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Keys Stay Bound

In vanilla Project Zomboid, customized mod key bindings can be erased and therefore reset to defaults when you migrate from one server (or save file) to another. This fixes that. Just enable Keys Stay Bound in the MODS tab of the Main Menu and on any server you host. Encourage your players to also enable it locally for their own sake. This is how you bind.

You can add or remove this mod to an existing world. Works in singleplayer and multiplayer. When the mod is not loaded, its backup file will just sit in Zomboid/Lua waiting for an opportunity to be useful again.


Every time Project Zomboid saves the key bindings for your current server configuration in keys.ini, it erases everything that used to be in that file. It does not merge new data with old data; it does not save anything that used to be there. Consequently, the game purges key bindings for mods that are not enabled whenever it saves keys.ini. As a result, key bindings for disabled mods will be reset to their defaults (which could leave them bound to problematic buttons or entirely unbound) if those mods are enabled again in the future. For many people, that's highly undesirable, because this can easily result in loss of custom key bindings every time they switch servers.


It is the solemn duty of the Keyper to guard your keys for all time. As long as the Keyper stands, so shall your key bindings be remembered. No more will your bindings be lost in the sands of time. The Keyper does this by periodically merging the game's keys.ini file into keysThatShallNeverDie.ini, a file in which all of your key bindings (those of both active and inactive mods) are kept safely untouched by the callous and perhaps even brutal whims of vanilla Project Zomboid. It also loads missing fields from keysThatShallNeverDie.ini into the keys.ini file at appropriate times, so that disabled mods will properly reload their old settings when they are enabled again.


By default, this mod saves up to 1000 key bindings instead of throwing them away when the mods that add them are inactive. The top setting of keysThatShallNeverDie.ini can be used to change the maximum number of stored keys up to 10000, which should be more than anyone would ever need. If this value is set to 0 (or less), no eternal keys will be stored in this ini.



If and only if you change the name and mod ID of this mod in its mod.info file so that normal users don't fail to connect to servers as a result of your modpack's presence on their computers, then you have my permission to reupload this mod. If you do not follow this instruction, then you do not have my permission. If you don't change these things in a reuploaded version of this mod, it will remind you in-game.


Shout-out to theharber for providing the image of the Keyper of Immortal Bindings hard at work.

Like this mod? Feel free to check out my other stuff on the Steam Workshop. Also, thanks in advance to those of you who take the time to upvote this mod so that others can find it!

Follow the link below to help fund development of the Center For Keys That Can't Bind Good and Want To Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too:

[ko-fi.com]

Workshop ID: 3258032107
Mod ID: KeysStayBound