Create, export, and import custom profiles

You can select a keybinding profile for your peripherals (joysticks, mouse, keyboard, rudder, etc) through the Options and Advanced Keybindings. As you modify and update your keybindings, you can create these profiles.

You can use the export and import options to create files for saving, sharing, and modifying on the fly. Star Citizen also provides a set of console commands you can use in game to modify your mappings.

Info on the profile file

• Profile files are created when you save (or export) your settings.
• These files are saved, or exported, through the Options > Keybinding menus. 
• The file format is XML with a naming system of layout_NameYouEntered_exported.xml.
• The file is located in: (install drive)\Program Files\Roberts Space Industries\StarCitizen\LIVE\USER\Client\0\Controls\Mappings
• You can save, share, and backup these files to always have a selection of profiles.
• You can import profile XML files from other players to load in your game.
• All saved profiles in the folder can be selected from the Control Profiles list.

Create and export a profile

You can modify your keybindings through the UI and save the settings to a profile file. This basically exports your settings. 

By exporting the file, you create a custom profile mapping file you can save between game or launcher reinstalls, updates, or provide to friends and the community for their systems.

1. Launch the game.
2. Click Options.
   
3. Select Keybindings along the top.
   
4. Set to the peripheral you want to customize keybindings in the lower right. For this example, select Joystick / HOTAS.
   
5. Click Advanced Controls Customization bottom left.
   
6. Customize your keybindings. Select through the options. 
7. Click Control Profiles, and select Save Control Settings.
   
8. Enter a file name and save. The XML filename will be layout_NameYouEntered_exported.xml as an XML file. For this example, layout_SuperFlight-HOTAS_exported.xml.
9. A new mapping file is generated and saved to:
   (install drive)\Program Files\Roberts Space Industries\StarCitizen\LIVE\USER\Client\0\Controls\Mappings

Import profiles

You'll import profiles when you find something awesome from another player you want to play with or customize, or you need to restore your profiles after a game reinstall.

Players share their profiles as custom keybinding setups for specific peripherals, sometimes for specific kinds of gameplay. Star Citizen may not include all profiles for all supported peripherals when installed, or out-of-the-box. As you find profiles built by the community, you can load them to Star Citizen for your gameplay. You can also customize them, export, and create new profiles!

Important: Some profile creators may include additional files, diagrams, and instructions for their custom profiles. These instructions strictly detail how to import a profile for a gaming peripheral. See the creators post for all instructions.

Limited Slots: You have a limited amount of slots in the list when importing and swapping around profiles. You can use the command line to add others! See the Console commands for keybindings.

1. Before launching the game, save the profiles to: (install drive)\Program Files\Roberts Space Industries\StarCitizen\LIVE\USER\Client\0\Controls\Mappings
2. Launch the game.
3. Click Options.
   
4. Select Keybindings along the top.
   
5. Set to the peripheral for setting a profile. For this example, select Joystick / HOTAS.
   
6. Click Advanced Controls Customization bottom left.
   
7. Click Control Profiles. You should see your profile, and any others, in the list!
   
8. Select your profile. A dialog opens reviewing any changes you made to the keyboard, joystick, etc. Make your selections.
   • If you changed anything to the keyboard, you can select your changes or select "None" if you want to use the standard keyboard settings.
   • Select Joystick and Throttle Joystick, and Joystick(1).

The following are a couple example profiles from the community:

• X52 3.0 by mrvei
• T16000m by Alvehyanna

Official Thrustmaster Dual Stick Keybinding Profile

For pilots that enjoy using Thrustmaster T.16000M Dual Sticks, we have worked with Thrustmaster to set up a special official profile for use with Star Citizen!  To set this up:

1. Download the XML profile file here: https://media.robertsspaceindustries.com/cvk94jryjn4iy/source.xml
2. Name the file appropriately so you can identify it easily.
3. Before launching the game, save the profile to: (install drive)\Program Files\Roberts Space Industries\StarCitizen\LIVE\USER\Client\0\Controls\Mappings
4. Launch Star Citizen.
5. Follow the instructions above for importing a profile.

Console commands for keybindings

Star Citizen includes the following console commands for keybindings

• How to import keybindings:
  pp_RebindKeys <filename>
• Swap keybindings between Joystick 1 and 2. This command is useful when Windows sets your secondary joystick to your primary and you want to easily reuse your keybindings:
  pp_resortdevices joystick 1 2
• Change device 4 to 1 and 5 to 2?
  pp_resortdevices joystick 4 1
pp_resortdevices joystick 5 2
• Export bindings to a file named layout_mybindings_exported.xml:
  pp_rebindkeys export all mybindings
• List the detected devices in order:
  i_DumpDeviceInformation

Use these keybindings through the Developer Console:

1. Launch game.
2. Select a game mode like Arena Commander > Single Player > Free Flight.
3. When loaded, use the tilde key (`) to open the Developer Console.