Scrap Mechanic Controls

Movement and camera

On foot, W A S D moves, Space jumps, Left Shift sprints, and Left Ctrl crawls under low gaps — crawl disables while seated. V or Middle Mouse toggles camera modes on foot; seated drivers use Left Ctrl instead for driver/passenger camera swaps.

Third-person zoom uses X or Alt + scroll. Pull back slightly when wiring under a car chassis so Connect Tool orange dots stay visible — tight zoom causes mis-clicks that disconnect entire engine lines.

Inventory, Handbook, and Logbook

I opens inventory (alternate B on some configs). Drag parts to your hotbar before leaving the crash site — you cannot craft without hammer and lift tools accessible on 1–3.

H opens the Handbook anywhere, even without the item in Survival. Use it for bearing diagrams, logic gate truth tables, and thruster notes while the logic guide on this wiki covers advanced automation patterns.

L opens the Logbook in Survival after restoring power on the crashed maintenance ship. It tracks in-game time, quest destinations, and beacon waypoints — essential for warehouse guide routing once you unlock distant POIs on the map.

Hotbar and scroll wheel

Number keys 1 through 9 and 0 (slot ten) select hotbar items. Scroll wheel cycles tools without opening inventory — critical mid-combat when swapping Spud Gun → hammer → lift during raids covered in the farming guide.

Survival limits stack sizes; Creative grants unlimited parts — hotbar workflow is identical, but Creative players often bind paint and weld tools on high slots for workshop screenshots shared on mods.

Connect Tool — wiring interactive parts

Equip the Connect Tool from your hotbar. Orange dots appear on interactive parts — engines, bearings, buttons, sensors, seats, controllers. Click and drag from one dot to another; a line with arrows shows control flow (controller → action part).

To disconnect, drag the same link again or drag off into empty space — the latter is faster when stripping a bad logic line before a raid. Number badges show seat/controller slot order; mismatched order makes Driver's Seat button 1 fire the wrong bearing.

Right-click a connected bearing toggles rotation direction. Steam community threads repeat this fix for tutorial vehicles that spin in place — front steering bearings should turn the way you expect when holding A/D in the seat. For precise angle sequences, open the wired Controller or engine UI with E and program steps (see logic guide).

Lift — raise, capture, and Workshop blueprints

Left-click places the Lift on flat ground. Stack blocks and parts on top, then use Up Arrow / Down Arrow to raise or lower the platform — essential for welding undercarriages and attaching downward-facing thrusters.

Left-click a creation while holding Lift to capture it; place the Lift again and the build rides along — perfect for flipping raid trucks or moving a half-finished harvester without dismantling. Right-click (hold) on the Lift removes it or releases a captured build.

In Creative, press E on an empty Lift for Blueprint / Workshop save and load. In Survival, lifts are crafted tools — treat capture mechanics the same when righting Farmbot-damaged vehicles. Haybots and Totebots can knock the lift down one stage per hit if you stand on it; press Up Arrow to recover height.

Hammer, Weld, Paint, and Spud Gun basics

Hammer: LMB repairs, RMB demolishes — demolish returns parts in Survival when rules allow. Weld Tool fuses adjacent blocks (Creative staple, limited Survival recipes). Paint Tool uses Q / scroll variants for color GUI when equipped. Spud Gun uses standard LMB fire — bring one to warehouse guide runs before Tapebots corner you.

Rotation habits for stable physics

Rotate before placing heavy blocks on narrow bearings — fixing orientation after placement means hammer-demolish and rebuild. Orientation blocks (see building guide) reduce guesswork on angled wings and drill rigs introduced in Chapter 2.

When precision stacking on a Lift, lower the platform (Down Arrow) until the preview snaps cleanly — floating previews explode on first engine start if collision resolves badly.

Craft bots and terminals

E interacts with Craft Bots, Refine Bots, Cook Bots, and Mechanic Station terminals. Queue recipes from the crafting guide before long AFK refine cycles — inventory full errors still tick time while you are wiring logic doors.

Chat and multiplayer

Enter opens chat for co-op coordination — call Farmbot wave direction, warehouse loot assignments, or who drives the escape car. Steam invites handle join; see Discord for finding persistent squads when friends are offline.

Driver vs passenger camera

Left Ctrl while seated swaps camera modes for driver and passenger views — use it when backing warehouse trucks or aligning drill attachments in Chapter 2 mines. On foot, V / middle mouse handles camera instead.

Mapping seat buttons

Wire buttons to seat slots with the Connect Tool — slot order matches creation hotbar numbers. Many raid cars map horn, reverse thruster, and spud launcher to 1–3. Document your layout on co-op worlds so allies do not fire explosives when trying to honk.

Advanced builds use Controllers for timed sequences (garage doors, farm harvesters). Controllers open with E for step programming — pair with logic guide before copying 40-step Workshop macros from mods.

Getting unstuck

The K key binds to a "Stuck" action in keybinds.json on many installs — community use varies. If your vehicle flips, Lift capture beats hammering every block. For achievement hunters tracking distance driven, see achievements after fixing steering binds.

What works well on pad

On-foot movement and camera on sticks feel natural once deadzones are tuned. Lift up/down and Connect Tool precision remain harder than mouse — some players map lift to shoulder buttons via Steam Input action layers.

Menu-heavy sessions (craft bot queues, Mechanic Station upgrades) benefit from configs advertising improved D-pad navigation — still slower than keyboard for hardcore Survival progression.

What to remap first

Prioritize inventory, Interact (E), Connect Tool primary/secondary, and lift raise/lower on comfortable buttons before attempting logic-heavy Creative builds. Copy keyboard muscle memory too literally and you will fight analog deadzones on bearing micro-adjustments.

Controller vs keyboard for co-op

Mixed-input co-op works on Steam — one keyboard builder and one pad driver is common for warehouse escort runs. Agree who owns Lift capture before the run; pad players should still know Up/Down Arrow equivalents on their layout to recover flipped cars mid-raid.

In-game remapping limits

UI tooltips may still say "Left Click" after you swap mouse buttons — Steam threads document this for years. Trust your remap, not the stale prompt. Side mouse buttons sometimes register as Alt+Shift+LMB in the menu; community workaround: bind using Alt+LMB trick or edit JSON directly for MB : 3 / MB : 4 lift controls.

keybinds.json structure

JSON entries map action names (LiftUp, LiftDown, Handbook, Logbook, SelectHotbar1, C_Item0, etc.) to key codes or mouse buttons (MB : 0 = left click). Third-party editors like the Scrap Mechanic Keybinds Editor help when you need different binds for regular hotbar vs creation hotbar — the in-game menu often mirrors both.

Left-handed players frequently move Forward/Strafe to arrow keys via JSON when the options menu fights Windows sticky keys — export defaults first so you can revert.

Reset to defaults

Rename `keybinds.json` to `keybinds.bak` and relaunch to regenerate defaults — or pick Default in settings (note: some custom JSON values persist until the file is removed). After Chapter 2 updates, verify Logbook and new Survival actions still bind correctly.