Key mapping without using the mouse

[WisdomOrFolly]

I'm trying to not have to use the mouse when I play. But when I try to map keys to "Attack/Interact", it only works if the mouse cursor is actually on the object I want to attack/interact with. This kind of defeats the purpose of key mapping because if I have to aim the mouse, I can just click on it. If I map my key to just the "Interact", I don't need the mouse but then I have to keep clicking in order to attack, rather than being able to hold down the key and keep on attacking.

What action should I map my keys to if I want to interact/attack without the mouse, and be able to just hold down the attack key?

As a side note, I find it really hard to attack, block, and use clickies at the same time. How do other people get past this? Thanks!

[Turtlsdown]

Another solution is to use a gamepad (i found the xbox360 controller worked really nice when I tried it but there are many others). If you do a search on the forums there should be some threads about how people set it up (I'm at work and can't be ar**ed to look for it sorry).

[Marcus-Hawkeye]

Would enabling autoattack work for you?

[WisdomOrFolly]

I find that autoattacking usually has a lag from when I target to when I start attacking. I'm a rogue, which means I have some particular issues with autoattack, such as not being able to see which stealthed enemies I've selected (I can select them, but I don't know which I've selected until I get close enough to hit, but then if I selected the wrong one, I get spotted before I can get a sneak attack off). Also, autoattack gets turned off every time I search, which is pretty often.

I mean, I can play, but if the whole idea of keymapping is to give a seamless and customized experience, I'm surprised I can't find a solution...

[Ryiah]

I mean, I can play, but if the whole idea of keymapping is to give a seamless and customized experience, I'm surprised I can't find a solution...

If you want a seamless experience go buy a Razer Naga. I can access the first two hotbars using the buttons on the mouse and a single key on the keyboard (ALT to select the second hotbar).

[EllisDee37]

You can do everything without touching mouse if you like. Just leave the mouse in the center of the screen to make autotargeting more intuitive.

For using a door/chest/whatever that the mouse isn't pointed at, cycle through selectables with the backspace key until the thing you want to use is selected, then hit the U key to use it.

[psykopeta]

I'm trying to not have to use the mouse when I play. But when I try to map keys to "Attack/Interact", it only works if the mouse cursor is actually on the object I want to attack/interact with. This kind of defeats the purpose of key mapping because if I have to aim the mouse, I can just click on it. If I map my key to just the "Interact", I don't need the mouse but then I have to keep clicking in order to attack, rather than being able to hold down the key and keep on attacking.

What action should I map my keys to if I want to interact/attack without the mouse, and be able to just hold down the attack key?

As a side note, I find it really hard to attack, block, and use clickies at the same time. How do other people get past this? Thanks!

u have 2 keys for that:

-target nearest breakable/npc (Q and BACKSPACE by default)

- target nearest enemy(dunno how it's called XD) by default is TAB

both can cycle

for breakables/enemies, if u hit the "interact" key (U or E) it will trigger autoattack, which if u don't wanna use the mouse, is the best option

also can use autotarget (G by default) to SOFT target the nearest breakable/npc/enemy (and then press E to interact, swing)

dunno why u don't wanna use the mouse, but think it's one of the worst idead i've ever heard, makes playing much smoother, in fact u could avoid using keyboard...ah wait, it's not wow roflmao

keep in mind that's a d&d based game, so u'll need to do tricky jumps, look in strange places/angles etc

[katz]

i play DDO using a ps3 controller, and i barely touch the mouse.

i usually leave the pointer roughly centered and take advantage of the auto-target (G on your keyboard to enable-disable... if you havn't remapped it) i also sometimes use 'target next mob/target next breakable' hot keys in certain situations.


i usually only ever end up touching the mouse if i want to craft, mess with my bank or inventory, or examine an item someone has linked in chat... OR the rare occasion i have to use mouse-look to target a ranged lever or other oddball thingie

[EllisDee37]

-target nearest breakable/npc (Q and BACKSPACE by default)

for breakables/enemies, if u hit the "interact" key (U or E) it will trigger autoattack

I always felt that the Q (select) and E (use) default keys were missteps in UI design. I would encourage only using their alternate keys backspace (select) and U (use). This leaves you free to remap Q & E as Strafe Left and Strafe Right, which is really what they should be by default.

[ReaperAlexEU]

for the OP, as others have said, leave the mouse in the middle of the screen then use the auto-target to enable attack. when i'm munching and the quest isnt difficult i'll drop out of mouselook then just use WASD to turn and move and spam E to attack the target closest to my mouse cursor, which i leave in the middle of the screen. i assume you're controls will be a bit more elegant as it's your main fighting style but that covers the bare basics for me until i'm done munching.

I always felt that the Q (select) and E (use) default keys were missteps in UI design. I would encourage only using their alternate keys backspace (select) and U (use). This leaves you free to remap Q & E as Strafe Left and Strafe Right, which is really what they should be by default.

U and E fit nicely with other FPS games making it easier to transition between games (except for killing floor, i hate transitioning to killing floor as my melee button just harmlessly switches the light on and off!). so the reason those buttons conflict with strafe is they are expecting you to be in mouse look making A and D strafe. I think they get set if you click on the default FPS style control. anyway, just thought you might like to know the reasoning behind that default config. doesn't make it right for you but it does work well for any FPSers joining the game.

[ReaperAlexEU]

If you want a seamless experience go buy a Razer Naga. I can access the first two hotbars using the buttons on the mouse and a single key on the keyboard (ALT to select the second hotbar).

psst, OP is looking to park the mouse not upgrade it

besides, the logitech G600 is clearly superior. well, at least it was for me due to my habit of frequently repositioning the mouse on my pad. must...keep...mouse....in....centre......

when i tried the naga the cursor would fly over the screen each time i lifted the mouse, and it wouldn't go back the other way when i dropped it, noooo, it would fly even further in the same direction! for me this was a deal breaker so i had to take that sexy beast back to the shop and try some alternatives. i'm now quite happy with my boring looking yet functionally brilliant G600.

p.s. i don't need to use ALT to access the second hotbar, my mouse has a 3rd top button, so ner (also great for FPS as a hold down to snipe with lower sensitivity instead of the normal toggle sensitivity or cycle up and down, which it also has but i don't use). i also prefer back and forward being on the mouse wheel, the naga i tried had that at the front of one of the top buttons and my fingers just didn;t reach it comfortably.

most importantly though a mouse like that should be right for the user, so to any thinking of buying one find a store to try it out in, and get them to plug it into a computer so you can reposition it a few times.

[EllisDee37]

U and E fit nicely with other FPS games making it easier to transition between games (except for killing floor, i hate transitioning to killing floor as my melee button just harmlessly switches the light on and off!). so the reason those buttons conflict with strafe is they are expecting you to be in mouse look making A and D strafe. I think they get set if you click on the default FPS style control. anyway, just thought you might like to know the reasoning behind that default config. doesn't make it right for you but it does work well for any FPSers joining the game.

DDO isn't a FPS game, though. I mean, you can go into first person view, but I suspect that most people do not.

Clearly some people play with mouse look mode on for the most part, but I could never play that way. I move with the WASD keys, plus QE for strafing.

As a person who keeps mouse look on, how do you use hotbars?

[sebastianosmith]

As a person who keeps mouse look on, how do you use hotbars?

I have bars 1-6 mapped to key combinations using Ctrl, Alt, WinKey, Shift, ModKey and just plain old 1-0. I keep anything I might use during combat in a key-mapped bar. For the rest, I hold down the right mouse button to momentarily suspend mouse look and click away. Having gotten into gaming through FPS, I find it a very natural control strategy.

[EllisDee37]

I have bars 1-6 mapped to key combinations using Ctrl, Alt, WinKey, Shift, ModKey and just plain old 1-0. I keep anything I might use during combat in a key-mapped bar. For the rest, I hold down the right mouse button to momentarily suspend mouse look and click away. Having gotten into gaming through FPS, I find it a very natural control strategy.

Do you have to take your hand off the mouse to hit your Ctrl/Alt/Win/Shift/Mod hotkeys?

I mapped the first 10 hotbars with hotkeys, using the entire Alt+Alphabet, the numeric keypad and the ins/hom/pgup/del/end/pgdn bank of keys to allow full combat without touching the mouse, so I'm right with you regarding all the mapped hotkeys. I'm having trouble picturing how you use two-key hotkeys with only your left hand, though.

[ReaperAlexEU]

DDO isn't a FPS game, though. I mean, you can go into first person view, but I suspect that most people do not.

Clearly some people play with mouse look mode on for the most part, but I could never play that way. I move with the WASD keys, plus QE for strafing.

As a person who keeps mouse look on, how do you use hotbars?

one main pull for me is DDO has FPS style controls, sure it's in 3rd person (yeah, i tried first person, it was horrible!) but having the FPS style controls makes the game feel so much more natural to play than a point and click does. i love being able to dodge an arrow or a fireball. this will appeal to other FPS gamers as well which explains why there is a FPS default option on the keybind screen.

previously i had 1-4 next to my WASD fingers for important stuff, 5-6 for less important stuff (takes a bit to reach to), 7-8 i bound to my mouses back and forward button for time critical stuff i wanted full mobility for (often combat tactics) and 9-0 for the least important stuff (which oddly i found easier to find with my finger than 7-8). i then used CTRL+mousewheel to cycle hotbars so i could stay in mouselook the whole time in combat. for things like gear swaps i would drop out of mouselook to hit a bar on the side of the screen.

for weapon swaps i have a few bars above my combat bar with every weapon in. i then pull down the weapons i will use in the quest into some combat quickslots. if i meet a foe i wasn't expecting i can still get to a handy weapon, then after the fight switch my combat bars about a bit if i think i'll meet more of that foe. for spells i have a quickbar for each situation, general combat, boss combat, exceptional mobs and buffs.

now i have the logitech G600 which like most MMO focused mice has 12 buttons on the side plus a whole host of other buttons as you tend to get on normal gaming mice. the 12 buttons can fill up a dedicated hotbar on their own, then with a shift style key they can do an alternative quickbar too. so now i have 2 quickbars bound to the mouse with my normal ones still there as they have always been. i tend to use 1-4 for maintaining combat buffs now as the side buttons on the mouse have taken over all the combat tactics and healing. i use back and forward (still 7-8) for weapon swaps now, same with 9-0, those are also weapon swaps (or shield swap on my tank) but they are on 2 buttons on the mouse now. i still drop out of mouselook for gear swaps as those are seldom needed in combat.

the main difference between playing in or out of mouselook is agility vs quickbar usage. a player in mouselook will tend to be more agile and find the mario parts easier. a player out of mouselook will find having a screen full of quickbars easier to use

[ReaperAlexEU]

Do you have to take your hand off the mouse to hit your Ctrl/Alt/Win/Shift/Mod hotkeys?

I mapped the first 10 hotbars with hotkeys, using the entire Alt+Alphabet, the numeric keypad and the ins/hom/pgup/del/end/pgdn bank of keys to allow full combat without touching the mouse, so I'm right with you regarding all the mapped hotkeys. I'm having trouble picturing how you use two-key hotkeys with only your left hand, though.

ahh, that is one difference you have probably missed. for an FPS gamer losing control of your character is something to avoid. so we will try to keep our fingers on both WASD and the mouse at all times. a sacrifice we often make is to lose A or D as we reach for a number key (or Q/E) so we can still turn and run but we can't strafe until we're done using that key.

so having the full alphabet bound would mean losing the ability to run whilst using many of your quickbars. that is where the trade offs are, we'd prefer more control of our character at the expense of less bound buttons. having said that we can still get a ton of quickbars at our fingertips with the hotbar cycling options, + and - to go forwards or backwards in your hotbar stack, or CTRL+Mousewheel to do the same.

so when you have to use both hands to activate a quickslot that isn't in a prime position we have to swap/cycle quickbars then hit it with the 1-0 keys (or any bindings based on them) leaving us both hands to continue movement allowing our characters to continue to evade the mobs.

it's interesting just how different control schemes can be and where the pros and cons are. for melee i think swapping/cycling quickbars works perfectly as you're always in striking range of the mobs. for casting a higher emphasis on quickbars could be better, but then you still want to do all the jump casting if you do have aggro, so i guess more quickbars means better aggro management to make full use of it when stopping to cast a rare spell is a side effect of the control scheme (cos i know you'll be fine with common spells and jump casting).

[EllisDee37]

so when you have to use both hands to activate a quickslot that isn't in a prime position we have to swap/cycle quickbars then hit it with the 1-0 keys (or any bindings based on them) leaving us both hands to continue movement allowing our characters to continue to evade the mobs.

It all makes sense, thanks much for the explanation.

If I had a gamer mouse I might very well try for mouselook mode. I use a regular $7 two-button mouse, though.

it's interesting just how different control schemes can be and where the pros and cons are. for melee i think swapping/cycling quickbars works perfectly as you're always in striking range of the mobs. for casting a higher emphasis on quickbars could be better, but then you still want to do all the jump casting if you do have aggro, so i guess more quickbars means better aggro management to make full use of it when stopping to cast a rare spell is a side effect of the control scheme (cos i know you'll be fine with common spells and jump casting).

Just wanted to point out that I can maintain full combat movement with just my left hand, including a continuous circle-strafe, leaving my right hand to handle all the combat keys. I use the mouse mainly for mouselook mode while running outside of combat. Once I see combat approaching, I let go of the right mouse button, put the cursor in the middle of the screen and move my right hand to the bank of 22 combat keys on the right side of the keyboard. (Plus some Alt versions, but not a ton. 22 keys is highly effective for combat situations for most any kind of build.)

[sebastianosmith]

Do you have to take your hand off the mouse to hit your Ctrl/Alt/Win/Shift/Mod hotkeys?

I mapped the first 10 hotbars with hotkeys, using the entire Alt+Alphabet, the numeric keypad and the ins/hom/pgup/del/end/pgdn bank of keys to allow full combat without touching the mouse, so I'm right with you regarding all the mapped hotkeys. I'm having trouble picturing how you use two-key hotkeys with only your left hand, though.

I generally don't need to take my hand off the mouse unless I'm chatting. All my key-mapped hotbars are set to numbers 1-0 in combination with a meta key. Things like Ctrl-0 are a bit of a stretch. I did map the extra "Meta Key" to Home and subsequently mapped Home to one of my side mouse buttons. That makes a few things more manageable. It all comes down to practice. I've spent several years getting my left hand muscle memory to where it is today. The real trick is recalling where I put different abilities and so forth on various characters in the heat of battle... so many SP wasted.

[EllisDee37]

The real trick is recalling where I put different abilities and so forth on various characters in the heat of battle... so many SP wasted.

Ha! No joke. I still haven't completely settled on the "perfect and complete" setup for most of my alts, but most are 95% there.

My biggest keymapping problem is continuity. The worst offenders are cleave and great cleave, which I think are on different keys for all four of my melee alts. Gah!

[ReaperAlexEU]

It all makes sense, thanks much for the explanation.

If I had a gamer mouse I might very well try for mouselook mode. I use a regular $7 two-button mouse, though.

Just wanted to point out that I can maintain full combat movement with just my left hand, including a continuous circle-strafe, leaving my right hand to handle all the combat keys. I use the mouse mainly for mouselook mode while running outside of combat. Once I see combat approaching, I let go of the right mouse button, put the cursor in the middle of the screen and move my right hand to the bank of 22 combat keys on the right side of the keyboard. (Plus some Alt versions, but not a ton. 22 keys is highly effective for combat situations for most any kind of build.)

just a web browsing mouse with 2 main buttons, a wheel and 2 side buttons for back and forwards in a browser is a good starting point. i was quite upset when my aging razer finally wore out (after outliving most other mice i have ever had). that got me through many years of DDO with only 2 buttons bound to quickbar slots.

i do love my new MMO mouse, but that old 5 button mouse worked for years in DDO (the mousewheel clicks making it count as the 5th button).

yeah, 20+ keys is fine for most situations, i have similar on the new mouse with that doubled up numpad sitting on its side. with the old mouse and more reliance on scrolling hotbars there were 3 bars always close to hand, but it was hard to use actions on 2 bars back to back. so spamming combat tactics and maintaining short term combat buffs while still having healing options and weapon swaps was a bit too much for 1 bar. i could have dropped the weapon swaps i guess and pushed them onto another bar, but after melting a few weapons to slimes i felt it important to keep weapon swaps close to hand