Keyboard Shortcuts

How shortcuts work in the editor#

The Vastopia Editor has two kinds of shortcuts:

• Rebindable Map Editor keys. Edit modes, terrain tools, object tools, camera movement and placement rotation are all defined in one registry and can be changed in Settings ▸ Editor Settings... ▸ Keybinds. Every row in that tab corresponds to a row in the tables below.
• Fixed shortcuts. Save, undo/redo, copy/paste, find, and the per-editor keys in the GUI, Script, Building, Data and Tools editors are built in and cannot be rebound.

A few rules apply everywhere:

• Shortcuts that are plain letter keys (tool switching, rotation, floor selection) never fire while a text field has keyboard focus, so typing R into a name box does not switch tools. Click the viewport or press Escape to leave the field first.
• Holding Ctrl is treated as "I am about to press a shortcut": in the Map Editor the camera stops responding to W/A/S/D while Ctrl is down, so Ctrl+S never nudges the view.
• The same key can be shared by actions that never overlap. E and Q move the camera up and down in Terrain mode, but rotate the thing you are placing while a placement tool owns them.

Rebinding the Map Editor keys#

1. Open Settings ▸ Editor Settings... from the top bar.
2. Switch to the Keybinds tab. Actions are grouped into cards: Edit Modes, Terrain Tools, Object Tools, Camera and Placement.
3. Click the key button next to an action. It changes to Press a key….
4. Press the new key. Modifier keys on their own (Shift, Ctrl, Alt, Caps Lock) are ignored, so the capture waits for a real key. Press Escape to cancel.
5. The change is saved and applied immediately; there is no OK button. The camera's W/A/S/D bindings are mirrored into the editor's input map at the same time so every consumer follows the rebind.

Click Reset to Defaults at the top of the tab to restore every Map Editor key at once. Keybinds are stored per machine in the editor's own settings file, not in your project, so they travel with your install rather than with the game.

Global shortcuts#

These work in every editor mode.

Undo and redo are delegated to whichever editor is active: the Map Editor (per open map), the GUI Editor, the Building Editor, the Data Editor, the Script Editor and the Dialogue tool each keep their own history. An editor with nothing to undo simply does nothing.

The Edit menu in the top bar also lists Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy and Paste.

Map Editor#

Edit modes#

Pressing the key of the mode you are already in does nothing except swallow the key.

Terrain tools#

Active in Terrain mode (including the height-layer tools). In Region mode these keys do nothing because that mode has its own toolbar.

Modifier keys change what the terrain brush does while you paint:

The Shift/Alt wheel shortcuts drive the same Terrain3D brush in Terrain mode and in Objects mode's Paint verb. In Region mode, Shift + wheel resizes the Flags brush; strength has no meaning there and is ignored.

Object tools#

Active in Objects mode.

Editing shortcuts in Objects mode:

Placement rotation#

Rotation steps depend on what you are turning: an NPC spawner preview turns in 45° steps (eight facings); a prop in the Objects tools turns 90° per press, and in object mode snaps to the nearest cardinal facing (North, East, South, West); an armed paste or building stamp turns a quarter turn in place so the copied arrangement keeps its shape. When the prop settings bar's rotation Random checkbox is on, Q/E are released back to the camera.

Region mode#

Camera#

The camera keys are rebindable under Camera in the Keybinds tab.

Mouse and modifier behaviour:

Camera speed, zoom speed, pan speed and zoom inversion are editor settings; the defaults are a move speed of 5 with Shift held and 20 without.

Building Editor#

The Building Editor reuses the Map Editor camera (right-drag orbit, middle-drag pan, wheel zoom, W/A/S/D). Tool shortcuts are suspended while the right mouse button is held so flying never triggers them.

The floor buttons in the side panel show their number shortcut in their tooltips.

GUI Editor#

Canvas shortcuts are ignored while a text field has focus, and arrow keys are left alone when a tree, list, tab bar, dropdown, scrollbar or slider owns the focus.

Canvas mouse controls:

Script Editor#

The undocked script window supports the same Ctrl+S, Ctrl+F, Ctrl+H and Escape shortcuts while it has focus.

Data Editor#

Game Tools#

Quick reference by key#

The table below gathers the keys that do different things in different places, so you can see at a glance what a key will do where you are.

Everything in the Map Editor columns reflects the default bindings; if you have rebound keys, the Keybinds tab is the source of truth.