Tyrian options and display
Setup only shows options that act on the game. Every change applies at once and is saved.
Display
The display options screen (F10 outside a level) and Setup → Graphics share these settings. The same graphics setting is called Graphics on the F10 screen and Sprites in Setup → Graphics:
| Option | Choices |
|---|---|
| Graphics (F10) / Sprites (Setup) | On the F10 screen: Original, HD (AI) or Sharp pixel art. In Setup → Graphics → Sprites the same choices read Original, Remastered (the HD (AI) art: every image enlarged four times in advance by an AI model trained on pixel art) and Upscaled (xBRZ) (an xBRZ filter that rounds edges while keeping the pixel-art look). Also F3 outside a level. |
| Scaler | None, 2x, Scale2x, hq2x, 3x, Scale3x, hq3x, 4x, hq4x. The factor also sets the window size in windowed mode. |
| Scaling Mode | Center, Integer, Fit 8:5, Fit 4:3, Fit 16:9, Fill. |
| CRT filter | Off, or one of five filters: Scanlines, CRT Plus, CRT Premium, Aperture Grille, Soft CRT. Also F2 outside a level. |
| Display | Window, or full screen on a chosen display (Setup → Graphics). Alt+Enter toggles full screen. |
Setup → Graphics also has Visual Effects (Off for the pure 1995 look, Basic adds particles and screen shake, Extended adds lighting such as shot halos) and Explosion style: Classic (original sprites), Retro+ (the default, with pixel debris) or Modern (glowing fireballs and shockwave rings).
Sound and music
- Music Volume and Sound Volume; Enter mutes.
- Music Engine: Classic plays the original AdLib soundtrack through DOSBox's OPL emulation (the default), Authentic plays it through the Nuked OPL3 emulator, closer to a real chip, and Enhanced plays General MIDI arrangements with the bundled SoundFont. If a MIDI file is missing, that tune falls back to OPL.
- Stereo places each sound where it happens on screen; Stereo widening adds pseudo-stereo to the OPL music.
- SFX Variation varies the pitch of each effect slightly; Impact Scaling makes explosions of big enemies deeper and louder.
Gameplay
- Bullet Time: off disables Left Shift slow motion.
- Freeze Frames: enemies freeze for a couple of frames on heavy kills; a boss kill adds a slow-down, a flash and follow-up explosions.
- Damage Numbers: off, on, or coloured by the shot (default). F7 toggles them in a level.
- Combo: combo multipliers in Endless. Campaign money is never multiplied.
- Auto-Fire: both players fire continuously.
- Rumble: gamepad vibration on kills, hits and death.
- Language: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian or Portuguese.
- Mutators…: the eight mutators, applied to every game and saved.
Controls
Key Bindings opens the Controls screen (also F9): pick a command, press Enter, then the new key or button. Tab switches between players, Delete restores the defaults. Joystick sets each gamepad: analog mode, sensitivity, threshold and button assignments. Details on the Controls page.
Mods
Setup → Mods lists installed mods as ON, OFF or ERR, installs a mod from a .zip and opens the mods folder. See
installing a mod.
Jukebox
Setup → Jukebox plays the game's music over the original starfield. The full track list, and where each track plays, is on Music and soundtrack.
| Key | Effect |
|---|---|
| Left / Up | Previous track |
| Right / Down / Enter | Next track |
| S / R | Stop / restart the track |
| X | Shuffle on or off |
| F | Fade the track out now |
| N | When a track loops, fade to the next one (the default) or keep looping it |
| G | Play the current track in every level instead of the level music; press it again on that track to cancel |
| / | Sound effects instead of music: , and . pick an effect, ; plays it |
| Space | Hide or show the text |
| Esc, Q or a click | Leave the jukebox |
Other keys change the starfield, not the music: + and - its speed, 1 to 0 and Shift+1 to 4 its pattern, [ and ] its colour (bigger steps with Shift), C resets it and P freezes it until the next key.
Bullet time
Hold Left Shift in a level: the battlefield runs at a quarter of its speed for 4 seconds, then the effect needs 15 seconds to recharge. The only feedback is the >> SLOW MOTION << message, as in the original.