RoboBob3000
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I was just curious to see if anybody uses a different keyboard setup like I do. Not all of us swing the sword with Q and W!

So here's what I use:

W,A,S,D are up, left, down, right.
Q,E,Z,C are nw, ne, sw, se.
X is wait.
Left and right arrow keys turn the sword.

This is just the way I set up the controls the very first time I played (my laptop didn't have a number pad) and now I can't imagine playing any other way than my backwards setup.

Anybody else have a different setup?

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masonjason
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Wow. Those are weird controls.
Since my 7 key didn't work on my old laptop, I shifted the controls a keyboard column to the right (so now I have 9 = north, I = west, L = down, O = wait etc.) I kept Q and W the same.

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AlefBet
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I prefer to have my hands on the home row. I therefore use D and F for rotation and my navigation keys are:
UIO
JKL
M<>

Besides being on the home row, I also moved my nav keys off the keypad because numlock isn't very friendly with my laptop, which was sometimes in a docking station (with a full keypad) and sometimes not. On my laptop, numslock turns a lot of the alpha keys into number keys when not using a docking station, which is a bit annoying.

I'm simplifying this a bit. Those keys are the proper keys, when looking at the keycaps, but since I use the Dvorak keyboard layout, they actually normally do other things. I.e. my rotate keys are actually "E" and "U" and my nav keys are:
GCR
HTN
MWV

Yeah, that was a bunch of detail, but you asked....

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13th Slayer
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here. Arrows-up down left and right. 7-up-left,9-up-right, J-down-left,l-down-right. QW-Sword. R-restart. Backspace-undo.

coppro
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I use the default laptop setup - the same as the PC setup, just configured to avoid the Fn key.

eb0ny
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13th Slayer wrote:
here. Arrows-up down left and right. 7-up-left,9-up-right, J-down-left,l-down-right. QW-Sword. R-restart. Backspace-undo.

So, you are keeping one hand on arrow keys, your second hand on 79JL group and... Personally I do not see how this works. I am playing DROD on a stationary PC and I have standard qwerty keyboard, and you have specified three groups of keys.

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BeefontheBone
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NumPad, other hand on q and w. The usual, surely? I'm a roguelike player and a Civ player, so it's pretty natural by now

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calamarain
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Roguelikes tend to make you used to using the numpad. I only use non-numpad keys if I don't have a choice - i.e. if I'm using the old lappy.

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schep
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calamarain wrote:
Roguelikes tend to make you used to using the numpad.

If you say so. A roguelike is the reason I DON'T use the numpad for DROD.

calamarain
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schep wrote:

calamarain wrote:
Roguelikes tend to make you used to using the numpad.

If you say so. A roguelike is the reason I DON'T use the numpad for DROD.

Fine. Roguelikes are the reason *I* use the numpad for DROD My fingers just naturally go into that position. Too much Angband, I fear.

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aztcg7
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I agree that roguelikes are why I don't use the numpad. I use hjklyubn for wsne nw, ne, sw, se, . for wait, and all other keys standard. That's what you're talking about, right Schep?

Damn you nethack, why did you imbue me with this insanity!!!

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coppro
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That's a good layout, but I only ever get used to it after a lot of playing, so I prefer the more regular omni-directional layout.

NoahT
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I use the default keys. Once I re-mapped the undo key (don't remember what to, though), because I thought backspace was too out-of-the-way, but not long after I changed my mind and changed the key back.

-Noah

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[Last edited by NoahT at 10-11-2007 03:15 AM]

calamarain
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aztcg7 wrote:
Damn you nethack, why did you imbue me with this insanity!!!

You use the vi keys with NetHack? Ewwww

Give me the numpad or give me death!

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schep
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Heh, so somebody else actually does use the same keymapping. And yes, it's from nethack (though I know some other games use the same keys).

QueBarbara
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I use the default, except I moved the "restart" over to P to separate it more from the Q-W keys. In the beginning, I was restarting quite a bit and moving very slowly, and I kept hitting the R key by mistake.

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NeonElephant
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calamarain wrote:
You use the vi keys with NetHack? Ewwww

Give me the numpad or give me death!

I use the vi keys with most of the roguelikes I play (so far there's been a high correlation between a roguelike not supporting the vi keys and my not playing it--though in most cases that's purely coincidental).

I use the numpad for DROD, though. Possibly I'd change if I started playing DROD on a laptop.

Briareos
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Me, I'm almost using the default layout except for undo being mapped to keypad 0 - it's neededused waaay too often to keep it that far away from my grubby fingers...

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aztcg7
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To the people who use the vi keys:

Do you keep your fingers on the home keys, and just have your index finger do most of the work, or do you move your right hand one key to the left, and then use it like that?

I can't decide myself, so I figure I should get some input.

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schep
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Yeah, I shift my right hand one left of "home". (Of course, during nethack, my hand actually shifts back and forth fairly often, since some prompts involve regular touch typing. I can't even figure out what I normally do for select-an-item prompts when the key I want is in the right hand.)

It makes sense for me playing nethack so that all the commands I need are in quick reach. (How do those numpad users cope with moving hands around to do all-the-time things like step a direction, (s)earch, and (i)nventory?) But I wouldn't recommend using them for DROD except to those who are already used to moving a little character around on a grid using those keys.

aztcg7
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I've been playing nethack for nearly a year now, and had alot of trouble deciding whether or not to shift my hand left one or not. I ended up being halfway in between, and not being consistent at all, and need to standardize. I've actually been going back and forth between the vi keys and the numpad for DROD, but have been settling towards the vi keys.

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bflatjeff
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Numpad, QW. The only customizing I have done is to set the numpad / as undo, which works for me. Like QueBarbara, I occasionally hit Reset when I mean undo or something(if I've been doing a lot of resetting), which makes me scream! But I really can't see moving it.

I started playing DROD on laptop (using the laptop non-numpad controls), then moved to desktop. There was definitely a transition period when I decided to go numpad.

BbJ

Not to get off topic, but: Dvorak people, do you find it very helpful? How's the learning curve? Any difficulty when made to use QWERTY layouts? I've always been intrigued, but never tried...

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[Last edited by bflatjeff at 10-11-2007 07:07 AM]

Oneiromancer
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bflatjeff wrote:
Not to get off topic, but: Dvorak people, do you find it very helpful? How's the learning curve? Any difficulty when made to use QWERTY layouts? I've always been intrigued, but never tried...

Lots of links to other discussions of this here:
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=15946&page=0

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13th Slayer
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eb0ny wrote:

13th Slayer wrote:
here. Arrows-up down left and right. 7-up-left,9-up-right, J-down-left,l-down-right. QW-Sword. R-restart. Backspace-undo.

So, you are keeping one hand on arrow keys, your second hand on 79JL group and... Personally I do not see how this works. I am playing DROD on a stationary PC and I have standard qwerty keyboard, and you have specified three groups of keys.

I keep one hand on arrows,second on QW.I dont often move diagonnally

eb0ny
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13th Slayer wrote:
I keep one hand on arrows,second on QW.I dont often move diagonnally

Well, I move diagonally a lot, so your configuration seemed odd to me.

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Maurog
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All new players almost never move diagonally at the beginning. I noticed that when I taught my mother to play DROD. It's a stage everyone pass, even you and me. Obviously at some point it fails you completely and you learn to move diagonally the hard way.

My controls are QW and the numpad. Sometimes, when play DROD on a laptop, there is no numpad, so I remap the keys to YUIHJK... it's more awkward, but whatever works.

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Monkey
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I use the original layout, with 1 minor change: turn right is now E instead of W. It causes me to hit R a lot.

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Jatopian
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Monkey wrote:
I use the original layout, with 1 minor change: turn right is now E instead of W. It causes me to hit R a lot.

Why not revert?

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AtkinsSJ
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I use all the default controls. And Maurog, I think I was quite happy with diagonals from the start. What really got me for ages was pressing Q instead of W, and vice versa.

I started playing roguelikes afterwards, and am always uncomfortable if they don't use the number pad for moving.

Mattcrampy
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I've gotten used to the Q and W, but I recall having to get used to it and complain about it at every opportunity.

I don't really think there's much else that can be used on a keyboard, though.

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