Avernum 2 keyboard movement

[Drew]

I just downloaded A2 (for Windows) to see what all the fuss was about (it seems many people claim it to be their favorite), and noted with irritation that the arrow keys on my laptop starting from the twelve o'clock position correspond with NW-NE-SE-SW as opposed to N-E-S-W. I can't figure out how to change this, and the "10-key" keypad (when I hold down the "function" key) doesn't seem to work. Any suggestions/help/comiseration available?

 

EDIT: I do know that the mouse works, but I find it a pain to use.

[Kelandon]

Try turning Num Lock on. I have no idea how or if this is even vaguely related, but whenever people have trouble moving, that's what people say.

[Skippy the bush kangaroo]

I have found that playing Avernum on a laptop (well any computer without a numeric keypad) is a pain. At least on my Powerbook putting the fake numpad on locks out all other keys - so you will constantly be switching back and forth (don't know about your technical problem - but it does work on my laptop. There is a special key which lights up when the numpad is locked in, F6 I think). Also, the alignment of the keys is off compared with a numpad so you get more confused.

 

My solutions are, in order of preference:

1) Plug in an external keyboard with a numeric keypad,

2) Use the mouse to control movement - in the vicinity of the party it becomes an arrow and you just move it in a circle around your party to pick directions. You can get quite quick at using this.

3) Just use the arrow keys. They only give you four directions of movement but, except for combat, that's enough to get anywhere you want.

 

Oh, as for up arrow being NW etc. That makes much more sense to me because it aligns with what you see on the screen given the pseudo-3D projection. Press up and your character moves up on the screen (which happens to be NW). The same is true for numpad movement - N is actually 9 rather than 8. Forget about the labels given to the directions - the arrow keys correspond directly to what happens on the screen.