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Russian Federation4295 Posts
Who have small compact keyboard or their F1-F5 buttons placed near number buttons, I recommend to use optimized grid hotkey scheme.
3rd row moved to F1-F5 hotkeys, not fully, but mostly used hotkeys.
- Mostly used abilities (burrow, transfuse, parasite, larva inject) are placed in 3rd row. Why not move them just under fingers? Then you will less flex the fingers for pressing hotkeys in 3rd row.
- ALT is unused button, and at same time it's not that comfort to press Shift many times. Then I've moved Shift to ALT. Now, I can just press Alt+1 to add units to 1st group. Same for other groups.
- At same time, ALT can be used for 2nd grid, because the thumb is almost always over ALT.
[ALT+Q], [ALT+W], [ALT+E], [ALT+R], ..., etc
I have no idea what to bind to many of those ALT-combinations. But ALT+Q for black minimap terrain and ALT+W for green-red color scheme was good idea for me. At the game start you can press those two buttons very fast. Because I always play with green-red-yellow color scheme and with black minimap terrain, because it's harder to miss GIANT RED PIXEL with drop, proxy, or enemy scout.
- Another hotkey optimization is adding alternative hotkey to F10, because this button is too far from my left hand. So now it's [H]. Why H, and not other? Because there are N nearby, that is for Surrender. You can also rebind F10 to N, so it will be enought to press N 2x time for fast surrender  But for me it's more comfort to have game menu on different hotkey.
- Cycle camera through hatcheries moved to Spacebar, as someine recommended that to do in other zerg-hotkey topic. For me, it's easier to press spacebarm than press mouse sub-button. Because I do multiple injections many times at same time.
- It's easier to cast multiple Fungals with holding Tilde, at same time it's easier to press again and again for multiple injections instead of moving your hand up and down for click and hold Shift.
- Also, compact keyboard allows to press Ctrl without any fingers!
- Not on the picture, but I've added that some time ago:
ALT + E - rorate camera to left
ALT + F - rotate camera to right
ALT + R - change camera modes between zoomed in/out
I hope, you will like it and maybe something from those hotkeys you will use
Have fun!
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That's actually the same keyboard I have and I never thought about using the corner of my hand to hit ctrl.
Hm, may have to look into this. Thanks.
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On August 04 2011 10:52 WTFZerg wrote:
That's actually the same keyboard I have and I never thought about using the corner of my hand to hit ctrl.
Hm, may have to look into this. Thanks.
I use a Filco keyboard and have been using the corner of my left hand to hit CTRL (palm area on the left side of the hand). I highly recommend it, I can't imagine the awkward angle I'd have to position my hand if I used my pinky to set control groups.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
Another idea with H-N hotkeys:
- Send message rebind from Enter to H
- F10 -> N
Then it will looks like: HGGHNN
Game is over with a nice GG at the end
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Sweet mouse.
I love mine.
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I also press CTRL with the side of my hand like you show. Further, I press ALT with the other side of my hand, the part that is right above it in your diagram. This lets me use alt, control, and shift at the same time with only 1 finger.
EDIT:
F1-F8 camera bookmarks
My control groups are 1-4, alt 1-4, ~, <tab>;
unit abilities on the Q,W,(EW)
attack/stop/hold/patrol on the A,S,D,F
Burrow/Unload/Cloak on Z
Next Subgroup on 5
Idle Worker on 6
Production/Upgrades use Grid hotkeys.
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Heh. You came to similar conclusions to me! I use alt instead of control and space as town hall and remapped ` and q as control groups and caps as a location.
But I also use grid hotkeys for upgrades. Its a good setup but sometimes I have to look down to find U for ultralisks 
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Looks pretty nice and useful, won't be using myself though since I've been using the same setup for ~10 years and am pretty accustomed to it. Yours would be better for RTS games, but I play pretty much everything across the board.
The visualization of the setup you use is totally badass however, looks amazing!
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
The visualization of the setup you use is totally badass however, looks amazing!
Thank you
Heh. You came to similar conclusions to me! I use alt instead of control and space as town hall and remapped ` and q as control groups and caps as a location.
How you can use Q, if you're using Grid?
attack/stop/hold/patrol on the A,S,D,F
I have my association:
Q - move (just using it)
W - stop aka Wait
E - hold mode
R - patrol
T - atack
Further, I press ALT with the other side of my hand, the part that is right above it in your diagram.
It's very easy to press at same time Windows button or spacebar. For me it's easier to press with the thumb (big finger)
unit abilities on the Q,W,(EW)
Interesting idea. But I've played a lot time with standart Grid, so I prefer now QWERT for move-atack-patrol-etc commands.
Next Subgroup on 5
Tab is ok for me
This lets me use alt, control, and shift at the same time with only 1 finger.
I never use Shift button. WHat I need is to add units to groups, where ALT helps me.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
Looks pretty nice and useful, won't be using myself though since I've been using the same setup for ~10 years and am pretty accustomed to it
You can always make your hotkey scheme a lot better.
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On August 04 2011 19:20 Existor wrote:
How you can use Q, if you're using Grid?
Q is one of the most convenient keys, but grid uses it for Move, which is a useless command I don't even have bound.
I used to use grid when the game came out and until the hotkey remapping came out. I hated attack on T. I thought it was too far away from the rest of the keys, easy to miss, and A was much easier to press precisely. That's also why I have both E and R as hotkeys for the most important ability a unit has (such as fungal/storm/forcefield/corruption/injection/etc).
It's very easy to press at same time Windows button or spacebar. For me it's easier to press with the thumb (big finger)
I removed the caps lock and left windows keys from my keyboard. They're useless keys and it makes it easier to hit alt and shift. Accidentally pressing the spacebar isn't actually going to happen. I used my thumb at first, before I learned to use my hand. I found that it was very uncomfortable to keep my thumb bent like that and was putting unnecessary strain on my hand.
I never use Shift button. WHat I need is to add units to groups, where ALT helps me.
I never used to use alt, and I thought it was a waste to not be able to use all 3 of your modifier keys. I used it as an opportunity to add more keys. Alt lets me use all 10 control groups without stretching my hand around. I have 5 control groups for army, 1 for hatcheries, and 4 for queens. If I play terran, I can use the alt-# keys for barracks, factories, starports, upgrades. If I play protoss, I put non-warpgate production structures and observers on them. And I can still make use of F1-F4 for camera bookmarks, which it seems you don't have.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
And I can still make use of F1-F4 for camera bookmarks, which it seems you don't have.
Because I dont need those camera bookmarks. Where I need it, if I can scroll very fast with mouse wheel and with black minimap terrain + red enemies?
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Great job on the visual representation of how you've set everything up. It seriously looks like an image for a commercial product or something.
Only thing is, if pressing 'HN' would instantly make you surrender the game... I'd be wary of putting those keys so close to everything else @_@ F10 works because it's so far away from everything else; you can only quit the game when you really mean to, and with HN... well, you might quit a game by accident. Sure you can say "Nah that'd never happen", but hey, anything is possible as far as typos go, especially when you're playing hundreds and hundreds of games.
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On August 05 2011 01:28 Existor wrote:Show nested quote +And I can still make use of F1-F4 for camera bookmarks, which it seems you don't have. Because I dont need those camera bookmarks. Where I need it, if I can scroll very fast with mouse wheel and with black minimap terrain + red enemies?
There are a lot of useful things you don't need, but that help improve your play. Camera bookmarks are extremely useful (even moreso for terran/protoss). I also use the middle mouse button, but it doesn't replace either clicking on the minimap or camera bookmarks. I make one at each of my hatcheries so that when queens die or before they're made, I can still use that hotkey to jump back to specific bases very quickly. It's also faster for dealing with drops (especially multiple drops) than double-tapping queen hotkeys or clicking the minimap or middle-dragging the screen.
First, double-tapping is slower than single tapping F#. Second, I can do it without deselecting my army, which again makes it faster to use bookmarks. Third, queens die. Forth, you hotkey all queens together anyway.
EDIT: And it should go without saying that camera hotkeys are faster than either the minimap or middleclick-dragging. You don't need to tap hotkeys to check production status either, but you will improve your play if you do.
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Great and all but it would take like 2 weeks of practice to get used to such set up lol.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
There are a lot of useful things you don't need, but that help improve your play. Camera bookmarks are extremely useful (even moreso for terran/protoss).
Maybe maybe. But for other players is more useful to have hatcheries in separate groups. It's an example.
Then. My schrol-wheel speed (I mean cemare moving) is on max (100%). so it's very fast to move camera cross the battlefield. And I play with that a long time, and using it in other C&C games.
It's also faster for dealing with drops (especially multiple drops) than double-tapping queen hotkeys or clicking the minimap or middle-dragging the screen.
I dont understand, why. Here are mo hotkeys, more groups, why you want to make life harder? Isnt it easier to press Spacebar again and again, to scroll to un-injected hatchery as example. For drops, I can jump to last alert or move camera very quickly, because max speed for scroll wheel camera moving.
And I hate double tapping on groups. I use that only for combat units, but not for queens.
Camera bookmarks are extremely useful
Thanks for the tip, maybe will try later. But for now it's enought for me to move camera to needed locations via minimap or scrol wheel.
EDIT: And it should go without saying that camera hotkeys are faster than either the minimap or middleclick-dragging. You don't need to tap hotkeys to check production status either, but you won't play as well if you don't do it.
Maybe it's a good reason to waste APM. But as I said above, scroll wheel camera move and minimap jump is more comfort for me, and I can move camera very fast, maybe faster, than jumps bookmarked camera positions.
But I maybe will use that. But for there are no hotkeys in my current hotkey scheme. Maybe ALT+letter, Tab and Caps.
Well, current hotkey scheme is ok for now For macro with tumors, for injections, for easy cast abilities like fungals, transfuse, parasites, burrow, etc
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On August 05 2011 01:49 Existor wrote: why you want to make life harder?
The harder your life, the stronger you become in the long run. Anyway, great writeup; like everyone else, I was blown away by your graphic. And your comment about spacebar makes sense. I might start trying that. It feels like it would be unreliable, though. I'm a control freak. That's why I like having very granular control and backup controls so I can use the best one for each situation.
EDIT: It's all a matter of degree; what you're willing to put yourself through to improve. Others will accuse you of "Why do you want to make life harder?" simply for changing your hotkeys in the first place.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
When I had other mouse, where was easier to press 2 sub-buttons (that are under the thumb, big finger), and this mouse has horizontal scroll. I mean, that I can turn wheel to left and to right.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/UFId3.png)
But current mouse is ok for me too and I like it
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Could someone send me the *.SC2hotkeys file with Existor's hotkeys set. Setting it up by myself is a disaster, I can't do it. I hope it's simpler for you to send me this file 
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/lpW0v.jpg)
