Tips_on_Remapping_the_Keyboard.txt

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RED ALERT KEY COMMAND REMAPPING
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Wild mouse errors are caused by a conflict between the PS/2 style mice and
the use of certain key commands. Avoiding the use of the CRTL and ALT keys
will generally keep the error from happening. As these keys are used quite
often in the game, however, you may want to use the following metheod to
remap the CTRL and ALT commands to a different key.

Below are simple instructions on how to fix the 'wild mouse' problem in the
DOS version of Red Alert. Because key remapping can be used for other
purposes as well, a more detailed set of instructions follows. If you are
not comfortable with changing settings on your computer, we recommend that
you ONLY change what you need to.

WARNING: Because you are editing the INI file for the game, it is HIGHLY
recommended that you make a backup copy of the REDALERT.INI file before
editing any information.



I. FIXING THE WILD MOUSE PROBLEM

If you have a PS/2 mouse, you will want to remap the CTRL and ALT keys to
prevent the wild mouse effect. Since this is a DOS problem, we will look
at the CTRL and ALT commands in the INI file.

	1) Change to your Red Alert directory on your hard drive.
	2) type EDIT REDALERT.INI <enter> - this will bring up the
	   INI file for the game.
	3) Find the section titled DOSHotKeys in brackets, as shown
           below:

	   [DOSHotkeys]
	   KeyForceMove1=60
	   KeyForceMove2=62
	   KeyForceAttack1=58
	   KeyForceAttack2=64

	   These keys represent Left Alt, Right Alt, Left Ctrl, and Right
           Ctrl in that order. 

	4) Change the settings so that you have the following:

	   [DOSHotkeys]
	   KeyForceMove1=49
	   KeyForceMove2=62
	   KeyForceAttack1=48
	   KeyForceAttack2=64

	   This effectively remaps the Left Ctrl key to C, and the left ALT
	   key to V. It also leaves the right CTRL and ALT keys available
	   at the orginal settings.

	5) Save the INI file.
	6) Start the game. Remember that you now use 'C' to make groups and
	   to force attack, and the 'V' key to force move.




II. KEYBOARD REMAPPING IN RED ALERT: ADVANCED USERS


WARNING: Because you are editing the INI file for the game, it is recommended
that you remap the minimum amount of keys that will allow you to play
without errors. Remapping too many keys may effect gameplay. It is HIGHLY
recommended that you make a backup copy of the REDALERT.INI file before
editing any information.

To remap your keys, you will need to use a standard text editor to edit the
REDALERT.INI file, located in your Red Alert game directory on the hard
drive. There are two sections of the INI that concern key commands -
DOSHotKeys and WinHotKeys. Each of these section names appear in brackets.
Under each section title is a list of the various commands in the game,
followed by a key assignment number.

    To remap a key:

        1) Find the command you wish to change.

        2) Look up the key assignment number on the chart below for the key
           you wish to assign the command to.

	3) Change the number in the INI file.

	4) Save the file and start the game.

Thereafter, the command will be assigned to your chosen key, until you
re-edit the INI file.

NOTES:

1) As you can see from the chart, the key assignment numbers are different
   for the DOS and Windows versions of Red Alert. DO NOT use the assignment
   numbers in the wrong version section of the game, as it can cause
   unpredictable results.

2) It is OK to assign more than one key to a single function, but it is NOT
   OK to assign more than one function to a single key.


Key Assignment Number Chart:

KEY		DOS #	WIN95 #
		
NONE		0	0
0		11	48
1		2	49
2		3	50
3		4	51
4		5	52
5		6	53
6		7	54
7		8	55
8		9	56
9		10	57
A		31	65
B		50	66
C		48	67
D		33	68
E		19	69
F		34	70
G		35	71
H		36	72
I		24	73
J		37	74
K		38	75
L		39	76
M		52	77
N		51	78
O		25	79
P		26	80
Q		17	81
R		20	82
S		32	83
T		21	84
U		23	85
V		49	86
W		18	87
X		47	88
Y		22	89
Z		46	90
-		12	--
'		41	--
/		55	--
\		29	--
,		53	--
.		54	--
;		40	--
[		27	--
]		28	--
~		1	--
=		13	--
BACKSPACE	15	8
CAP LOCK	30	20
DELETE		76	46
END		81	35
ENTER		43	--
ESC		110	27
F1		112	112
F2		113	113
F3		114	114
F4		115	115
F5		116	116
F6		117	117
F7		118	118
F8		119	119
F9		120	120
F10		121	121
F11		122	122
F12		123	123
HOME		80	36
INSERT		75	45
L ALT		60	18
L CTRL		58	17
L SHIFT		44	16
PAGE DOWN	86	--
PAGE UP		85	--
PAUSE		126	19
PRINT SCREEN	124	44
R ALT		62	18
R CTRL		64	17
R SHIFT		57	16
SCROLL LOCK	125	145
SPACE		61	32
TAB		16	--
UP ARROW	83	38
LEFT ARROW	79	37
RIGHT ARROW	89	39
DOWN ARROW	84	40
		
NUMERIC KEYPAD		
		
NUM LOCK	90	144
0		99	96
1		93	97
2		98	98
3		103	99
4		92	100
5		97	101
6		102	102
7		97	103
8		96	104
9		101	105
.		104	110
 /		95	111
*		100	106
-		105	109
+		106	107
ENTER		108	108




EXAMPLE:

Many people have requested that we allow the arrow keys to scroll the map
rather than the scrollbar. This is possible using this feature. This example
is specific to the Win95 version of the game. The key assignment numbers 
are different for the DOS version, but the procedure is the same.

In the Windows settings we have this:

[WinHotkeys]
KeySidebarUp=38
KeySidebarDown=40
KeyScrollLeft=0
KeyScrollRight=0
KeyScrollUp=0
KeyScrollDown=0

Notice that the scroll map functions are set to zero (no key). To allow the
map to scroll with the keys, we have to assign the keys like so:

[WinHotkeys]
KeySidebarUp=0
KeySidebarDown=0
KeyScrollLeft=37
KeyScrollRight=39
KeyScrollUp=38
KeyScrollDown=40

Note that the Sidebar functions must be set to zero, otherwise you have two
things happening with one key.


FINAL WORD:

While all of the game key commands can be remapped, we strongly recommend
that you only change the ones you really need. Westwood Support will NOT
give support to those that remap keys uneccessarily. If you find that the
game does not work correctly with your new settings, use the backup copy of
the REDALERT.INI file to restore the original settings.

-Pat @ Westwood (12/23/96)