Taking Screenshots

In order to maintain a high quality standard for screenshots, pictures should be taken without any User Interface elements showing, such as the targeting circle. At this time, Subnautica 2 does not have a built-in photo mode or UI toggle, so third-party modifications (mods) are required to get clean high-quality screenshots.

At the time of this guide's writing, it was recommended to install Photomode from CurseForge. Photomode itself is not a stand-alone mod and requires a separate mod to load Photomode into the game. This guide will provide simplified step-by-step instructions for installing Photomode on a Windows 11 system, and assumes you are familiar with the use of File Explorer, file extensions, editing text files, extracting compressed files, and downloading mods from the internet without getting scammed. (Always check links before you click them.) Detailed instructions can be found in the Photomode description tab on CurseForge.

Image Guidelines

This is a general guideline of how in-game screenshots should be taken to meet the standard of quality. Images that fail to meet these guidelines may still be useful but should be marked with the {{Retake image}} template.

• 1080p minimum resolution
• No UI or mask outline visible
  • As of the last time this guide was updated, this can only be done with mods
• Subject should be in the center of the image and clearly visible
  • This rule can be ignored on images showing the location of something small such as Blackboxes or Fragments
• Neutral lighting and background colors where possible

Installing Photomode

Step 1: Choose and Install mod loader

There are two mods described in the Photomode mod page; UE4SS, and Blueprint Mod Loader, both found on NexusMods.

UE4SS

"UE4SS is a powerful tool for modding Unreal Engine games, with support for Lua scripting, C++ mods, blueprint loading, live editing and more." If you plan to install multiple mods, such as Console Commands, this will likely be your mod loader of choice.

1. Download UE4SS from NexusMods. You do not need the developer version.
2. Use File Explorer to navigate to game directory \Subnautica2\Binaries\Win64
3. Extract the UE4SS mod files there.

Blueprint Mod Loader

Blueprint Mod Loader is a "simple and lightweight ... alternative to UE4SS if you want something that just loads blueprint mods or for when UE4SS doesn't work. This should continue working without the need for updates." You will need to manually modify/create some plain text .ini files.

1. Download Blueprint Mod Loader from NexusMods.
2. Use File Explorer to navigate to game directory \Subnautica2\Content\Paks\~mods (create the folder if it is not already there)
3. Extract the BPML mod files into the /~mods directory
4. Using File Explorer, click on the address bar and paste in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Subnautica2\Saved\Config\Windows\. <br>This should navigate to a location in the format C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Local\Subnautica2\Saved\Config\Windows
5. Modify or create a file named "Engine.ini"<br>If there is no Engine.ini in the folder, you can create a text file and rename it with a .ini extension. If you do not have file extensions visible, copy and paste the "Game User Settings" file and rename the copy to "Engine", then erase the contents of the file.
6. Copy and paste the following text into Engine.ini:<br>[/Game/Loaders/SN2_ClientBPLoader/WBP_SN2_BPLoader.WBP_SN2_BPLoader_C]<br>Mods=Photomode<br>then save the file. If the Loaders line is already present from other mods, just add the Mods=Photomode line.

Step 2: Installation

1. Download Photomode from Curseforge.
2. Use File Explorer to navigate to the Subnautica 2 game directory \Subnautica2\Content\Paks
3. Depending on which mod loader you have chosen:
   • For UE4SS, create the folder \LogicMods
   • For BPML, create the folder \~mods<br> and extract the downloaded files into there.

Keyboard & Mouse Instructions

The camera disconnects from the player's body, and can be controlled as normal, except the "move down" key is X. The UI will remain visible in game, while screenshots will not show any UI elements. Screenshots will be created at the same resolution the game is configured to display.

Photos are saved in the directory %LOCALAPPDATA%\Subnautica2\Saved\Screenshots\Windows