Dvorak support has been detrimental

[LB]

tl:dr

Window’s keyboard input method (win+space) when swapping between dvorak and qwerty auto-swap keybinds – making name based key-assignments extremely confusing on dvorak ( I =/= inventory, instead C is). Did not used to be this way and doesn’t align with key design present in other roguelikes (like Cataclysm DDA and Dwarf Fortress) (this has heavily discouraged my further play).

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I have been using dvorak for 6 years, and learned CoQ on dvorak. Around a year ago all of the keybinds I had been accustomed to drastically changed – instead of matching key face to key face as previously in CoQ, now keybinds match key position to key position. This unifies ‘key placement’ for those swapping from qwerty to dvorak while having already placed CoQ – this is practically a non-factor due to low count and its detrimental effects. The negatives are that this change entirely removed the ability to think of the necessary action, then presume a key (again, I = inventory in most roguelikes, along with all other name-based key assignments) along with it invalidating previous muscle-memory.

This issue can be addressed by changing keybindings, but unfortunately correcting keybinds (something I am overly familiar with as a dvorak user) is extremely frustrating on classic roguelikes due to their numerous binds. The re-binding issue is further exacerbated by the non-existence of conflicting keys, no keybind specific reset to defaults, and the lack of keybind ‘profiles.’

Currently, to re-bind my keys back to the previous keys (aligning with the ‘defaults’ in qwerty), I need to do many steps. First: Copy and save in a separate folder the Keymap.json in AppData/LocalLow/Freehold_Games/CavesOfQud. Second: screenshot all of the keybinds (in qwerty) in the list. Third: re-bind all changed keys by comparing them to the screenshots. And fourth: Save the new keymap.json. Taking 30-60 mins to return the game back to playable.