diff --git a/pack-dist.ps1 b/pack-dist.ps1
index 5e77272..0d99a4f 100644
--- a/pack-dist.ps1
+++ b/pack-dist.ps1
@@ -11,10 +11,12 @@
 #    (environ.ini is NOT shipped - the exe writes it on first run)
 #    - start/joyconfig scripts, HANDBOOK.html, CONTROLS.txt and a README
 #
-#  Usage:  powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File pack-dist.ps1 [-Zip]
+#  Usage:  powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File pack-dist.ps1 [-Zip] [-Fresh]
 #
 param(
-    [switch]$Zip
+    [switch]$Zip,
+    # Wipe the player's files too, for testing what a first run does.
+    [switch]$Fresh
 )
 
 $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
@@ -52,6 +54,27 @@ if ($running) {
 }
 
 Write-Host "Packing into $dist"
+
+# --- the player's own files ------------------------------------------------
+# None of these ship: the game writes each one the first time it needs it and
+# then leaves it alone, so a new build dropped over a folder keeps every
+# setting. This script rebuilds dist\ from scratch, which would throw exactly
+# those away - the one place the promise did not hold, and it is the folder we
+# do most of our own testing in. Carry them across. -Fresh to start over.
+$keepFiles = @('environ.ini', 'bindings.txt', 'pilot.cfg', 'mfd_layout.cfg')
+$kept = @{}
+if (-not $Fresh) {
+    foreach ($name in $keepFiles) {
+        $path = Join-Path $dist $name
+        if (Test-Path $path) { $kept[$name] = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes($path) }
+    }
+    if ($kept.Count -gt 0) {
+        Write-Host "  keeping $($kept.Keys -join ', ')"
+    }
+} elseif (Test-Path $dist) {
+    Write-Host "  -Fresh: the player's files go too"
+}
+
 if (Test-Path $dist) { Remove-Item -Recurse -Force $dist }
 New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$dist\SPOOLS" | Out-Null
 
@@ -232,17 +255,19 @@ at its left, and the lower MFDs flanking the portrait map. The red
 buttons around each MFD and the amber buttons beside the map are the
 pod's real button banks: click them with the mouse, and they light up
 as the game commands their lamps.
-environ.ini is self-documenting: every option ships in the file with
-a comment (Steam networking, keyboard lighting, stick inversion, LAN
-hosting, developer keys, display scaling and radar placement, and more).
+environ.ini is self-documenting: the game writes it on first run with
+every option in it and a comment on each (Steam networking, keyboard
+lighting, stick inversion, LAN hosting, developer keys, display scaling
+and radar placement, and more).
 
 HANDBOOK.html is the full manual - open it in a browser for the pad,
 keyboard and pod-panel diagrams, the joystick setup, and what every file
 in this folder is for. CONTROLS.txt is the controls half as plain text.
 
-Four files here are yours. environ.ini is the only one that ships; the
-game writes the rest when it first needs them, so deleting any of them
-simply starts that part over:
+Four files here are yours. None of them ship - the game writes each one
+the first time it needs it and then leaves it alone, so a new build
+unzipped over this folder keeps everything you have set. Delete any of
+them to start that part over:
 
   environ.ini      every engine option, commented in place
   bindings.txt     every key, pad button, axis and joystick row
@@ -251,9 +276,11 @@ simply starts that part over:
 
 Two that catch people out: environ.ini is applied OVER the environment,
 so a variable set in a shell loses to an uncommented line in the file;
-and bindings.txt is never overwritten once it exists, which is what
-protects your edits - so after an update, delete it to pick up any new
-default bindings.
+and none of these four is ever overwritten once it exists, which is what
+lets you keep a folder across builds. The trade is that a file carried
+through several updates stops being offered new options - rpl4.log names
+any it has not heard of, and deleting the file brings back the fully
+documented current one.
 
 Known prototype notes: pods race untextured (the player1-8 skins come
 from the presets system, not shipped data), and text drawn on the plasma
@@ -262,6 +289,22 @@ glass may appear rotated.
 Source: https://gitea.mysticmachines.com/VWE/RP412
 "@
 
+# --- the player's own files, back where they were --------------------------
+# Last, so the rebuilt tree cannot overwrite them. The zip below is taken
+# from dist\, so a preserved file would otherwise travel to whoever gets the
+# package - hence the copies are put back only when we are NOT zipping, and a
+# release is always built from a folder with none of them in it.
+if ($kept.Count -gt 0) {
+    if ($Zip) {
+        Write-Host "  -Zip: leaving $($kept.Keys -join ', ') out, so the release ships clean"
+    } else {
+        foreach ($name in $kept.Keys) {
+            [System.IO.File]::WriteAllBytes((Join-Path $dist $name), $kept[$name])
+        }
+        Write-Host "  restored $($kept.Keys -join ', ')"
+    }
+}
+
 # --- summary / optional zip ------------------------------------------------
 $size = (Get-ChildItem $dist -Recurse | Measure-Object Length -Sum).Sum
 Write-Host ("dist ready: {0:N1} MB" -f ($size / 1MB))