The approach to keybinds should be to add them to supplement and complement the game's command matrix. Are there things you often need to communicate through chat that aren't covered within the game's matrix? If so, you are left vulnerable to attack while chatting and the speed and flow of the team is hindered. These are the best keybinds to add and should take priority over other types of keybinds.

Keybinds may be bound to action keys, but use caution with this because binding to keys like melee and handcuffing can spam the map and make it difficult for all team mates to find the important information in the scrolling text.

When you combine server announcements with spamming keybinds, it makes everyone's job more difficult.

Critical keybinds:
1)directionals: left, right, forward, rear, up, down, close, far are all very handy and may be used to make other keybinds or orders more accurate.
2)audibles/visuals: contact heard..., footsteps..., hostage situation...go dynamic!, suspect, unarmed contact
3)coordination: hold, wait for go, point and cover (red team), back-up and rear gaurd (blue team)
4)actions: pick locks, swap positions, scan door/corner, out of ammo/reloading (never bind the need to reload to your reload action), need to flush cache
5)positional: pointman, coverman, EL, back-up, rear guard

Optional keybinds:
1)limited relevance: equipping primary, secondary, bangs, cs, stinger, pepperspray, multi-tool, optiwand, wedge

Not recommended due to spam potential:
1) melee
2) handcuffing

What I recommend if you want to express that you are punching and/or handcuffing is to create one keybind for unusual situations like for 2 man teams where it might be valuable for your partner to know you are occupied handcuffing or punching. Perhaps "Engaged with Contact" or have a second key for both that has a short message. Essentially you would have a normal use melee key and a special use melee key with a bound message and the same for handcuffing--one key for normal, middle of the element handcuffing and one for special use with a bound message.

All time stupidest keybind:
"Reloading, Cover Me!" bound to the reload action. What's the point? You didn't give anyone time to cover you! Why not just have a bind for "Taking a Nap" or "Not Doing my Job, Sorry" or maybe even "My area is now uncovered." Just have a teamsay bind for "Reloading, Cover Me!" and then WAIT for someone to say "I'll Cover You" before reloading.

As far as where you put the keybinds, that's personal preference and ease of use and memory. For example, when I realize I'm low or OUT of ammo, I press the "O" key because to me it stands for "out" and delivers the message "Reloading, Cover me!"

The bottom line is that keybinds can make communication faster and easier and avoid unnecessary confusion at critical points in the mission.

The most important ones - Contact, Tango Down, Audible, etc., make sure you place near your WSAD keys - so your function keys (assuming you're using the new command system), F, and G buttons (not too important - just reassign those keys to somewhere else).

The "Pick Lock" and "Reloading" keybinds aren't nearly as crucial, as there are built-in commands for both situations (NEED BACKUP for reloading), but since both will happen very often, if you're too lazy to switch menus all the time it could be easier to just use a keybind instead, although keep in mind it could cause a problem for those who are not aware of the English terms.

"Back In Formation", "Wait For My Go", and "Cover This and Hold" are also handy ones when you are working with newer players to the server.

Well, I think pick locks comes in handy a lot if you are conducting a lot of double entries without c2. The EL may need to say pick lock before someone physically tries to open the door. In that case, the menu option for pick lock is not there until someone unsuccessfully tries to open a locked door. At that point, it's too late because the other team has already flashed and made entry.

I don't think there is a reloading option in the menus. I need back-up is not a good substitute for needing a reload. If you run into 3 angry tangos and you are punching them all to gain compliance--that would be a time for I Need Back-up command

Also, Tango Down is sort of an irrelevent bind, since the tango is no longer a factor and the team doesn't need to know this. Also, in Mark Mods, the constant reminders of suspects being shot or anyone being handcuffed is borderline chat spam and text clutter.

Back in formation is essentially Fall In, for which there is a command menu option.

Thanks for the thoughts and adding to the discussion. Keep it coming!

Pick Lock - Good point, I did not think of that!

Tango Down - Well the rest of your team won't always be there to be aware of this (perhaps outside the room guarding a corridor, etc.), so if you simply say Contact without a Tango Down message afterwards, your team may assume you are still engaging the threat. Of course it doesn't need to be used every time, certainly not when the neutralized tango is obvious.

Back In Formation - I use it for instance when your team is not entering a room in the formation you stacked up in or you are stacked up and a player(s) is in the wrong spot, etc. To new players, FALL IN often means, go to the EL and follow behind him, rather than return into formation, which does not necessarily mean go behind EL and follow (unless the EL is pointman, which is very rare). Another example is when you're stacked up and simply asking for them to rearrange themselves back into the correct formation, they would not understand if you used FALL IN. Of course, this bind is only relevant when leading new players to the server, you wouldn't even need to ask server regulars or SAS members to do this.

Good additional points. To me, Fall In means return to your position, but I can see how people may think otherwise.

I've had other keybinds for sure but no others that I have needed.

I think that anyone interested in setting up their own binds would have enough here to get them started.

A final point I'd like to add is to make sure you communicate only with your team unless other teams need that information. The other team is focused on their own AO and don't need to see all of your nifty keybinds. Only use Say when absolutely necessary!

The following is from my user.ini file which gives a good example of how to create keybinds...FYI this is NOT the entire file so copy and paste won't help you. Be sure to back up any file before you edit it!

[DefaultPlayer]
Name=SAS_Player
Class=SwatGame.SwatPlayer
team=255

[Engine.Input]
Aliases[0]=(Command="Button bFire | Fire",Alias="Fire")
Aliases[1]=(Command="ViewportRightMouse",Alias="RightMouseAlias")
Aliases[2]=(Command="Axis aBaseY Speed=+1200.0",Alias="MoveForward")
Aliases[3]=(Command="Axis aBaseY Speed=-1200.0",Alias="MoveBackward")
Aliases[4]=(Command="Axis aBaseX Speed=-40.0",Alias="TurnLeft")
Aliases[5]=(Command="Axis aBaseX Speed=+40.0",Alias="TurnRight")
Aliases[6]=(Command="Axis aStrafe Speed=-1200.0",Alias="StrafeLeft")
Aliases[7]=(Command="Axis aStrafe Speed=+1200.0",Alias="StrafeRight")
Aliases[8]=(Command="",Alias="None")
Aliases[9]=(Command="ToggleCrouching 0 | OnRelease ToggleCrouching 1",Alias="Duck")
Aliases[10]=(Command="Button bLeanLeft",Alias="LeanLeft")
Aliases[11]=(Command="Button bLeanRight",Alias="LeanRight")
Aliases[12]=(Command="Button bLook",Alias="Look")
Aliases[13]=(Command="Toggle bLook",Alias="LookToggle")
Aliases[14]=(Command="",Alias="None")
Aliases[15]=(Command="NextItem",Alias="InventoryNext")
Aliases[16]=(Command="PrevItem",Alias="InventoryPrevious")
Aliases[17]=(Command="Axis aLookUp Speed=+25.0",Alias="Lookup")
Aliases[18]=(Command="Axis aLookUp Speed=-25.0",Alias="LookDown")
Aliases[19]=(Command="Button bSnapLevel",Alias="CenterView")
Aliases[20]=(Command="ToggleRunning 0 | OnRelease ToggleRunning 1",Alias="Running")
Aliases[21]=(Command="Button bStrafe",Alias="Strafe")
Aliases[22]=(Command="NextWeapon",Alias="NextWeapon")
Aliases[23]=(Command="",Alias="None")
Aliases[24]=(Command="",Alias="None")
Aliases[25]=(Command="Button bFreeLook",Alias="FreeLook")
Aliases[26]=(Command="ViewClass Pawn",Alias="ViewTeam")
Aliases[27]=(Command="Button bTurnToNearest",Alias="TurnToNearest")
Aliases[28]=(Command="Button bTurn180",Alias="Turn180")
Aliases[29]=(Command="Toggle bControlViewport | ControlOfficerViewport",Alias="ControlViewportAlias")
Aliases[30]=(Command="CommandInterfaceNextGroup",Alias="CommandInterfaceNextGroup")
Aliases[31]=(Command="Interact",Alias="Interact")
Aliases[33]=(Command="",Alias="None")
Aliases[34]=(Command="",Alias="None")
Aliases[35]=(Command="Button bReload | Reload",Alias="Reload")
Aliases[36]=(Command="GiveCommand 11 | ShrinkHUD",Alias="Dash")
Aliases[37]=(Command="Button bVoiceTalk",Alias="VoiceTalk")
Aliases[38]=(Command="HoldCommand 1 | OnRelease HoldCommand 0",Alias="HoldCommandForZulu")
Aliases[39]=(Command="GiveCommand 12 | GrowHUD",Alias="EqualsPlus")
Aliases[40]=(Command="",Alias=None)
Aliases[41]=(Command="",Alias=None)
LeftMouse=Fire
RightMouse=OpenGraphicCommandInterface | RightMouseAlias
MiddleMouse=GiveDefaultCommand
Tab=CommandInterfaceNextGroup
Enter=Teamsay [c=ffffff]Hook'em up and sweep for evidence.[\b]
Shift=ToggleRunning 0
Ctrl=HoldCommandForZulu
Alt=
Pause=GUICloseMenu
CapsLock=ControlViewportAlias
Escape=GUICloseMenu
Space=IssueComplianceOrInteract
PageDown=
End=HideViewport
Left=Teamsay [c=ffffff]<<<LEFT[\b]
Up=ScrollChatUp
Right=Teamsay [c=ffffff]RIGHT>>>[\b]
Down=ScrollChatDown
Insert=ShowViewport Red
Delete=CycleOfficer
1=CommandOrEquip Row_NumberKeys 1
2=CommandOrEquip Row_NumberKeys 2
3=CommandOrEquip Row_NumberKeys 3
4=CommandOrEquip Row_NumberKeys 4
5=CommandOrEquip Row_NumberKeys 5
6=CommandOrEquip Row_NumberKeys 6 | Teamsay [c=ff0000]Step away! Deploying pepper![\b]
7=CommandOrEquip Row_NumberKeys 7 | Teamsay [c=ff0000]Stand aside! I'm gonna remodel this door![\b]
8=CommandOrEquip Row_NumberKeys 8 |Teamsay [c=ffffff]Watch me go all Swiss-Army on this![\b]
9=CommandOrEquip Row_NumberKeys 9 | Teamsay [c=ffffff]Smile, Boneheads! You're on Candid Camera![\b]
0=CommandOrEquip Row_NumberKeys 10 | Teamsay [c=ffffff]Deploying Rat Trap! This should hold'em.[\b]
C=ToggleCrouching 0
Q=LeanLeft
E=LeanRight
G=VoiceTalk
H=EquipSlot 11
L=Teamsay [c=ffff00]Element Leader...[\b]
M=Teamsay [c=00ffff]Rear Guard...[\b]
O=Teamsay [c=ff0000]RELOADING, COVER ME![\b]
P=Say [c=00ff00]TOC, we're Code 4...Put'em on safe and let'em hang![\b]
S=MoveBackward
T=OpenHudChat 0
X=NextFireMode
Z=ToggleZoom
F1=CommandOrEquip Row_FunctionKeys 1
F2=CommandOrEquip Row_FunctionKeys 2
F3=CommandOrEquip Row_FunctionKeys 3
F4=CommandOrEquip Row_FunctionKeys 4
F5=CommandOrEquip Row_FunctionKeys 5
F6=CommandOrEquip Row_FunctionKeys 6
F7=CommandOrEquip Row_FunctionKeys 7
F8=CommandOrEquip Row_FunctionKeys 8
F9=CommandOrEquip Row_FunctionKeys 9
F10=CommandOrEquip Row_FunctionKeys 10
F11=ServerVoteYes
F12=ServerVoteNo
Equals=EqualsPlus
Comma=ShowInGamePopup
Minus=Melee | Teamsay [c=ff0000]Get down on the ground, Moron![\b]
Period=Teamsay [c=ffffff]Pick the locks for entry.[\b]
Slash=NextWeapon
LeftBracket=Teamsay [c=ffffff]LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN[\u] and keep it covered![\b]
Backslash=ChangeHud
RightBracket=Teamsay [c=ffffff]Look alive! Find something and cover it![\b]
MouseX=Count bXAxis | Axis aMouseX Speed=6.0
MouseY=Count bYAxis | Axis aMouseY Speed=6.0
MouseW=
None=
Cancel=
Backspace=PlayerCommandInterfaceBack
PageUp=ShowViewport Sniper
home=ShowViewport Blue
Select=
Print=
Execute=
PrintScrn=
Help=
A=StrafeLeft
B=Melee
N=Teamsay [c=00ffff]Back-up...[\b]
D=StrafeRight
F=ToggleFlashlight
i=Teamsay [c=ffffff]Swap positions until further notice.[\b]
j=Teamsay [c=ff0000]Pointman...[\b]
K=Teamsay [c=ff0000]Coverman...[\b]
R=Reload
U=Teamsay [C=ff0000]I'm gimped and can't run![\b]
V=EquipSlot 14
W=MoveForward
Y=OpenHudChat 1
NumPad0=Teamsay [C=ff0000]Suspect visible/audible![\b]
NumPad1=Teamsay [c=ff0000]Point and Cover...[\b]
NumPad2=Teamsay [c=00ffff]Back-up and Rear Guard...[\b]
NumPad3=Teamsay [c=ffff00]As an Element...[\b]
NumPad4=Teamsay [c=ffffff]Go Left![\b]
NumPad5=Teamsay [c=ffffff]UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL[\b]
NumPad6=Teamsay [c=ffffff]Go Right![\b]
NumPad7=Teamsay [c=ffffff]DOWN![\b]
NumPad8=Teamsay [c=ffffff]^FRONT^[\b]
NumPad9=Teamsay [c=ffffff]UP![\b]
GreyStar=Teamsay [c=00ff00]No visible suspects[\b]
Separator=
NumPadPeriod=Teamsay [c=ff0000]Multiple suspects visible![\b]
GreySlash=Teamsay [C=ffff00]HOLD...AWAIT FURTHER ORDERS[\b]
F13=
F14=
F15=
F16=
F17=
F18=
F19=
F20=
F21=
F22=
F23=
F24=
NumLock=
ScrollLock=
LShift=
RShift=
LControl=
RControl=
Semicolon=Teamsay [c=ffff00]To coordinate action...WAIT[\u] for the Go!...[\b]
Tilde=
SingleQuote=Strafe
Attn=
CrSel=
ExSel=
ErEof=
Play=
Zoom=
NoName=
PA1=
OemClear=
MouseZ=
MouseWheelDown=ScrollCommand Down
MouseWheelUp=ScrollCommand Up
Joy1=
Joy2=
Joy3=
Joy4=
Joy5=
Joy6=
Joy7=
Joy8=
Joy9=
Joy10=
Joy11=
Joy12=
Joy13=
Joy14=
Joy15=
Joy16=
JoyX=
JoyY=
JoyZ=
JoyR=
JoyU=
JoyV=
JoySlider1=
JoySlider2=
UnknownF5=
UnknownF4=
Unknown10F=
Unknown10E=
UnknownE3=
UnknownE2=
UnknownE1=
UnknownE0=
UnknownDF=
UnknownDA=
UnknownD9=
UnknownD8=
UnknownC7=
UnknownC6=
Mouse8=
Mouse7=
Mouse6=
Mouse5=
Mouse4=
Unicode=
UnknownB8=
UnknownB7=
UnknownB6=
UnknownB5=
UnknownB4=
UnknownB3=
UnknownB2=
UnknownB1=
UnknownB0=
UnknownAF=
UnknownAE=
UnknownAD=
UnknownAC=
UnknownAB=
UnknownAA=
UnknownA9=
UnknownA8=
UnknownA7=
UnknownA6=
UnknownA5=
UnknownA4=
Unknown9F=
Unknown9E=
Unknown9D=
Unknown9C=
Unknown9B=
Unknown9A=
Unknown99=
Unknown98=
Unknown97=
Unknown96=
Unknown95=
Unknown94=
Unknown93=
Unknown92=
Unknown8F=
Unknown8E=
Unknown8D=
Unknown8C=
Unknown8B=
Unknown8A=
Unknown89=
Unknown88=
GreyMinus=Teamsay [c=ffff00]Civie(s)! Watch your target ID![\b]
GreyPlus=Teamsay [c=ff0000]Hostage situation![\b]

Keybinds are of course helpful...
...but can annoy at times when every player has any and element leader orders go down overseen in a sea of rainbow keybinds.

As member of an assault-team (not leader) the motto should be: less is more!

You can break it down to these few keybinds:
- Flashbang ready
- Stinger ready
- Gas ready
- Audible heard
- Hostile contact!
- Tango down

More keybinds are just over-the-top in my view and are really not essential!

When being element leader there is for sure more sense in keybinds to coordinate the team.

Action-keybinds (in case you are covering an area or prepare for a double-entry and can't look to a door for giving ingame-commands:
- Bang and clear
- Sting and clear
- Pick the lock
- Breach with Shotgun

Movement-keybinds:
- BACK IN FORMATION! (to bring new players in line)
- Regroup on my position (if "Fall in" command gets no attention)
- Regroup on rearguard's position

Rearguard-keybinds:
- Rearguard COVER this and HOLD!!!
- Rearguard FALL IN
- Rearguard COVER OUR SIX!!! (comes in handy with a new rearguard not covering rear)

Admin-keybinds:
- FIRST WARNING
- FINAL WARNING
- Sorry, you are a RISK for the team, watch and learn!
- Forced to spec/view due to WRONG LOADOUT
- Forced to spec/view due to NOT KEEPING FORMATION
- Forced to spec/view due to IGNORING ORDERS


SAS_DUKE

Also, if you're too lazy to manually open the .ini file and google for the color codes and all that stuff...

Here's the handy program I use that does it all for you. You can color (solid and gradient colors), underline, bold, etc. the text by simply highlighting it.

Download it here: http://www.globalswatforce.com/sw4tcolorizer.htm