Files
BT411/docs/CONTROLS.md
T
arcattackandClaude Opus 5 12d6862c1f keylight: unship it -- opt-in (BT_KEYLIGHT=1), gone from all player docs
Operator decision: the player base is not on Windows 11, so the RGB keyboard
mirror should not be shipped or promised.  The feature is NOT deleted -- Cyd's
implementation stays intact behind the gate for whoever wants it -- it is
simply off by default and invisible:

  * PadRIO gate flips from opt-out (BT_KEYLIGHT=0 disables) to OPT-IN
    (BT_KEYLIGHT=1 enables).  Default boots produce zero keylight lines, and a
    stub build and a real build now behave identically for players: nothing.
  * Removed from every user-facing artifact: the README paragraph, the
    CONTROLS.md section, the CONTROLS.html footer line.
  * environ.ini template: the entry stays (it is the discoverable home for the
    opt-in) but now says OFF-unless-1, Windows 11 22H2+, and why it is
    unshipped.
  * mkdist's cut-time stub warning removed -- it existed to protect a README
    promise that no longer exists.
  * context/glass-cockpit.md records the decision, the opt-in, and the
    build-time SDK stub gate in one place.

VERIFIED: default boot logs zero keylight lines; BT_KEYLIGHT=1 engages the
feature (the stub on this machine: its one honest log line + the key map).
All three console suites pass; checkctx CLEAN.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-26 17:06:00 -05:00

115 lines
5.5 KiB
Markdown

# BattleTech 4.11 — controls reference
Two ways to fly: the **keyboard/pad** (the ~25 core actions) and the **cockpit panel**, where
every one of the pod's 72 illuminated buttons is mouse-clickable exactly where it sat in the
cabinet. Left-click presses; **right-click latches** a button held.
Rebind keys in `content\bindings.txt` (delete it to regenerate the defaults). Upgrading from a
pre-board build migrates your file automatically: rows you authored and the joystick wizard's
section are kept and beat the new defaults; the old stock layout is replaced; the previous file
is saved as `bindings.old.txt`.
Cockpit layout and display sizes live in `content\environ.ini` (likewise self-documenting).
---
## Keyboard — the keyboard IS the button board
The letter and number rows are the MFD button banks, laid out where they sit on the panel.
Flight lives on the number pad so the board stays free.
### Flight — the number pad
| Key | Action | | Key | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NumPad 8 / 2 | torso aim up / down | | NumPad 7 / 9 | left / right pedal |
| NumPad 4 / 6 | torso twist left / right | | NumPad 5 | all stop |
| NumPad 0, Space | main trigger | | NumPad 1 / 3 / . | pinky / middle / upper |
| Shift / Ctrl | throttle up / down (the lever sticks) | | Alt | reverse thrust |
| ← ↓ → | look left / behind / right | | ↑ | torso centre |
| ` | cockpit / chase camera | | PgUp / PgDn | volume up / down (saved) |
**You spawn in BASIC control mode.** In BASIC the stick steers and the pedals do nothing.
Press **F7** once for MID, where the pedals steer and the stick twists the torso — the full
pod experience. If "turning doesn't work", this is why.
### The panel — letter and number rows
```
UPPER DISPLAYS Heat / coolant Engineering Comm / hotbox
top row 1 2 3 4 | 5 6 7 8 | 9 0 - =
bottom row Q W E R | T Y U I | O P [ ]
0x2F..0x2C 0x27..0x24 0x37..0x34
0x2B..0x28 0x23..0x20 0x33..0x30
LOWER DISPLAYS Left Weapons Right Weapons
top row A S D F (G unbound) H J K L
bottom row Z X C V (B unbound) N M , .
0x0F..0x0C 0x07..0x04
0x0B..0x08 0x03..0x00
COLUMNS beside the map
left F1 zoom+ F2 zoom- F3 thermal F4 CROUCH F5 lamp F6 display
right F7 control mode F8 - F9..F12 Generators A-D
```
G and B are deliberately unbound: they are the physical gap between the lower clusters.
**1 2 3 Q W E are the coolant valves** and the detents run 1 - 5 - 50 (max) - **0 (CLOSED)** -
back to 1. One press past max shuts that loop off and everything on it overheats; boosting one
loop starves the others, since the supply is shared. **4** is the flush (hold it) and **R**
re-balances every valve.
The weapon and engineering displays are **page-gated**: on the Quad page the outer buttons jump
to a populated Eng page; on an Eng page they drive generator select A-D, bus mode, coolant
toggle, trigger configure, and **eject** (tap to clear a jam, hold ~3 s to jettison a burning
ammo bay before it detonates).
### What a bound key gives up
Binding a key removes it from the authentic 1995 typed-hotkey channel so it cannot
double-dispatch. This board binds nearly everything, so those hotkeys are given up by design:
`5` = MFD1 Quad page, `z` = MFD3 Eng1, `t/y/u/i/o` = pilot select, `+`/`-` = target zoom.
Unbind a key in `bindings.txt` to get its 1995 meaning back. (The old `-`/`=` VOLUME keys
moved to **PgUp/PgDn** -- they no longer share a key with anything, in any layout.) Same rule for the built-ins:
**`** is the view toggle (V is a board button now), and J/K/L cycle the MFD preset pages only
while unbound.
Addresses with no function at all — the pod never wired them — are `0x16` `0x17` `0x19`
`0x1E` `0x1F` and `0x38`-`0x3E`.
## Controllers
An **Xbox controller** works out of the box.
**Flight sticks, HOTAS and pedals:** run `joyconfig.bat` once. A wizard asks you to move each
control in turn — stick, twist, throttle, fire buttons — writes the bindings, and drops you into
the solo menu to try them. It only rewrites its own section of `bindings.txt`, so hand edits
elsewhere in the file survive.
**Mouse buttons** are bindable like any key — `MOUSE4`, `MOUSE5` (the side buttons),
`MOUSEMIDDLE`, and `MOUSELEFT`/`MOUSERIGHT`. The side and middle buttons are the free ones; left
and right are how you press cockpit buttons, so binding those fires on every panel click too.
Mouse *movement* is not bindable — see `docs/MOUSELOOK_PLAN.md`.
```
key MOUSE4 button 0x40 # side button = main trigger
key MOUSE5 button 0x46 # side button = middle thumb
```
---
## Cockpit layout
Set these in `content\environ.ini`:
- **`BT_MFD_SCALE`** (and `_UL`/`_UC`/`_UR`/`_LL`/`_LR`) — size of the five MFDs, as a percentage
of their pod size. Turn them up if you want to actually read them while you fly.
- **`BT_RADAR_SCALE`**, **`BT_RADAR_POS`** — size the map, and move it out of the middle of the
road: `CENTER`, `LEFT`, `RIGHT`, `MIDLEFT`, `MIDRIGHT`.
- **`BT_GLASS_PANELS=1`** — break every display out into its own desktop window instead of the
composited cockpit. Good for reading one display at full size.
Run with **`-fit`** for a borderless window over the whole monitor. The cockpit scales to any
window shape at one uniform scale, so nothing ever stretches — a window that isn't the cockpit's
shape just gets black bars.