Posted July 21, 2015
high rated
Hello all Inquisitor fans,
I found a way to make combat (the weakest part of the game according to many reviews) much more tactical (say less Diablo-ish and more Baldur`s Gate-ish). Because I`m playing on touchpad and I`m generally a slowpoke type gamer, I actually wouldn`t be able to play the game without it. I hope my method will help some of You to enjoy Inquisitor more, because it is really good game in it`s setting and atmosphere and it would be shame to put it aside only because inability to manage clunky realtime combat. This is especially valid for Priest characters, who have to click a lot more during combat than other classes.
Disclaimer: I`m using Czech version of the game, Czech Windows XP and Czech keyboard layout, so I can`t guarantee it will run on English version and other keyboard layouts and OSes. But I tried switching keyboard to En layout and it`s working smoothly, so I hope it will run everywhere.
So, what is it all about?
Maybe some of You already know that Inquisitor contains semi-hidden and, according to developers themselves, unintentional function to pause the game at any moment and even issue orders during that pause. Because it is "unintentional" (well, I suspect rather it was planned at first and discarded later during development, which is really a shame if that is the case), it`s somewhat crude (no command queue, no graphical confirmation of orders - but hey, the game can be judged as "somewhat crude" in many of it`s aspects, so it is actually good fit in there), but functional (You can even chug potions and issue commands to Your party during the pause!). The problem is, it`s hardcoded to Pause/Break key, which is highly impractical (some laptops even don`t have that key at all!), and while all other (also hardcoded) hotkeys can be easily changed with remapping utilities or direct registry editing, this function can not. Remapping of Pause/Break key is hard and tricky in general, but this game is so incredibly stubborn in keeping that function on that damn key it`s simply unbelievable. It resist even methods that works everywhere else. Or, to say it better, it resisted until yesterday.
Yup, I finally figured out how to do it and successfully remapped it. It wasn`t some brilliant thinking, investigation and professional code hacking. In fact, I was simply even more stubborn than this bloody game, because I really desperately want to play it and without easy combat pausing it would be impossible for me. So I spent almost whole day trying all methods and utilities I found with Google, countless trials and errors. And after many hours it finally paid off and I was rewarded with one command, miracle line in the script.
So how to do it? You need AutoHotkey utility for it. For people who are familiar with this program, I will simply post the miracle command first, so You can stop reading right here, go to implement it into Your scripts and enjoy tactical combat in Inquisitor. So, the magic numbers are:
SendInput {vk13sc1D45}
And for people who aren`t familiar with Autohotkey, I will post step-by-step guide to remap pause function to the Space bar key, which is used in many other games in the genre.
1. Download the AutoHotkey utility from http://www.autohotkey.com and install it. During the instalation process, installer will inform You to which folder it will install the program (it is something like C:\Program Files\AutoHotkey or similar). You can change it or leave it that way, in any case write it down somewhere or remember it, You will need that information later.
2. After the installation and before You first run the utility, create new blank text file in Notepad and copypaste the following line into it:
Space::SendInput {vk13sc1D45}
3. Select File-Save as, navigate to folder You jotted before in point 1, name the file as AutoHotkey.ahk and save it.
4. Now run the AutoHotkey utility from Start menu. If You did everything right so far, two things should happen: You should now see new icon in systray (small area in right down corner of the screen, where the clock and several small icons reside) - white "H" in green background should be here now. And second, the Space bar key should cease to function - don`t worry, it`s temporary! It is now simply acting as Pause/Break key instead, which is exactly what we want. In fact, if it`s still making spaces during writing (You can test that in Notepad, Command Prompt or any other input text field), there is something wrong and it will not function.
5. Fire up Inquisitor, load some save and try to pause game with Space key - if it works, congratulations and enjoy the brilliant game even more than before!
6. And finally, after You finish Your visit in fantastically written world of middle-age inquisition, there is strong assumption You will want Your Space bar key back:-). So right-click on that white H in green background icon and from drop-down menu (well, drop-up menu in this case:-)), choose Exit. Icon should disappear and Your Space bar key should return to normal.
And that`s it folks. Well, actually, one more thing. Even if You are seasoned veterans of Infinity engine games, there is chance You will find that Space is not the best option here. Problem is that while You are in game, You are losing Space key function everywhere, which interferes with naming the saves. Either You will not use spaces in save game names...or You can remap pause function to any other key on Your keyboard! Just open Your AutoHotkey.ahk with Notepad again and change that "Space" word before "::" with something else. Comprehensive list of possible keys is here http://ahkscript.org/docs/KeyList.htm and You can choose any key You want, just be aware of fact it is CaSe SeNsItIvE - so, if You write for example P instead of that "Space" into the script, You will actually have to press Shift+p to pause, which is impractical.
And that`s really all. I hope it will help people like me, who hate clickfests (or even can not play them at all), but have urgent need for burning up some heretics!
Edit: typos correction
I found a way to make combat (the weakest part of the game according to many reviews) much more tactical (say less Diablo-ish and more Baldur`s Gate-ish). Because I`m playing on touchpad and I`m generally a slowpoke type gamer, I actually wouldn`t be able to play the game without it. I hope my method will help some of You to enjoy Inquisitor more, because it is really good game in it`s setting and atmosphere and it would be shame to put it aside only because inability to manage clunky realtime combat. This is especially valid for Priest characters, who have to click a lot more during combat than other classes.
Disclaimer: I`m using Czech version of the game, Czech Windows XP and Czech keyboard layout, so I can`t guarantee it will run on English version and other keyboard layouts and OSes. But I tried switching keyboard to En layout and it`s working smoothly, so I hope it will run everywhere.
So, what is it all about?
Maybe some of You already know that Inquisitor contains semi-hidden and, according to developers themselves, unintentional function to pause the game at any moment and even issue orders during that pause. Because it is "unintentional" (well, I suspect rather it was planned at first and discarded later during development, which is really a shame if that is the case), it`s somewhat crude (no command queue, no graphical confirmation of orders - but hey, the game can be judged as "somewhat crude" in many of it`s aspects, so it is actually good fit in there), but functional (You can even chug potions and issue commands to Your party during the pause!). The problem is, it`s hardcoded to Pause/Break key, which is highly impractical (some laptops even don`t have that key at all!), and while all other (also hardcoded) hotkeys can be easily changed with remapping utilities or direct registry editing, this function can not. Remapping of Pause/Break key is hard and tricky in general, but this game is so incredibly stubborn in keeping that function on that damn key it`s simply unbelievable. It resist even methods that works everywhere else. Or, to say it better, it resisted until yesterday.
Yup, I finally figured out how to do it and successfully remapped it. It wasn`t some brilliant thinking, investigation and professional code hacking. In fact, I was simply even more stubborn than this bloody game, because I really desperately want to play it and without easy combat pausing it would be impossible for me. So I spent almost whole day trying all methods and utilities I found with Google, countless trials and errors. And after many hours it finally paid off and I was rewarded with one command, miracle line in the script.
So how to do it? You need AutoHotkey utility for it. For people who are familiar with this program, I will simply post the miracle command first, so You can stop reading right here, go to implement it into Your scripts and enjoy tactical combat in Inquisitor. So, the magic numbers are:
SendInput {vk13sc1D45}
And for people who aren`t familiar with Autohotkey, I will post step-by-step guide to remap pause function to the Space bar key, which is used in many other games in the genre.
1. Download the AutoHotkey utility from http://www.autohotkey.com and install it. During the instalation process, installer will inform You to which folder it will install the program (it is something like C:\Program Files\AutoHotkey or similar). You can change it or leave it that way, in any case write it down somewhere or remember it, You will need that information later.
2. After the installation and before You first run the utility, create new blank text file in Notepad and copypaste the following line into it:
Space::SendInput {vk13sc1D45}
3. Select File-Save as, navigate to folder You jotted before in point 1, name the file as AutoHotkey.ahk and save it.
4. Now run the AutoHotkey utility from Start menu. If You did everything right so far, two things should happen: You should now see new icon in systray (small area in right down corner of the screen, where the clock and several small icons reside) - white "H" in green background should be here now. And second, the Space bar key should cease to function - don`t worry, it`s temporary! It is now simply acting as Pause/Break key instead, which is exactly what we want. In fact, if it`s still making spaces during writing (You can test that in Notepad, Command Prompt or any other input text field), there is something wrong and it will not function.
5. Fire up Inquisitor, load some save and try to pause game with Space key - if it works, congratulations and enjoy the brilliant game even more than before!
6. And finally, after You finish Your visit in fantastically written world of middle-age inquisition, there is strong assumption You will want Your Space bar key back:-). So right-click on that white H in green background icon and from drop-down menu (well, drop-up menu in this case:-)), choose Exit. Icon should disappear and Your Space bar key should return to normal.
And that`s it folks. Well, actually, one more thing. Even if You are seasoned veterans of Infinity engine games, there is chance You will find that Space is not the best option here. Problem is that while You are in game, You are losing Space key function everywhere, which interferes with naming the saves. Either You will not use spaces in save game names...or You can remap pause function to any other key on Your keyboard! Just open Your AutoHotkey.ahk with Notepad again and change that "Space" word before "::" with something else. Comprehensive list of possible keys is here http://ahkscript.org/docs/KeyList.htm and You can choose any key You want, just be aware of fact it is CaSe SeNsItIvE - so, if You write for example P instead of that "Space" into the script, You will actually have to press Shift+p to pause, which is impractical.
And that`s really all. I hope it will help people like me, who hate clickfests (or even can not play them at all), but have urgent need for burning up some heretics!
Edit: typos correction
Post edited July 21, 2015 by pavel.fi
