CFS1 KEYBOARD LAYOUT

[AAC_Maj. Hubbabubba]

CFS1 KEYBOARD LAYOUT

As it is often asked during missions and considering the multitude of possible layouts, I have decided to post a list of the original mapping layout as seen in Settings > Customize Controls > Assignments. I will use the typical US keyboard layout, on which the original mapping is based, but give the alternate keys of my French-Canadian keyboard when they are not the same. I invite our members to do the same if they have a different keyboard (UK, Scandinavian, French, you name it…).

For those having difficulties to figure out which language-specific layout they are using, I would suggest this link; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout . They have a pretty exhaustive list of QWERTY keyboards. Of course, if you’re not using a QWERTY keyboard, you’re on your own !

I will only list the functions that are mapped to key(s). When deemed necessary, which is very often, I will comment the action or the keystroke with black italics.

CTRL + C

Exit CFS1

CTRL + BREAK

Exit CFS1 immediately
This one is not easy to find on a French-Canadian keyboard as it is marked “Pause/Attn”? It should be the third to the right of F12 key on most keyboard. I intent to give it a try next time I get a “freeze screen”.P.S.- I had a freeze. It doesn't work.

P

Pause
Pauses come under any sorts of circumstances and the P key is used more often to “un-paused”.

Q

Sound (toggle)
Q twice to get rid of the racket caused sometimes by a change of view. Very useful to shut the "air raid" sirens, again doing Q twice.

Y

Turn slew mode on/off
Not very useful in MP games but essential to designers like me.

CTRL + NUM PAD DELETE

Toggle mouse-as-stick mode
If my stick catch fire in the middle of a game, I will consider it...

R

Select time compression
Will only work if followed by - or = keys. Does not work in MP games.

-

Decrease selection

=

Increase selection
These two are very useful… and very “accident-prone”. Make sure to hit the proper function key before using them or you will, for example, cut-off your engine instead of zooming out.

SHIFT + -

Decrease selection slightly

SHIFT + =

Increase selection slightly
These two work with zoom. Never tried it with anything else. Tell me if you have.

CTRL + SHIFT + 1

Select item 1

CTRL + SHIFT + 2

Select item 2

CTRL + SHIFT + 3

Select item 3

CTRL + SHIFT + 4

Select item 4
These four commands appears to be reserved for "custom commands" to be installed by designers. On the "plain vanilla" version of CFS1, they do not provoke any reaction that I can observe. If you find something, let me know as I am curious to see if it has any noticeable impact.

Numeric Pad 4 (Num Lock OFF)

Bank left (ailerons)

Numeric Pad 6 (Num Lock OFF)

Bank right (ailerons)
Again, to consider only if my stick catch fire during a game for those two. Ever tried to do a "snap roll" with these?

Numeric Pad 0 (Num Lock OFF)

Left rudder

Numeric Pad ENTER (Num Lock OFF)

Right rudder

Numeric Pad 5 (Num Lock OFF)

Bank/Yaw Center (ailerons/rudder)
To be used with the four preceding commands.

Numeric Pad 8 (Num Lock OFF)

Pitch down (elevator)

Numeric Pad 2 (Num Lock OFF)

Pitch up (elevator)
"He who flies with his mouse and keyboard is cannon fodder for the stick handler." (Old CFS1 proverb). It should be noted here that the preceding commands are not for trim but to actually move control surfaces. Note also that "axis commands" for the same control surfaces are not assigned to any keyboard key, only to stick axis.

Numeric Pad 1 (Num Lock OFF)

Elevator trim up

Numeric Pad 7 (Num Lock OFF)

Elevator trim down
Among the most important commands, elevators trim found its way to my stick. Some aircraft react more to elevators trim than to elevator itself! Mentions of "UP" and "DOWN" are a bit confusing with elevator trim; a trim down gives a pitch up attitude and vice versa. My stick assignments places up "UP" and down "DOWN" as, in combat, confusion is a killer!

F3

Decrease throttle

F4

Increase throttle

0

100% throttle
For those who don't have throttle built-in on their stick or in a separate throttle quadrant.

F5

Retract flaps fully

F6

Retract flaps in increments

F7

Extend flaps in increments

F8

Extend flaps fully
smilo and I have a "philosophical" disagreement here. I have left mine "as is" and use flaps for landings and, in rare circumstances, for combat. He only uses "full flaps" and has moved his commands.

I stand corrected, smilo. He only uses flaps in/out by increments and they are on his stick. But I still believe that flaps have no place on the joystick. Save those buttons for "really" important functions.

CTRL + F4

Maximum propeller RPM

CTRL + F3

Increase propeller RPM

CTRL + F2

Decrease propeller RPM

CTRL + F1

Minimum propeller RPM
Very little consequence, if any, for most stock aircraft. In combat, leave it at maximum. Can be useful in some cases for "fuel-efficiency" trips.

CTRL + SHIFT + F4

Full rich mixture

CTRL + SHIFT + F3

Enrich mixture

CTRL + SHIFT + F2

Lean mixture

CTRL + SHIFT + F1

Mixture idle cutoff
May make a great difference in aircraft with mixture control, as long as "Enable auto mixture" is not on (duh!).

G

Landing gear (toggle)

CTRL + G

Manually pump landing gear
I don't know about you, but it has NEVER worked for me. Tell me if you had any successes.

.

Brakes
This is the PERIOD key.

F11

Brakes (left)

F12

Brakes (right)
Very useful to turn some "heavies" on a dime.

CTRL + .

Set parking brake
This is CTRL + PERIOD.

/

Toggle spoilers
This is the / found on the keyboard left of the right SHIFT key. On my French-Canadian keyboard, this is the É key. For /, I simply use the numeric pad key on top of the 8 key, common to both keyboard incidentally!

H

Toggle carburettor heat

SHIFT + H

Toggle pitot heat
Those two do the same job as the switches we find on so many panels. I'm not convinced that they actually change anything. Never, to my knowledge, have I lost one HP or got false airspeed readings at high altitude due to frozen carburettor or pitot tube. Have you?

CTRL + E

Select an engine
Need to be experimented upon.

J

Select jet starter
This one still puzzle me. I have some jets in my stable and they all start with the E key. So, what's the point?

M

Select magnetos
You can guess if your AIR file is CFS1 or FS98 by the way magnetos are rigged in relation with the starter. FS98 style will start simply by putting one magneto "on". CFS1 won't.

L

Toggle all lights

CTRL + L

Landing lights
One of the best kept secret of CFS1; ALL flyable stock aircraft have landing lights! Even M$ manual says otherwise!

SHIFT + C

View checklists
Too often ignored, checklists are a good source of information about landing and take-off speeds, among other things.

]

Close view window
On a French-Canadian keyboard, this is the ¸ (cédille) key, the ] being an "alternate character".

[

Create new view window
Again, the French-Canadian keyboard is using an "alternate character" for the [, the main key being ^ (accent circonflexe).

SHIFT + ]

Create new map window
This one is not even documented in the booklet. As before, French-Canadian keyboard uses the ¸(cédille) instead of the ].

CTRL + Tab

Switch to next view

CTRL + SHIFT + Tab

Switch to previous view

S

Cycle view modes

SHIFT + S

Cycle view modes backwards

W

Cockpit view/HUD/Full view (toggle)

'

Bring window to front
This is the apostrophe key. On my French-Canadian keyboard, it is assigned to #, which is where the ` (accent grave) is on the US keyboard. It would be very useful... if it was not limited to "windowed" mode. Yeah! It doesn't work in full-view!

SHIFT + [

Toggle instrument panels
Nothing you can't do with the W key anyway... The French-Canadian keyboard uses the SHIFT + ^ combination.

SHIFT = Z

Toggle coordinates/frame rate
Useful feature to pinpoint your position.

Backspace

Zoom normal (1x)
It actually does a lot more than that! You must click on this key before using it for zoom if, for example, you have "highlighted" a frequency on some of your radio. This applies to any functions that uses = or - signs.

Num /

Select view direction
If someone can tell me what it does, he's welcome to do so.

CTRL + SHIFT + Backspace

Pan left

CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER

Pan right

SHIFT + Backspace

Pan up

SHIFT + ENTER

Pan down
These four commands do about the same thing for 2D cockpit that the "chinese hat" of your joystick does in 3D cockpit. The last one is the "click" we use in level bombing with our "click gauge".

SHIFT + Numeric Pad 8

Look ahead

SHIFT + Numeric Pad 9

Look ahead/right

SHIFT + Numeric Pad 6

Look right

SHIFT + Numeric Pad 3

Look back/right

SHIFT + Numeric Pad 2

Look back

SHIFT + Numeric Pad 1

Look back/left

SHIFT + Numeric Pad 4

Look left

SHIFT + Numeric Pad 7

Look ahead/left

SHIFT + Numeric Pad 5

Look down (sic)
Ideal to get quick look around. Same effect is obtained without having to hold the SHIFT key if you are on num lock. The last entry should read "Look up" of course!

SHIFT + 1

Toggle panel window 1 On/Off

SHIFT + 2

Toggle panel window 2 On/Off

SHIFT + 3

Toggle panel window 3 On/Off

SHIFT + 4

Toggle panel window 4 On/Off

SHIFT + 5

Toggle panel window 5 On/Off

SHIFT + 6

Toggle panel window 6 On/Off

SHIFT + 7

Toggle panel window 7 On/Off

SHIFT + 8

Toggle panel window 8 On/Off

SHIFT + 9

Toggle panel window 9 On/Off
Panel 1 is usually the main panel and 2 the throttle quadrant. Custom panels may have more than nine windows. The combination SHIFT + X number makes it difficult to do with only one hand, which makes me prefer switch gauges for that purpose.

CTRL + ENTER

Toggle chat window On/Off

ENTER

Switch focus to chat window
I may be obtuse but, is there any difference between the actions those two commands perform? Clicking on CTRL or not doesn't change a thing!

CTRL + Numeric Pad 8

Look ahead up

CTRL + Numeric Pad 9

Look ahead/right up

CTRL + Numeric Pad 3

Look back/right up

CTRL + Numeric Pad 2

Look back up

CTRL + Numeric Pad 1

Look back/left up

CTRL + Numeric Pad 7

Look ahead/left up

CTRL + Numeric Pad 5

Look up
Same effect if you use the combination Numeric Pad 5 + Numeric Pad X with Num lock ON, with the added advantage of Look right/up and Look left/up being available.

X

Skip to next action
For Single Mission and Campaigns only. One trick; if you don't think you will make it back to home after having made "ace in a day" because you don't have enough fuel, just point your aircraft on the given way point direction and, before clicking on X, cut your engine! If your tanks are not leaking, you should make it. Do restart your engine for landing though, unless you want to perform a "dead stick" landing!

SPACEBAR

Fire all guns.
I used to have my index trigger assigned to this command but, now that I have a thumb trigger as well on my new joystick, I can keep my cannon shells for the "coup de grâce".

1

Fire guns

2

Fire cannon

4

Release bomb

3

Fire rocket

CTRL + 3

Fire time-rocket
You may be tempted to reassigned these keys but you shouldn't. For "precision long-range" shots, you need a steady stick, this goes for bombs and rockets by the way. This is a must if you want to use TG2, as pulling the stick's trigger(s) will influence your auto-pilot controls.

F1

Help
May I suggest that you do your readings BEFORE jumping into a multiplayer game? Thank you...

TAB

Select next target

SHIFT + TAB

Select previous target
One of these two, if not both, should find its place on your stick.

`

Toggle padlock mode
If you only retain one thing of this thread, this is it; do assigned that command to an "easy to reach" button on your stick, and learn to dogfight padlocking in and out constantly. I guarantee you that you will eventually get to be a more deadly pilot doing so.

On the French-Canadian keyboard, the "accent grave" is a dead-key close to the ENTER key but the assignment is exactly the same as the US keyboard.

SHIFT + `

Unlock target
How many time have I heard that, once the "yellow brackets" are up, you have to live with them? I even believe it until making this thread! Now, we all know otherwise.

N

Toggle aircraft labels
The distance is in meter from aircraft to aircraft.

F

Toggle damage text
Does compensate a bit for the lack of depth in vision.

U

Toggle enemy direction indicator
This silly green cone was gone within an hour after having installed the game.

F9

Tactical Display (toggle)
Some "hard-liners" would have us flying without it under the pretense that WWII aircraft had no "radars". My answer to them is; no, but they had side windows! The human eye is capable of perceiving minute movements from very far as long as our head can move right and left, a trait that our ancestors inherited while hunting in the Savannah. This compensate a bit.

F10

War Emergency Power
Was to be assigned to BACKSPACE until the last minute before release. The help files still reflects that.

O

Bail out
The manual says "3 times". Keep pushing and you will be ejected.

B

Toggle radio messages
For Single Missions and Campaigns only. My favorite; "This was a good kill!" ;D. My worst; "Hey! Where are you guys!?" (fighting the aircraft you don't! moron!) .

H

Keyboard overlay
I whish!!! If it was working, I would not have to do this thread to begin with!

C

Chase view
Unfortunately, it doen't work in multiplayer.

A

Bomb view
Works with rockets as well. You can see other players ordinance being release. The drawback with TG2 is that you may find yourself "projected" outside your own cockpit at very inopportune moment, like trying to get a heading home, as it happened to me once in one of our Sunday's game. To be used cautiously.

CTRL + W

HUD units
Imperial or metric.

SHIFT + W

HUD color

BACKSLASH

Switch gunsight (reflector/gyro)
Works only with the P-51D.

With a moving target bouncing around in front of my moving aircraft, bouncing too, the last thing I need is a bouncing gunsight! But some do like it and would want to install that feature in all of their mounts.

If you know how, tell us.

On the French-Canadian keyboard, the command is assigned to < key.

E

Engine auto start

5

60% throttle

6

70% throttle

7

50% throttle

8

80% throttle

9

90% throttle
See comments made for F3, F4, and 0.

F2

View Quick Reference menu
But do it very quick!

ESC

User interrupt
More appropriately named "End flight" in the help file.

CTRL + SPACEBAR

Snap to front view

CTRL + SHIFT + SPACEBAR

Snap to rear view
Very rarely used commands. One possible advantage would be with obstructed views using TG2.

CTRL + Numeric Pad 4 (Num Lock OFF)

Aileron trim left

CTRL + Numeric Pad 6 (Num Lock OFF)

Aileron trim right

CTRL + Numeric Pad 0 (Num Lock OFF)

Rudder trim left

CTRL + Numeric Pad ENTER (Num Lock OFF)

Rudder trim right
These commands should be useful to compensate in a battle-damaged aircraft, but I must admit that I have not experimented on that aspect.

In conclusion, be aware that not ALL commands are on the "Customize Controls" list. For example, the combination ALT + ENTER, to toggle between Full Screen and windowed mode, is not there. Between the commands that do not work and the commands that are useless, you should find enough keys handy for the useful ones.

Experiment with only a few changes at a time and, above all, only do changes that will improve your game skills.

[smilo]

so much to comment on, so little time...
I must say that my friend is mistaken when he says I only use full flaps...
But it is all too true that I have changed key commands. I see no point in having commands set for something I never use when I need the keys for something else.
example, I never use the F 5-8 keys for flaps.
I have a button on my stick set to lower flaps in increments and one to raise flaps in increments, simple as that.
I have a thumb button to toggle padlock ON/Off, another to cycle targets up and another to cycle targets down. very useful
finally, a button on the base for for trim up, another for trim down. also, very useful
next, I have changed my space bar for bomb release and shift + space to fire rockets
brakes is the B key, parking brakes is shift + B key and I still have the , and . for left and right
map view is now the M key
cycle views from cockpit to hud to full is V
cycle view modes from cockpit to spot to full is shift+ V and it works in Multi-Player.
the A key turns on my auto pilot, F5 toggles heading, F6 toggles altitude and F8 toggles wing level
F3 decreases throttle and F4 increases throttle.
since I never use keyboard 1-0 to fire guns or any of that other stuff, I made 1 toggle the main panel.
most of my aircraft have multiple windows for each panel, so I use the number keys to toggle the panel windows. I am not talking about the number pad to the right, I mean the numbers below the F number keys.
I do not fly with the number pad, so I have made a few changes there.
4 is left trim and 6 is right trim, but I rarely use them
8 is trim down and 2 is trim up. these coincide with the up down and right left arrows between the keyboard and the number pad. this is redundant to the stick buttons, but what the heck.
1 and 3 are rudder trim.
for the most part, the number pad is used for views, 5 for looking down at bomb damage and 8 to bring back forward view when I have used shift + enter to look down in clicks.
basically, the method to my madness is that I want the keys I use the most easily accessible and quick to use. I want a minimum of shift and ctrl. also, the ctrl key is my TeamSpeak push to talk so I don't want to be pushing it all of the time, unless I'm quackin'
Oh yeah, I changed toggle coordinates to just Z, not shift Z, seemed pointless.
If I want to end a Flight, the key combination is alt, F, then E
If I want to Exit the Game, it's alt, F, X then Y
and BTW, CFO Advanced Scenery is alt, C, G, A
it is so much quicker than mousing

to sum it up, I have modified my keyboard settings to suit myself and find that it works for me.
I have encountered a problem when someone need assistance, but I have printed out the assignments, both my own and the default settings. It just takes a few moments to find the right information.
Regards