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Options

Options menuOptions menu (sidebar on left)

In the main menu, click Options or press O (or press Ctrl + O which works in almost any screen) to access the options sidebar and change the available options in osu! Once the options menu is opened, you can type to search for a specific setting. The search bar's text will shake if the search query has no results.

When a setting that has a default value is changed, the grey vertical bar on the left will glow yellow for that setting. Clicking on this will reset the value back to its default value.

General

General iconGeneral icon

This section is about your account, language settings, and updates for osu!

Sign-in

If you are not signed in to the game client, it will automatically open the options menu on start-up, prompting you to sign in. You can ignore this by pressing Esc, clicking on the back button, or navigating to the song selection screen. By not signing in, the game client will mark you as a "Guest" and you will not be able to fetch online scores, submit scores, or play Multi.

If you are a guest, these options will be shown:

Name Description Type Default
Username Sign in input for your username. Text (empty)
Password Sign in input for your password. Password (empty)
Remember Username If checked, the game client will remember the entered username. Checkbox Enabled
Remember Password If checked, the game client will remember the entered password. This will also keep you signed in to the game client. Checkbox Disabled
Sign In Sign in to osu! with the given credentials. Pressing Enter in the username or password forms also works. Button
Create an account Opens the account registration screen. Button

If you are signed in, you will see:

Name Description Type
Logged in as {username} Display the user menu, see below. Button

If you click on the Logged in as {username} prompt, it will display a menu with the following buttons:

Name Description Type
1. View Profile View your profile on the website. Button
2. Sign Out Sign out from this game client. Button
3. Change Avatar Change your profile picture (this will redirect you to the website). Button
4. Close Close this dialog. You can also press Esc. Button

You can access this menu by clicking on your player card where available.

Language

Name Description Type Default
Select language Display a list of languages to select. Dropdown
Prefer metadata in original language In the song select screen, beatmaps will display their original or untranslated metadata, if available. Checkbox Disabled
Use alternative font for chat display Uses the old font (Tahoma) instead of the current font (Aller) in the chat console. Checkbox Disabled

Updates

Name Description Type Default
Release stream Display a list of builds that you want to use. Dropdown Stable
Your osu! is up-to-date! Click to force the game client to check for updates again and download them, if any. Button
Open osu! folder Open the local osu! folder, which contains your skins, beatmaps, etc. Button

If you open the dropdown list for Release stream, you will be presented with these options:

Name Description
Stable Stable public release build.
Beta Dev build - gets new features early, but possibly buggier.
Cutting Edge (Experimental) Dev build - gets new features even earlier, but possibly significantly buggier.

Graphics

Graphics iconGraphics icon

This section is about the appearance of your game client, parts of the interface and video settings.

Renderer

Name Description Type Default
Frame limiter Set the frame rate limit. See below for details. Dropdown Optimal
Show FPS counter Toggle the FPS counter. This is seen in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Checkbox Disabled
Compatibility mode Use the old renderer that osu! used before with older computers. This will restart your game client. Checkbox Disabled
Reduce dropped frames Adjust graphical settings to decrease dropped/stuttered frames. Checkbox Disabled
Detect performance issues Warn you if another program on your computer may harm your client's performance. Checkbox Enabled

Note: When the game client is not the active window, the fps limit is dropped to 30fps automatically.
Caution to laptop users: using Unlimited (gameplay) may cause your laptop to overheat!

If you open the dropdown list for Frame Limiter, you will be presented with these options:

Name Description
VSync Limits the game client to the refresh rate of your monitor. See explanation below for details.
Power Saving Limits the game client to twice the refresh rate of your monitor.
Optimal Limits the game client to eight times the refresh rate of your monitor, capping at 960fps.
Unlimited (gameplay) Limits the game client to the refresh rate of your monitor. See explanation below for details.
  • VSync explanation: In layman terms, using VSync will force the game wait for the entire frame to load before displaying it.
    • You may want to use this if you see some "tearing" (when the bottom portion of the game is lagging behind the upper portion of the game).
    • Despite what the point above stated, this may cause some lag or slowdowns because the game client has to wait for each frame to load.
  • Unlimited (gameplay) explanation: Unlimited only applies to when you are playing a beatmap.
    • When you are not playing a beatmap, the frame rate is limited to twice the refresh rate of your monitor, or 240fps, whichever is higher.
    • This option is not recommended. Using the Unlimited (gameplay) option can lead to stutters.
    • Using the Optimal option instead offers imperceivable changes in system (input to output) latency when compared to Unlimited (gameplay).

Layout

Name Description Type Default
Resolution Set the game client resolution. The listed resolutions are limited to what your monitor/GPU supports. Dropdown
Fullscreen mode Run the game client in fullscreen (usually decreases input latency). Checkbox Enabled
Render at native resolution Use the full native resolution but will display osu! in a smaller centred portion of the screen. Checkbox Enabled
Minimise on alt-tab during fullscreen Minimise the main window when pressing Alt + Tab. Checkbox Enabled
Horizontal position Adjust horizontal offset for letterboxing mode. Only appears if Render at native resolution is enabled. Slider 0%
Vertical position Adjust vertical offset for letterboxing mode. Only appears if Render at native resolution is enabled. Slider 0%
  • If Fullscreen mode is disabled, Running without fullscreen mode will increase your input latency! will appear underneath it.

Detail Settings

Name Description Type Default
Snaking sliders Sliders will "snake out" from their starting position. Checkbox Enabled
Background video Allow the beatmap background video to play during gameplay (can be disabled per-beatmap). Checkbox Enabled
Storyboards Allow beatmap storyboards to be played (can be disabled per-beatmap). Checkbox Enabled
Combo bursts Allow combo bursts to display upon reaching a combo milestone. Checkbox Disabled
Hit lighting Display a subtle glow behind each hit explosion. Does not disable lighting during Kiai Time. Checkbox Enabled
Shaders Display, graphically speaking, concert-type effects. This may automatically be disabled if your computer cannot handle it. Checkbox Disabled
Softening filter Adjusts the shaders to be less flashy. This will automatically enable Shaders. Checkbox Disabled
Screenshot format Sets the screenshot file format. Dropdown JPEG (web friendly)
Name Description Type Default
Snow Show snow effects on the main menu (forcibly enabled during the winter). Checkbox Disabled
Parallax Show a slight parallax while navigating in-game menus (not during gameplay). Checkbox Enabled
Menu tips Show a tip every time you visit the main menu. (Tips are not displayed in the cuttingedge builds.) Checkbox Enabled
Interface voices Play the "welcome" and "see ya" sounds upon opening and closing the game respectively. Checkbox Enabled
osu! music theme If enabled, the main theme song will play after the game client is opened. Once the song changes, you cannot play it again until the game client has been restarted. Checkbox Enabled
Seasonal backgrounds Use fanart contest winners as the background in the main menu (and for beatmaps without background images). The images will cycle when the song is changed. Dropdown Sometimes

If you open the dropdown list for Seasonal backgrounds, you will be presented with these options:

Name Description
Sometimes You will see seasonal backgrounds for a few weeks at the beginning of each season. The osu!dev team will choose when they will be removed, replaced with more plain backgrounds you are used to.
Never You will never see seasonal backgrounds, and defaults will be used in all cases.
Always You will always have the current season's backgrounds.

Song Select

Name Description Type Default
Show thumbnails Display a preview image of each beatmap's background. This requires the selected skin's version to 2.2+. Checkbox Enabled

Gameplay

Gameplay iconGameplay icon

This section is about settings that affect gameplay.

General

Name Description Type Default
Background dim Adjust the level of dimming applied to the background and storyboard while playing (can be set per-beatmap). Slider 80%
Don't change dim level during breaks Disable brightening the dim level during breaks. Checkbox Disabled
Show leaderboard during gameplay Show leaderboard on the left side during gameplay, both in solo and multi mode. Checkbox Enabled
Progress display Configure where and how the song progress bar is displayed. See below for details. Dropdown Top-Right (Pie)
Score meter type Configure accuracy meter appearing below the beatmap. Note that osu!catch will always use Colour. Dropdown Hit error
Score meter size Configure size of score meter. Slider 1x
Always show key overlay Show the key status overlay even while playing normally. Checkbox Disabled
Show approach circle on first "Hidden" object When playing with the "hidden" mod, show only the first note's approach circle. Checkbox Enabled
Scale osu!mania scroll speed with BPM Adjust speed of osu!mania's scrolling depending on the BPM of the beatmap. Checkbox Disabled
Remember osu!mania scroll speed per-beatmap Remember the scroll speed you had set per-beatmap. Checkbox Disabled

If you open the dropdown list for Progress Display, you will be presented with these options:

Name Description
Top-Right (Pie) Use a pie chart to show the remaining duration before the song starts and the time left before completion. This is seen left of the accuracy.
Top-Right (Bar) Use a short horizontal bar to display the time left before completion. This is seen underneath the score but above the accuracy.
Bottom-Right Use a short horizontal bar to display the time left before completion. This is seen in the bottom-right corner.
Bottom (long) Use a long horizontal bar to display the time left before completion. This is seen on the bottom.

If you open the dropdown list for Score meter type, you will be presented with these options:

Name Description
None Do not use a meter to display the player's hit timing.
Colour Use coloured blocks to display hit timing. (osu!catch will always use this if Hit error is selected.)
Hit error Use a meter to display hit timing. This shows if the player had hit too early or too late.

Song Select

Name Description Type Default
Display beatmaps from This adjusts the lowest difficulty beatmap that will be displayed in song select. Slider 0 stars
up to This adjusts the highest difficulty beatmap that will be displayed in song select. Slider 10+ stars

Audio

Audio iconAudio icon

This section is about audio related options.

Devices

Name Description Type Default
Output device Select the preferred output device for audio. (Options given are based on what your computer reports.) Dropdown Default
Audio compatibility mode Uses the legacy audio engine which has higher latency but is more compatible. Checkbox Disabled

Volume

Name Description Type Default
Master Controls the main volume. Slider 100%
Music Controls the music volume. Slider 80%
Effect Controls the hitsounds and in-game sounds. Slider 80%
Ignore beatmap hitsounds Favour hitsounds supplied by the current skin instead of the beatmap's included hitsounds. Checkbox Disabled

The master, music, and effect volume can be changed elsewhere by pressing Alt and scrolling up or down or by pressing Alt and pressing Up or Down.

Offset Adjustment

Name Description Type Default
Universal offset The offset (in milliseconds) that all beatmaps will use (in addition to the local offset). Slider 0ms
Offset wizard Opens the offset wizard. Button

Skin

Skin iconSkin icon

This section is about skin related things.

Skin

Name Description Type Default
Skin sample image Display various gameplay elements from the selected skin. Click to cycle through different element sets. Button
Current skin Changes the skin. Items in dropdown are based on what is in the osu!/Skins folder. (Names are based on folder name.) Dropdown Default
Preview gameplay Previews the skin by playing a random beatmap with auto mod. Mode is determined on what was selected in song selection. Button
Open current skin folder Opens the selected skin folder. Button
Export as .osk Exports the current skin as a .osk file to share. Once your game client is done exporting, it will open the directory containing the .osk file. Button
Ignore all beatmap skins Favour the selected skin over the beatmap's included skin. This does not include hitsounds (see next option below). Checkbox Disabled
Use skin's sound samples Always use the selected skin's hitsounds instead of the beatmap's included hitsounds. Checkbox Enabled
Use Taiko skin for Taiko mode Use osu!taiko-specific skin elements, if supplied by the selected skin. See Skinning/osu!taiko for details. Checkbox Disabled
Always use skin cursor Favour the current skin's cursor over any cursors supplied by beatmaps. Checkbox Disabled
Cursor size Adjust the cursor size. Slider 1x
Automatic cursor size Automatically adjusts the cursor size based on the circle size of the beatmap. Checkbox Disabled
Use combo colour as tint for slider ball Slider balls will use the current combo colour (usually transparent). Requires skin support. Checkbox Enabled

Input

Input iconInput icon

This section is about input peripherals.

Mouse

Name Description Type Default
Sensitivity Adjust the sensitivity of the mouse cursor. If changed, it may automatically enable Raw Input. Slider 1x
Raw input Read mouse/tablet positional values directly from the hardware, without any post-processing (this is to ignore mouse acceleration). Checkbox Disabled
Map absolute raw input to the osu! window Confine input devices with absolute positioning (e.g. pen tablets) to the game client window only. Checkbox Disabled
Confine mouse cursor Prevent mouse cursor from leaving the game client window. See below for details. Dropdown Only when fullscreen
Disable mouse wheel in play mode Disable mouse wheel during gameplay. Using the mouse wheel can change the master volume value. Checkbox Disabled
Disable mouse buttons in play mode Disable mouse buttons during gameplay. This is helpful for keyboard users. Checkbox Disabled
Cursor ripples Show subtle ripple effect when the mouse is clicked. Checkbox Disabled
  • When Raw Input is enabled, it will display the number of reports it receives per second and the latency in milliseconds.
  • The cursor ripple effect can be triggered by pressing M1 and M2 during game play.

If you open the dropdown list for Confine mouse cursor, you will be presented with these options:

Name Description
Never Never prevent the mouse from leaving the game client.
Only when fullscreen Only prevent the mouse from leaving the game client when fullscreen (this also includes Letterboxing).
Always Always prevent the mouse from leaving the game client in any resolution.

Keyboard

Name Description Type
Change keyboard bindings Displays a dialog which allows you to see or change your keyboard bindings. See Keyboard Bindings for more details. Button
osu!mania layout Displays a dialog which allows you to see or change your osu!mania bindings. See osu!mania layout for more details. Button

Other

Name Description Type Default
OS TabletPC support Improves compatibility with graphic tablets and tablet PCs. Checkbox Disabled
Wiimote/TaTaCon Drum support Enable support for Nintendo's Wii Taiko Drum controller and Wiimotes. Pair device via Bluetooth before enabling. Checkbox Disabled

Editor

Editor iconEditor icon

This section is about the beatmap editor.

These options only affect while working inside the beatmap editor or in test mode (test playing a beatmap).

General

Name Description Type Default
Background video Play the beatmap's background video while editing. Checkbox Disabled
Always use default skin Use osu!'s default skin while editing, despite the current skin's settings. Checkbox Disabled
Snaking sliders Enable snaking sliders while editing. Checkbox Enabled
Hit animations Enable hit animations while editing. Checkbox Disabled
Follow points Enable follow points while editing. Checkbox Enabled
Stacking Stack the hit circles as if in gameplay. Checkbox Enabled

These options can be manually overwritten by using the View menu in the beatmap editor.

Online

Online iconOnline icon

This section is about chat, spectators, multi, and osu!direct.

Alerts and Privacy

Name Description Type Default
Chat ticker Display the most recent chat message at the bottom of the screen. The message that displays is from the current channel you are viewing. Checkbox Disabled
Automatically hide chat during gameplay If chat is open during breaks or in-game menus, the game client will automatically hide it when gameplay starts again. Checkbox Enabled
Show a notification popup when someone says your name When someone mentions your username in chat, a notification will appear. Checkbox Enabled
Show chat message notifications Display a notification, when new chat messages arrive. Checkbox Enabled
Play a sound when someone says your name When someone mentions your username in chat, a sound will play. Checkbox Enabled
Share your city location with others Share your city location in your user card (note that your country is already shared). Checkbox Disabled
Show spectators Show a list of current spectators on the left of the screen during gameplay. Checkbox Enabled
Automatically link beatmaps to spectators Send currently-playing beatmap to #spectator channel when you have spectators. Checkbox Enabled
Show notification popups instantly during gameplay Allow a push notification to display during gameplay. If disabled, the game client will wait until you are done playing. Checkbox Enabled
Show notification popups when friends change status Display a notification, whenever your friend goes online or offline. Checkbox Enabled
Allow multiplayer game invites from all users Allow multi game invites from anyone. Disabling this will limit multiplayer invites to friends only. Checkbox Enabled

Integration

Name Description Type Default
Discord Rich Presence Provides rich presence data to Discord. Checkbox Enabled
Integrate with Yahoo! status display Your Yahoo! messenger will show the song you are currently playing or listening to. This needs to be set from the website. Checkbox Disabled
Integrate with MSN Live status display Your Windows Live Messenger will show the song you are currently playing or listening to. Checkbox Disabled
Automatically start osu!direct downloads For osu!supporters only. When spectating or multiplaying, the beatmap will be downloaded automatically. Checkbox Enabled
Prefer no-video downloads For osu!supporters only. osu!direct downloads will be confined to no-video versions of beatmaps. Checkbox Disabled

In-Game Chat

Name Description Type Default
Filter offensive words Replace offensive words with *beep*. Checkbox Disabled
Filter foreign characters Removes any non-standard ASCII characters in the chat. Checkbox Disabled
Log private messages Private messages will be saved to the osu!/Logs folder. Checkbox Disabled
Block private messages from non-friends Enabling this will restrict private messages to friends only. Checkbox Disabled
Chat ignore list (space-separated list) Words you put here will be ignored. Text (empty)
Chat highlight words (space-separated list) Words you put here will be highlighted in chat. Text (empty)

Maintenance

Maintenance iconMaintenance icon

This section is about beatmaps and updates.

General

Name Description Type
Delete all unranked maps Delete all unranked maps in your songs folder. Button
Repair folder permissions Give read/write permission to the game client for access to its folders. (This requires administrator privileges to complete.) Button
Mark all maps as played Mark all maps as "played". Button
Run osu! updater Close the game client and open the updater to search for updates and download if any. Button

At the bottom, the version number will be displayed. Clicking this will open the changelog for that version in your internet browser.

Debug

Build version

See which build version the game client currently has and which type of build updates the game client receives. Clicking on this will direct you to the release notes using your preferred browser.

The builds are versioned using this versioning scheme:

b{YYYY}{MM}{DD}.{revision}{type}
  • {YYYY} is the build year
  • {MM} is the build month
  • {DD} is the build day
  • {revision} is the build revision
    • If there is no build revision number, the decimal point will be removed.
  • {type} is the build type
    • If there is no build type value, assume it is Stable.

Trivia

  • If you type in a username but leave the password textbox empty, osu! will use that name when saving the score locally.
  • Opening the options sidebar will automatically trigger osu! is up-to-date!'s function (it will begin checking for updates).
  • The Seasonal backgrounds option was added after positive feedback was given to the osu!dev team.

History

  • The old options screen was an actual screen that had tabs, buttons, and a dark pale blue background.
  • The old options screen also featured a skin selection screen that also allows you to preview live play of a beatmap in osu!.
    • After the options screen was moved over to a sidebar, this screen was still accessible by opening a skin file.
    • Access to this was later removed after skin previews and the live preview functions came to be.