Tutorial: Remapping buttons for easier hunting.

[thunderclap]

I use a program called AutoHotKey because it's the only thing I've found that lets you assign a Mouse Click to the keyboard.
___

1. Download AutoHotKey and install.

2. Open Notepad and copy/paste the following:

LAlt::LButton
RShift::LButton
RCtrl::2

This turns your Left Alt and Right Shift buttons into Left Mouse Buttons, and your Right Ctrl becomes another fishing shortcut button. This way you can hunt one-handed with either hand (the 2 is reachable enough with WASD) without having to use the mouse at all.

3. Save the file on your Desktop (or somewhere accessible) using "Save As." Change the type to "All Files" and rename the file something.ahk


4. Load the file you just made when you want to play PWO. It should open with AutoHotKey, minimized to the taskbar near the clock. You won't see anything happen when you load it.


Note 1: To turn off remapping, use the AutoHotkey icon in the taskbar near the clock to Exit or pause temporarily.


Note 2: If your keyboard has a Numpad you might prefer NumpadIns instead of RShift. This makes your Insert button on the Numpad a mouse button. Change first line to:

NumpadIns::LButton

Note 3: For alternative slightly more ergonomic placement of the left mouse button (Left Shift instead of Left Alt) for use with WASD (pinky finger instead of thumb). Remove the "LAlt::LButton" line and add the following:

LShift::LButton
LAlt::LShift

This will take some getting used to which is why I didn't include it in the main script. Will inevitably result in failed capitalization and unwanted clicks at times. Your Left Alt becomes your new Shift key.

Note 4: If you wish to further customize it or use different buttons, refer to this list: https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/KeyList.htm

Note 5: To add comments or disable a line temporarily, use semicolon. AHK will ignore everything to the right of a semicolon. For example:

;The below could be used as a prank to annoy your coworkers/family.
O::U        ;To force extra-Canadian spelling.

Note 6: After making any changes to your .ahk file, you have to click Reload Script, or restart AutoHotKey for the changes to take effect.


Known Issues: On my computer, sometimes after a couple hours, everything gets capitalized, so for example my "," becomes "<", and "/" becomes "?" etc. I assume it's because Windows doesn't like its shift buttons getting hijacked. That's why sometimes you'll see me write "?LIST" in chat. To overcome this, exit AutoHotkey (see above screenshot) and reload. Sometimes you have to exit for about 5 minutes before things return to normal. Overall this isn't a big deal but it's annoying: if anyone knows how to prevent this please comment. Strangely the capitalization glitch usually only affects PWO.

Also if anyone knows a way to limit the scope of AHK to just PWO, that would be amazing.

 

[Monsieur.Musky~]

Is this trick against the rules? If no, can you teach me how to use it?

 

[thunderclap]

Is this trick against the rules? If no, can you teach me how to use it?

It's only against the rules if you use it to gain some kind of advangage, for example making one buttonpress register multiple presses. Simple remapping has always been allowed in PWO afaik.

Give the instructions a shot and if you get stuck I can help. It's really very easy, even though it looks a bit complex/unfamiliar.

 

[Jinji]

PWO permits the use of external tools for the purposes of improved accessibility, so long as they are not being used to unfairly automate actions within the game itself; and the feature is not currently catered for within PWO natively. This is why IntegerScaler - while not officially endorsed by Staff - is a permitted tool in the absence of a native full-screen or scalable client window.

As specifically relates to AutoHotKey, use with PWO is permitted, but only for the purposes of key or input remapping. The strict definition is as follows: An AutoHotKey script is permitted as an accessibility tool if it is manually triggered, and merely maps a single output to a single command (i.e. one button in place of another; a button press in place of a click; or mapping a joystick to a button press). However, if the script allows a player to use a single button to perform multiple commands, or to perform any number of actions without direct user input, this is considered a macro and is against the rules.

I have discussed this particular thread with the Devs, and we've determined the examples as supplied by thunderclap in his example would not constitute a breach of PWO rules. However, we do ask that people utilize such tools with caution and in accordance with the framework I have outlined above. We may review this policy in future if it is found to repeatedly cause issue.

 

[thunderclap]

So I had a great idea: remap the keys so you can play with your feet! Never miss valuable event time just because you have to wash the dishes again!

Problem is, it doesn't work . You can get a few kills in, but then the system gets overloaded with too many inputs.

And Windows gets super confused and won't reclaim its key bindings after you exit AHK. I had to reboot my PC to type this.

Presenting Footsies 0.04Alpha (Can anyone make this work? lol). Remember that however you approach any fixes has to abide by the 3rd party software rules outlined in Jinji's post above.

LCtrl::Left
LWin::Left
LAlt::Left
LShift::Left
Z::Left
X::Left
CapsLock::Left
A::Left
S::Left
D::Left
Tab::Left
Q::Left
W::Left
E::Left

RAlt::LButton
RWin::LButton
AppsKey::LButton
RCtrl::LButton
,::LButton
.::LButton
/::LButton
RShift::LButton
;::LButton
'::LButton
Enter::LButton
p::LButton
[::LButton
]::LButton
\::LButton
0::LButton
-::LButton
=::LButton
Backspace::LButton

NumpadIns::Right
NumpadDel::Right
NumpadEnter::Right
Numpad1::Right
Numpad2::Right
Numpad3::Right
Numpad4::Right
Numpad5::Right
Numpad6::Right
Numpad7::Right
Numpad8::Right
Numpad9::Right
NumpadAdd::Right
NumLock::Right
NumpadDiv::Right
NumpadMult::Right
NumpadSub::Right

F8::NumLock

Didn't play around too much but I see some immediate areas for improvement. The arrow keys and Del/End/PgUp etc should be made either LeftMouseButton or Right Arrow, so you don't have to pivot your foot as much to switch between clicking and walking right. There is a popup from AHK that comes pretty soon saying "you received 1426 inputs in the last interval: click here to learn more about max keys per interval settings" or something.

Ideally it would allow no more than 1 input at a time, like those old dollarstore musical synthesizer pianos where you can only play one note at once. The goal is to make a three-button keyboard, not a keyboard with 15 mouse buttons. This is a crucial distinction because otherwise when you mash your foot down, it's going to click about 15 times, thus potentially fainting/running by accident. I think/hope that this hypothetical "1 input" tweak (basically necessary for playing with your feet) would fall under the "promoting accessibility" clause, making this addition legal. Armless players are people too. That will probably need discussion from staff though. Windows' extreme confusion with the keybindings, plus rules uncertainty, made me not want to investigate further for now either way.

@Staff If this is somehow frowned upon just delete the post lol .

 

[Pansy]

Controllers though.

 

[thunderclap]

Controllers though.

Hmm. Something like this would probably work well. Not everyone wants to be stepping all over their keyboard. Where's the fun in that though?

 

[Pansy]

Hmm. Something like this would probably work well. Not everyone wants to be stepping all over their keyboard. Where's the fun in that though?
View attachment 7205

I mean, why not just use a controller in general? XD
Though I imagine the guy from Discord wanting a free hand for his brews would love this!