DCS Keybinds Manager

• Backup & Import your keybinds even after UUID changes (different USB port/Windows reinstall)
• Share you keybinds with others who have the same device as you

The problem:

Since you can connect multiple joysticks of the same model and use them independently of each other, there needs to be a way to differentiate between them. Windows does this by assigning a random/unique UUID to a device to a USB port. DCS saves keybinds on a per module, per device basis under Saved Games\DCS.openbeta28MT\Config\Input\<module>\joystick\ folder in files named <Device name> {UUID}.diff.lua E.g.: UFC {9A230490-1324-11ED-8001-444553540000}.diff.lua

If you plug the same device into another port, it will get a new UUID. So if the UUID doesn't match, your previous keybinds won't load, and you get the default binds only. E.g.: UFC {9A230490-1324-11ED-8002-444553540000}.diff.lua The name remains the same, only the UUID changes.

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The solution:

Assuming you have access to the old working keybind files, if you replace the Old UUID with the new UUID in the file names, then DCS will be able to load your keybinds. You also need to replace the UUID inside the modifiers.lua file for each module, if you had any setup apart from the default ones.

Now, if you only have a couple of devices and a couple of modules, this is easy enough to do manually using programs like:

• Bulk Rename Utility's Renaming From A Text File feature

  to change file names

• Notepad++'s Find in Files feature

  to search & replace Old UUID with New UUID inside the files

But if you have a lot of devices and a lot of modules (FC3 alone will have 9 modules with separate keybinds for each), even this becomes a tedious process.

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The better solution:

DCS Keybinds Manager is an AutoHotKey script that will perform the above steps in one click. All you need to do is tell it where the backup folder is located. It will scan and list all currently connected devices that have keybinds available under a different UUID in the backup. Hit Import and it will:

• automatically backup current keybinds in case something goes wrong, enabling a quick rollback
• copy <Device name> {Old UUID}.diff.lua files from backup folder to <Device name> {New UUID}.diff.lua
• Replace all references to {Old UUID} with {New UUID} in LUA file content so that custom modifiers buttons will work

It will also allow you to Backup current keybinds to a time stamped zip file for safe keeping, which you can Import at a later time if required, or share with others.

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Installation

1. This script is written for AutoHotKey v1.1, and won't run in the newer v2.0. If you're familiar with AHK, you can convert the script yourself to work with v2
2. Download the latest release of this script from here and extract it somewhere on your PC
3. Connect all your peripherals
4. Run Niro's DCS Keybinds Manager.ahk
5. If your connected devices are not detected, you need to unblock the included DLL files as Windows blocks downloaded files by default on some systems. This needs to be done only once. See below

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Usage:

v0.4-beta: should auto detect new UUIDs of connected devices, thanks to evilC's JoystickWrapper library https://github.com/evilC/JoystickWrapper

Important:

If the script can't detect connected devices and show it as 0, you need to unblock the DLL files you downloaded with the script You can do it manually by Right Clicking each DLL file > Properties > check Unblock > Apply

Setup folder paths

1. Target Saved Games folder should auto detect for OpenBeta.

You can click on the button to browse manually, or you can copy paste the path into the textbox

You should select the folder that contains all the modules. In above screenshot, it is the folder named "Input"

3. Select Backup path where you previously backed up your Input folder

You should select the folder that contains all the modules. In above screenshot, it is the folder named "Input" If you extracted a previously exported zip, select that folder instead

4. Ensure your devices are detected
5. A list of matching UUIDs should populate, if not hit Rescan
6. If there are no matches, ensure all your devices are connected and the DLL files are unblocked. Without these, the current UUID cannot be detected, so Import action cannot be performed

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Backing Up:

1. Click the Backup button
2. Browse to save location. By default it will be the parent folder of the specified Backup "Input" Folder
3. The default filename will be DCS_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-mm-ss.zip

   This time format allows you to sort the files alphabetically, so the latest backup will always be at the bottom. You can change it if required in the script

4. Click the Save button to generate the backup zip
5. You can copy the backup ZIP to the cloud for safekeeping, or share with others if they have the same devices as you

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Importing:

• You can import a previously made backup, like if you manually copied your keybinds folder somewhere.
• To import a backup made using this utility, extract the zip into a new folder, and select that folder as the Backup location

For e.g. if you saved your zip as D:\Backup\DCS_2024-01-01_12-34-56.zip then extract that zip to a folder such as: D:\Backup\DCS_2024-01-01_12-34-56\ and set that as the Backup Input Folder

1. Close DCS if it is running
2. Run Niro's DCS Keybinds Manager.ahk on your PC
3. The default target folder should be ...\Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\Config\Input

   • If you need to select a different folder, click on the button and browse
   • You can change the default Target path in the script if required

4. Click Backup "Input" Folder button & browse to the location of your backup folder. For e.g. D:\Backup\DCS_2024-01-01_12-34-56

   This is the folder that contains all the module folders like A-10C II, FA-18C_hornet, J-11A, etc. You can change the default Backup path in the script required

5. Click Rescan and the script will scan both Target & Backup folders to figure out matching LUA files based on Device Name

   If you have more than one device with the same name, this script won't work and you have to manually import them

6. Click Import. You will be asked to backup current binds "just in case"

Press Enter to save the backup zip which will let you undo the import if required

All matching devices from the Backup location will be then imported

6. Start DCS to see the imported binds

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Known issues:

Fixed: Confirm XBox controller UUID is detected properly

Fixed: Win 11 only: button icons do not reflect whether the entered paths are valid or not. Refer to the status bar text for their validity

Fixed: VKB devices may not appear in the list, but are imported nevertheless. Having a leading space in their device name seems to be the culprit. When extracting saved binds, right click the zip and select Extract to ____ folder instead of Drag & Drop to avoid problems. Files with or without leading space should be handled correctly now. Weird that VKB chose to add extra spaces in their device names, which causes problems with simple copy-paste within Windows

Fixed: Clicking the close button leaves the script running, so please press Escape or close it from system try when you're done

Fixed: If you don't have 7zip or another compression software, Windows explorer was unable to open the backup archive created using Window's own tar.exe utility. Your old archives are perfectly safe.

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Beta Testers:

Thanks a lot to cpt Blue and ddrake for beta testing and providing feedback.

This wouldn't be possible without their help :)

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Donations:

I'm not really setup to receive international donations, and I wrote this script primarily for my own needs.

If you're feeling generous, please donate to your local animal shelter or volunteer there :)