Vice and keyboard mapping

[Chicken Head]

So I've had this Ultima V itch I really need scratched. Back in the day in
1988 I played it on my trusty Commodore 64.

I can do it in Vice, but the default keyboard mapping is awful. Instead I've
been using AppleWin since at least the arrow keys do what they are supposed to
do.

How can you easily change the default keyboard mapping in Vice? "Symbolic"
just doesn't cut the mustard.

The AHK Gang! Live on Riot.im. When we feel like it.

[Pinku Basudei]

On Tue, 14 Jan 2020 15:41:54 +1300

Post by Chicken Head
How can you easily change the default keyboard mapping in Vice? "Symbolic"
just doesn't cut the mustard.

Try positional mapping, there's a couple to choose from depending on your keyboard. Positional is not ideal either but it's much better than symbolic in my opinion.

[Harry Potter]

Post by Pinku Basudei
Try positional mapping, there's a couple to choose from depending on your keyboard. Positional is not ideal either but it's much better than symbolic in my opinion.

I agree, but there are times when symbolic mapping is preferable, such as that some keys are unavailable in positional mapping. :)

[Pinku Basudei]

On Sat, 18 Jan 2020 12:01:27 -0800 (PST)

Post by Harry Potter

Post by Pinku Basudei
Try positional mapping, there's a couple to choose from depending on your keyboard. Positional is not ideal either but it's much better than symbolic in my opinion.

I agree, but there are times when symbolic mapping is preferable, such as that some keys are unavailable in positional mapping. :)

I'd say I get that more with symbolic, C=, left arrow and so on, but I'm on a euro keyboard so that might have something to do with it. Or perhaps it's that I know where they're supposed to be on a real C64? :)

[Tom Lake]

Post by Pinku Basudei
On Tue, 14 Jan 2020 15:41:54 +1300

Post by Chicken Head
How can you easily change the default keyboard mapping in Vice? "Symbolic"
just doesn't cut the mustard.

Try positional mapping, there's a couple to choose from depending on your keyboard. Positional is not ideal either but it's much better than symbolic in my opinion.
--
/ Pinku

Unless I have stickers that go on the keys, I like symbolic since I can never remember what keys do what functions with positional.

Tom L

[Tristan Miller]

Greetings.

Post by Chicken Head
So I've had this Ultima V itch I really need scratched. Back in the day in
1988 I played it on my trusty Commodore 64.
I can do it in Vice, but the default keyboard mapping is awful. Instead I've
been using AppleWin since at least the arrow keys do what they are supposed to
do.
How can you easily change the default keyboard mapping in Vice? "Symbolic"
just doesn't cut the mustard.

In VICE 3.3 (Gtk3), go to Settings->Settings...->Input devices->Keyboard
settings. In that dialog you will be able to specify a custom keymap
file. Default symbolic and positional keymap files are distributed as
part of VICE -- they're named gtk3_sym.vkm and gtk3_pos.vkm,
respectively. You can use these as a starting point to create your own
keymaps. The files themselves contain comments explaining the format
pretty thoroughly. Unfortunately, the format isn't particularly "easy"
though it is comprehensible with a little effort. Just look at some
example keycodes and cross-reference them with the keyboard matrix
diagrams included in the file.

If all you want to do is to remap your arrow keys to the default
movement keys in the C64/C128 version of Ultima V (if memory serves,
these are @ for up, / for down, : for left, and ; for right), then I
believe all you need to do is to find the lines in the keymap file
beginning "Up", "Down", "Left", and "Right", erase the three numbers
that follow those words, and replace them with the same three numbers
that follow the lines beginning "at", "slash", "colon", and "semicolon".

Regards,
Tristan