Overview
The purpose of this guide is to explain in detail each control of the game, as well as suggesting an alternative configuration.The new control scheme suggested might be useful to new players who are not yet used to the default configuration, or to players already familiar with the default controls who want to see if they can feel more comfortable with the new scheme.While checking out the new controls, you might ask yourself “why the hell should I remap this control to THAT key??”. While an individual key for a specific action might initially seem oddly remapped, I assure that the overall new control scheme makes sense as a whole, and each key for each action has been chosen carefully for a specific reason.If you find this guide useful, and if you do adopt the suggested control scheme partially or totally, feel free to let me know in the comments!
New Suggested Control Scheme Overview
Click on the image to see it in full size.
Movement
Default keys: W/A/S/D – New suggested key: no changes.
What these keys do:
You know what these do, if you ever played any videogame on a PC.
Jump
Default key: SPACE – New suggested key: no changes.
What this key does:
Again, you already know what this does. It makes your character jump. How many times you can jump is limited by your stamina. Your stamina recovers over time when your character is not doing anything physically demanding, like sprinting, jumping or swinging a melee weapon.
Sprint
Default key: SHIFT – New suggested key: CAPS LOCK
What this key does:
Makes you run faster, but how long you can sprint is limited by your stamina. Your stamina recovers over time when your character is not doing anything physically demanding, like sprinting, jumping or swinging a melee weapon.
Why remapping this key:
Remapping this key to CAPS LOCK allows SHIFT to be remapped for the following key.
Crouch
Default key: CTRL – new suggested key: SHIFT
What this key does:
Makes you crouch for as long as you keep it pressed. You can perform all other actions while ducking, like moving, attacking and managing your inventory. It can be useful to better reach certain items which might be under a table or below other objects. You will rarely need to crouch to go through a narrow opening though, like through a vent. When that is the case, you won’t need to keep holding this key down once you are inside the opening, since your character will be unable to stand up inside of it anyway.
Why remapping this key:
Left Control is supposed to be reached by your left pinky finger, but I feel this key is too far down on the keyboard and it’s a bit uncomfortable to reach while keeping your other fingers in place. I prefer crouching with Left Shift instead. Left Control will be used for another key instead, which, while probably more useful than crouching itself, you will most likely not be using as much.
Action
Default key: E – New suggested key: ALT
What this key does:
Called “Use item” and found down near the bottom of the controls list in the game options, this is your multi-purpose key that you press to pick up items and interact with the environment, such as opening doors, pressing buttons or moving levers.
Why remapping this key:
“Action”, “Use”, “Interact”, or any other name you might find this key labeled as, is a primary key in most games and it is used frequently through the game.
I find that it’s very important in any videogame to not have a key as essential as this associated to any button, including the beloved and commonly used E, that requires you to move away your fingers (most likely your left index) from W/A/S/D.
This might seem like a pointless exaggeration, as using E seems to work just fine in most games, including NMRiH, but in certain games you might be required to hold down Action while retaining your ability to fluidly move around in all direction.
Take for example Borderlands: while reviving a downed teammate in a hostile environment, you need to keep holding down Action while having to circle-strafe around your mate to avoid staying still and easily take enemy fire.
So, mapping Action to Alt in NMRiH is not essential, but it’s good practice to get used to have this control mapped to a key that allows you to press it and hold it down without sacrificing your ability to fluidly move in all direction while doing so.
Besides, you normally only use your left thumb for pressing the Spacebar, so you can definitely add another purpose to this finger (and you will virtually never have to press or hold down Alt and the Spacebar at the same exact time).
Primary Attack
Default key: Left Mouse Button – New suggested key: no changes.
What this key does:
With a melee weapon equipped: Tap to swing your melee weapon or hold down the key to charge an attack, then release to swing.
With the chainsaw equipped and turned on: attack with the chainsaw.
With the bow equipped: Tap to shoot an arrow quickly (not recommended), hold down to prepare the arrow to be shot, then release to shoot.
With a firearm equipped: pull the trigger.
With a throwable weapon (grenades, molotovs and TNT): throw the item.
With a healing item equipped: cure yourself, if needed: med kits can’t be used at full health, bandages can’t be used if not bleeding, pills can’t be used if not infected.
With the barricading hammer and planks equipped: nail a plank to a door frame if the door allows you to place a plank.
With the zippo ligher equipped: attempt to turn on the lighter.
If I forgot some action with other items, feel free to let me know with a comment.
Secondary Attack
Default key: Right Mouse Button – New suggested key: no changes.
What this key does:
With a firearm: look down the iron sights or scope.
With the E-Tool equipped: change weapons mode.
With the chainsaw or abrasive saw: start or stop the saw motor.
With the bow equipped and an arrow ready to be shot: cancel your shot.
With the maglite (your flashlight) when equipped alone: turn on or off the flashlight.
With the cutting torch (previously known as the welder, I believe): use the cutting torch on specific items that allow this use.
With the fire extinguisher: spray extinguishing foam on specific flames that allow this use.
With the barricading hammer equipped and planks in your invetory: bring up or put away planks.
With any other melee weapon: nothing.
If I forgot some action with other items, feel free to let me know with a comment.
Shove
Default key: V – New suggested key: Q
What this key does:
Tap this key to briefly push away a zombie in close proximity to you. If you are grabbed by a zombie, you should press this key immediately against the zombie who grabbed you.
You should also press this key every single time after you attack a zombie with a melee weapon, as it will ensure that if the zombie survives your hit, they will not be able to attack you.
Be aware that showing does consume a small amount of your stamina.
Why remapping this key:
Q is closer to your left ring finger (normally lying on A) than V to your left index finger (normally lying on D), so in an emergency situation in which you have to quickly shove away a zombie, the fraction of a second gained by the shorter distance of the new key might mean the difference between life and death.
Reload + Ammo Check
Default key: R – New suggested key: no changes.
What this key does:
If you tap it, it will reload your weapon if you have ammunition for it (including fuel for the chainsaw and arrows for the bow). Be aware that many firearms can be reloaded a second time, as you can realistically put another bullet in your clip again after one has been loaded in your gun’s chamber.
If you hold down the R key instead, the HUD will briefly show up in the bottom right corner of the screen to show you the current amount of ammo loaded and in your possession, and/or your character will shout out an approximation of how much ammo you have left in or for your weapon.
Unload
Default key: U – New suggested key: E
What this key does:
It unloads your current weapon, including the chainsaw and the bow, and puts that ammo back in your ammunition inventory. If you don’t have enough space, your weapon might not unload fully or at all.
Unloading is a very important game mechanic that most players mostly ignore or are not even aware of.
I have written this in another guide before so I’ll just copy/paste it here:
“As you should already know, a weapon that you already have or that you prefer not to use because you have a better firearm to fire a certain ammo type should not be overlooked, as most weapons found in the environment are not completely empty.
If you don’t already have it, you can pick up the unwanted weapon, then UNLOAD it and discard it.
If you encounter the same exact weapon that you already have, UNLOAD the one in your possession, discard it, then pick up the one you just found and fully load it if necessary.”
Doing this procedure means that you won’t be missing out on the bullets of all the unwanted weapons who fire the same ammunition as the one you’re holding.
Why remapping this key:
Because “U” is frigging far on the keyboard! You can’t possibly have to remove your whole hand from its usual position to reach U, even if it’s for a second. Use E instead, you can even remember “E” for “Empty”.
Change Fire Mode
Default key: X – New suggested key: no changes
What this key does:
Switches between the different fire modes of the two current fully-automatic weapons available, the HK MP5A3 and the FN M16A4. You can toggle between full auto, burst and single shot for the HK MP5A3 and between burst and single shot for the FN M16A4.
Drop Item + Throw Item
Default key: G – New suggested key: Middle Mouse Button
What this key does:
If you tap it, it will drop whatever item you are currently holding. If you hold it down and then release it, you can throw the item. This could be useful to throw an item to a teammate across a group of zombies. You can also throw a melee weapon at a zombie to cause a small amount of damage, and it should be lethal to children.
Why remapping this key:
Because by having this control on G, you can’t charge your melee weapon to be thrown while walking around at the same time, which you might likely want to do if you are not in the right spot to throw your weapon yet. By having this control mapped on the middle mouse button, you can still walk around while having your weapon ready to be thrown.
G is also relatively far on the keyboard for your left index finger to reach comfortably enough.
Weapons and Items Inventory
Default key: 1 – New suggested key: 2
What this key does:
Opens up the weapons and items radial menu inventory for as long as you keep the key pressed. You can equip items by clicking on them with the left mouse button, or by hovering over the item with the mouse and then closing the menu.
You can also drop any item by clicking on it with the right mouse button (as opposed to the left mouse button for the ammo inventory)
Hovering over the item with the mouse also displays the item name.
Why remapping this key:
Relocating the weapons and items inventory and the ammo inventory from 1 and 2 to 2 and 3, because 2 and 3 are perfectly centered above W. Not a big difference, but slightly easier to reach with your left middle finger.
Ammo Inventory
Default key: 2 – New suggested key: 3
What this key does:
Opens up the ammo radial menu inventory for as long as you keep the key pressed. You cannot equip ammo in this screen, you can only drop it by clicking on them with the left mouse button (as opposed to the right mouse button for the weapons and items inventory), or by hovering over the item with the ammo and then closing the menu.
Hovering over the ammo with the mouse also displays the ammo name.
Why remapping this key:
Relocating the weapons and items inventory and the ammo inventory from 1 and 2 to 2 and 3, because 2 and 3 are perfectly centered above W. Not a big difference, but slightly easier to reach with your left middle finger.
Equip Next/Previous Item
Default keys: Mouse Wheel Down/Up – New suggested keys: [unmap both of these keys!]
What this key does:
These two keys do not do what you think they do in the way you think they do. And this is why they are useless. I’m going to explain.
In any other game, scrolling up and down the mouse wheel to quickly change the equipped item is a sound control choice, because scrolling through the wheel will always navigate through your items in the same order.
This is not the case in NMRiH. Scrolling the mouse wheel up or down will navigate through your items in the order that you picked them up. Considering that you’ll be picking and dropping various items frequently, it will become impossible to remember what items you’re currently possessing in your inventory and what item will be equipped next upon scrolling the wheel.
This is made even more confusing by the fact that if you pick an item that you previously dropped, this item will not rejoin the queue of items as the last one, it will instead insert itself back to where it previously was in the sequence.
Confused? Yeah. Exactly.
So in an emergency situation, you might think that scrolling the wheel will quickly equip your sidearm, only to discover that you’re going through a lot of other items instead.
Why unmapping these keys:
Using the mouse wheel to scroll through your items is unpredictable and therefore unreliable. Unmap these two functions from the controls options and use the weapons and items radial menu to equip your items instead.
Equip Last Item Used
Default key: Q – New suggested key: Mouse Wheel Up
What this key does:
Switches back to whatever you were holding before what you’re currently holding, including nothing (your bare hands). If you no longer have your previously held item, pressing this command does nothing.
This control is not as useful as you might think. It could only be somewhat useful if you were holding nothing but two items during the entire game, but that’s hardly ever the case.
Why remapping this key:
Because we have remapped Q to something far more important than this control, which is very trivial and you will most likely not use.
Holster
Default key: H – New suggested key: Mouse Wheel Down
What this key does:
Puts away (“holsters”) whatever item your are currently holding in your hands, and leaves you barehanded. In this state, you can attack with your fists, if you want to.
Why remapping this key:
Because H is far away, and scrolling the mouse wheel down is a movement analog to the animation of putting the item away (back inside the inventory, towards the character, as you scroll the wheel down towards you).
Flashlight + Lighter
Default key: F – New suggested key: no changes.
What this key does:
If you have a flashlight, namely the maglite, pressing F will equip it, or unequip it if you are currently holding it. Your flashlight will be equipped alongside your weapon if it’s a one-handed weapon, like a handgun or a machete, otherwise your current item will be put away and your flashlight will be equipped alone.
If you do not have a flashlight, pressing F will bring up your lighter. When you have a flashlight, your lighter is not gone forever, and you can still bring it up by holding down F.
Compass
Default key: C – New suggested key: no changes.
What this key does:
If you tap it, it briefly shows your current objective, as well as showing a compass on the bottom of the screen in which the direction to certain places or items might be marked by triangles in white, red or other colors depending on the objective.
Hold the key down longer to keep displaying this information.
Suicide
Default key: K – New suggested key: 1 (but if you’re afraid of accidentally pressing it, leave the default key instead)
What this key does:
If you have a firearm, you can press the suicide key to point the gun at your face. If you have any ammo in the weapon, you can shoot yourself and commit suicide. This is useful if you are about to turn and there’s no cure available and you don’t want to reanimate as a running zombie and be a burden for your teammates.
Why remapping this key:
I personally remapped this key to 1 because K is far away on the keyboard and I had a free spot on 1. However I can see how many people might press this accidentally, especially considering that 1 is the default key for the weapons and items inventory instead. Now, pressing 1 accidentally won’t kill yourself immediately, you will simply point a gun at your face if you are currently holding one, but you are still one click away from killing yourself if your gun is loaded. So you might not want to remap this one. K is okay.
Voice Commands
Default key: 3 – New suggested key: V
What this key does:
If you hold it down, it will show a radial menu with various voice commands inside. If you click on any of these commands, or close the menu while your mouse is on top of one of these commands, your character will shout out the corresponding voice command.
Each voice set has a variety of ways of saying the same voice command, so you might want to try the same command multiple times to see what your character says, especially with the Taunt voice command, which can be quite funny.
This is one way of communicating with fellow teammates. Not the most effective way to do it but surely the most “in-world” way to do it, as the other two ways of communicating with other players involve typing in a chat and talking through your microphone. Essentially, with these voice commands, you can communicate with other players through your character, rather that doing it yourself directly.
Why remapping this key:
Because the default key 3 has been taken by another control. And because the letter V matches well this control, “Voice Command”.
Voice Chat
Default key: Middle Mouse Button – New suggested key: CTRL
What this key does:
While you are holding it, you can communicate with nearby players through your computer’s microphone. This command is proximity-based, so the further away you are from another player, the less they will be able to hear you. However, a player with the walkie-talkie item in their inventory will be able to communicate with any other player player possessing the same item regardless of distance.
Many servers however have an “alltalk” setting activated so you can always hear each other regardless of the distance even without the walkie talkie.
However, be aware that if you are dead, alive players won’t be able to hear you.
Why remapping this key:
Because unless you are used to keep three fingers on your mouse while playing, you can’t aim, attack and communicate with other players all at the same time. Remapping this control to Left Control allows you to be able to keep pressing it with your left pinky finger while also freely moving in all directions and aiming and attacking, all at the same time.
Text Chat
Default key: Y – New suggested key: T
What this key does:
Opens up the text chat box, where you can type to other players. Again, if you are dead, alive players won’t be able to read you.
Why remapping this key:
Because T is closer than Y. Also, it’s easy to remember T for “Talk”.
Display Players List
Default key: TAB – New suggested key: no changes.
What this key does:
Called “Display Multiplayer Scores” in the options. Hold Tab down to display the list of players, including yourself, and see their current status (alive or deceased), as well as checking their pings. Also lists “Score” and “Deaths”, but these are pretty irrelevant in my opinion.
Call Vote
Default key: END – New suggested key: F1 (since it’s hard-coded to F1 anyway)
What this key does:
Opens up the voting menu from which you can vote to kick a player, change or restart a level, or choose the next level.
You can also enter the vote menu after pressing Escape and opening the in-game menu, selecting Call Vote and then quitting the in-game menu (the Call Vote menu won’t be displayed on top of the in-game menu).
Why remapping this key:
This key is mapped to the awkward key End, however it’s also hard-coded to F1, which is a good key for this function. So you can remap it to F1, even though that doesn’t technically do anything new, since like we are saying, this control is already hard-coded to F1.
Take Screenshot
Default key: F5 – New suggested key: if you have a UK keyboard layout, or the equivalent key in between Left Shift and Z, if you have one. Otherwise, remap to F3.
What this key does:
Takes a screenshot. Not sure where it is saved, since I take screenshots using FRAPS, not the internal screenshot function.
Why remapping this key:
Personally, I do take a lot of screenshots while playing, not necessarily much in NMRiH, but in games in general. I have a UK keyboard layout (not because I’m from UK, but because I’m particularly comfortable with it), so I have an extra key in between Left Shift and Z, the backward slash, “”. I take screenshots using my pinky finger by pressing this key while having FRAPS running in the background.
In NMRiH, you can also save screenshots by pressing a key without the need of FRAPS. You can remap F5 to if you have a UK keyboard layout, or the equivalent key in between Left Shift and Z, if you have one. Otherwise, you could remap this key to F3, since it’s a little bit closer than F5, but either way F3 or F5 is not a big deal of a difference, especially if you don’t really take screenshots frequently or at all.
Quit Game
Default key: [none] – New suggested key: no changes.
What this key does:
It instantly quits the game, without confirmation prompts, like Alt+F4 would do.
Why not remapping this key:
Because you don’t want to risk accidentally quitting the game! Leave this key unmapped.