2 July 2023

How to customize keybinds in Beyond All Reason

There may be a variety of reasons why you want to change a single or multiple keybinds. The following guide will take you step-by-step through the process of customizing your chosen preset.

Customize by editing a text file

• Open the launcher and click on "Open Installation Directory."
• Open "data" folder (not necessary on Linux systems). This is where the custom keybind config file, uikeys.txt, will live.
• In-game (singleplayer skirmish against InactiveAI), first choose the preset you want to customize from Settings -> Control -> Keybindings
• Then from Settings -> Control -> Keybindings, select "Custom" from the drop-down and the game will create a uikeys.txt for you to edit with your favorite text editor. This first version of your custom file is based on the last preset you had chosen.
  • We recommend using VS Code with the uikeys extension, for syntax highlighting and completion suggestions.
• To test your changes in real time: Type /keyreload after you have saved additional changes to your uikeys.txt.

Customize by using the Ingame Keybind Editor widget (by MasterBel)

• You can find this widget on the official BAR discord here: https://discord.com/channels/549281623154229250/1113861314582954078
• There are special instructions for the installation of this widget, be sure to read them and follow them carefully to ensure it works properly.
• It has a variety of useful features and allows you to search keybinds and manage them without tabbing out of the game.

References:

• Documentation for select action: https://beyond-all-reason.github.io/spring/articles/select-command/
• Documentation for uikeys format: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spring/blob/BAR105/doc/uikeys.txt
• General repository of custom keybindings: https://github.com/resopmok/BAR_uikeys_collections
• BAR master preset layouts: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/Beyond-All-Reason/tree/master/luaui/configs/hotkeys