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no man's sky, scan

No Man’s Sky VR: How to Scan & Analyze the Area

This article is over 5 years old and may contain outdated information

No Man’s Sky‘s big new update, called Beyond, is out now and it adds full VR support on top of a new hub area and the ability to ride many of creatures you find on the planets you explore. The VR mode changes the controls quite a lot though. So that you can find out what’s nearby, here’s everything you need to know about how to scan and analyze the area in No Man’s Sky VR.

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While you can still play the game with a controller or keyboard, the controls remain the same that way. Where the differences come in is with the likes of the PSVR’s Move Controllers.

Hello Games has made changes that sees you make movements that are more engaging or attempt to simulate what you might do if what you were doing were a situation in the real world.

Whether you’re scanning the nearby surroundings for useful materials to harvest or searching further afield to find things like where you left your ship, what you need to do is different.

How to Scan & Analyze the Area in No Man’s Sky VR

If you’re using Move Controllers, or really any motion controller on PC VR platforms, to scan the area for things like landmarks and your ship’s location, you need to hold your left hand up to your left ear and pull the trigger on the controller.

The area you need to have it in is quite large, so it’s easy to do, but you won’t be able to scan the land with the controller down by your side of out in front of you.

If you want to analyze the land nearby for materials though, you need to use your multitool’s scanner. To use that, you need to press the square button on the left Move Controller. Square is the top left button of the four that surround the central move button on the front of the controller.

Unlike the analyze function though, which can be used as often as you like, the scanner takes about 20 seconds to charge, so you can only use it once before having to wait a short while.

That’s everything you need to know about how to scan and analyze the area in No Man’s Sky VR. For more tips and tricks on the game, be sure to search for Twinfinite. We have also listed some other helpful guides on the VR part of the game down below.


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Author
Image of Tom Hopkins
Tom Hopkins
Having been Editor on multiple sites, Tom has a wealth of video game knowledge and is now Managing Editor at Twinfinite. He's an expert on Call of Duty, sports games, PlayStation exclusives, and blockbuster action games. If he's not playing the new release, he'll be grinding on EA FC 24.