Arrow keys to move boats and left handed people

So I bought NW a couple of days ago, not new in this game, used to play mount and musket and then the russia patch, all was great and stuff.

But there seems to be one problem affecting left handed people using the arrow keys for character movement. We just can't use the boats, since the arrow keys are hardcoded for "vehicle" movement also. This logic also applies to other warband mods, and I find it quite unfair for all us lefties.

Now, one could say "you're a minority, so change your playstyle, use some other keys for character movement". Just imagine playing all kinds of games for decades using the arrow keys for character movement, and suddenly having to change that for one game only because the majority uses the wasd keys. So what is the solution to this? I dunno, either add "vehicle" movement keys assignment under controls options or hardcode some other neutral keys, say ijkl.

That's all, thanks in advance.

I think if you really want to, you can change it yourself with the module files.
What keys would you like to have the boat steering on?

Oh really? Sounds great, although I have no clue about warband modding. Is there a guide or something, I can look up? The ijkl keys seem fine.

That would require some more keys being changed, since I think L is also for the "Log" though I think you can change the button for that one in the options so that shouldn't be a problem.
You can look here if you want to try it yourself, it should cover most things; http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,48405.0.html
Alternatively, I think I can make a small modification of 2 files (which only work for NW and not any mods for NW) which you would just have to download and paste into your folder for it to replace the keys.

Well, I took a look at the link you posted but since I have no idea as to where this binding exists, and in what format the keys are stored (ascii, numeric keyboard codes?) I'm kinda lost. So yes, if you could do that and upload those two files somewhere you'd save me a lot of time.

I'm left handed also but over the years have forced my self to get in the swing of being right handed XD

helix said:

Well, I took a look at the link you posted but since I have no idea as to where this binding exists, and in what format the keys are stored (ascii, numeric keyboard codes?) I'm kinda lost. So yes, if you could do that and upload those two files somewhere you'd save me a lot of time.

Click to expand...

Under header_triggers

key_up      = 0xc8
key_down    = 0xd0
key_left    = 0xcb
key_right  = 0xcd

I will have a look on sunday to see if I can do it.
edit:
Can't find download link for module files here; http://www.taleworlds.com/en/Games/NapoleonicWars/Download
Going to contact someone that might be able to fix that, without the files I can't work.

OK, thanks.

Edit:

Are these the module system files you are looking for? Found the link here, not sure if it's up to date though.

Yes, thank you that is the one I was looking for.

I managed to do the changes, however key I also has Admin Chat bound to it and Key L has the logs bound to it.
The latter can be changed in the game option menu, but the Admin Chat button cannot be rebound in-game, but would have to be rebound in the same way how I just changed the boat keys.

If you are not an admin or don't plan to be one on a server in the future, I could just give you the 2 files that you need... but if you are an admin or plan to become one in the future, please tell me to what key you would like the admin chat to be rebound to (or maybe the boat movement to entirely different set of keys)

Well I'm not an admin, but just to be on the safe side let's use the uhjk combination of keys. Also if it's not such a boring task for you, could you give me some hints as to what files you're altering and how you actually know these contain the boat controls, so I can try myself to do the same thing for the neogk mod for warband in which I have the same problem when it comes to catapults, ballistas etc?

The U button is also bound to some admin chat I believe.

As for how I do it, it is actually quite simple once you have installed the module files correctly
Read on how to do that here: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,240255.0.html
(you will need the module system that you linked before for NW)
I recommend making a copy of the NW folder and work with that. in that case if you do something wrong, your own game won't get corrupted.
After installation & python configuration just open up any file there and use the "search in folder/files" feature to look for the exact word key_left key_down key_down and key_up
You will get a hit in header_triggers and a bunch of other hits. The stuff in header_triggers should not be changed, but in any other file just change key_left to key_b or key_z whatever key you want to have it on. After you are done, compile and run the new module that you made to see if it worked. If it worked you can copy the .txt files that you changed in python to your main folder and you should be done.

So, after 6 months I finally found the time and mood to try doing it myself and it works. For anyone interested in doing the same thing, just read MaHud's post above this one, and a couple of tips:

1) To setup the module system, python, etc I found this guide to be most helpful: http://www.fsegames.eu/forum/index.php?topic=11836.0 You only need to go through steps 1-2-3.

2) The "search inside files" must be done from inside notepad++. I was searching like a moron with windows search and obviously couldn't find anything since it doesn't work on .py files. Took me about half an hour to figure that out.

3) You only need to edit one file, and that is "module_mission_templates.py" lines 480-550 approximately, just replace all key_up, key_down, key_left, key_right with your custom key binds, compile the module and you're good to go. Personally I used some numpad keys (key_numpad_8, key_numpad_5, key_numpad_4, key_numpad_6).