Keyboard problems

[Evil Bunny]

I've just started playing worms again after forever. And I'm having major problems with my spacebar while roping. Very frequently the rope just won't shoot (most of the time actually) so I have to press twice or 3 or 4 etc. untill he floor gets to me.

I'm sure it's not a hardware prob because this is by far the bestest keyboard I've ever worked with and it's responce is just perfect. Both outside worms and inside the chat. But as soon as I have launched that first rope stings start getting dodgy.

Any ideas what might be wrong? I haven't got any spare keyboards around to try if that makes a difference but I don't see how it should matter. I'll try to fish one up from work tomorrow if I can.

I couldn't compress the replay down small enough to attach but if you need it let me know and we'll work something else out.

[bloopy]

Maybe it's just the 3 key lock problem. If you are holding 2 arrow keys at once, then a 3rd key might not work. Make sure you are just holding one arrow key at a time, and then see if the space bar plays up then. If it doesn't, then it surely is the 3 key lock problem, which means it is a hardware issue.

[bonz]

by far the bestest keyboard
If your keyboard shows up on this list (http://forum.team17.co.uk/showthread.php?t=33321) with a "yes", it isn't the bestest keyboard at all.

Also:
http://forum.team17.co.uk/showthread.php?t=34617
That guy seems to have the same (keyboard lock-up?) problem, supposedly in WA only though, not in WWP.

[Evil Bunny]

Damn, that sounds awfully formiliar to the prob I'm having. Nobody found any solutions to this yet? You think remapping to different keys could do it? Because I'm not looking to replace that keyboard just yet.

[bonz]

Nobody found any solutions to this yet?
Nope, there is no solution.
It's hardware dependent, how the keyboard is built.

Cheaper keyboards don't wire each key speparately, so to speak.
They use some sort of wire mesh with each key sitting on a crossing point.
If you press too many buttons of the same row or line, it can't determine which button it was anymore.
Or something like this. (I once found a great technical article on this somewhere.)

It's independent of the keyboard's connection (USB or PS/2).
Mostly the cheap keyboards which don't come with an USB connection are often the ones that lock up.
That's not a guarantee that expensive ones with USB connection don't lock up though, if you look at the list.

The optimum is a keyboard that features "full n-key rollover", like the Logitech G15 does for example.
My Logitech Media Elite supports 7-key rollover, which means I can press 7 keys simultaneously before it locks up and beeps the PC speaker.
You think remapping to different keys could do it?
Yes, you could try that.
My previous keyboard, a Labtech Internet Keyboard, normally could do a 4-key rollover, with the exception of combinations between the cursor keys and the space bar, where it already locked up with 3 keys pressed.
That meant I could not shoot the rope while pressing a diagonal direction with 2 cursor keys in 75% of the cases (only left-up worked).

I guess remapping the space bar to a different key would have solved the problem, but I neither did I ever try, nor did I want to get used to new controls.
(Heck, it took enough time to get use to "one-handed" roping and then back to normal.)

[CyberShadow]

I wouldn't be so sure it's a hardware problem. After all, it only happens in W:A?

[bloopy]

It depends what other games and things rely so heavily on 3 keys being pressed at once. It's the sort of thing that's easy to test for, you just need to try pressing key combinations. :)

[bonz]

Play Mortal Kombat 2 and you'll soon see if your keyboard locks up.

[Evil Bunny]

Yeah, seems to be my keyboard. It seems to work fine on the numpad though. Anyone know any tools which I could use to remap some of those keys?

[bonz]

Anyone know any tools which I could use to remap some of those keys?
http://www.autohotkey.com

[Evil Bunny]

I know ahk, i never got that to work in wa

[bonz]

Joy2Mouse (http://atzitznet.no-ip.org/Joy2Mouse3) might work for your purpose.

[Muzer]

Intes key changer. It's somewhere on http://rrkit.com, under downloads --> utilities