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Elite Dangerous

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(Redirected from Elite: Dangerous)
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Although this product has been released, it remains under active development - information may change frequently and could be outdated or irrelevant.
Elite Dangerous
Elite Dangerous cover
Developers
Frontier Developments
Engines
Cobra[1]
Release dates
Windows December 16, 2014
macOS (OS X) March 12, 2015
Reception
Metacritic 80
OpenCritic 79
IGDB 82
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, DLC, Expansion pack
Microtransactions Currency, Free-to-grind
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person
Controls Direct control
Genres MMO, Open world, Sandbox, Vehicle combat
Vehicles Space flight
Art styles Realistic
Themes Sci-fi
Series Elite
Elite Dangerous on HowLongToBeat
Elite Dangerous on IGDB
Elite Dangerous on MobyGames
Elite Dangerous on Wikipedia
Elite
Elite 1987
Elite Plus 1991
Frontier: Elite II 1993
Frontier: First Encounters 1995
Elite Dangerous 2014
Elite Dangerous: Arena 2016

Warnings

This game requires a constant internet connection for all game modes.
The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

Elite Dangerous is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person MMO, open world, sandbox and vehicle combat game in the Elite series.

General information

PC Report
Official forums
Elite: Dangerous Wiki
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Developer website
Always online (requires a constant internet connection to play)
Steam key available from Partner Keys page.
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Epic Games Store
Epic Games Launcher
Always online (requires a constant internet connection to play)
Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Always online (requires a constant internet connection to play)
Windows
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Always online (requires a constant internet connection to play)
Windows
Oculus Store
Icon overlay.png
Always online (requires a constant internet connection to play)
Commander Deluxe Edition
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Always online (requires a constant internet connection to play)
Windows
All versions require a constant internet connection for all game modes (regular server updates; cannot be played offline).[2][3]
The OS X version is no longer available.

Monetization

Type Notes
DLC Various cosmetics for ships, fleet carriers, and player avatars are available through the in-game store or the Frontier Store page for the game.[4]
Expansion pack Currently, Odyssey is the only expansion available for purchase which was released 19th May 2021. Until October 27, 2020, Horizons was the other expansion available for purchase,[5] and since that date, it is part of the base game.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Lifetime Expansion Pass No longer sold. Includes access to all major expansions.
Windows
Ship Paintjobs Cosmetic purchases available through online store.
Windows
Pilot Starter Pack
Windows
Horizons Season Pass No longer sold (rolled into base game)
Windows
Odyssey
Windows

Microtransactions

Type Notes
Currency "Arx" is the premium currency used in Elite: Dangerous. It is used exclusively to purchase cosmetics.
Free-to-grind Players can obtain up to 400 Arx per week for free by playing the game. Frontier also gives away a large amount of Arx during the lead-up to Christmas.
Time-limited Certain ship skins are available for a limited time only.

Essential improvements

Companion apps

An official companion app was available for iOS; it was later discontinued.[6]
Many unofficial companion apps have been created by the community; a list is available in the game forums. Some apps feed data to websites such as EDDB, EDSM, and Inara, allowing users of these websites to view up-to-date market info and search for specific systems, among other functions.

Skip intro videos

Delete the Intro video[7]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Products\FORC-FDEV-DO-38-IN-40\Movies
  2. Delete or rename Ident_Frontier_EliteHorizons.webm

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %LOCALAPPDATA%\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/359320/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location

Online Only. All account data is stored on the developer's servers.

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Epic Games Launcher
Steam Cloud
The game has its own cloud syncing solution on the developer's servers

Video

Graphics settings.
Graphics settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
Minor UI problems in galaxy and system maps.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
in-game slider. See Field of view (FOV) for details.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
AF is available for planetary surfaces (Part of the Horizons paid DLC)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
FXAA, MLAA, SMAA, and SSAA/resolution scaling
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)
[8]
Color blind mode
The HUD color scheme can be changed by editing the GraphicsConfigurationOverride.xml file in the \Options\Graphics directory in the game's config directory. See this page for more details.
Supports FidelityFX Super Resolution (only available with Odyssey DLC expansion).

Field of view (FOV)

This game uses vertical FOV. See FOV Calculator for help.
Editing config files[citation needed]
  1. Go to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Graphics.
  2. Open Settings.xml in a text editor.
  3. Find line <FOV>XX.000000</FOV> and change value to your desired FoV.

Input

Controls settings.
Controls settings.

Creating or backing up custom control bindings

There is only one custom profile by default. To prevent this being overwritten, or to allow for multiple custom input options, create a new copy of the .binds file.
Creating or backing up a custom control bindings file[citation needed]
  1. Set controls in-game as desired
  2. Go to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Bindings.
  3. Copy and rename the Custom.binds file to something else; e.g. MyBinds1.binds.
  4. The renamed file will now appear as a selectable option in-game.

Notes

The new custom file will not be overwritten by game updates, unless directly edited via the controls menu.

Audio

Audio settings.
Audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
7.1 surround systems are supported.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
No option, disabled by default.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
German
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish

Network

The game uses a hybrid of central servers to process the background simulation, Amazon cloud servers for matchmaking and gameplay transactions, and P2P for real-time gameplay.

The game can be played Single-Player, in a Private Group, or in Open Multiplayer. A character can transfer between these modes at will.

Multiplayer types

Type Native Notes
LAN play
Not supported.[9]
Online play

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Matchmaking
Matchmaking supported in Arena combat mode.
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Not supported.[9]
Direct IP

VR support

3D modes State Notes
Native 3D
Side-by-side or anaglyph.
Nvidia 3D Vision
See Helix Mod: Elite Dangerous.
Headsets
SteamVR
Oculus VR (LibOVR)
Windows Mixed Reality
This game might be playable with the Revive Compatibility Layer, or Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR.
OSVR
Devices
Tracked motion controllers
Traditional controller
See Input for details.
Keyboard/Mouse
Tobii Eye Tracking
Use Tobii Game Hub. Supports: Extended View - Eye & Head Tracking.
TrackIR
Play area
Seated
Standing
Room-scale
On-Foot Odyssey content is shown in a 2D screen within VR. Full VR resumes when entering an SRV or ship.

Issues fixed

Permission to dock not granted, but affirmative message given by station authority

This message occurs if all appropriately sized docks are taken by another player or NPC.
If blocked by an NPC, target them and re-request docking[citation needed]
Restart the game in solo mode or wait for another player/NPC to leave the dock[citation needed]

Severe FPS drops while the game is in Borderless or Windowed video mode

This issue is confirmed on Nvidia graphics cards such as an Nvidia GTX 1060 when paired with a Freesync monitor with Gsync enabled in the Nvidia control panel.
Disable the Freesync function on your monitor before or while playing the game.[citation needed]

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 10, 11 Direct3D 10 support will be removed in a future update.[10]
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
Launcher, crash reporter, hardware reporter and USS.exe are 32-bit only.
macOS (OS X)
Frontier Developments dropped support for MacOS in April 2018, without updating the game with a 64-bit version.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 7, 8, 10
Processor (CPU) 2.0 GHz Quad Core
System memory (RAM) 6 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 25 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GTX 470
AMD Radeon R7 240
DirectX 11 compatible
Support for 32-bit versions of Windows will be removed in a future update.[10]


Notes

  1. File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/359320/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (359320) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References