Thread View: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
6 messages
6 total messages
Started by Rin Stowleigh
Sat, 15 Oct 2016 00:53
Razer Blackwidow Chroma keyboard
Author: Rin Stowleigh
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2016 00:53
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2016 00:53
65 lines
5351 bytes
5351 bytes
(Carryover subject from the Shadow Warrior 2 thread)... I switched to this keyboard some time ago. It almost instantly became my favorite peripheral (both for gaming and typing in general). The feel of the keyswitches alone are enough to spoil you and make it impossible to ever return to non-mechanical keyboards. Then there is the key backlighting. This is not the dim, difficult to read backlighting of my old Logitech 510s, the key lighting is much brighter (or I should say adjustable to a very bright setting, dimmable if you prefer). The model I have is a "compact" keyboard, without the number pad on the right. I prefer this more narrow footprint because it allows me to position the mouse closer to the keyboard for a better hand position, which helps tremendously with ergonomics/recurring pain from prior sports injuries to my right arm. Basically you can set the backlighting on a per-key basis using the Razer configuration software (Synapse, which I already had installed since I use a Razer mouse), and you can do that on a per-profile basis. For example you could make all the keys green, but the WASD keys red if you wanted, and the lighting can be set bright enough that the colors will be unmistakable even with strong overhead light. I only recently got my first taste of the Chroma SDK. Chroma lets either a developer build support for the keyboard lighting into their game, or allows for third party customizations (plus of course the configurations you can do yourself using the Synapse software). It doesn't sound all that useful until you see it in action, which is what happened for me with this game. Shadow Warrior 2 is the first game I have tried that supports Chroma out of the box. Basically, after loading the game and setting all my custom key bindings (the first thing I do in a new game since I don't use the standard WASD config), I noticed when I started the game, my keyboard changed to show me where everything was on the keyboard (in other words, no need to set manually anything in Razer's software, the game communicated it back to the keyboard for me). As I said, this doesn't sound particularly useful when someone else explains it, but it shows at a glance which keys are used by the game versus which ones are unmapped, which is very helpful when you're new to the game and have not yet memorized all the possible keystrokes. The utility of this only truly becomes apparent when you experience it. You can accomplish some of the same benefit by simply creating your own keyboard colorization layout with the common keys you use in most games, then going into each game and mapping them, but the benefit of just having the game do this for you, including slight differences in key color based on the meaning of that keybinding in the game is really a nice feature. The number of games with support isn't huge at the moment, but it's growing. There are also some interesting user submissions here, like Outlook support: http://www.razerzone.com/chroma-workshop/#page-1 I've written here before that I can't use another gaming mouse after getting used to the Razer Naga Hex, which I've been using for maybe 5 years or so now. Aside from that I've been mostly ignoring Razer's product line, just because their products tend to be pricey and until you actually use them the price tag can seem hard to justify. I landed on this keyboard after making the change to mechanical switch keyboards on my work setups -- once you get used to them you wont want to type on anything else, and I feel the same way about this keyboard for gaming now. The durability / build quality is extraordinary. It's built like a tank, and I suspect I'll be using it for a very long time to come.
Re: Razer Blackwidow Chroma keyboard
Author: Rin Stowleigh
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2016 01:05
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2016 01:05
23 lines
2692 bytes
2692 bytes
Here is the specific behavior you see in the Shadow Warrior 2. Note the references to specific keys (WASD) change to whatever you've rebound them to, if you don't use the defaults. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Background colour is black Bound keys are highlighted in white Special power keys are highlighted in blue (Q.X.C.V) Mana is dynamically displayed on the numpad in blue from 1-9 (Increases when gaining mana, decreases when using abilities) Movement keys are highlighted in golden yellow (WSAD) Health is dynamically displayed from F1 F12 (Increases when healing, decreases when getting damaged) Remaining peripherials are lit with golden yellow the SW2 logo theme color On the loading screen the keyboard will pulse from white to golden yellow slowly. After loading is complete the WANG keys and the Enter key will be lit. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note also the implementation varies for each game (details on the link in the prior message, click on each game).
Re: Razer Blackwidow Chroma keyboard
Author: rms
Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2016 04:09
Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2016 04:09
10 lines
2246 bytes
2246 bytes
>Mana is dynamically displayed on the numpad in blue from 1-9
>(Increases when gaining mana, decreases when using abilities)
>Health is dynamically displayed from F1 – F12 (Increases when healing,
>Remaining peripherials are lit with golden yellow – the SW2 logo theme
This is pretty frickin great. I can imagine the extra little frisson of
enjoyment this gives in integrating your hardware with the game. I
appreciate these cherry on the top sort of things.
rms
Re: Razer Blackwidow Chroma keyboard
Author: Rin Stowleigh
Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2016 14:23
Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2016 14:23
39 lines
3598 bytes
3598 bytes
On Sat, 15 Oct 2016 22:09:47 -0600, "rms" <rsqui...@MOOyossmanMOO.net> wrote: >>Mana is dynamically displayed on the numpad in blue from 1-9 >>(Increases when gaining mana, decreases when using abilities) >>Health is dynamically displayed from F1 F12 (Increases when healing, >>Remaining peripherials are lit with golden yellow the SW2 logo theme > > This is pretty frickin great. I can imagine the extra little frisson of >enjoyment this gives in integrating your hardware with the game. I >appreciate these cherry on the top sort of things. > >rms Things like the audio visualizer are fun : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmA_QqSR90c There's the potential for even greater utility in games and other apps. For example if you look under the Chroma link for Apps rather than games, they mention FL Studio, which is DAW (digital audio workstation software). The Chroma implementation for that app can do things that go beyond cosmetic, like display peak meters (decibel levels) for the mixer. That's actually incredibly useful because when making music, mixer levels are important, and every little visual indication of what's happening helps in droves. For example if I'm turned 45 degrees away from the displays to work with another piece of hardware, I could literally keep an eye on mixer levels out of the corner of my eye. Though, in my case FL Studio is more of a secondary tool that I use less often these days, and even if I did want to buy another one of these keyboards just for my studio room, it wouldn't work out because of the fact it's wired, and space is at such a premium on my music setup due to all the non-computer related hardware. I actually use one of those tiny little Logitech wireless keyboards on that setup, because my hands are usually on MIDI keyboards and knobs, and I need to be able to physically move the keyboard around all over the place.
Re: Razer Blackwidow Chroma keyboard
Author: Justisaur
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2016 19:52
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2016 19:52
26 lines
3042 bytes
3042 bytes
Rin Stowleigh wrote: > (Carryover subject from the Shadow Warrior 2 thread)... > > I switched to this keyboard some time ago. It almost instantly became > my favorite peripheral (both for gaming and typing in general). > The feel of the keyswitches alone are enough to spoil you and make it > impossible to ever return to non-mechanical keyboards. Then there is > the key backlighting. This is not the dim, difficult to read > backlighting of my old Logitech 510s, the key lighting is much > brighter (or I should say adjustable to a very bright setting, > dimmable if you prefer). The model I have is a "compact" keyboard, > without the number pad on the right. I prefer this more narrow > footprint because it allows me to position the mouse closer to the > keyboard for a better hand position, which helps tremendously with > ergonomics/recurring pain from prior sports injuries to my right arm. > How long have you had it? I bought a Razer backlit kb a long time ago and the wasd keys the black wore off within 2 years, so I'm sitting with all those keys unidentifiable. Good thing I'm a touch typist, but sometimes for games that want a specific key only I have to hunt or put my hand in the home position so I get the right one. - Justisaur
Re: Razer Blackwidow Chroma keyboard
Author: Rin Stowleigh
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2016 20:08
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2016 20:08
31 lines
3136 bytes
3136 bytes
On Mon, 17 Oct 2016 12:52:27 -0700, Justisaur <just...@gmail.com> wrote: >Rin Stowleigh wrote: >> (Carryover subject from the Shadow Warrior 2 thread)... >> >> I switched to this keyboard some time ago. It almost instantly became >> my favorite peripheral (both for gaming and typing in general). >> The feel of the keyswitches alone are enough to spoil you and make it >> impossible to ever return to non-mechanical keyboards. Then there is >> the key backlighting. This is not the dim, difficult to read >> backlighting of my old Logitech 510s, the key lighting is much >> brighter (or I should say adjustable to a very bright setting, >> dimmable if you prefer). The model I have is a "compact" keyboard, >> without the number pad on the right. I prefer this more narrow >> footprint because it allows me to position the mouse closer to the >> keyboard for a better hand position, which helps tremendously with >> ergonomics/recurring pain from prior sports injuries to my right arm. >> > >How long have you had it? > >I bought a Razer backlit kb a long time ago and the wasd keys the black >wore off within 2 years, so I'm sitting with all those keys >unidentifiable. Good thing I'm a touch typist, but sometimes for games >that want a specific key only I have to hunt or put my hand in the home >position so I get the right one. I've had this a number of months. Contact Razer for replacement keys. I've only used their support a couple of times but it was good when I did.
Thread Navigation
This is a paginated view of messages in the thread with full content displayed inline.
Messages are displayed in chronological order, with the original post highlighted in green.
Use pagination controls to navigate through all messages in large threads.
Back to All Threads