Ok so I'm a pretty new to the whole PA scene, I've barely played at all so far so feel free to call me a complete noob. My question to you all is what do you find is the best way to move about in the game? My biggest problem is the arrow key movement, which is so awkward to try and use because I've got the mouse in my right hand and of course the arrow keys are on the right hand side of the keyboard. Do you guys use the arrow keys to move about or do you do something else? And if you do use the arrow keys how do easily reach them when your right hand is already occupied by using the mouse?
I use my left hand for the arrow keys but I find it annoying to have to switch between the letters of the keyboard to press command shortcuts and the arrow keys to move the camera. As soon as we get fully customizable keybindings I'm gonna bind camera movement to WASD and place command keys next to it. There might already be a custom keybinding widget as mod. Feel free to tell me if there is a mod that lets you bind camera controls to WASD.
Middle mouse. My left hand is busy pressing other buttons around wasd and just like godde I don't like jumping around a lot so I never even touch the arrow keys.
The thing is wasd should be what moves you around! but i guess some want some of those for commands, so until we can set customize you are stuck with arrow keys. i find middle mouse buttons not resposive enough. you really need the keyboard input for it. if you are like me you use the movement key way more than issuing commands as the few commands that need a lot of use are on right mouse button.
Yes I either use middle mouse or the 'mouse at edge of screen' scrolling. To get that working at its best, I recommend the full screen autohotkey script that's kicking around on sxx's signature on the forums. That makes PA appear like a 'full screen' app which is pretty key to get that edge scrolling working properly.
Early on, I always used arrow keys, and had to swap my hand around a lot. However, more and more, I've been relying on the middle mouse button for movement. I'll still use arrow keys on occasion if I need a little more precise control, but during fights? Just the mouse. Anything else slows me down too much. Mind, you can remap so that ASDF are your control keys, but then you'll also need to remap quite a few other things to maintain some of the more useful keys. I preferred to just get better at the middle mouse.
Debug camera controls absolutely cannot be remapped - they're debug. ;-) I'll ask WJ about basic pan and scan movement though. People should be able to either remap, or secondary map things like that.
Well you might call it a debug camera but I would call it a cinematic freecam. If I want to use freecam I have to remap WASDFR to no keys so it doesn't select stuff or make noises. Or is all my concern unwarranted because they'll be a proper camera control section added way later towards the polishing stage?
At some point, since that camera has become quite popular, we'll probably need to have a discussion about how to make it a first class citizen, where it would need to override any other controls, so you don't get things like you're describing. Remind me again in late October. ;-) (Re: Free cam/debug cam only - the other stuff is higher priority - people need to be able to remap)
I locked the poles in place in the settings that way when using the arrow keys it acts more traditional, up until you get close than it acts a little weird, but nothing a little practice wouldn't solve.
Actually you can make script for AutoHotKey to which will redirect any buttons you like to non-remapable camera controls. Also as I see you by the same way you can completely block original controls, just by intercepting user input before PA can grab it. PS: If somebody have good idea about those controls let me know and I'll try to create script for that.
Could anyone give me an example of a game, that is using wasd to scroll. i want to see how the other commands are mapped. thx
Coming from a SupCom background, I rely on my mouse wheel to zoom out towards where I want to go, and then zoom in exactly where I want. Might not sound good in text. For me, works great on the battlefield
Just because I'm playing them right now: Rome 2 Total war, Godus, uses it, all fps use it, most new games have it as at least an alternate if not the primary way that you interact with stuff. I usually rebind stuff if its an option to use it, but a lot of things just come with it as stock now a days.