Gameplay

Outlaws of the Old West gameplay is intended to be portable across PC systems and consoles. The main interface buttons are 'E' and the Right-Mouse-Button. 'E' interacts with Items, Vendors. and Structures in the world. Hold the Right-Mouse-Button to use a Tool's expanded functions.

Starting Out
Players spawn in underwear only, with nothing in inventory. Random spawns are in the center latitudes of the Map (middle of North and South). Most random spawns are East of the main river.

Your first goals should be gathering Stone and Wood from the ground to craft basic tools and gathering Plant Fiber (from picking plants) to craft rope. Food is easily gained from bushes (berries), and Water may be found around the landscape. The map is huge, so mobility is a priority; try Taming a Horse with a lasso (crafted with 10 rope). A Storage Box Small is available in the character crafting menu (without a crafting station). A Log Mallet may be crafted without a crafting station to make a "starter home", using only Wood and Stone to build. Crafting stations give many more options for useful structures, upgraded tools, and storage.

Eventually, you'll want to be Taming the Horses around the land, Building a home or town, upgrading your Crafting capabilities, and interacting with other players. After a while, you may choose to lay down a Railroad through the land, and make a thriving city.

Basic Controls
NOTE: See also Keybinds

General Cheetsheet: 'A', 'S', 'W', 'D' move your character. 'E' interacts with the world. Left-Mouse-Button uses / fires a weapon or tool Right-Mouse-Button aims a weapon 'F' or 'TAB' or 'I' Brings up inventory 'M' opens the in-game Maps Number Keys toggle Hotbar items Right-Click item in inventory to use / eat / drink 'ENTER' brings up the Chat Holding 'T' for push-to-talk function Your Character: MOUSE: KEYBOARD: Extra Functions: 'E' to drink from Water source (Hold to fill up item) 'Q' menu to Summon Horse Drag items from inventory to Hotbar Your Horse: (See Horse for more.) NOTE: Controls work on Donkeys. NOTE: See How to play guide for Outlaws of the Old West for more keys and general starting guide (Outdated).
 * Left-Mouse-Button swings / attacks with your current Weapons or Tools.
 * Hold Right-Mouse-Button to aim a weapon.
 * Hold Right-Mouse-Button to bring up options for your current used Weapon or Tool (in hands).
 * Some tools have inner trees of options, most notably, Building Tools.
 * Right-Click or Double-Click to purchase an item.
 * Right-Click an item in your inventory to equip (Clothing, Tools, Weapons).
 * Right-Click or Double-Click to transfer item between containers to default target. (ie. your inventory to a storage box)
 * Mouse-Scroll-Wheel scrolls between Hotbar items.
 * Mouse-Scroll-Wheel zooms in weapon scope / vision tool (Telescope / Binoculars) where applicable.
 * Mouse-Scroll when Orbit Mode is toggled to zoom camera in / out.
 * '1' - '8' toggle hotbar slots.
 * 'M' brings up the in-game Maps
 * Hold 'E' to bring up an option wheel for an object in the world. Left-Button-Click to select the option.
 * Use the 'SHIFT' key to run, draining Energy.
 * 'SPACEBAR' to jump. (Long-press / Short-press don't matter)
 * 'LEFT-CTRL' button toggles a crouch.
 * 'ALT' Dodge while moving
 * 'P' toggles Orbit Mode which may be used to circle camera independent of turning your character. Also allows flexible zoom with Scroll-Mouse-Button.
 * 'K' toggles walking speed instead of Jog Speed (Sprint still works).
 * 'O' toggles Auto-Run (Jog speed without further key-press; interrupted with any movement key).
 * 'F' Accesses Inventory.
 * 'C' Accesses the Crafting tab from character view.
 * 'V' Toggles First Person and Third Person views.
 * 'H' Toggles the HUD.
 * 'Q' brings up the Emotes option, Summon Horse option, and Social (Which seems largely unimplemented?)
 * '`' (Tilde Key (next to the '1') + SHIFT) opens the Admin Console
 * '+' Suicide
 * Hold 'T' to activate in-game push-to talk.
 * 'ENTER' pulls up the chat
 * 'E' to set a spawn point (Works on specific spawning structures, ie beds, etc.). Usually prompted on-screen.
 * Press 'E' to mount.
 * Hold 'E' when dismounted, looking at mount, to bring up it's option wheel.
 * Horse Options Wheel
 * Take All Items
 * Open Mount Inventory
 * Name Mount
 * Give Water
 * Follow
 * Stay
 * Lead
 * Release to Wild
 * Change Owner
 * 'K' Toggles mount walking speed.
 * 'SPACEBAR' jumps your horse (while riding).
 * Hold 'SHIFT' key to sprint mount, draining its energy.
 * Releasing the 'SHIFT' key while jumping your horse, regains energy while in midair (Good way to travel).

Combat
Combat is the aggressive struggle between the player and other players or NPCs. See Combat for more.

Activities
Daily activities may include checking on your Horse's needs and harvesting Wood. It may include peaceful activities such as Building, Fishing, Hunting, or Taming of the local wildlife. Less peaceful activities may include Mining, hunting down Bandits, or surviving dangerous animals while Hunting

Grouping
This is the 'grouping' of players into funtional sections. See Party and Guild for more

Death
If any of your primary survival values (Health, Thirst, Hunger, Temp) reach 0, your character immediately dies.

Death is non-permanent. Your body drops where you died and remains for 1 hour (roughly), allowing you to loot previous inventory. When you re-spawn, you have nothing and are in your underwear, as in your very first spawn. You keep your appearance and gender. If you set a respawn point, you respawn there after death. When you are close to your body, a visible tag appears in-game, so you may find it. A Sleeping Bag, Bed, Hotel Bed, Tent, or Covered Wagon may provide a spawn point.

Game Screen
Where Everything happens!

HUD
The HUD (Heads Up Display) is the user interface on-screen of Outlaws of the Old West

It may be turned off using the 'H' key.
 * Only Option Wheels are still shown.

TOP HUD The above is an example of the player's Top of Screen HUD. Player status are displayed on top. The ridden horse's status' are shown at the bottom of this area. A compass is in the middle of the screen. At the far upper right, shows the game's build version, and the in-game time and temperature are shown below that.

Each Status Bubble has below it a fraction of current value of total possible value

NOTE: Any Health, Thirst, Hunger, Temp status reaches 0, the player dies

Player status bubbles:
 * Health - Player health.
 * Energy - Player usable energy / stamina
 * Thirst
 * Hunger
 * Temp
 * Morality
 * Level

Horse status bubbles:
 * Health
 * Energy
 * Thirst
 * Hunger
 * Level

Compass spins with the direction of the camera. Time and Temperature, as well as current weather change with environmental conditions.

MIDDLE HUD See Inventory for more. The middle area of the screen is reserved for gameplay view and Inventory screens. Horse inventory, trade screens, and Vendor windows.

BOTTOM HUD This is the bottom of the screen HUD, showing the Hotbar, with slots 1-8. Empty slots are shown as empty frames. Selection of Hotbar slots may be through numbers on the keyboard (1-8) or through the mouse scroll wheel. In the above image, slot "1" is selected, noted by the arrow above it. The Right side is reserved for current equipped item, camera effects, movement effects (Auto-Run, Walk Mode). The Left side is where the Chat box comes to visiblity.

Option Wheel
The Option Wheel is an expanded interface for certain tools and placeables in-game. It can be accessed by:
 * Holding Right-Mouse-Button while using a Tool
 * Holding 'E' over a placeable object
 * Holding 'E' over a horse or other tamed animal

FUNCTION:
 * Bring up the Option Wheel
 * Hover mouse over your selection
 * Left-Mouse-Button click selects option (Which may lead to further option wheels)

The Option Wheel allows for expanded options of use, movement, and destruction.

Hotbar
These 8 slots show what you have available to equip with a quick key-stroke or Mouse-Wheel scroll. A small arrow above the slot indicates active item. Drag an item from inventory into your Hotbbar to equip it. Use the 1-8 number keys, or the Mouse-Wheel to select use. NOTE: Resources do not equip to the Hotbar, but food, water, and healing aids do.

Inventory
Inventory is a visual listing of what you have on your in-game player. Inventory is a drag-and-drop interface to allow the movement of items. Visit the article Inventory for more information.

Chat
Chat is a pop-up window in the lower Left of the HUD. Hit the 'ENTER' Key to bring up the chat window. It allows for the text-based communication with other players. It has several Tabs: AREA
 * This chat allows talking to players in your vicinity

WORLD
 * This chat allows talking to players throughout the server

GUILD
 * Allows talking with people in your Guild

PARTY
 * Allows talking with people in your Party

'+' BUTTON
 * Brings up the current online player list

Gamma
Nights get dark. If this does not suit your gaming style, there is an in-game option to increase Gamma levels. Go to Settings ('Options' in-game) --> Graphics to find the Gamma slider bar.

Summon Horse
Horses can get turned around, lost or stuck in objects. If you are a ways from your horse, you may 'Summon' it. It will appear right in front of you. To access, hold the 'Q' key from the game screen. If the option is available (You have a horse and it is ready to be summoned), choose it with a Left-Mouse-Button click. This will summon the horse. NOTE: This only works with the last horse ridden, not with any horses lost while following. NOTE: Horse must be some distance away. If the option is not available, try moving further away from it.

Decay / Despawning
Horses do not despawn. They are the only things not affected by player absence. Everything else will despawn if you do not log in and visit the area of Structures, Buildings, and other placeables. There is currently no decay (?) BUGS: Despawning is supposed to happen after 2 weeks, but is bugged, so some few things may only be 1 week.

History
Outlaw of the Old West was originally planned to later release to consoles such as XBox and Playstation.