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Author Topic: [0.9.9.4] Action keys sometimes don't work  (Read 3557 times)

Dreadlord

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[0.9.9.4] Action keys sometimes don't work
« on: September 14, 2011, 07:41 »

The trouble: sometimes most keys used for actions, like opening the inventory, firing the weapon, swapping the weapon or reloading it become "stuck", i.e. they do not work at all no matter what I do. While I still can walk around using arrows or numpad keys, everything else is impossible to do (which is kinda annoying when you are in an arachnotron "twisted passages" cave. When the keys begin to work again, sometimes the game goes through last keys I attempted to press and VERY QUICKLY, ending up with opening inventory with the letter 'i' and then instantly using up the item assigned to the letter 'i'.

At first I blamed my keyboard but it turns out that it works fine in other applications like QIP or Firefox (otherwise how the hell would I type this message?).

It happens only with letters, as I understand, because if I press the spacebar, I will get the "unknown command" message - when the keys become "stuck" and I press them, nothing actually happens, no "unknown command". Arrows work fine - as I have already mentioned, during this unfortunate event I can freely walk around and hope my techguy's ass won't be zapped by arachnotrons while he is completely helpless.

Any ideas what is wrong here?

DoomRL 0.9.9.4, Windows XP SP2
« Last Edit: September 14, 2011, 07:44 by Dreadlord »
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tehtmi

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Re: [0.9.9.4] Action keys sometimes don't work
« Reply #1 on: September 15, 2011, 15:23 »

It's hard to say for sure what problem you are experiencing, but here are some ideas.

Caps lock can cause confusing behavior with letter key inputs, but this will still give the "unknown command" message, so this is probably not what you are experiencing.

Your behavior more closely matches one of the other modifier keys (probably ctrl) being stuck down. It might be possible that your keyboard's ctrl key is worn out, so if this problem occurs, try pressing the ctrl key a few times to see if you can get it to release (if this is indeed the problem). Also, check if StickyKeys is enabled on your machine. This is an accessibility feature of Windows that can cause confusing behavior involving the modifier keys if you aren't aware that it is active.
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Dreadlord

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Re: [0.9.9.4] Action keys sometimes don't work
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2011, 05:26 »

I have thoroughly checked all other software I have on my PC and managed to find the culprit.

As I am Russian, I have to switch between Russian and English keyboard layouts, and I have a special program, PuntoSwitcher, that automatically switches the language if I happen to write using the wrong language (like 'ВщщьКД' instead of 'DoomRL'). For some unknown reason, it decided that all actions in DoomRL were words typed in with the wrong language, and this thing switched it to Russian... The game controls explicitly demand using English letters, as I understand it, thus the game became unplayable.

The issue was resolved by adding DoomRL to PuntoSwitcher's list of exceptions so it would not interfere with DoomRL again.

I apologise for any inconvenience caused.
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thelaptop

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Re: [0.9.9.4] Action keys sometimes don't work
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2011, 06:57 »

No problem!  The posted problem was real, and you've also posted the solution to your instance, while tehtmi posted a more general outlook to the problem.  I think others might learn a thing or two from this, so no inconvenience caused at all!

=D
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Motorheadbanger

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Re: [0.9.9.4] Action keys sometimes don't work
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2011, 02:46 »

[offtop]Ух ты, я не один такой... Big up for your English, Dreadlord![/offtop]
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Dreadlord

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Re: [0.9.9.4] Action keys sometimes don't work
« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2011, 12:41 »

No problem!  The posted problem was real, and you've also posted the solution to your instance, while tehtmi posted a more general outlook to the problem.  I think others might learn a thing or two from this, so no inconvenience caused at all!

=D

 I think it won't hurt to mention in the readme for future releases that the game is to be played with English keyboard layout and any software that can mess with the player's input should be closed. This will make sure people won't run into this thing again.

Quote
[offtop]Ух ты, я не один такой... Big up for your English, Dreadlord![/offtop]
Thanks :)) I study translation, so I have to speak something that at least resembles English :)
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