DCSBinder

Status: pre-alpha (M0 — scaffold). Not yet usable.

Windows reassigns controller GUIDs after USB hub changes, driver reinstalls, or motherboard swaps, and DCS World keys every binding by GUID — so the same physical joystick gets treated as a brand-new device with zero bindings. DCSBinder scans your DCS Input tree, surfaces every GUID conflict, identifies which GUID is currently live, lets you diff the old and new bindings side-by-side, then atomically remaps the chosen content under the live GUID across every aircraft folder — backing up everything first.

Screenshot placeholder — UI lands in M4.

Features (v1 scope)

• Scan the entire DCS Input tree (joystick, keyboard, mouse, trackir) across stable, openbeta, and serverbeta installs.
• Detect duplicate-device-name + different-GUID conflicts.
• Identify the currently-live GUID for each connected controller via SDL2.
• Side-by-side diff of conflicting bind files.
• Bulk remap across every aircraft folder in one transaction.
• Full crash-safe backup before any mutation; one-click undo from history.
• Tamper-evident audit log of every change (history.jsonl with blake3 hashes).

Prerequisites

• Windows 11 (Windows 10 likely fine but untested).
• DCS World installed (stable, openbeta, or serverbeta).
• For end users: nothing else — the released MSI bundles everything.
• For developers: see Build from source.

Install (end users)

Download the latest .msi from the Releases page and run it. (Releases land at M6.)

Build from source

# One-time toolchain setup:
winget install --id Rustlang.Rustup -e
winget install --id Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.BuildTools -e --override "--add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.VCTools --includeRecommended"

# Clone and build:
git clone https://github.com/anpeaco/DCSBinder.git
cd DCSBinder
cargo run -p dcsbinder-cli -- scan        # headless scan (M1+)
cargo run -p dcsbinder-ui                 # Slint UI (M4+)

Safety

• Always close DCS World before remapping. DCSBinder refuses to mutate files while DCS.exe is running, but a clean exit is still recommended.
• Backups live in %APPDATA%\DCSBinder\backups\<timestamp>\ and are never deleted automatically. You can configure retention in Settings.
• History log is appended to %APPDATA%\DCSBinder\history.jsonl. Every operation records before/after blake3 hashes for the files it touched.
• Dry-run preview shows exactly which files will be written or moved before any mutation. You always confirm.
• If a remap is interrupted (crash, power loss), the next startup detects the un-finalized manifest and offers to roll back.

Documentation

• docs/ARCHITECTURE.md — module map, two-phase commit, error taxonomy.
• docs/FILE_FORMAT.md — annotated .diff.lua reference and GUID format.
• docs/ROADMAP.md — milestones M0–M6 and deferred features.
• docs/DECISIONS/ — Architecture Decision Records.

Report a bug / request a feature

Open an issue on GitHub. Please include your DCS version, OS version, and (if relevant) the %APPDATA%\DCSBinder\history.jsonl entry for the operation that failed.

Contributing

PRs welcome once M1 ships. Until then, the design is evolving fast — open an issue to discuss before sending code. CI requires cargo fmt --check, cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings, and a green cargo test --workspace.

License

Dual-licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0 at your option.

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual-licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.

Disclaimer

DCSBinder is an unofficial third-party tool. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Eagle Dynamics. "DCS World" is a trademark of Eagle Dynamics.