arcattackandClaude Opus 5
8edce41f88
Operator decision: "make this version devour their custom settings and re-output
the correct binding file with the updates -- I'd like to eliminate competing
code paths." Before this, the preserved-bindings.txt convention meant upgraders
stayed frozen on whatever layout their file was written under, forever: two
player populations, two sets of true documentation, and every future default
improvement reaching only fresh installs.
THE MIGRATION (PadBindingProfile::MigrateBindingsFile, run once at load):
* A file carrying the new "# bindings-board 2" marker is left alone -- the
check is the first thing that runs, so this is a no-op forever after.
* Otherwise: every row matching the UNION OF EVERY DEFAULT SET EVER SHIPPED
(85 canonical rows, harvested from c2ee729..1cda880 and embedded as a
table; comments stripped, whitespace collapsed, uppercased) is dropped --
those rows were never a player's choice, they were just the old board.
* Rows the player actually authored are CARRIED with their original text and
comments, and WIN over the new defaults: the losing default row is emitted
commented out as "# (yours wins) ...", keyed by the control ("KEY T",
"PAD A", "PADAXIS LX") so key rows only displace key rows.
* The joystick wizard's marker-delimited section is preserved VERBATIM (the
same markers L4JOY rewrites between), so HOTAS players migrate without
re-running the wizard.
* The previous file is saved as bindings.old.txt first. Restoring it over
bindings.txt just re-migrates next boot -- deliberate: the old WORLD is not
restorable, only the player's own rows persist. That is the point.
VERIFIED end-to-end with the real exe (three planted scenarios):
A. old-world file (8 old-default rows + 2 authored rows incl. a rate tweak +
a wizard section): both authored rows carried with comments, both
conflicting new defaults stood down with "(yours wins)", wizard section
byte-preserved, backup written, log line states all counts, and the
migrated file parses with ZERO malformed lines.
B. already-migrated file: byte-identical md5 after a full boot, no migration
line, no backup touched. (First attempt at this check clobbered its own
evidence by running case C first -- re-run properly.)
C. no file: fresh defaults now carry the marker as line 1, no migration.
The operator's real bindings.txt was stashed before testing and restored
untouched; it will migrate on their own next launch, as intended.
Docs flipped to the new reality: the README's "your keys DO NOT change"
upgrade promise is replaced by the migration story (customs + stick kept, old
stock keys replaced, bindings.old.txt escape hatch); CONTROLS.md gains the same
note; context/glass-cockpit.md records the mechanism, the 85-row table's
provenance, and why restoring the backup re-migrates.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
119 lines
5.8 KiB
Markdown
119 lines
5.8 KiB
Markdown
# BattleTech 4.11 — controls reference
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Two ways to fly: the **keyboard/pad** (the ~25 core actions) and the **cockpit panel**, where
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every one of the pod's 72 illuminated buttons is mouse-clickable exactly where it sat in the
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cabinet. Left-click presses; **right-click latches** a button held.
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Rebind keys in `content\bindings.txt` (delete it to regenerate the defaults). Upgrading from a
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pre-board build migrates your file automatically: rows you authored and the joystick wizard's
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section are kept and beat the new defaults; the old stock layout is replaced; the previous file
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is saved as `bindings.old.txt`.
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Cockpit layout and display sizes live in `content\environ.ini` (likewise self-documenting).
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---
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## Keyboard — the keyboard IS the button board
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The letter and number rows are the MFD button banks, laid out where they sit on the panel.
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Flight lives on the number pad so the board stays free.
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### Flight — the number pad
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| Key | Action | | Key | Action |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
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| NumPad 8 / 2 | torso aim up / down | | NumPad 7 / 9 | left / right pedal |
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| NumPad 4 / 6 | torso twist left / right | | NumPad 5 | all stop |
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| NumPad 0, Space | main trigger | | NumPad 1 / 3 / . | pinky / middle / upper |
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| Shift / Ctrl | throttle up / down (the lever sticks) | | Alt | reverse thrust |
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| ← ↓ → | look left / behind / right | | ↑ | torso centre |
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| ` | cockpit / chase camera | | PgUp / PgDn | volume up / down (saved) |
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**You spawn in BASIC control mode.** In BASIC the stick steers and the pedals do nothing.
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Press **F7** once for MID, where the pedals steer and the stick twists the torso — the full
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pod experience. If "turning doesn't work", this is why.
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### The panel — letter and number rows
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```
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UPPER DISPLAYS Heat / coolant Engineering Comm / hotbox
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top row 1 2 3 4 | 5 6 7 8 | 9 0 - =
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bottom row Q W E R | T Y U I | O P [ ]
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0x2F..0x2C 0x27..0x24 0x37..0x34
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0x2B..0x28 0x23..0x20 0x33..0x30
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LOWER DISPLAYS Left Weapons Right Weapons
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top row A S D F (G unbound) H J K L
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bottom row Z X C V (B unbound) N M , .
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0x0F..0x0C 0x07..0x04
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0x0B..0x08 0x03..0x00
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COLUMNS beside the map
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left F1 zoom+ F2 zoom- F3 thermal F4 CROUCH F5 lamp F6 display
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right F7 control mode F8 - F9..F12 Generators A-D
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```
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G and B are deliberately unbound: they are the physical gap between the lower clusters.
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**1 2 3 Q W E are the coolant valves** and the detents run 1 - 5 - 50 (max) - **0 (CLOSED)** -
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back to 1. One press past max shuts that loop off and everything on it overheats; boosting one
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loop starves the others, since the supply is shared. **4** is the flush (hold it) and **R**
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re-balances every valve.
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The weapon and engineering displays are **page-gated**: on the Quad page the outer buttons jump
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to a populated Eng page; on an Eng page they drive generator select A-D, bus mode, coolant
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toggle, trigger configure, and **eject** (tap to clear a jam, hold ~3 s to jettison a burning
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ammo bay before it detonates).
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### What a bound key gives up
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Binding a key removes it from the authentic 1995 typed-hotkey channel so it cannot
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double-dispatch. This board binds nearly everything, so those hotkeys are given up by design:
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`5` = MFD1 Quad page, `z` = MFD3 Eng1, `t/y/u/i/o` = pilot select, `+`/`-` = target zoom.
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Unbind a key in `bindings.txt` to get its 1995 meaning back. (The old `-`/`=` VOLUME keys
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moved to **PgUp/PgDn** -- they no longer share a key with anything, in any layout.) Same rule for the built-ins:
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**`** is the view toggle (V is a board button now), and J/K/L cycle the MFD preset pages only
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while unbound.
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Addresses with no function at all — the pod never wired them — are `0x16` `0x17` `0x19`
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`0x1E` `0x1F` and `0x38`-`0x3E`.
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## Controllers
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An **Xbox controller** works out of the box.
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**Flight sticks, HOTAS and pedals:** run `joyconfig.bat` once. A wizard asks you to move each
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control in turn — stick, twist, throttle, fire buttons — writes the bindings, and drops you into
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the solo menu to try them. It only rewrites its own section of `bindings.txt`, so hand edits
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elsewhere in the file survive.
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**Mouse buttons** are bindable like any key — `MOUSE4`, `MOUSE5` (the side buttons),
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`MOUSEMIDDLE`, and `MOUSELEFT`/`MOUSERIGHT`. The side and middle buttons are the free ones; left
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and right are how you press cockpit buttons, so binding those fires on every panel click too.
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Mouse *movement* is not bindable — see `docs/MOUSELOOK_PLAN.md`.
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```
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key MOUSE4 button 0x40 # side button = main trigger
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key MOUSE5 button 0x46 # side button = middle thumb
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```
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**RGB keyboards** with Windows Dynamic Lighting mirror the panel: any key you have bound to a
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lamp button glows in the panel's own colours and flashes in step with the on-screen buttons. Turn
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it off with `BT_KEYLIGHT=0` in `environ.ini`.
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---
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## Cockpit layout
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Set these in `content\environ.ini`:
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- **`BT_MFD_SCALE`** (and `_UL`/`_UC`/`_UR`/`_LL`/`_LR`) — size of the five MFDs, as a percentage
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of their pod size. Turn them up if you want to actually read them while you fly.
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- **`BT_RADAR_SCALE`**, **`BT_RADAR_POS`** — size the map, and move it out of the middle of the
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road: `CENTER`, `LEFT`, `RIGHT`, `MIDLEFT`, `MIDRIGHT`.
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- **`BT_GLASS_PANELS=1`** — break every display out into its own desktop window instead of the
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composited cockpit. Good for reading one display at full size.
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Run with **`-fit`** for a borderless window over the whole monitor. The cockpit scales to any
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window shape at one uniform scale, so nothing ever stretches — a window that isn't the cockpit's
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shape just gets black bars.
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