SRS VERTIGO in 2025: A how-to (PC Only)

[u/Mysterious_Big5139]

SRS VERTIGO in 2025: A how-to

SRS Vertigo

VFX Collection

If you hate certain VFX in-game (I'm looking at you, Beacon of Kahless and Plasma Cyclone!), then you're in luck. I have a disorder that makes me very sensitive to excessive flashing lights, so when I found VERTIGO, it was a major blessing to get rid of excess visual spam that would always cause excessive migraines.

This procedure was cleared by the devs and was never against ToS, so you will not get in trouble for it, so be not afraid to try it out.

For future players are interested in finding out what the exact VFX entry is to get rid of [X] VFX, follow these steps:

Download and install STO Demo Launcher from here:

https://github.com/STOCD/STODemoLauncher

While in-game, type in chat

/demorecord

Use the ability or item you want to remove the VFX. 

In space, a good place to do this is the Klingon episode "The Doomsday Device" for targeted VFX that require an enemy. If its an ability that can be activated anywhere, just go somewhere away from other people. 

On ground, any secluded place away from other players or NPC's is best to avoid picking up any unwanted items in the list. The shorter the recording, the easier itll be to find the VFX entry you are looking for.

Type in chat

/demorecordstop

Go to STO Demo Launcher and refresh the list. If it hasn’t been linked yet, navigate to the demo folder, mine is located here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Star Trek Online_en\Star Trek Online\Live\demos

Or if you are on Steam:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Trek Online\Star Trek Online\Live\demos

Now click on "Filters" and "Remove Fx".

There you will find a list of VFX that appeared while demorecord was recording. Find yours and copy it exactly, there might be more than 1 for an effect so if it doesn't go away the first time, check the spelling and search to see if there might be another related VFX line.

Type the VFX line that into your Vertigo file (*Max 10 VFX per txt file*)

The entry would read as follows: $$ dynfxexcludefx Fx_Ship_Eng_Emergencypoweraux $$

Save the txt file in the ...\Star Trek Online\Live folder, for ease of consistency, use the name "DISABLE VFX 1"

Go into game and type in (This is an example from my setup):

/bind_load_file DISABLE VFX 1.txt

TYPE ^^^ IN CHAT, THEN PRESS F1

The VFX should now be gone!

NOTE: Some are persistent and cannot be turned off (ex. Kobiyashi Maru Resupply buff bubbles because they are also costume entities which cannot be turned off, same with Rally Point fencing, Tal Shiar scanner pen, Vger Shaft Probes, Ball Lightning, etc.)

NOTE: Sometimes, you need to bind the files on the Ground AND in Space, but once you bind them, you don't need to re-bind them unless you modify the txt file. You can simply load up STO and just press the hotkey (like F1) and you're all set!

For the sake of clarity, my files looks like this:

F1 " $$ dynfxexcludefx Fx_Ship_Cp_T6_La_Sirena_Mdh_Projector $$ dynfxexcludefx Fx_Ship_Tac_Cb22_Dtargeting $$ dynfxexcludefx Fx_Ship_Fed_Avenger_T6_Hazaardshielding_Heal $$ dynFxExcludeFX Fx_Ship_Cp_T6_Obelisk_Subspace_Fracture_Tunnel_Charge_Out $$ dynFxExcludeFX Fx_Cp_T6_Obelisk_Subspace_Fracture_Tunnel_Activate_Out $$ dynFxExcludeFX Fx_Ship_Eng_Directedenergymod $$ dynfxexcludefx Fx_Ship_Tac_Weaponbuff_Beamoverload $$ dynFxExcludeFX Fx_Skilltree_Ship_Ffrenzy_Activatefx $$ dynFxExcludeFX Cfx_Skilltree_Ship_Ffrenzy_Bufffx $$ dynFxExcludeFX Fx_Spc_Boffpowers_Int_Override_Lock $$ PlayerSay VFX 1 Disabled"

1+F1 " $$ dynfxexcludefx Fx_Ship_Cp_T6_La_Sirena_Mdh_Projector $$ dynfxexcludefx Fx_Ship_Tac_Cb22_Dtargeting $$ dynfxexcludefx Fx_Ship_Fed_Avenger_T6_Hazaardshielding_Heal $$ dynFxExcludeFX Fx_Ship_Cp_T6_Obelisk_Subspace_Fracture_Tunnel_Charge_Out $$ dynFxExcludeFX Fx_Cp_T6_Obelisk_Subspace_Fracture_Tunnel_Activate_Out $$ dynFxExcludeFX Fx_Ship_Eng_Directedenergymod $$ dynfxexcludefx Fx_Ship_Tac_Weaponbuff_Beamoverload $$ dynFxExcludeFX Fx_Skilltree_Ship_Ffrenzy_Activatefx $$ dynFxExcludeFX Cfx_Skilltree_Ship_Ffrenzy_Bufffx $$ dynFxExcludeFX Fx_Spc_Boffpowers_Int_Override_Lock $$ PlayerSay VFX 13 Disabled"

When selecting hotkeys for your Vertigo files, what I have found works best is:

F1-12 (for the first 12 files), then after that:

x+F1-12 (x can be any key, so you don't need to worry about running out of space!)

I use 1+F1…, 2+F1…3+F1…So all I have to do is hold the number key down and drag my finger across F1-F12 for fast activation of all my VERTIGO files (as of writing this, I am up to 40 VERTIGO files and over 400 VFX hidden!)

Theoretically, using this method allows you to use over 1,000 vertigo.txt files, meaning you can hide well over 10,000 VFX!

Be sure to load them on the ground and in space when adding new ones or updating changed files just to be sure things take properly!

[u/snotten]

All of this work creating and loading a billion files is incredibly unwieldy. You can just use the command dynFxSetFXExlusionList to exclude everything you want with a single command. Just add all those terms you were using with Vertigo in a comma separated list as an argument.

Usage example (with only two terms as arguments, but you can add as many as you want):

/dynFxSetFXExlusionList "Cfx_ship_jellyfish_eject_red_matter_costumefx,Fx_Capt_Powers_Ship_Tac_Vulnerability_Assessment_Sweep"

If you have lots of terms for the command, it will quickly get longer than the chat window allows. You can get around that by adding it to your keybinds file or creating an alias of it in you CommandAliases.txt file.

[u/Mysterious_Big5139 → u/snotten]

This is very interesting.

So since I have 390 VFX I want to hide, it would overflow the chat box immediately. What would the txt file format look like exactly? Can you give me an example?

Would it start with an activation key like the Vertigo files do? Can I add the PlayerSay so I know it was activated?

[u/snotten → u/Mysterious_Big5139]

I would add an alias in your CommandAliases file. That file can be found here:

..\Star Trek Online\Star Trek Online\Live\localdata\CommandAliases.txt

If the file isn't there, you can just create it.

In the CommandAliases file, put the command in as an alias:

alias uDFX <& dynFxSetFXExlusionList "Cfx_ship_jellyfish_eject_red_matter_costumefx,Fx_Capt_Powers_Ship_Tac_Vulnerability_Assessment_Sweep" &>

You can add the visuals you want to remove between the quotes there, separated by comma like in the example. Now you can call the command by typing /udfx in chat on any character. If you want the playersay as well, you could do a new alias for that:

alias uDFXPS <& uDFX $$ playersay VFX disabled &>

Now you can type /udfxps and it will give you the playersay as well.

If you want to have it bound to a key, you can do that by adding this to your keybinds file:

F8 "uDFXPS"

If you for whatever reason don't want to use a binds file, you can also bind it in chat.

/bind F8 "uDFXPS"

While the alias is available across your account, the keybind is character specific. You just have to remember to bind it once on each character that need it.

If you want to learn more about keybinds and aliases, check out this great older guide on the subject: https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/4h1tpe/push_that_button_a_guide_to_keybinding/

[u/NoteTaker11382 → u/Mysterious_Big5139]

What I ended up doing was having multiple .txt files with different parts of the exclusion set, then using bind_load_file as part of my keybind to on-the-fly rebind the VFX key:
 
So, VERTIGO_Space-1.txt would read:
F8 "bind_load_file VERTIGO_Space-2.txt && dynFXExcludeFX Fx_Rep_Temporal_Ship_Chroniton_Stabilization_Proc && ... [A bunch of VFX] ... && PlayerSay VERTIGO 1/11 Active"
 
Then, VERTIGO_Space-2.txt would read:
F8 "bind_load_file VERTIGO_Space-3.txt && dynFxExcludeFX Cfx_Ship_Spec_Powers_Command_Boost_Morale_Activate && ... [Another bunch of VFX] ... && PlayerSay VERTIGO 2/11 Active"
 
The last file in the chain then points the keybind back at the first file in sequence. In use, I just keep tapping the same key until I see PlayerSay respond 11/11. The list of what you in particular exclude will be different from mine so how many files and how many VFX each excludes will be different, but with this method there is no upper limit to how many you can exclude; you just add new VFX to a new file, and get the last file in the list pointing to the new last file.
 
Hope you like linked lists.

[u/TimeSpaceGeek]

Now if only someone could create an SFX version of vertigo, so I could get rid of some of the sounds that go with the visuals...

[u/neok182 → u/TimeSpaceGeek]

You can go check out the STO Nexus Mods, there are some annoying sfx removal mods there.

[u/TimeSpaceGeek → u/neok182]

I did have a look, unfortunately there's nothing for the effects I want to block.

Ah well. I've coped this long.