A dev request to an age old problem.

[nosscar]

Please Dev's, can you sort the keybinds out so we do not lose them every time you forget to plug devices in, or switch them on, i recently just had to set up an xbox controller as my joystick died, so have been making changes as i go along, and yes i know we should back them up. But i didn't the last time i made a few changes, and also along with some new Voice attack settings.
I just switched the game on, and forgot to first switch on the Xpad, all my keybinds were reset. Yes i had the backup, but had to go through it all and add the new changes.
This has been this way since beta that i know of, can it be changed, please.
If there is another file i should back up too, please tell.
But with modern games, settings should be stored for all devices, and not reset until the game is wiped or something. backup files should not really be needed at all. Please, i am asking nicely.

 

[Monk]

It has always seemed a bit odd that this part of options still feels very much like an early beta.

If you are just some guy w/o a lot of computer know how you'd just set your custom binds under the custom profile...but what if you want to work with two profiles you swap...nope, sorry...you need to know about file systems and what not. Simple for a lot of us...impossible for others. It needs to be fixed.

 

[nosscar]

It has always seemed a bit odd that this part of options still feels very much like an early beta.

If you are just some guy w/o a lot of computer know how you'd just set your custom binds under the custom profile...but what if you want to work with two profiles you swap...nope, sorry...you need to know about file systems and what not. Simple for a lot of us...impossible for others. It needs to be fixed.

thanks for your support. I play some other games, but not often, mainly World of Warships, and GTA V, i sometimes dont touch them for months, but when i switch them on, no problems, any changes are still there, even without the device plugged or switched on, and as soom as i do, they are picked up in-game without issues. It seems so much common sense to have it this way in a released game.
I wonder if Xbox console users lose there settings too, if the batteries have run out when they log in.

 

[Monk]

From what I've seen, it looks like Xbox control mapping is very limited. So there isn't much room for alternate profiles if you wanted them. I could be wrong about that tho

 

[Vincent Starson]

If anyone could post how to back them up at least, that would be cool. Where is the keybind settings file?

I also had to reset my key binds a while back too. I forgot I had unplugged my joystick and my keybinds were all reset when I plugged it back in.

 

[Monk]

You will find the custom.binds file here

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Bindings\

What you want to do is setup your bindings in game. Save and Exit

Go to that file location, make a copy of custom.binds and rename it
I named mine CustomJoy.binds

When you load up the game, you will now see a new for controller profiles, in my case, CustomJoy.binds

At this point, I set up my binds for my xbox controller under the custom profile, keeping my CustomJoy profile unchanged.

Once done, repeat...Save and Exit, find file, copy, rename. This time, I named it CustomPad.binds

Now whenever I go to controller profiles, my two profiles will show up (given they are all plugged in and turned on)

I also have these binds backed up to my google drive so I can ninja install ED on my friends' computers and still have my bindings.

 

[nosscar]

Please can everyone post in this thread if they have had a reset due to this, we need the devs to know this does really need fixing now, it has been this way for too long.
And i can't see it being a major task, but then i really don't know that.

 

[Roybe]

I copied and renamed my keybinds months ago...if they change....most of the time the file still resides in the above directory..otherwise I just copy my back up back in and I'm back in business.

 

[nosscar]

I copied and renamed my keybinds months ago...if they change....most of the time the file still resides in the above directory..otherwise I just copy my back up back in and I'm back in business.

I agree that's the best way, but it should not still be like this, as already mentioned, some new tp pc's, will not know how to do this.
In fact the Appdata folder is hidden by default, many will not even know how to see it.
And i am asking for a permanent fix, we should not have to make backups and use work arounds.

 

[nosscar]

I don't get my binds change on device change, <snip>

So if you removed/unplugged your thrustmaster, and start the game, it will not reset to default.

As i understand it now, if when the game starts and it does not detect the device that the binds are set to it will reset to default binds.
Not a big problem for those that always have a joystick plugged in, but for those using wireless devices needing batteries, or sometimes unplug the device, or forget to switch them on, then your only choice is to manually copy back the files from a back up (if you can make one, or remember to make one), or go through the control section and re do all your controls.

 

[Tinman]

I've never had to rebind anything since the game was launched personally. (X52 Pro)

I also have the joystick connected to my monitor usb hub and every now and then realize I haven't got it hooked up when starting the game (due to using the port for something else). I always been able to plug in the joystick mid-game without any problems.

 

[nosscar]

I've never had to rebind anything since the game was launched personally. (X52 Pro)

I also have the joystick connected to my monitor usb hub and every now and then realize I haven't got it hooked up when starting the game (due to using the port for something else). I always been able to plug in the joystick mid-game without any problems.

could that be because ED has a default x52 profile, (or used to have) or maybe down to if you use the profiler on your stick.

 

[Monk]

I've never had to rebind anything since the game was launched personally. (X52 Pro)

I also have the joystick connected to my monitor usb hub and every now and then realize I haven't got it hooked up when starting the game (due to using the port for something else). I always been able to plug in the joystick mid-game without any problems.

This has been my experience with xbox controller and logitech extreme 3d pro. Personally, I've never have had my binds reset on me, even before I started using multiple custom profiles. I'm wondering, if it has something to do with window's user management? Are people that have this issue running under a non-admin user profile?

 

[nosscar]

This has been my experience with xbox controller and logitech extreme 3d pro. Personally, I've never have had my binds reset on me, even before I started using multiple custom profiles. I'm wondering, if it has something to do with window's user management? Are people that have this issue running under a non-admin user profile?

No, i am logged in as admin, and i had this problem with Win 7, and i am now using Win 10, and guaranteed, if i unplug my devices, joystick before, xbox pad now, i lose all my bindings every time, if there is a way to keep them, something i need to do, i would like to hear it.
Pity it is not possible to set these files to read only once set.
As i think the problem is that without the devices plugged in, ED copies the defaults back when exiting or loading the game.

 

[Whiterose]

I unplug and plug back in my USB and that normally sorts everything out. It has become so routine for me now I do it without checking if I need to do it. Sometimes once, sometimes I have to do it a couple of times.

 

[robbyp]

I raised a ticket, to ask them to at least warn users that a profile did not load on startup....

Got nowhere.

The correct thing should be that the profile is loaded on a best effort basis, with a visual warning.

I don't hold out hope of it being fixed.

Back it up like Monk said. You can also text edit the entries in the .xml if you wish to (I have done this).

 

[DJ]

Concur with OP.

I have to constantly visit the in-game controls menu, unplug/replug my XB1 pad into USB each and every game now. Sometimes several attempts are needed for it to be picked up by the in-game controls menu. It is exclusively an XB1 pad issue perhaps?

If you do a SSD/HDD search for .binds (including hidden) you may be surprised where all these files turn up. It's not one simple container folder anymore as alluded to above. Yes, it is influenced by windows 8.1 doing it's own thing probably.

Uninstall, scrub, fresh install last month, twice over, and still I get duplicate .binds of since-re-named .binds files in the ingame controls menu. I have done likewise with XB1 drivers and steam.

Fearing a conflict between having dual (FDEV/Steam) ED game files i've scrubbed away the original FDEV one too but sadly renaming the .binds afterwards is still disfunctional, as historic .binds files (old names) are still found by the controls menu during the sadly necessary unplug/replug process.

If anyone can tell me the necessary file that is NOT .binds (maybe its a simple .txt?) that I can manually edit to remove the duplicates and outdated historic .binds 'ghosts' I will be very appreciative.

[ps - this was my number one choice in the recent "Which fix would you most like FDEV to implement?" thread a couple of weeks back, as it's that frustrating and time consuming.]