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Keyboard issues and ghosting

Started by Duplode, November 30, 2018, 01:37:12 PM

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Duplode

Folks sometimes report not being able to press some of the keys needed to drive simultaneously (I remember BJ talking about that in the past). Such issues are, in all likelihood, a problem with the keyboard itself, and not with the operating system or with the configuration of any software. The heart of the matter is that, unless you are using one of those fancy mechanical keyboards plugged to a PS/2 port, there will be an upper limit on how many simultaneous key presses can be registered (a limit which might vary depending on which parts of the keyboard you are using). Some cheaper keyboards are bad enough in that respect that they are unable to handle enough simultaneous key presses for Stunts to be played properly. The keyboard of my newish laptop, for instance, has this issue, and so I still need my old desktop keyboard to race. The keyword to use when looking for more information about this issue, or for choosing a keyboard adequate for Stunts, is "ghosting". This page provides an interactive test for your keyboard. In my case, it reveals my laptop keyboard can't handle "Down Arrow", "Right Arrow" and "Z" simultaneously, which is clearly unacceptable.

Overdrijf

This is a keyboard issue? Nice, good find.

Typical. I did the test, and it turns I can use up arrow, left and enter but not up arrow, left and space and I can use down arrow, left and space but not down arrow, left and enter.

I figured I was limited to two keypresses, but I'm limited to two useful keypresses.

CTG

Quote from: Overdrijf on November 30, 2018, 02:10:17 PM
I figured I was limited to two keypresses, but I'm limited to two useful keypresses.

#metoo

Cas

For quite some time, I didn't want to switch to new keyboards precisely because of this. Even in DOS, new keyboards were appalling for games. This is one reason why I got used to English keyboard distribution and never changed it (when I had my first computer, all keyboards were in English). Then, I bought a PS/2 gaming keyboard years ago (my old one is DIN) and finally, two years ago, I bought a USB keyboard, but it's a mechanical one, gaming keyboard too (Redragon). Even though it's USB, I can say it works perfectly well.

I also wanted to add that, before I joined the Stunts community, when I played Stunts in my computer, I always used Space and Enter for the gears. I only switched to A and Z later on. I don't remember if I actually knew that combination existed. I probably did, since I had already found Shift+F1 in the track editor and other tricks.
Earth is my country. Science is my religion.