Controls



Taseditor is controlled by mouse and keyboard.

Every operation can be done in several alternative ways (via menu, hotkey or GUI element).

Any action can be done using mouse, but some are faster to do with keyboard. The Manual assumes that one hand of user is holding the mouse and other hand is placed on a side of the keyboard, occasionally holding Shift/Ctrl/Alt or pressing a key combination.

Some actions (e.g. switching the "Follow cursor") can be done by mouse only.



Mouse controls




Pointing with mouse


A. Displaying Bookmarks screenshots and descriptions

Hover mouse cursor over the right half of Bookmarks List to see the game screenshot of the bookmarked frame in the movie branch you're pointing at. Optionally there can be a description of the branch under the screenshot.


B. Displaying information of the Bookmark

Hover mouse cursor over an icon of any Bookmark in the Branches Tree to see the information about the Bookmark (real time of creation, bookmarked frame, full timeline, screenshot and description). When you point at a Bookmark that doesn't belong to the timeline of current movie branch, the mouse cursor changes to "arrow with question mark".


C. Illuminating button symbols in the Piano Roll Header

Hover mouse cursor over a button symbol in the Piano Roll Header to see if you can change the movie by clicking this symbol. When some rows of Piano Roll are selected, symbols in the Header will illuminate on mouse hover.



Left mouse button


The main button.


A. Standard Windows actions

Most of GUI elements of TAS Editor window are controlled the same way as in other Windows applications.

  • press a button by left-click (also works with the progressbar, "Bookmarks/Branches" caption and "Marker #" labels) – fires on button press
  • check/uncheck checkboxes and radiobuttons – fires on button release
  • open the window menu, choose menu item, set/remove ticks from menu items
  • scroll Piano Roll or History Log using scrollbars
  • move or resize TAS Editor window


B. Moving the Playback cursor

Click on any row in the "Icons" column of the Piano Roll to send the Playback cursor to the frame pointed. If you hold the left mouse button, you can drag the Playback cursor up and down. This way you can also move the Playback cursor to frames outside the currently visible area of the movie – drag the cursor below or above the Piano Roll, the farther you lead the mouse, the faster will be scrolling and Playback rewinding.


C. Selecting rows in the Piano Roll

Click on a frame number in the "Frame#" column of the Piano Roll to select this frame and remove selection from other frames (if there was any selection before). If you hold the left mouse button, you can stretch the selection by moving mouse up or down.

If you need to append new selection to the already existing selection, hold Ctrl while clicking on a frame number. This way you can select several non-overlapping segments. Also this way you can remove some parts of existing Selection, by holding Ctrl while clicking on a selected frame.

If you hold Shift instead of Ctrl, the click will select a region of frames starting from the beginning of previous Selection.

If you hold Alt, the click will select rows using current Pattern.


D. Setting/unsetting Input in the Piano Roll

Point mouse cursor at needed cell of Input (find crossing point of the needed frame row and the needed button column) and press left mouse button. The Input in this cell changes at the moment you press the button. Empty cell will become occupied and vice versa.

The row containing this cell will also become selected, and other rows of the Piano Roll will become unselected. This feature ensures that Selection cursor always appears in the context of Input editing.

If you hold the left mouse button, you can draw or erase Input in other cells of the Piano Roll by moving mouse cursor over them. Drawing starts when you click on an empty cell, erasing starts by clicking on an occupied cell.

If you hold Shift while clicking on a cell, the Input change will apply to all frames from the Selection cursor to the row containing the cell.

If you hold Alt instead of Shift. the click will set Input (from the Selection cursor to the row containing the cell) using current Pattern.


E. Setting/unsetting Input using the Header of the Piano Roll

Click on a button symbol in the Piano Roll Header to change Input of this button in selected frames. If no frames are selected, nothing will happen. If in some of the selected frames the button in not set, your click will set the button in all selected frames, otherwise the click will unset the button in all selected frames.

If you hold Alt while clicking on a button symbol, the click will set the button in selected frames using current Pattern.

If you click on the "Frame#" label, the click will apply to Markers instead of Input.


F. Creating and moving Markers

Double-click on a frame number in the Piano Roll to set a Marker to this frame. If you hold the left mouse button, you can drag the Marker freely. Release the button to leave the Marker at the frame number it was held over. This way you can move Markers from place to place. If you release the Marker over Input columns, the dragging will be cancelled, and the Marker will return to the frame it was picked from. If you release the Marker over another Marker, those two Markers will switch places.

If you release the Marker outside the Piano Roll, this Marker will be dumped. Thus, to remove a Marker, double-click on it and drag it somewhere outside TAS Editor window.


G. Entering/exiting Note editing mode

Click on the upper or the lower edit field to start editing Note text displayed in this field at the moment.

To finish editing (and save changes) click on anything outside the edit field.


H. Controlling the Bookmarks List

Click on a frame number in the Bookmarks List (on the left side of the list) to send the Playback cursor to the bookmarked frame.

Click on a timestamp in the Bookmarks List (on the right side of the list) to restore movie state saved into the Bookmark and send the Playback cursor to the bookmarked frame.

Those operations fire on the button release.


I. Controlling the Branches Tree

Click on icon of a Bookmark to send the Playback cursor to the bookmarked frame.

Double-click on icon of a Bookmark to restore movie state saved into the Bookmark and send the Playback cursor to the bookmarked frame.

Those operations fire on the button press.


J. Controlling the History Log

Click on any row of the History Log to restore movie state to the point of time registered in the Log record.



Right mouse button


Auxiliary button.


A. Moving the Playback cursor with mouse wheel

Hold the right button and roll the mouse wheel up or down to move the Playback cursor respectively.

The mouse cursor can be anywhere over the TAS Editor window or emulator main window.


B. Scrolling the Piano Roll

Place mouse cursor over the Piano Roll, hold right button and move mouse cursor anywhere outside the Piano Roll to scroll visible area to that side. This is especially useful for horizontal scrolling, because using scrollbar would be too slow.


C. Setting a Bookmark

Right-click on a row of the Bookmarks List to set the Bookmark to the frame where the Playback cursor currently is.

Alternatively, right-click on icon of a Bookmark in the Branches Tree to set the Bookmark to the frame where the Playback cursor currently is.

Those operations fire on the button release.


D. Context menu

Right-click on a frame number of any selected frame in the Piano Roll to bring the context menu containing the following items:

  • Set Markers
  • Remove Markers
  • Deselect
  • Select between Markers
  • Ungreenzone
  • Clear
  • Delete
  • Insert
  • Insert # of Frames
  • Clone
  • Truncate movie


Scrollbars and Note editing fields also have their own context menus.



Middle mouse button


The middle mouse button serves one major role – to pause and unpause emulator, no matter where mouse cursor is  The button fires on button press.


When the emulator is paused, pressing the middle mouse button will unpause it (same was as pressing Pause hotkey). Moreover, if there is the green arrow outside the Greenzone in the Piano Roll, the middle-click will launch seeking to the frame of the green arrow (same way as pressing Restore Playback hotkey).

If you hold Shift while mid-clicking, this will launch seeking to the nearest Marker.

If you hold Ctrl while mid-clicking, this will either launch seeking to the Selection cursor (if it's below the Playback cursor) or re-watch the movie segment starting from the Selection cursor (if it's above the Playback cursor).


When the emulator is unpaused, pressing the middle mouse button will pause it (same way as pressing Pause hotkey).


Usually the middle mouse button is the mouse wheel.



Mouse wheel


The wheel can be rolled up and down with different speed. When you need precision, roll the wheel slowly. When you need speed, roll the wheel quickly.


A. Scrolling the Piano Roll or the History Log

When mouse cursor is over the History Log, roll the mouse wheel to scroll visible area of the History Log.

When mouse cursor is anywhere else, roll the mouse wheel to scroll visible area of the Piano Roll.


B. Moving the Playback cursor

Hold right mouse button and roll the mouse wheel up or down to move the Playback cursor respectively.

If you want to always see the Playback cursor position in the Piano Roll, check the "Follow cursor" checkbox in the Playback section of TAS Editor window.


C. Jumping on Markers

This is similar to pressing << and >> buttons or using Ctrl/Shift + Page Up/Page Down hotkeys.

Hold Shift and roll the wheel to make jumps with the Playback cursor. The Piano Roll will follow it if the "Follow cursor" checkbox is checked.

Hold Ctrl and roll the wheel to make jumps with the Selection cursor. The Piano Roll will follow it automatically.


D. Crossing gaps


Point mouse cursor to any member of a long column of buttonpresses or to an empty cell among other empty cells in its neighborhood, then hold the Alt key and roll the wheel up or down to scroll the Piano Roll in such a manner that mouse cursor immediately points at the upper end or the lower end of the column / emptiness.

This allows you to quickly navigate among long sequences of Input.

The same approach can be used to find previous/next Markers (when mouse cursor is over the column with frame numbers) and Bookmarks (when it's over the icons column).



Keyboard controls





Modifiers (Shift, Ctrl, Alt)


When you hold one of these keys, the functions of left mouse button and mouse wheel are modified.


  • Shift is responsible for the Playback cursor navigation and for selecting whole region of frames.
  • Ctrl is responsible for the Selection cursor navigation and for appending frames to current Selection.
  • Alt is responsible for Patterns and for crossing gaps using mouse wheel.


If you tap the Shift key twice in a row, the Piano Roll will automatically scroll to the Playback cursor.

If you tap the Ctrl key twice in a row, the Piano Roll will automatically scroll to the Selection cursor.


When you're drawing/erasing Input, hold Shift key to remove the "single-column" confinement.



Accelerator hotkeys


These are key combinations typical for many Windows applications. You cannot redefine those combinations. In this documentation they are highlighted with red color.



Ctrl + S = save project to disk


Ctrl + Z = undo (step back in History Log)

Ctrl + Y = redo (step forward in History Log)


Ctrl + Q = restore previous Selection (Selection undo)

Ctrl + W = restore next Selection (Selection redo)

Ctrl + A = select all frames between two Markers surrounding the Selection cursor

Ctrl + B = reselect frames that contain Input that was copied to the Clipboard


Ctrl + C = copy selected Input to the Clipboard (Copy)

Ctrl + X = copy selected Input to the Clipboard and then clear selected frames (Cut)

Ctrl + V = paste Input from the Clipboard to Selection cursor (Paste)

Ctrl + Shift + V = insert Input from the Clipboard to the Selection cursor (PasteInsert)


Delete = clear selected frames

Ctrl + Delete = remove selected frames from the movie

Insert = insert given number of blank frames before the Selection cursor

Ctrl + Insert = clone selected frames

Ctrl + Shift + Insert = insert blank frames before selected frames


Ctrl + F = bring the "Find Note" dialog


Ctrl + PageUp / Ctrl + PageDown = jump on Markers with the Selection cursor

Ctrl + Home / Ctrl + End = move current Selection to the beginning / to the end of the movie

Ctrl + Up / Ctrl + Down = transpose current Selection 1 frame up / down

Ctrl + Right / Ctrl + Left = scroll the Piano Roll right / left


Shift + PageUp / Shift + PageDown = jump on Markers with the Playback cursor

Shift + Home / Shift + End = send the Playback cursor to the beginning / to the end of the movie

Shift + Up / Shift + Down = move the Playback cursor 1 frame up / down

Shift + Right / Shift + Left = scroll the Piano Roll right / left


PageUp / PageDown = scroll the Piano Roll up / down

Home / End = scroll the Piano Roll to the beginning / to the end of the movie



FCEUX hotkeys


Emulator allows to map keyboard keys to different functions, see the Program Customization chapter. Keys that are already mapped by default are highlighted by light-blue color in this documentation.



Ctrl + F1 = reload last project


Pause = pause/unpause emulator

Esc = cancel seeking

Spacebar = restore Playback cursor position (launch seeking to the green arrow)

Ctrl + Spacebar = toggle "Auto-restore last position" checkbox

\ (backslash) = Frame Advance (emulate 1 frame)

Backspace = Frame Rewind (move Playback cursor 1 frame up)

Shift + R = play movie from the beginning


- (white "minus") = decrease emulation speed

= (white "plus") = increase emulation speed

Tab = Turbo speed (applies as long as the key is being held)


F1-F10 = load movie branch from the respective Bookmark slot (1-10)

1-0 = jump to the frame of the Bookmark (1-10)

Shift + F1-F10 = set Bookmark (1-10)

I = set currently selected Bookmark

P = load movie branch from currently selected Bookmark


M = show/hide rerecord counter

, (comma) = switch Input display

. (dot) = show/hide frame counter

/ (slash) = show/hide lag counter


Shift + L = reload current Lua script


Q = toggle Recording mode

W = switch current multitracking mode

Ctrl + R = invoke Reset command


Full list of FCEUX hotkeys that can be used when Taseditor is engaged:


  • Power
  • Reset
  • Pause
  • Frame Advance
  • Screenshot
  • Exit
  • Slowest Speed
  • Speed Down
  • Normal Speed
  • Speed Up
  • Turbo
  • Turbo Toggle
  • Savestate Slot 0
  • Savestate Slot 1
  • Savestate Slot 2
  • Savestate Slot 3
  • Savestate Slot 4
  • Savestate Slot 5
  • Savestate Slot 6
  • Savestate Slot 7
  • Savestate Slot 8
  • Savestate Slot 9
  • Next Savestate Slot
  • Previous Savestate Slot
  • Save State
  • Save State to Slot 0
  • Save State to Slot 1
  • Save State to Slot 2
  • Save State to Slot 3
  • Save State to Slot 4
  • Save State to Slot 5
  • Save State to Slot 6
  • Save State to Slot 7
  • Save State to Slot 8
  • Save State to Slot 9
  • Load State
  • Load State from Slot 0
  • Load State from Slot 1
  • Load State from Slot 2
  • Load State from Slot 3
  • Load State from Slot 4
  • Load State from Slot 5
  • Load State from Slot 6
  • Load State from Slot 7
  • Load State from Slot 8
  • Load State from Slot 9
  • Play Movie From Beginning
  • Toggle Read-Only
  • Toggle Frame Display
  • Toggle Input Display
  • Toggle Status Icon
  • Reload current Lua script
  • Sound Mute Toggle
  • Sound Volume Up
  • Sound Volume Down
  • Sound Volume Normal
  • Record AVI As...
  • Stop AVI
  • Eject or Insert FDS Disk
  • Switch FDS Disk Side
  • Insert Coin
  • Use Input Preset 1
  • Use Input Preset 2
  • Use Input Preset 3
  • Toggle Background Display
  • Toggle Object Display
  • Lag Counter Toggle
  • Open TAS Editor
  • Open Memory Watch
  • Open Cheats
  • Open Debugger
  • Open Hex Editor
  • Open PPU Viewer
  • Open Name Table Viewer
  • Open Trace Logger
  • Open Code/Data Logger
  • Frame Adv.-Skip Lag
  • Reload ROM or TAS Editor Project
  • Toggle Movie Subtitles
  • Open Ram Watch
  • Open Ram Search
  • Toggle Rerecord Display
  • Frame Rewind
  • Restore Playback
  • Cancel Seeking
  • Switch Auto-restore last position
  • Switch current Multitracking mode
  • Run Manual Lua function
  • Toggle FPS Display


Other FCEUX hotkeys will not work when Taseditor is running, for more details see Mistake-proofing.



Virtual gamepad


Emulator also allows to map keyboard keys to buttons of emulated console. You can use these keys for Input Recording and for Changing Input in Selection chapter.

By default, the following keys are mapped to the Player 1 buttons:

D – B

F – A

Enter – Start

S – Select

Keypad up – Up

Keypad left – Left

Keypad down – Down

Keypad right – Right


When you need to input hardware commands, use FCEUX menu or hotkeys:

  • NES -> Reset or "Reset" hotkey (Ctrl + R by default) – to invoke the "Reset" command
  • NES -> Power or "Power" hotkey – to invoke the "Power switch" command (not used in practical TASing)
  • NES -> Eject/Insert Disk or "Eject or Insert FDS Disk" hotkey – to invoke the disk command (only useful for a Famicom Disk System game)
  • NES -> Switch Disk Side or "Switch FDS Disk Side" hotkey – to invoke the disk command (only useful for a Famicom Disk System game)
  • NES -> Insert Coin or "Insert Coin" hotkey – to invoke the arcade machine command (only useful for a VS System game)


These commands work only when Recording mode is on. After invoking a command you need to advance at least 1 frame to actually activate the command and insert it into the movie.

Since in TAS Editor 1.0 the Piano Roll doesn't have columns for displaying hardware commands (they are rarely used), it's recommended to set Markers to frames where a command was inserted.



Controls in Note editing mode



When you enter Note editing mode, the keyboard is used for typing the text.


1. Accelerator hotkeys do not work.

Ctrl + A – select all text of the Note

Ctrl + Z – undo/redo the last change in the text

Ctrl + X, Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V – text copy/cut/paste


2. FCEUX hotkeys do not work.

Backspace – delete previous symbol

Esc – exit Note editing mode without saving any changes

Tab – toggle between upper and lower Note editing field


3. Virtual gamepad keys do not work. Note: they will work if you check the Config -> Enable -> Background Input in FCEUX menu, so it's not recommended to enable the feature.


4. Mouse controls are the same as usual.  Any click outside the text edit field (except for mid-clicks) will exit Note editing mode and save text changes. Also, if the Playback cursor or the Selection cursor move away from the Marker while you're editing its Note, the text changes will be saved and you'll begin editing another Marker's Note. So it's recommended to only edit Notes when the emulator is paused.






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