Single-Handed Play | Razer Naga

Intro:

At SpecialEffect, we often work with players to create a gaming set-up to enable them to play using a single hand. On PC, many games require the use of a mouse and multiple keyboard keys or buttons. For some players playing one-handed, accessing both mouse and keyboard together can be difficult.

There are multiple solutions to help with this, but one that many of the people we work with often use is a gaming mouse with additional programmable buttons. This can allow players to use the mouse movement for aiming or moving the camera in-game, and with the same hand, press the additional buttons that have been mapped to keyboard inputs.

At SpecialEffect, we often use the Razer Naga mouse for this purpose.  In this video we will introduce some of the features that can help make this work as a single-handed set-up and show some examples of its use in-game. Whilst designed for MMO games, using the extra buttons can make them suitable for additional genres of games, which we will demonstrate.

There have been several different models of the Naga mouse, and in this video, we will be looking at the Naga V2 Hyperspeed, which is a right-handed mouse, and also the Naga left-handed Edition.

Introduction to Razer Naga:

These versions of the Naga have 12 programmable buttons on the side panel that can be mapped for keyboard or mouse button inputs or for some additional actions, giving scope for them to be used with a variety of games. Players don’t need to map every button, if they don’t wish to use them all.

The Left and Right Click buttons are also reprogrammable if you want to use these buttons for other inputs.

There are two additional buttons on top which increase and decrease the sensitivity of the mouse by default, but these can also be reprogrammed. On the V2 HyperSpeed, these are near the Left Click button and on the left-handed version they are below the scroll wheel.  The scroll wheel can be clicked down or clicked to the left and right. By default, on the left-handed version tilting left on the scroll wheel scrolls down and tilting right scrolls up. On the HyperSpeed, tilting the scroll wheels scrolls left and right. Again, these are reprogrammable. On the HyperSpeed, there is also a button below the scroll wheel that changes it between tactile and free spin for scrolling. This cannot be reprogrammed.

Naga Setup:

The Naga V2 HyperSpeed is a wireless mouse, that comes with a dongle or can connect to your PC via Bluetooth. If you lift off this panel, you will find the dongle and also where to insert the single AA battery required to power the mouse. If you plug the dongle into your PC, and then flick the switch on the bottom of the mouse to 12.4, the mouse should start working straight away. If you would prefer to use Bluetooth, you can set the switch to the Bluetooth icon, and then connect via the Bluetooth settings on your PC. The left-handed Naga mouse is wired and can be plugged into a USB slot on your PC.

Once the mouse is connected, you can download and load up the Razer Synapse software, which lets you program the mouse, such as mapping the buttons. By creating an account, you can save your profiles to the cloud and access them from other computers. Here, we will continue as a guest to remap the mouse.

At the ‘Welcome to Razer Synapse’ page, click on the image of the mouse that you are going to be using. By clicking on the description of the mouse button that you would like to remap, you can set the mouse buttons to act as keyboard keys. Here we are going to map W, which is walk forward in many games, to the number 2 key from the side panel. We can now select Keyboard Function, and then press the required keyboard key. Pressing Save has saved the W key to the number 2 button on the Naga mouse.

You can also double up each button by creating a second profile, and having one button set to “Hypershift”. The Hypershift buttons allow you to change between two different profiles. You have to map one of the buttons on the mouse to become the Hypershift button, so we will use this button for Hypershift. Now we will map another mouse button to have two functions. For instance, here we have button 6 mapped to the Space key, which is Jump in Counter Strike, and we’ve also mapped it to the B key, which is used to open the “buy menu” when Hypershift is held down. So, if I press 6 now I Jump, and by holding Hypershift, when I press it again I activate the secondary function, which is to open the buy menu.   Please note that to utilise the Hypershift function, you will need to map one of the buttons to Hypershift and then you will need to keep the Hypershift button held down when you want to access the second profile. Letting go of the Hypershift button takes you back to the first profile.

Here we will show three games from different genres, to demonstrate how the mouse can work for single-handed play. It is always worth exploring the settings in-game to see if there are any that will assist you with your set-up and how you want to play, such as toggles, in-game remapping and sensitivity settings.

Game Example 1: Counter Strike 2

We have previously set up WASD for player movement, by mapping these key inputs to the 2, 1, 3 and 4 buttons. This can work for movement in-first person games such as Counter Strike 2. The mouse movement is controlling the camera and aiming, with buttons mapped for movements. I have also got button number 5 to act as Reload, and 6 to act as Jump. By default, Left Mouse Click is Shoot, and the Scroll Wheel is to Change Weapons.

Having the controls mapped in this specific layout with the buttons makes it easier for me to access Walk Forwards and Jump together, which can be important for some games in certain situations. For example, here I hold 2 to Walk Forwards and press 5 to Jump to get past an obstacle. For other games, I could choose to have these controls set up differently.

Game Example 2: Mafia

Now we are playing Mafia: Definitive Edition. Mafia is a third-person game, which involves stealth, shooting and driving. There is also a Free Roam Mode where you can explore the open world.  Here we have buttons mapped to act as WASD, for player movement in the same way as Counter Strike 2. Left and Right Mouse Click are mapped to aim and shoot when on foot, and when driving I have used the in-game settings to map these to steer left and right. Games such as Mafia often have a lot of controls, and potentially more controls than the Naga mouse has buttons. One way around this would be to use Hypershift, and map additional actions to the same buttons which would be accessed by holding down the Hypershift button.  Some gamers may be able to have the majority of the controls mapped to the mouse, with some controls that they don’t need too quickly mapped to the keyboard. Alternatively, it can also be possible to have some accessibility switches working alongside the Naga mouse, via a switch interface, or using voice controls alongside the Naga mouse may work for some people.

Game Example 3: EA FC 24              

Here I am playing EA FC. I use the mouse movement to aim my passes and shots and also the directions my players move, with and without the ball. I am using classic controls and have mapped some of the keyboard keys to the buttons on the side for the Tackle, Pass and Shoot actions. Please note, using the mouse cursor is only available in offline game modes.

Outro:

We hope that you found this video helpful. For players who are looking at alternative options such as using a console controller for their single-hand controls, please see our videos using the ‘Single Hand’ tag on GameAccess.info.

For players looking for ways to supplement the use of a mouse to play with alternative additional controls, please see our videos on using voice controls, accessibility switches or onscreen interfaces, by using the appropriate tags and categories on the GameAccess.info website.

If you have any questions about playing video games with a single hand, then please contact SpecialEffect.