..........
The fact that we are expected to jump through all these hoops is utterly ridiculous...
Please answer me this - when does the "custom" bindings get erased? I'm assuming it's when I start up ED again rather than on exit. In other words, if I do all this customization crap AGAIN, I save it using all this sysadmin magic after I exit the game, yes?
1. Totally agree, the fact that F D seem totally unable to code a "Save As" button in the controls setting screen is an ongoing complaint. (They did announce it being introduced but then it just never appeared.)
2. If you start the game without your controller(s) fitted then E D defaults to "Keyboard and Mouse" default binding. The issue then is people go to the settings screen, select "custom" and apply - which wipes (overwrites) the previous binds file. So in fact the game doesn't wipe your custom file every time you start with a "bindings load error" (at least I don't think it does - could be wrong) but that is no help when people inadvertently muck it up.
The solution is amazingly simple:
Set up your controls in the settings screen and click apply.
Now go to the Bindings folder ( %LOCALAPPDATA%\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Bindings ) - copy the file "custom.3.0.binds" then rename that to whatever you like (e.g. oldduck.3.0.binds) then right-click that file and select "Open With" then choose Notepad - now go to line 2 where it says "Root PresetName"="custom" and change "custom" to the name you have picked ( e.g. "oldduck" ) then just save the file.
Now start the game and under options controls you will have "oldduck" (
whatever the name is in line 2) listed as one of the control presets in the drop-down box. From now on you can edit and change your controls as much as you like in the knowledge that E D will not wipe your settings even if you start without a controller or on major updates.
Just remember to not keep copies in the same directory, as I mentioned it can cause changes you make to not be saved.
Anywayup - that might sound harder and more involved than it really is. I have several different binds in my directory and can swap between control setups easily in-game, depending on what I am doing.