Struggling with controls

[Razter]

I'm trying to play this with KB+mouse and I'm seriously struggling with the controls. Specifically with the amount of buttons I have to try to constantly press with my left hand.

You have 6-8 keys for movement, 1 for targeting, weapon groups (usually 1-3 keys), and all the squad commands on the F row. These are all keys you are actively using constantly so Im not even mentioning things like night vision and other special functions.

This process of trying to constantly hit a dozen+ different keys almost at the same time is making this extremely hard to be proficient. Right now I've very slow and clumsy.

Any suggestions as to streamlining this down? I've played all the older Mechwarrior games in the past and don't remember having issues. But I was also using a flight stick. Is that the only way to play this efficiently?

Suggestions welcome.

PS. I use a fairly basic mouse. I've tried using ones with buttons on the side, but it just doesn't work for me. I hold the mouse in a rather odd fashion due to hand issues so I have to rely on standard mice. Also, I tried to remap some functions to the mouse wheel and its click but the game would not let me.

[LastChime]

Flightstick feels pretty clunky so far but it's how I played all the prior. Could you use a trackball? I swap to it great for when I'm LRM boating or long balling it.

[Manthrottle Beefdeath]

Honestly enough there were more controls in MW2M than in this.

https://www.angelfire.com/scifi2/mechresource/mech2/mwtrncpc.htm

[hghwolf]

Odd; I was able to remap my weapon groupings to the mouse just fine. If you do that the game controls well enough if you ignore the throttle settings and just increase/decrease dynamically with W/S, and ordering lancemates gets easier with practice.

I wonder if you could put the torso control on the numpad ? That'd give you 0 and + for two weapon groups, though it'd be a bit awkward, and you can probably free up Q for a third and spacebar for a fourth on mechs without JJs.

[Canadian Guitar]

6-8 keys for movement?
Its the standard WASD from any first person game, Space for jumpjets.


The other "movement" buttons are more or less just hockey's.
2 keys to snap feet or turret, which you were doing anyway with WASD/mouse. A full stop button, which is just a more precise way to come to a stop rather than holding S.

Compared to many other games, you don't need to hold W for forward motion, or shift to run/sprint etc.


If your having difficulties with mouse/mouse controls, maybe try a controller

[EdrickV]

You could try changing your weapon groups so that you mainly use the Left/Right mouse buttons. (aka groups 1 and 2) As far as movement, you don't need to hold W down (unless you turned throttle decay on) once you have a speed you like. Pressing f (align legs to torso) can make turning easier, look where you want to go with mouse, and press f.

As far as lancemates, in some missions I don't tell them to do much of anything. When I do give commands it's usually to tell one person (or all) to attack my target. That's two quick button presses and I'm back to doing other stuff. The mouse wheel should automatically be bound to zoom. As far as the third button, you might be able to configure that via mouse config software if your mouse manufacturer makes one. (Logitech has software for it's mice.)

There are also a variety of alternatives to standard mice, for people with issues using regular mice.
https://techrrival.com/best-alternatives-to-a-regular-computer-mouse/

[pRaX]

I feel like the controls are actually very streamlined and FPS players would feel right at home with only the F-Key usage being outside of the norm.

I don't see how a flightstick would leviate your issues. You'll still have to trigger all the functions.

You mentioned hand issues so I checked your reviews and saw you played some FPS games. Did you have the same issues there aswell?

Pretty much all the keys I use are comfily around WASD. For movement I actually only use WASD, F to align legs with torso and occasionally X to make full stops.

I didn't even rebind a single key. It's all default.

Maybe you need to sadly get a bit more creative with your weapon groups since you don't have side buttons on your mouse? Using the chain function. I mean it's not ideal and limiting but I don't see another way.
Having to use the F-Keys is really the only thing that puts me out of my comfort zone and I sometimes hit the wrong keys.

[Commisar Jon Fuklaw]

Originally posted by Razter:

snip

A barebones optical mouse is going to be less useful for this than in some bog-standard FPS due to the need for constant tracking and the potential need for upwards of 5 weapon groups on some mechs. If you can't or won't switch to either a high DPI mouse or a trackball, the best I can suggest is to get used to using 3 weapon groups or less and leave weapon groups 1, 2, and 3 on LMB, RMB, and MMB, respectively. It's certainly doable for almost all mechs, even though it's not ideal for a large minority.

As for keyboard controls, they literally cannot be more simple. WS for throttle (stays where it's left by default), AD to turn. Q to target friendly closest to reticle, R to target enemy closest to reticle, T to target enemies in general. F1 is the only key needed for dealing with lancemates for 99% of the game and X zeroes throttle if you are feeling fancy. If that's too many keys, you might be better off playing candy crush, since that's the industry standard keyboard controls.

Regarding older MechWarrior titles: they were far less streamlines in terms of control layout than you remember, with the possible exception of MW4. I've played MW2 (and Mercs) and 3 recently and, while excellently written, paced, and executed, they lack a lot of modern conventions in terms of controls. MW2 is especially poor in this department, as it all but requires three hands or a joystick, thanks to minimal mouse support.

[onebit]

You'll get used to it. F is your friend.

[Razter]

Originally posted by onebit:

You'll get used to it. F is your friend.

I do indeed use F a lot

[owen8964]

I'm using kb+m because the game doesn't seem to like my joystick and I really can't be bothered fiddling around at present. My mouse allows me 4 weapon groups which I find ample.

My movement keys are SAXD with W as my full stop - that's just personal preference. Really the ONLY keys I use outside that most of the time are F which is really important and (F!) and (F2).

I'm now rep9 in my first playthrough in the Campaign. Not having to use ECM etc yet so that might complicate things, but really it's just just A and D most of the time, and F when I lose track of my legs :)

[Casual Sun]

Yes, use F and C. I also like to use the numpad for full throttle and reversal

[Spirit_OK]

General 2 btn+1 scroll mouse is rather useless, if you want to transfer actions to the right hand, look for the gaming one.

I use a venerable A4tech with one of the thumb buttons remapped as a target lock. Naturally, you aim at something, you lock it with a single click, no need to move hands around. Other buttons including scroll press are mapped as 1-2-3-4 weapon groups, but you can put any macroses on them with a native editor and drivers.

[FireShark]

Get a mouse with more buttons, it helps a lot. Otherwise the controls are fine and not really difficult at all. I use a vertical mouse as I find it much more ergonomic.

[Bashar]

Remap targeting to pressing mouse wheel.

[Razter]

Originally posted by FireShark:

Get a mouse with more buttons, it helps a lot. Otherwise the controls are fine and not really difficult at all. I use a vertical mouse as I find it much more ergonomic.

I can't really use one through I've tried. I most certainly understand how it would be more useful though.