> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.elementlabs.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Change the key that opens the menu

> Pick the key and controller button new players get, and how players choose their own.

By default the menu opens on `ESCAPE`, in place of the game's pause menu, and on the controller's
`START` button. This page changes the key new players get. Each player can still choose their own.

## Before you start

* The menu is installed and opens. See [Install the menu](https://docs.elementlabs.net/products/3d-pause-menu/installation.md).
* The key you want is free on your server. Another resource bound to the same key fires at the same
  time.

## Steps

**1. Set the key in menu.jsonc**

In `configs/menu.jsonc`, set `open.key` to a key name FiveM knows, such as `M`, `F5` or `TAB`.
Add `open.padKey` to change the controller button too:

```jsonc theme={null}
{
  "namespace": "menu",
  "configVersion": 1,
  "scope": "client",
  "values": {
    "open": { "key": "M", "padKey": "SELECT" }
  }
}
```

Leave `open.command` as it is. Renaming it creates a new binding and every player loses the key
they chose.

**2. Restart the menu**

```text theme={null}
restart element_3d_pausemenu
```

## Check that it worked

Join with a FiveM profile that has never been on your server, and press the new key. The menu opens.

> [!WARNING]
>
> Players who joined before the change keep the key they already had. FiveM saves the binding with
> each player's own settings the first time they join, and the server cannot overwrite it. Tell your
> players to change it themselves, as below.

## How players choose their own key

* **Keyboard:** on the key-binding page of the menu's **Settings** tab, or in FiveM's own key
  bindings, the binding is labelled **Open 3D Pause Menu**.
* **Controller:** the game does not let players rebind a controller button there. In the `F8`
  console:

  ```text theme={null}
  bind PAD_DIGITALBUTTON SELECT "+element_pausemenu"
  ```

Every accepted key and button name is listed under
[Menu](https://docs.elementlabs.net/products/3d-pause-menu/configuration/menu.md).

## Next steps

* [Menu](https://docs.elementlabs.net/products/3d-pause-menu/configuration/menu.md): the tab the menu opens on, and what it does
  while open.


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