Seven Layers

A standard pad has roughly a dozen inputs; a modpack can expose hundreds of actions. The seven-layer model lets one physical button mean different things per context — it is the foundation everything else builds on.

The Seven Layers

Layer	Active when	Notes
Main	Default in-game	Movement, look, combat, hotbar, and everyday mod actions
Shift 1–4	While the matching layer switch is held	Four modifier planes, each with a full binding table; releasing the switch returns to Main
Screen	Whenever a screen is open (inventory, chests, mod UIs, settings)	Confirm, back, tab switching, scrolling, slot navigation, container helpers; opening a menu never fights your gameplay bindings
Overlay	Interactive HUDs (spell wheels, third-party radial menus, photo HUDs)	Explicit bindings, no Main inheritance: unconfigured actions stay silent so a HUD cannot misfire combat keys

Shift 1–4: Fully Explicit Planes

Shift layers are four independent binding planes. Four rules explain the whole feature:

Movement and look keys default to Main's values (pre-filled when the template is created); everything else defaults to unbound — the layers are fully explicit.
Editing Main later does not change Shift layers, and vice versa. Each layer owns its table.
Layer switches are fixed to HOLD (the layer_shift1–4 rows on Main cannot use another mode).
Each Shift layer auto-derives a “return to Main” binding with RELEASE mode — releasing the switch returns you, no manual setup.

Common misconception: Shift layers do not inherit Main at runtime — an empty slot is simply unbound. Templates merely pre-fill movement and look with Main's values so you have a sensible starting point.

Screen: Bindings for Menus

Whenever any screen is open, input switches to the Screen layer. Defaults fall into four groups:

Cursor: the left stick drives the virtual cursor (direction bindings can navigate it too; the two are separate rows).
Slots: D-Pad jumps between slots, A selects, Y quick-moves (shift-click), X takes half.
Navigation: A confirm, B back/close, LB/RB switch pages (creative tabs, recipe-book pages, the guide list).
Scrolling: right stick up/down emulates the wheel; left/right taps cycle options.

The Screen layer can also inject physical keys such as the scroll wheel (see Virtual Keyboard & Mouse); cursor details live in Cursor & GUI.

Overlay: Interactive HUDs

The Overlay layer covers interactive HUDs that are neither a full screen nor plain gameplay — spell wheels, third-party radial menus, photo/attachment HUDs. Its defaults follow the in-game feel (move, look, jump, attack, use, scroll) with B as back. Two things matter:

No Main inheritance: unconfigured actions stay silent during an overlay, so a HUD cannot misfire combat keys. Layer switches are suppressed while an overlay is open.
The HUD must be declared: add an Overlay rule for it in Mod Adaptation, or use the Control Flex API's IInteractiveContextRegistrar from a bridge mod (see the API Reference). Keys that must stay held across an overlay can be phase-locked until you unlock them.

Editing Layers

Key Mapping shows and edits bindings per layer: switch the layer tab, or edit any layer's rows.
Which layers an action appears on is configured per action in its detail page. Switching templates resets layer placement to template defaults; “reset to template defaults” does not change layer placement.
Click the controller column to capture input; ESC cancels; right-click a row to clear, reset, or change its layer.

Defaults (Basic Template)

Item	Default
Shift 1 / 2	LB / RB (hold)
Shift 3 / 4	Unbound — assign them yourself when needed (paddles are a good fit)
Overlay back	B (press)
Open settings	Back + Start (press)

To go beyond layers: combo keys add density to a single layer, and radial menus keep frequent actions on a wheel.