Forums » Bugs

newer keyboards dont let you hold down q w and a?

12»
Jan 29, 2005 ananzi link
i learned to play on an older keyboard. you could hold down q w s a whatever, and it all worked.

now on 3 of the 'newer' keyboards i have tried, you cannot hold down 3 keys simultaneous with 'q' and still have it work. some keyboards beep, some keyboards just flat out dont work.

all my dodge/shoot moves are based on this ... its kind of annoying to have to relearn a different pattern, and only be able to roll clockwise, besides its more awkward finger position for me.

does anyone else have this problem?
Jan 29, 2005 tramshed link
I do too, my ancient 286 keyboards with the at to ps2 adapters all work fine, but my newers ones seem to not like certain key combos.
Jan 29, 2005 Spider link
atkbd.c: Keyboard on isa0060/serio0 reports too many keys pressed.

yep
Jan 29, 2005 Forum Moderator link
Er...this is the fault of the keyboard, not Vendetta
Jan 29, 2005 Solra Bizna link
Kyzentun: Wow, Solra, you're getting owned.
Solra: But I can't dash jump left!
-:sigma.SB
Jan 29, 2005 Furious link
Is it only certain combinations of keys or is it any combination of 3 keys or more?
Jan 29, 2005 ananzi link
its only certain combinations

the newer ones were both usb and ps2 connector. i dunno whats goin on

i know its not a vendetta bug... but its a bug so i figured put it here
Jan 29, 2005 roguelazer link
Yeah, mine too. But it works fine on my old system and old keyboard. This also might be a windows bug- I haven't tried any newer keyboards under Linux.
Jan 29, 2005 CrippledPidgeon link
My brand new apple keyboard only lets me press two keys simultaneously. Basically, I can strafe and roll, but I can't tap tab to boost at the same time.

My slightly older (but still USB) ergonomic keyboard lets me three key combinations, but not four.
Jan 30, 2005 IRS link
Heh, this is a simple keyboard problem- to register a key press, a lot of keyboards use a slash/stripe method. Every time you press a key, it causes a horizontal contact to touch a verticle contact under the keys. Based of which contacts are touched, the keyboard can figure out which key was pressed. This can be extrapolated to include multiple keypresses- but only to a certain extent.

Once enough keys are pressed, you end up with a combonation of active slashes and stripes that could be resolved to multiple key combonations. This is where things go bad. Modern keyboards will assume an error, resulting in the beep, and transmit none of the keys because they think you just set a book down on the keyboard. Sadly, this is a case of the technology being too smart for its own good. Older, dumber keyboards will doggedly keep trying to report the keypresses, usually on a basis of reporting whatever keys were first pressed. However, since this is an uncertain situation, the actual keyboard response can be quite varied.

You can avoid some problems by reconfiguring your game controls to all use one row on the keyboard- this will maximise the number of keys you can hold down simutainously, up to however many can be reported through the connector cable. You can also use some 'special' keys, such at Alt(ernate), Shift, and C(on)tr(o)l. Those special keys are meant for multiple keypress situations, and often have a unique slash/stripe that won't conflict with any other key.
Jan 30, 2005 ananzi link
Thanks IRS but ... I really dread the thought of reassigning keys... alt ctrl shift you say? hrmph. 7 keys on one row? double hrmph. But maybe it will work out, thanks.

But Vendetta interface might seriously need a redesign if all the hardware it was built around is going out of style. Either that or we all have to get f'in gamepads and joysticks. Or maybe we could ask the apple people to start making keyboards that accept multiples... damn I payed 50 dollars for this keyboard and it can't take more than 2 keypresses? My 8bit nintendo gamepad could do more than that.

Or maybe I just have to re-learn everything and abandon my moves.
Jan 30, 2005 Moofed link
I use a Nostromo n52 for the keyboard half of the vendetta controls. I've haven't noticed it dropping any keypresses ever.
Jan 30, 2005 thurisaz link
OR, we could all just multi-bind like the mature individuals we are, instead of bitching about a problem that isn't going away anytime soon...
Jan 30, 2005 ananzi link
thurisaz thank you for educating me about maturity. i will now go post "solutions" that are simultaneously irrelevant and insulting in every other suggestion/bug thread, so i can be mature just like you
Jan 30, 2005 mcnut link
well, you see.. keyboards work on a matrix these days.. I don't know if they always have.. but they work on an electrical matrix now. from Arcadecontrols.com

"The way most keyboards seem to work is via a matrix -- There's a set of wiring going to one side of the matrix (call it the X axis) and another to the other side (Y axis). If you had 10 wires on the X axis, and 10 on the Y, you have a 10 x 10 matrix, with 100 possible key combinations (just about every keyboard has a unique matrix - to use this technique, you'll have to experiment with your keyboard). For instance, in this example, keys "Q", "A", and "Z" all hook up to the X1 wire. The "Q" key also hooks up to the Y1 wire. "A" hooks up to Y2, and "Z" hooks up to Y3. When you push the "Q" button, it completes a circuit from X1 to Y1. The keyboard controller chip recognizes that as the "Q" button and sends a Q to the computer. Now, using this, instead of wiring our button directly to the "Q" on the keyboard, we wire our "Q" arcade button to X1 and Y1."

so what happens, is with certain combinations of keys, either the encoder circuit keeps the keyboard from outputting an invalid response from the matrix, or it makes no difference because it can't tell which key has been added..
Jan 30, 2005 thurisaz link
okay, ananzi, I deserved that, :/ In other news, we now return you to...
Jan 31, 2005 Imek link
I noticed this with the last couple of keyboards I've owned. It's pretty damn annoying when I want to move back and left while running in an FPS or something similar.
Jan 31, 2005 genka link
----> Vendetta interface might seriously need a redesign if all the hardware it was built around is going out of style <----

Ever wonder why they let you re-bind your controls to your own liking?
Jan 31, 2005 Hoax link
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/2/6457

Use an i-pac
http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html
and you can build yourself a game keyboard with 1 interupt per key... good for mame cabinents too. You'll never run into the too-many keys held down problem again.
Jan 31, 2005 yodaofborg link
This problem once got me to buy a PS/2 to DIN 5 converter, as i had an old Cherry keyboard that I could hold up to 6ish keys at once. (this actually wasnt for Vendetta)

These days I dont have the problem.

I now use a PS2 (Playstation 2) to USB Converter, I bought it specifically for Vendetta, It works in Linux (although i have to patch a 2.4.x to hell, 2.6.x native support *at least the kernels I have tried*), Windows, and on the box it says MAC OSX *cant verify, i dont have a MAC*.

Get a stick, its a space MMO flight sim, IMO, flight sims = stick, it feels sooo much more like flying, with a mouse its like a FPS =p