Menu Options - Account Menu, Account Info:

Station Username: This is your private name that you use to log-in to your Station Account. As a security measure, you should not share this name with other people.
Change Password: You may change your password for your Station Account here. Your password must be between 8-15 characters in length, may include alphanumeric characters as well as underscores, hyphens, and apostrophes. It must also contain at least 6 unique characters, and one number. Your password cannot match your Station Username.
Station Handle: This is your public name that other Station users will be able to see. This should not be the same as your Station Username, since your username should be private.
Name:Enter your real name here. This helps us identify the owner of the Station Account.
E-mail Address: This is the e-mail address where we will send updates, subscription confirmations, and other important information. So be sure to put in your real e-mail address, and not asdf@asdfasfd.com!
Country: The country you select here determines the payment methods and products available to you.
Currency: Select your preferred currency here. This will affect prices displayed to you during game and subscription purchases, and can also affect the payment methods available to you.
ZIP/Postal Code: We request your zip code for demographic reasons. Get out your tinfoil hats! We want to know where you are!
Secret Question: This is asked when you attempt to access sensitive areas of your account. It is an added measure of security to help protect your account.
Secret Answer: Set your secret answer to something you will remember. Your answer is not case sensitive. Do not share your Secret Answer with anyone.

Taskbar Notification Area / System Tray:

System Tray options: Station Launcher will display in the system tray while it is running. Clicking here will allow you to display panels of the Launcher or to close it completely (double-clicking opens Station Launcher's "Games" panel). If you close Station Launcher's panels, Station Launcher will continue to run until you select 'Exit Station Launcher' from the system tray. This option is configurable in the Preferences panel.

Automatic Updates Preferences:

Keep games automatically updated: You can select which games to keep automatically updated from this screen. While Station Launcher is running, and while you are logged-in, updates for games specified here will automatically download, saving you time next time you go to play that game. (Note: Updates are downloaded and saved to your computer, but are not applied until you play the game.)

E-mail Settings:

Change e-mail address: This button will take you to a page where you can update your e-mail address. All subscription notices, and update e-mails will be sent to this address.
General: These are general e-mail newsletters from Sony or the Sony family products. You may subscribe or unsubscribe to these here.
Games: Subscribe to newsletters for your favorite SOE games here. Stay up to date on the latest patches, expansions, and future content being added to our games.

Enter Activation Code:

Select Game: Use this dropdown menu to select the game to which your activation code relates. Some activation codes can be used for a number of games; your choice here will determine the game on which your activation code will be applied.
Activation Code entry field: Enter your activation code here.
Pre-paid game card checkbox: If you are entering an activation code for a pre-paid game card, it is important to check this box. If this box is not checked, you will likely receive an error while attempting to consume the activation code.

Friends Network Preferences:

When I connect, set status to: These privacy options give you the ability to decide if and when you appear to your friends over the Friends Network.
Notify me when: Notifications can be turned on or off here. These notifications will pop up when an event occurs. Checking Play Sound will play a sound whenever a friend logs on or off.
When Inactive: This allows you to set the time durations of automatically setting status to "Away" or automatically being disconnected from friends. "Away" status will display to others, letting them know if you are at your computer. On disconnect, you will longer be able to chat or receive notifications, and others will see you as "Offline".
Chat: Message timestamps appear next to the chat text in the Chat Window, allowing you to see when a chat message was sent. The obscenity filter will block obscene words from others in the chat display.

Friends Panel:

Friends Sort Tabs: You can sort the view of your friends list in three different ways by selecting one of these tabs. "By Activity" will group your friends by their current activity. "By Friend" is a simple alphabetized list of all friends. "By Character" lists YOUR characters and each of their friends.
Friends List: This list displays your friends and their current status. Hovering over a name with the mouse will display the character name and game/server info, along with which of your characters the friend is attached to. Double-click a friend's name to send a message... they will receive your message (if they're online), even if they aren't playing the character you made friends with.
Add / Remove / Edit Buttons: Selecting a friend and pressing the Remove button will delete that contact from your friends list. Pressing Edit while a friend is selected will allow you to give your friend a custom label, or change the relationship with your friend.
Status: You can change the status of how you appear to your friends. Selecting "Visible" will show you as "Online" to others who have you on their friends lists (also see Privacy Preferences). Selecting "Invisible" will show you as "Offline" to others, but you can still send messages and receive notifications. Selecting "Away" will show you as "Away" to others. Finally, if you select "Disconnected", you will disconnect from the Station Friends network (though you will remain logged-in to Station Launcher) and can no longer chat, or receive messages and notifications.

Friends Panel Preferences:

When Closing Friends Panel: By default, this option is not selected. This means that if you hide or minimize the Friends Panel, you will remain logged into the Station Friends network.
Alert Me When: You can set alerts to prompt you before removing a friend or ignoring a friend so that you do not remove or ignore them accidentally. To disable these alerts, the checkboxes must be unselected.

Game Preferences

Download Optional Content: (Only applies to some games) Any optional downloads for games will appear here. Features which are checked will be included when Station Launcher checks for, and downloads, game updates.
Delete Scan Cache: Whenever you play a game, Station Launcher scans your game files to determine if they need to be updated. The first time Station Launcher does this, it must do a full scan, which can take a while. However, the scan is cached so a full scan is not required every time. Clicking "Delete Scan Cache" will force Station Launcher to do a full scan again. Generally, you'd only do this to help solve problems you may have with the game.
Uninstall Game: This option will uninstall the game from your hard drive, removing all game files.
Game Options: These are additional options that are unique to each game. Most of these options are available within the game itself, but you can set these game options here before launching the game in order to fix possible technical problems you might be having with the game.

Game Select Preferences:

Auto-forwarding: This feature gives you the option of automatically selecting a game to play on the Game Select Screen. A 3-second pause occurs on the screen before the game is launched in case you want to make another selection.

Game Select Screen:

Game type tabs: Station Games are categorized into different categories. "MMO" (Massively Multi-Player Online) games feature large, persistent worlds where large numbers of players may interact with each other. These games will typically require a subscription. "Strategy" games include games where players may battle each other using customizable decks of virtual cards. Finally, "Casual" games are arcade-style games that are free to play.
Game Select: Choose the game you want to play by selecting one of these buttons. If you have not yet activated the game, you'll be given the chance to try or buy it (or activate a code that came with a retail purchase).
Commerce: Some games will also have smaller inset buttons that allow you to purchase a subscription or additional content for the game.
Station Access: (on MMO tab only) This button allows you to purchase Station Access, which provides subscription access to all of Station's MMO games for a lower price than subscribing to each of them individually (the game software is sold separately).

Game Update Screen:

Switch Versions: This button allows you to switch the version of the game you wish to play. Versions will usually include the original version of the game, the test server version where new features are tested, or possibly beta versions if you participate in game betas.
Scanning/Updating/Launch Game: This area displays a notification of the status of the game update. "Scanning" means that Station Launcher is gathering information about the patch and checking your game files to determine if it needs to download any game files or content. "Updating" means that it is downloading and updating game files. The "Launch Game" button displays when any updates have completed -- click the button to play!
Character Select: This drop-down menu allows you to select one of your in-game characters to play. When the game launches, you will automatically enter the world as this character.
Autoplay: This option allows the game to launch automatically once the update process is complete. If Autoplay is "Off", you will have to press the "Launch" button to play the game.
News/Update Notes/Characters: Clicking these buttons will display content related to this game. News will display the latest news for the game. Update Notes will display the patch notes for the latest game update and display server status for all game servers. Characters will display basic information about your game characters (available only for some games).

Log-In Preferences:

Default Account: You can specify the account which displays by default on the log-in screen.
Auto Log-In: If you checked the "Save Station Password" checkbox on the Station Launcher log-in screen, then you can automatically log onto Station Launcher when it starts by selecting this option.

Menu Options - Options Menu:

Preferences: The Preferences menu will allow you to tailor your Station Launcher experience in various ways. Each Preference category is covered separately in this User�s Guide.
Refresh Game Info (Games Panel only): Refresh Game Info will update Station Launcher with the latest subscription information for your account.
Ignore List (Friends Panel only): This will display a list of characters who you have ignored. Ignoring a character ceases the ability for that character to successfully send you messages. The ignored character/person will be unable to see the online/offline status of your associated character.
Update New Characters (Friends Panel only): This will update Station Launcher's Friends Panel with the latest information about your characters. If you have created a character and it is not showing up in the Friends Panel, try selecting this option.

Menu Options - Payment History

Transaction View: You can change the number of transactions or date of transactions to show on your Payment History list with this drop-down menu.
Order Detail: Clicking this button will bring up a detail page of that transaction. From this detail page you can see billing details (including date, total price, which payment source was used, etc) or obtain an e-mail copy of the transaction.

Menu Options - Payment Sources

Update: Clicking this button will display a screen on which you can update your payment source, including updating a changed billing address, entering a new expiration date, etc.
Delete: Clicking this will remove the payment source. You may only delete the payment source if it is not currently being used for a recurring subscription or service.
Add Another: You may add an additional payment source by clicking this button.

Preferences - General Preferences

End-User License Agreements (EULA): Selecting this option will allow you to skip the EULA confirmation page when you launch a game. Note that if the EULA is subsequently updated, you will have to review and accept it again before playing the game.
Mute Sounds: This option allows you to turn off all Station Launcher sounds.
Open Update Log: This will allow you to view the log of updates to all your games in Station Launcher.
Uninstall Station Launcher: Selecting this will uninstall Station Launcher from your computer. Important! If you uninstall Station Launcher you will be unable to launch any Station games!
Restore Defaults: Selecting this option will restore all preference settings to the default mode for Station Launcher.

Privacy Preferences

Future Characters: This setting will apply to any characters you create in the future.
Characters: Settings on this screen will determine which of your characters are connected to the Station Friends network when you switch your status to "Visible" (if you set your status to "Invisible", these settings have no effect). When you go "Visible" on Station Friends, every character checked on this screen will show as "Online" for others who have these characters on their friends list. Characters who are unchecked on this screen will continue to show as "Offline" instead. If you have a popular character (such as a guild leader), and you don't want to be spammed by friends when not playing that character, then uncheck that character's box on this screen. Note that any character you are currently playing will show as "Online", regardless of the settings on this screen. (However, folks that you have on your Ignore List will not get Online/Offline notifications about your character, regardless of the settings on this screen.)

Start-Up and Shutdown Preferences

On Regular Log-In: Regular log-in options occur whenever you manually launch Station Launcher (versus launching automatically with Windows startup). If "Show Station Friends Panel" is checked, both the Games panel and the Friends panel will appear on log-in. If "Connect to Station Friends Network" is checked, you will also be connected to the Friends Network.
On Windows Start: These options occur when Windows starts up, and include the ability to show either the Games panel or Friends panel, and automatic connection to the Friends Network.
Shutdown Options: These options determine how Station Launcher should shut down. Normally, closing Station Launcher panels will not exit Station Launcher (see System Tray section of this User Guide for more info). You can have Station Launcher exit when launching a game or by closing the Games panel by selecting those preferences here.

Menu Options - Subscription Info

Status: This displays the status of the game listed. There are four possible statuses: Active, Pending, Closed, or Suspended. "Active" means you are able to play the game. "Pending" means that can play the game, but that your subscription access will expire sometime in the future. "Closed" means that your subscription has expired; just subscribe to get playing again! Finally, "Suspended" means you've been blocked from playing the game for a number of different reasons (usually punative).
Current Plan: This is the subscription plan that is currently being used. Subscription plans will either be recurring (i.e. periodically and automatically billed against a stored payment source), or non-recurring (i.e. a one-time subscription plan from a pre-paid game card, a trial period, etc.).
Plan Detail: This area will display details of your subscription, and may include the amount you are paying for the subscription (not including taxes), the expiration date of the current plan, or the next payment date for the subscription. The details that display will differ based on subscription plan type.
Next Plan: This will show if you have a subscription plan "stacked" that will be used once your current plan has expired.
Payment Source: This displays how the subscription is being paid. It may show a game card, or one of your payment sources (such as a credit card). You can enter a new payment source by clicking the "Use Other Source" button.
Change Plan button: You can change your subscription plan by clicking this button, allowing you to enter a pre-paid game card or change a subscription duration.
Waiting Plan: (not shown) In some cases, you may also have a recurring subscription plan waiting to take effect after all unused game time (from a game card, free game time, trial period, etc.) has expired.

Menu Options - Support Menu:

Support Site: This links to the Station Support website where you can search our knowledgebase or read our FAQ from questions other users have had in the past. If you are having any problems, be sure to check here first!
Quick Tour: This will give you a quick tour of the features on the Games Panel or Friends Panel. You can always go back to the quick tour and play it again if you think you missed something.
Credits: A lil' bit o' fun!