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Gamepad controls

The zGamePad plugin comes with a default control scheme, but it is possible to create your own. The plugin will search for any file with the .gamepad.overlay extension placed in Gothic/System directory or in any of the loaded .mod and .vdf archives.

Control file syntax

Gamepad controls are set using the .gamepad configuration file. This file encodes the controls for different actions in the game and the hint string in multiple languages.

Warning

The .gamepad file must be encoded in Unicode or UTF-8 to accommodate the multilingual hint strings.

Regions

The format supports code blocks specified by the #region and #endregion keywords. These regions do not have any syntactical meaning, they only offer a convenient way to collapse sections of the code in editors with the syntax highlighting capabilities such as Notepad++

Regions
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#region strings
    // TODO
#endregion

#region fight scheme
    // TODO
#endregion

Comments

Comments are useful for quick information or just to disable some old code that might come in handy later. The .gamepad file syntax supports C++ line comments using two forward slashes //.

Warning

Comments can only be used at the start of any given line!

Comments
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// this is a comment
KeyRecord // this is NOT a comment

Strings

Strings are used for interactive hints. They should be defined at the top of the file. To define a string, use the keyword String. Strings have the following format:

Multilang string syntax
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String [id]
    [langTag] [text]
    [langTag] [text]
    [langTag] [text]

Example

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String interact
    Rus "Взаимодействовать"
    Eng "Interact"
    Pol "Interakcja"
    Deu "Interagieren"

String remove_weapon
    Rus "Убрать оружие"
    Eng "Remove weapon"
    Pol "Chowanie broni"
    Deu "Waffe entfernen"
The string name must be unique and is used to reference the string while defining hints. The language tag matches the language in SystemPack.ini. If the file does not contain the user's language, English will be taken by default. If there is no English, then the first one.

Control bindings

A binding is a description of an event that includes emulation object and conditions. Hints are part of the binding.
The general structure of the bind starts with the keyword KeyRecord and has the following format:

Control binding
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KeyRecord [modifier]
    Id          [key name]
    Combination [gamepad keys]
    Emulation   [engine logical and absolute keys]
    Condition   [engine logical, absolute keys or logical functions]
    Help        [name of the hint string]
  • Id - unique identifier used by other users to override this control binding
  • [modifier] - can be empty or take the value of Toggled If the value is empty, the control binding will work as long as the player holds down the specified button or button combination.
    If the value is Toggled, the control binding will work only when the player toggles the button or button combination. (One press to start sneaking, another press to stop sneaking)
  • Combination - these are the gamepad buttons that the player must press or hold to activate the control binding.
  • Emulation - specify which buttons will be emulated. You can specify absolute buttons, or that are defined in the game settings (logical).
  • Condition - specify the condition under which the control binding can be activated. To invert condition, use the operator ! before the operand (!Cond_IsOverlayTop, !JOY_B)

  • Help - name of the text string with a hint which will be displayed when the Conditions are met.

  • [gamepad keys] - Gamepad key list

  • [engine logical keys] - Engine logical key list
  • [engine absolute keys] - Engine absolute key list
  • [logical functions] - Logical function list

Tip

All operators are optional! This means that if a binding should only show a hint, it doesn't have to contain Combination.

Example

Control binding examples
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KeyRecord
    Id          StopUsingPicklock
    Combination JOY_B
    Emulation   KEY_DOWN
    Condition   Cond_InterfaceIsOpen, Cond_UsesPicklock, !JOY_B

KeyRecord Toggled
    Id          ReturnToHumanForm
    Combination JOY_A
    Emulation   KEY_RETURN
    Condition   Cond_InTransformation
    Help        end_transform

KeyRecord
    Id          QuickRingSelectSlot
    Combination JOY_RSTICK_FULL
    Condition   !Cond_InventoryIsOpen, Cond_IsOverlayTop
    Help        focus_item

Controls override

If you want to change or remove bindings from another controls file, use the KeyDisable keyword.
Default controls file

Controls override syntax
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KeyDisable [fileName].[Id]
Where fileName is the name of the controls file without extension and id is a key of the binding.

Example

Controls override example
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// remove key from the main controls file
KeyDisable Controls.ArrowDown

// create new key based on the same buttons
KeyRecord Toggled
    Id          ArrowDownNew
    Combination JOY_DOWN
    Emulation   GAME_DOWN