Why do my key rebindings reset every time I restart?

Because the rebinding round trip breaks: the new bindings aren't saved to persistent storage when changed, are saved but not loaded on startup, or, commonly, are loaded but not actually applied to the input system (so the defaults remain active even though the custom bindings were read). Each break leaves the player with default bindings after restart.

Why are my rebindings saved but not used after restart?

That's the 'loaded but not applied' case: the saved bindings exist and may even be read on startup, but they aren't pushed into the active input system, so the game keeps using the default input map. The fix is to actually apply the loaded bindings to the input system on startup (configure the input map with them), and ensure that application isn't overwritten by defaults set up later in startup.

Why Won't My Key Rebindings Save?

Q: How do I make key rebindings persist?

Complete the round trip: save rebindings to persistent storage when changed, load them on startup, and apply them to the active input system (not just read them into a variable). The most-missed step is applying loaded bindings to the input map, so the game actually uses them. Verify by rebinding, restarting, and confirming the custom bindings are in effect, and ensure defaults don't clobber loaded bindings during startup.

Quick answer: Your key rebindings won't save because the custom bindings aren't completing the round trip: they're not saved when changed, saved but not loaded at startup, or, commonly, loaded but not actually applied to the input system (so the defaults remain active even though the custom bindings were read). Each break leaves the player with default bindings after restart.

Rebindings that reset every launch are a frustrating accessibility and convenience failure, players who remap controls (often out of necessity) have to redo it every time. It's a specific case of settings not persisting, applied to the input bindings, and it usually breaks at saving, loading, or applying.

Why Rebindings Don't Persist

Custom bindings need to round-trip: when the player rebinds, the new mapping should be saved; on launch, it should be loaded and applied to the input system. Rebindings 'won't save' when this breaks. Not saved (the rebinding changes the in-memory input map but isn't written to persistent storage, lost on exit). Not loaded (saved but the game doesn't read them on startup). Or not applied (the bindings are loaded but not actually applied to the active input system, so the default bindings remain in effect).

The 'loaded but not applied' case is common and sneaky: the saved bindings exist and are even read, but the input system still uses defaults because the loaded bindings weren't pushed into it. Each break leaves the player with default bindings after restart.

How to Diagnose and Fix It

Test the round trip: rebind a key, check whether it's actually written to persistent storage (if not, saving is broken), then restart and check whether the game uses the custom binding, if the saved binding is present but the default still works, it's loaded-but-not-applied (or not loaded). This pinpoints the broken stage. Reports are clear ('my bindings reset every time'); Bugnet captures them with context.

Fix the broken stage: persist rebindings on change, load them on startup, and crucially apply the loaded bindings to the active input system (configure the input map with them) rather than just reading them, ensuring defaults don't overwrite them. See our guide on fixing key rebinding that won't save. The most-missed step is applying loaded bindings to the input system.

Rebindings that won't save break at save, load, or apply, often loaded but never applied to the input system. Make sure loaded bindings are actually pushed into the input map at startup.