Keyboard Keybind Layout Switching

Post by **Major Cooke** » Tue May 30, 2017 5:31 pm

Spoiler: Old post
For what I've got planned, I've run into a pretty big issue: the ability to change entire keybind layouts on the fly.

If the player has the layout, when the ZScript command to change it is executed, it'll be switched to it.
If the player does not, then GZDoom generates one with the exact same keys as the current layout, which the player can change around to their desire.

Ultimately, a cvar can exist that allows the player to choose the absolute and prevent GZDoom from switching them at all if they wish.

An example of where this whole system can come in handy is dealing with changing player classes/morphs/etc. If I have more than one gun up, or perhaps driving a tank, it'd be of tremendous convenience not to have to rebind a bunch of my keys more than once. Nor have many of them bound to different keys and cluttering up which keys should be free and which should be assigned. This will be crucial especially if there's some form of customization and micro-managing with said weapons and vehicles.

EDIT: Okay, I just realized thanks to DBThanatos that basically I'm suggesting a ZScript version of Exec. But with a safety cvar that can be checked, this will allow me to notify players that the execution is highly recommended at least.

Post by **Graf Zahl** » Wed May 31, 2017 12:23 am

Sorry, but keybindings are STRICTLY user side and there will be no exceptions.
You cannot blanketly assume that the layout to switch to is in any way beneficial to the specific player.

Post by **Enjay** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 4:50 pm

Graf Zahl wrote:You cannot blanketly assume that the layout to switch to is in any way beneficial to the specific player.

Speaking as a left handed player who finds WASD very awkward and at completely the wrong end of my keyboard and who has played a few ports or new implementations of various classic games where the "helpful" author has converted the game to "the much better and more modern WASD" setup with no option to change the keys away from that, thank you.

I'm not saying that WASD doesn't suit more people and I'm not saying that games shouldn't come with that as a default (provided they can be changed). I'm just using it as an example of people assuming that their preferences suit all users - and it doesn't.

Post by **Major Cooke** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 7:24 pm

That's not what I meant, actually.

It's not blanket carpet assuming. You would have to set up the keybinds yourself since you won't have a system set up to begin with.

In fact, if you don't have a keyboard layout set up for that specific name, it doesn't do anything.

That's what my idea was revolving around.

ZDoom