Key binds

Key Binds are associations that 'bind' hardware buttons/controls to in game actions and the user interface. They are used to speed up gameplay and simplify access to the many UI elements.

Players can customise these bindings in the "Key Binds", found under the Options menu, Keybinds. =Advanced Keybind Scripting= After learning about in-game keybinding from this article; advanced skills are available at the following link. Guide: Keybinds (a scripting guide): learn to create, save and load keybind scripting files. The files can then be loaded into your console to have greater customization and combinations. There is also a List of console commands.

=Ground= {| class="wikitable"

Movement & Camera
! colspan="4"| Movement & Camera Key Binds ! | Action || | Key #1 || | Key #2 || | Description
 * Move Forward || align="center" | W || align="center" | Up || Moves you forward. With Walk or Run key pressed will cause you to move forward with that action.
 * Move Back || align="center" | S || align="center" | Down || Moves you backward.
 * Move Left || align="center" | Q || align="center" | || Strafe Left, In other words, move to the left sideways
 * Move Right || align="center" | E || align="center" | || Strafe Right, In other words, move to the right sideways
 * Turn Left || align="center" | A || align="center" | Left || Rotates your character Left (counterclockwise)
 * Turn Right || align="center" | D || align="center" | Right || Rotates your character Right (Clockwise)
 * Auto Move Forward || align="center" | R || align="center" | || Same as forward, but without needing to continuously hold the key down.
 * Jump || align="center" | Space || align="center" | || Enables your character to jump over objects, low walls, or on top of low objects.
 * Walk || align="center" | || align="center" | || While pressing a movement key, like forward, causes your character to move in that direction smoothly, like walking.
 * Run || align="center" | Shift || align="center" | || While pressing a movement key, like forward, causes your character to move in that direction quickly, like running.
 * Roll || align="center" | Shift+Space || align="center" | || Causes your character to make a roll, then pop up onto their feet.
 * Aim Mode || align="center" | C || align="center" | Middle Click ||
 * Follow Target || align="center" | Alt || align="center" | || After selecting a target character, causes you to follow it.
 * Toggle Follow Target || align="center" | || align="center" | || Toggles Follow Target, to make it an active key, or non-active key.
 * Switch Weapon || align="center" | Z || align="center" | || Allows your character, who can have two weapons to switch between them. If only one weapon is in a slot, toggles between Fist Fighting and the Weapon. (Useful for incapacitating a NPC character for capture.
 * Holster Toggle || align="center" | H || align="center" | || Takes out, or puts away your weapon.
 * Stop Time Toggle || align="center" | T || align="center" | || Causes the game to pause, or restart if there is time left in your pause counter.
 * Reset Camera || align="center" | Home || align="center" | || Causes your camera to come back to the forward facing position, useful if you have 'mouse looked' in a different direction to 'reset' the camera view.
 * Cycle Camera Distance || align="center" | Joy4 || align="center" || Each click moves you through the different camera positions.
 * Enable Mouse Look || align="center" | Right Drag || align="center" | || Enables the mouse to look around by holding down and dragging the mouse to what you want to see.
 * Toggle Mouse Look || align="center" | || align="center" | || Toggles whether the movement keys move or look.
 * Enable Camera Rotation || align="center" | Left Drag || align="center" | || While pressing left mouse button, moves camera to look around.
 * Toggle Camera Rotation || align="center" | || align="center" | || Toggles whether the mouse movement moves ship or rotates the camera.
 * Zoom In Medium || align="center" | Page Up || align="center" | || Zooms the view from behind the character closer to the character. (Options can be enabled to switch camera view to side of character or through character in another options menu.)
 * Zoom Out Medium || align="center" | Page Down || align="center" | || Same as zoom in; but zooms out instead.
 * Zoom Out Fast || align="center" | End || align="center" | || Zooms out quickly to furthest away.
 * Zoom In Slow || align="center" | Mouse Scroll Up || align="center" | || Uses Mouse wheel, if present, to zoom In in smaller steps than Zoom In medium. (Fine control)
 * Zoom Out Slow || align="center" | Mouse Scroll Down || align="center" | || Uses Mouse wheel, if present, to zoom Out in smaller steps than Zoom out medium. (Fine control)
 * }
 * Switch Weapon || align="center" | Z || align="center" | || Allows your character, who can have two weapons to switch between them. If only one weapon is in a slot, toggles between Fist Fighting and the Weapon. (Useful for incapacitating a NPC character for capture.
 * Holster Toggle || align="center" | H || align="center" | || Takes out, or puts away your weapon.
 * Stop Time Toggle || align="center" | T || align="center" | || Causes the game to pause, or restart if there is time left in your pause counter.
 * Reset Camera || align="center" | Home || align="center" | || Causes your camera to come back to the forward facing position, useful if you have 'mouse looked' in a different direction to 'reset' the camera view.
 * Cycle Camera Distance || align="center" | Joy4 || align="center" || Each click moves you through the different camera positions.
 * Enable Mouse Look || align="center" | Right Drag || align="center" | || Enables the mouse to look around by holding down and dragging the mouse to what you want to see.
 * Toggle Mouse Look || align="center" | || align="center" | || Toggles whether the movement keys move or look.
 * Enable Camera Rotation || align="center" | Left Drag || align="center" | || While pressing left mouse button, moves camera to look around.
 * Toggle Camera Rotation || align="center" | || align="center" | || Toggles whether the mouse movement moves ship or rotates the camera.
 * Zoom In Medium || align="center" | Page Up || align="center" | || Zooms the view from behind the character closer to the character. (Options can be enabled to switch camera view to side of character or through character in another options menu.)
 * Zoom Out Medium || align="center" | Page Down || align="center" | || Same as zoom in; but zooms out instead.
 * Zoom Out Fast || align="center" | End || align="center" | || Zooms out quickly to furthest away.
 * Zoom In Slow || align="center" | Mouse Scroll Up || align="center" | || Uses Mouse wheel, if present, to zoom In in smaller steps than Zoom In medium. (Fine control)
 * Zoom Out Slow || align="center" | Mouse Scroll Down || align="center" | || Uses Mouse wheel, if present, to zoom Out in smaller steps than Zoom out medium. (Fine control)
 * }
 * Toggle Camera Rotation || align="center" | || align="center" | || Toggles whether the mouse movement moves ship or rotates the camera.
 * Zoom In Medium || align="center" | Page Up || align="center" | || Zooms the view from behind the character closer to the character. (Options can be enabled to switch camera view to side of character or through character in another options menu.)
 * Zoom Out Medium || align="center" | Page Down || align="center" | || Same as zoom in; but zooms out instead.
 * Zoom Out Fast || align="center" | End || align="center" | || Zooms out quickly to furthest away.
 * Zoom In Slow || align="center" | Mouse Scroll Up || align="center" | || Uses Mouse wheel, if present, to zoom In in smaller steps than Zoom In medium. (Fine control)
 * Zoom Out Slow || align="center" | Mouse Scroll Down || align="center" | || Uses Mouse wheel, if present, to zoom Out in smaller steps than Zoom out medium. (Fine control)
 * }
 * Zoom Out Fast || align="center" | End || align="center" | || Zooms out quickly to furthest away.
 * Zoom In Slow || align="center" | Mouse Scroll Up || align="center" | || Uses Mouse wheel, if present, to zoom In in smaller steps than Zoom In medium. (Fine control)
 * Zoom Out Slow || align="center" | Mouse Scroll Down || align="center" | || Uses Mouse wheel, if present, to zoom Out in smaller steps than Zoom out medium. (Fine control)
 * }
 * Zoom Out Slow || align="center" | Mouse Scroll Down || align="center" | || Uses Mouse wheel, if present, to zoom Out in smaller steps than Zoom out medium. (Fine control)
 * }
 * }

Miscellaneous
=Space=

Miscellaneous
=Notes=

Key Binding Starship Power Presets
By default the game does not allow assigning key binds to the starship power preset buttons through the options menu. Key binds can be assigned however by using the chat window and the following commands;


 * /bind StatsPreset_Load Preset_1 [Attack]
 * /bind StatsPreset_Load Preset_2 [Defense]
 * /bind StatsPreset_Load Preset_3 [Speed]
 * /bind StatsPreset_Load Preset_4 [Balanced]

Where is the desired key for the bind you wish to use. If you are unsure how the key you wish to use is defined within the game, it's recommended that you try assigning it to a command that can be set in the options menu before attempting to rebind it to a power preset.

Copying Key Binds
If you have multiple characters and wish to copy key binds from one to another or wish to backup your key binds, you can use the following method.

This method requires typing console commands into the chat window. It also requires saving and loading ground and space key binds separately.

=Saving Key Bind sets=
 * 1) When in the location whose bindings you wish to save, hit the ENTER key or click in the chat text box.
 * 2) Type the following:
 * /bind_save_file DefaultGround.txt or /bind_save_file DefaultSpace.txt depending on the location.
 * 1) Hit ENTER.

This saves file(s) in your STO directory with your character's current key bindings.

Loading Key Bind sets
The files you created in the save procedure can be used to restore key binds to an existing character or apply them to a new one.
 * 1) When in the location whose bindings you wish to load, hit the ENTER key or click in the chat text box.
 * 2) Type the following:
 * /bind_load_file DefaultGround.txt or /bind_load_file DefaultSpace.txt depending on the location.
 * 1) Hit ENTER.

These procedures can be used for all characters created, you can also exchange these files with other players to try out their key binds.

You can change the names of the text files in the load and save commands and you can include a drive and path if you don't want them directly in your STO folder.

Using the DefaultGround.txt and DefaultSpace.txt names will assign these key binds to all new characters created.

This information was provided by Wolfiesden on the STO Forums.