Any way to change keyboard commands?

[SuperSaxon771]

I am trying to play Civ DOS in DosBox. But it's kinda impossible since my laptop does not have a keypad, so I can't move my units diagonally. Is there any way to change keyboard commands?

 

[Dack]

I am trying to play Civ DOS in DosBox. But it's kinda impossible since my laptop does not have a keypad, so I can't move my units diagonally. Is there any way to change keyboard commands?

Try the following and report back your results.

In DosBox
CTRL-F1 Start the keymapper.

Also do a web search on DosBox help.

 

[SuperSaxon771]

That command brings up a keyboard layout and lets me alter which keys do which functions, but it doesn't have a "diagonal" option, since the keyboard doesn't provide a diagonal move to begin with. Thanks though, and I will search for DosBox help.

 

[xprqc]

You just need to remap the keys that Civ uses to move diagonal. Home for Up & Left, PgUp for Up & Right, End for Down & Left and PgDn for Down & Right.

You can use these keys as is on your laptop keyboard, but it's a real pain in the ass to remember which is which. You probably also have a Fn-NumPad which will turn on a keypad that's 'embedded' in your keyboard. Probably uses U-I-O for 4-5-6 and J-K-L for 1-2-3 on the extended keyboard keypad.

Play around with it, you'll figure it out.

 

[Dack]

Does anyone know the step by step procedures to implement the dosbox keymapper? I’m having no luck other than to make a key do nothing. Having no success in assigning a key. The instructions in the readme file are vague.

 

[nova10]

Heh, I quickly figured it out. Okay, here we go.

Step 1 : Make sure DosBox is running
Step 2 : Press Ctrl+F1 to Start the Keymapper
Step 3 : Looking at the Keymapper, you should be able to find where the extended keyboard is located.
Step 4 : Click on "8", three buttons should appear below "Select an event to change"
Step 5 : Click on "Del". This removes the key event attached to that key aka pressing it will no longer type out the number 8.
Step 6 : Click on "Add" and press the Up key on your keyboard. Now when you press the 8 on your extended keyboard, Dosbox sends a "Up key-down" event. So Num-lock doesn't matter now
Step 7 : Repeat Steps 4-6 to assign 7->Home, 9->PgUp, 4->Left, 6->Right, 1->End, 2->Down, 3->PgDn.

Now if you forgot to delete a previous key event.... Scenario: You forgot to remove the normal event for extended keyboard key "6" but added in the event for the right arrow.
Step 1 - Click on "6"
Step 2 - Near the bottom-left of the keymapper are: Event:key_kp_6 and Bind:
Step 3 - Click on Next (if needed) so that the line with Bind on it says: "Bind: Key [6]"
Step 4 - Click on "Del". Now it should say: "Bind: Key right"

Hope this post helps ^_^

 

[SuperSaxon771]

Heh, I quickly figured it out. Okay, here we go.

Step 1 : Make sure DosBox is running
Step 2 : Press Ctrl+F1 to Start the Keymapper
Step 3 : Looking at the Keymapper, you should be able to find where the extended keyboard is located.
Step 4 : Click on "8", three buttons should appear below "Select an event to change"
Step 5 : Click on "Del". This removes the key event attached to that key aka pressing it will no longer type out the number 8.
Step 6 : Click on "Add" and press the Up key on your keyboard. Now when you press the 8 on your extended keyboard, Dosbox sends a "Up key-down" event. So Num-lock doesn't matter now
Step 7 : Repeat Steps 4-6 to assign 7->Home, 9->PgUp, 4->Left, 6->Right, 1->End, 2->Down, 3->PgDn.

Now if you forgot to delete a previous key event.... Scenario: You forgot to remove the normal event for extended keyboard key "6" but added in the event for the right arrow.
Step 1 - Click on "6"
Step 2 - Near the bottom-left of the keymapper are: Event:key_kp_6 and Bind:
Step 3 - Click on Next (if needed) so that the line with Bind on it says: "Bind: Key [6]"
Step 4 - Click on "Del". Now it should say: "Bind: Key right"

Hope this post helps ^_^

Maybe I'm misinterpreting something here, but I don't think this will help. I can remap the keys for the keypad, but that doesn't help me since my laptop doesn't have a keypad. ie, I'm remapping keys that don't exist on my computer. But maybe I'm just not understanding what you're saying. Thanks for your help anyway.

 

[SuperSaxon771]

You just need to remap the keys that Civ uses to move diagonal. Home for Up & Left, PgUp for Up & Right, End for Down & Left and PgDn for Down & Right.

You can use these keys as is on your laptop keyboard, but it's a real pain in the ass to remember which is which. You probably also have a Fn-NumPad which will turn on a keypad that's 'embedded' in your keyboard. Probably uses U-I-O for 4-5-6 and J-K-L for 1-2-3 on the extended keyboard keypad.

Play around with it, you'll figure it out.

Ah, this led me to the answer. Thanks.