Does Custom Game Count Toward Any Achievement In Nms

No, custom game settings do not count toward any achievement in NMS.

Have you been tinkering with custom settings in No Man’s Sky and wondering if your progress still counts? It’s a fair question, especially when you’re chasing those coveted achievements. Many players enjoy the flexibility custom games offer but are also dedicated to earning all available rewards. So, let’s get straight to the point, does custom game count toward any achievement in NMS? We explore this topic to clear the air.

Does Custom Game Count Toward Any Achievement in NMS?

Let’s dive deep into the world of No Man’s Sky and explore a question many players have: Do those fun custom game settings affect your journey to earn achievements? It’s a great question, especially if you’re eager to get all those shiny badges while playing your way.

Understanding No Man’s Sky Achievements

Before we get into the specifics of custom games, let’s briefly talk about achievements in No Man’s Sky. Achievements are like in-game goals. When you complete them, you usually get a little notification, and they’re listed on your gaming platform. These achievements push you to try different things in the game, from traveling vast distances to reaching milestones in combat or building. Many players enjoy the sense of accomplishment they bring.

These achievements are designed for the standard game experience where you start with certain defaults and have to progress through the game’s challenges. They often require time, effort, and a bit of skill to accomplish. This naturally leads to the question about the effect of playing a custom game.

Standard Game Mode and Achievements

The regular game mode of No Man’s Sky, which includes Normal, Survival, and Permadeath modes, is where these achievements are primarily designed to be earned. When you embark on a new journey using one of these modes, the game is tracking everything and will reward you with achievements as you meet the required criteria. These modes represent the intended player experience and the developers built the achievement system around it. So, how does this change when we tweak things?

What is a Custom Game?

No Man’s Sky offers a cool feature: the ability to create your own custom game. Here you can adjust many aspects of the game to your liking. Want a super easy experience where resources are plenty and damage is minimal? Go ahead! Or perhaps you’re craving a truly difficult experience with constant storms and aggressive sentinels? Custom games give you the control to do that. You get to tweak settings like:

Difficulty: Adjust the challenge from easy to very hard.
Resource Availability: Control how much of each resource you find.
Crafting: Change the cost of blueprints.
Combat: Modify the strength and aggressiveness of enemies.
Survival: Change how often you need to recharge life support, environmental protection, and other things.
Movement: Change the jetpack fuel usage and speed of movement
Economy: Change the prices at traders and how many resources that are available
Multiplayer: Control who can see and interact with your game.

These settings let you completely alter the game, creating different ways of experiencing the universe.

The Impact of Custom Settings on Achievements

Here is the crux of the matter. While custom game settings allow for incredible gameplay variation, they also affect the way achievements work. In general, most achievements are disabled when playing on a custom setting. This means you could accomplish some pretty impressive feats in a custom game, but the game will not recognize it as achievement criteria and wont reward you with the associated achievement. The game flags any custom game as “modified” and doesn’t allow many achievements to be awarded.

Why Are Achievements Disabled in Custom Games?

This restriction is in place to make sure that achievements retain their meaning. If you could get all achievements by setting the game to super easy mode, they wouldn’t feel very special. The developers wanted to create a balance so that the players are rewarded for taking on the challenges of the base game. Custom games are meant for experimentation, enjoyment, and to allow a greater scope of players to engage with the game regardless of skill, it is not meant to be a shortcut around the achievement system.

Exceptions to the Rule: Certain Achievements Can Still Be Earned

It is important to note, that not all achievements are disabled in custom games, and there are certain exceptions that may still be possible. Typically, these would be achievements that are less reliant on the core difficulty settings, and more focused on milestones or exploration. However, be cautious because the behavior of these achievements in custom settings can sometimes be inconsistent or even buggy and it is not a reliable method to aim to earn achievements.

Which Achievements Might Still be Possible in Custom Games?

Exploration based achievements: Achievements that require you to travel to certain planets or reach various milestones related to distances may sometimes still be earned. However, many have requirements that depend on base game mechanics, so this is very unreliable.
Milestone achievements: Some of the milestone achievements, like the ones related to interacting with alien technology or structures, might still be achievable in a custom setting. It is however very unreliable as the game often disables this and you are better off playing on standard settings to try and earn milestones.
Certain Collection Achievements: Some achievements that require you to collect resources or specific items could also be possible. However, this is often disabled, as resource gathering is heavily modified by custom settings.

Important Note: While these might be possible, they are not guaranteed. The game is designed to disable most achievements in custom mode, so if you care about achievements, it’s better to play in the standard game modes. Don’t rely on custom games to get through your achievements list as it’s unreliable and may not work.

How to Tell if Achievements Are Active

Figuring out if achievements are active can be a little bit difficult. When you’re in a custom game, there is no visual indicator to show which achievements are still available. Sometimes, when earning an achievement, it won’t pop up in game and this might indicate that you have disabled achievements in this save game by using a custom setting. The best approach is to treat any custom game as one where you won’t be able to earn the majority of achievements, and it should never be the primary intention of playing a custom game if you are aiming to collect all of the achievements in the game.

To check the state of your achievements, you should check the platform achievements on the game launcher you are using, or your console achievements panel. If the achievement was not awarded after meeting criteria, it usually means your gameplay session is affected by custom settings and achievements are blocked.

Strategies for Achievement Hunting

If you are keen on earning achievements, you need to play in the standard modes of the game, and ensure that you do not change any game settings. Here are a few tips that may help you:

Start in Normal Mode: If you are new to the game or just want a balanced experience, normal mode will be your best friend. It is the standard game mode, and all achievements are active in this mode.
Go for Survival: If you are keen to get some challenging achievements, survival mode will offer you the extra challenge you need to get to those achievements. However, it is much more difficult than normal mode so you should keep this in mind when selecting your difficulty.
Test the waters in Permadeath: If you are an experienced player that wants an extreme challenge, then playing in permadeath mode may allow you to get some specific achievements. This mode is extremely challenging so keep this in mind when making your choice.
Don’t use custom settings: If you want achievements, its best not to use custom settings. Any setting adjustment is likely going to disable many of the achievements.
Plan ahead: Check what is required for specific achievements. Some may require a specific play style. For example, exploration achievements may require you to travel to specific systems, and combat achievements might require you to be skilled in combat.
Don’t be afraid to look for guides: If you are stuck on a specific achievement, there are many guides online that will help you progress towards that particular achievement.

Custom Games: A Great Way to Experience No Man’s Sky Differently

Even though custom games are not ideal for achievement hunting, they’re an excellent way to enjoy No Man’s Sky in a different way. You can use them for many purposes:

Learning the game: They can be a safe environment for beginners to learn the game without too much risk or punishment.
Relaxing and exploring: If you just want to relax and fly around different planets without all the stress, a custom game can be an ideal space for this.
Experimental builds: If you want to try out different things like a crazy base build, or a particular type of spaceship, custom games allow this without requiring a ton of grinding.
Creative Storytelling: Some people use these custom settings to create their own stories and adventures and share with their friends.

Using Custom Games to Practice

One of the great aspects of custom games is that you can use them as a training ground. If you are having difficulty with any aspect of the base game, then this can be a great way to improve in a safe environment:

Combat training: You can make combat easier to practice fighting different types of enemies, and learning the best strategies.
Base building: You can give yourself the resources you need to build amazing bases without having to worry about constant resource gathering. This is good to practice different layout and architectural techniques.
Flight control: You can practice flying with lower resource costs in a low risk setting without being punished by crashing your spaceship.

It’s all about finding what suits your play style and goals. Custom games add another layer to No Man’s Sky, giving you much more freedom in the experience you want to create. They are another way to enjoy the game.

In conclusion, while custom games provide amazing flexibility and customization options in No Man’s Sky, they are not the correct avenue if your primary objective is earning achievements. These features are designed to allow players to play the game in a multitude of ways, and should not be considered an “easy mode” to acquire achievements. To make sure you are on the right path to acquiring those achievements, it is recommended to play the game in its standard modes such as Normal, Survival or Permadeath, and avoid using the custom game options.

4.0 Guide to Gamemodes & Custom Difficulty in No Man's Sky Waypoint Update 2022 Permadeath, Relaxed+

Final Thoughts

Custom game settings in No Man’s Sky provide great flexibility, but they must not affect core gameplay achievements. Achievements rely on specific parameters within the standard experience.

Therefore, playing with custom settings will generally prevent you from earning them. Does custome game count toward any achievement in nms? No, it does not.