Oxygen Not Included is an excellent survival management simulator that charges you with keeping a group of colonists in the center of an asteroid alive as long as possible. It’s a difficult game that requires a lot of experimentation to meet all of the colonists needs without letting them die, and there are lots of ways to die.
If the game proves too difficult for players to fully enjoy or for those who’ve felt like they’ve mastered the game and are looking for fun things to do, certain cheats can make the game a little more enjoyable or easier to play.
Updated on August 30, 2021 by Ben Baker: Cheats are a useful way to experiment with the different mechanics of a game or to make things easier. For some, it’s an essential part of making a game fun and stress-free. Upon review, it became clear that while this list included various cheats to use in the game it made little mention of how to actually cheat. It has been updated to include a brief guide explaining how to enter debug mode to utilize the following cheats. Two more cheats have also been included that allow you to enter God Mode and discover all elements instantaneously without any exploration or research.
12 How To Use Cheats In Oxygen Not Included
It isn't as simple as you may think to enable cheats, and you will need to do a little prep. The first step must be done by users on any device in order for cheats to be enabled. Afterward, the steps break down based on whether you are playing through Steam, PC without Steam, or on a Mac. Here's how to enable cheats in Oxygen Not Included.
- Create a text file anywhere on the computer and name it debug_enable
- If you have file extensions enabled then it must be titled debug_enable.txt
- It can be blank, its mere existence is what you need
All players must do this. Where this file goes depends on your version of the game.
Steam Users
In Steam, right-click on the game in your library and view Properties. Go to Local Files > Browse Local Files. From there move the debug_enable.txt file into this directory.
PC Users
Find where the game was downloaded to in the computer’s folders. Typically it will be located in C drive under Program Files. If you installed the game manually somewhere else it’ll be located there. Once the game file is open find the OxygenNotIncluded_Data folder and place the debug_enable.txt file there.
Mac Users
Open the application bundle with a right-click and then choosing Open Package Contents. In this folder place the debug_enable.txt file.
All Users
Once you’ve done the above then restart the game. You can now use specific commands to use each cheat. Or search for them in the Debug Menu.
11 Discover All Elements Cheat
Normally in a standard playthrough, you must explore the Asteroid or craft different machines to discover each element. Because of this, it's common to forget about particular elements until later in the playthrough. This can often be frustrating as it requires restricting the base to take advantage of them.
The Discover All Elements cheat can be utilized using CTRL + F9 to have knowledge of all these different elements right away. There are no surprises and plans are much easier to draft when everything is at your fingertips.
10 God Mode Cheat
The universal cheat God Mode also makes an appearance in Oxygen Not Included when you hit ALT + F7. With this activated your Dupes are immune to death and all forms of damage. This saves the tedium of healing them and taking care of their needs.
Aside from making the game much easier, it also allows for additional creativity. Not having to spend time, space, or resources on petty things like food you can now craft incredible things. The base can be filled with complex systems or even be perma-filled with chlorine for farms or aesthetics.
God Mode Cheat Warning!
It’s important to note that some users have reported mixed results with this cheat. The duplicant will be always be invulnerable to death, but some players have reported their duplicants still being susceptible to disease, stress, and other negative effects like normal duplicants, they just never die from it. It’s possible this is a bug in older versions of the game. It’s a horrific thought that you can have a colony of duplicants who can be starving, suffocating, drowning and even have organs shut down from disease, but never die.
9 Instant Build Cheat
The Instant Build cheat is by far the most useful and can speed up your progress significantly. Once you have enabled cheats, as outlined above, and restarted the game then you can access the Debug menu by hitting backspace and from there select the desired cheat or use the appropriate hotkey.
Instant build is CTRL + F4 and can instantly finish any project you’ve outlined or queued, even research. It’s useful for getting a stable base up and running and can instantly finish gargantuan projects that would take a while to complete.
8 Remove Fog Of War Cheat
This is by far the most favored and most tolerated cheat amongst many as it reveals the entire map but provides no other advantage. It’s useful for those who want to plan out their bases and can’t or don’t want to take the time to explore every inch of the map with one of their duplicants.
To perform this cheat simply open the debug menu so that the entire map is revealed, save the game with the debug menu still open, close the game, and then when you load it back up the debug menu will be gone and the entire map is revealed without the fog of war creeping in. If you open the debug menu and close it again the fog of war will return, but you can get rid of it using the same method you did before.
7 Copy/Paste Cheat
This cheat takes a few more steps but is easily the most overpowered cheat in the game. With the Cell Painter open from the debug menu highlight the object you wish to copy, select the mouse icon with the green check mark. Then highlight a new area, click the copy button, select Clear Selection, and viola you have an exact duplicate of whatever you copied.
This can be handy for duplicating built machines, water geysers, ruins, or whatever you want duplicated. Even better is the ability to name and save the object so you can paste it whenever you want without having to go through the above steps again.
6 Paint Element Cheat
This enables you to paint in whatever element they want present in the game. By opening the Cell Painter in debug, selecting the element (water for example), select sample, select paint and then highlight the desired tiles. This will paint in the area with whatever element you desire.
It’s a great way to spawn in more water, oxygen, chlorine, or whatever element you need to keep your duplicants alive. It’s advised to keep the painting to a small area as trying to fill in too large of a space can easily crash the game.
5 Spawn Duplicants Cheat
Instead of waiting for the next batch of duplicants to be sent through the Printing Pod, players can spawn in their own Duplicants at any time. Simply enter debug mode and select Spawn Minion or hit CTRL + F2. This will create a random duplicant wherever the mouse pointer is so be sure to hover over somewhere safe!
It’s important to know that you can’t control what attributes and abilities the duplicant spawns with, but if you need an extra pair of hands right away and aren’t terribly picky about who you get, this is a great way to add to your numbers.
4 Manual Digging Cheat
Perhaps one of the most frustrating aspects of this game is giving a command to your duplicants to dig an area out, setting it to a high priority and then watch them ignore the command. If your duplicants are stressed they may even completely rebel against your directive and the order will never be fulfilled.
If you’re feeling impatient you can manually dig out the area yourself by entering debug mode and selecting Dig or hitting CTRL + F6. This gives you the power to clear out the space yourself and forgo any frustration waiting for your duplicants to get their act together.
3 Teleport Cheat
In Oxygen Not Included exploration and travel is an important part of the game. Granted the game developers did a great job with the pathing system that guides the duplicants along, but if there are a lot of obstacles in their way it can take them a while to get to where you want them to go.
One way to bypass the need to dig a path or wait for them to get to the desired destination is to instantly teleport them there. By opening the debug menu and hitting ALT + O you can instantly transport their duplicant across the map. It’s also helpful for getting rid of a troublesome creature or isolating a diseased or enraged duplicant that could jeopardize your plans.
2 Super Speed Cheat
While the game comes built in with multiple speed settings, some players may wish to speed things up even further. Maybe they have a sustainable base and are tackling a large project that needs little micromanagement or maybe they want to turn on autopilot and watch their base burn.
To speed things up just a little faster, you can open the debug menu and hit ALT + Z. This activates Super Speed mode which is much faster than the vanilla speed options provided in the game.
1 Collect Garbage Cheat
There’s nothing worse then watching the refuse pile up in your base and see your duplicants grow sick and add to the mess. If you aren’t careful then duplicants can wind up knee deep in sewage or be buried by the sheer amount of garbage and filth that can build up over time without proper waste management systems.
For the clean freak players out there you can open the debug menu and hit ALT + F3 this cheat called Collect Garbage performs as advertised and can be used to remove all the waste produced by the colony leaving it sparkling clean.