EQMac.com

Ever cursed cause the keys aren't there where are suposed to be?
Happen me a lot, ok after a while you get used to it, that is till you switch to any other program, then the same nightmare starts over again.

I found a way to get non US Keyboards working corectly with EQMac.
If you you use a US Keyboard then skip reading, this guide wont help you in any way.


It all come down to a simple file in the Game folder, called: keyboard.txt
This litle bugger is a static ASCII Keymap the game use to assign the characters you press. Unfortunatly is suits only for QWERTY Keyboards, not for QWERTZ, Dvorak or AZERTY just to name a few.

How to solve:
Grab a textedit, BEdit light or textedit will do and edit the file, replacing the wrong characters with the corect ones. Dont delete any of the invisible characters you come across, or use a Hexeditor wich shows the non ASCII codes. The Chars you need to replace are underlined, the NonASCII chars are displayed as a dot.

1234567890-=•qwertyuiop[]•asdfghjkl;'`•\zxcvbnm,./* •pqrstuvwxy••789-456+1230.•••z{••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••=•••@:_••••••••
••••••••••••••••••••••,/$&!•%•'•#("-.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••!@#$%^&*()_+•QWERTYUIOP{}•ASDFGHJKL:"~•|ZXCVBNM<>?*• •pqrstuvwxy••789-456+1230.•••z{••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••=•••@:_••••••••
••••••••••••••••••••••,•/•••••••••••••••••$&!•%•'•#("-.••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

As you note, we have 8 rows of characters. First block is starting with the Numeric row and the following 3 rows of letters on your keyboard. the seccond block represent the shifted keys.

Here a litle exercise to see what I mean and how it work.
Dupicate the keyboard.txt to keep a clean copy safe. Load the file in a Texteditor or Hexeditor. Replace the first Character, wich is the Number 1 with any Character you like, lets say the Letter T.
So the first like would start now like: T234567890-=
Save the file and launch the game. In the game, when you press the Number 1 on the Keyboard (not on the Keypad) the Letter T should apear instead. Well thats not usefull unless you have actually a Keyboard wich have indeed the Letter T at that place. But it show you how this fix work. Its a litle work. 5-10 minutes then you have a working Keymap for your keyboard.

In case you use a german Keyboard I can you supply with a aproviate Keymap, wich I use myself. I also tried a AZERTY keymap for our french Macfriends, but I cant guarantee that it will work, I not have a french Keyboard to try. As for all other countries please follow the guide, it isnt that hard and well worth the efford. Or get me a photo or Layout of your Keyboard you use, then I can do the changes for you.

EDIT: Downloadlinks removed since I dont host those files anymore.

Enjoy

Great post, thank you!

I've yet to meet a fellow Finn on Al'Kabor, but just in case... here's a Finnish keymap.

_________________
Retired Temerity meat shield.

Thanks, now I have a working Dvorak keyboard file.
I used a keyboard file for the PC version. The launch pad would update it every time I started. I used to open in in Textedit, let EQ update it, and save the file from Textedit. It seems that the updater checks only the size of the file.

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Tegian, wood elf druid
Frozen Poets of Velious

Oh. My. God. This sounds great! Could it be that after a year of chatting with people hitting my keyboard telling myself stuff like: "Ok, question mark is the hyphen key, and the apostrophe is the plus sign" my troubles are coming to an end? I symphatize wholeheartedly with you about the cursing issue.
Laraine, or some other gentle soul, would it be too much to ask for an Italian keymap? Please, pretty please? I use the Italian Pro keyboard. You can see its layout here:

Italian Pro keyboard

You will have my lifelong gratitude, and I could give you the correct recipe for making Tiramisu, or even Pasta al Pesto.

There you go.
Accourding to your Layout it should be corect. Your keymap is very identical to the german one, had just to move some char's.
Check all keys and let me know if any is not where it belong.

When I made my german Keymap I used chars like ä, ü and ö.
I learned then that the game can only display the 7Bit ASCII, so those char's wont show up.
I used for them similar looking characters as substitude then.
eg. a = ä, o = ö, u = ü and so on.
That will keep the text strangelooking when those char's are used but it will be still readabel.
(Since we use english anyway its not so important but I thought I mention it at least once)

Enough words
Italian keymap

Enjoy

Thank you, Laraine. It works beautifully.

Sorry for bumping an old thread, but do anyone still have the german keymap? I lost mine and the launcher always replace my own one if i do changes, even if i just replace single chars like z <-> y etc.

Thanks,
Blaze

Edit: nvm, got it. Thanks!

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I have a message to deliver to the cute people of the world...if you're cute, or maybe you're beautiful...there's MORE OF US UGLY MOTHERFUCKERS OUT THERE THAN YOU ARE!!
(Frank Zappa)

Thank you very much,
Thats what i was looking for!

Rhedien
Cleric of Destiny

I am surprised to see this post and the MAC version of EQ somewhat alive.
Anyhow I am happy that this is of use to you. You are welcome.

GL in game.

I just saw new comments in this thread - one I had not read before - so read it.

Laraine, what a fabulous service you performed here. I don't have the keyboard problem since I'm US English with a QWERTY keyboard, but I've run into people who have bought used Macs that did, as well as friends around the world.

Excellant info!

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Miztig - 65 Mage - Proud member of Pathfinders of Al`Kabor!

~http://eqpathfinders.com/ ~
http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?G ... abID=77836

Does anyone have the german keyboard.txt?

_________________
Devian - Iksar Monk

I do, will post it later when back from work, unless someone else get it here faster.

_________________
I have a message to deliver to the cute people of the world...if you're cute, or maybe you're beautiful...there's MORE OF US UGLY MOTHERFUCKERS OUT THERE THAN YOU ARE!!
(Frank Zappa)