With this mod I can have my mouse on my laptop's palm rest, which is right beside the arrow keys, so this mod is perfect for me as a laptop user. Thank you!

For anyone else that was confused the place you put the interface file is ...\AppData\Roaming\Bay 12 Games\Dwarf Fortress\prefs - not \SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Dwarf Fortress\prefs

Hope that helps!

i changed my movement keys from WASD to the arrowkeys, and the new keybinds that are set to WASD with this mod wont work? Am I doing something wrong?

even beyond that, WASD is just the most common movement keybind. There's people, like me, who use ESDF instead, since that gives me access to an additional column of keys without straining as much.
And *then* there are people, also like me, who have split keyboards, and the Y from QWERTY would be on the wrong half. XD

@annaflyte I underestimated how often the scrolling keybinds are. That is certainly an oversight that I regret. You can experiment with assigning those keys to some that are unused, or maybe alt-wasd, but certainly if I had kept those keys easily accessible the end result would have been better.

Im really struggling with this because you can't scroll the screen with WASD anymore? So I have to lift my hand constantly anyway to go to the arrow keys to even see my fortress and its really uncomfortable since you also need to use a mouse for a ton of commands. am i missing something, its not ergonomic at all

Yup, turned out to be a naming mod that changed a few references. Also thank you for this! I've been struggling to make the transition from Classic to Premium (clicking through menus is just so slow), and this helps immensely.

@True Guesser

I wouldn't think this mod would affect that, but the way modding is implemented in this game, I'm not sure. The way to find out would be to create two worlds, one with just the mod that implements the custom reactions, and another that has both mods. Then you can compare and see if this mod is affecting it.

Load order may also matter. Also, make sure you're always starting with a civilization that comes with the reactions, as that may also affect things.

Is there any reason this would affect the visibility or function of custom workshops & reactions? I added some custom reactions to the standard Kitchen, but they are no longer available.

Copying interrface.txt didn't work for me until I put this at the top of it:


[VERSION:1]

@Kobold Things have been moved around in menus, so that is not possible with the modding tools given to us. Maybe with DFHack, but I have no plans to look into that.

could you possibly make a version that just makes the hotkeys like they were pre steam version?

Good point ;)
Mod posted as Lefty Vimkeys.

@snappahead As stated in the license I put in the mod description, you can use any part of my work in your own work so long as you credit me and license it using the same license.

@Trainzack thanks. I ended up using an IBM font that was close enough, but appreciate the link for future versions perhaps.
Now just need to sort out how to upload it to the workshop. I'm using your improved interface without hints (green highlights & other coloured elements). Is it OK to upload that as a separate package with credit to you, or would you prefer me to make my own one?

@snappahead I used the base game's font, though there is a ttf version that you can find here: https://www.izscomic.com/2012/06/dwarf-fortress-ttf-font-download/#comment-2157

If you overwrite the interface.txt file, then the hotkeys will be active on all saves. However, you need to load the mod during world generation (or install it manually in the kludgy way) for the hotkey UI hints to display.

@clem you have to put the interface.txt file in the /prefs directory. There is most likely already one there, so maybe you need to confirm if you want to replace/overwrite it?
You not sure if this mod requires you to generate a new world with the mod enabled or not. I would think that the interface.txt file from prefs will take precedence, but maybe try making a new world and also making sure the mod is loaded before you generate the new world?

Hey Trainzack - thanks for making your mods. I'm in the process of creating a keymap for people who like vim for navigating around. Got the keymap done, but now I'm on to creating the image file, Can I ask - which font do you use for the lettering in you PNG file? I'd like to keep the look & feel you've created with your files.

I correctly replaced the interface.txt a couple times.

the hotkeys aren't working correctly- It lists them but they're the original hotkeys

Which part isn't working, the hotkeys or the hotkey hints?

I performed the manual installation step for this mod yet it stil ldoesnt work :( I feel dumb pls help

@Apollo Unfortunately, no, I can't.

Love this mod! Can the menu options close with the same button used to open them? (Can't for me currently). With the icons changed to show the new key layout, I keep pressing the same button thinking it'll close it. Escape or right click works just fine though.

@Urist HAH! I did not realize that!
@Tabris Yeah, that's a bit of a regret of mine. I use the middle mouse to move camera, but in retrospect I probably could have found a pretty good set of keybinds that leaves wasd at least alone.

Really cool mod. Would be nice to have a version that is QWERTY but using WASD to move the camera.

one of the best things about this mod is Chairs/Throne's hotkey is A-s-s

Well now I feel silly. Thanks for the quick response!

@Imninsomniac If you have Interface Tweaks loaded, disable it. This mod is a replacement for Interface Tweaks, and has all of the same improvements baked in.

Does load order matter? I've followed all steps, but when generating a new world the "Create World" button is greyed out and this mod name shows up as orange.

Yeah, I'm going to think about what's the best way to remap this.

If you are using this mod and wish to use the "run one step" function added in today's DF update (default "." key), add the following lines to your new/replaced interface.txt file (the one copied from this mod's folder, not the game's original)

[BIND:D_ONESTEP:REPEAT_NOT]
[KEY:?]

technically, they should be added between the lines
[BIND:HOTKEY_BUILDING_FURNACE_KILN_LAVA:REPEAT_NOT]
[KEY:f]
and
[BIND:D_PAUSE:REPEAT_NOT]
[SYM:0:Space]
but they should work at the very end of the file too.

This maps the question mark key (with Shift) to the advance-one-step command which DF defaults to the period key, because Ergonomic Hotkeys already uses the period key.

Did you perform the manual installation step?

amazing idea, hope it works for other folk does not for me. Hotkeys on the icons show up but they are not the actual hotkeys.

@zalym: toady is working on that now, we should have that in the near future.
@bug enthusiast: the installation instructions specifically say you need to copy the keybinding file over.

Fantastic idea for a mod! Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be working for me. (I'm new to Dwarf Fortress so it could just be my own fault). I can see all the hotkeys on the icons for the UI, but all of the actual keybindings are the same as default. Any ideas? I might be able to go rebind everything manually but that seems like a huge hassle and not intended.

Thank you for this mod.

I don't know if there will ever be an "official" keyboard layout change (or the ability to ditch the mouse entirely ever again), so this mod feels like a fantastic game enhancement.

This is especially true when combined with the hotkey labels. Why were are those missing in the base game?

I just haven't been able to understand how if they were going to move our right hand to the mouse, and then change a bunch of hotkeys anyway, then why not make the new keys suited for a more traditional M/KB set-up?

If I'm constantly going to be using my mouse like a typical building game, then I should rarely feel a need to move my right hand away from the mouse to get at a key too far from my left hand. And my left hand should be able to stay as close to its home position as possible during play.

Sorry this got so long, but finding this mod encapsulated my feelings about the issues I'm having adapting at the moment, even as I'm enjoying the game itself.

@Moon Cheese: You use arrow keys, or middle mouse drag for camera movement.

How it uses wasd if it is for camera movement? How to move camera then?

@brenbold that's impossible to do through a mod. toady is currently working on getting an all-keyboard interface back; he had to rebuild the entire interface because of the new ui framework.

is it possible for you to make a mod that restores classic DF controls? I really like the new graphics but I'm put off by the GUI and all the clicking I need to do, I generally play DF without a mouse.

@Grubbo some of us have had trouble with the embark name/profession UI independent of modding, i think there's a vanilla bug that somehow doesn't hit everyone.

@pork sandwich Colemak and workman versions have been created, turns out adding a new mapping is a lot easier than I'd thought it'd be.

I'd be happy to run it for you if your software is open source

Absolutely fantastic work on this. Completely changed the game for me and made this a much better experience.

@pork sandwich That's a good point, I didn't consider that. As for colemak, it's not that much of an imposition for me. I've just got to define the mapping between colemak and qwerty, and my software does the rest. I just need to find the time.

I'd also really appreciate a colemak version but that's probably asking for a lot

Love this in concept, tho I think it relies much too heavily on shift+asdf and doesn't use QWER much if at all. I think using shift with the left hand defeats the ergonomic properties of this greatly, and I'd love to see a release that minimizes those as much as possible.

The other issue with loading so much onto shift+asdf is that it makes it mentally a little harder to memorize as so many common actions are on the same keys.

@Grubbo This shouldn't disable typing! I just loaded up a new world with only this mod installed and was able to rename dwarves just fine.

@BBlaze Yeah, there's some work to be done in informing the users of the other keybindings (I don't say anywhere that the stock screen is tab, or that moving the screen is back to the arrow keys, for example). I had my software generate the full list, but it's too big for the steam description.

As for rebinding some of the other controls, I experimented with alternate scrolling directions and found that (also!) confusing for me. I figure that those are the things that people can mess around with themselves.

Is it just me or does this mod disable typing? Configuring embark and can't rename my dwarfs.