The game requires a joystick and one that has a hat feature on it, mouse support for the game is very poor IIRC.

Their are keyboard controls for the game http://www.i-war2.com/oldmainpage/EdgeOFChaosDemoGuide/Playguide_A_Controls_keyboard.htm

Huh, I banged at the numpad but got nothing, maybe I have to have numlock on.

Don't know, are you playing it on a laptop?.

Seem to recall that someone used a hack for mouse control, have you tried looking through the GOG forum for I-war. http://www.gog.com/forum/independence_war_series#1457238750

Uh I see, I turned it off because I was trying to get the mouse to work, but needed to switch back to pure keyboard, my bad.

I wouldn't recommend playing this game without a joystick. It's not that it's terrible without one, it's that feels better than drugs when playing it with one.

Yeah the keyboards abit of a nightmare, control speed with WASD, steer with the NUMPAD and navigate the menus with the arrow keys.

Hey, there. Just wanted to let you know, I just started work on a new keybinder for EOC that will make it easy(er) to customize the controls.

Feel free to check I-war2.com for more details.

Yep, Keybinder EOC is the thing, becaue the game is not designed to be played with a mouse.

In my personal folder, I have made notes and a file called "speed_thruster_easy.ini". It does the following, I paste my notes here:

Key binder program

EOC_Keybinder is a comfortable way to change keys in IWar2. Just create a folder "Keybinding" in the game folder and unzip the setup files there.

Recommended key changes:

The game is NOT meant to be played with a mouse, most unfortunately. Yes, one could assign the mouse axis for ship movements (Pitch and Yaw), but this assignement would not produce a fluid extensive movement of the ship and it would also clash with the Star Map.

So you must play or with a joystick (recommended) or with keyboard alone.

Re-assigning keys:

Depending if you want to play with the keyboard alone or with the joystick, go in the "configs" folder of the game and copy one of the ini files in your created "Keybinding" folder. default.ini is for the joystick, the other one for keyboard alone. In the keybinding folder, give the ini file another name, e.g. my_controls.ini, open it and in the "Properties / name=" line change the name to something like "my new controls". Then edit it with the keybinder program.

I have included "speed_thruster_easy.ini" which does the following:

changed the speed and thruster keys for more easy ship control. You then change the speed with your left hand and guide the ship with your right hand using the numpad keys.

Removed the assignements for the + and - keys , and assign them to w and s: chose w for "binding 1" and s with "reverse" for "binding 2".

Chose Left_Shift for Afterburner and chose Left_CTRL as "reverse"

Re-assigned the former Left_CTRL (it does "Pilot Freehold", but I don't know what it is) as RIGHT_CTRL.

If you want to play with a joystick, then take the "default.ini" in the configs folder as a template and do these changes for the speed / thruster.

The new keyboard controls are now:

w = ...............increase speed of ship

s = ...............decrease speed of ship

Left_Shift = ......Afterburner

Left_CTRL = .......Reverse Thruster

Num8 =.............move up

Num2 =.............move down

Num4 =.............move left

Num6 =.............move right

Num1 =.............roll in one direction

Num3 =.............roll in the other direction

RIGHT_CTRL =.......Pilot Freehold (?)

not changed:

a =................lateral thruster

d =................lateral thruster, other direction

I will make a ZIP and upload shortly (if these files are not yet there already).

I hope this will help you,

Greets,

XenonS

Ok, I have uploaded the keybinder and a MOD collection. The files are:

IWar2_EOC_Keybinder.ZIP

IWar2_MOD_Collection.ZIP

Enjoy,

XenonS

The problem I have with the keybinders that already exist is that you need to know the names of all of the keys. I'm a hardcoding kind of guy, and actually prefer editing the .ini by hand to these keybinders. 😛 My keybinder will detect which keys are being pressed (and eventually which joystick/gamepad buttons are being pressed) to create the .ini file. When I created my last post, the thread regarding my keybinder was the most recently posted in and easily found. Here is the link to the thread:  https://www.i-war2.com/forum/developer-s-corner/3227-dynamic-keybinder

By the way, there is a newer keybinder that someone else released, and the I-War2 admin managed to track it down. It is in the I-war2.com downloads section as "EOC Keybinder (2014)".

There is also a config for mouse control on I-War2.com. I don;'t know how good it is, since I haven't tried it myself.

Feel free to upload your config to I-War2.com, it may be of more use there. Personally, I would have kept w and s as the thrusters, since they allow you to go faster than the speed limit or throttle controls allow.

I never noticed the "freehold" thing, and don't know what it does either. It sounds like it turns flightAssist off only while you hold the button. I will try that next time I play.

Also, check out the latest mod that has been released! It is the Enhancement of Intelligence for Non-player Ships. It turns out that the game has a built in function limiting the abilities of NPCs. The mod sets all NPCs to 100%.

Hi ChessKing,

I have been playing IWar2 a long time ago, so my uploads are possibly out of date. I just have looked in my folders as a response for OP to get him an idea of a solution.

You say that they have changed the NPCs to 100%? Well, then I must say: Oh my God, because I never succeeded to shot down a single one, I found this game the hardest space game I ever played reguarding combat :=)

Greets,

XenonS

Yes, it is a pretty tough game at first. It has a steep learning curve, although it seems to level off at the end, when you have a ship that can take a lot of damage. People who haven't played much should probably use a joystick, as the keyboard can take some getting used to. Then , you need to use thrusters to keep dodging enemy fire while shooting. In addition, the default joystick config does not have easily accessible roll controls, and neither configs have up and down lateral thrusters. Changing this will help. Practice makes perfect.

I haven't tried the new mod yet, since the last time I booted up the game was for someone else to play. (I don't have a working CD drive on my laptop anymore, or I would play all the time.)

I don't know exactly how much you have played, so forgive me if these suggestions are irrelevant.

This is actually the first space game I have ever played. Games with a Freespace style are very hard for me to manage. 😛

My very first memories of this game was my Dad trying to play, and he had a very hard time. I got an impression of it being very complex and "techie", but now that I have played it and won, everything has changed. I wonder if it is possible for a game to maintain that complex impression. To illustrate the change: back then, the Tug was not a slow moving weak armored vessel, it was a formidable warship. You were lucky to take down three vessels in a single run of Instant Action. But isn't that how it is in real life? Perhaps this mod will help.

My favorite ship in the game is the Storm Petrel. This is because, despite its small size, weak hull, and few weapons, its speed allows a good pilot to survive for a long time and take down even the toughest ships.