Keybinds the Dr. Nick Way

The definitive “Keybinds the Dr. Nick way”

Since originally posting this keybind guide I have made several advancements in my knowledge and usage which I would like to share with you all.  If you’ve read this article before, read it again as you will find much new information and several tricks to make your keybind experience even better.  I’ve also updated this guide with pictures that should help to clear up confusion that some readers have been having.  If you have any specific questions, please leave a comment or you can always find me online.

This post will cover the basics, concepts, definitions, syntax, commands, etc., run through several practical examples, and then finally I will walk you through my personal keybind setups.  Throughout this guide, any actual commands will be in bold, while any generic form will be in italics.

Keybinds are keyboard shortcuts that enable you to activate weapons, devices, bridge officer and captain abilities, and more with a press of a key. This is not only convenient but is vital to your success in Star Trek Online.  There are several keybind guides online but, after struggling to use that guide and playing with keybinds for several months, I think any newcomers would all benefit from a guide that does not spend so much time slow-walking the reader through content that isn’t very useful or relevant, and that also shows captains how to optimize their keybinds for increased flexibility for those whose ships have multiple configurations.  The in-depth guide can be found on the forum here http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=192243. I recommend everyone read it eventually as the author has a better grasp of keybinds than I do and can teach some of the more advanced commands, but he makes it difficult for the basic learner.

Getting Started

The first thing to do is to create a Bind File. The bind file is a plain text document (i.e. notepad) where you will write and keep your keybinds.  I used to name mine after my character names but now use the names of my ships and the ground kits I’m currently using, for instance Olympus.txt for my Odyssey Cruiser or medic.txt for the medic ground kit. The bind file must be placed in Cryptic Studios\Star Trek Online\Live directory of your computer.

To load your bind file, enter /bind_load_file yourname.txt in the chat window, where yourname.txt is what you called your bind file.  This will overwrite any keybinds you currently have and replace them with the binds from your file.  Bound keys that do not share a key with the bind file will be unaffected. There are separate bind files for space and for ground, and you can only manage the bind file for your current location, so if you try to load your space bind file while standing on the ground things can get very weird.  If you suddenly find yourself unable to jump, this is probably the reason.

Figure 1 Load bind file from chat window

Each keybind takes the form of:

<Key> “<commandA> $$ <commandB> $$ etc.”

Where <key> is the key you press to activate your keybind, for example, “numpad0”, <commandA> and <commandB> are the commands you wish to issue or the abilities you wish to activate, and $$ is essentially the word “and”, allowing you to execute several commands with the same key. <command> can take several forms depending on what you are trying to do.

General Commands

Several commands are universal, regardless of how you have set up your abilities trays.  The ones that are relevant to combat are:

GenSendMessage HUD_Root FirePhasers (fires energy weapons)

GenSendMessage HUD_Root FireTorps (fires kinetic weapons)

GenSendMessage HUD_Root FireMines (launches mines weapons)

GenSendMessage HUD_Root FireAll (fires everything)

GenSendMessage Throttle_FullImpulse_Button FullThrottle (sets throttle to full and attempts to engage full impulse if not in combat)

StatsPreset_Load Preset_1

StatsPreset_Load Preset_2

StatsPreset_Load Preset_3

StatsPreset_Load Preset_4 (sets your power level to one of your four saved settings)

+power_exec Distribute_Shields (evenly distributes shields as if clicking in the middle of the ship and shields icon)

+power_exec reroute_shields_rear

+power_exec reroute_shields_left

+power_exec reroute_shields_right

+power_exec reroute_shields_forward (self explanatory)

Assist (targets the target of your current target)

Target_Self (makes yourself your target)

Target_Teammate 1

Target_Teammate 2

Target_Teammate 3

Target_Teammate 4 (makes one of your teammates your target)

Throttleadjust # (accelerate where # is a decimal number between 0 and 1 and represents a fraction of throttle

Throttleadjust -# (decelerate where # is a decimal number between 0 and 1 and represents a fraction of throttle)

Target_Enemy_Near_ForArc # (target the nearest enemy with # of degrees in front of you)

Target_Enemy_Near_AftArc # (target the nearest enemy with # of degrees behind you)

Target_Enemy_Near_SideArc # (target the nearest enemy with # of degrees to the side of you)

The command for forward firing arc would be of great use to escorts, while the command for side firing arc would be of use to beam boat cruisers, provided that the enemy is on screen.  The command for rear arc would be of most use to a forward-firing ship that has a bio-neural warhead in the back.

There are a few others, see the forum post for the rest.

Tray Commands

Most of the commands you will issue will be bridge officer abilities, captain abilities, devices, etc. found on your tray.  Cryptic has given us the big tray, 10 rows each of 10 skills wide, to be filled with all sorts of things (click the little Gameboy looking icon at the top right of the tray to add skills and abilities – if you are too young to know what a Gameboy is, ask your parents).  The tray only shows 1, 2, or 3 rows at a time, but you can use the arrow buttons on the left of the tray to cycle through all the rows.  To use a tray command the format is

+TrayExecByTray <row> <column> (where <row> and <column> are the number coordinates of the skill you are using)

While the rows and columns are labelled 1 through 10, in computer math these are actually 0 through 9, so you must subtract 1 from where the skill is located on the tray to script it into the bind file.  For example, Brace for Impact is situated right at the bottom left of the tray, occupying slot 1, 1.  To assign it to a keybind you would type +TrayExecByTray 0 0.

Figure 2 Empty Space Tray composite picture. You cannot really open all 10 rows at the same time.

Communications

You can also use keybinds to quickly convey information in the chat box.  This can be extremely useful for coordinating attacks in fleet actions or team play.  These take the form of:

<Key> <Chatwindow> <string> $target

Where <chatwindow> is one of Team, Local, Zone, etc. Note that there are no quotation marks here.  $target will insert your current target into the chat window selected.  If you want to convey information without naming a target, such as going over the game plan in PUG fleet actions, then just leave off the $target.

You can also assign keybinds for emotes. This is quite simple:

<Key> emote <emote>

A list of emotes can be found here: http://www.stowiki.org/Special_command.

What are the names of the keys?

Some keys are easy, like the regular letter keys and numbers.  Others are more difficult as they have longer names with some variation, for instance PageUp and Divide. To find out what the game calls each of these, you can open up Options, then Keybinds, then click Show Keyboard and hover your mouse cursor over the key in question. It will show the current keybind starting with what the key is called.  Be careful however, as the game shows spaces in the names but they are spaceless in the bind file.  A more accurate way is to use your current keybind setup to create a bind file.  In the chat window, type:

/bind_save_file yourname.txt

And a new bind file with all your current bound keys will be created as yourname.txt.  You can then open the file and find whatever key it is that you are looking for.

Shift

The game has default combinations using the shift and control keys to bind more than one command to a key.  To me, this is inconvenient because the placement of these keys is out of the way compared to the rest of the keys that I use.  However, in a keybind file, you can actually use any two key combination.  Because I prefer to use the numpad for most of my commands, numpad0 has become my obvious choice for a “shift” key, as the thumb is so easy to use in conjunction with practically any other key.  The syntax for this is just the first key and the second key with a + in between.

Ground

Keybinds can be used in exactly the same way on the ground.  The bind file must be loaded while on a ground map or else it will replace your space keybinds, so be mindful.  The tray is exactly the same; however for the ground it is unlikely you will ever use any rows beyond what you see and maybe row 3 if you have many pets you would like to have running around to be unleashed with a keystroke. Unfortunately the different kit powers are automatically placed in your tray in the same places, so you will require different bind files to make proper use of different kits if you want to bind multiple powers to the same key.  There is a way around that, however.

Keybinding Your Keybinds

To get around the kit problem on the ground, you can even bind a keystroke to load a keybind file.  The command is actually the same as you used to load the bind file in the first place:

bind_load_file filename.txt

When switching bind files, I find it convenient to announce to myself which file I just loaded.  This is done handily by using the command

Playersay <string>

which is a method of displaying a message to yourself, in this case, a description of the bind file that was just loaded using the same keystroke.  I used to use the command em for this, but realized that this was broadcasting my string to the entire map.

Screen Resolution

If, like me, your computer is less than technologically current, or if, like me, you on occasion run two instances of the game to take advantage of trading back and forth between two accounts for map-sharing and BOFF training, your computer may at times lag badly.  This can be mitigated by reducing the screen resolution with the touch of a button using the renderscale command:

Renderscale #

Where # is a number between 0 and 1, such as 0.5 for half resolution (equal to the half resolution setting available through the game’s own graphics settings) or 0.8 for 80% resolution, which is what I often use for the Solar Wind PvP map.

Keybind Example

For this example, say you would like to fire all your antiproton dual beam banks and beam arrays, while distributing your shields and activating your Tactical Team 1 ability, located in row 4 column 9, and you would like to bind all of this to your regular fire key (space).  The keybind for this would be:

Space “GenSendMessage HUD_Root FirePhasers $$ +power_exec Distribute_Shields $$ +TrayExecByTray 3 8”

Or if you would like to set up a key to press when you need to get out of dodge in a hurry because everyone is shooting at you, fortify your rear shields because everyone is still shooting at you, and send all power to engines because you’d like to get away from everyone shooting at you.  Your Evasive Maneuvers is located in row 2 column 1, and you would like to bind this to the multiplication symbol on the numpad but only in combination with numpad0, the keybind for this would be:

numpad0+Multiply “GenSendMessage Throttle_FullImpulse_Button FullThrottle $$ StatsPreset_Load Preset_3 $$ +power_exec reroute_shields_rear $$ +TrayExecByTray 1 0”

If you want to instruct your team to concentrate their efforts on destroying a single important target with the simple press of a convenient button, rather than furiously typing into the chat window, the keybind for this would be:

g Team Focus fire on $target.

Where in this case the button pressed is “g”, the chat channel is Team (could also use Local if for large actions like Fleet Starbase Defense), the text string is “Focus fire on “.

If you’re a friendly, helpful sort of person and you would like to wave hello whenever you see one of your fleetmates at Starfleet Academy and then grant them Diplomatic Immunity.  Your Diplomatic Immunity is located in row 3 column 10, and you would like to bind this to the letter K, the keybind for this would be

k “+TrayExecByTray 2 9 $$ emote Wave“

You are an engineering captain and have ground kits for Fabrication Specialist and for Enemy Neutralization which you use frequently.  You want to be able to swap your keybinds with quickness by binding to your “o” key.  Your fabrication specialist keybind file is named fab.txt and your enemy neutralization file is named neutral.txt.  Inside your fabrication specialist file you write:

o Playersay Enemy Neutralization $$ bind_load_file neutral.txt

so when you are set up for fabrication specialist and press “o” it will swap your bind file to enemy neutralization and display “Enemy Neutralization” in your chat window.  Inside your enemy neutralization file you write:

o Playersay Fabrication Specialist $$ bind_load_file fab.txt

for vice versa.

Some things to note

The commands do not all activate with the push of a button.  Generally speaking, each command in the line will require its own press of the key (though some are occasionally activated simultaneously, probably those with instant activation times). You must allow time for the power to activate before pressing the <key> again, so button mashers should slow down. You sometimes have to press and hold the key for a brief period as well.  The commands are executed in reverse order from how they are written, though this can be slightly rearranged occasionally due to ability activation times, lengths of strings, or some such, so if you want to ensure that a certain command is first activated, put it both first and last in the text string.  I choose to nest my commands with duplicates of the more vital on the outside and gradually decreasing in importance toward the middle, with the least critical only appearing once in the middle of the text string.

Syntax is vital. Very minor errors or typos will cause the keybind file to not work properly.  Always test your new keybinds thoroughly before taking your ship into battle.  If something isn’t working, isolate individual binds to find where the error is located.

And there you go, everything you need to setup your own keybinds.  I will post my own personal keybind files and trays in a future article.

Follow these guidelines, make your own personal adjustments, and you should become much more proficient in combat.  Don’t be frustrated if it’s not working for you at first.  It can take time to acquire muscle memory so that it becomes easier to use the keybinds than to use the mouse. I myself have been having some problems with the ground keybinds as I only started to use them recently, and deprogramming myself from mouse clicking after 6 months has proven to be a slow, sometimes excruciating exercise, but as I wean myself off the old ways I am finding myself to be much deadlier than before.  Stick with it and the rewards will soon follow.

Part 2: Dr. Nick’s Personal Ground Keybinds
Part 3: Dr. Nick’s Personal Space Keybinds