Sunless Sea Accessibility Mod

A BepInEx 5 plugin that makes Sunless Sea playable for blind and visually impaired users via screen reader support and keyboard-driven navigation.

Features

• Screen reader output via SRAL — works with NVDA, JAWS, and other screen readers
• Virtual cursor navigation for all UI panels (menus, storylets, shops, inventory, dialogs, etc.)
• Full keyboard control — letter-key hotkeys (I, O, N, ?) for quick access to game info
• Autopilot with obstacle avoidance, stuck recovery, and auto-docking
• Object scanner with compass bearings and distance readouts
• Combat accessibility — target cycling, combat readouts, kill/prize announcements
• Sailing HUD — fuel, supplies, hull, terror, crew, heading, and speed

Supported screens

Main menu, settings, save/load, storylets, gazetteer (story/hold/journal/officers/shops/shipyard), dialogs, log messages, avatar creation, tutorial popups, legacy/death, credits, and sailing.

Requirements

• Sunless Sea (Steam, Windows)
• BepInEx 5.x (x86) installed into the game directory
• SRAL — SRAL.dll (x86, built without UIA) placed beside the game executable
• A screen reader (NVDA, JAWS, etc.)

Installation

1. Install BepInEx 5 into your Sunless Sea game folder.
2. Place SRAL.dll next to Sunless Sea.exe.
3. Copy SunlessSeaAccessibility.dll into BepInEx\plugins\.
4. Launch the game.

Building from source

Requires .NET SDK with .NET Framework 3.5 targeting pack.

1. Clone this repository.
2. Create GamePath.props.user in the project root:

   <Project>
     <PropertyGroup>
       <GameDir>C:\path\to\SunlessSea</GameDir>
     </PropertyGroup>
   </Project>
   

3. Build:

   dotnet build
   

   The plugin DLL is automatically copied to $(GameDir)\BepInEx\plugins\.

Keybindings

General

Key	Action
I	Read current screen / context info
O	Read stats (hull, fuel, terror, hunger, crew, echoes)
N	Navigation info (heading, speed, location, autopilot)
J	Browse log messages (then Up/Down to scroll, Escape to exit)
?	List hotkey bar bindings and state

UI Navigation

Key	Action
Arrow keys	Navigate virtual cursor in panels
Enter	Activate selected item
Escape	Close current panel / cancel autopilot
Tab	Toggle pages (hold, shop, shipyard, journal, legacy, officer)
Ctrl+Tab	Next gazetteer tab
Ctrl+Shift+Tab	Previous gazetteer tab
Delete	Delete selected save slot (on save/load screen)
Backspace	Go back in menus

Story Buffer Navigation

Key	Action
Ctrl+Down	Next part of current item
Ctrl+Up	Previous part of current item

Sailing & Scanner

Key	Action
Page Down	Next object in scanner
Page Up	Previous object in scanner
Home	Read bearing to selected scanner object
End	Engage autopilot to selected scanner object

Map

Key	Action
Tab	Toggle between grid and list mode
Arrow keys	Navigate map grid / list
Enter	Set autopilot to selected location

Combat

Key	Action
Tab	Cycle / announce current target
Ctrl+1	Deck weapon status
Ctrl+2	Forward weapon status
Ctrl+3	Aft weapon status
Ctrl+4	Combat items status

Project status

The mod covers menus, port gameplay, sailing, and basic combat. See the project milestones for detailed progress.

License

MIT