New Hotkeys/Controls PLEASE! Grid?

[Pastah]

Can we modernize the hotkeys and controls? Maybe adding custom hotkey controls configuration too, like being able to change 'Alt+t' to 'z'?

UnReal World follows the old retro style of hotkeys where you once you press S for skills you press P for Physician, i.e. you press the first letter of the menu option name. Old RTS games did the same thing where you would press A to attack, H for hold, and P for Patrol; but they went away from that to adopt grid style hotkeys. That is 1234 QWER ASDF ZXCV, etc, where all the hotkeys are reachable to each other. Perhaps the menu options can go down from Q being menu option 1, W being menu option 2, etc?
Ideally whatever is easy to press many times, easily reachable within each other, and can be memorized with muscle memory (actions don't change chords/combinations and remain the same).
If you do add these grid styles, I think you should make them changeable like "Menu options 1" "Q" can change to "W", incase players want to switch from WASD to ESDF for more keys to press easily.

Why change these? I tend to play left hand on WASD and right hand on Numpad. But everytime I have to do menu actions I have to constantly move my hands around finding the right button to press for a menu option, like moving my hands to touch type home row mode "ASDF JKL;". It honestly makes me want to drop playing the game when I have to tedious menu navigation so frequently (R repeat action helps a little). This is especially true with NPC chat interactions where I have to press 'T' for trade then reach other for the '0' to go back to main menu. Even the mouse click distance is quite far where bottom left is for some chat options and on the right side are others instead of all options being next to each other.

Also I found it extremely annoying tracking Elk in thick dense forests where I have to either spam press the awkward Alt+t or get epilepsy menu flashes on my screen quickly pressing S > T over and over.

Another idea for controls is you could press TAB to change modes from movement/actions to menu stuff. So Numpad controls can be moved to WASD, but when you press TAB you have menu interactions like Make, Build, etc. Not sure about this one to be honest, but food for thought I suppose.

I beg you that we make controls more intuitive and easier to interact with so the game is more enjoyable to play 🙏

[JP_Finn]

With the game’s visual detection mechanism: I don’t think wasd can ever cater to the numpad.
E.g. numpad1 turns your character 180 degrees to the left. If there’s hostile in the “rear right quarter: you won’t detect him/her/it. Numpad3 turns 180 to the right. You won’t detect rear left quarter. WASD can’t cater to that.

I’m all for less key jockeying if possible. So I can see the fatigue where the suggestion stems from.

As for tracking, modified 10-finger typing layout has worked decently for my characters’ tracking needs. Left pinky on Alt, middle or index on “t”.
If anything, I feel like traversing spruce more in any way is aggravating. I might need to write suggestion on movement speed deduction in exchange to pass spruce trees.

[Pastah]

With the game’s visual detection mechanism: I don’t think wasd can ever cater to the numpad.
E.g. numpad1 turns your character 180 degrees to the left. If there’s hostile in the “rear right quarter: you won’t detect him/her/it. Numpad3 turns 180 to the right. You won’t detect rear left quarter. WASD can’t cater to that.

Just make Numpad 7 as Q, Numpad 9 as E, Numpad 1 as Z, Numpad 5 as X, Numpad 3 as C.
But tabbing through modes is just an idea. Would have to use it to see how good it feels.

[Senthe]

or get epilepsy menu flashes on my screen quickly pressing S > T over and over.

This one tiny thing is something that actually bothers me a lot. I have mild photosensitivity and it's really something that messes with my eyes and brain. I have to sometimes close my eyes when I do this, which makes no sense as I'm (the player) not even seeing the terrain I'm trying to navigate anymore 😅

[Plotinus]

or get epilepsy menu flashes on my screen quickly pressing S > T over and over.

This one tiny thing is something that actually bothers me a lot. I have mild photosensitivity and it's really something that messes with my eyes and brain. I have to sometimes close my eyes when I do this, which makes no sense as I'm (the player) not even seeing the terrain I'm trying to navigate anymore 😅

Do you know about the alt-t alternative to s-t? It doesn't bring up the skill menu so you don't see the flashes. You can use alt with any of the skill keys.

[Senthe]

Do you know about the alt-t alternative to s-t? It doesn't bring up the skill menu so you don't see the flashes. You can use alt with any of the skill keys.

I know, but it's extremely inconvenient. I usually have my left hand near [a]pply, [d]rop, [q]uaff, [e]at, [w]ield and kill (like I expect most players do), and for unrelated reasons, on my keyboard there's only right alt and no left alt. And well, since it's currently impossible to customize any keybindings at all, I'm stuck with either using s-t or moving my hand to alt only for this one action

[Ezhe]

Actually, I would expect macros more. If those frequently used tasks can be binded to one key or one key combination, the gameplay will be much much smoother, because you don't have to press multiple keys to just search a simple function like crafting an arrow, chopping down a tree, or hauling stuff on ground around. With more and more functions introduced into the game, and more kinds of items accessible in player inventory, solutions such as macros to simplify controls are never this needed anytime in the past.

[Sami]

Many different kind of key-command layouts and/or re-arrangements to the existing have been suggested every now and then and the conclusion is that unless there would be full customization of the keyboard layout the suggestions for changes keep arising. Dramatic overhaul isn't to be expected as we speak but some reworks to ease out the keyboard jockeying are paid attention to. Small and precise suggestions are easier to comprehend and considered than renewal of the existing as a whole.

Another idea for controls is you could press TAB to change modes from movement/actions to menu stuff. So Numpad controls can be moved to WASD, but when you press TAB you have menu interactions like Make, Build, etc. Not sure about this one to be honest, but food for thought I suppose.

Well yes this would solve the problem of having to remap the keys already in use to allow WASD movement, but it might be that it would still turn out to be cumbersome in action.
If we could find nice and preferably intuitive new keys for the commands associated with q,w,e,a,s,d and x setting up WASD movement would be relatively easy to feature if it was implemented so that there's (a new) hardcoded keyboard layout for WASD movement and the existing layout for numpad movement. WASD would be then selected as a setup option. (Everyone who'd prefer WASD feel free to post ideas how you'd remap those q,w,e,a,s,d and x key-commands.)

This is especially true with NPC chat interactions where I have to press 'T' for trade then reach other for the '0' to go back to main menu. Even the mouse click distance is quite far where bottom left is for some chat options and on the right side are others instead of all options being next to each other.

Yes, NPC interactions is one of the most awkward ones and I would also be very happy to renew it, but here also punctual and practical ideas/suggestions to improve this part and it's navigation structure alone, separately, would be very welcome.

Also I found it extremely annoying tracking Elk in thick dense forests where I have to either spam press the awkward Alt+t or get epilepsy menu flashes on my screen quickly pressing S > T over and over.

This is an interesting playstyle thing, as with my characters I don't ever spam tracking all that much even if the character would be low on tracking. I use it quite sparingly, and between relatively long distances, if needed.
But luckily there's one more alternative to this, and it is the x command. When you look at a location with x key it also does tracking check and can reveals new tracks to you. And for tracks it also scans not only the very tile you choose to look at, but also the neighbouring ones. Upon selecting the direction pressing 5 on numpad means the character's location so you may proceed with x and numpad 5 sequence to look (also for tracks) at the character's location and the neighbouring tiles.