Playing on PCs and Keyboard Control Configurations

[Otaku]

Technically, this topic would apply to anything using a QWERTY keyboard (with optional mouse) for input, but "PC" kept it short and gave me the power of alliteration!

Long story short; PC gaming is my only option right now, with zero money for peripherals (for games as well, so its mostly stuff that is legitimately "free").  So I am learning to play using the keyboard, and I finally found a configuration that seems pretty obvious and works well...

...except I had to "come up with it".  I am sure some game has used it before, but it is hardly standard.  I use the arrow keys as the basic four directional keys, then the "0" key on my number pad section (obviously not an option for many computers, but still a pretty common thing) and the period button.  Using a fan game example, this means that "0" was Fire and "." was jump.  It worked far better than the default for me.  Prev Weapon was 1, Next Weapon was 2.  The "Enter" key on the number pad was "slide".  Doing this really made playing on the PC easier for me, because it stopped fighting my memory (both muscle and in my head) for general gaming.

So... anyone else have some preferred tweaks?

[Aaron]

Myself, I use a controller that plugs into the computer. Right now I have an XBox 360 controller for that purpose. I used to have a cheaper controller, but it broke down on me (so I picked up the more expensive controller, hoping its more durable). I simply can't get used to operating game controls on a keyboard. It's so awkward and unintuitive for me. I've tried, but I keep fumbling about. Pretty much the only sort of games I can play on a keyboard are RPGs, since precisions doesn't matter quite as much.

With a game controller, you'll have to download xpadder or something (using joytokey at the moment) to map the keyboard to controller, since some games and emulators don't have native gamepad support. Makes a world of difference.

[Otaku]

Perhaps I should modify the thread title... while useful information in general, Aaron, it doesn't do me much good because unless you're buying me a controller, I'm not getting one anytime soon. I originally was going to include a few lines explaining that I don't have a choice in the matter due to financial situations; it is "keyboard or nothing". Hopefully you can understand why I don't enjoy shouting that fact from the rooftops.^^'

There... added "keyboard" to the title to make it more clear.  Of course if it turns out no one cares about the subject and it naturally shifts to discussing which controller pad to use on your computer and what programs to use with it... so be it.  Again though, such a discussion does me no good.