Support Forum

Support and Troubleshooting Tips

Hello Travelers!

If you encounter a technical issue while playing Outer Wilds, please refer to the checklist below for possible solutions. If you need further assistance, please contact us at support@mobiusdigitalgames.com

If you find a solution that you'd like to share with other players, feel free to contact us at the same address as well!

Please send us the following information when emailing: support@mobiusdigitalgames.com

Which version of Windows are you running
Screenshots are always helpful for verifying issues!
For controller or input specific issues:
1. Which controllers are plugged in
2. Under Steam>Settings>Controller>General Controller Settings (or when in Big Picture Mode, Settings>Controller Settings), find out which Configuration Support items are checked
3. In Outer Wilds, list the controllers found in the Set Default Controller option in the settings

Thanks for playing Outer Wilds and keep on exploring!

Important note! Your experiences may be different depending on your hardware.

Known Issues

Screen stuttering on PS5 with certain screens when VSync is enabled
Try turning off VSync for a smoother experience. This seems to be related to monitors and TVs that do not support VRR.

Controller Troubleshooting

Controller bindings troubleshooting
If something went horribly wrong with your control bindings and “Reset to defaults” isn’t fixing it, you can force your control bindings back to default settings by doing the following:

While the game is loading, before the title screen appears, input these in sequence, using the D-pad for the directional inputs:

Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Left-Right-Right-Start/Options

There will be an audio cue if the reset occurred, but you can verify that it worked by checking your bindings in the options.

Switch Pro Controller usage

Under Steam>Settings>Controller>General Controller Settings (or when in Big Picture Mode, Settings>Controller Settings), ensure that Switch Pro Configuration support is checked.
1. Outer Wilds does not support the Switch Pro controller and therefore is dependent on Steam to provide controller support.
2. Note: In the Outer Wilds in-game settings menu, any controller that has Steam Configuration Support enabled will be displayed as an Xbox 360 controller.
3. Note 2: Playstation Support is not required for PS4 DualShock4 controllers, but is required for any other DualShock controllers (e.g. DualShock3). That said, turning PlayStation Configuration support on for PS4 controllers will still work.
Reminder that Xbox and Nintendo button layouts have the same button letters, but A/B and X/Y are flipped.
1. Uncheck “Use Nintendo Button Layout” to keep the default buttons in their Xbox button location (Our recommendation). Leave checked if the user wants to keep them swapped so the Xbox Button Prompts match the Switch controller’s button labels.

Inverted Joysticks: Check Steam Controller Configuration

In Steam, go to Outer Wilds, open Controller Configuration via the regular Steam app or in Big Picture Mode

In your Library go to your "Controller Configuration" for Outer Wilds

Go to "Manage Game"

Go to the individual Left and Right Joysticks and ensure that they are not Inverted

Go to "Left Joystick Move" and "LS Click"

With Style of Input Selected for "Joystick Move" navigate to "Additional Settings"

Change the setting "Invert Vertical Axis" to Off

Check Setting for In-Game Default Controller

Restart computer. Keep controllers plugged in throughout this process.
Start Outer Wilds
Open In-game Options menu and go to Input > Rebind Controls

In the In Game Settings under the "Input" tab navigate to "Rebind Controls"

Ensure the correct controller is selected in Set Default Controller, and the correct Controller Profile is selected

Look for the "Set Default Controller" options and check the correct boxes on

High Frame-Rate Monitors

Adjusting your “maximum framerate”

Outer Wilds is built around a complex physics simulation designed to run at 60 updates per second. This results in the perception of a maximum framerate of 60 FPS, as the ship, player, planets, and everything else in the game only “move” on those steps. However, it is possible to override the target physics simulation rate for a smooth experience at higher framerates.
To override the physics simulation rate, create a new .txt file named “secretsettings.txt” in your “C:\Users\<username>\AppData\LocalLow\Mobius Digital\Outer Wilds” directory. In that file, add the line “PhysicsRate=120”, where 120 is the framerate you’re looking to achieve. Save the file and re-launch the game.
Changing the physics simulation rate like this is not officially supported (due to it having a significant impact on performance), but should be stable at settings above 30.

*Note that it's been found that the game prefers sets of doubles for the PhysicsRate i.e.: 60, 120, 180, 240. Try different ones to find the one that works best for your machine.*

Additional vsync settings

Some users have reported extreme choppiness running at lower framerates on higher framerate monitors. In these cases, it’s possible that changing the vsync count can improve the situation by forcing the game to sync with the monitor at a more regular pace.
To override the vsync count, create a new .txt file named “secretsettings.txt” in your “C:\Users\<username>\AppData\LocalLow\Mobius Digital\Outer Wilds” directory. In that file, add the line “VSyncCount=X”, where X is the number of frames to sync on (i.e. 1 results in syncing every frame, 2 results in every other frame, 3 results in every third frame). Save the file and re-launch the game.
Changing this setting like this is not officially supported, but should be safe. A value of 0 results in vsync being disabled, and the value cannot go higher than 4.

Launching in borderless fullscreen window mode

Some users have reported that running Outer Wilds in windowed mode fixed their issues with Outer Wilds stuttering on higher framerate monitors. This setting can be adjusted in Outer Wilds via the Graphics settings menu.
We currently do not have an in-game option for changing the game to borderless windowed, but this can be enabled via the command line option “-popupwindow”.
To enable this, right-click on Outer Wilds in your Steam library and select Properties. In the General menu, click Set Launch Options, type “-popupwindow”, and click OK.
The next time you launch Outer Wilds, switching to windowed mode should automatically enable borderless windowed.

Crashes

Reporting crashes

If you’re the type of player to send the developers crash information, please make sure that you include the Unity Player log. This file is located at “C:\Users\<username>\AppData\LocalLow\Mobius Digital\Outer Wilds\player.log”. This file is overwritten every time you launch Outer Wilds, so please make sure you haven’t run the game again since you last crashed if you want us to be able to extract crash info from it! You can send it (and any other crash files that Unity has handed you) to support@mobiusdigitalgames.com.

Overclocking

Some users have reported that issues with frequent crashing were being caused by overclocked CPUs. Outer Wilds is a very CPU-sensitive game, and reducing your CPU to a more stable clock rate may help.

Recovering corrupted save files

Outer Wilds keeps automated backups of your save files in “C:\Users\<username>\AppData\LocalLow\Mobius Digital\Outer Wilds\Backup”. If for some reason your save file gets lost or corrupted, the latest good save data from each profile may be recoverable from here. The game will prompt to restore these files if they are missing or unreadable at startup.
If you would like to do this manually, simply copy the items within “Outer Wilds\Backup\<profilename>\” to “Outer Wilds\SteamSaves\<profilename>” and re-launch the game. Of note is that you may have to disable Steam Cloud sync to have this save copying go through. This can be done by right-clicking on Outer Wilds in your Steam library, selecting Properties, and unchecking “Enable Steam Cloud synchronization for Outer Wilds” in the Updates menu. After doing this, copy the backup files to your save profile folder, re-launch Outer Wilds, and once you are done playing, (optionally) re-enable the Steam Cloud sync option.

External monitors

If Outer Wilds is crashing on launch and briefly displaying a Unity crash handler icon, closing all extra monitors and launching Outer Wilds with just one monitor plugged in has been known to fix the issue for some players.

Community Found Solutions

No menu appears at startup

This game has a plugin folder that contains various dlls. Some actually rely on other dlls that are not installed when you install the game from Steam.
If you're starting fresh with a new Windows install, such as after upgrading to the latest Windows feature update, your system will be missing the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022. The game won't show any error message--the plugin dll (in this case a plugin that handles a controller) will simply not load, causing the game to malfunction.
Here's where to get the missing files from Microsoft. Installed both the x86 and x64. Only get these from Microsoft; avoid "missing dll" sites: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2977003/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads

You can also try copying your save data to a new profile:

For Steam users, move save files out of the following folder:
C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\LocalLow\Mobius Digital\Outer Wilds\SteamSaves\<PROFILE NAME>
For Epic users, move save files out of the following folder:
C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\LocalLow\Mobius Digital\Outer Wilds\Saves\<PROFILE NAME>
Delete profile from the SteamSaves (Steam) or Saves (Epic) folder, open the game and create a new profile.
Quit the game, then copy old save data to the new save file.
Verify game files and launch game again.

Troubleshooting Bluetooth Dual Shock 4

Pair your Dual Shock 4 with your PC's Bluetooth. (don't use DS4Windows) or try to change DS4Windows to the "Hide DS4 Controller" setting enabled
Use the gamepad by FF1 profile (this makes the game see it as an Xbox controller)
In game under input->rebind controls change the controller profile to Xbox One and the Button Prompt Images to PS4.

*Make sure that "Steam input" to "Always on" in the steam settings (right click Outer Wilds in the library and go to properties, should be on first tab)*

Troubleshooting Xbox 360 Controller

To fix this I right clicked on the game in my Steam Library List and when to Properties,
In Properties I went to Controller. (Make sure your game is not launched)
In the controller menu there is little underlined text in the writing at the top it say "Controller General Settings". Click on this, it will open up a new Steam tab with a list of different controller supports.
Check the box for the controller you are using, ie. I am using an Xbox 360 controller so I checked the "Xbox configuration Support" box.
You should be able to exit this menu then launch your game and it will work.

Or you can try to:

On Steam, View -> Big Picture Mode
In Big Picture Mode, Settings (Gear icon found at top) -> Controller Settings (found under Controller) -> Tick the box for the setting Xbox Configuration Support.
That should solve the problem.

*Make sure you connect/plug in the controller before starting the game for this to work properly.*

High Performance Computers with FPS Issues
If none of the other suggestions work for you, you can change the setting on your Windows computer to 'High performance' mode:

Search for 'Power settings' and open 'Power & sleep settings
Click 'Additional power settings' on the right side of the window that opened.
You may need to click 'Show additional plans' to reveal 'High performance mode'
For visual help, click the link to the windows support page: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/customize/desktop/customize-power-slider

Continued Input Issues
If none of the other suggestions work for you, try:

Resetting your controller in Steam to Generic Input Support and then changing it back to your preferred controller option
Uncheck the box next to "Set default controller" in the Input -> Rebinding Menu

Additionally:

Activate Steam Beta Version: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7021-eiah-8669
In Steam go to Display > Parameters
Go to the controller option at the bottom of the list
Click on the first button, at the top of the window
Check the fourth line (xbox extended feature support)
Select Agree and restart Steam
Launch Steam again after reboot
Pass the "Big Picture" tip'

If you're having issues related to specific keybinds, and restoring to defaults in the control binding options doesn't work: