CreativeSpectatorMode [StationeersLaunchPad]

Creative Spectator Mode

Free-fly camera for creative worlds — detach the view from your astronaut, glide around the base for screenshots and cinematics, jump between named camera bookmarks, then snap back to first-person control with one hotkey.

Why this mod?

• Stationeers in creative mode is perfect for building huge stations — but the default camera stays glued to your helmet. This mod adds a lightweight spectator-style camera so you can orbit your creation without moving the character.
• Your body stays put while you scout angles: movement input and mouse look drive only the detached camera, not the human rig (see technical notes below).
• Drop / throw from camera: items in your active hand are dropped or thrown along the camera forward (and over the network, using the same precision-placement message vanilla uses for client to dedicated server placement) instead of from your helmet.
• Carry handles at camera: gas tanks, chests, and other draggable things grab from the camera reach (3 m) and stay parented to the camera while you fly, so you can reposition them without walking the body.
• Distant screens stay visible: console / computer screens use the spectator camera for both their distance culling and the in-front-of-screen activation zone, so flying up to a far panel actually lights it up instead of leaving a black slab.
• Configurable fly speed, smoothing, and optional on-screen banners — editable in BepInEx or in-game from the bookmark window’s Settings…. All keys bind in the game’s own Settings → Controls.

Camera bookmarks

• Save (default F11): adds a numbered bookmark (`Bookmark 1`, `Bookmark 2`, …) using the current camera pose. Works in normal play or spectator. By design it does not move which bookmark the recall key (F12) jumps to.
• Recall (default F12): jumps to the bookmark you marked for recall. With AllowRecallBookmarkOutsideSpectator turned on, F12 also enters spectator first if you weren’t already in it.
• Bookmark UI (default F7): pinnable window to manage the list — name / rename entries (up to 128 per save), Go to jump, Set recall to choose F12’s target, save current view (add new vs replace existing, with optional “use for recall hotkey”), and Delete with confirm. The window header has Settings (mirrors the BepInEx values), Close, and ? help; Escape still opens the pause menu while it’s open. The window hides while the game is paused and returns on resume.
• Persistence: bookmarks are pretty-printed JSON and written to two locations so reloads always find them — a station sidecar in your save folder (Documents/My Games/Stationeers/saves/<your-station>/CreativeSpectatorMode_camera_bookmarks.json) and a per-world mirror under Application.persistentDataPath. Each PC keeps its own files in multiplayer (bookmarks are not synced over the network).

How to use

• Load or start a world in Creative game mode.
• Assign keys under Settings → Controls → Creative Spectator Mode: Creative Spectator Toggle (default F10), Creative Spectator Bookmark Save (default F11), Creative Spectator Bookmark Recall (default F12), and Creative Spectator Bookmark UI (default F7).
• Press the toggle key to enter spectator mode — you will see a short confirmation if banners are enabled.
• Mouse: look around. WASD + ascend/descend keys: fly relative to horizontal facing (same movement keys you use on foot).
• Use the bookmark keys / window above to save and revisit angles.
• Press the toggle key again to exit; your camera returns to the character and culling / third-person state are restored.

Configuration

In-game: Settings → Controls → Creative Spectator Mode — toggle, bookmark save, bookmark recall, and bookmark UI use the same key rebinding UI as vanilla controls; saved with your other keybinds.

BepInEx mod config (optional tweaks; same fields are editable in-game from the bookmark window Settings…):

• FlySpeedMetersPerSecond — Free-fly speed in m/s (default matches vanilla character max walk ~4, slightly higher).
• FlyMoveSmoothTimeSeconds — WASD fly smoothing (0 disables).
• ShowToggleBanner — Short on-screen messages when toggling spectator on/off and for bookmark save / recall / empty recall (when enabled).
• AllowRecallBookmarkOutsideSpectator — If true, the bookmark recall key also works when you are not in spectator: you enter spectator (creative only) and the camera jumps to the recall bookmark.

Requirements

• BepInEx installed for Stationeers
• StationeersLaunchPad plugin

Support

Reach out in the Orbital Foundry Discord.

Credits

• Built for the Stationeers modding community — enjoy your builds from every angle.