Datapad

Datapad
Category:	Tool
Status:	Functional
Function:
Stores free-form text and GPS coordinates
Mass:	0.20 kg
Volume:	0.40 L
Data Controls:	[edit] [purge] (?)

Datapads are craftable items used to store free-form text and GPS coordinates in game. You can store 1000 letters worth of info in a datapad. Datapads are often found in  Beds.

Where can I find them?

Prewritten datapads can often be found in game.

Datapads and Economy

When Economy is enabled in the World Settings, one free Economy Datapad is always found among the starter equipment in the seat of the Drop Pod and Respawn Space Pod.

Economy Datapads are datapads that contain prewritten text, similar to letters or advertisements written by NPCs. They are for sale in NPC Trading Outposts. Read them to obtain coordinates of random NPC-owned trade stations.

Datapads and Lore

When Planetary Encounters and Global Encounters are enabled in the World Settings, you can find prewritten Datapads as part of the loot. They contain snippets of lore, unseen NPCs' incidental letters and notes, the last words of a shipwrecked crew member, the last log entry of the captain right before desaster strikes. They make the space feel more alive.

I guess it's fitting. Live by the salvage, die by the salvage. Whoever is reading this - congratulations on the payday.

Usage

Players use datapads as in-game items to keep and share notes, messages, and GPS coordinates.

After you have crafted or bought a Datapad, put it in your player inventory and -click the datapad to read or write it.

How to write a datapad

To edit the text in the datapad:

1. In your inventory, -click the datapad to open it.
2. Optionally, enter a Datapad name in the first field.
3. Type your text in the larger field.

You can write normal text and also paste one or more GPS coordinates in Space Engineers' own format. For details, see GPS.

How to store GPS coordinates

To add GPS coordinates to the message:

1. Go to your GPS screen.
2. Click the copy the GPS button and press ESC key to close the window.
3. In your inventory, -click the datapad to open it.
4. Place the caret into the text field and press CTRL key+V key to paste the GPS coordinates into the text.

Repeat this to store several coordinates in one Datapad, each GPS coordinate on one line by itself.

How to receive GPS coordinates

You have received a datapad and want to see where the mentioned GPS coordinates are in your world.

1. -click the datapad in your inventory.
2. Click the Create GPS Marker button.
   The GPS is temporarily added in grey to your GPS list.
3. Press ESC key to close the datapad.
4. Open the GPS screen.
5. Scroll to the new gray GPS name, select it, and enable the checkbox that says Show On HUD.

This stores the coordinate permanently, even if you lose the Datapad.

Note that not all datapads found in the world will contain GPS coordinates. The Create GPS Marker button will still be present, but will do nothing. If a datapad contains a GPS coordinate, it will show the GPS coordinate within the Content box. They look similar like this:

GPS:SCSR - Station:78288.4641423225:101236.08618027:5737106.67996554:#FF75C9F1:

Activate Show On HUD immediately after creating the GPS marker, otherwise the entry disappears from your GPS list again.

Port size

On small grids, Datapads fit through small ports.

Assembly

Datapads are cheap to craft in any Survival Kit's or (Basic) Assembler's Equipment tab.

Iron (Fe)	Stone	Silicon (Si)
1.00	1.00	5.00

Tools
Grinder,  Welder,  Hand Drill,  Hydrogen Bottle,  Oxygen Bottle,  Datapad,  S-10 Pistol,  S-20A Pistol,  S-10E Pistol,  MR-20 Rifle,  MR-8P Rifle,  MR-50A Rifle,  MR-30E Rifle,  Package,  RO-1 Rocket Launcher,  PRO-1 Rocket Launcher,  Flare Gun