diff --git a/MUNGA_L4/L4PADRIO.cpp b/MUNGA_L4/L4PADRIO.cpp
index d853b74..53568b3 100644
--- a/MUNGA_L4/L4PADRIO.cpp
+++ b/MUNGA_L4/L4PADRIO.cpp
@@ -42,6 +42,48 @@ namespace
 		return (GetAsyncKeyState(virtual_key) & 0x8000) != 0;
 	}
 
+	//
+	// RP412INPUTFOCUS - do the controls answer only while the game is the
+	// window in front? On unless the file says 0.
+	//
+	// The pod was the only thing running on its cabinet, so the virtual
+	// RIO reads the key state directly rather than waiting on the message
+	// pump. That is the right call for latency and it is why the pedals
+	// feel like pedals - but a direct read is a read of the WHOLE
+	// keyboard, whatever has focus, so a player alt-tabbed into a text
+	// editor was flying the pod with every note they typed.
+	//
+	Logical InputNeedsFocus()
+	{
+		static int setting = -1;
+		if (setting < 0)
+		{
+			const char *value = getenv("RP412INPUTFOCUS");
+			setting = (value != NULL && *value == '0') ? 0 : 1;
+		}
+		return setting ? True : False;
+	}
+
+	//
+	// Whether the foreground window is one of OURS - the process, not one
+	// particular handle. The cockpit is a shell full of child panes, the
+	// exploded view is six windows of its own and the plasma glass
+	// another, so any of them being in front is the game being in front.
+	// Matching a single HWND would drop the controls the moment somebody
+	// clicked an MFD.
+	//
+	Logical ProcessHasFocus()
+	{
+		HWND foreground = GetForegroundWindow();
+		if (foreground == NULL)
+		{
+			return False;
+		}
+		DWORD foreground_process = 0;
+		GetWindowThreadProcessId(foreground, &foreground_process);
+		return (foreground_process == GetCurrentProcessId()) ? True : False;
+	}
+
 	//
 	// A generic stick axis is already normalized -1..1, so the deadzone
 	// is a plain cut about centre with the remainder rescaled - press
@@ -231,6 +273,11 @@ PadRIO::PadRIO()
 	activeInstance = this;
 
 	DEBUG_STREAM << "PadRIO: virtual RIO active (XInput pad + keyboard)\n" << std::flush;
+	DEBUG_STREAM << "PadRIO: controls "
+		<< (InputNeedsFocus()
+			? "answer only while the game window has focus"
+			: "answer whether the game has focus or not (RP412INPUTFOCUS=0)")
+		<< "\n" << std::flush;
 
 	//
 	// Only open DirectInput when the profile actually asks for it. A
@@ -390,6 +437,25 @@ void
 	}
 	lastPollTick = now;
 
+	//---------------------------------------------------------------
+	// Is the game the window in front? Every source below is gated on
+	// this - keyboard, pad and stick alike.
+	//
+	// Gated rather than skipped, and that is the whole trick: each
+	// source reads as RELEASED instead of the poll returning early, so
+	// the diffs further down turn whatever was held at the moment you
+	// switched away into proper release events. Bail out instead and a
+	// key held on alt-tab stays down until you come back, which is the
+	// stuck throttle this is meant to prevent rather than cause.
+	//
+	// The throttle accumulator is the deliberate exception. It is the
+	// pod's one sticky axis and it integrates what the controls ask
+	// for, so controls asking for nothing simply stop moving it - you
+	// come back to the speed you left, not to a dead stop.
+	//---------------------------------------------------------------
+	Logical input_live =
+		(!InputNeedsFocus() || ProcessHasFocus()) ? True : False;
+
 	//---------------------------------------------------------------
 	// Find / keep the XInput pad. Probing empty slots is slow, so an
 	// absent pad is only re-probed every 3 seconds.
@@ -398,7 +464,7 @@ void
 	memset(&pad, 0, sizeof(pad));
 	Logical pad_live = False;
 
-	if (padIndex >= 0)
+	if (input_live && padIndex >= 0)
 	{
 		pad_live = (XInputGetState((DWORD) padIndex, &pad) == ERROR_SUCCESS);
 		if (!pad_live)
@@ -407,7 +473,7 @@ void
 			padIndex = -1;
 		}
 	}
-	if (padIndex < 0 && (now - lastPadCheckTick) >= 3000)
+	if (input_live && padIndex < 0 && (now - lastPadCheckTick) >= 3000)
 	{
 		lastPadCheckTick = now;
 		for (DWORD i = 0; i < 4; ++i)
@@ -442,7 +508,7 @@ void
 	for (int i = 0; i < profile.keyButtonCount; ++i)
 	{
 		PadKeyButtonBinding *binding = &profile.keyButtons[i];
-		Logical down = KeyDown(binding->virtualKey);
+		Logical down = input_live && KeyDown(binding->virtualKey);
 		if (binding->toggle && down && !binding->wasDown)
 		{
 			binding->latched = !binding->latched;
@@ -495,8 +561,15 @@ void
 	{
 		joyDevice[slot] = -1;
 	}
-	if (profile.joyAxisCount > 0 || profile.joyButtonCount > 0 ||
-		profile.joyHatCount > 0)
+	//
+	// Unfocused this whole block is skipped, which leaves every joyDevice
+	// slot at -1 - so the button, hat and axis loops below find no device
+	// and read released and centred on their own. The stick is opened
+	// DISCL_BACKGROUND (it has to be, or it stops answering the moment a
+	// pane takes focus), so not polling it is what makes it go quiet.
+	//
+	if (input_live && (profile.joyAxisCount > 0 || profile.joyButtonCount > 0 ||
+		profile.joyHatCount > 0))
 	{
 		RPJoyPoll();
 		for (int slot = 0; slot < BindJoyDeviceSlots; ++slot)
@@ -614,7 +687,7 @@ void
 	for (int i = 0; i < profile.keyAxisCount; ++i)
 	{
 		const PadKeyAxisBinding *binding = &profile.keyAxes[i];
-		if (KeyDown(binding->virtualKey))
+		if (input_live && KeyDown(binding->virtualKey))
 		{
 			if (binding->mode == BindKeyRate)
 			{
diff --git a/RP_L4/RPL4ENVIRON.cpp b/RP_L4/RPL4ENVIRON.cpp
index aedb7ef..54fa930 100644
--- a/RP_L4/RPL4ENVIRON.cpp
+++ b/RP_L4/RPL4ENVIRON.cpp
@@ -50,6 +50,20 @@ namespace
 "# Unset falls back to KEYBOARD alone.\n"
 "L4CONTROLS=PAD;KEYBOARD\n"
 "\n"
+"# Read the keyboard, pad and stick only while the game is the window in\n"
+"# front. The pod was the only thing running on its cabinet, so the\n"
+"# virtual RIO reads the key state directly rather than waiting on the\n"
+"# message pump - which means it reads it whatever is in front, and\n"
+"# switching to another window to type flies the pod around while you\n"
+"# type in it.\n"
+"#   1   controls go neutral when you switch away (default)\n"
+"#   0   read them regardless, as earlier builds did\n"
+"# Any window of the game counts as the game, so clicking an MFD pane or\n"
+"# the plasma glass does not drop your controls. Real RIO cockpit\n"
+"# hardware is unaffected either way - this is the keyboard, pad and\n"
+"# joystick path only.\n"
+"RP412INPUTFOCUS=1\n"
+"\n"
 "# Renderer bring-up argument. Only its presence is checked (the DPL\n"
 "# resolution parsing it once fed is gone) and the game refuses to start\n"
 "# without it - any non-empty value works. Leave as shipped.\n"