How to use ctrl and alt modifiers?

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Yaunm
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Joined: Thu, 28. Jun 18, 09:25
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How to use ctrl and alt modifiers?

Post by Yaunm » Thu, 28. Jun 18, 09:45

I can use shift, but ctrl and alt just bind the button itself.

Also i would like to bind shift-numpad6 and i can't do that either.
Last edited by Yaunm on Thu, 28. Jun 18, 10:03, edited 1 time in total.

Alan Phipps
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Post by Alan Phipps » Thu, 28. Jun 18, 12:21

I think this has been a long-term characteristic for X games. I believe that some users have tried to try to get around this limitation with external key-mapping applications (other than dedicated programmable keyboard macros) but have often come across unforeseen UI issues in-game when using them.
A dog has a master; a cat has domestic staff.

Yaunm
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Joined: Thu, 28. Jun 18, 09:25
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Post by Yaunm » Thu, 28. Jun 18, 13:33

Thank you for doing the search for me. Shift is sufficient i suppose once i found the free look button. And i could bind shift-numpad with disabled NumLock. I can't even begin to imagine how and why this is working.

Brinnie
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Post by Brinnie » Tue, 3. Jul 18, 18:24

There is a program called AutoHotKey that you can use to add modifiers to the controls. Thing is, although powerful it is not as straight forward to use as assigning the keys via the game option menu.

To get an idea of what I am saying take a look at this:

https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php ... 44#4716944

I use AHK myself with X3AP, among other things, to add Ctrl and Alt as well as Ctrl+Alt as modifier. However in my incapacity as a "scripter" I have bodged up something that was, most probably, crashing my game. I am currently looking into it, I hope it's fixed now.

If you are interested and are patient enough to experiment, I am willing to help you, at least I can tell you where I have gone wrong.

Yaunm
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Joined: Thu, 28. Jun 18, 09:25
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Post by Yaunm » Wed, 4. Jul 18, 01:51

Thanks for the help too, but honestly, despite the intimidating look, turns out there aren't that many buttons in the game, considering that MMB acts as a modifier and so does the mouse, replicating Steer/Camera + Directions ( that's about 2x9 buttons saved) and the rest can be spread around the keyboard more or less easily.

Mixing modifiers together is not a great idea because they are used by Windows, for example alt+shift is the default shortcut to switch keyboard profiles in Windows.

Brinnie
Posts: 800
Joined: Mon, 5. Jun 06, 08:26
x3tc

Post by Brinnie » Wed, 4. Jul 18, 09:19

It's just as well, the game is still crashing consistently when I use AHK (though it may be different with Rebirth).

I am interested in what you said though, you can use the mouse buttons as modifiers?
Is that via the game options?

Yaunm
Posts: 23
Joined: Thu, 28. Jun 18, 09:25
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Post by Yaunm » Thu, 5. Jul 18, 11:04

Yes i meant Mouselook, being bound to MMB by default. As for the script, are you using something like the linked one? It is waay to unprecise. AHK approximates and assumes a lot. Which is fine for easy changes for notepad, but doesn't really work for heavy games, taxing the CPU like the X games do. Couple it with competing with Windows functions, and a rapid repeated execution and i can totally expect things to crash.

For example, i just checked for x-rebirth
This script, that rebinds the Wheel to X and Y, and is the default way of doing things in AHK, doesn't work ( or barely)

Code: Select all

WheelUp::Y
WheelDown::X

This on the other hand does

Code: Select all

WheelUp::
sendinput {Y down}
sleep, 100
sendinput {Y up}
sleep, 200
return

WheelDown::
sendinput {X down}
sleep, 100
sendinput {X up}
sleep, 200
return
Basically you need to put timers on everything, and don't let AHK assume anything, no loops, no nothing.

Brinnie
Posts: 800
Joined: Mon, 5. Jun 06, 08:26
x3tc

Post by Brinnie » Thu, 5. Jul 18, 14:51

After trying MMB in Albion Prelude it looks like it can only be used as a hot key not as a modifier.

With regards to AHK it is not that it doesn't work, providing that the syntax is correct, it does all that it is supposed to do.
The script on the thread that I mentioned is a more advanced example of what I used it for.

https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php ... 44#4716944

In my case it looks like it is the fact that AHK is running that causes the crash, meaning that it occurs not when I use the shortcuts but often enough when I am not touching the controls, however always when on patrol/protect missions.

Having said that, it is not a big deal the game is more than playable with the hotkeys available, more so as it lets us use the "Hold Key" option for many binds.

Just as a curiosity I do wonder why no script has been made to extend the functionality of the Keys configuration menu. The obvious example would be the addition of more Modifiers (Ctrl,Alt.etc.) as you yourself mentioned in this thread, another one is what WoB has done in "-Intelligent Targeting System" where you can multipress the same key for different results.

I am guessing it is just not possible.

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