Star Wars: Squadrons

STAR WARS: Squadrons

Developers
	Motive Studios
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Engines
	Frostbite 3
Release dates
Windows	October 2, 2020
Reception
Metacritic	79
OpenCritic	79
IGDB	81
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Subscription gaming service
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Vehicle combat
Vehicles	Space flight
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Sci-fi, Space
Series	Star Wars

Star Wars: Squadrons is a first-person action and vehicle combat game in the Star Wars series. The game features a singleplayer story campaign, as well as two multiplayer modes titled Dogfight and Fleet Battles. It can be played with and without a virtual reality headset.

The game was released on October 2, 2020.

General information

Official forums

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Download code only, no disc included.
EA app		Included with EA Play.
Epic Games Store		Included with EA Play (Epic).
Microsoft Store		Included exclusively with Xbox Game Pass for PC as part of its version of EA Play.
Steam		Included with EA Play (Steam)
(unavailable)
Green Man Gaming (unavailable)
Humble Store (unavailable)

All versions require an EA account and Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM.

Version differences

Epic Games Store versions purchased before October 2, 2021 included the Vanguard Squadron X-wing Glider for Fortnite.

Monetization

Type	Notes
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service	Available via EA Play.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\STAR WARS Squadrons\settings
Steam	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\STAR WARS Squadrons Steam\settings
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1222730/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\STAR WARS Squadrons\settings
Steam	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\STAR WARS Squadrons Steam\settings
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1222730/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher		Handled through the cloud sync of Origin.
EA app
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud
Xbox Cloud

Video

Screen settings

Video settings

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		Hor+ gameplay.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)		TAA High/Low option, as well as a TAA sharpening slider, and resolution scale for SSAA. Cannot be disabled.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)
Color blind mode		Deuteranopia, Protanopia, Tritanopia

Disable motion blur

Some builds (1.1 and previous) of the game have motion blur forced on with no option to disable it.

Modify configuration files
Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\STAR WARS Squadrons Steam\settings Open ProfileOptions_profile with a text editor. Set the values GstRender.MotionBlur and GstRender.MotionBlurEnabled to 0. Save the file and close it.

Disable HDR

Newer builds of the game may have High Dynamic Range enabled with no option to disable it.

Modify configuration files
Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\STAR WARS Squadrons Steam\settings. Open ProfileOptions_profile with a text editor. Set the values GstRender.HdrEnable to 0. Save the file and close it.

Input

Controls settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Can be found in the settings menu under Controls > Remap Controls > [subsection] > Keyboard & Mouse.
Mouse acceleration		Follows the Enhanced pointer precision option of Windows
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		Can be toggled using the Allow Mouse Functionality option
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping		Four presets: Custom (user-specified bindings), Default, Aviator, Southpaw. To specify the custom bindings, go to the settings menu, under Controls > Remap Controls > [subsection] > Controller.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

PlayStation controllers		DualShock 4
PlayStation button prompts
Motion sensors support
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes	Wired, Wireless (Bluetooth) Controller detected as a flight stick over Bluetooth.

Tracked motion controllers

Generic/other controllers
Button prompts		HOTAS-styled

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Input prompt override
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

• 

  Xbox controller

• 

  Keyboard and mouse

Audio

Audio settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Master, Music, SFX, Dialogue, and Voice Chat
Surround sound		Auto, Enhanced Stereo, Surround 5.1 & 7.1, and Binaural (Headphones)
Subtitles		Customizable size and background
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Audio > Keep Audio in Background toggle
Royalty free audio		Licensed Star Wars Iconic theme plays in the background

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play
LAN play
Online play		10	Co-op, Versus
Asynchronous multiplayer
Crossplay		Supported platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking

Update Easy Anti-Cheat (in case of issues)

Squadrons comes with Easy AntiCheat 4.0.0.0 from 2020. However, several major versions have been released since then.

Manual Easy AntiCheat update[citation needed]
Go to the official website and download the latest version of EasyAntiCheat.exe. Copy the downloaded file into <path-to-game>\STAR WARS Squadrons\EasyAntiCheat. Run the downloaded EasyAntiCheat.exe in that location. There will be an option to select "Current game" and press "Repair Service".

Disable Easy Anti-Cheat

Launch the game using the <path-to-game>\starwarssquadrons.exe executable

Steam users also need to create a text document called steam_appid.txt in the game folder with the contents 1222730, as otherwise launching <path-to-game>\starwarssquadrons.exe directly will not work. An alternative method is to rename <path-to-game>\starwarssquadrons_launcher.exe to something else and then rename starwarssquadrons.exe to starwarssquadrons_launcher.exe as this will bypass the Easy Anti-Cheat launcher when running the game through e.g. Steam's library. This method will have to be reapplied after each update. After a later patch, this method might not work on Origin.[citation needed]

VR support

Headsets	State	Notes
SteamVR
Oculus VR (LibOVR)
Windows Mixed Reality		Requires Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR.

Devices
Tracked motion controllers
Traditional controller		See Input for details.
Keyboard/Mouse
Tobii Eye Tracking		Supports: Extended View - Eye & Head Tracking and Camera Boost. Requires GameHub 4.0 for official support of Opentrack standard.
TrackIR		Supports: Yaw, Pitch, Roll, X, Y, Z.

Play area
Seated
Standing
Room-scale

Issues fixed

Crash at the start of a mission

The game might crash to desktop, right after the loading screen has finished, when loading into a mission in singleplayer.

Lower Volumetric Quality to Medium.

Other information

Accessibility options

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11	A D3D12 API can be found in the configuration file "ProfileOptions_profile" under "GstRender.EnableDx12" but it doesn't do anything.

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Anti-cheat	Easy Anti-Cheat	v4.0.0.0 (2020)

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i5-7600 AMD Ryzen 3 1300X		Intel Core i7-7700 AMD Ryzen 3 3200G
System memory (RAM)	8 GB		16 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	30 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 AMD Radeon HD 7850 DirectX 11 compatible		Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 AMD Radeon RX 480

A 64-bit operating system is required.