Settings

   

Desktop/Console/Mobile/3DS-Only Content: This information applies only to the Desktop, Console, Mobile, and 3DS versions of Terraria.

Settings are a set of gameplay options available from the game's main menu, the pause menu (), or the inventory screen (  ).

 Desktop version

General Setting Default Description Autosave On or Off On On: Saves world and character data every 10 minutes in the background during gameplay. Off: Only saves when using the "save and quit" option. Note that the game will always autosave the character upon death regardless of this setting. Turning Autosave on (default) has the benefit of keeping the player's progress saved in case of a crash or power outage, without having to worry about saving manually. Some players prefer to leave this option off, in case a potentially world-altering glitch occurs, or if they would like to experiment in a world without altering it, and be able to go back to its previous state later. Autopause On or Off Off For singleplayer only, this setting pauses the game whenever you open your inventory or talk to an NPC. This can be useful, as you can work with your inventory without worrying about being attacked or drowning. However, with autopause on, the player cannot place items from directly out of inventory (the item must be in the hotbar and selected), nor can you use usable items directly out of inventory. Note that independently from this setting it is—also in singleplayer only—also possible to pause the game by any method which switches out of the Terraria program, such the Alt-Tab hotkey or the Windows key function. A more convenient method is to bring up the settings menu (open your inventory and click on settings). Map Enabled or Disabled Enabled The Minimap can be enabled or disabled. Disabling the Minimap can provide a performance boost on old hardware, but it is heavily unrecommended, because playing with it disabled means that the player cannot use Pylons or Wormhole Potions. Passwords Visible or Hidden Visible When set to hidden, password characters entered into the game window, such as those for logging into a Multiplayer game, will appear as asterisks (*). Zoom sub-menu Zoom 100%-200% (Varies) 100% Allows zooming the game world in to see more detail. The maximum amount the player can zoom out is determined by their screen resolution. UI Scale 50%-200% (Varies) Varies Allows the player to increase the size of the interface for easier viewing on high resolutions. Activate Set Bonuses Up or Down Down The majority of armor set bonuses are passive, meaning they are always active. Some armor sets include a bonus that must be activated by double-tapping either ▲ Up or ▼ Down, depending on the setting found here. Note: Double-tapping ▼ Down may also make the player drop through if they are standing on a platform at the time. Smart Doors Enabled, Gamepad Only, or Disabled Enabled The player will automatically open and close doors and Tall Gates when walking towards them when this setting is enabled, or only do this when the player is using a controller when set to Gamepad Only. Hover Controls Hold or Click Hold When set to Hold, the player has to hold ▼ Down and ↷ Jump to use their wings' hover ability. When set to Click, hovering is enabled by pressing ▼ Down, and disabled by pressing ▲ Up while flying. Autofire On or Off Off When enabled, autoswing will be turned on for all weapons. Interface Setting Default Description Pickup Text On or Off On Determines whether or not to show pop-up text describing the items the player picks up. This can be useful so that the player does not need to constantly check their inventory to see what was picked up, although the text annoys some players as it covers up parts of the graphics above their character during gameplay. The Sonar Potion is effectively useless when this setting is set to off. Event Progress Bar On, Off, or Timed On On: Shows a progress bar displaying percent of an event completed. Off: Hides the progress bar. Timed: Shows the progress bar, but hides itself if no enemies have been defeated in the past few seconds. Reappears when another enemy is defeated. Placement Preview On or Off On Determines whether or not to preview placement of furniture. This can help pinpoint exactly where furniture is placed as opposed to having to break and replace it if improperly placed. Highlight New Items On or Off On Determines whether newly picked up items are highlighted in the inventory. The highlight disappears when the cursor hovered over a highlighted item or the inventory is closed. This aids in quickly locating acquired items. Tile Grid On or Off Off Shows a five tiles wide grid around the cursor if the player is not moving to place blocks more precisely. Gamepad Instructions On or Off On Shows on screen how to perform different actions using a gamepad. Minimap Border Default, Valkyrie, Retro, Leaf, TwigLeaf, StoneGold, Sticks, Remix, or Golden Default Cycle through 9 minimap frames. This is for cosmetic purposes only, and will not affect the minimap's function. Map Scale 50%-100% 100% Adjust the minimap's size at the top-right corner. Health and Mana Style Classic, Fancy, or Bars Fancy Change the style of the health and mana UI display. Boss Health Bar Numbers On or Off On Shows current and total health of a boss on its progress bar. Hover Text Boxes On or Off On Adds a dark blue box behind the item tooltips, Sign hover texts, etc. Video Setting Default Description Go Fullscreen/Go Windowed n/a Toggles between full-screen and windowed modes. Resolution sub-menu Fullscreen Resolution Varies Varies Sets the resolution used for full-screen mode. Affects windowed mode when switched back, though the window's size will still alter its resolution. Higher resolution makes the game look smoother but can slow performance. Note that although resolution can affect the "zoom" from the character (that is, increase the game screen boundaries), it can only do so within the limit of their device's maximum screen resolution. That is, screens with high max resolution can produce a much greater zoom than screens with lower max resolution, even if it may require third-party software to make Terraria accept abnormally high resolution values. Borderless Window Enabled or Disabled Disabled Sets the window resolution to the native desktop as well as removing the title bar and window frame. This setting can be useful when using and switching between multiple monitors. Parallax 0-100 60 Changes how much the biome background images scrolls in relation to the player's movements. Higher numbers make the background move more, producing a more apparent 3D depth effect. Lower numbers make the background more stationary. Frame Skip On, Subtle, or Off Subtle Frame Skip skips unnecessary frames to improve performance and reduce desynchronization issues in Multiplayer. On: Enables a default frameskip function provided by XNA, the programming environment that Terraria is developed in. Subtle: Redigit's revised custom frameskip, developed between 1.3 and 1.3.1 for monitors and devices capable of more than 60 frames per second (FPS). Off: Redigit's first custom frameskip that has existed since Terraria's original beta version. Lighting Color, White, Retro, or Trippy Color Changes the lighting mode. Quality Auto, High, Medium, or Low Auto Switches between low, medium, high, or auto lighting quality. Higher qualities will look better but may slow performance on some devices. Auto continually adapts the quality setting based on the device's performance (FPS, or "framerate") during gameplay. Background On or Off On Switches biome backgrounds on or off. Switching these off can improve performance on slower devices. Blood and Gore On or Off On Toggles blood and gore effects. When disabled, killed entities emit puffs of smoke instead. This includes things that create blood particles as part of their animation, such as Demon Eyes and Skeletron. Skeletal and mechanical entities will still burst into body parts when killed. See Dust IDs and Gore IDs for the full lists of affected graphics. The suggestive Nurse quote "I don't give happy endings." will also be removed. Players may wish to turn Blood and Gore off to reduce visual clutter, so the game is not littered with enemy pieces. It may also be suitable to disable this setting when involving a younger audience. Miner's Wobble Enabled or Disabled Enabled Toggles the block effect where when a block is not fully broken, it grows and shrinks in size for a quarter of a second. See Notes. Heat Distortion Enabled or Disabled Enabled Toggles heat distortion effects seen in the Underworld and Desert. Storm Effects Enabled or Disabled Enabled Toggles the screen effects seen during Blizzards and Sandstorms. Waves Quality Off, Low, Medium, or High Enabled Increases and decreases wave effects seen on the surface and under the water: Low: Passive water distortion; nothing really interacts with it. Medium: Players and most NPCs (along with other things like the drops of water from the ceiling) create ripples as they pass through water. High: Projectiles also create ripples and ripples can bounce off walls. This setting has no effect under Retro or Trippy lighting. Windy Environment Enabled or Disabled Enabled Toggles the "blown by wind" visual effects of items affected by wind. Volume Setting Default Description Music 0%-100% 100% Controls the volume of music tracks. Sound 0%-100% 100% Controls the volume of sound effects like those from using items/weapons, splashing from liquids, using the interface, killing enemies/players, etc. Ambient 0%-100% 100% Controls the volume of the occasional ambient background sounds like bubbling lava, Rain/Blizzard/Sandstorm, NPC ambient sounds such as Bird chirping, waterfalls/lavafalls, etc. Cursor Setting Default Description Cursor Color HSL #ff325f The color of the player's cursor. Border Color HSLA #40404040 The border color of the player's cursor. Smart Cursor Mode Toggle or Hold Toggle Changes the way that the Smart Cursor is activated. Toggle: Smart Cursor is activated when the mapped key (Left Ctrl by default) is pressed once, and deactivated by pressing again. Hold: Smart Cursor is only active when the mapped key is held down. Smart Cursor Priority Pickaxe -> Axe or Axe -> Pickaxe Pickaxe -> Axe Changes the target priority when holding a pickaxe with smart cursor mode. Pickaxe -> Axe: The cursor will always target the nearest tree regardless of pointing direction. It will only target blocks if no tree is reachable. Axe -> Pickaxe: The cursor will target the block in pointing direction. If no block is reachable it will target the nearest tree. Smart Block Placement To Cursor or Disabled Disabled To Cursor: Blocks are placed from the Smart Cursor's target position towards the cursors position when Smart Cursor is enabled. Disabled: Blocks are placed at the position of the cursor, same as the behavior when Smart Cursor is disabled. Lock On Priority Clearest Line or Target Closest Clearest Line Determines how Lock On will choose its target: Clearest Line: Enemies are chosen based on line of sight. Enemies obstructed from the players reach by solid objects will have a lower priority. This setting is useful in the Dungeon and other areas with many obstructions. This setting sometimes results in the furthest enemy being targeted. Target Closest: The enemy closest to the player will be targeted regardless of intervening tiles. This setting is useful in flat open areas. Movement Stick Aim On or Off On Adjusts how the movement stick affect aim. When on, the cursor points in the direction the Movement Stick is facing unless the Aim Stick is being used. Autoswing On or Off Off When enabled, autoswing will be turned on for all weapons. Up To Jump Disabled, Double Tap, Single Tap, or Swipe Disabled / Double Tap Double Tap: Double tapping up starts a jump input, holding after activation continues the input for flight or auto-jumping with the Frog Leg. Single Tap: Pressing up starts a jump input, holding after activation continues the input for flight or auto-jumping with the Frog Leg. Swipe: Swiping up starts a jump input, holding after activation continues the input for flight or auto-jumping with the Frog Leg. Tapping up only acts as up being pressed while this is set. Disabled: Pressing up will have no input on jumping. Advanced sub-menu Smart Cursor Mode Toggle or Hold Toggle Changes the way that the Smart Cursor is activated. Toggle: Smart Cursor is activated when the mapped key (Left Ctrl by default) is pressed once, and deactivated by pressing again. Hold: Smart Cursor is only active when the mapped key is held down. Smart Cursor Priority Axe or Pickaxe Pickaxe Changes the target priority when holding a pickaxe with smart cursor mode. Pickaxe -> Axe: The cursor will always target the nearest tree regardless of pointing direction. It will only target blocks if no tree is reachable. Axe -> Pickaxe: The cursor will target the block in pointing direction. If no block is reachable it will target the nearest tree. Lock On Priority Target Closest or Clearest Line Clearest Line Determines how Lock On will choose its target: Clearest Line: Enemies are chosen based on line of sight. Enemies obstructed from the players reach by solid objects will have a lower priority. This setting is useful in the Dungeon and other areas with many obstructions. This setting sometimes results in the furthest enemy being targeted. Target Closest: The enemy closest to the player will be targeted regardless of intervening tiles. This setting is useful in flat open areas. Touch This menu is only accessible while playing on  Switch or  Mobile. Setting Default Description Touch Controls n/a Opens a menu that allows players to adjust the position of UI elements while using touch input. Players can toggle between 4 re-nameable control profiles. Touch Controls Profile Profile 1, Profile 2, Profile 3, or Profile 4 Profile 1 All default profiles are the same, and can be renamed. Default controls feature a left and right set of buttons. Magnifier On or Off On Displays a zoomed in portion of the world near the player's cursor while placing tiles. Pinch Zoom World On or Off On When enabled, the player can pinch the screen to zoom in or out. Pinch Zoom Map On or Off On When enabled, the player can pinch the screen to open the fullscreen minimap. Double Tap Gestures On or Off Off / On Enables the ability to double tap on a item in the inventory to perform actions such as splitting stacks and equipping items. Touch Cursor Color n/a The primary and border color of the player's cursor while using touch. Advanced sub-menu Auto Select Mode Hold or Toggle Hold Toggles how the auto select button functions. Hold: Auto Select is inputted while the button is held down. Toggle: Tap the Auto Select button to input it. It will stay active until pressed again. Aim Sensitivity 50%-150% 100% Adjusts the sensitivity of the aim stick. Aim Mode Toggle Always Aim & Use, By Item Type, For All Items, or Always Aim Only By Item Type Toggles how the Aim Mode button functions. Always Aim & Use: Items will always be used while using the aim stick. By Item Type: Using the Aim Mode button toggles on or off by item type, based on currently selected item. Categorizes item types the same way Smart Cursor does. For All Items: Using the Aim Mode button toggles on or off aim mode for all items. Always Aim Only: Items will never be used while using the aim stick. Smart Cursor Toggle Always Off, Always On, By Item Type, or For All Items By Item Type Toggles how the Smart Cursor button functions. Always Off: Items will never use smart placement. Always On: Items will always use smart placement. By Item Type: Using the Smart Cursor button toggles on or off by item type, based on currently selected item. For All Items: Using the Smart Cursor button toggles on or off smart placement for all items. Controller Setting Default Description Controller Bindings n/a Opens a menu that allows players to adjust the bindings for all controller actions. Scheme Simplified, Advanced, Redigit's Pick, or Custom Redigit's Pick The controls scheme to use. Modifying bindings will automatically set it to Custom. Swap Shoulders with Triggers On or Off Off Swaps the function of the shoulder buttons with triggers. Auto Stash On or Off On Automatically sends crafted, purchased items, etc. to the player's inventory instead of their hands. Controller Cursor Color n/a The primary and border color of the player's cursor while using a controller. Advanced sub-menu Controls Banner On or Off On When enabled, a banner will be displayed on the bottom of the screen that shows the game's controls with a controller. Nav. Repeat Delay 0.05s-1s 0.4s The initial delay before the cursor continues movement to another UI element. Nav. Repeat Rate 0.05s-0.5s 0.1s The delay before moving to another UI element. Aim Sensitivity 50%-150% 100% Grid Snap On or Off Off Aim Mode Toggle By Item Type, For All Items, Always Aim Only, or Always Aim & Use For All Items Smart Cursor Toggle Always Off, Always On, By Item Type, or For All Items By Item Type Keyboard & Mouse This menu is not accessible on  Switch since it lacks keyboard and mouse support. Setting Default Description Autosave On or Off On Opens a menu that allows players to adjust bindings for keyboard and mouse inputs. Esc. Key Inventory or Menu Inventory Determines the function of the escape key. Quick Trash Ctrl + Click or Shift + Click Ctrl + Click The key combination used to quick trash items. Double Click Gestures On or Off On Enables the ability to double click on a item in the inventory to perform actions (which are normally assigned to ⚷ Open / Activate) such as splitting stacks and equipping items. Mouse Cursor Color n/a The primary and border color of the player's cursor while using a mouse. Advanced sub-menu Smart Cursor Toggle By Item Type, For All Itrems, Always Off, or Always On By Item Type

 Old-gen console version

Controls Setting Default Description Use quick shortcuts On or Off Off When enabled, an item can be bound to each direction on the D-Pad (replacing the tile grid snap). Alternate grappling mode On or Off Off Swaps Jump with Grapple. Alternate controller layout On or Off Off Swaps Grapple/Jump with Previous Item and Action with Next Item. Settings Setting Default Description Autosave On or Off On On: Saves world and character data every 10 minutes in the background during gameplay. Off: Only saves when using the "save and quit" option. Note that the game will always autosave the character upon death regardless of this setting. Turning Autosave on (default) has the benefit of keeping the player's progress saved in case of a crash or power outage, without having to worry about saving manually. Some players prefer to leave this option off, in case a potentially world-altering glitch occurs, or if they would like to experiment in a world without altering it, and be able to go back to its previous state later. Pickup Text On or Off On Determines whether or not to show pop-up text describing the items the player picks up. This can be useful so that the player does not need to constantly check their inventory to see what was picked up, although the text annoys some players as it covers up parts of the graphics above their character during gameplay. The Sonar Potion is effectively useless when this setting is set to off. Gravitation Flips World or Character World Determines if the entire world or only the character should flip when in reverse gravity. Volume sub-menu Sound 0–20 20 Controls the volume of sound effects like those from using items/weapons, splashing from liquids, using the interface, killing enemies/players, etc. Music 0–20 15 Controls the volume of music tracks.

Nintendo 3DS version

Sound options Setting Default Description Sound Effects On or Off On Toggles game sounds. Music On or Off On Toggles music. Multiplayer options This sub-menu is only accessible while in a Multiplayer game. Setting Default Description Broadcast status On or Off Off Allows the game to be discovered by other 3DS systems. Can only be changed by the session host. PvP On or Off Off Toggles the player's PvP status. Team None, Red, Green, Blue, or Yellow None Controls which team the player is on. Gameplay options Setting Default Description Save reminder On or Off On Displays an SD card icon in the top right of the bottom screen if the game has not been saved in the last 15 minutes. Tapping on the icon will automatically save the game and cause it to disappear. Pickup texts On or Off On Determines whether or not to show pop-up text describing the items the player picks up. Credits n/a Displays the game credits.

Notes

The "Miner's Wobble" effect in action.

• The Frame Skip setting can alter the output from the DPS Meter.

Trivia

• Prior to 1.2.3, going into the inventory with autopause on while using a weapon or tool and clicking an item would get it stuck and make it drop when exiting the inventory (unless the player right-clicked outside of their inventory to drop the item). If this was tried with a consumable item, it would be used as such. Healing items acted uniquely to this bug; they would still heal the player, but would not inflict Potion Sickness. Update 1.2 had somewhat tried to fix it, but could still be circumvented by using a tool or weapon with continuous use.

See also

Other forms of settings include:

• Config.json settings(Desktop and Mobile versions)
• Camera Mode(Desktop and Mobile versions)
• Difficulty

History

 Desktop version

• Desktop 1.4.4:
  • Added an option to show health/mana display numbers on Health/Mana UI settings.
  • Added an option to display numbers on boss health bars.
  • Added an option to disable quick trash in the main menu.
  • Added an option to enable autoswing for all weapons.

• Desktop 1.4.0.4: Fixed an issue where a lot of non-gore objects were hidden by Blood/Gore settings.

• Desktop 1.4.0.1:
  • Removed Multicore Lighting.
  • Animated accessories now no longer animate when paused.

• Desktop 1.3.5: Professionally translated languages added.

• Desktop 1.3.3.2: Miner's Wobble can now be toggled on and off.

• Desktop 1.3.3:
  • Fixed sliders in the Gamepad settings not being "locked on" when dragged around.
  • Added Miner's Wobble.

• Desktop 1.3.0.4: Fixed being unable to leave settings menu under rare and unfortunate circumstances. Fixed parallax not loading correctly.

• Desktop 1.2.4.1:
  • Made Smart Cursor smarter when placing Minecart Tracks.
  • Fixed a bug where Smart Cursor wall would not ignore doors pillar when open.
  • Fixed bug where pressing "Reset to default" in controls would reset the quick mana key to M rather than J.
  • Fixed bug where glowsticks will not be selected when the mouse is near the player in a dry area (Auto Select).

• Desktop 1.2.4:
  • Added Smart Cursor. This can be toggled using control and has an interface option. Smart Cursor makes digging, chopping, placing, and breaking much faster and easier.
  • Changed the Quick Heal to use the best fit healing item instead of the first.

• Desktop 1.2.3.1:
  • Fixed bug where Autopause played bad with Chest renaming (and sign editing a bit).
  • Fixed bug where in-game options Map Control section wasn't blocking input like the regular controls.

• Desktop 1.2.3:
  • Added in-game settings menu.
  • There's now options for the ambient sound. Save and Exit is now in the settings menu.
  • Added sliders for parallax & volume settings.
  • Game now loads at saved resolution and even remembers if you use maximized window.
  • Multicore Lighting added to options menu.
  • When you hover over text in the interface menu the text now turns yellow.
  • Fixed bug where Dust would grow massive when you paused the game.
  • Fixed bug where guide will tell you to press Escape to open inventory even if you changed your keys.
  • Fixed bug where special armor visuals don't apply with auto-pause on (robes / werewolf / merform).
  • Fixed exploit with moving items around in auto-pause.

• Desktop 1.2.0.1: Configuration settings will be set to default to fix problems with loading incorrect configurations from previous versions.

• Desktop 1.2:
  • Map added - "M" has been remapped for the map feature.
  • "J" is now the default button for mana use.

• Desktop 1.1.2:
  • Terraria has been translated to German, Italian, French, and Spanish.
  • Terraria now has support for accented letters and multiple keyboard layouts.
  • When first run, Terraria will ask which language to use. This can be changed in the options menu.

• Desktop 1.0.1:
  • Leaving the settings menu via the back button should no longer crash.
  • Added a toggle for Frame Skip, which can correct some slowdown issues on higher-end computers.

• Desktop-Release: Introduced.

 Console version

• Console-Release: Introduced.

 Nintendo Switch version

• Switch 1.0.711.6: Introduced.

 Mobile version

• Mobile-Release: Introduced.

Nintendo 3DS version

• 3DS-Release: Introduced.

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