User manual — Pioneer Access

Complete guide to playing Pioneer Space Sim blind with the Pioneer Access mod. This manual ships with the mod package (as MANUAL-USUARIO-EN.md and MANUAL-USUARIO-EN.html) and you can open it from the game itself (main menu → About Pioneer Access → Open the user manual).

Pioneer Access makes the whole game playable without sight. No screen, menu or game feature is left out: menus, saves, options, flight, stations, trade, missions, star navigation, hyperspace, combat with audio radar, gamepad and mining.

The complete key and gamepad map is also in a separate document, TECLAS (main menu → About Pioneer Access → Open the key and gamepad map).

1. What Pioneer Access is

Pioneer is an open-galaxy space sim: you trade, take missions, travel between stars and fight. Pioneer Access makes it accessible:

• Every menu and screen is navigated with keyboard (or gamepad) and read out by voice.
• Your ship's status (speed, fuel, hull…) is queried with quick keys, and important events are announced automatically.
• Combat is played with a stereo audio radar: you hear where the enemies are and a tone guides your aim.
• It works with NVDA (recommended); if NVDA is not running, it speaks through the Windows voice (SAPI). Optionally it can show messages on a braille display.

2. Requirements

• Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit).
• Pioneer installed (tested with the 2026-02-03 version in C:\Program Files\Pioneer).
• NVDA recommended. Without NVDA, the mod speaks through the Windows voice.
• To play with a gamepad: any Windows-compatible controller (XInput/DirectInput).

You do not need to install anything else: the mod package includes everything (voice bridge, NVDA library, installer).

3. Installation

1. Unzip the Pioneer Access package into any folder.
2. Open the folder and run Instalar.bat. The installer:

• copies the mod to Documents\Pioneer\mods\pioneer-access,
• copies the voice bridge, the manual and the key map to AppData\Local\PioneerAccess,
• creates the "Pioneer Access" shortcut on your desktop,
• and confirms it by voice: *"Pioneer Access installed correctly…"*.

No administrator rights needed. When it finishes, press a key to close the window.

To uninstall: run Desinstalar.bat from the same package. It does not touch your saved games.

Important: always use the shortcut

• "Pioneer Access" (desktop) = game WITH voice (starts the bridge, then the game).
• The normal Pioneer icon = game WITHOUT voice.

4. First launch

When you open "Pioneer Access":

1. A minimized window opens (the voice bridge) saying *"Pioneer Access voice bridge started"*.
2. The game starts. When it reaches the main menu you will hear: "Pioneer Access loaded".
3. If NVDA is running it will speak through NVDA; otherwise through the Windows voice.

When you close the game, the bridge closes by itself.

5. How the mod speaks

• Virtual menu: the mod keeps its own spoken cursor over the game's menus. You move with the arrows and hear each item as "Name, 3 of 8". Unavailable items say "disabled". Submenus say "submenu".
• Edges: lists do not wrap around; at the end you hear the error tone and the item is repeated.
• Game windows without a spoken menu: if the game opened an internal window that is not part of the normal game (developer tools), the mod warns you and reminds you that Escape closes it. While it is open, the arrows are paused. In the normal game this does not happen: every screen has its spoken menu.
• Priorities: critical warnings (errors, alarms) interrupt the voice; the rest wait their turn. Messages repeated within one second are spoken only once.
• Sounds: each action has a short sound (move, accept, back, open, error). They can be turned off or turned down in Accessibility options.
• Languages: the mod's announcements are in Spanish (or English, configurable). The game's menu names are read in the language set IN THE GAME (Options → game language).

6. Keys

The mod's keys are chosen so as not to clash with any game key. You can also reassign them all to whatever key, button or trigger you prefer (see 6.2.1). The complete map is in the TECLAS document.

6.1 General and menu navigation

Navigation (when a virtual menu is active — in the main menu there always is one):

• Down / Up arrow — next / previous item
• Left / Right arrow — adjust the item's value (volumes, value lists)
• Enter — activate the item (also the numeric keypad Enter)
• Escape — go back / close
• Home / End — first / last item
• Any letter — jump to the next item starting with that letter

When an item opens a text editor (names, save as): type with the keyboard (letters, numbers, space, hyphen, period; Shift for uppercase), Backspace deletes, Up arrow re-reads the text, Enter accepts and Escape cancels.

Global (always work):

• F12 — repeat the last announcement
• F11 — mute / resume the mod voice

⚠ Keys you should NOT press (they do hidden game things): F7 with any modifier starts or aborts the hyperjump; Ctrl+F8 triggers a test explosion; Ctrl+F9 quicksaves; Ctrl+F10 opens a developer viewer; Ctrl+F11 reloads graphics; Ctrl+Delete reloads modules. And Shift+Escape through Shift+F5 are the game's time acceleration (paused / 1x / 10x / 100x / 1000x / 10000x) — those you can use on purpose.

In the main menu, besides the game's options, there are two mod entries: Accessibility options and About Pioneer Access (open the manual, open the key and gamepad map, the first-steps guide, and the mod's details).

6.2 Main menu, saves and options

Everything is handled with the navigation keys from 6.1. What each screen contains:

• New game: choose the starting profile with Enter or left/right arrows (Mars, New Hope, Barnard's Star — each with its ship and equipment); edit the commander's name, the ship's name and the registration (text editor); "Generate random commander"; Summary reads the whole setup (money, ship, equipment, cargo, hyperdrive); "Start game" launches it (it warns if any value is invalid). On launch you will hear "Loading the game, generating the universe…" for a few seconds.
• Load / Save game: a list of games with name, commander, ship, place and date (autosaves have their own toggle). Enter on a game opens its actions: Load (or Recover if it is from an incompatible version), Overwrite (when saving), Delete (asks for confirmation). In save mode, "Save as" opens the text editor.
• Game options: five sections as submenus — Video (resolution, fullscreen, vsync, antialiasing, detail levels…; some warn that they require a restart), Sound (master/music/effects volumes with arrows, mutes), Game language (choose and restart), Controls (see 6.2.1) and Game (autosave). At the bottom: open the user folder, and with a game in progress, Save and End game.

6.2.1 Remapping controls and configuring the gamepad

In Options → Controls → choose the page (ship controls, view…) → the group → the action. Each action offers a primary and an alternative binding (axes also: gamepad axis, positive and negative key):

1. Enter on the binding: the mod says "Press the new key or combination".
2. Press the desired key or combination; the mod announces what it captured.
3. Enter saves, Escape cancels, R captures again.

The mod's own actions are also assignable, but NOT on this game Controls screen — instead in Accessibility options → Mod shortcuts (main menu). There you have the 16 actions (repeat announcement, mute, flight menu, the eight reports, radar mode, target attacker, next ship, weapons report, aim tone) with clear names. They come unassigned — the manual's fixed keys always work —, but you can give them any key, button or gamepad trigger (same spoken-capture procedure).

Configuring the gamepad axes: in Controls, your gamepad appears with its name; Enter opens it and lists its axes. Each axis lets you adjust the deadzone (how far you must move the stick before it starts acting, arrows ±0.05) and the response curve (±0.1), and toggle half-axis mode. Changes are saved on leaving with Escape.

6.3 Flight: status queries

During the game, hold Ctrl and press F1 to F6 to hear a one-off report (the game uses F1 to F8 without Ctrl for its windows; they don't clash):

• Ctrl+F1 — speed, flight state and control mode (manual, cruise with its set speed, autopilot with its maneuver, limiter). Note: the game ships "cycle camera" also on Ctrl+F1; it is purely visual and affects nothing, but you can remove it in Options → Controls if it bothers you.
• Ctrl+F2 — position: nearby body and distance, altitude, climb/descent, latitude/longitude on planets and atmospheric pressure when flying in an atmosphere, and, near a planet, your orientation — heading in degrees with its compass point ("heading 90 degrees, east"), pitch (nose up/down relative to the horizon, or "pitch level") and roll ("wings level" or a left/right bank) — to fly in atmosphere and land without seeing the artificial horizon; system, where you are docked. In mid-hyperspace: destination and percentage travelled.
• Ctrl+F3 — fuel, remaining delta-v and jump fuel.
• Ctrl+F4 — hull, shields, temperature and, if there is danger, the alert state (ship nearby or fire detected).
• Ctrl+F5 — current targets: navigation and combat, with distance, clock bearing ("3 o'clock" = to your right), closing speed, estimated time and, as you approach, the braking distance (with a "start braking!" warning); for the combat target it also says its hull and shields; for ships it says the model and, with a target scanner installed, its hyperdrive, mass and cargo. For the navigation target it also adds the nose bearing toward it ("target dead ahead" when centred, "target at 3 o'clock off the nose" to know which way to turn, or "target behind you"): this lets you aim the ship by hand at a station or planet for manual approach and docking, even without autopilot. It is the spoken equivalent of the HUD's target indicator: turn until you hear "dead ahead" and thrust. If you are also moving relative to the target, it says your heading of travel ("moving straight ahead", "moving toward 3 o'clock" or "moving backward"): compare it with the nose bearing to spot drift — if the target is dead ahead but you are moving toward 3 o'clock, you are veering to the right and should correct for a clean docking.
• Ctrl+F6 — date, time and time acceleration.

And two reports on the number keys (no modifier, only in the flight view and with menus closed):

• 6 — radar: number of contacts and the 10 nearest with type, bearing and distance (requires a radar installed, as in the real game).
• 7 — credits and cargo hold.

6.4 Flight: flight menu, autopilot and communications

F10 opens and closes the flight menu (navigated like any mod menu):

• Ship status: all the reports above as a re-readable list.
• Take off / Undock: depending on whether you are landed or docked (it saves first automatically, like the real button).
• Current target: actions on your navigation target — request docking clearance, dock with autopilot, fly to vicinity, low/medium/high orbit (they require an autopilot installed; without one, the game itself tells you over comms).
• Radar contacts: the 20 nearest; Enter on one opens its actions (set as navigation or combat target, autopilot…).
• Flight mode: manual, cruise, and lock the nose to prograde, retrograde, normal, anti-normal, radial in/out or kill rotation (what the game only offered in mouse radial menus).
• Follow target orientation and Follow target position (formation/escort): with a target set (navigation or combat) and within follow range, the ship matches its orientation or keeps its relative position; Enter toggles it. This is what the game only offered via the reticule buttons.
• Low thrust power: the thrust percentage when holding Shift while maneuvering (arrows ±5 %).
• Planned maneuver: if you planned a burn in the system map, you hear its delta-v here; Enter repeats all the data (delta-v, time until the burn and estimated duration). Also the mod warns automatically at one minute, at ten seconds and at the exact moment of the burn.
• Cancel autopilot, Start/abort hyperspace jump (warns if the jump is illegal; and if you can't jump, it says the reason: no destination set, out of range, insufficient fuel, or docked), Landing gear, Rotation damping (Enter toggles on/off; with it off the ship rotates freely and won't stop on its own, so if it got turned off by mistake you re-enable it here), Docking orientation guide (Enter toggles it; off by default): when on, a continuous tone tells you which way to turn to point the nose at the navigation target — the higher the pitch, the more centred, and it pans toward the target's side; when it is dead ahead you hear "aligned with target". Use it to approach and dock by hand; it stays silent in combat (the aim tone takes over). Cruise speed (arrows raise/lower it; only effective in cruise mode — it's the target speed a sighted player adjusts with the wheel), Speed limiter (Enter toggles off/current speed; arrows adjust).
• Communications: the last 15 messages.

Automatic announcements (without pressing anything): all new radio messages; docking clearance granted/denied/expired; take-off, landing, docking and undocking; autopilot finished or error; alerts (nearby ship, we're being fired at!); hostile missile launched; hits with hull and shield status; collisions; weapon overheated (past 90 % temperature, so you release the trigger before it stops firing); target destroyed when you shoot down an enemy ship (so you know it's down and can move to the next); new combat rating when you rank up from your kills; mission completed or mission failed when one of your missions resolves (in addition to the client's radio message); fuel warnings at 50/25/10/5 % and out of fuel; the five onboard alarms explained (hull temperature, just enough fuel to brake, atmospheric pressure, dangerous descent, collision course — plus their sirens); time acceleration changes; view change; rotation-damping changes (the flight assist; the game key is C): as soon as it turns off you hear "Rotation damping off! The ship will rotate freely." and when re-enabled "Rotation damping on"; sphere of influence when the orbital reference changes; "start braking!" when you approach your navigation target too fast to stop in time; jump countdown and arrival; planned maneuver warnings (1 minute, 10 seconds, now); cargo and fuel scooping and jettisoning; reputation changes; crew joining and leaving; system explored; autosaves; mission scans (range enter/exit, pause, progress at 25/50/75/90 % and complete); and ship destruction with its cause.

6.5 Stations: services, markets and bulletin board

On docking (or on entering the station view), the station menu opens by itself with the same services and in the same order a sighted player sees. It is navigated with the normal keys; Escape in the station's main menu returns to the flight view (just like in the game).

• Lobby: station information, refuel the ship (arrows ±10 %, Enter fills the tank, with the hydrogen price and cost announced), refuel jump fuel (±1 tonne) and Take off (with the game's own checks: fines or incomplete crew prevent it and tell you over radio).
• Commodity market: each commodity with buy price, sell price, stock, what you carry in the hold and its price classification (the same signal a sighted player sees as a coloured icon): "major/minor import" = scarce and expensive here, a good place to sell; "major/minor export" = plentiful and cheap here, a good place to buy; no label = uninteresting trade. Enter → Buy or Sell → you pick a quantity (arrows ±1; items +10/+100/−10, Maximum to buy all you can afford and fit or sell your whole stock, and None to reset to zero) hearing units and total, and confirm. The game validates money, stock and space as always.
• Shipyard: ships for sale with price; Enter opens its details (price, your ship's trade-in value, hold, crew, hyperdrive) and "Buy ship" with a spoken confirmation of the result.
• Equipment market: a list of all your ship's slots with what is installed. Enter on a slot → the current equipment with its sell value, "Sell the installed equipment", and the compatible catalogue with price and stock. Enter on a catalogue item opens its detail sheet: description, detailed stats (integrity, volume, weight, power draw and the type-specific ones: laser power, missile radius, hyperdrive reservoir, scanner resolution, cabin berths, etc.), price, and "Buy and install" — so you decide what it does and how much room it takes before buying, instead of buying blind. If the slot already holds equipment, the sheet warns "Replaces X, which will be sold for Y", so you know the purchase replaces (and sells) the one you had.
• Repairs: hull status and options to repair 1 %, 10 % or all, with their cost. Where it exists, Paint shop: random colour, pattern and apply with its cost.
• Police: outstanding fines, crimes, "Pay fine of X" and history.
• Commander summary: credits, legal status and hold.

The menu remembers which service you were in the last time you docked. Market warnings ("you don't have enough money", "out of stock"…) are read and closed with Enter or Escape.

Bulletin board and missions

• Bulletin board: each advert is read with its title, pay, deadline, distance and full description. Unavailable ones say "disabled". Enter opens the conversation.
• Conversation (all missions work the same): the client's full message is read; below, their options as a menu (accept the job, ask, negotiate the price…). When you choose an option you hear the reply. If the advert is a trader, "Commodity market" appears with their shop; if the mission has a destination, "Set as target" marks it in your navigation. "Hang up" or Escape close the conversation.
• Active missions: in the flight menu (F10) and in the station menu you have "Active missions": each with type, client, destination, pay and time remaining (or "deadline passed").
• Warnings from missions in progress (client messages, arrivals, changes) come over radio and are already read automatically.

6.6 Player and ship information

On entering the game's information view (the F3 key in flight, the game's own) the spoken menu opens with its six sections; Escape returns to flight:

• Ship information: full details (registration, hyperdrive and range, weights, capacities, weapons, delta-v, accelerations, cabins, atmospheric shielding), the installed equipment list (Enter on each item opens its detail sheet with the description and stats, just like the shop catalogue, to review what you carry), and "Rename the ship" with the text editor.
• Personal information: name, combat rating, kills, reputation and money.
• Economy and cargo: fuel and hold; the detailed cargo with "Jettison" per tonne, "Jettison 10 tonnes" and "Jettison all" (only in flight, as in the game — useful if pirates demand you drop the cargo); refuel from cargo (hydrogen from the hold to the tank: arrows 1 or 10 tonnes, Enter fills); pump fuel from the tank to the hold as hydrogen; and transfer fuel between the tank and the hyperdrive with arrows (one tonne per press).
• Missions: each mission and, inside, the full briefing and its type-specific details (destination, deadline, danger level, number of passengers, cargo…), plus "Set as target" and "Set return route" when they exist.
• Crew: each crew member with role, wage, debts and next payday; their tasks (for example, ordering them to take the pilot's seat and dock — they reply by voice), and "Dismiss" (with the same consequences as the game: if you owe them wages, they complain… and may report you).
• Flight log: the last 40 entries read with all their data and their note if they have one; Enter opens the entry's details to add or edit its note or delete it (the ones the game allows); "Add entry" with the text editor; and "Export the log to text", which creates a file named after your commander in Pioneer's player_logs folder (in Documents) to read with NVDA.

6.7 Star navigation and hyperspace

Star navigation opens in two ways: by entering the game's sector map (F5 in flight) or from the flight menu (F10 → Star navigation). It replaces the 3D map with lists:

• Current jump target: which system you have set, with distance, jump fuel and duration; Enter opens its details.
• Search: type the name (text editor) and choose among the results.
• Nearby systems: sorted by distance, each with distance in light years and whether it is within reach; two toggleable filters: "only reachable with current fuel" and "only inhabited".
• System details: description, distance and jump data, population, stations, faction, government, economy type, number of stars and lawlessness (the same the sector map shows about the system); "Set as jump target", "Add to route", "System economy" and "Compared economy".
• Planned route: your jumps in order with each one's fuel and the total (it warns of legs out of range — plan refuels); Enter on a jump lets you remove, move up or move down it; "Clear the route".
• Bookmarks: save your jump target with an optional text note, list your bookmarks (with their trade routes from the economy view), edit the note or delete them.
• System bodies (also on entering the game's system map, F6): star, planets, moons and stations in hierarchy; the full details of each body (type, mass, radius, gravity, temperature, pressure, atmosphere, escape velocity, density, orbital period, day length, apoapsis and periapsis, semi-major axis, eccentricity, axial tilt, population and stations' tech level — the same as the visual panel shows) and "Set as navigation target".
• Orbit planner (in the system map): for advanced pilots — plan burns by adjusting prograde/normal/radial delta-v and the start time with the arrows (the "factor" scales the steps); Enter resets each value. The maneuver is flown with the flight mode set to prograde and the thrusters.
• System economy: what that system imports (expensive there, good to sell), what it exports (cheap there, good to buy) and which commodities are illegal in it (so you don't carry contraband by mistake). It is the game's map economy view, spoken.
• Compared economy: prices of each commodity in your system versus the destination, sorted by profit ("positive: it sells for more there") — choose what to carry in the hold.

The jump itself is done from the flight menu: "Start hyperspace jump" once you have a target set. The countdown, the trip and the arrival are announced automatically.

6.8 Combat and audio radar

Combat keys (number keys, only in the flight view and with menus closed):

• 1 — audio radar mode: off → target only → ships and missiles (default) → all contacts. It is saved between sessions.
• 2 — set as combat target whoever is firing at you (or, if nobody is, the nearest ship).
• 3 — next ship as target (by proximity, cyclic).
• 4 — weapons report: front/rear weapon, gun temperature, missiles by type and ECM status.
• 5 — aim tone on/off.

How the radar sounds (with a radar installed, like the game's): each contact emits a short beep panned to its side (left/right by its bearing; the ones behind sound muffled). The closer it is, the more often it sounds. Timbres: ship = medium beep, missile = insistent high pitch, station = low, others = soft. The radar "rotates" between contacts so they don't overlap.

Without a radar installed the sound radar doesn't go silent: it switches to a proximity mode using the same indicators a sighted player sees without radar (the bodies in front of you, up to about 1000 km). It sounds the same (same timbres and side panning), but it only detects what is ahead and gives no 360° clock bearing or contacts report (key 6), which do need a radar. As soon as you install a radar you get full coverage.

Aim tone (with a combat target set): a six-step scale — the higher the pitch, the more centred the target is on your nose; when you nail it a chord sounds and you hear "On target!": fire with Space (or the trigger you assigned to the gamepad, see 6.9). If the target goes off screen, the tone drops to the minimum and sounds muffled. The tone also pans to the target's side: turn towards where it sounds.

Automatic bearing: with a target set, each time its clock hour changes you hear it ("3 o'clock"); Ctrl+F5 gives the full report (distance, closing, target's hull…).

Defence: "X has launched a missile!" as soon as a ship fires one, and "Incoming missile!" when it appears on the radar; in the flight menu (F10) you have Activate ECM (when ready) and Launch missile at target; each of your launches is confirmed ("Missile launched, 2 left"). Hits you take are announced with your hull and shields.

Your first combat: accept a combat or assassination mission from the board with an armed ship. In the zone: 2 to target the hostile, listen to its clock, turn until the tone rises, "On target!" → fire (Space or your gamepad trigger). If it fires at you, you will hear the alert and the hits; Ctrl+F4 for your status. With 3 you switch target if there are several.

6.9 Complete gamepad scheme

With any connected controller (Xbox layout as reference; on other controllers the buttons may change name or position). Connecting and disconnecting are announced:

• Left stick — move through the mod's menus (up/down; left/right adjust values). While a mod menu is open in flight, the ship ignores the controller (like the game's pause menu): navigate freely.
• A — activate / B — go back.
• X — repeat the last announcement.
• Y — open/close the flight menu (autopilot, targets, missiles, ECM, star navigation…).
• Left bumper (LB) — target the attacker. Right bumper (RB) — next ship.
• Press left stick — position. Press right stick — current target.
• Menu button (Start) — weapons report.
• View button (Back) — short press: mute/resume the voice. Held + another button: tells you what that button does without running it (contextual help).

Firing and piloting with the gamepad are GAME actions (not the mod's), so you assign them once in Options → Controls with spoken capture (the game also reads the gamepad's buttons and triggers; have the controller enabled on that same screen):

• Fire primary weapon (Ship → Weapons → Fire primary): assign it to the right trigger or the button you prefer; hold to fire. Fire secondary, to the left trigger, for example.
• Pitch, yaw, roll and thrust: to the stick axes (Ship → Orientation and Manual control); adjust the deadzone and curve per axis (6.2.1).

Note: the D-pad is not available to the mod (engine limitation); use the stick for menus. While a mod menu is open in flight, the ship ignores the controller; close it (B) to fly again.

The complete gamepad scheme and all the game keys (weapons, flight, camera, time…) are in the key document: main menu → About Pioneer Access → Open the key and gamepad map.

7. The mod's sounds and their meaning

Interface sounds; volume and toggle in Accessibility options:

• Short tick (move): the cursor moved to another item.
• Rising tone (open): a menu or submenu opened.
• Confirmation tone (accept): item activated.
• Falling tone (back): you left a menu or a window closed.
• Low buzz (error/edge): action unavailable, item disabled or end of the list.

Radar and combat sounds (all pan to the contact's side):

• Medium beep (900 Hz): ship on the radar.
• Insistent high beep (1500 Hz): missile.
• Low beep (300 Hz): station.
• Soft beep (550 Hz): other contacts (cargo, clouds…).
• Six-step scale (low to high): aim tone — higher = target more centred on the nose.
• Double chord: target on aim, ready to fire.

8. Playing guide for blind players

In the game itself: main menu → About Pioneer Access → First-steps guide — ten spoken steps that take you from creating the game to collecting your first delivery (and what to do if there is danger). The step-by-step first combat is in section 6.8 of this manual.

Extra tips:

• Mining and scooping: fire the mining laser at an asteroid and the chunks fly off as floating cargo. Set them as target (flight menu → Contacts), use the radar beacon mode (1 up to "target only": your navigation target also sounds) and approach slowly with the cargo scoop; each pickup is announced ("Scooped: iron ore") and so is the hold being full.
• Scooping fuel: with a fuel scoop, fly low through a gas giant's atmosphere; you will hear "Scooping fuel" with the percentage.
• The navigation beacon works the same for station approaches: set the station as target and the radar in beacon mode "sings" it to you panned as you approach.

9. Accessibility options

In the main menu → Accessibility options (Enter changes each value and announces it; they save themselves in Documents\Pioneer\pa-config.txt):

• Verbosity: minimal / normal / detailed (detailed adds extra hints on some items).
• Announcement language: Spanish / English (affects only the mod, not the game).
• Interface sounds: on / off.
• Sound volume: 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 %.
• Automatic announcements: turn on or off, by category, the announcements the mod makes on its own, so it doesn't overwhelm you: combat (kills, weapon overheat, missiles), flight (start braking, sphere of influence, rotation damping, scans, maneuver, fuel scooping), progress (mission completed/failed, combat rating, reputation, crew, system explored, autosaves) and system (time acceleration). Safety alarms (out of fuel, collision, destruction, onboard alarms) always play and cannot be muted.
• Mod shortcuts (remap): reassign the mod's 16 actions (reports, combat, flight menu…) to whatever key, button or trigger you prefer, with spoken capture.

10. Manual, keys and "About the mod" from the game

In the main menu → About Pioneer Access:

• Open the user manual: converts this manual to a web page and opens it in your browser (with headings for easy NVDA navigation). It opens in the language set in Accessibility options (Spanish or English).
• Open the key and gamepad map: opens in the browser the document with all the keys and the gamepad scheme, also in the configured language.
• First-steps guide: ten spoken steps within the menu itself (no browser needed).
• About the mod: mod name, installed version, author and copyright.

For these two documents to open, always start with the "Pioneer Access" shortcut (it is the voice bridge that opens the browser; the game alone cannot).

11. Troubleshooting

• Nothing is heard at launch → did you start with the "Pioneer Access" shortcut and not the normal game icon? Only the shortcut starts the voice bridge.
• The Windows voice speaks instead of NVDA → the mod switches to NVDA automatically a few seconds after NVDA opens; if not, check that NVDA is running.
• The mod goes silent mid-game → check whether pa-bridge.exe is still running; closing and reopening with the shortcut restores it.
• The manual or the key map won't open from the game → make sure you started with the shortcut (the voice bridge opens the browser). If it still won't, open MANUAL-USUARIO-EN.html or TECLAS-EN.html by hand from AppData\Local\PioneerAccess.
• The game starts without the mod → check in Documents\Pioneer\config.ini, [ModLoader] section, that pioneer-access is not under disabled.
• The installer or uninstaller fails with "file in use" → close the game, and also audio players or Explorer windows that have the mod's files open; retry.
• A menu does not respond to the arrows → a game window may have focus; press Escape (or Enter on its OK button) and the spoken menu resumes by itself.
• Logs to report with: Documents\Pioneer\pa-debug.log (and output.txt in the same folder).

12. Credits

Author: Héctor J. Benítez Corredera. Copyright 2026.

Pioneer Space Sim (GPL v3) · NVDA controller client (NV Access) · sounds from the accessibility mods community · built with the Accessibility-Mod-Template.