Marvel Realm User Guide

Marvel Realm is an audio-game suite built for blind players. It uses speech, menu sounds, 3D positional audio, and game-specific documentation to help you navigate the suite and play each game.

System Requirements

System requirements may change over time.

• Processor: Intel Celeron N4020 or AMD Ryzen 3 3200U minimum.
• Memory: 4 GB RAM.
• Storage: 500 MB free space.
• Operating system: Microsoft Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit.
• Internet: Required for sign-in, game lists, game downloads, updates, leaderboards, achievements, subscriptions, licenses, stores, community features, and Mastodon posting.
• Account: A Sonorous Arts account is normally required.

Peripherals

• Keyboard: Required unless you use a supported controller.
• Game controller: A standard Xbox-style controller is supported.
• Mouse: Optional. Some games use mouse movement or mouse buttons.
• Audio output: Required. Headphones are strongly recommended.
• Surround audio: Surround speakers and virtual surround tools are supported.

First Start And Sign-In

When Marvel Realm starts, it checks for updates, loads assets, and signs you in. If saved credentials are missing or invalid, it asks for your Sonorous Arts username and password.

If the suite or a game needs new content, Marvel Realm downloads and installs it. Some updates require a restart before play can continue.

Marvel Realm opens in a normal window instead of fullscreen mode, so it should not resize other open apps.

Main Menu

The main menu contains:

• Game categories.
• Settings.
• Read the documentation.
• Read the changelog.
• Submit feedback.
• Donate to us.
• Quit.

Open Game categories to browse game series. Choose a category to see its games.

An asterisk after a game name means the game needs a subscription or a license. If you cannot play a game, Marvel Realm shows the server message and usually offers a plans and pricing link.

Menu Navigation

Most menus use the same controls.

• Up or Down: Move through items.
• Home or End: Jump to the first or last item.
• Enter: Activate the focused item.
• Escape: Go back or cancel.
• Left or Right: Change a toggle, choice, spin control, table column, or text cursor.
• Control: Stop the current speech and silence the current menu hint.
• Tab: Jump to the next header.
• Shift+Tab: Jump to the previous header.
• Control+Tab: Move to the next tab.
• Control+Shift+Tab: Move to the previous tab.
• F5: Open the Community menu. If a live game is active and no other menu is open, this pauses the game until Community closes.
• F6: Open the Social menu. If a live game is active and no other menu is open, this pauses the game until Social closes.
• Page Up or Page Down: Move through items in the current speech buffer.
• Shift+Page Up or Shift+Page Down: Jump to the first or last item in the current speech buffer.
• Control+Page Up or Control+Page Down: Move between speech buffers.
• Control+Shift+Page Up or Control+Shift+Page Down: Jump to the first or last speech buffer.

Controller menu controls:

• D-pad Up or Down: Move through items.
• D-pad Left or Right: Change values.
• A: Activate.
• B or Back: Go back or cancel.
• X: Read the current editable value.
• Y: Silence a hint, or clear text in the controller keyboard.
• Left shoulder and right shoulder: Move between headers.
• Left trigger and right trigger: Move between tabs.

Menu Controls

• Static text: Read-only information.
• Button: Activate it with Enter or A.
• Spin control: A number. Use Left or Right to change it. Using a keyboard, hold Control while using Left or Right for larger steps when available; using a game controller, press the left stick/right stick inwards for the same action.
• Toggle control: On or off. Use Left or Right to change it.
• Choice control: One option from a list. Use Left or Right to cycle choices.
• Editable text: Type text with the keyboard, or press A on a controller to open the on-screen keyboard.
• Link: Opens a page, jumps to another part of the current document, or opens another Marvel Realm section.
• Progress bar: Announces progress during downloads.
• Table row: Use Left or Right to read table columns.

Editable text supports Backspace, Delete, F1 to hear the field, Control+C to copy, and Control+V to paste. Left and Right move the cursor. Control+Left and Control+Right move by word. Shift with cursor movement selects text. Shift+Delete clears the field.

Settings

Marvel Realm's global settings are split into these sections:

• Game settings.
• Sound settings.
• Speech settings.
• Gameplay recording settings.
• Game controller settings.
• Mouse settings.
• Connection settings.
• Repair browser links.
• Account management.
• Restore default settings.

Browser Links

Marvel Realm supports marvelrealm:// links. Browsers can use these links to open Marvel Realm sections or actions.

Examples:

• marvelrealm://main
• marvelrealm://settings/sound
• marvelrealm://game/open?category=breaklessride&name=rushfare

If browser links stop working, open Settings, then Repair browser links. This registers the link handler for the current Windows user.

Game Settings

Game settings include:

• Submit end-game results to the online leaderboard.
• Ask before exiting a running game.
• Constant camera turn speed.
• Silence speech while the Marvel Realm window is minimized. Speech buffer entries are still saved while speech is silenced.
• Automatically send anonymous crash reports.
• Mastodon post visibility.
• Automatically post results to Mastodon.

Disabling online result submission keeps local score announcements, but online rankings, achievements, credits, and Mastodon result sharing for that run will not be available.

Sound Settings

Sound settings include:

• Music volume.
• UI volume.
• Sound system performance: automatic, low, or high.
• Sound system output type: autodetect, WASAPI, or winsonic.
• Sound output device.
• Microphone input.
• Dolby downmixing.
• Sound reflections.

Some sound changes restart the sound system. If a game is running, the restart happens after you exit the game.

Output type is unavailable while Dolby downmixing is enabled.

Use winsonic only when you want Marvel Realm to send audio through Windows Sonic for Headphones.

Voice Snippets

In Community settings, enable Voice chat to use game-room push-to-talk voice snippets. During live online gameplay, hold F8 to record a snippet for the current game room. Release F8 to send it. A generic5 beep plays when recording actually starts; a generic6 beep marks release. If you release F8 before the start beep, no snippet is sent.

To hear your own uploaded snippets from the server, enable Hear my own voice snippets in Community settings.

Snippets shorter than 0.5 seconds are discarded. Recording stops automatically at 15 seconds. After sending, wait briefly before recording another voice message. Multiple snippets from the same speaker play one at a time.

Choose your microphone in Sound settings, under Microphone input.

Speech Settings

Speech settings include:

• Speech output: automatic or SAPI5.
• SAPI voice.
• SAPI rate.
• SAPI volume.
• SAPI pitch.

Automatic uses a running screen reader when available and falls back to SAPI when needed.

SAPI5 forces Microsoft SAPI speech even when a screen reader is running.

SAPI voice, rate, volume, and pitch apply whenever SAPI is active, either manually or as the automatic fallback.

Dolby Downmixing

Dolby downmixing uses Dolby Pro Logic II style downmixing for stereo headphones or speakers. It can make sounds behind you easier to identify.

Turn it off if you want to manually choose the sound output type.

Gameplay Recording Settings

Gameplay recording settings include:

• Enable gameplay recording.
• Recording format: WAV or MP3.
• MP3 quality: Small 96 kbps, Standard 128 kbps, High 192 kbps, or Maximum 320 kbps.
• Open recordings folder.

When recording is enabled, press F9 during active gameplay to start or stop recording. Recordings are saved in userdata/recordings.

If recording is enabled globally, each game's menu may also show Start gameplay audio recording automatically. Turn it on before pressing Play to start recording after that game loads.

Game Controller Settings

Game controller settings let you choose the preferred controller.

• Automatic: Use the newest connected controller.
• A specific controller: Lock Marvel Realm to that controller when it is available.

Mouse Settings

Mouse settings include mouse speed and Y-axis inversion.

Connection Settings

Connection settings let you configure a proxy for online connections.

Options include:

• Use proxy.
• Proxy protocol: none, http, socks5, or socks5h.
• Proxy host.
• Proxy port.
• Proxy username.
• Proxy password.
• Clear proxy settings.

Use this only if your network requires a proxy.

Account Management

Account management shows your account name, registered email, and subscription status.

It also lets you:

• Open plans and pricing.
• Set up a Mastodon account.
• Replace or remove a Mastodon account.
• Log out.

You cannot log out while a game is running.

Restore Default Settings

Restore default settings resets global preferences. Your Sonorous Arts login, active session, and this installation's client ID are preserved, so the reset does not sign you out. Mastodon setup and other global preferences are removed. Settings stored separately by individual games are not changed. This action cannot be undone.

You cannot restore default settings while a game is running.

Individual Game Settings

Games can provide a separate Game settings section for options that apply only to that game. This entry appears in the selected game's menu and pause menu only when the game provides local settings.

Each game's Restore game settings action resets only that game. It does not change Marvel Realm's global settings or another game's settings-owned data.

Playing Games

After you choose a game, Marvel Realm checks whether the game can be played, downloads required content, and opens the game's menu.

A game menu usually includes:

• Play.
• Start gameplay audio recording automatically, when recording is enabled.
• Learn game sounds, when the game provides a sound guide.
• Read the game's documentation.
• Your high score, when available.
• Leaderboards, when available.
• Achievements, when available.
• Read the game's changelog.
• Game settings, when the game provides local settings.
• Global settings.
• Active license or available licenses, when relevant.
• Exit to game list.
• Exit to Marvel Realm main menu.

Read each game's documentation. Controls, scoring, objectives, and shortcuts differ by game.

In-Game Shared Controls

Games can add their own controls. These shared controls may also be available:

• Left Control or Right Control: Stop the current speech.
• F5: Open the Community menu.
• F6: Open the Social menu.
• Control+Backslash: Open Marvel Realm global room chat and commands.
• F9: Start or stop gameplay recording.
• Control+Slash: Open game chat when real-time chat is available.
• Page Up or Page Down: Move through items in the current speech buffer.
• Shift+Page Up or Shift+Page Down: Jump to the first or last item in the current speech buffer.
• Control+Page Up or Control+Page Down: Move between speech buffers.
• Control+Shift+Page Up or Control+Shift+Page Down: Jump to the first or last speech buffer.

Pause Menu

When a game is paused, the pause menu may include:

• Resume.
• Learn game sounds.
• Online stores.
• Read the game's documentation.
• Game settings, when the game provides local settings.
• Global settings.
• Exit to main menu.

Online stores let you spend credits on game items when a game supports them. Store items can have stock limits, cooldowns, and quantity choices.

Community Features

Press F5 to open the Community menu. If you open it from live gameplay while no other menu is open, the game pauses until you close Community.

Depending on the current connection and game, it may include:

• Co-Players: Users connected to the current game room.
• Mirabilians: Users connected to the Marvel Realm suite room.
• Settings: Community feature settings.

User menus can show profile details and actions such as send private message, follow or unfollow, and mute.

Community settings include:

• Community features.
• Realtime chat.
• Private messages.
• Voice chat.
• Hear my own voice snippets, when voice chat is enabled.
• User presence.
• Announce game room joins.

Game chat uses Control+Slash while a game is active, including in-game menus and the pause menu, when the current game supports real-time chat.

Social Menu

Press F6 to open the Social menu. Marvel Realm announces that the Social menu is loading before it fetches content. If you open it from live gameplay while no other menu is open, the game pauses until you close Social. Social features require an online signed-in account, so they are not available while Marvel Realm is offline or while you are not signed in.

The Social menu is separate from the Community menu. Community focuses on who is currently connected, live chat, private messages, and presence. Social focuses on longer-lived profile activity: the people you follow, public activity, profile discovery, your own profile, followers, following, and achievements.

The Social menu has three tabs: Feed, Discover, and Profile. Use Control+Tab and Control+Shift+Tab on the keyboard, or the left and right triggers on a controller, to move between them.

Feed Tab

The Feed tab shows recent public activity from people you follow. Each feed item usually includes the person who performed the activity, a short activity summary, the target of the activity when one is available, and a relative time such as how long ago it happened.

Activate a feed item to open a small action menu. From there, you can open the user's profile. If the feed item includes a link target, you can also open that target. Some targets open another section of Marvel Realm, while external targets open in your browser.

If your feed is empty, follow people from Social or Community profiles to make future activity appear there. If more feed items are available, choose Load more to fetch the next page.

Discover Tab

The Discover tab lets you search for people. Enter at least two characters in the Search field, then activate Search. Results appear below the search controls, and each result opens the user profile menu.

Use Clear search to remove the current search text and results. If more results are available, choose Load more to fetch the next page.

User Profiles

When you open a user from the Feed, Discover, Followers, or Following lists, Marvel Realm shows that user's profile menu. The Actions tab can include Send private message, Follow, Unfollow, and Muted, depending on your settings and what is available for that user.

The Details tab shows profile information such as name, username, about text, follow status, follower count, following count, and achievements. If the user has hidden followers and following, the profile says that those relationships are hidden. Achievement entries include the game or product name, achievement name, and description.

Following someone affects what appears in your Social feed. Muting someone stops their text and voice messages immediately, including any voice snippet already playing. Private messages use the Community chat settings, so they are available only when realtime chat and private messages are enabled.

Community Chat

Control+Backslash opens Marvel Realm global room chat and commands from menus or active games. Control+Slash opens the current game room chat while a game is active. When F5, F6, Control+Backslash, or Control+Slash closes over another menu, Marvel Realm returns to that menu at the previously focused item.

Incoming Marvel Realm room chat messages are stored in the Realm chat speech buffer. Incoming game chat messages are stored in the Game chat speech buffer.

Global community chat is disabled by default. In Community, Settings, open Community chat language, then choose Disabled or a language. Messages are delivered only to users using the same language. If chat is disabled, Control+Backslash still opens for commands, but sending normal chat announces that chat is disabled.

Control+Backslash chat supports /pm username message, /reply message, /follow username, /unfollow username, /mute username, /unmute username, and /profile username. Command and username suggestions appear as buttons below the edit box while typing. Opening a profile from Control+Backslash closes the chat composer. If a /pm username cannot be identified, Marvel Realm speaks "Could not identify this user."

Profile Tab

The Profile tab shows your own Social profile. It includes your name, username, about text, follower count, following count, and achievement count.

Choose Edit profile to update your first name, last name, about section, and sharing preferences. Share email address controls whether people viewing your profile can see your email address. Share followers and following controls whether other people can view your follower and following lists.

Choose Followers to review people who follow you. Choose Following to review people you follow. Each person in those lists opens their profile. Choose Achievements to review your achievements across Marvel Realm and supported games. Followers, following, and achievements may include Load more when the list has more entries.

Discord And Mastodon

Discord support is automatic. If Discord is running, Marvel Realm can show whether you are idle in the suite or playing a game.

Mastodon setup is in Account management. Enter your Mastodon instance, authorize Marvel Realm in your browser, then paste the authorization code into Marvel Realm.

After Mastodon is set up, end-game result screens can offer a Post results to Mastodon button. If automatic posting is enabled, eligible results are posted without asking.

Scores, Achievements, And Credits

Each game has its own scoring rules.

When online result submission is enabled, Marvel Realm sends eligible end-game results to the online service. You may receive:

• A results report.
• Leaderboard progress.
• New achievements.
• Credits.

Credits can be used for Sonorous Arts purchases and in supported game stores.

Troubleshooting

Audio stutters or clicks.

Lower Sound system performance. Try automatic or low. You can also try a different output device.

Windows Sonic has no effect.

Set Sound system output type to winsonic.

Sound output type is unavailable.

Turn off Dolby downmixing.

Recording does not start.

Enable gameplay recording first. F9 starts recording only during active gameplay.

Online features fail.

Check your internet connection. If your network requires a proxy, configure Connection settings.

Controller changes unexpectedly.

Set a preferred controller in Game controller settings instead of Automatic.

Credits

• Marvel Realm is powered by the Sage framework, developed by Sonorous Arts.
• Game design, programming, sound design, environment, and gameplay by Sonorous Arts.
• Menu music: "Positive Three" by PeriTune Material.

Special thanks, listed with permission:

• Vlad Ciotescu.
• Muhammad Saidinas.
• Milosz Nowicki.