Controls Guide: Camera, Building, Hotkeys & Keybinds

Timberborn’s controls let you navigate the camera, place and manage buildings, inspect overlays and UI, and speed up or pause time so you can plan and react. Mastering these controls streamlines construction, resource management, and handling crises like droughts.

Camera and view controls

• Pan: WASD or arrow keys move the camera (W/north, S/south, A/west, D/east). Move the mouse to the screen edge to pan, or middle-click and drag to pan freely.
• Zoom: Mouse wheel or + / - keys to zoom in and out.
• Rotate: Hold the middle mouse button and move left/right, or press Q and E to rotate in fixed increments.
• Tilt: Hold the middle mouse button and drag up/down to change camera angle.
• HUD toggle: Press H to hide or show the user interface for screenshots or clearer views.

Time and speed controls

• Pause: Space toggles pause. While paused you can place buildings and configure settings without time passing.
• Speeds: Press 1 for normal speed, 2 for double, and 3 for triple speed. Use higher speeds to fast-forward stable periods; drop to 1x or pause for complex operations or emergencies.
• Pause-and-plan workflow: Pause to plan or place structures, then resume at an appropriate speed. Use 3x for smooth stretches and 1x or pause during droughts and construction.

Selection, panels and basic UI

• Select: Left-click a building or beaver to open its detail panel.
• Close panels / cancel: Press Escape to close panels or cancel actions.
• Demolish: Use the demolish tool from the bottom toolbar or press Delete to mark buildings for demolition.
• Cycle districts: Press Tab to cycle through districts.
• Resource and district overlays: Open overlays from the top toolbar or their hotkeys to inspect water depth, soil moisture, building connectivity, and district assignments.
• Path overlay: Use the path overlay to visualize district boundaries and which buildings belong to each district.
• Production monitoring: Check the resource flow/production panel regularly to spot bottlenecks and scale production with population growth.

Building placement and editing

• Place / confirm: Left-click to confirm placement of a building.
• Cancel: Right-click cancels placement and deselects the building tool.
• Rotate before placing: Press R to rotate a building before placement.
• Continuous placement: For path-like structures (paths, platforms, levees) click-and-drag to draw continuous lines.
• Repeat placement: Hold Shift while placing to keep the tool active and place multiple copies.
• Elevation: Use the mouse wheel or the bracket keys [ and ] to change building elevation level.
• Demolish and quick edits: Use the demolish tool or Delete key to remove structures; panels let you adjust building-specific settings (e.g., priorities, connections).

Hotkeys, key bindings and customization

• Common hotkeys: Space (pause), 1/2/3 (speeds), H (HUD), Tab (cycle districts), R (rotate), Q/E (rotate camera), F5 (quicksave), F9 (quickload), F11 (fullscreen), F12 (screenshot), F10/Ctrl+F10 (built-in screenshot tool for higher-resolution captures).
• Screenshot storage: Screenshots are saved to Documents\Timberborn\Screenshots by default.
• Customize keys: Remap nearly any binding in Settings → Controls / Key Bindings. The game warns on conflicts and allows resetting to defaults. Custom bindings are saved per user profile.

Map, save, and editor controls

• Main menu actions: Continue, New game, Load game, Create new map, Edit map, Settings, Credits, Exit, Language selection, and feedback links are accessible from the main menu.
• New game / Continue / Exit: New game opens faction selection; Continue loads the most recent save; Exit immediately quits the game (no confirmation).
• Load game screen: Select a save to Load or Delete. Deleting prompts a confirmation.
• Create new map: In the map editor create screen, valid map sizes range from 4×4 to 256×256 tiles.
• Map editor toolbar: Use the map editor tool bar and map file bar for creating, loading, saving, and exiting the editor. Exiting the editor prompts confirmation.
• Load map (map editor): The Load window shows available maps; Browse directory opens the map files folder.

Miscellaneous useful shortcuts

• Quick save/load: F5 to quicksave, F9 to quickload.
• Fullscreen toggle: F11.
• Screenshot without UI: Press H to hide UI before taking a screenshot.
• Steam screenshot: F12 or Steam’s configured screenshot key also works.

Practical control tips

• Pause frequently when planning multi-step infrastructure (waterworks, district redesigns, or complex conveyor/layout tasks) to place and configure without time pressure.
• Use the path overlay and district cycling (Tab) to ensure essential buildings are in the correct district and connected.
• Regularly check the resource flow panel for consumption vs. production to anticipate shortages rather than reacting when stores are already low.
• Remap keys that feel awkward (camera, rotate, pause) to your preferred layout to speed up routine actions.

These controls cover camera movement, time management, building placement, overlays, the map editor, and common shortcuts — the core input tools you’ll use every play session.