7 replies to this topic

[Virgo]

Hi there!

I've recently got my father interested in playing MWO with me - we used to spend hours at the Tesla Pods back in Seattle. However due to an old carpentry accident he is missing his left index finger, and his left ring finger has limited movement (his middle finger and pinky has full functionality). He's been toying with various keyboard layouts that can accommodate his situation, but the difficulty lies in his ring finger being so gimped.

He's currently mapped the movement controls to his numpad, which has had some moderate success. But because of the "brick wall" that is the Mechwarrior learning curve, he's using throttle decay, which means that ring finger has to be doing something most of the time.

If he decides to stick with it I was going to get him a joystick and do away with the handicap, but until then I would love some advice from people that perhaps have dealt with a similar situation.

Any questions or advice are fully welcome. Thanks, and I'll see you on the field!

Virgo

[Loc Nar]

Easy, your dad should be using a throttle in his left hand. MWO plays rather nice using HOTAM (hands on throttle and mouse), and you will even find tryhards using that setup at competitive levels. CH Products has one of the only stand-alone units, or any throttle from a HOTAS set will also work.

Recommendation: buy a HOTAS for Star Citizen and use the throttle for MWO. Throttle in left hand is actually superior to keyboard anyhow, since the analog throttle works far better than the slow responses of keypresses. Rudder pedals also work quite well for turning, but most throttles also have decent switches for this if he can push them, and some have analog axes for this as well.

BTW, I'm missing my left pinky from a tablesaw accident some years ago, which also gimped my ring finger somewhat. I can still use kb if I wanted to, but why would I want to do that?

I drive bots from the comfort of a mechpit.

[Goose]

[coughs]

AZSD for starters?

http://www.allgame.c...71&tab=controls

[Tannhauser Gate]

Yep, joystick for left hand works great. Just ask Laura aka BB Wolf. She used a joystick at the game launch event and was on the winning team.

[Virgo]

Hey again, wanted to give a recap.

While he hasn't tried a joystick yet, he has switched from the lumbering Stalker to a Cicada and Spider, with much much better results. The numpad has still been the best solution, though I believe he actually crammed them into an 'r' shape.

Thanks again for the advice, maybe as he gets more invested in the game he will move up to those set ups, but for now it's great for a way to catch up with him.

Virgo

[Cael-Rhythyr]

Well, here's a couple of devices he may find very useful. Anything that will allow him to use more keys/control, the better.

http://stinkyboard.com/

http://www.razerzone...razer-orbweaver

[Vestulance]

I myself have to use a foot pedal you can get the usb ones cheap and they hold up nice. Any of the keypads logitech or razer work good too. Btw Kudos of the forum post, not all people are prone to having all their digits

[Mad Porthos]

Virgo, on 30 March 2014 - 05:39 AM, said:

Hi there!

I've recently got my father interested in playing MWO with me - we used to spend hours at the Tesla Pods back in Seattle. However due to an old carpentry accident he is missing his left index finger, and his left ring finger has limited movement (his middle finger and pinky has full functionality). He's been toying with various keyboard layouts that can accommodate his situation, but the difficulty lies in his ring finger being so gimped.

He's currently mapped the movement controls to his numpad, which has had some moderate success. But because of the "brick wall" that is the Mechwarrior learning curve, he's using throttle decay, which means that ring finger has to be doing something most of the time.

If he decides to stick with it I was going to get him a joystick and do away with the handicap, but until then I would love some advice from people that perhaps have dealt with a similar situation.

Any questions or advice are fully welcome. Thanks, and I'll see you on the field!

Virgo

Hey Virgo, good on you for getting him back into Battletech/Mechwarrior. I too used to play in the Pods, only it was the ones in Chicago. Went by the name of Wolfgang and Santiago back then on my IDs. I too got back into Mech from a long time off of it, though I dabbled a bit in MW3 and MW4 they were just not so fun for me as the pods.

You say your father's left hand is effected, but refer to the movement keys he is using as being those on the num pad, which is usually on the right side of a keyboard. I'm trying to envision this, to see if I can help, you see since I'm one of those odd ducks that also uses the num pad for movement. The thing is, I'm wondering does he scoootch the keyboard way over to the left so he is ONLY using the numpad with his left (limited hand) or did you actually mean his right hand? Sorry to ask this way, just would have thought that someone using a limited left hand might rather use the pre set up W,A,S,D directionals.

I do know that what really works well for me (WITHOUT throttle decay) with only three fingers really used on my RIGHT hand, is having the directional numpad keys used with 8 being throttle up, 2 being throttle down, 4 being left turn, 6 being right turn and setting some of the other keys around it with useful functions, such as the INS key below the 1 as Jump Jets, the numpad + and - as being the "next target" and Q(look at all targets) commands, and even things like the num lock, / , * keys on the numpad triggering advanced zoom, night vision, thermal vision.

Heck, I even have the full stop on num key 1, reverse throttle on 7 and toggle ecm mode set on 9. Once I throttle up by pressing 8, two fingers steer me left-right, my thumb can hit INS (0) to jump jet and after a while dealing with the learning curve, the others keys will become reachable and easily useable as he quickly flicks the finger that is pressing the left key, up to hit num lock or down to hit the jump jets (insert). I too am a carpenter you see. In my case though my issue is my right hand and I'm a lefty anyways so like using my left-handed mouse with my left hand, left of my keyboard... yet still manage steering and all that jazz with my right hand on the numpad.

I hope this sort of helps and is fairly easy to envision. It can really be an advantage to play with keyboard and mouse, due to the precision, but I too miss the whole throttle, pedal and joystick setup of the Pods. It is however so much more precise and controllable if you can get a good keyboard and mouse setup/layout that works for you (and/or that will be able to work for your father). Biggest issue really is sticking with it through the learning curve, ONCE you can find a good way of putting as many controls as possible at his available finger tips. Eventually muscle memory can take over. Naturally, if he's using his left hand, some of the keys should be a bit different, but after a while it becomes second nature, he'll be able to flutter jump jets by hitting the numpad enter or del key with his thumb while using pinky and middle finger to turn left and right, or somesuch.

Edited by Mad Porthos, 05 April 2014 - 05:41 PM.