Half-Life Opposing force has a questionable interface for weapon selection

[slug-ish]

Half-Life Opposing force has a questionable interface for weapon selection
First of all, the 6 and 7 keys are hard to press comfortably, they're very far away from the wasd keys where my fingers are almost all of the time.

The new 6 and 7 rows are completely redundant.
I counted the weapons and I found out that Shepard carries as many weapons as gordon. I whipped up ms paint and sorted the weapons and every weapon fits between the keys 1 and 5 without any row having more than 4 weapons.

The 4th row is reserved only for the rocket launcher, which is what infuriates me the most. Why waste 3 weapon slots? They could have easily placed almost every new weapon there.
The sniper rifle straight up should not be in the 6th row, it should be in the 3rd row, acting like the crossbow's taller cousin.
The shock roach is made even more refundant by being placed in the 7th row. Not only is it not very powerful, it's difficult to equip it mid battle.

Then we have the Barnacle Grapple. This weapon is so situational it should have been placed in the 7th slot. It is only useful for what it is made for, and it's terrible against enemies, even headcrabs! I only take out the barnacle grapple when I see one of those green balls sticking on the wall. The barnacle is a fun utility weapon, but it definitely should not be easier to select than the machine gun or the spore launcher.

In my opinion the weapon organization should've gone like this. i am suprised there's no mods for this. I've been searching for a while

1
Wrench
Combat Knife
Barnacle

2
Pistol
Desert Eagle
Shock Roach

3
Sub-machine gun
Shotgun
Sniper Rifle

4
Rocket Launcher
Machine Gun
Displacer Cannon
Spore launcher

5
Hand Grenades
Satchel
Tripmine
Snarks

What do you think of this? Does anyone else has this problem, or does everyone have an extra 2 fingers?

[Ikagura]

I used the mouse wheel...

But I agree.

[SANTIAGO]

Are there people legit not using the mouse wheel in FPS to select a weapon? I am so used to it

[Ikagura]

Originally posted by Unstoppable Juggernaut:

Are there people legit not using the mouse wheel in FPS to select a weapon? I am so used to it

I guess it's because of Quake, people mostly used the numbers as there were only one for each.

[Bergamot]

Default layout is brilliant. You need to play deathmatch to get why, I guess

[💚SuperMax💚]

Originally posted by Gorgeous Freeman:

the 6 and 7 keys are hard to press comfortably

I'm using mouse wheel for this, and i think that's how it was mostly intended, keys selection were made for those who had mouse without wheel (back then it was still quite common)

[UmbralPenumbra]

The problem is generally you don't wanna have to press the same key 4 or 5 times to get the weapon you want, takes less time to reach a bit for a separate key

You can also rebind the weapon slots to keys closer to WASD for quicker access

I have large hands so even with a fullsize keyboard reaching 6 and 7 keys isnt that difficult, and takes less time than multiple more clicks through less slots would. If you aren't so lucky you may wanna try remapping the item slots

Also make sure to make good use of the Last Weapon Used key, and have whatever your intended backup weapon is as your prior selection to quickly switch back to it

[Cat]

Opposing Force also contains weapons from the original game. They needed to make space for the new ones. I personally wouldn't be bothered if the barnacle grapple is in the same slot as the shock roach and spore launcher.

Half-Life isn't a modern shooter game. It exists during the time where FPS singleplayers have 1-0 weapon keys. You don't see anyone complaining about that. Alternatively, the mouse wheel is a good weapon selector.

[Ikagura]

Originally posted by Cat:

Half-Life isn't a modern shooter game.

Half-Life was the first Modern FPS (in term of narration and level progression).

[slug-ish]

Coming back to this post, and yes thanks for the clown reward, I've mostly brushed off the issue, and I know how the arsenal looks like when you go into deathmatch / use impulse 101, I've sticked to a combination of pressing 6 or 7 and scrolling for the weapons. thanks for the replies.