Displaced Grid is a hotkey layout designed for ergonomics and speed.
Warcraft 3 is one of the GODFATHERS of not only the RTS genre but competitive gaming in general.
It comes as no surprise that it's one of the most hotkey-intensive games.
At 200 Actions-Per-Minute and an average game length floating at around 15 minutes...
We are looking at 3000+ actions PER GAME!
Now, think of how many games an active player might have in one day? In a week? Over the years?..
Why use a hotkey layout designed for ergonomics...of 2001?
Windows Millennium, released during Warcraft 3 development in 2000
The goal was to reduce the gap between what we WANT to do in-game...
and what we can physically do in-game :)
the gap between the 'intent' and the 'execution'
Truth is: the worse the interface - the bigger the gap between our intention and our execution.
And the 'slower' player suffers the most from this gap.
So instead of fighting the game, Displaced Grid is designed to fight the opponent.
A better interface enables us to better execute on our decisions.
Which means our play is more efficient and faster.
And without hand fatigue at all!
The package comes with 8 extra modules.
'QuickCast Abilities' is not a module. It actually a thing in Reforged.
All modules are extras. Optional to use.
Modules follow the same logic of 'bridging the gap' explained earlier.
But...
Please understand: using modules in a 'real' game is technically cheating, because it's such a massive improvement.
RTS games gathered a massive following because of their inherent multilayered complexity.
They're fun.
And not only they are difficult cognitively and mentally, but also physically - it is hard to control everything well.
Some players don't see the dexterity check as a part of the experience.
And some... don't "enjoy sweating out 200 APM".
The intelligence that attracts players to strategy games also makes us very aware of our errors.
Which is a big source of stress.
The gap between our intent and our execution might be too painful to tolerate.
the gap between intent and execution
Whether it's a good thing or a bad thing is up for debate, because with no physical component, we end up with memorization and libraries of flowcharts, as seen in chess and card games.
Think about it: when we reduce the gap between the intent and the execution, we bring forward tactical knowledge and strategic decisions.
And vice versa.
this is approximate
RTS games have a relatively inactive player base compared to their audience.
People do enjoy a good game, but because they don't like their own play or find the experience too difficult or too stressful, they prefer to watch only.
Which means, to create an RTS with an active PLAYER base, we need - among other things - to design around accessibility.
And therefore, we need to design a great interface first.
Displaced Grid is my attempt to do exactly that.
p.s. the code might not look pretty for some of you senior level software engineers: I made it all from scratch over 6 months of learning autohotkey. I am aware that it may not meet enterprise-level standards. All code is available on GitHub. I'm available on Discord.
Download Autohotkey v1.1 (not v2!): https://www.autohotkey.com/
Download Displaced GRID from Github: Click to Download now
Run "(RUN THIS FILE) Displaced GRID.ahk" with Autohotkey v1.1
"Displaced GRID" will appear in your Tray menu
(Displaced Grid is On)
Right click on this icon to get access to Tray Menu:
(Default tray menu)
The layout will work out of the box.
The tray icon indicates whether it is On or Off
Displaced Grid is Off
Displaced Grid is On
The layout is active ONLY when the Warcraft III window is active.
When Warcraft III is not active (i.e., when you're tabbed out), your regular hotkeys will be in effect.
Please note that when the layout is active, you cannot type in chats because your keys are heavily remapped.
You can toggle the layout On or Off using a hotkey.
The default key is ScrollLock.
You can change the hotkey in 'UserSettings.ahk' (open it with Notepad).
"DisplacedGrid_Overlay.png" is displayed on top of the Warcraft III window.
(not full screen!)
you'll see this overlay when Displaced Grid hotkeys are in effect
It's aligned for the 1920x1080 16:9 resolution.
If you DON'T play in 16:9 - the overlay will be off grid.and you'll need to adjust the overlay to your resolution.
Message me directly if you need help.
This is how I do it:
By default, on your first launch - all modules are disabled.
Disabled modules are grayed out in the tray menu.
app tray menu
You can enable (or disable) a module in 'UserSettings.ahk' (open in Notepad).
Set "True" to enable a module.
Set "False" to disable a module.
Right-click in your tray to see the menu.
app tray menu
Some modules require very very precise pixel coordinates to work. Otherwise they will not work.
For example, we can visually see that an item is on cooldown by its blue countdown overlay.
But we need to know where to check for it on the screen.
That's why the app needs to know where YOUR item slots are located on YOUR user interface.
If you DO play in 1920x1080 - everything should work without any modifications.
If you DON'T play in 1920x1080 - you will need to adjust a few things in a very unintuitive way.
Goal: find the X,Y coordinates of this one (one!) exact pixel of every item while it is on cooldown.
(this EXACT pixel: blue overlay on top of the white item border.)
This might sound very difficult, but imagine coming up with this shit.
Here is the walkthrough of how to do it.
Please watch this short video, I will explain this in a second.
(this EXACT pixel: blue overlay on top of the white item border.)
Now QuickCast Items and QuickDrop Items modules will work correctly on your resolution.
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'Cast on Yourself' module clicks the portrait so it needs to know where the portrait is on your screen.
Adjust the X,Y coordinates in 'UserSettings.ahk' for the Portrait UI element as well, so that you can use 'Cast on Yourself' module.
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For the Command Multiple Groups module see this:
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For the 'Instant Camera' module see this:
