Lotro UI and keyboard bindings (aliases, shorcuts and custom keyboard bindings)

[Vindalfur]

I got some complaints that when the forums switched my old post was deleted and since I had a backup I figured I might repost.

This is a guide on how to manually edit lotro.keymap in order
to customize keybindings beyond what the standard user interface
allows or supports.

This guide does not cover the Lotro Client Alias/Shorcut abilities
although they are very handy in combination with custom key bindings.
You can find fine guides at the following websites:
http://lotrovault.ign.com/View.php?v...s.Detail&id=37
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...Target-Macros)

There is only one set of key bindings for all your characters in LOTRO and these bindings are loaded from lotro.keymap which is located in "My Documents/Lord of the Rings Online" folder.

If you want to have different key bindings for each of your characters you can either use different operating system users for each character or you can replace/switch the file before starting the game and every time you want to change characters. The game will not reload the file or read any changes until it's restarted, it does however write to lotro.keymap straight away if changes are done through the options UI.

If you load the client and it is unable to parse the lotro.keymap file it will be overwritten with a default file, for this reason you should always back up your changed file after any changes or risk loosing them.
If you have changed the structure, order or made an invalid binding the client will attempt to "correct" the file, this means that any clean up is futile since it will be scrambled the next time the client loads.

The basic structure of the file is:

Devices - An ordered list of all input devices available, keyboard, mouse, etc
MetaKeys - Function keys that work as modifiers on other keys, shift, alt, ctrl, etc
Bindings - The part of the file that binds keys to actions
Main - The main UI, all combat actions, selections, etc
EditControls - Key bindings for editing text fields, like chat window and such
SelectionUI - Bindings for instantly pointing your character in the direction of the view
MusicUI - Bindings for playing music in game
MapPanel - Bindings when in map view
VendorBuyUI - Bindings when in vendor purchase view, stack purchase, volume purchase, etc
ScrollableControls - Bindings connected to any scrollwheel?
ScrollableControls_Mouse - Bindings connected to scrollwheel on mouse
CopyAndPasteControls - Controls for copying/pasting text
DialogBoxes - Controls for dialog boxes?
DebugConsole - Bindings for the debug console
StringTokenDebugger - Bindings for the String token debugger (only used by dev/test)
The sections we are concerned with are Devices, MetaKeys, Main, SelectionUI and ScrollableControls_Mouse.

Keys are represented by keyboard device constants as defined by Microsoft, for a full definition see:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...8VS.85%29.aspx

Typically this just means that it's prefixed with DIK_, examples:

DIK_0
DIK_F1
DIK_S

The more obscure keys are represented by their name such as:

DIK_DELETE
DIK_ESCAPE
DIK_NUMPAD0
DIK_LCONTROL
DIK_LSHIFT
DIK_LMENU

Devices:

A list of all the devices used for input into lotro, typically you are only concerned with the first two entries and won't have to change this file at all. The first two entries define the keyboard and mouse as devices 0 and 1 as shown here:

Keyboard [ GUID_SysKeyboard ]
Mouse [ GUID_SysMouse ]
MetaKeys:

This is where you define meta keys, you might already be familiar with some of the default meta keys used by Lotro like SHIFT and CTRL, by defining a key as a meta key it becomes
possible to bind an action that is only performed if the meta key and another key are pressed
at the same time. You can bind multiple keys to perform the same meta function, for example
so that either left or right shift can be pressed and then another button. You can define up
to 32 functions with multiple meta keys for each.

Here is an example where both left and right shift are defined as meta keys for function 1:

1 [ 0 DIK_LSHIFT ]
1 [ 0 DIK_RSHIFT ]

The First number in that example is the function ID, the second number is the device ID from
the Devices section, the third parameter is the name of the key constant.

You can also use mouse buttons as meta keys as shown here:

1 [ 1 DIMOFS_BUTTON3 ]
2 [ 1 DIMOFS_BUTTON4 ]
3 [ 1 DIMOFS_BUTTON0 ]
4 [ 1 DIMOFS_BUTTON1 ]

Button 0 is the left mouse button
Button 1 is the right mouse button
Button 2 is the scrollwheel
Button 3 is the back side button
Button 4 is the front side button

Each of the function id's is now enumerated in bits (binary) and represented in hex.
What this means is that when using the function with key bindings you will be using their
hex codes, here is an example config and the corresponding hex codes.

MetaKeys
[
1 [ 0 DIK_LSHIFT ]
1 [ 0 DIK_RSHIFT ]
2 [ 0 DIK_LCONTROL ]
2 [ 0 DIK_RCONTROL ]
3 [ 0 DIK_LMENU ]
3 [ 0 DIK_RALT ]
4 [ 0 DIK_LWIN ]
4 [ 0 DIK_RWIN ]
]

The corresponding hex codes for the functions, 1-4 and 0 by default being none:

0x00000000 - None
0x00000001 - Shift
0x00000002 - Ctrl
0x00000004 - Alt
0x00000010 - Win

The hex codes continue doubling as:

0x00000020
0x00000040
0x00000080

What this means is that you can define key bindings which require multiple meta keys
to be pressed by adding the hex codes, for example here is a binding that requires
Ctrl, Alt and Shift to be pressed along with the "S" key.

QUICKSLOT_1 [ User [ 0 DIK_S ] 0x0000007 ]

Here is another binding that only requires the Win and S keys to be pressed togeather:

QUICKSLOT_2 [ User [ 0 DIK_S ] 0x00000010 ]

Main:

This is where most of the key bindings are located and almost all of the ones you will
want to edit, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.
The order of the key bindings is fixed, the client requires the keys to be defined
in the default order and even if you are not using a key you still need to define it
if it's one of the original keys.
Key mappings come in two varieties, original "Old" ones and user created, example:

MovementLongJump [ Old [ 0 DIK_SPACE ] ]
ToggleJournalPanel [ User [ 0 DIK_P ] ]

The first binding is a default binding and as such is marked "Old", the second one is
a custom binding and is therefor marked "User", it's important to mark any changed lines
to "User" or the client will overwrite them with the default binding.
If you want to remove a default binding without replacing it with something else you
need to put in a DoNothing line, example:

DoNothing [ User [ 0 DIK_DOWNARROW ] ]

Key bindings can also include a Meta Key defined in the MetaKeys section, here is an
example of a default "Old" binding that uses function 1 as a MetaKey, in this case
it's the LootAll binding which is by default bound to shift/right mouse button.

AutoLootAll [ Old [ 1 DIMOFS_BUTTON1 ] 0x00000001 ]

In addition to the Meta Key you can define a Modifier, a modifier enables you to
define the type/part of a keypress to bind an action to, the common modifiers are:
Up, Down, DblClick and Tap. Up and Down correspond to when the key is pressed and
release, doubleclick means two clicks within about 200ms and tap means that the
button is depressed for less than c.a. 100ms. You can also specify the keyword Nearby which
blocks a doubleclick from being detected if the mouse moves to far between clicks.

Each combination of Key, MetaKey and Modifier can only be bound to one action but
by binding two separate actions to the Up and Down modifiers you can peform two
actions in one keystroke. Here is an example:

ChatModeReply [ User [ 0 DIK_LWIN ] 0x00000000 Tap ]
VOICECHAT_TALK [ User [ 0 DIK_LWIN ] 0x00000000 Down ]

Here is another handy example, this example performes activates two quickslots, one could
for example be an ingame alias/shortcut to notify the group that ;target is being buffed
and the other quickslot could perform the actual buff.

QUICKSLOT_12 [ User [ 0 DIK_2 ] 0x00000040 Tap ]
QUICKSLOT_62 [ User [ 0 DIK_2 ] 0x00000040 Down ]

This example binds two actions to the Left Windows button, chat reply and voicechat talk,
if the user just taps the key it's considered a chat reply, if the button is held down
it's considered a voicechat push to talk button.

I won't cover all the keys and bindings, these should all be present by default and the naming is self explanatory.

SelectionUI:

All this section defines is a button that instantly points your character in the direction
that the camera is facing, not that this is very handy when kiting mobs.
ScrollableControls_Mouse:

This section deals with the scroll ability of the scroll wheel on your mouse, you can bind these
to do custom actions, one good example would be bindings to use it for next/previous targets as
shown in this example:

SELECTION_NEXT_FOE [ User [ 1 DIMOFS_Z AxisPositive ] ]
SELECTION_PREVIOUS_FOE [ User [ 1 DIMOFS_Z AxisNegative ] ]

That's it, I recommend you also read the header of the default lotro.keymap, it's very useful when you have some background to understand it.

For reference here is a link to my personal lotro.keymap that can be used as a template/reference along with a screenshot explaining it:
http://dallur.com/fileadmin/user_upload/lotro.keymap
http://dallur.com/fileadmin/user_upload/ScreenShot.jpg

If you have found this guide helpful you might want to check out my Logitech G15/G19 LotroLCD application and my Logitech G15 keyboard profile.

http://dallur.com/fileadmin/user_upl...stallerX86.msi (32 bit)
http://dallur.com/fileadmin/user_upl...stallerX64.msi (64 bit)
http://dallur.com/fileadmin/user_upl...troProfile.lgp

Feel free to drop me an email or in game msg with comments or just to chat.

[slack_n_hash]

Hi, and thanks for the very useful info. I read this in your LotroLCD package but thought here would be a better place to ask questions.

1. MAIN section ordering

The order of the key bindings is fixed, the client requires the keys to be defined in the default order and even if you are not using a key you still need to define it if it's one of the original keys.

The different keymap files I've seen have differing orders. Mine, for example, starts:

Main
[
Conjunction_Contribution_2 [ User [ 0 DIK_Y ] ]
Conjunction_Contribution_3 [ User [ 0 DIK_B ] ]
Conjunction_Contribution_4 [ User [ 0 DIK_G ] ]
ToggleQuickslotLockState [ User [ 0 DIK_SCROLL ] ]
DoNothing [ User [ 0 DIK_Z ] 0x00000002 ]
DoNothing [ User [ 0 DIK_X ] 0x00000002 ]
DoNothing [ User [ 0 DIK_Y ] 0x00000002 ]
DoNothing [ User [ 0 DIK_R ] 0x00000002 ]
DoNothing [ User [ 0 DIK_SPACE ] 0x00000002 ]
SELECTION_NEAREST_ITEM [ User [ 0 DIK_C ] 0x00000002 ]
USE [ User [ 0 DIK_V ] 0x00000002 ]

There are also comments in other posts about "just delete the x line", or "add x to the bottom" (for SELECTION_NEXT_ITEM). It would be much easier to edit if I was able to reorder the bindings, but I am hoping to avoid a trial and error process.

Are there any patterns that you have noticed in terms of what can be reordered or deleted?


2. Tap, Down, Up, Dblclick

I don't fully understand how this is implemented. It sounds as if there could be more overlap than just two, for example a Dblclick could be interpreted as: Down, Up, Tap, Down, Up, Tap, Dblclick. I would love to be able to get 3 actions from one key.

Can more than two be triggered by a keystroke?
What combinations work?
Is there a logical sequence to how they are read and applied?


3. Is Ctrl-F still hardcoded to off once it has been "unmapped"?

Looking forward to any help you or others can give on these.

Thanks,
Duvi

[Vindalfur]

1. I've assume until this point that Lotro enforces the same exact same order in the key mappings file for everyone but I as you point out that might not be true, I don't know the rule behind their system but I tried many times to change the order and every time I can the client it would reorder everything.

2. As far as I know if you delete a line the client will add it again using the default value the next time you start your client

3. I see no reason why you can't bind up, down, tap on the same key if you want, I just showed tap and down as a easy example. Examples where this might be useful would be where you have to perform one skill to make another available but you need a short pause between, just bind one skill to down, the other to up and you can vary the pause period by holding down the key.

Can you clarify a bit what you mean by "is Ctrl-F still hardcoded"

Cheers
Jarl

Hi, and thanks for the very useful info. I read this in your LotroLCD package but thought here would be a better place to ask questions.

1. MAIN section ordering

The different keymap files I've seen have differing orders. Mine, for example, starts:

Main
[
Conjunction_Contribution_2 [ User [ 0 DIK_Y ] ]
Conjunction_Contribution_3 [ User [ 0 DIK_B ] ]
Conjunction_Contribution_4 [ User [ 0 DIK_G ] ]
ToggleQuickslotLockState [ User [ 0 DIK_SCROLL ] ]
DoNothing [ User [ 0 DIK_Z ] 0x00000002 ]
DoNothing [ User [ 0 DIK_X ] 0x00000002 ]
DoNothing [ User [ 0 DIK_Y ] 0x00000002 ]
DoNothing [ User [ 0 DIK_R ] 0x00000002 ]
DoNothing [ User [ 0 DIK_SPACE ] 0x00000002 ]
SELECTION_NEAREST_ITEM [ User [ 0 DIK_C ] 0x00000002 ]
USE [ User [ 0 DIK_V ] 0x00000002 ]

There are also comments in other posts about "just delete the x line", or "add x to the bottom" (for SELECTION_NEXT_ITEM). It would be much easier to edit if I was able to reorder the bindings, but I am hoping to avoid a trial and error process.

Are there any patterns that you have noticed in terms of what can be reordered or deleted?


2. Tap, Down, Up, Dblclick

I don't fully understand how this is implemented. It sounds as if there could be more overlap than just two, for example a Dblclick could be interpreted as: Down, Up, Tap, Down, Up, Tap, Dblclick. I would love to be able to get 3 actions from one key.

Can more than two be triggered by a keystroke?
What combinations work?
Is there a logical sequence to how they are read and applied?


3. Is Ctrl-F still hardcoded to off once it has been "unmapped"?

Looking forward to any help you or others can give on these.

Thanks,
Duvi

[slack_n_hash]

... but I tried many times to change the order and every time I can the client it would reorder everything.

Okay, that sets my expectations pretty low then. I'll still use a logical sequence when working on these, but it looks like I'll need a final resort to match their original order. Not a big issue.

3. I see no reason why you can't bind up, down, tap on the same key if you want, I just showed tap and down as a easy example. Examples where this might be useful would be where you have to perform one skill to make another available but you need a short pause between, just bind one skill to down, the other to up and you can vary the pause period by holding down the key.

Cool. Definitely going to experiment with this!

Can you clarify a bit what you mean by "is Ctrl-F still hardcoded"

By default, Ctrl-F toggles framerate display on and off. If you assign Ctrl-F to another function, then it unmaps permanently. As far as I know there is no way to assign any other hotkey to the function, and it doesn't reset when you use the revert to default hotkey option.

Thanks for the quick response!

[Vindalfur]

I have not tried changing CTRL-F, it might be a special mapping that is sent directly to their graphics engine, not sure.

Jarl

Okay, that sets my expectations pretty low then. I'll still use a logical sequence when working on these, but it looks like I'll need a final resort to match their original order. Not a big issue.



Cool. Definitely going to experiment with this!



By default, Ctrl-F toggles framerate display on and off. If you assign Ctrl-F to another function, then it unmaps permanently. As far as I know there is no way to assign any other hotkey to the function, and it doesn't reset when you use the revert to default hotkey option.

Thanks for the quick response!

[slack_n_hash]

If you assign Ctrl-F to another function, then it unmaps permanently. As far as I know there is no way to assign any other hotkey to the function, and it doesn't reset when you use the revert to default hotkey option.

To correct myself (), this does now reset and there is a row for it:
ToggleDebugHUD [ Old [ 0 DIK_F ] 0x00000002 ]

I'm going to have to check out what other key combos are in the keymap but not visible in game.

[Fidicor]

Pardon the necro, but I was wondering if anyone knew something.

If I have a mouse with a 4-way scroll button (such as http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Rech.../dp/B003L2BE1S), I'm assuming the forward/backward scroll would work as normal.
Would I be able to rebind the left/right scroll at will? Say something like 'tap left = find nearest object [delete by default]', tap right = nearest mob [tab]'?

Thanks

[L_Loomis]

Does anyone know how to utilize this information so I may have hotkeys for targetting raid members outside of fellowship? I am disabled and cannot use the mouse well, and target my fellowship for heals through the keypad. I would like to at least be able to target raid 7-12.

Any help would be appreciated!

[slack_n_hash]

There is a key mapping in the options for "Select Next Player" (and previous) which I'm guessing would work for any Player whether grouped with you or not.

Other than that, you could use something like an AutoHotKey script to click a particular place on the screen, set up for each of the vitals in raid 7-12. AutoHotKey is very easy to use as it runs off very short text files. For example, a script to use the numeric keypad to click the left mouse button at set screen positions (only when LOTRO is running) could be as simple as:

#IfWinActive The Lord of the Rings Online
Numpad1:: Click 100, 100
Numpad2:: Click 100, 200
Numpad3:: Click 100, 300
Numpad4:: Click 100, 400
Numpad5:: Click 100, 500
Numpad6:: Click 100, 600

Note: the positions for your screen layout would be different to this, but would be reasonably easy to find.

[Vex_sb]

Hello guys ;

Is it possible edit keymap file to reckognize the Shift + Num1/Num2 etc so i can bind it to something ??

Thanks

[slack_n_hash]

Hello guys ;

Is it possible edit keymap file to reckognize the Shift + Num1/Num2 etc so i can bind it to something ??

Thanks

Yes in theory, but no in practice.

You can set these combinations in the keymap file and see it in the key mapping list in game, but the game doesn't actually respond to them.

Other modifiers (other than shift) might work though.

[Jozlin]

I can't get it to work. Probably because all my "available" keys are pretty much already used. For instance I wanted to make it ctrl+R, but apparently because R is bound to right strafe it will default to the lowest index, in which case strafe has no modifier and thus wins. So I either have to find an obscure keybind that I'll probably forget or unbind something else lol.

I see how it works though, thanks for the help

[Jigantor]

I was hoping you could explain a bit more about the hex codes used for meta-keys.

Particularly I would like to define my own meta-keys. I wanted to use my gamepad to play and metakeys would make this much more useful. So where do you get the hex codes?

[banjolier]

I was hoping you could explain a bit more about the hex codes used for meta-keys.

Particularly I would like to define my own meta-keys. I wanted to use my gamepad to play and metakeys would make this much more useful. So where do you get the hex codes?

The lotro.keymap file documents adding metakeys (2nd paragraph at the top). In a nutshell, you would add your controller's metakeys to the MetaKeys section of that file (and make sure your controller is listed in the Devices section).

A simpler option might be to locate some software for your game controller to map its buttons to standard keyboard keys; then you don't have to monkey with lotro.keymap. For example, my Logitech mouse's extra buttons are setup to duplicate Ctrl and Alt, and a couple of others are mapped to U and M. I do this remapping through Logitech Gaming Software, the game sees these buttons as standard keyboard inputs, and I don't have to change the keymap file.




If you really need to add metakeys to lotro.keymap, you've got two options: (1) adding them as existing metakeys (making your controller's BUTTON_WHATEVER act like another SHIFT, for example), or (2) adding them as new, separate metakeys. Device and button names look to be pretty standard DirectInput fare, so google around if you need more help there. If you go with option (1), your new metakeys use the same hexcodes as the existing keyboard metakeys. If you go with option (2), your new metakeys get their own hexcodes.

Quick option 1 example:

MetaKeys
[
  1 [ 0 DIK_LSHIFT ]
  1 [ 0 DIK_RSHIFT ]
  1 [ 3 MY_CTRLR_BTTN17 ]     # map MY_CTRLR_BTTN17 on device 3 to metakey 1 (SHIFT, hex 0x00000001)
  ...
]

Quick option 2 example:

MetaKeys
[
  1 [ 0 DIK_LSHIFT ]
  ...
  9 [ 3 MY_CTRLR_BTTN17 ]    # map MY_CTRLR_BTTN17 from device 3 to metakey 9 (new, hex 0x00000100 ??)
]

The hex codes for metakey #s are something like the table below. (OP indicates 4 is 0x00000010 but my keymap file shows a 0x00000008 ... and the OP is nearly 3 years old, so possibly something has changed in a more recent update. I can't tell which is correct right now, will try to update this later. Since the keymap file itself indicates 32 metakeys are possible ... )

   metakey           hex code        normal use
       1             0x00000001         Shift
       2             0x00000002         Ctrl
       3             0x00000004         Alt
       4             0x00000008 (??)    Win
       5             0x00000010        
       6             0x00000020
       7             0x00000040 (??)
       8             0x00000080
       9             0x00000100
      10             0x00000200
      11             0x00000400
      12             0x00000800 
      13             0x00001000
      14             0x00002000
      15             0x00004000
      16             0x00008000
      17             0x00010000
      18             0x00020000
      19             0x00040000
      20             0x00080000
      21             0x00100000
      22             0x00200000
      23             0x00400000
      24             0x00800000
      25             0x01000000
      26             0x02000000
      27             0x04000000
      28             0x08000000
      29             0x10000000
      30             0x20000000
      31             0x40000000
      32             0x80000000

To combine these into a multi-metakey keybinding, you'd add them together. The question of the 0x..8's is important: it's a question of whether we have to worry about hex math or not. (No 8's, all digits will be 7 or less, even with all 32 metakeys pressed at once. With the 8's, all digits will be F or less.... ouch!)

Assuming this table is correct, the keybinding code 0xFFFFFFFF is all 32 metakeys at once. 0x0000000F is Shift + Ctrl + Alt + Win together. 0x00000017 is metakey 5 plus Shift+Ctrl+Alt. 0x30000001 is metakeys 29+30 plus Shift. To get your keybinding code, just add all the metakeys you want to use together:

      QUICKSLOT_18 [ User [ 3 MY_CTRLR_BTN42 ] 0x00060000 ]
          # device 3, button MY_CTRLR_BTN42, metakeys 18+19

      QUICKSLOT_19 [ User [ 3 MY_CTRLR_BTN42 ] 0x00010101 ]
          # device 3, button MY_CTRLR_BTN42, metakeys 1+9+17

      QUICKSLOT_20 [ User [ 3 MY_CTRLR_BTN42 ] 0xFFFFFFFF ]
          # device 3, button MY_CTRLR_BTN42, metakeys all of them all at once no really