Please Bethesda, no hard-coded keybindings!

Post » Tue Dec 01, 2015 7:21 pm

As we approach the release of Fallout 4, I'm becoming concerned about an issue that sometimes causes me problems with new releases, including the past few BGS games: keyboard controls that are not fully configurable. As a left-handed mouse user, I NEED the ability to remap the keyboard control scheme to something I can use with my right hand. This becomes an even greater concern with Fallout 4, since it uses a lot of pop-up interactions that happen in real time. We haven't yet seen how these work with mouse and keyboard, but I'm worried about things like the conversation wheel being hard-coded to WASD.

When Fallout 3 released, there were several controls that didn't properly remap. For instance, the button to open the PIPboy could be remapped, but that didn't change the button to close it, it remained hard-coded to TAB. some menu controls have no mapping option (Take All and Exit in the looting menu), making the game more awkward for people who don't use the default control scheme. Some issues were eventually improved with a patch, but some remain in the game.

Skyrim at release also had several controls hard-coded, and didn't allow use of the number pad (the number keys were hard-coded to hotkeys). It took a user-made fix (http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=88 by crazy-g) to expose the full set of control mapping. It was a non-user-friendly process of editing hexadecimal codes in a text file that was required to fix the key-mapping issues. Again, most of the issues were eventually patched out, but it took a while.

The fact that these problems were patched out of the games at least shows that BGS acknowledged that they were issues, but I worry when this sort of thing pops up again in subsequent games.

Please Bethesda, before Fallout 4 goes gold, I'm asking you to review the key-mapping options and make sure you're giving us something that works for everyone. With more interactions happening real-time instead of in paused-time menus, it's more important than ever for non-WASD players that the key-mapping works properly. If I remap A or E or C to different keys, please let ALL the functions that use those keys map to the new key assignment! A bunch of quick pop-up interactions that demand timely key-presses on the other side of the keyboard could really get in the way of enjoying an otherwise masterful game.

Thanks for your consideration, and I hope the above-described concern won't be a problem come November 10th. :fallout:

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brian adkins
 
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Post » Tue Dec 01, 2015 6:25 pm

I hope they amp up the sensitivity in fallout 4 for consoles skyrims turning speed was waaaay to slow.
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Add Me
 
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Post » Wed Dec 02, 2015 1:14 am

I hate not being able to fully customize my keys... :glare:

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sam
 
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Post » Tue Dec 01, 2015 2:44 pm

Playing a bit of Skyforge while waiting for November and while they DO let you remap keys, and they DO even show you the new key names on-screen, since I use the numpad keys, all the keys display "NUMPAD_" and then I can't see which key I'm supposed to press! Would "Num3" be that hard? :)

Of course, that's still leagues better than games that lock you to WASD. The Take All / Exit features of the Fallout games, as noted, are particularly annoying. It's faster for me to CLICK them than it is to reach aaaaaaall the way over the T and E keys. In Fallout-4, though, with no time-stopping (except, I guess/hope during inventory management), any time wasted moving the mouse to click a button on screen or reaching aaaaaall the way over to a foreign key, is time made dangerous.

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evelina c
 
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Post » Tue Dec 01, 2015 11:32 pm

Some things are hardcoded, like stimpaks and grenades, which makes perfect sense.

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Krystal Wilson
 
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Post » Wed Dec 02, 2015 1:49 am

Yeah, I'm a numpad user too. Some games show the alternate function instead of the number for button prompts (NumPadHome, NumPadPgUp, etc) which is even worse.

I also mouse-click the loot prompts instead of pressing the hotkeys. With the new realtime UI, I really hope the functionality is well thought-out.

It never makes sense to not give the player the choice to remap the keys. What if grenades are hard-coded to the key that I use to move forward? It makes sense to throw a grenade with every step? Nothing should be hard-coded (except maybe the ESC key to pull up the main menu).

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~Amy~
 
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Post » Wed Dec 02, 2015 2:12 am

Does it?

Not to me :mellow:

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Your Mum
 
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Post » Wed Dec 02, 2015 2:41 am

Remapping is critical for me. I'm right handed and my left hand is really dumb, I guess. I've never been able to use WASD - in any game. I just can't find them without looking at the keyboard. I always map WASD to the arrow keys and everything else I map to the numpad area for use with my left hand, shoving the keyboard to the left to play, and use my right hand for the mouse.

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Roisan Sweeney
 
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Post » Tue Dec 01, 2015 7:23 pm

Well hopefully they are hardcoded in game but can be changed to another key :D

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Stephy Beck
 
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Post » Tue Dec 01, 2015 4:15 pm

You keep using that word.

I do not think it http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hard-coded what you think it means. :tongue:

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Kayla Bee
 
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Post » Tue Dec 01, 2015 10:12 pm

I remember this issue, was a pain for those of us who play with NumPad - I believe I ended up breaking down and buying a Razer Nostromo.

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cutiecute
 
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Post » Tue Dec 01, 2015 5:37 pm

Adding my voice to this request.Bethesda YOU NEED TO FIX THIS!!!!!!

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CYCO JO-NATE
 
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Post » Wed Dec 02, 2015 1:25 am

Numpad user here to, best bet is using AutoHotkey as Bethesta never patches stuff like this.

Lots of complains in the other games to but they don't seem to care, next time i will wait a year for mods to be released before i buy the game.

Anyways AutoHotkey does a decent job of changing the keys, the interface will show the wrong keys and the part that the gui is using the same keys as movment, reload, interacted and stuff is not possible to do anything about.

Quite easy to make a remap file.

1. Install AutoHotkey

2. Make a new textfile with .ahk as filetype.

3. Rebind keys like ::

ex

Numpad3::r

This would make Numpad 3 reload, full list of keys here https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/KeyList.htm

Another nice thing to add is to only run script when Fallout Window is active.

Add #IfWinActive in top of the file, for fallout it would be

#IfWinActive Fallout4

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Brian Newman
 
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Post » Tue Dec 01, 2015 3:31 pm

This absolutely has to be fixed, and I have no problem contributing my "vote" and comments to every thread that pops up on this issue because it's such a critical and unbelievable issue.

It needs the visibility of persistent complaints so that Bethesda will fix it ASAP and learn from their mistakes for once.

Every action should (must) allow a custom binding and because there are context menus where some actions (like walking) are impossible, you must be able to map the same key more than once, to more than one action.

No key bindings should be hardcoded and no key bindings should be hidden in the binding options menu.

The one single exception that I'd "allow" would be ESC for opening and closing the game's menu.
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Valerie Marie
 
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Post » Tue Dec 01, 2015 10:57 pm

This needs fixed not only in Fallout 4 but also Skyrim. I still have not played that game yet due to not being able to bind the numpad for movement natively. Unfortunately the autohotkey workaround will randomly break in Fallout 4 for me so I have not been able to get more than an hour into the game without game ending annoyance about this. This should be a really simple fix for the developers to do to make a whole lot of people happy.

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Natalie Harvey
 
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Post » Wed Dec 02, 2015 2:00 am

Hard coded key bindings make no sense. Is ruining an otherwise brilliant game for me.
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xxLindsAffec
 
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Post » Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:16 am

Bump! Love the game but for example the console key localization is just moronic. So simple thing that ruins lot of it.

At least add console bind command to hack it if nothing else.

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Josh Sabatini
 
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Post » Tue Dec 01, 2015 1:43 pm

You should not have to install 3rd party software that can potentially cause other conflicts with the game to play the game. This solution is not acceptable.

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Lady Shocka
 
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