Selection Bug in BAR: What Causes It and How to Fix It
Clicking units but only buildings select, or the game seems stuck on building selection. This is a common BAR confusion and usually has a simple fix.
Tags: bar, beyond all reason, selection bug, settings, fix, beginner, controls
Quick fix: you probably hit the select-buildings-only key
Beyond All Reason has a built-in toggle that restricts your click selection to buildings only. If you accidentally press this key during a match, you will find yourself unable to select mobile units. Everything looks like a bug until you realize which key got pressed.
Check your keybinds in settings and look for the "select buildings only" binding. Most players land on it by mashing keys during a heated fight. Unpress it, or rebind it to something you will not accidentally trigger.
Why this trips up new players
BAR has more hotkeys than most RTS players come in with. The selection filters, frame hotkeys, and economy bindings all share the same keyboard real estate. Newer players often assume a broken selection means a broken game when it really means a settings toggle they have not discovered yet.
The fix is always the same: open settings, review your keybinds, and make sure nothing is conflicting. If you recently imported someone else's config or copied hotkey settings, that is an even more likely culprit.
Other selection issues to check
If the buildings-only key is not the cause, a few other settings can create similar symptoms:
- Ctrl-group assignments conflicting with selection hotkeys
- Custom UI widgets that intercept mouse clicks
- Window focus issues, especially in windowed mode on multi-monitor setups
- Outdated game build with a known selection regression
Updating BAR to the latest build through the launcher solves a fair number of selection quirks that the community tracks and patches each release cycle.
Avoid vs block: player controls that matter
While we are on the topic of settings, players often confuse the avoid and block player features. Avoid stops you from being matched with someone in future games. Block is more immediate and usually relates to chat or in-game communication. Both show up in settings under player management, and knowing the difference saves time when you are trying to improve your match quality.
Where to check your account and playtime
If something feels off with your account itself, the server dashboard at server4.beyondallreason.info shows your playtime under the account section. This helps confirm whether settings changes are actually saving properly between sessions.
Keeping your setup clean
One habit that saves hours of troubleshooting: back up your settings before importing anyone else's configuration. If you paste in a hotkey file from a stronger player and suddenly your selection is broken, you want the ability to roll back quickly.
The BAR community runs active support channels where sharing screenshots of your settings and describing what happened right before the issue started gets fast answers from experienced players.
Creed of champions: learn without the noise
Troubleshooting your own settings is one thing. Doing it after a frustrating match with teammates blaming you for something you did not even do is another. Creed of Champions runs games where players actually help each other clean up settings, share configs, and figure out why things are not working without the usual post-game toxicity. That kind of environment makes the learning curve a lot less painful.
"Crd is the first really comfortable community I have been a part of. Everyone is nice and kind, the atmosphere is relaxed, and I am not getting yelled at for not being optimal."