Better Radial: An AutoHotkey Script so That You Can Use the Keyboard Radial Menu Without Having to Reach for the Function Keys

I've played with a controller for about 400 hours on PS4 and PC combined. With the PC version finally supporting raw mouse input, I wanted to give it a try. After spending quite a while to set the control scheme how I want, I discovered that the keyboard radial menu is not very easy to use.

With a controller I can very easily sprint and drink a potion using the radial menu at the same time. However, on a keyboard I find it pretty much impossible to reach the Function Keys while I'm holding down shift and WASD.

So I made this AutoHotkey script, which allows me to quickly tap any 2 key combination consisting of 1, 2, 3, 4 to access one of the 16 functions. For example, by default double tapping 1 performs F1+1, quickly tapping 1 and 2 performs F1+2, and so on.

Click here [pastebin.com] to view the code.

What it does

Here is the default key mapping. You can modify which key combo does what. Read the instructions in the comments of the code to learn how.

Double tap 1: F1 + 1
Quickly tap 1 and 2: F1 + 2
Quickly tap 1 and 3: F1 + 3
Quickly tap 1 and 4: F1 + 4
Quickly tap 2 and 1: F1 + 5
...
Quickly tap 3 and 1: F2 + 1
...
Quickly tap 4 and 3: F2 + 7
Double tap 4: F2 + 8

How to use it

1. Install AutoHotkey[autohotkey.com].
   
2. Copy the code[pastebin.com] into a new text document, save it, and change the file extension to .ahk (alternatively you can just click "download" on the pastebin page and change the extension when you save it).
   
3. Run the script when you play the game. The script will automatically exit when you end the game.
   
4. Profit

Remember you can change the key mapping by editing the script. It's super easy, just read the comments in the code.

Now, you can actually set it to start with the game. Here's how.

1. Create a new text file and copy the following two lines into it.
   

   start "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Monster Hunter World" MonsterHunterWorld.exe
   start "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Monster Hunter World" BetterRadial.ahk 

2. Change the first line to your actual game directory, and the second line to match your actual ahk script location and file name. I put mine in the same folder as the game for ease of management.
   Note: You can add more commands to start more programs. E.g., I have two more lines that start the damage meter mod[www.nexusmods.com] and save backup script with the game.
   
3. Save the file and change the extension to .bat
   
4. Go to Steam, right click MHW in your library - Properties - Set Launch Options, and put in the following line:
   

   "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Monster Hunter World\startMHW.bat" %command%

   Again change the directory and file name to match your bat file.
   
5. Click OK and you are good to go. The script will now launch and exit with the game.

Credits

As much I as want to take credit for this, in reality what I did was I posted in the AutoHotkey forum[autohotkey.com] asking how to achieve this and the helpful people there pretty much took care of it for me. Then I took their code and did some finishing up so that it works better with the game. Most credit should go to the AHK forum user ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.