F Keys and Playing On a Laptop

[Brodo Baggins]

As you can tell from the title I'm playing Mount & Blade Warband on my laptop, I love it so far and very few problems, my biggest one being the f keys. It is beyond irritating to hold the fn key and tap the f keys to command my troops, as my fn key is broken and sometimes doesn't work. Right now my options are to either get my laptop looked at for one key or bind the commands to new buttons. I would rather do the latter, so can anyone recommend any keys for me to bind them to? Thanks in advance.

[Adahn (´ ᴥ `)]

`

[Brodo Baggins]

I'm referring to the "go here" or "hold position" commands, which require 5 different keys if I recall correctly.

[Adahn (´ ᴥ `)]

? I only need to hold one key and then look at a direction.

[one piece]

yeah i just hold f1 and release

[Horcerer]

You can switch what the f keys do in the startup BIOS.

[Clor]

Check if you have an fn key lock option. Its usually fn+one of the F keys to make the switch. I use my F keys to control things like volume for all games except M&B, where I toggle it to the actual F keys for commands. Or you could remap the keys I suppose. Or use backspace to enter command mode, which is often better for coordination anyway if you don't have an enemy right in your face

[ULTRA]

Originally posted by 52ndSgtDavid Dire:

You can switch what the f keys do in the startup BIOS.

Yeah, this. It will usually be called "special keys" or "special action keys" because they're things like monitor or speaker controls that are defaulted over the function keys. Just set the default to function keys, since you will probably face this in some other game also.

[☭Woodsman☭]

I don't need to hit my fn key on my laptop, but still find reaching up there annoying. My $10 wireless mouse's scroll wheel went out on me recently, so I just got a logitech with a few programmable thumb buttons and bound the f keys to those.

[White Knight]

Originally posted by 52ndSgtDavid Dire:

You can switch what the f keys do in the startup BIOS.

Stay out of BIOS if you know what's good for you. That is terrible advice to be giving out on the internet. Terrible unless you work for Dell or something, I guess?

Remapping your keys is an option in the game menu. Make your changes there and you won't trash your entire system. One wrong move in BIOS can ruin your day.

I had similar issues on my laptop so I moved the F functions to the number pad instead. It worked like a charm.

[Horcerer]

Originally posted by White Knight:

Originally posted by 52ndSgtDavid Dire:

You can switch what the f keys do in the startup BIOS.

Stay out of BIOS if you know what's good for you. That is terrible advice to be giving out on the internet. Terrible unless you work for Dell or something, I guess?

Maybe if you're a fat-fingered 6 year old.

[Brodo Baggins]

Originally posted by 52ndSgtDavid Dire:

Originally posted by White Knight:

Stay out of BIOS if you know what's good for you. That is terrible advice to be giving out on the internet. Terrible unless you work for Dell or something, I guess?

Maybe if you're a fat-fingered 6 year old.

I'll just remap the commands to the numpad...

[White Knight]

Originally posted by 52ndSgtDavid Dire:

Maybe if you're a fat-fingered 6 year old.

My apologies, but this is exactly the sort of opinionated nonsense sensible people would be very wise to ignore completely.

Quite frankly, I used to work in an I.T. office, spending my days fixing other people's problems. I promise you, fooling around with BIOS without being a subject matter expert is absolutely moronic. If you don't already know precisely how stupid it is to start messing with BIOS, then you deserve to have your system destroyed as a result of your own stupidity.

BIOS was never intended for use by "end-users". It's there for tech support. If you treat BIOS like experimenting with foods in your kitchen...you are doomed.

You have been warned.

Originally posted by Brodo Baggins:

I'll just remap the commands to the numpad...

Very wise. Take the effortless and completely safe option.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by White Knight:

Originally posted by 52ndSgtDavid Dire:

Maybe if you're a fat-fingered 6 year old.

My apologies, but this is exactly the sort of opinionated nonsense sensible people would be very wise to ignore completely.

Quite frankly, I used to work in an I.T. office, spending my days fixing other people's problems. I promise you, fooling around with BIOS without being a subject matter expert is absolutely moronic. If you don't already know precisely how stupid it is to start messing with BIOS, then you deserve to have your system destroyed as a result of your own stupidity.

BIOS was never intended for use by "end-users". It's there for tech support. If you treat BIOS like experimenting with foods in your kitchen...you are doomed.

You have been warned.

??

I've been working with computers in one way or another since the days of punch cards...

BIOS settings are user-accesible for a reason. Yes, if one doesn't know the basics, they could cause issues.

BUT, laptops have user-configurable function key shifts for a reason - Some programs just won't like non-standard keystrokes or may be far too cumbersome to use when having to double-up shift-function keys. That is exactly why they have a very easy way to change F keys so that they are at standard 101 keyboard settings by default instead of mfr-specific input settings.

As long as the user isn't mucking around with other settings, they'll do no harm. The user-configurable F key toggle is usually isolated from sensitive settings.

Note: And, if the user really mucks stuff up, they can usually restore factory default BIOS settings, either from within the BIOS itself or, if it's so borked it can't be accessed, they can jump the pins on the board. (See user manual)

[PeriBerry]

I use "V" "B" "N" "M" "," "."

[psychotron666]

There's no problems going into your bios. How hard is it to not change any settings besides your special keys? Even someone with down syndrome can figure it out and not screw up anything. It's literally like an options screen in a video game and you need to change one specific setting that anybody can find. And if yiu accidebtally screwed up, there's an option to wuit without saving. You can even follow a 3 step tutorial online.