Anyone know how I can change the keyboard controls back to the old school style?

Avernum 1 is one of my all-time favorite games, which I first played back in 2000 when it was new. It was only compatible with PowerPC Macs, so I hadn't been able to replay it in many years.... until I found it on GOG! But I can't seem to fix the controls; in the GOG version, pressing the 'up' arrow on the keyboard makes the character go up on the screen, which is actually a diagonal direction for the character. This makes it incredibly annoying and hard to, say, walk along a wall and check for secret passages as I go. In the original Avernum 1, pressing the 'up' arrow made the character go up and to the right, since the game board is set up sort of orthogonally. This is the control scheme I was used to, and I can't fathom why it would have been changed for this port (especially since Avernum 2 still has the old school style keyboard control). If anyone knows a setting I can change or an alternate version I can download for my Macbook, I'd be grateful!

Wish I could help you with what you're asking for, but as someone who only played Avernum 1 for the very first time these past few months, I used the mouse for movement & the keyboard for shortcuts. It took a little getting used to with the movement, but I was happy enough with it.

Ah, good call on the numpad! Sounds like a great workaround; I'll give it a try if I can find my old external numpad. Thanks! :)

Post back to let us know if it works... I've heard of instances where an external numpad wasn't recognized properly.

Also, some laptops have special functions to imitate numpad buttons... like you hold the function key and then use some of the letter keys as shortcuts to numpad keys. Annoying, but it might work.

Well, it's been a month, and I just wanted to give an update. I've looked high & low but I can't find my old external numpad, so I can't speak to whether this solution truly works.

I did find what I thought would be another solution, however. On my notebook, pressing fn + a number key converts that number key to a diagonal direction (matching the page up, page down, home, and end buttons on a numpad). However, when I tried this combination in-game, it did nothing. The characters won't move. I even tried a keyboard remapping program called Carabiner to try and rebind the keys to no avail.

Avernum 1 & 2 are two of my favorite indie RPGs... they were so satisfying to play using the keyboard. I have tried using the current controls and I just can't manage it. Oh well, you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

On the plus side, I've found that the titles Avernum: Escape from the Pit and Avernum 2: Crystal Souls appear to be remakes of the original Avernums 1 & 2. In addition to improved mouse-based controls, they also offer the option to use the keyboard just like in the originals! They're missing some of the cheesiness that I found so enchanting about the originals, but they'll do. They'll do.

Did you try toggling NumLock? That should switch between the keys registering as Home, End, etc. and registering as numbers. Often games only recognize one of those two as directional input (usually the numbers). I've been able to use those sepcial function keys to imitate numpad directional controls in some games on my old notebook, but I never tried it on Avernum specifically. I do remember that it was necessary to make sure NumLock was on.