... But it seems to be stuck on "ammo swap". There must be a way to unbind this key!

I'm just now getting into FO:NV for the first time and it looks promising, but this little annoyance is just staring me in the face. Searching around hasn't yeilded much info.

I suggest getting the http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=42507 and then the http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=39997.

The Weapon Wheel comes with NVEC and I never use it, but I did notice that it allows you to remap the ammo swap key. The Mod Config Menu just allows you to do it with an easy interface without having to use the console.

If you don't want to do this then I suggest just getting used to it. I have to the point of it being difficult for me to use 2 for weapon swap in another game.

Excellent! I will be using the Mod Configuration Menu. For now I've been playing a bit without mods to get a feel for the game.

Thank you!

Hmm. I think I misinterpreted what you said... sounded like MCM would allow for re-binding on it's own. To be clear: Is the rebinding of "2" only possible by using the Weapon Wheel mod, and made easier by also using MCM? I'm not really interested in using WW...

If there is a way to do this using the console I would be interested in hearing it. Seems unlikely though as all I've found via searches are some ways to jury rig the FalloutPrefs.ini and move the locked "swap ammo" key down the row to the "8" key. I guess there are 2 things that are annoying me about this: the way it has been set up we only have 7 keys to bind items; and that the unbindable key chosen is one I've used for possibly every game I've ever played using a keyboard- and that's a lot, over a long time!. Is it possible that the person who made this decision has never used a keyboard for gaming?

I'll adapt to it if I have to. But every time I reach for 2...

What's NVEC? Don't see mention of it in the WW description.

It is extremely annoying. Seems to be a nasty trend in games nowadays to lock some or many of the keys on your keyboard into only being able to do functions that they preselect for them. This should never happen- there is no reason whatsoever that they couldn't have simply assigned the ammo swap function to the 'L' key, or the '?' key, or something nobody ever goes near during combat. Or any key that *you* want to assign it to, to get it out of the way. Unnecessarily wasting the '2' key and reducing weapons presets from 8 to only 7 functional keys, simply svcks. It's just a sign of developer hubris and the attitude of 'we know what's best, screw the people who like to map keys to their own preferences, we could care less about them'.

But if you think that's bad, in Skyrim, they [censored]ed up the entire keypad, which many people, lefties and others, use in place of the standard WASD mapping configuration. They decided to move a bunch of key effects onto the keypad keys, and don't allow the player to remap them, basically making the game utterly unplayable to many of us. I eventually found a mod (praise the nine!) that allowed the remapping of those keys, but it still pisses me off that they would do such a stupid and PC-unfriendly thing. No call for it. The simple fact that a mod could fix that, allow the remapping of the numpad keys, and the game still works fine afterwards, only serves to further point out the uncaring, thoughtless stupidity of Bethesda's decision to [censored]up the numpad like that.

Just don't do it, devs. It's wrong.

The Weapon Wheel is the mod that allows you to remap the ammo swap key so you can use 2 for another item.
MCM is just an interface that gets added onto the pause screen. It basically adds a Settings tab for mods. If you didn't have MCM then you would have to change the Weapon Wheel's options using the console, which can get complicated.
If you don't want to use any of the other features of the Weapon Wheel then I'm pretty sure you can just turn everything else off.

NVEC is http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=44204. Depending on what part of it you download, it comes with dozens of bug fix and added content mods that make the game more enjoyable. The Weapon Wheel is one of the mods that is added into it.

Edit: I found http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/250502-change-ammo-changer-hotkey/ on the Nexus forums. Post 7 shows how to remap the ammo swap key, if you don't think you can get used to it.

Thanks for the clarification. I already did the FalloutPrefs.ini edit, which seems to make the best of a bad situation.

Indeed, reading around about this I see that console users are also inconvenienced. Seems hardcoded key binds are not user friendly, no matter the interface device.