Trying to get into PC gaming and not overcoming awkward controls..

[aihuman]

I am trying to get into PC gaming but I am having issues with control and multitasking in games.I cant, for the life of me,pull off two different actions at the same time.For example,a game like HalfLife,which I am currently playing,there are instances where you need to jump and then, immediately crouch to avoid death.I call this the Jump crouch and its an action that needs to be mastered in this game.Very difficult to pull off on a keyboard.Jump is on the space bar and crouch is on the shift key-default was on CTRL key.Now on the PS2 version, you could go jump hold the jump button and you would atomatically go into a locked crouch.Worked flawlessly.Beat the PS2 version of the game without dying.On the PC version Ive died a handfull of times just after causing a resident cascade.

Maybe this problem is just HalfLIfe and not other PC games.Ive been scared off PC gaming because of the controls.I try chaging them but end up making a bigger,awkward mess.I want to know what CAGs default control scheme if for FPS and other games.What should I do?

[Hydro2Oxide]

Any Source game (Half-Life 2, TF2, L4D) Has the crouch jump. Simply jump and then hold your pinky down on the shift or ctrl key. It's a far more simple maneuver then other techniques used in Source games like air strafing and such. I'd say keep trying, nothing is easy the first time you try it.

Maybe you should try Half-Life 2 and not HL1, it's really cheap due to all the people selling it as a Steam download (Myslef included :P) because of the Orange Box.

EDIT: Or better yet, buy the Orange Box. It'll be the best 30 dollars you've ever spent.

[aihuman]

Any Source game (Half-Life 2, TF2, L4D) Has the crouch jump. Simply jump and then hold your pinky down on the shift or ctrl key. It's a far more simple maneuver then other techniques used in Source games like air strafing and such. I'd say keep trying, nothing is easy the first time you try it.

Maybe you should try Half-Life 2 and not HL1, it's really cheap due to all the people selling it as a Steam download (Myslef included :P) because of the Orange Box.

EDIT: Or better yet, buy the Orange Box. It'll be the best 30 dollars you've ever spent.
Ive already got 2 copies of the Orange box for console.One one Xbox 360 and one on PS3.I also have TF2 on Steam.Guess Ill keep trying.

[Sleepkyng]

practice makes perfect.

[dv8mad]

Controls are the number one reason I can't play PC games even though I always build really nice HTPCs for myself that could easily play the newest games.

I'm a total keyboard mongoloid. :cry:

And no, practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes me want to kill myself. LOL:lol:

[Sarang01]

Controls are the number one reason I can't play PC games even though I always build really nice HTPCs for myself that could easily play the newest games.

I'm a total keyboard mongoloid. :cry:

And no, practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes me want to kill myself. LOL:lol:

I hope you're at least buying and playing the Nihon Falcom games for it.

[XeroKaizoku]

if anything you could grab a wired 360 controller and use it instead of the keyboard and mouse. Any one of them should work so long as they are the wired and NOT the wireless with the play and charge kit. Even the cheapies from GS work fine. I have a friend play Fallout 3 on his laptop like that. might work better for you, might not but hey if you get it used from GS you still have at least 7 days to try it out and if it doesn't just return it.

[Hydro2Oxide]

if anything you could grab a wired 360 controller and use it instead of the keyboard and mouse. Any one of them should work so long as they are the wired and NOT the wireless with the play and charge kit. Even the cheapies from GS work fine. I have a friend play Fallout 3 on his laptop like that. might work better for you, might not but hey if you get it used from GS you still have at least 7 days to try it out and if it doesn't just return it.

Except that if you play with a controller on any online PC game you're going to get iced :-#

[itachiitachi]

you can reconfigure you controls so they are comfortable. If you don't have a three button mouse with a mouse wheel get one. Most pc gamers use mouse 1 to fire, mouse 2 to jump, mouse 3 altfire. then move the few other command like reload to enter and delete(or e and r if you use WASD to move instead of the arrow keys).

[dmaul1114]

One of many reasons I was never able to get into PC gaming (save for mouse only games like Diablo). The mouse is great, but the keyboard sucks. Yes you can use a gamepad, but if I'm going to do that I might as well go play my consoles.

Just not for me, hate sitting at a computer at home to game after sitting at one all day at work (and I'd never put a computer in my home theater setup).

[kainzero]

pinky on ctrl, thumb to hit space bar

i don't know how good you are with typing but if you're a touch typer, it should be second nature. if you still type like a chicken pecker then yeah it'll be hard.

[Nikadimas]

Man, I guess I take my gaming experience for granted. I mean when I was starting to become good at gaming the FPS was only on PC so if you didn't learn to play Wolfenstein with a keyboard and mouse, you didn't play it. Playing Tribes 2 and Counter-Strike for ridiculous amounts of time also helped me master WASD controls. Sleepkyng is right that practice makes perfect. If you don't want to take the time out to learn to play with a keyboard then buy a controller or just don't play on PCs.

[lokizz]

you could always just use an xbox 360 controller.i use one for pc gaming and for mame stuff. i think it has to be a wired one though but it works perfectly. i didnt get it until way after id finished halflife 2 but i did use it with that zombie mod for half life 2.

[XeroKaizoku]

Except that if you play with a controller on any online PC game you're going to get iced :-#


true but some people play better w/ a controller but eh whatever works

[pochaccoheaven]

I am trying to get into PC gaming but I am having issues with control and multitasking in games.I cant, for the life of me,pull off two different actions at the same time.For example,a game like HalfLife,which I am currently playing,there are instances where you need to jump and then, immediately crouch to avoid death.I call this the Jump crouch and its an action that needs to be mastered in this game.Very difficult to pull off on a keyboard.Jump is on the space bar and crouch is on the shift key-default was on CTRL key.Now on the PS2 version, you could go jump hold the jump button and you would atomatically go into a locked crouch.Worked flawlessly.Beat the PS2 version of the game without dieying.On the PC version Ive died a handfull of times just after causing a resident cascade.

Maybe this problem is just HalfLIfe and not other PC games.Ive been scared off PC gaming because of the controls.I try chaging them but end up making a bigger,awkward mess.I want to know what CAGs default control scheme if for FPS and other games.What should I do?

the annoyance and hardship is what makes a pc game. when you compared it to the simplicity of the ps2 system, it shows you how pc gaming got dumbed down from the very strict nature of having to adapt to the keyboard to simply pressing a button and having to automatically do the task for you. it goes back to the point again, hardcore gaming isn't on the console but the pc.

[msdmoney]

the annoyance and hardship is what makes a pc game. when you compared it to the simplicity of the ps2 system, it shows you how pc gaming got dumbed down from the very strict nature of having to adapt to the keyboard to simply pressing a button and having to automatically do the task for you. it goes back to the point again, hardcore gaming isn't on the console but the pc.

I disagree, annoyance and hardship shouldn't make a pc game, and the confusion and frustration certainly have nothing to do with "hardcore" gaming. Just because an inferface is overly complex doesn't make it hardcore, and using a simpler but more intuitive interface doesn't necessarily mean something has been dumbed down.

To the OP, there have been some good suggestions in the thread, including using more than just the two mouse buttons. I would also suggest picking up either the Nostromo N52 or Logitech g13 to use in lieu of the keyboard. I use an N52 and I really like using it over a keyboard. I don’t think a keyboard is very well set up for the left hand control used in most games. The N52 has less buttons and therefore is less confusing in frantic situations, but it also has a lot of buttons that are more conveniently placed. It has a d-pad that you can use for movement or assign each direction to any command you want like weapon switching. You can customize each button and set up macros to accomplish multiple button presses in one. I found this pretty useful for MMORPG’s. I haven’t used the G13, but I’ve read good things about it, I’ve thought about switching to that eventually.

You could probably get the N52 pretty cheap now. I remember reading that people had some issues with the newer N52te, but I can't remember what.

[itachiitachi]

Man, I guess I take my gaming experience for granted. I mean when I was starting to become good at gaming the FPS was only on PC so if you didn't learn to play Wolfenstein with a keyboard and mouse, you didn't play it.
This is totally OT but did wolfenstein even have mouse support? I'm pretty sure the original version of doom didn't have mouse support. I didn't use a mouse till I played quake online and up look/down look on the keyboard just didn't cut it.

[Kayden]

If you consider doing a crouch jump a hardship, you have no place owning a PC. :lol:

Space... control.

Hell, online, you'll frequently have to jump, aim, fire and move all at the same time. Controls on PC are infinitely superior due to the fact that it's pretty much 1 finger to 1 key whereas on a console, you have 90% of the buttons controlled by two fingers. If you want to look around, you can't jump or reload. If you want to move you probably can't change grenades. Gaming pads are for people that can't walk and chew gum. :lol: There's nothing more unnatural in a shooter than trying to sprint by holding in the thumbstick and run. It was a nightmare in Resistance 2 as sprint and crouch were mapped to the same button! That, to me, is needlessly messed up... except that it's totally needed as the controller just ran out of buttons.



I disagree, annoyance and hardship shouldn't make a pc game, and the confusion and frustration certainly have nothing to do with "hardcore" gaming. Just because an inferface is overly complex doesn't make it hardcore, and using a simpler but more intuitive interface doesn't necessarily mean something has been dumbed down.

To the OP, there have been some good suggestions in the thread, including using more than just the two mouse buttons. I would also suggest picking up either the Nostromo N52 or Logitech g13 to use in lieu of the keyboard. I use an N52 and I really like using it over a keyboard. I don’t think a keyboard is very well set up for the left hand control used in most games. The N52 has less buttons and therefore is less confusing in frantic situations, but it also has a lot of buttons that are more conveniently placed. It has a d-pad that you can use for movement or assign each direction to any command you want like weapon switching. You can customize each button and set up macros to accomplish multiple button presses in one. I found this pretty useful for MMORPG’s. I haven’t used the G13, but I’ve read good things about it, I’ve thought about switching to that eventually.

You could probably get the N52 pretty cheap now. I remember reading that people had some issues with the newer N52te, but I can't remember what.

[FloodsAreUponUS]

If you consider doing a crouch jump a hardship, you have no place owning a PC. :lol:

Space... control.

Hell, online, you'll frequently have to jump, aim, fire and move all at the same time. Controls on PC are infinitely superior due to the fact that it's pretty much 1 finger to 1 key whereas on a console, you have 90% of the buttons controlled by two fingers. If you want to look around, you can't jump or reload. If you want to move you probably can't change grenades. Gaming pads are for people that can't walk and chew gum. :lol: There's nothing more unnatural in a shooter than trying to sprint by holding in the thumbstick and run. It was a nightmare in Resistance 2 as sprint and crouch were mapped to the same button! That, to me, is needlessly messed up... except that it's totally needed as the controller just ran out of buttons.

I agree with this 100%

[xycury]

The best thing about PC games is that most of them you can reconfigure the buttons.

If you don't want to own a game keypad, then just change the buttons that would suit you best.

I own the WolfKing kb and it suits me well... wouldn't play without it.

And controllers are nice, but can't substitute for a kb and mouse.

[NTolerance]

you can reconfigure you controls so they are comfortable. If you don't have a three button mouse with a mouse wheel get one. Most pc gamers use mouse 1 to fire, mouse 2 to jump, mouse 3 altfire. then move the few other command like reload to enter and delete(or e and r if you use WASD to move instead of the arrow keys).

What I use is pretty close to this. I use arrow keys for movement and zero on the numeric keypad is bound to crouch. So press mouse2 to jump and hit the zero key with my left thumb to crouch.

A lot of FPSers seem to think an arrow key config is madness, but back on the mid 1990s it was the default keyboard layout on most FPS games. Couple that with the inverted mouselook found in flight sims and you've got my completely fucked config. I also use every one of the 8 buttons on my MX518 mouse for different functions. My mouse is as much a game controller as it is a mouse.

I think status quo WASD config needs work. It's used by a lot of people, but I find that the arrow keys work better for my large hands. At the very least PC FPS games need to provide several different control profiles so you can easily move between WASD, ESDF, arrow keys, whatever.

Also, games and/or the operating system should be able to detect and use all buttons found on mice like the MX518. It's a pain to install the Logitech Setpoint drivers and have to map all the extra buttons to unused keyboard keys. We need more focus on PC gaming inputs.

[evildeadjedi]

I have always been a fan of WASD with mouse look ever since PC games had mouse look. Before that I used arrow keys or a joystick.

[NTolerance]

There are several reasons to not use the arrow keys for gaming. Sure, in Doom 1 all you had to do was walk, turn, use and shoot. You could handle all that with arrow keys, alt and space. Then there was mouse look. If you're right handed, using mouse look and the arrows requires either an very spacious desk to slide the keyboard a foot to the right or cross your left arm infront of your body to hit the arrow keys and use the mouse. Still doable because you move with the keys, shoot with button 1 and use with button 2.

However, what are you supposed to do when you have to reload, duck, jump, use a grenade, change ammo types or any other number of functions? Unless you have a 20 buttons mouse, the arrow keys quickly stop being viable as all you can reach easily is control and 0 while still moving. WASD puts half the keyboard at your fingertips. I know some people also use ESDF as that is familiar as the home row. While it does make sense, I don't do it because it makes shift and control hard to reach.

With regards to the mouse buttons, there is a semi-legitimate reason for not using more than the standard 3 and that is that some people only have 3 buttons. It's "unfair" in an online setting for someone to have more buttons to use, so they gimp everyone... Or it could just be laziness. There is a way around it though. Just use a program like xmouse: http://lifehacker.com/394738/x+mouse-button-control-makes-better-use-of-extra-mouse-buttons

It easily allows you to remap and mouse button to any keyboard button and even supports multiple profiles and game sensing.

I'm right-handed and I've always had a spacious desk. I move my keyboard a bit to the left before I play.

In addition to all the buttons on my Logitech MX518, I use every button around the arrow keys: KP_INS, KP_END, KP_LEFTARROW, KP_HOME, NUMLOCK, PGDN, END, DEL, R_CTRL, R_SHIFT, ENTER, \, and BACKSPACE. I can reach most of them while moving. The only game I've run into that has more functions than I have keys is Quake Wars. And for that I fault the game for being too complex anyways. You're basically doing the same kinds of things you do in Battlefield 2 only Quake Wars is needlessly complex from a control standpoint. Too many unique functions spread across too many buttons.

As I said before, I have large hands. WASD is too crowded for me.

I don't understand your point about extra mouse buttons being "unfair". Are you hacking if you use an MX518? There are plenty of software workarounds and custom mouse software to enable all the buttons. I just think that since multi-button gaming mice are so commonplace it would be nice if Windows and game software would actually detect them.

I'm not asking that everyone conform to my control scheme, but I do feel that everyone wants me to conform to WASD. What I want is for PC games to offer pre-set profiles for different configs rather than defaulting to WASD and requiring you to re-bind every key one by one.

[rumarudrathas]

Umm, there is this important hardware and technical aspect of the sprint-crouch-jump maneuver that I dont think anybody realize.

You see, all keyboards have a limit of how many concurrent keys inputs it will recognize before fully crappy out.

Here's an experiment, try pushing down the shift, x, u, n, and space key at the same time while in notepad or in any word program. Depending on your keyboard, chances are the blinking text cursor will not move, and will be crapping out on you. Those with higher end keyboards should have a mixture of results, for my keyboard (a Saitek eclipse, blue version, it looks like this "XUNXUNXUNXUNXUNXUNXUNXUNXUN", but in my girlfriends laptop keyboard, it switches recognizing all three keys (some x, some u, no n, etc).

Maybe, and this is very possible, that your keyboard can't process all those button commands for the forward-jump-crouch input.

Just food for thought.

Oh, and if that's not the case, this is the how i learned to master that manuever (assuming you're using the WASD layout): while holding W, tap the space bar to jump (don't hold it down), and while airborne, use your pinky to tap and HOLD DOWN the control key. If you can't strectch your pinky that far, then consider remapping your croutch key to a key that is accessible by your thumb, like the V or B key. Better yet, if you have a multi-button mouse, then consider maping the croutch to one of those buttons (like mouse 3, which is usually the scroll wheel being pressed down).


Edit: Depending on your hand, it may be advantagous to consider picking up specially designed keyboards for FPS gaming, such as the Belkin FPS pad (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826169019), the Ideazon FANG pad (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823161023), the Saitek Command Pad (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823175105), or the Wolf King pad (http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/wolf_king_warrior_review/).

[NTolerance]

Edit: Depending on your hand, it may be advantagous to consider picking up specially designed keyboards for FPS gaming, such as the Belkin FPS pad (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826169019), the Ideazon FANG pad (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823161023), the Saitek Command Pad (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823175105), or the Wolf King pad (http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/wolf_king_warrior_review/).

It's a shame that all of those basically emulate the WASD setup with the closely-spaced keys. Hell, one of them even has the leftward offset of the "W" key.

[xycury]

It's a shame that all of those basically emulate the WASD setup with the closely-spaced keys. Hell, one of them even has the leftward offset of the "W" key.

Have you looked at the Wolfking???It's VERY straight except for the round keys which is better.And why? Because ALL pc games have had WASD setup... arrows, yes but it's WASD or death.Reconfigure the keys per game and you're done.I think Woot had the Wolfking for $20 shipped, but you can find this for around that much if you look. Compusa even had one on display before they closed so you could have at least looked at one.

[itachiitachi]

However, what are you supposed to do when you have to reload, duck, jump, use a grenade, change ammo types or any other number of functions? Unless you have a 20 buttons mouse, the arrow keys quickly stop being viable as all you can reach easily is control and 0 while still moving. WASD puts half the keyboard at your fingertips. I know some people also use ESDF as that is familiar as the home row. While it does make sense, I don't do it because it makes shift and control hard to reach.


I have no problem with the arrow keys, there are at least 11 other keys I can hit while using them, and unlike wasd I never have to look down to find them.