If you’ve ever been mid-mining run on a radioactive planet only to realize you left your high-tier mining multi tool back at your freighter, you know how frustrating it is to lose out on rare resources. I swear I lost half a stack of activated indium once because I was stuck with a garbage C-tier mining tool when I found a massive deposit, after 300+ hours of NMS playtime, until I figured out how to access multi tool collection No Man’s Sky has built right into your inventory menu, no freighter trip required. This guide breaks down every step to unlock, expand, and use this hidden quality of life feature so you never get stuck with the wrong tool again.
How to Access Multi Tool Collection No Man’s Sky for the First Time
You don’t need to beat any story missions or unlock special tech to use your multi tool collection, but there is one small prerequisite. You can only access the collection if you have registered at least one extra multi tool at a space station multi tool terminal. A lot of new players make the mistake of discarding their old tool when they buy a new one, but you don’t have to—you can store every multi tool you find in your collection for easy access later.
To pull up your collection, open your main inventory menu first. On PC, that’s the I key, and on console it’s the pause/options button. Navigate to the multi tool tab, marked by an icon that looks like a laser pistol, and you’ll see your currently equipped tool at the top of the screen. Below it, you’ll see a grid of slots that hold all your stored multi tools. Just click or select any stored tool to swap to it instantly, no loading screens or trips back to your base required.
The only catch is you can’t modify or upgrade stored tools directly from the collection menu. If you want to add new upgrades or rearrange tech slots, you’ll have to equip the tool first, or make changes at a space station multi tool terminal. That’s a small inconvenience, but it’s way better than running halfway across the galaxy to grab the right tool for the job.
How to Unlock Extra Multi Tool Collection Slots
By default, you only get two multi tool storage slots when you start the game. That’s enough for a basic mining and combat tool, but you’ll want more space once you start finding S-tier tools or specialized builds for scanning and alien tech. Unlocking extra slots is cheap and only takes a minute, no special quests required.
- Visit any space station or large planetary settlement and locate the multi tool technology merchant, usually found near the ship upgrade terminal
- Interact with the merchant and select the "upgrade multi tool storage" option from the dropdown menu
- Pay the required nanite fee: the first extra slot costs 5,000 nanites, and each subsequent slot increases by 2,500 nanites
- Confirm the upgrade, and your collection storage limit will update immediately, no restart required
The maximum number of multi tools you can store in your collection is 6, which is more than enough for most players to carry a dedicated mining tool, combat tool, scanning tool, alien tech tool, and two spares for rare finds. I always keep one slot open at all times, just in case I run across an S-tier multi tool while exploring a remote uncharted planet. You never know when you’ll stumble on a perfect tool, and you don’t want to have to discard a good one to pick it up.
You can't discard your currently equipped multi tool, so swap to another one first if you want to remove an old tool from your collection to free up space. Keep in mind you’ll lose all upgrades on any tool you discard, so make sure you move any rare or high-level tech to another tool first before you delete it.
Best Ways to Organize Your Multi Tool Collection
Now that you can access your collection any time, you’ll want to organize it so you don’t waste time scrolling for the right tool mid-fight or mid-resource run. The first thing you should do is rename each tool based on its purpose, not its random in-game name or stats. I name mine "Mining S-Tier", "Combat Sentinel", "Scanning Explorer" so I can tell at a glance what each one does, no squinting at stat numbers required.
You can rename any multi tool by selecting it in your collection and pressing the rename button, which works both in your inventory and at a space station terminal. It takes 10 seconds per tool, and it will save you so much confusion later when you have 5 similar-looking tools stored. You can also rearrange the order of tools in your collection by dragging and dropping them on PC, or using the move button on console, so your most used tools are in the first two slots for quick access.
I also recommend giving each tool a dedicated role, rather than mixing upgrades. Don’t put mining upgrades and combat upgrades on the same tool, because you’ll waste slot space and the upgrades won’t get the full bonus from supercharged slots. For example, my mining tool has all three supercharged slots filled with mining speed and resource yield upgrades, so I can mine a full deposit of activated copper in 10 seconds flat, while my combat tool has max damage and shield upgrades to take down sentinel fleets fast.
Common Issues Accessing Your Multi Tool Collection (and Fixes)
Even if you follow all the steps, you might run into a few small bugs or oversights that block access to your collection. The most common issue is trying to access the collection while you’re in a restricted area, like during a story mission, a space battle, or while you’re being scanned by sentinels. The multi tool collection menu is disabled during active combat and critical mission sequences to prevent accidental swaps that could get you killed, so wait until you’re in a safe area to swap tools if the menu is greyed out.
Another common issue is forgetting to register a new multi tool before you leave the space station. If you buy a new tool and don’t select "add to collection" when prompted, it will replace your current tool instead of being stored, so always double check the prompt before you confirm a purchase. If you accidentally lost a tool that way, you can usually recover it by going back to the space station where you bought it, and checking the multi tool terminal—it will still be there for 30 in-game days after purchase.
The last common fix is restarting your game if the collection menu is glitching and not showing all your stored tools. That’s a rare bug, but it’s happened to me twice, and a quick restart always brings all my tools back without any lost upgrades. If the bug persists, make sure you’ve updated your game to the latest version, as older patches had more frequent collection menu issues.
Now that you know how to access multi tool collection No Man’s Sky has hidden in your inventory, you can cut down on backtracking, carry all your specialized tools, and make every exploration run way more efficient. I've cut my average mining run time in half since I stopped running back to my freighter to swap tools, and I've been able to pick up every S-tier multi tool I've found without worrying about discarding my old favorites. Spend a few nanites upgrading your storage slots, name your tools clearly, and you'll wonder how you ever played NMS without this feature.
