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KeyCraft: In Memoriam...
Remapping Your Hotkeys
Hello TL.net-ers! I recently went on a hunt out of interest to make sure that the method of remapping hotkeys had not been lost to the mists of time. The old starcraftgamers (now gosugamers) article seems inaccessible at gosugamers.net, so I have decided to preserve the knowledge here, and hopefully a new generation of players can experience the joy of not hitting 'p' instead of 'o' when trying to siege.
KeyCraft (the program pictured above) stopped working long ago, so I am here to teach you how to do it the more difficult way. Fun Fact: KeyCraft had a bug where, if you didn't change Psionic Storm research's hotkey, it would set it to 'a' instead of 'p'. Thus, I now use 'a' instead of 'p' as my hotkey for that as I never bothered to change it back.
The Programs
You will need only two programs to do this (besides Starcraft, obviously).
WinMPQ
TblPad
WinMPQ and TblPad. Find them here (Ctrl + F for TblPad and then for WinMPQ and download them)
Warning
I don't believe TblPad gracefully handles having east asian languages installed. If you have them installed, you will have to a) have someone else do it for you b) uninstall east asian languages temporarily or c) [recommended] make use of AppLocale.
The Method
- Back up patch_rt.mpq (located in c:\program files\starcraft or similar directory) (ctrl + c then ctrl + v in the folder will make a copy of it)
- Open WinMPQ.exe
- Go to File → Open and browse to patch_rt.mpq
- Scroll down until you find rez\stat_txt.tbl. This file contains hotkeys and tooltips for all things in Starcraft. It is what you will be modifying. You might notice that there are a whole bunch of them. They are different languages. English is (at least for me, and probably for you) the first one. Right click it, and extract to somewhere where you will be able to find it.
- Close WinMPQ for now (or leave it open in the background, but we won't use it for a while)
- Open up TblPad.exe.
- Select File → Open and open up the stat_txt.tbl you extracted. You should now have a list of various things.
- Remap hotkeys as you desire!
I'm going to interrupt the steps for a second to walk you through remapping a hotkey. In this example we will remap the Protoss Observer so that it is built by a 'g'. After all, who wants to go all the way to the 'o' key on the right there!
- Hit Search and type bserver (without the O!). The reason is that the O in Observer is colored, so it will have markup around it. Thus, searching for "Observer" would not find what we are looking for!
- The first result is: o<1>Build <3>O<1>bserver<0>. the <#> tags are markup for coloring. The first letter, o, is the hotkey. <1> represents 'normal' color, while <3> represents the yellow used to represent hotkeys. Since we want our observer to be built with g, let's make some changes!
- Did you figure out the changes? + Show Spoiler [PianoMan's version] +
g<1>Build Observer (<3>G<1> )<0>
I didn't have a space between the second <1> and the ), but smiley BBCode is killing my post.
And now, after you have done the remapping of hotkeys as you desire:
- Hit File → Save and then File → Exit
- Re-open WinMPQ and open patch_rt.mpq again.
- Press Mpq → Add... and select stat_txt.tbl
- A box will come up asking you the folder! type rez\
- Press File → Exit
- Open StarCraft and try your changes out!
FAQ
Q: You're a cheating asshole
A: I don't really think so. If it bothers you, don't play with me and don't use it. There have been extensive discussions over this in the past (do a search on TL for Keycraft) and arguing over this is not my purpose here. I will ignore any people attempting to argue about whether or not this is cheating or hacking or whatever.
Q: I don't use English language BW. Help!
A: I don't have any non-English BW versions available to me. I wouldn't be surprised if it works as long as you extract the correct language version from the MPQ (you can make sure you get the right one by opening it up and seeing if it's in your language). If it doesn't, tough luck, sorry, but I have no idea how to help you.
Q: Is it compatible with xyz program?
A: Yes, it works with absolutely everything from what I know: bwlauncher, maphacks, chaos launcher, iccup, and so on.
Q: Can you be banned for cheating?
A: By Blizzard? Maybe, but I've been using it for around 5 years and haven't been banned. If you do get banned, sorry, but it's not my problem and I will do absolutely nothing to help you about it. By competitions? In person, sure, you probably can't use it at something like WCG. Online, they have absolutely no way of knowing, so they can't really ban you for it. It's not a hack and there have never been rules set for it, although some argue that it's against the spirit of it or somesuch.
Q: Any hotkey recommendations?
A: Remap scourge to 'c' or something like that--prevents you from spamming 's' once too many times when selecting larvae and making scourge when you desperately need lings. Remap hotkeys to your left hand--it's much easier to hit the appropriate hotkeys that way. Remap siege mode/mines to 'd' or some similarly easy to hit key. Etc. etc.!
Q: JPG compression sucks and your images should have been PNG
A: Yeah, I guess you're right. I don't feel like re-taking the screenshots though.
Q: Something else
A: Post in the thread, that's why it's here  !
Q: The programs won't run for me. Help!
Q: I use a foreign language version!
On March 28 2009 16:24 Bajadulce wrote:1. For foreign language stat_txt.tbls simply add them by using the options tab in WinMPQ and changing the locale ID. This sometimes isn't so obvious. 2. Not all strings follow the same pattern. There are rules for different types of strings such as unit training, upgrades, research etc. Details here for those interested: http://www.staredit.net/wiki/TBLPad_Hotkey_String_Format
On March 28 2009 17:24 Catyoul wrote:Here is some info in addition to the guide (feel free to add them to the OP) : - if you get a list of files unknownblabla instead of the real names, get patch_rt.mpq.txt. In WinMPQ, go to options, then File lists, then Add File list with that file. - There are several rez\stat_txt.tbl in the list, they correspond to different languages. Here are the locale IDs : 0 Neutral (English) 1031 German 1033 English 1034 Spanish 1036 French 1040 Italian 1046 Portugese Extract the one that fits the locale you want to change. - If you want to change a different locale than English, before adding stat_txt.tbl back into the mpq, go to options and input the right one in the "Locale ID for adding files" field.
P i a n o M a n
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I see that I broke the layout a bit. I will reupload the images and use thumbnails.
OK, the layout should be fine now.
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On March 27 2009 19:44 PrinceOfControl wrote:
L2P
L2P
+ Show Spoiler +
P i a n o M a n
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Although I probably won't use this, it's a well written, helpful guide. May I suggest you put the FAQ slightly higher up? That way, it's more likely you'll get less posts likr PrinceofControl's.
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On March 27 2009 19:52 dnastyx wrote:
Although I probably won't use this, it's a well written, helpful guide. May I suggest you put the FAQ slightly higher up? That way, it's more likely you'll get less posts likr PrinceofControl's.
Thanks
Where would you suggest putting it? Putting the FAQ before the method itself would seem a little strange to me because it would be talking about things that do not yet make sense.
P i a n o M a n
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This is banned in any competitive tournament so I find its pretty stupid and it gives an unfair advantage online.
Q: Can you be banned for cheating?
A: By Blizzard? Maybe, but I've been using it for around 5 years and haven't been banned. If you do get banned, sorry, but it's not my problem and I will do absolutely nothing to help you about it. By competitions? In person, sure, you probably can't use it at something like WCG. Online, they have absolutely no way of knowing, so they can't really ban you for it.
Pretty sad imo
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cheating is using 3rd party programs to give someone an advantage over another person.
respect for the amount of effort you put into this but at its core this is cheating
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First off, this isn't allowed and is cheating... I mean you're even editing game files. Pretty obvious.
Secondly, you don't need to put "P i a n o M a n" at the end of all your posts... we can see your name very clearly at the top of your posts.
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Funnily enough, I just found the original article at gosugamers.net (not through the search link, but rather from a post at teamliquid.net as I was looking at different topics here with regards to it). You can find it here. I'm leaving my version up anyway though, but if you find my instructions confusing or stupid you can use theirs!
Anyone else brave enough to step up to admit to using modified hotkeys?
The ones I use are (maybe some others I can't think of at the moment, but I think this is all):
Protoss:
Dark Templar - f
Observer - g
Corsair - d
Cybernetics Core - z
Observatory - g
Research Psionic Storm - a
Terran:
Marine - z
Siege Mode - d
Spider Mines - d
Zerg:
Scourge - c
On March 27 2009 20:14 -orb- wrote:
Secondly, you don't need to put "P i a n o M a n" at the end of all your posts... we can see your name very clearly at the top of your posts.
True enough, I guess. It's a habit.
P i a n o M a n
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On March 27 2009 20:03 Yaqoob wrote:
This is banned in any competitive tournament so I find its pretty stupid and it gives an unfair advantage online.
no it does NOT give you an unfair advantage. you wont suddenly beat bisu because you have superior hotkeys. its unfair the other way arround, because f.e. in the german version you send medics with e instead of a and that fucking sucks to press 1a2a3e my medics often fall behind because of this.
as you are canadian you may get it like this better: if in the NHL only 1 size of hockeysticks would be allowed wouldnt that be fucking unfair the the ppll not falling into the norm? or even better, 1 size skates, wouldnt that be amazing, no more unfair advantages for ppl with big foots and therefor a better stance? just like with hotkeys, its idiotic to not have customizable settings. ppl with small fingers or not freaky alien finger who spread like crazy have an UNFAIR disadvantage.
so all plz stop crying about such minor advantage who are surely not UNFAIR, but enjoy the increased funfactor gained by customizing your hotkeys.
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Meh it's cheating and I'll skip using it.
S n o w F a n t a s y.
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On March 27 2009 20:17 WhuazGoodNjaggah wrote:
You wont suddenly beat bisu because you have superior hotkeys.
I won't suddenly beat Bisu if I have maphack either.
as you are canadian you may get it like this better: if in the NHL only 1 size of hockeysticks would be allowed wouldnt that be fucking unfair the the ppll not falling into the norm? or even better, 1 size skates, wouldnt that be amazing, no more unfair advantages for ppl with big foots and therefor a better stance? just like with hotkeys, its idiotic to not have customizable settings. ppl with small fingers or not freaky alien finger who spread like crazy have an UNFAIR disadvantage.
But if there is a rule against, like in SC, it would be cheating. There's tons of sports where some equipment is banned. Like in cycling or F1. Same is true in SC. Some things you are not allowed to use.
And yeah, its unfair. Since if you were to use the normal way to play you would be a lot worse. So the difference between the normal hotkeys and the way you hack the game is quite big, I assume. Why else make so much effort to break the rules.
Also, cheaters are banned on TL.net. Pianoman basically made a guide to cheating. It's not just banned in WCG and any other tournament. It's also considered cheating on iccup, where most people reading here play. Not to mention third party programs aren't allowed on bnet. Not even chaos launcher is technically allowed.
'Cheating' is defined as breaking the rules. Just because you think it's ok to break a rule doesn't mean it's not cheating. Just because you won't be caught breaking the rule doesn't mean it's not cheating. If you want to cheat like this, fine. You are right, it's not that a big deal. Many people won't really care. But cheating it is.
Of course no harm is meant by all this. But that's all besides the point. All those WC3 people that claim SC is easy and then go and remap the keys greatly annoy me. It's almost like me playing them in WC3 and turning off auto rally and smart cast for them.
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Yes, it's cheating, yes it's illegal, and yes, it's a well put-together guide thanks for the hard work.
P a n d a b e a r g u y
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It's only regarded as cheating by most people because it's not widely known. Include keycraft in the iccup launcher or something like that and it is no longer cheating, it's just another addition to improve the game by those great individuals in the community. As long as everyone has equal ability to edit their keys, it isn't cheating imo. Also to use the reason "it's editing files" to call it cheating, chaos launcher, penguinplug etc, use injection methods identical to map hacks.
I had no idea keycraft stopped working, it wasn't that long that I used it (2 years or so)
The more people using it the better.
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What's the difference between this and a hack that allows multiple building selection? It's just a convenience for casual players right?
L2P the game the way it was designed and with its shortcomings and stop trying to get an advantage over people.
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Well the difference is that all around the world different versions of BW have different hotkeys, whereas the amount of units you can select is universal. So pretending like everyone is on even footing to begin with isn't correct.
Second there are already programs like chaos coach, and apm alert that are advantageous for one player to have at a certain skill level if his opponent doesn't have it. So this isn't some new precedent, people have been using non hack 3rd party modifications of BW for their own benefit for a long time.
Third it stops being an advantage if everyone has the opportunity to do it. If everyone who ran the ICCUP launcher also had the ability to change their hotkeys there would be no advantage. If instead of resisting it for some reason when probably 75% of the people here don't even play BW anyway, you focused on spreading the knowledge. then it wouldn't be a shortcoming of SC we'd have to live with anymore, would it?
Also, I just ran core.exe from keycraft and it patched my patch_rt fine, so I think it still works
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This is considered cheating.. mods should lock this, imo. TL does not have guides on how to use oblivion, and this should be no different.
On March 27 2009 20:17 WhuazGoodNjaggah wrote:Show nested quote +On March 27 2009 20:03 Yaqoob wrote:
This is banned in any competitive tournament so I find its pretty stupid and it gives an unfair advantage online. no it does NOT give you an unfair advantage. you wont suddenly beat bisu because you have superior hotkeys. its unfair the other way arround, because f.e. in the german version you send medics with e instead of a and that fucking sucks to press 1a2a3e my medics often fall behind because of this.
Well, it's your own fault for using fucking stupid german version of SC. Everyone plays with the english keys, learn to do so aswell. EDIT:Actually,Blizz should've set the same hotkey for all versions.. but you should not complain, you chose to play that version, you either get used to the hotkeys that are there or switch over to english version. No one is forcing you to use the german version and using keycraft is not an option, imo.
its idiotic to not have customizable settings. ppl with small fingers or not freaky alien finger who spread like crazy have an UNFAIR disadvantage.
Lolwut?
M e a t h o o k
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On March 27 2009 20:12 janenba56 wrote:
cheating is using 3rd party programs to give someone an advantage over another person.
respect for the amount of effort you put into this but at its core this is cheating
I'm using a french keyboard azerty
OMFG, I DON'T PRESS THE SAME KEYS THAN YOU IMO BAN ALL FRENCH PLAYERS!!
But there is worse... I used a french version of the game for ages!
OMFFFFFG BAN ALL PEOPLE WHO HAVE DIFFERENT VERSION OF THE GAME STORM ON T IS FUCKING IMBA!!
That's silly.
I used that program log time ago to hotkey p my comsat. 0s 9s is far and I'm too lazy.
It's nowhere in IcCup rules that you can't do that. Nor in bnet rules. So fuck that. Obviously, if you go for an msl, you won't be allowed to change your computer, but otherwise whatever?
People are just fucking stupid with this competitive stuff. I play for fun, I find the game more confortable with a lightly customized keyboard, what's wrong with that??
And if you really are that stupid, why don't you complain that people are using different keyboard? Should I cry because I play on a laptop which is way harder to master than a desktop keyboard? So wtf, guys, seriously?
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On March 27 2009 20:33 Diomedes wrote:Show nested quote +On March 27 2009 20:17 WhuazGoodNjaggah wrote:
You wont suddenly beat bisu because you have superior hotkeys.
I won't suddenly beat Bisu if I have maphack either.
if you had half a brain you would put that statement into relation. i would own my clanmate hard if i turned mh on, but when i change medic key from e to a i wont suddenly win more vs him, the only thing changed is, that i wont miss my medics in a fight that often. i could also change the version to english everytime i play a TvZ, then the medic key would be changed too. wouldnt that be an amazing way to play the game? especially because it makes it impossible for me to play random, what if i suddenly have to play TvZ?
Show nested quote +as you are canadian you may get it like this better: if in the NHL only 1 size of hockeysticks would be allowed wouldnt that be fucking unfair the the ppll not falling into the norm? or even better, 1 size skates, wouldnt that be amazing, no more unfair advantages for ppl with big foots and therefor a better stance? just like with hotkeys, its idiotic to not have customizable settings. ppl with small fingers or not freaky alien finger who spread like crazy have an UNFAIR disadvantage. But if there is a rule against, like in SC, it would be cheating. There's tons of sports where some equipment is banned. Like in cycling or F1. Same is true in SC. Some things you are not allowed to use.
yes and we as community make the rules. its not like different tires are banned in cycling, its not different skate sizes which are banned in icehockey its not different shoecolor thats banned in football. its fucking ridiculous to ban such things which make no big difference especially if there IS already different things of that. we as community shouldnt cry about things like keycraft we should cry because of maphacks and queue hacks and multi select and multi command and drop warnings and shit like this.
And yeah, its unfair. Since if you were to use the normal way to play you would be a lot worse. So the difference between the normal hotkeys and the way you hack the game is quite big, I assume. Why else make so much effort to break the rules.
ok, i underlined and bolded the shit you spit. you dont even know how much different it is, yet you dare to talk about it like you are wisdom itself. i am currently playing with normal settings as im simply to lazy to change it, why? BECAUSE IT DOESNT MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE! f.e. i played a TvZ vs my clanmate, we are about equal me a bit better than him (like i win 4 out of 7). this TvZ took like 50mins, i won but i was fucking angry after the game, because i left my medics like 2 or 3 times behind, it was just unecessary but it didnt decide the game. he didnt win the game because i have a fucked up key setting, but it significantly lowered the fun for me to play TvZ and i love to play TvZ.
Also, cheaters are banned on TL.net. Pianoman basically made a guide to cheating. It's not just banned in WCG and any other tournament. It's also considered cheating on iccup, where most people reading here play. Not to mention third party programs aren't allowed on bnet. Not even chaos launcher is technically allowed.
why you say chaos launcher (actually its plugins) is TECHNICALLY not allowed? its against the rules = its cheating = dont fucking treat it different. if you name it dont lower the fact just say it plain and correct. ChaosLauncher plugins = cheat/against the rules PERIOD!
Of course no harm is meant by all this. But that's all besides the point. All those WC3 people that claim SC is easy and then go and remap the keys greatly annoy me. It's almost like me playing them in WC3 and turning off auto rally and smart cast for them.
wow your really ignorant. as if the skill in bw relies in the hotkey setup.
On March 27 2009 21:24 Scooge wrote:
What's the difference between this and a hack that allows multiple building selection? It's just a convenience for casual players right?
L2P the game the way it was designed and with its shortcomings and stop trying to get an advantage over people.
you like hard numbers? i can tell you the difference. to make 10 zealots i can do it like this
1b2b3b4b5b6b7b8b9b0b b=build zealot
or i can do it like this
1z2z3z4z5z6z7z8z9z0z
this takes almost the same ammount of time, BUT with multiple buildings you do this:
1z
thats 10 times less as actions as the other 2. dont make fucking shit comparings. its like comparing murder to stealing a chewing gum.
also im not trying to get an advantage over someone when i adjust my hotkeys i just want to have the SAME as my opponent. my opponent can send his medics with a, i want to send my medics with a aswell, is that so much of an advantage i get?
On March 27 2009 21:39 meathook wrote:
This is considered cheating.. mods should lock this, imo. TL does not have guides on how to use oblivion, and this should be no different.
then lock all the chaos launcher threads, advloader threads, apmlive threads, bwchart threads too, ok? they have about the same relation to oblivion like hacks as KeyCraft has.
Show nested quote +On March 27 2009 20:17 WhuazGoodNjaggah wrote:On March 27 2009 20:03 Yaqoob wrote:
This is banned in any competitive tournament so I find its pretty stupid and it gives an unfair advantage online. no it does NOT give you an unfair advantage. you wont suddenly beat bisu because you have superior hotkeys. its unfair the other way arround, because f.e. in the german version you send medics with e instead of a and that fucking sucks to press 1a2a3e my medics often fall behind because of this. Well, it's your own fault for using fucking stupid german version of SC. Everyone plays with the english keys, learn to do so aswell. EDIT:Actually,Blizz should've set the same hotkey for all versions.. but you should not complain, you chose to play that version, you either get used to the hotkeys that are there or switch over to english version. No one is forcing you to use the german version and using keycraft is not an option, imo.
noone is forcing me to use german version? in my country i can only buy either french or german version of starcraft. only because some mind crippled idiot like you tell me i cant play a game how i feel convinient without getting an unfair advantage i should buy another version of starcraft?
oh and plz all the whiners, dont play maps like bluestorm, because they are all made with 3rd party programs and therefor violate the EULA.
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I dont see how this can be considered cheating.
If i want to use other hotkeys its ok for me to buy the german starcraft cd and play with those hotkeys? Or maybe ill buy a russian one... hmm or maybe chinese startcraft fits me better.
Hotkeys aren't the same everywhere.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/823/image7224.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/2267/patchrtmpq.th.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/790/tblpad.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/2267/patchrtmpq.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/8999/addmpq.th.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3065/ggobserver.png)
![[image loading]](http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/8999/addmpq.jpg)
