Sandbox

SANDBOX
General
Layer & Part		MENU /// SANDBOX
Tip of the Day
CHEATS can be enabled in other levels by inputting 🡡 🡡 🡣 🡣 🡠 🡢 🡠 🡢 B A Enabling cheats will disable ranks.

See also: Cheats, Spawner Arm

The Sandbox is a special map for the player to test weapons, practice combat, create primitive custom maps, and also provides access to cheats. It can be accessed by pressing the "Sandbox" button in the chapter selection screen or through the Terminal. It is a recreation of gm_construct, known as the default map from the 2006 sandbox game Garry's Mod.

Entering this map instantly enables cheats and gives the player the Spawner Arm, which has functions unique to this map. Leaving this map also disables cheats and takes away the arm.

Mechanics

Cheats

Cheats are enabled by default in the Sandbox, and the mode has several exclusive cheats, all of which involve either the mode's save management system or general construction aid.

Saves

The Sandbox can be saved using the Sandbox-unique cheats. The save directory can be accessed from local files in the Saves folder or by selecting the "OPEN DIRECTORY" button in the save management menu. These .pitr files can be safely sent to other players or downloaded into your own saves folder to play another player's saves.

Spawner Arm

The Spawner Arm has unique entries in its Spawn Menu only accessible on this map, which are listed in full on the tool's page in this wiki.

Landmarks

Spawn Building

Players spawn falling directly into the map, rather than an elevator room. The elevator shaft the player falls from also completely disappears after landing. Behind the player is a small, dark, empty building with three doorways and two windows. The interior of the building has a rough texture, and faint lighting along the walls. The right side of the building has stairs that lead to its rooftop and a slope which connects to the dock over the lake. The Sandbox's two Terminals stand to the right of the player.

Sandbox Terminal

A special blue Terminal found right outside the spawn building, alongside the standard level Terminal. The main menu of this terminal displays the following stats for the player's save:

• Total boxes built
• Total props placed
• Total enemies spawned
• Total time in Sandbox

The Terminal also includes customization options pertaining to the Sandbox map as well. The Time of Day option changes the lighting and skybox of the map, mostly based on the dynamic lighting effects found in 4-2: God Damn the Sun and 5-S: I Only Say Morning. Selecting an option fades the sky and lighting to the one chosen, and the Terminal will display a loading screen with an animated bar similar to the one used in Windows XP. The following options are available:

• A dark golden sunrise theme
• The default sunny lighting, equivalent to the original gm_construct map
• A dark faintly purple sunset theme
• A starlit night theme with the area faintly lit blue
• Ditto, but pitch black without the faint blue lighting
• Purple lighting based on the Lust layer
• Yellow lighting based on the Greed layer
• A very foggy setting which shrouds the player's vision with dense fog and faint falling snow particles

Most themes have ambient noises of various birds chirping, while the night themes replace them with crickets. The foggy theme plays a low ambient drone.

The World Options tab only has one setting which enables and disables the invisible Map Border around the main area of the Sandbox. This option is enabled by default and the map border will always reappear when the player leaves and re-enters the sandbox. The map border blocks only the player, as enemies and projectiles can pass through and ignore it. The map border also has a limited height and the player can stand on its slippery surface.

The Icons tab opens the Icon Packs menu and lets the player decide whether the Cheats Menu and Spawner Arm use the default icons, or PITR's own drawn versions of the icons. This option can also be changed in the game's settings.

Lake

To the right of the default spawn location is a lake with a ledge hanging over it on the side, with a sandy island in the middle. This area can be used to practice water mechanics and movement such as with the Whiplash and Rocket Launcher, as well as Conduction mechanics.

Utility Building

Left from spawn is a small concrete area and a wide entrance to a building with skewed sunlit holes in the ceiling. To the left are three rooms: a large solid white room which contains indistinguishable light sources, a large solid black room which absorbs light, and a hidden inaccessible room in between them. Noclipping through the wall between the doorways of the two rooms reveal a narrow room with a white Terminal inside, displaying an e-mail from Garry Newman granting permission for the map gm_construct to be used without Valve's textures. The right side of the building has another entrance, with an outside bridge leading into an entrance to a dark mezzanine in the back. The bottom of the back of the building leads to a small dark hallway leading to a very large dark room, needing a source of lighting such as a Skull, other light-emitting props and enemies, or the Overheat Nailgun to navigate.

Inner Open Area

The bridge on the side of the Utility Building continues to the back of the Sandbox, where it runs along the back wall of the sandbox with a slight bump in the middle. This bridge, the lake and the spawn area encompass a large grassy area for the player to mess around in. Most of this area is flat, except for the land under the bridge and surrounding the lake.

Surrounding Area

Just outside the map border and visible from within the main area are large decorative buildings with no interiors on the left side and right corner relative to the spawn point. The back of the map contains flat dead tree decorations, while the left side contains both the flat dead trees and 3D realistic trees which drop leaf particles when touched.

Outer Area

A large flat open area surrounds the Sandbox. To the left of the spawn point is a bunch more haphazardly placed buildings, with one floating over the void of the map. The grassy area extends farthest behind the spawn point, and all directions end abruptly into open space. Falling into the void sends the player back into the spawn point.

Trivia

• The skybox in this map slowly spins, giving the effect of passing clouds.
• The map was developed almost entirely by the developer PITR, with Hakita assisting with finishing touches such as lighting.
• Internally, the level is named uk_construct. This is a reference to Source Engine map naming schemes, which are prefixed according to their intended purpose; for instance, de_dust denotes that the Counter-Strike map Dust is for use in the Bomb Defusal gamemode, while gm_construct is for the default sandbox gamemode in Garry's Mod.
  • In the Utility Building, between the entrances to the White Room and Black Room, is another barred doorway. Noclipping inside will reveal a gray terminal which displays an email from Garry Newman (the creator of Garry's Mod) permitting Hakita to use his map in ULTRAKILL. The use of noclipping to access this room is also an homage to gm_construct's hidden credits rooms, which have changed over the years but have been accessible through similar methods.
• All brushes apart from acid and lava begin with the word "Procedural" in their internal names. Water is the only one internally labeled as a brush.
• Properties of liquid brushes stack.
• Making the "Triggered Barrel" indestructible, then quickly exiting the menu will prevent it from exploding.
• The Sandbox Terminal's fog theme is an homage to Silent Hill.
  • The fog theme's ambient droning is the song Sourire d'Avril slowed down by about 800%. The same drone is used in a number of campaign levels, and a full-speed version of Sourire d'Avril is the basis of The Spinal Staircase.
• The Sandbox terminal plays The Fire is Gone (for Music Box) like the Testament terminals, rather than instrumental excerpts of Russ Morgan Orchestra's Were You Foolin'.
• Explosive barrels leave debris in the shape of a broken ventilation cover.
• The code to enable cheats in other levels is a reference to the Konami Code, a cheat code that originated from many Konami video games.

Gallery

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  The spawn building.
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  Garry Newman's mail, in which he allows Hakita to put Construct in the game.
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  A scrapped version of the trees. Image by Victoria.