How to get Cadmium in No Man’s Sky

Time for an upgrade.

An image from No Man's Sky of a spaceship resting on a yellow hill. There are many walkers and floating spacecraft in the distance.
Image via Hello Games.

There are many different materials scattered throughout the vast galaxy of No Man’s Sky, used to craft upgrades for your gear and starships. One of these is Cadmium, a rare mineral players use to craft lategame upgrades. It can also be purified into Chromatic Metal.

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Here’s everything you need to know about collecting and using Cadmium in No Man’s Sky.

How to Find Cadmium in NMS

To find and farm Cadmium in NMS, you must first find a planet with Cadmium as one of its main resources. Cadmium only spawns on planets orbiting Red Stars. To warp to these Red Systems, you must own the Cadmium Drive. When flying, move your cursor over a planet and press the C key on PC, or LS on a controller, to conduct a scan of the planet. This reveals key details about the world, including if Cadmium is present.

  1. Once you have found a planet with Cadmium, fly down and land wherever you want.
  2. Open up your analysis visor by holding the F key, or LT on consoles, and look around for Cadmium deposits. Travel to the location of the nearest Cadmium deposit.
    • Mineral deposits are marked as a white and blue diamond in the analysis visor.
  3. Take out your Terrain Manipulator and mine out the entire deposit. To use the Terrain Manipulator, make sure it’s set to the “Mine” setting, and hold left-click on your mouse or RT on your controller.
    • Any materials you collect with the Terrain Manipulator are automatically added to your Exosuit for crafting.

All Cadmium recipes in NMS

An image of Cadmium in No Man's Sky. This red mineral is used to to craft different warp drives.
Cadmium is a deep red metal. Screenshot by Dot Esports.

Unlike other ores found throughout the galaxy, Cadmium has niche uses. Most likely, you’ll farm Cadmium to create the Emeril-tier hyperdrive upgrades for starships and freighters, allowing you to travel to Green or Red star systems. Here are all of the recipes that require Cadmium in NMS, and how you can unlock them:

ItemIngredientsWhere to Unlock Recipe
Amplified Warp ShieldingOne Warp Hypercore
Two Quantum Computers
250 Cadmium
Unlock via the upgrade control terminal on the Anomaly.
AtlasPass v2200 Cadmium
One Microprocessor
Find the blueprint in random Manufacturing Facilities or Operation Centres on planets.
Emeril Drive250 Cadmium
Four Wiring Loom
Purchase from Iteration: Hyperion for 120 Nanites
Soul EngineThree Metal Plating
One Living Pearl
120 Cadmium
Acquired from -null- during the First Traveller story mission.
State PhasureOne Photic Jade
100 Cadmium
Acquired after talking to an Atlast Interface after reaching the Curiosity milestone.
Warp Core Resonator250 Cadmium
One Quantum Computer
Four Antimatter Housing
Unlock via the upgrade control terminal on the Anomaly.
Author
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John Wildermuth
John is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles and wields a degree in English. He is constantly staying up to date on the latest and greatest games, and has been writing about gaming for over a year now. When he is not playing games, he can be found reading sci-fi and fantasy books or working on ceramics.