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Creative Mode and Difficulty

How Stationeers represents "Creative Mode" (free/instant build, no resource consumption, item spawning, immortality in toxic environments). There are two linked representations: a runtime GameMode enum and a persisted DifficultySetting. Creative is derived from the difficulty, not stored as a standalone field.

The GameMode enum and WorldManager.GameMode field

The enum has exactly two values (line 57660). There is no Sandbox member.

public enum GameMode : byte
{
    Survival,    // 0
    Creative     // 1
}

WorldManager carries it as a plain public instance field (line 58749), NOT a property. No getter/setter, no backing field, no change event:

public GameMode GameMode;

WorldManager.Instance is the singleton, so WorldManager.Instance.GameMode is directly assignable. Helper accessor WorldManager.IsCreative() (static, line 58892) returns Instance.GameMode == GameMode.Creative. The canonical mutator is WorldManager.SetCreativeMode(bool) (static, line 60217):

public static void SetCreativeMode(bool isCreative)
{
    if (isCreative && Instance.GameMode != GameMode.Creative)
    {
        ConsoleWindow.PrintAction("Enabling Creative Mode");
    }
    Instance.GameMode = (isCreative ? GameMode.Creative : GameMode.Survival);
}

There is no SetGameMode(GameMode) method and no static CurrentGameMode. The field is assigned in exactly three places: SetCreativeMode (line 60223), SyncGameMode.Process (line 260680, the network message), and via DifficultySetting.SetCurrent (line 55254). There is no OnGameModeChanged / CreativeModeChanged event anywhere.

DifficultySetting: the persisted source of truth

DifficultySetting : SettingBase (line 55054) is a data-driven preset loaded from XML, registered by Id/hash. Creative is one BoolReference toggle among ~25 independent rate/toggle fields. Selected fields (full list at lines 55056-55119):

Member Type Default Role
Creative (line 55095) BoolReference false The flag that drives GameMode.Creative.
HungerRate FloatReference 1f Hunger consumption multiplier.
HydrationRate FloatReference 1f Thirst multiplier.
BreathingRate FloatReference 2f Oxygen consumption multiplier.
RobotBatteryRate FloatReference 1f Suit/robot battery drain.
MiningYield FloatReference 1f Ore yield multiplier.
LungDamageRate FloatReference 1f Toxic-atmosphere lung damage.
FoodDecayRate FloatReference 1f Food spoilage rate.
Achievements BoolReference true Whether achievements fire.
EatWhileHelmetClosed / DrinkWhileHelmetClosed BoolReference false
RespawnCondition SerializedId Respawn ruleset id.

Statics: DifficultySetting.Current (line 55160, backing _current at line 55132, private), DifficultySetting.Default (line 55125), DifficultySetting.Fallback (non-creative, lines 55134-55141), DifficultySetting.Find(string) (hashes the name via Animator.StringToHash, lines 55227-55230; unknown ids fall back to Fallback).

The bridge: SetCurrent derives GameMode from Creative (line 55251)

public static void SetCurrent(DifficultySetting difficultySetting)
{
    _current = difficultySetting;
    WorldManager.SetCreativeMode(difficultySetting.Creative);
}

So GameMode is a cached projection of DifficultySetting.Current.Creative. Whenever the difficulty is set (on world load, new game, the difficulty console command, or a multiplayer join), WorldManager.GameMode is reconstructed from it.

What "Creative" actually gates: two distinct checks

Creative behavior is gated by TWO different reads that are NOT equivalent. This matters for any runtime flip.

  1. Checks reading WorldManager.Instance.GameMode == GameMode.Creative / WorldManager.IsCreative():
  2. Creative item-spawn menu visibility (ImguiCreativeSpawnMenu.ShowMenu, line 268494).

  3. Human.SpawnDynamicThing (spawn item from nothing, line 343286).

  4. Checks reading DifficultySetting.Current.Creative directly (these do NOT consult WorldManager.GameMode):

  5. Lava immunity for dropped things (line 199905: !DifficultySetting.Current.Creative).
  6. Creative-only console commands: power chargeall (line 98050), rocket cheats (line 98297), teleport (line 99223), debug minimap (line 99293), each printing "only available in creative mode" otherwise.
  7. Ash-storm / first-day weather suppression on Vulcan (lines 93594, 211595).

Crucial nuance: "no consumption / free build / infinite-ish resources" is NOT gated by the Creative bool at all. Those come from the difficulty's RATE fields (HungerRate, BreathingRate, MiningYield, etc.). The stock Creative difficulty preset zeroes those rates AND sets Creative=true together as data. So Creative=true alone unlocks spawning/teleport/lava-immunity/creative-commands; the zero-consumption feel comes from the preset's rate values, set independently.

All these reads are live (read fresh each call, never snapshotted at load), so a runtime change to the underlying state takes effect on the next read.

The stock Creative difficulty preset (difficultySettings.xml)

Difficulty presets are defined in <StationeersPath>/rocketstation_Data/StreamingAssets/Data/difficultySettings.xml (root <GameData> -> <DifficultySettings> -> <DifficultySetting> entries). It is plain XML, not a binary asset bundle. The serialized shape uses an attribute-on-element form (<Creative Value="true"/>, NOT <Creative>true</Creative>); Id is an XML attribute on <DifficultySetting>.

Complete list of stock difficulty Ids and their Creative flag:

Id Creative Notes
Creative true (<Creative Value="true"/>) All consumption rates zeroed; MiningYield=5; Achievements=false.
Easy false (no <Creative> element)
Normal false Default="true" (the game default).
Stationeer false

Note: the WorldXml.md Protocols page lists difficulty values as Easy / Normal / Hard / Stationeer; the live difficultySettings.xml in this install ships Easy / Normal / Stationeer / Creative (no Hard entry found this pass). The exact ship list is data-defined and can vary; Normal is the Default="true" entry and the value real Luna saves carry.

The Creative entry verbatim:

<DifficultySetting Id="Creative">
    <Name Key="DifficultyCreative"/>
    <Description Key="DifficultyDescriptionCreative" Value="Access item spawning functions and no resource usage. You will survive forever in toxic environments. Respawning is no issue." />
    <PreviewButton Path="Interface/button_creative.png" Format="RGB24"/>
    <HungerRate Value="0"/>
    <HydrationRate Value="0"/>
    <BreathingRate Value="0"/>
    <RobotBatteryRate Value="0"/>
    <MoodRate Value="0"/>
    <HygieneRate Value="0"/>
    <JetpackRate Value="0"/>
    <LungDamageRate Value="0"/>
    <FoodDecayRate Value="0"/>
    <MiningYield Value="5"/>
    <OfflineMetabolism Value="0.0"/>
    <EatWhileHelmetClosed Value="true"/>
    <DrinkWhileHelmetClosed Value="true"/>
    <WeatherLanderDamageRate Value="0"/>
    <Creative Value="true"/>
    <SpaceMapDistanceMultiplier Value="1"/>
    <Achievements Value="false"/>
    <StartingWeatherMultiplier Value="2"/>
    <RespawnStressTime Value="0" />
    <RespawnStressConsumptionSpeed Value="1" />
    <RespawnStressToolUseSpeed Value="1" />
    <RespawnStressTradePenalty Value="1" />
    <GoodHygieneToolSpeedMultiplier Value="1" />
    <MoodToolSpeedMultiplier Value="1" />
</DifficultySetting>

The Id string is case-sensitive (Creative, capital C). An unknown Id resolves to Fallback (non-creative).

Save persistence: world.xml stores DifficultySetting, not GameMode

GameMode is NEVER serialized into the save. The save records only the difficulty by Id, and GameMode is reconstructed from it on load.

The serializer is XmlSaveLoad.WorldData (nested class, [XmlRoot("WorldData")], line 250559). The difficulty field (lines 250587-250588):

[XmlElement("DifficultySetting")]
public SerializedId DifficultySetting = new SerializedId("Fallback");

SerializedId (line 54964) serializes its Id as a single [XmlAttribute]. So the on-disk XML is exactly <DifficultySetting Id="Normal" /> (self-closing, Id attribute only), a direct child of root <WorldData>. Confirmed against a real Luna save: the top of world.xml carries <WorldSetting Id="Lunar" /> then <DifficultySetting Id="Normal" /> as adjacent children of <WorldData>.

WorldData also stores the world/planet id separately as <WorldSetting Id="..." /> (line 250578, default "Space"). GameMode is NOT part of WorldSetting; WorldSetting covers the planet (skybox, gravity, celestial, terrain). The [XmlInclude(typeof(GameMode))] at line 60591 sits on WorldSettingData : DataCollection (content definitions), not on the save's WorldData, so it does not put GameMode into world.xml.

Load path (XmlSaveLoad.LoadWorld, line 251347)

  • Line 251362: XmlSerialization.Deserialize(Serializers.WorldData, ...) reads world.xml verbatim into WorldData.
  • Line 251395: WorldSetting.SetCurrent(...) applies the planet.
  • Line 251396: DifficultySetting.SetCurrent(worldData.DifficultySetting) reads the edited difficulty Id and runs the SetCreativeMode bridge. This is the line that makes an offline edit take effect.
  • Line 251437-251440: the ONE override: if GameManager.IsNewTutorial, difficulty is force-reset to "Normal". Does not fire for normal saves.

There is no recompute that silently overwrites a normal save's difficulty. An offline edit of <DifficultySetting Id="..."> is honored on next load (outside the tutorial path).

Write path: GetWorldData (line 251197) emits worldData.DifficultySetting = new SerializedId(DifficultySetting.Current).

Editing a save to creative (offline)

Change the world.xml element <DifficultySetting Id="Normal" /> to <DifficultySetting Id="Creative" />. On next load the host resolves it against difficultySettings.xml, sets _current to the Creative preset (zero rates + Creative=true), and derives GameMode.Creative. This persists across reloads (it IS the saved state). Editing to Easy/Normal/Stationeer yields survival. The tools/save-edit/ Python editor can do this by changing the Id attribute of the <DifficultySetting> element.

Networking: how Creative reaches clients

The server is authoritative. GameMode propagates to clients in two ways:

  1. Join handshake (the durable path). WorldManager.SerializeOnJoin (line 60194) writes World.CurrentId, WorldSetting.GetHash(), DifficultySetting.GetHash(), and IsCreative() (a bool). WorldManager.DeserializeOnJoin (line 60202) reads them back, calls WorldSetting.SetCurrent + DifficultySetting.SetCurrent, and SetCreativeMode(true) if the bool was set. So a freshly joining client picks up whatever difficulty/creative the host currently holds. This is why a save-edit (which changes what the host loads) correctly reaches a player who connects afterward.

  2. Live mid-session sync. SyncGameMode message (message-table id 78, line 179621; class at line 260674). Its Process sets WorldManager.Instance.GameMode = GameMode; (line 260680). This is how a host toggling creative WHILE clients are connected pushes the change. Note the difficulty console command path (SetCurrent -> SetCreativeMode) does NOT itself send SyncGameMode; a console difficulty change made after clients connect does not auto-push to them (they would need to reconnect). Settings.ServerInfo.ServerGameMode (line 262224) is server-listing metadata, not a live push.

Console command: difficulty

The ONLY console command that changes game mode is difficulty (DifficultySettingsCommand, line 95347, registered at line 94995). There is no creative, sandbox, gamemode, or cheat command in the dispatch table, and no AllowCheats/CheatsEnabled toggle anywhere in the assembly.

public override string HelpText => "Prints the current difficulty setting to the console or sets a new one if provided as an argument";
public override string[] Arguments => new string[1] { "<?difficulty>" };
public override bool IsLaunchCmd => true;
  • difficulty (no args): prints DifficultySetting.Current.DebugPrint().
  • difficulty <name>: DifficultySetting.Find(name) then DifficultySetting.SetCurrent(...). Passing difficulty Creative puts the world into creative.
  • Host-only: calls CommandBase.CannotAsClient("difficulty") (line 95379), so a remote client is blocked. No single-player block. IsLaunchCmd => true (also a launch flag; defers via WaitExecute until GameManager.IsInitialized if not ready).
  • No network push inside Execute (see Networking above). Logic-only, no UI dependency, so it works headless IF stdin reaches the dispatcher.

worldsetting (WorldSettingWindowCommand, line 100254) only opens an ImGui authoring window (a no-op on -batchmode -nographics); world (PrintWorldSettingsCommand, line 98090) only prints. Neither sets game mode.

NewGameCommand (line 97302, IsLaunchCmd => true) takes <worldname> <difficulty> <startcondition>, so a brand-new world can launch directly into creative via -new <Map> Creative <startcondition> (verify the start-condition id). It does not change an already-running world.

Runtime flip (worker-thread safety)

For a Harmony postfix running on a worker thread (e.g. on ElectricityManager.ElectricityTick), where only pure managed-state writes are safe and Unity-API calls are not:

  • WorldManager.Instance.GameMode = GameMode.Creative; is a single enum (byte) field write with no setter body, no Unity call, no event subscriber. It is worker-thread-safe and takes effect on the next read.
  • Do NOT call WorldManager.SetCreativeMode(...) on a worker thread: it calls ConsoleWindow.PrintAction("Enabling Creative Mode") on the creative transition, which touches console/UI and is not guaranteed thread-safe. Write the field directly instead (it reproduces the only state change SetCreativeMode makes minus the print).
  • Do NOT call DifficultySetting.SetCurrent(...) on a worker thread: it ends in SetCreativeMode (same ConsoleWindow issue).

Completeness caveat: flipping ONLY WorldManager.Instance.GameMode enables the GameMode-gated features (spawn menu, SpawnDynamicThing, anything via IsCreative()) but does NOT waive build costs or grant lava immunity (those read DifficultySetting.Current.Creative) and does NOT zero consumption (that is the difficulty's rate fields). For full creative parity at runtime, also point DifficultySetting._current (private static, line 55132) at the Creative preset via reflection (a pure managed write, no Unity call) so the rate fields and the DifficultySetting.Current.Creative reads also flip. Both writes are worker-safe; only the ConsoleWindow-touching helpers are not. In multiplayer a worker-thread field write does NOT send SyncGameMode, so already-connected clients would not see it; a fresh join would (via SerializeOnJoin).

Verification history

  • 2026-06-25: page created from a decompile read of Assembly-CSharp at game version 0.2.6228.27061 (.work/decomp/0.2.6228.27061/Assembly-CSharp.decompiled.cs) plus the live difficultySettings.xml content data. The GameMode enum, WorldManager.GameMode/SetCreativeMode/IsCreative, the DifficultySetting.SetCurrent -> SetCreativeMode bridge, the XmlSaveLoad.WorldData/LoadWorld save path, the DifficultySettingsCommand, the join handshake (SerializeOnJoin/DeserializeOnJoin), and the SyncGameMode (id 78) live-sync are all verbatim from the decompile with line numbers. The stock Creative difficulty preset block is verbatim from difficultySettings.xml. The <DifficultySetting Id="Normal" /> / <WorldSetting Id="Lunar" /> save shape was confirmed against a real Luna save's world.xml.

Open questions

  • Whether difficultySettings.xml ever ships a Hard entry. The WorldXml.md page lists Easy/Normal/Hard/Stationeer; this install's file has Easy/Normal/Stationeer/Creative (no Hard). The set is data-defined and may differ by version or DLC.
  • The exact startcondition id to pair with -new <Map> Creative for a fresh creative world (the NewGameCommand third argument); not enumerated this pass.