Guide: How to zoom out more than game settings allow

Discussion in 'Screenshots' started by Gene, Dec 8, 2013.

  1. Gene

    Gene Phantasmal Quasar

    (Note: edit game config files at your own risk. I suggest always making a backup of any file you edit first, no matter how trivial the edit).

    Want to take that epic panoramic screenshot, but can't zoom out quite far enough?
    1. Open the Starbound config file (on my machine it is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Starbound\starbound.config", your location may vary based on OS version).
    2. Find the line starting with "zoomLevel". It will have a number from 2 to 4 following the "zoomLevel" key.
    3. Change that number to 1.
    4. Save the config file.
    5. Start the game.
    6. Enjoy everything being super-tiny and near-unplayable! It's great for taking screenshots, though.
    7. Follow same process to set zoom to what it originally was, to continue playing the game.
    Below is screenshot taken at zoom level 1:

    http://imgur.com/rpaPAAY

    You can also increase the zoom above the maximum in the same way for zoomed-in shots, but not much point because you can just use a paint tool to zoom in after the fact.

    Finally, you can try values even less than 1. Below screenshot is taken with 0.5 zoom level:

    http://imgur.com/MJpoUIG

    But keep in mind that:
    • I got like 1FPS on my high-end rig with zoom 0.5, so don't even think about playing the game at this zoom level.
    • I got occasional crashes when below 1 zoom level
    • Below zoom level 1 you will lose details (game will drop every other pixel) and will not be able to recover it (as opposed to zoom 1, which you can then blow up 2x2 in a paint tool to get double the resolution of a game's normal 2x zoom)
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2013
  2. InsanityCow

    InsanityCow Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    as a chronic impulse screenshotter that takes a screenshot at every somewhat interesting moment, lest i forget it, i can't express my love for this enough

    as a person who spends too much time in photoshop playing around with images, this is pure euphoria

    xA2utO9.jpg

    Now I can get a super zoomed out version of this
     
    MrsGuu likes this.
  3. Affero

    Affero Contributor

    Doesn't this belong in the Modding section? :)
     
  4. Gene

    Gene Phantasmal Quasar

    Perhaps, but this was done specifically with taking screenshots in mind.

    Could there be something like a Photo Camera modded item, which you wear as a tech, and which would change zoom to 1 when you activate it? That would be awesome.
     
    nababoo, ThorN, WoxandWarf and 2 others like this.
  5. Galehaut

    Galehaut Poptop Tamer

    That's a very good idea there , i would like to see this into the game !
     
  6. The Dreamweaver

    The Dreamweaver Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    How do you change back to normal, my camera is now stuck either zoomed out to far, or zoomed in to much.
     
  7. grimtimes

    grimtimes Master Chief

    Change the number in the config file from 1, to 2 I presume.
     
    The Dreamweaver likes this.
  8. Krogglidor

    Krogglidor Phantasmal Quasar

    Zoom is always fun to play with.

    1x zoom on an ocean planet
    [​IMG]
    0.3x zoom
    [​IMG]
    0.2x zoom
    [​IMG]
    0.1x zoom on my ship
    [​IMG]
     
    nababoo, Gene and WoxandWarf like this.
  9. Gene

    Gene Phantasmal Quasar

    I wonder if you can find a very small planet/moon, and zoom out so far as to see all of the planet at once. Will you see a "loop-around" on your screen? (e.g. the same building being shown twice in different parts of the screen, because the screen is bigger than the planet)?

    My video card chokes at < 0.5 so I can't really test it, but maybe someone else can.
     
    WoxandWarf likes this.
  10. Krogglidor

    Krogglidor Phantasmal Quasar

    That's exactly what you're seeing in my screenshots.
     
    WoxandWarf and Gene like this.
  11. The Dreamweaver

    The Dreamweaver Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    If i do this then it is zoomed in to far. And it doesn't really accept non-whole numbers.
     
  12. templargfx

    templargfx Poptop Tamer

    change the scale from the ingame options instead of editing the file
     
  13. Krogglidor

    Krogglidor Phantasmal Quasar

    Yes it does...
    You can only bring it down to 2x in-game
     
  14. The Dreamweaver

    The Dreamweaver Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Sorry let me rephrase. When I set it to something like 1.5, it doesn't look any different then 1. But don't worry, it's fixed now. I put zoom on 3, and for some reason now it is perfect. I don't know why, but it seems to work.
     
  15. Krogglidor

    Krogglidor Phantasmal Quasar

    Yes it does, guy, yes it does. See my first post in this thread if you need proof.
     
  16. The Dreamweaver

    The Dreamweaver Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Lol, sorry let me rephrase again. It didn't work for me specifically, but I bet it worked for everyone else. Something was wrong with another zoom related thing so everything was messed up and therefore it wasn't affecting it. Not doubting you though.
     
  17. templargfx

    templargfx Poptop Tamer

    I was talking about how to get it back to an original setting (it sounded like that was his problem)
     
  18. kyle_crafty

    kyle_crafty Void-Bound Voyager

    Thanks! I can really see how my greenhouse compound is coming


    [​IMG]
     
    Mr Bubbles likes this.
  19. geeman14

    geeman14 Space Spelunker

    I can't find the file info so dose anyone know if there is a mod that dose it. I have looked around extensively and can't find anything.
     
  20. Nopel

    Nopel Big Damn Hero

    U have saved mi life ._./
     

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