====== Graphics, UI and Settings, and Bugs ======
==== Considerations ====
The first thing you should do before you start fighting some of the skeletons on newbie island is to consider looking at some graphics changes that will genuinely improve your play experience. If you want to play through the tutorial island without making any changes and then come back to this section when you are having graphics lag in Serbule, that is also another consideration and you can skip to the next section starting with [[anagogeisland|Anagoge Island]].

A common complaint (and perhaps the biggest one) is about this game's "graphics". It's not so much that the game isn't pretty, it can be very pretty, it's that the graphics are not necessarily optimized for your specific video card and the animations can sometimes slow down processing more so than in other games from major publishers. 

It's been my experience that a number of recent updates have mostly fixed my major graphics issues. There was an animation system update that vastly improved the game engine. That is not the case for everyone, however. Fortunately, there are ways to fix some of these issues, but a few require manual intervention from the user.

==== Graphics and User Interface (GUI) Settings ====
=== Special Tab settings ===
Open settings (The gear on the bottom in the right-hand sidebar) and go to the Special tab on the bottom. I recommend clicking view documentation( just an in game pop up) because it will show you more settings and descriptions that you may want to consider reviewing as we make changes. These are lines that can be added if your computer is struggling.

  * **Maxactiveloads=10**
  * **ForceCheapShadows**
  * **Playeranimationcutoff=20**

=== More under Special ===
More line-item settings to consider under Special. Do not copy/paste the non-bolded parts.

  * **easydropitems** Lets you drag & drop items out of inventory if you are used to that from other games.
  * AbilityTipsX=-1 Moves ability descriptions to the abilities themselves and not top left corner where it is blocking health/power. Highly recommended, but not really a graphical improvement.
  * **Maxactiveloads=-1** Use only if you are having issues with the default Maxactiveloads setting.
  * **Maxactiveloads=2** Same sort of deal. Please be aware that changing this at all makes more player characters look like they are in a crucifixion or "T pose" when you come across them.
  * **Maxactiveloads=0** Use only if you are having issues with the other two Maxactiveloads settings. I believe this is the default setting for this option.
  * **Playeranimationcutoff=10** Use this if the =20 above is not enough.
  * **SphereCull** I'm not sure if this is really needed anymore. It used to be regularly suggested.

=== Other graphics settings ===
Might be worth changing if you still have issues.

  * Turn down max tree distance.
  * Turn down high definition tree amount.
  * Consider turning on "Brighter World" for when the game gets really really dark. This is also necessary if you are streaming the game to a live audience or making a Youtube video.
  * Disable shadow distance and terrain shadow, there used to be a known bug with these that can cause major lag, it may be fixed but shadows are generally a drain on most graphical processor units (GPUs).
  * You can turn down the viewing distance on a lot of other settings and it will help but you may need to test yourself what works best for you.
  * To reduce graphics lag during large events, consider also going to "Settings" then "GUI" and uncheck the "Show Combat Numbers" option there. This is a nigh-mandatory setting to change for when zone events are taking place (large numbers of players), which is often when admins are running player events almost every night. Best to turn it off now so you don't have to deal with it, but you can make it through Anagoge Island with it on. In some cases, a player may want to have these on to be able to see their damage output when soloing or in small groups, however.

==== Other Final GUI Considerations or Settings Changes ====
  * The chat tab will show in the lower left. While it might be tempting to click the **All** tab, the amount of text can sometimes be overwhelming at the start. I would highly recommend starting off with just **Nearby** and tabbing to "Help" as needed. As a demo player, you can only really chat with **Help** and **Nearby** for now.
  * In the settings, you can turn on NPC and player names and box names above heads, this can be really helpful finding specific NPCs, players, and monsters.
  * Holding down your **Alt** key highlights interactive items and items on the ground like spoons, quest items, and more. You can also turn this setting on permanently. It's called **Show Interactables** in the **GUI** tab of the **Settings** menu. This becomes essential when doing Gardening, so it is best to just turn it on now.
  * Speaking of Gardening, to make it much easier, you are going to want to go to **Settings** then **Keys** and change **Select Next Non-Combatant** to a key. I would recommend **E**, then find **Use Selected** and set it to **R**. If you make this change, your "Flight" key will need to be rebound from **R** or you'll need to remember to only every used **PageUp** and **PageDown** for flight. You'll also be changing **E** which is by default a strafe (walking side-to-side) key. I rebound **A** and **D** to strafe (instead of turning) and do not use flight at all, really, so none of these changes was a big deal to me. You might need these, especially if you go Druid, so consider binding other keys if necessary.
  * One last thing on Gardening, you can also drag and set seeds from your abilities skillbars if you are doing a large amount of crafting or want to set a loadout. This is particularly helpful if you tend to plant the same things over and over again like Cotton and Barley and don't want to keep track of where they are at in your inventory or have your inventory tab up all the time. In this example, you could use your Wind Instrument on keys **1, 2, 3, & 4** and bind Cotton to **5** and Barley to **6**. Then you just cycle through whatever keys you need and you can watch Youtube while you semi-afk farm. (Tip originally learned from Celler in-game)
  * While in **Settings** and then **Keys**, you should also consider setting **Auto Move Forward** to another key. I would recommend **Q** which, like **E**, is normally used for strafing which probably won't be a huge loss.
  * While on the topic of key binds, remember that **I** is set to open your inventory by default. I also set the second optional keybind to F for easy access.
  * Since I have "Always Run" on, I generally don't want to walk when using my "Shift+#" sidebar abilities, so I unbind **Left-Shift** from the "Run" key.
  * Hitting **M** will open a resizable map, you can click to add pins to it so you can find places easier, you can also move this to the top right over your main minimap and scale it to the same size, some players do this so if they hit **M** it's a zoomed out map and if they hit "M" again it's back to the radar map and doesn't take up too much space on their screen.
  * If you get to the point where you are regularly using three main loadouts like me (Ex:Combat,Gardening,Travel), consider setting Load Load-Out #1-3 to the keys **[**, **]**, and **\** or something similar so you easily switch between them. These are near the bottom of the Keys binding list.
  * Also near the bottom is Screenshot, which you can change from **CTRL+P** to just **PrtScn** or do a High-Res screenshot as that. You can also bind something like **Z** to "Turn On/Off GUI Windows" if you want to easily be able to take a clutterless screenshot.
  * One other recommended command to set is **Select Myself** which I bind to **X** simply because I've had it set that way in other MMOs. This can be used to stop a **Tab** target cycle and put focus back on oneself. In this same vein, you can bind **C** to **Select Attacker Of** but keep in mind that key is normally to hide or show the chat window, so if you want that normally visible, you may need to rebind or remember that **CTRL+C** will bring it back.

==== Stuck Bug Fix ====
(originally from /u/notmythrowaway1990 on Reddit) It's worth noting here that I *think* this bug has mostly been fixed. That said, here's what the comment indicated...

One bug still in the game that is particularly nasty is sometimes called the "stuck bug" or "underwater bug". If you ever get stuck in Kur under ice or in water you can swap loadouts to "pop" above the ice or sometimes safely get out of being stuck in water. 

You'll need to set two loadouts using the Star icon between your combat bars and your Metabolism/Power globe. In the settings, you can keybind loadouts to flip between them quickly as long as you are not in combat. (Hit your "[", "]", and "\" keys to do this normally)

When you're in the correct location, like under the ice in Kur if at the edge of the lake to where your head and body are touching the roof, you can quickly switch between your loadouts, (switch from loadout 1 to loadout 2) and typically it will "pop" you back on top of the ice.

The same method can be used in many areas that are bugged and in different ways.

There are some caves in Gazluk (and one spot in the Wolf Cave) where you may get stuck in the water, and get a "swim" bug where your swimming through the air in the cave. If you go back into a pool and switch loadouts around a few times, it will unbug your swimming problem and you won't die of drowning (Although it does sometimes leave you with a weird walking effect similar to being drunk).

[[anagogeisland|Anagoge Island]] is the start of the game if you are ready to proceed and have no further questions about graphics settings, otherwise if you still have questions you can [[contactauthor|contact me]].