Keyboard layout to shift wasd keys

Question

I like to play video games on my computer. One of the things that bugs me, though, is how the wasd keys became the standard movement keys in first person shooters and mmorpgs. To me, esdf makes a lot more sense, because that matches your normal hand placement for typing. "Fixing" that layout is always the first thing I do when installing a new game. Sadly, this is often a pain in the neck, and some games won't let you do it at all.

Is there an alternative keyboard layout you can install that will just switch these around, so the wasd keys fall in the esdf positions? And is low-level enough two work with DirectX/DirectInput, perhaps that works with the language bar for easy swapping back and forth?

Answer 1

How about creating an AutoHotkey script? http://www.autohotkey.com

If a game does not allow you to remap, or you don't want to mess with remapping keys for every game, you can probably write a simple AHK script to remap keys, and run it before running a game. AHK also allows you to create powerful keyboard macros as well.

Tutorial: http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/misc/Remap.htm

Or maybe a key-remapper application will suffice? http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/KeyTweak.shtml (I tried looking at the original page for KeyTweak, but got a 404.)

Answer 2

Assuming you are running Windows, Microsoft provides a solution that allows you to create your own custom keyboard layout which can subsequently be accessed via the language bar.