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NEANDERTHAL

Weird Control Habits

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Who here has strange control setups or habits? Does anyone play on a GuitarHero guitar? A real guitar? Use YBNU or GBJK?

Personally, I've been playing vanilla Doom maps with mouse-only controls and my trusty touch-pad. I've never bought a mouse.

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Right mouse button as jump for games that don't have an alt-fire is about my only control quirk. That's about it, I'm a WASD/mouselook guy mostly; although do play DOOM frequently on the TV using a controller of late.

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I'd start with this thread.

Can't say I've heard of YBNU or GBJK: is that with a QWERTY keyboard or something else? I'm trying to imagine how one is supposed to hold one's fingers comfortably in such a setup (in QWERTY anyway) and utterly failing.

Aside from the three-finger layout of WASD (A on ring, W/S on middle, D on index) I'm aware of the control usage to have every finger bound to its own key, so something along the lines of ASDF (A pinky, S ring, D middle, F index) means zero movement to worry about slipping when pressing buttons. I grew up with arrow keys as early as five years old, so I never bothered to look into anything else. I'm also aware of the tendency to bind the forward key to something like right mouse button or spacebar, thus simplifying the three-finger layout even more.

Ultimately, even with movement keys available in a particular way, it's just as important to have other keys available when you need them. Vanilla Hexen, for example, requires me to rebind the following:

  • Turn Left
  • Turn Right
  • Inventory Left
  • Inventory Right
  • Use Inventory
  • Look Up
  • Look Down
  • Center View
  • Fly Up
  • Fly Down
  • Stop Flight
(For those who are aware of Hexen control scheme, yes you can rebind Use Inventory, it just has to be done as a direct edit of the CFG.) I need all of these keys in relatively usable positions, and I absolutely need to have full familiarity with the "default" position of movement. So it's not always as simple as just binding movement and being done with it: even straight Doom can benefit from binding turn keys (for strafe50 past certain hazards) and different binds for weapon keys to make them easier to reach.

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I use ZXCV, where Z is backwards, X is strafe left, C is crouch (or jump in Doom), and V is strafe right. Mouse1 is fire, mouse2 is forward, the mouse wheel for weapon selection, and of course the space bar for jump (or use in Doom). I also use the side buttons on the mouse and the surrounding letter keys for extra functions if I need them.

I have literally never used WASD. The first time I ever played with a mouse/keyboard combo was Quake at a friend's place some 17 years ago. I don't know if he had it set that way or if it was the default, but mouse2 was set to walk forward. I set the rest of the keys to a comfortable setting and it's been that way since. I think if I tried to use WASD now it would be really clumsy for me.

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Not really for Doom, but I play Dark Souls and company with keyboard+mouse. Including Bloodborne. O_o

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Mouse on Left hand, numpad 8456 for movement, numpad 0 for jumping, 1 for crouch and enter for running

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I got to rather like playing Wolf3D using a Gravis Gamepad, for a while, but I wouldn't want to for Doom which requires a few too many more buttons to really enjoy. (It also didn't translate so well to Ken's Labyrinth which only accepted two-button controller input...)

Back in the day I did have a keyboard+joystick setup for Doom 95 at one point; think a similar setup as keyboard+mouse but with a joystick instead of the mouse. It was one of those joysticks that had a gun trigger type of thing for the fire button which I think was the initial appeal for me to try that setup (then you realize that while it seems fun with most of the weapons, pulling a gun trigger to punch with your fist is a little odd anyway...) I think it also didn't let you do the hard turns that you can with a mouse, though it might've been better than trying to do so with a keyboard alone. I no longer have that joystick or one like it though.

CapnClever said:

(For those who are aware of Hexen control scheme, yes you can rebind Use Inventory, it just has to be done as a direct edit of the CFG.)

I also use that for Heretic/Hexen, although it's with a "typical" WASD base setup, what I do is bind ZXC to Inventory Left, Inventory Use, Inventory Right respectively. For Hexen II (or Hexen with a port) I also put Repulsion on Q and Flechette/Glyph on E.

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from foebane's thread:

Bauul said:

For terrible control schemes, nothings beats 1996's Realms of the Haunting.

Mouse to shoot and click on things (you had a floating cursor on screen, despite being first person). Arrow keys to walk and turn. Page Up and Page Down to look up and down. < and > to Strafe. Number keys for weapons. A and Z for jump and crouch. And L, R and U for inventory management.

You literally needed a hand on the left side of the keyboard, a hand on the right side of the keyboard, and a hand on the mouse to play!

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Try splitting firing/movement between two players ;-)

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The worst part about Realms of the Haunting is that you couldn't even redefine anything.

There was a later release in another region (Europe?) that added some options, but these additions were never provided as a patch for the first release. BTW, guess which version ended up on abandonware sites, and which one became incredibly obscure.

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The last -commercially released- game without configurable keyboard controls that I remember was the infamous Bubble Bobble/Rainbow Islands remake by Akklaim, also 1996. I think they used WASD + Tab for firing (!).

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On second thought, I don't remember the exact state of that game's controls menu, I just remember it was grievously insufficient, while the second release was slightly better.

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When I play Doom, I use WASD except that right mouse is move forward and W is use.

I use normal WASD in other games. I've tried switching to my Doom setup for other games and to normal WASD for Doom, but neither works.

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Uncle 80 said:

MB2 for move forward

I'm not the only one! I've gotten weird looks about this one, but I find it far more convenient to have every movement bound to its own finger. I guess switching between W and S to change direction works for the majority of players, but it always seemed clumsy. I've watched people play with WASD and the way they have to contort their fingers seemed like more trouble than it was worth.

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RMB for strafe on, space for use.
How can WASD seem clumsy, though? It allows utilizing the entire left hand in the best possible way. Pinky is often useless in such simple games as Doom, so using 4 fingers of the left hand for WASD isn't a problem.

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It turns out I have an unconventional technique: I use WASD, but with the pinky on W, the ring finger on A/S and the middle finger on D*. Middle finger reaches weapons 3-4 to switch, index finger 5-7, with no need to rebind those (I'd probably rebind the 1 slot to T if I ever do a run that requires switching to it very seamlessly). Index finger also handles R (jump) if I'm in GZDoom. Thumb rests on space for use. LMB is shoot, RMB is strafe on, mouse wheel is used exclusively for weapon preswitching.


*From a quick search it seems like middle on A/S is overwhelmingly more common.

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rdwpa said:

It turns out I have an unconventional technique: I use WASD, but with the pinky on W, the ring finger on A/S and the middle finger on D*. Middle finger reaches weapons 3-4 to switch, index finger 5-7, with no need to rebind those (I'd probably rebind the 1 slot to T if I ever do a run that requires switching to it very seamlessly). Index finger also handles R (jump) if I'm in GZDoom. Thumb rests on space for use. LMB is shoot, RMB is strafe on, mouse wheel is used exclusively for weapon preswitching.


*From a quick search it seems like middle on A/S is overwhelmingly more common.


excuse me but how :| that is some contortionist nonsense :D

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Seems really natural to me. It's an extension of the typical left hand positioning while typing.

Also, I forgot to mention that I put my run-toggle chair button under my left buttcheek instead of my right like most people do.

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rdwpa said:

Seems really natural to me. It's an extension of the typical left hand positioning while typing.


The insensitive and vulgar crowd demands pics :-p

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rdwpa said:

It turns out I have an unconventional technique: I use WASD, but with the pinky on W, the ring finger on A/S and the middle finger on D*. Middle finger reaches weapons 3-4 to switch, index finger 5-7, with no need to rebind those (I'd probably rebind the 1 slot to T if I ever do a run that requires switching to it very seamlessly). Index finger also handles R (jump) if I'm in GZDoom. Thumb rests on space for use. LMB is shoot, RMB is strafe on, mouse wheel is used exclusively for weapon preswitching.


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Arrow keys for movement, Enter for jump (in maps requiring it), Delete for crouch and numpad 0 for automap. Insert is used for any mods that use flashlights.

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I SOMETIMES PLAY DOOM USING THAT STUPID RESIDENT EVIL CHAINSAW CONTROLLER... I DON'T EVEN PLAY RESIDENT EVIL.




Jokes aside, I'm a lefty and I've always used the mouse with my right hand, so naturally I use WASD with my left hand and MLOOK with my right hand instead of arrow keys with right hand and mouse with left.

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Arrow keys for movement, to straferun I use A (left) and D (right), to run I use C, to hit I use X, and to shoot I use Z. Also S is used to activate running. All of these using vainilla or Crispy Doom.

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Arrow Keys for movement, A (Left) S (Right) for strafing. Z for running, caps lock for run toggle, X/left click to fire, Control to use, C for jump, Space for Crouch, mouse for mouse look, E/right click for alt.fire, Tab for automap and Backspace to take screenshots.

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