https://github.com/micolous/sdl-fakeqwerty

Fixes non-QWERTY keyboards on Prison Architect (and maybe other SDL games) on Linux
https://github.com/micolous/sdl-fakeqwerty

game keyboard ldpreload sdl sdl2 xlib

Last synced: 5 months ago
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Fixes non-QWERTY keyboards on Prison Architect (and maybe other SDL games) on Linux

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/micolous/sdl-fakeqwerty
• Owner: micolous
• License: other
• Created: 2017-03-18T12:08:51.000Z (over 8 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2019-12-17T23:01:49.000Z (almost 6 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2025-06-12T01:45:10.645Z (5 months ago)
• Topics: game, keyboard, ldpreload, sdl, sdl2, xlib
• Language: C
• Size: 56.6 KB
• Stars: 9
• Watchers: 2
• Forks: 2
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • License: COPYING-sdl1.2.txt

Awesome Lists containing this project

README

          
# sdl-fakeqwerty

`sdl-fakeqwerty` makes your keyboard act like a US-QWERTY keyboard, while not

changing any system settings. This is ideal for games with difficult or

impossible to change keybindings

[which get messed up when using a non-US-QWERTY keyboard][background].

This library intercepts SDL's or Xlib's event system in order to rewrite

[the `keysym`][background] to be what a US-QWERTY keyboard would return. When

activated on a _non-QWERTY_ keyboard, the game will have keyboard shortcuts

with the same _physical_ positions as a QWERTY keyboard. For example:

  

    

      US-QWERTY

      US-Dvorak

      French AZERTY

    

    

      (default settings)

      

        (with this library)

      

    

    

      

        

          Q
Talk

          W
Move forward

          E
Use item

        

        

          A
Move left

          S
Move backward

          D
Move right

        

      

      

        

          '
Talk

          ,
Move forward

          .
Use item

        

        

          A
Move left

          O
Move backward

          E
Move right

        

      

      

        

          A
Talk

          Z
Move forward

          E
Use item

        

        

          Q
Move left

          S
Move backward

          D
Move right

        

      

    

  

This means you no longer have to change your keyboard layout to play a single

game, and the remapping is isolated to a single application (window) and

automated.

I've mainly tested this with some Introversion games. It might fix some other

games as well -- it has been tested with Allegro, SDL 1.2, SDL 2.0 and Unity.

Key labels shown in-game will probably be displayed _incorrectly_ as a result

of using this library (they will be the same as a US-QWERTY keyboard).

> **Note:** This will only work on Linux systems, as it relies on `LD_PRELOAD`

> to work.  There is limited support on macOS (Prison Architect).

>

> I'm not interested in porting this code to other platforms (eg: Windows), but

> patches are welcome if you can make it work. ;)

## Documentation

* [Building this library](./building.md)

* [Games list](./games/README.md)

* [License agreement](./COPYING.md)

[background]: ./background.md