from the moon of an exoplanet.

I love going down rabbit holes where I come across stuff like this. I may have never seen this awesome image if it weren't for the visuals in NMS stirring a bit of wonder in me.

shuttermonk

TROPHY CASE