Effects & Sound
The Build and Repair block produces a set of visual and audio effects: welding flashes, grinding sparks, the flying nanobot transport beam, and the ticking sound when the system is working or unable to find a target. Each effect can be controlled per block in the terminal and globally in ModSettings.xml.
Effect Types
| Effect | Description |
|---|---|
WeldingVisualEffect | The welding flash on the target block. |
WeldingSoundEffect | The welding sound played near the target. |
GrindingVisualEffect | The grinding sparks on the target block. |
GrindingSoundEffect | The grinding sound played near the target. |
TransportVisualEffect | The flying nanobot trace beam between the BaR and the active target. |
The terminal Effects controls let players toggle each type per block. The set of available effect types is filtered by the server-wide AllowedEffects setting in ModSettings.xml — removing an entry from that list hides it from the terminal entirely.
Disabling Particle Effects
The flying nanobot trace (the visual transport beam) is the most often-disabled effect — it is the one most visible at distance and the one most likely to be cited as visual clutter on a busy base. There are two ways to turn it off, depending on whether you want to silence the effect just for one BaR or for the whole server:
Per-Block (Terminal)
Open the BaR’s terminal, find the Effects section, and untick TransportVisualEffect (and any of the other entries you want gone for that block). The change applies immediately and only to that BaR — other BaRs on the same grid keep their own settings. Players can do this themselves; no admin permission required.
This is the right choice when only some BaRs are noisy (e.g. a cluster of repair-pad welders close to a window) but you want other BaRs elsewhere on the server to keep their effects.
Server-Wide (ModSettings.xml)
To disable particle effects for every BaR on the server, set DisableParticleEffects = true in ModSettings.xml:
<DisableParticleEffects>true</DisableParticleEffects>
When this is on, the trace beam is suppressed on every BaR regardless of its terminal toggle — the per-block setting is overridden. This is the right choice on dedicated servers when an admin wants to remove the effect globally without asking every player to toggle their own blocks.
A more surgical alternative is AllowedEffects: removing TransportVisualEffect (or any other entry) from the space-separated list hides that effect from the terminal entirely and prevents it from playing. Use this when you want the option permanently gone rather than admin-overridden.
| What you want | Where to change it |
|---|---|
| Disable for one BaR | Terminal → Effects section → untick the specific effect |
| Disable for the whole server (admin override) | ModSettings.xml → <DisableParticleEffects>true</DisableParticleEffects> |
| Hide the option from the terminal entirely | ModSettings.xml → remove the entry from <AllowedEffects> |
The same two-tier model applies to the other visual effects (WeldingVisualEffect, GrindingVisualEffect) via the per-block Effects toggles and the AllowedEffects server setting. There is no per-effect global “disable” flag for those — only DisableParticleEffects exists, and it specifically targets the transport trace.
Disabling the Ticking Sound
The ticking / “unable” sound (the recurring sound a BaR plays while it cannot find a target) is independent from the visual / sound effects in the Effects section above and has its own pair of toggles. As with particle effects, you can disable it per block or server-wide:
Per-Block (Terminal)
Open the BaR’s terminal and tick Disable ticking sound. The change applies immediately and only to that BaR. Players can do this themselves; no admin permission required.
The per-block toggle is only visible when the server-wide
DisableTickingSoundis off. If the server has already silenced the sound globally, the terminal toggle is hidden because there is nothing left to do.
Server-Wide (ModSettings.xml)
To silence the ticking sound for every BaR and every player on the server, set DisableTickingSound = true in ModSettings.xml:
<DisableTickingSound>true</DisableTickingSound>
When this is on, the per-block toggle disappears from the terminal and the sound is silenced globally regardless of any per-block setting.
The two toggles are OR’d: either one disables the sound. The per-block toggle does not override the server-wide one — once the admin silences it globally, individual players cannot turn it back on.
| What you want | Where to change it |
|---|---|
| Silence for one BaR | Terminal → tick Disable ticking sound |
| Silence for the whole server | ModSettings.xml → <DisableTickingSound>true</DisableTickingSound> |
The per-block ticking-sound toggle is independent of the Sound Volume slider — the volume slider only scales the weld and grind sound effects, not the ticking sound.
Server-Wide Toggles
| Setting | Default | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
DisableTickingSound | false | When true, silences the ticking / unable sound for every BaR and every player on the server. Hides the per-block “Disable ticking sound” terminal toggle. |
DisableParticleEffects | false | When true, disables the flying nanobot trace globally. Individual blocks can also turn it off in the terminal; this setting overrides the per-block setting and forces the effect off. |
AllowedEffects | (all five) | Space-separated list of allowed effect types. Remove a value to hide that effect from the per-block terminal controls and prevent it from playing. |
Transport Visual
The flying nanobot beam between the BaR and its target uses the welder transport speed as its travel rate. As of v2.5.4, the transport speed is set to 50 m/s (tuned down from 80 m/s during the BUG-103 work). Per release notes:
Welder Transport Speed Tuned Back Down — purely a tuning change. Duty cycle is no longer gated by the transport timer either way (BUG-103).
The transport visual is purely cosmetic — items are picked up synchronously when the welder needs them, regardless of whether the visual is currently mid-flight.
Sound Volume
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
SoundVolumeDefault | 1.0 | Default per-block sound volume. Range: 0.0 (silent) – 1.0 (full). |
SoundVolumeFixed | false | When true, the per-block sound volume slider is locked server-wide. |
The slider in the terminal controls weld and grind sound volume for that specific block. The ticking sound is not affected by the per-block slider — use the Disable ticking sound toggle (or DisableTickingSound server-wide) to silence it.
The mod also provides an in-world Debug HUD overlay for admins. It is not part of the Effects controls — see Debug & Diagnostics → Debug HUD.
Troubleshooting
I unticked an effect in the terminal but it still plays.
Per-block toggles affect only the BaR you edited — other BaRs on the same grid keep their own settings. If multiple BaRs are working the same target, each one has its own Effects section to configure.
If a specific effect type is missing from the terminal entirely, the admin has removed it from AllowedEffects in ModSettings.xml — the option cannot be re-enabled per block.
The ticking sound is annoying — how do I silence it?
Two options:
- For just one BaR — open its terminal and tick Disable ticking sound. The change is per-block and immediate.
- For the whole server — set
DisableTickingSound = trueinModSettings.xml. This silences every BaR for every player and hides the per-block toggle (since there is nothing left to disable).
The "Disable ticking sound" toggle is missing from my terminal.
DisableTickingSound = true in ModSettings.xml, which silences the sound globally and hides the per-block toggle. There is nothing for the per-block toggle to do in that state. The transport beam never reaches the target before snapping back.
Sound volume slider does nothing.
SoundVolumeFixed = true in ModSettings.xml (admin-locked), or the underlying weld / grind sound effects are themselves disabled in the Effects section. The slider scales the sound — if the sound is off there is nothing to scale.