DOSBox hot keys for games

[DeadPoolX]

Is there a way to make a hot key in DOSBox that works in whatever game I'm playing?

For instance... I'd like to make "H" turn GK1's cursor into a hand (among many other shortcuts). Normally I don't mind cycling through icons, but GK1 is ridiculous. There are too many icons, several of which are completely unnecessary!

Why have FOUR different icons (hand, operate, push and open/close) when ONE could easily do it all? I know some people might say: "GK1's controls make the player think."

Yeah, that's great... but it also makes the player scroll through each icon whenever Gabe interacts with an object. That's poor design.

Oh and I know DOSBox has its own hot keys, but those only work for emulator itself.

[Collector]

I agree with you that GK1 has too many functions. With most of the Sierra games I change functions via a right click, but that becomes too cumbersome when you have too many. As far as game hot keys go, that is something that has to be programmed into the game. If it exists, but conflicts with a DOSBox hotkey, you can use the key mapper to reassign keys in DOSBox. The remapper cannot add functionality to a game that does not already exist in the game.

[DeadPoolX]

Yeah, I had a feeling that was the case.

Oh well.

I've decided to play KQ6 instead. I've never played it (yes, I said that!) and it's more lighthearted than Dragon Age. Even better, the interface is easy to use.

[Qbix]

You could modify DOSBox itself specificly for this game.
It isn't very hard to code, but it would only be compatible with one game.