Keyboard Layout

[Nando]

Hey everyone :)

Thanks to the GREAT patch I recently got back into Worms Armageddon. As I've always enjoyed roping schemes the most, of course the first thing to do was to re-activate those rusty roping skills.
So far so good, but annoyingly every now and then my space key would skip. Well, I guess that's happened to all of us before and it's no big deal. But then I completely excluded screenlag as a possible reason (changing my graphics driver did the trick), made sure I always hit the space key properly, and finally noticed that it happens when I hold LeftArrow and UpArrow at the same time. Whenever I do that, the space key doesn't respond AT ALL, no matter how often I hit it. Unfortunately, in roping this combination of keys does occur every now and then, making this a quite annoying issue (well, don't know about you but for me it does :p).
A bit of research on google led to the following explanation: link (http://www.sjbaker.org/steve/omniv/keyboards_are_evil.html)

So appearently, the only way to avoid this problem is to map my keys into a different layout, e.g. changing 'c' into 'space'. Tried that, and - hooray - c-key successfully changed into space. Well, or so I thought. It does work for other applications, but not for worms :eek:.
This, and the fix in the current patch regarding the utility key led me to the assumption that W:A overrides alternative key layouts.

While the reason for this could be that you want to prevent possible advantages due to custom key layouts (e.g. putting f8 next to the space key :rolleyes:), the problem persists, and I'm still looking for a solution (YES, Left+Up+Space is not blocked on all keyboards, but NO, I don't want to buy a new keyboard solely for that reason).

Well, any suggestions or comments are welcome; thanks in advance for your help ;)

[CyberShadow]

Customizing keyboard layouts, and other changes which might give some players an advantage, are planned for an update that breaks network compatibility with older versions. This is currently what's planned for v4.0, but we have a long way until that's out (a matter of years, likely).

[MtlAngelus]

Well at least I know my grandson will be able to enjoy this game to it's fullest. :p

[Nando]

Nice to know that you're planning to implement the feature at some point. And that there's still something big coming our way. Sometime. :D

On another note, I've managed to remap my keys using a 3rd party program, so the problem's more or less solved. Only bad thing about it is that I can't use the key I've mapped to space anymore :p
Oh well, I'll sort that out somehow I guess ;)

[bonz]

Hey Nando!

Check out this thread:
http://forum.team17.co.uk/showthread.php?t=33321
It's a compendium of keyboards and whether they lock up.

It's a hardware issue, related to "cheap" keyboards. This doesn't necessarily mean the price, but how the keyboard is built.
You should ask if you can test your keyboard before purchase.
Mostly, but not always, USB keyboards are better than PS/2 keyboards.

In the meantime, you could try these 3rd party programs to change your layout:
http://www.autohotkey.com/
http://atzitznet.no-ip.org/Joy2Mouse3/

[Evil Bunny]

I've got the same problem. And i've resorted to using my numpad (obviously with numlock off). Roping isn't that much harder once you're used to pressing a differnt key for down. But I've had 5 years of practice reaching from my arrows to my F-keys, and that's a lot harder to relearn.

@bonz, you've mentioned autohotkey before but I've never been able to get it working under W:A. How did you set it up to work?

[bonz]

@bonz, you've mentioned autohotkey before but I've never been able to get it working under W:A. How did you set it up to work?
I have always used the standard Worms keys.
Right now I have a 7-key rollover keyboard which is just fine.
Before, when I had lock-ups with 3 arrow key combinations, I just got used to "free-handed" roping.

IIRC, CyberShadow posted an Autohotkey script somewhere.

[bloopy]

It can be quite difficult to get used to remapped keys. Getting a better keyboard is the best option I think. :)

[Nando]

I've used KeyTweak (got there from the AutoHotkey homepage, thanks for the link) to map "c to space", "x to space", "y to F8", and "greater/less than sign to F5" (it's a German keyboard, so those four are in a row next to the left shift-key).
No keylocks using this combination (except for Left+Up+"F5", which I can live with ;))
Had no problems at all with getting used to it, and it plays quite well in propers :)

I also used a modified Key Layout to put cxy on ae ue oe (German characters). It is a bit stupid to get used to those, but, well... better this than having keylocks in Worms Armageddon :p

[bonz]

Well, check out the list of keyboards I linked you to that don't have lock-ups.
I bought my Logitech Media Keyboard Elite for €22.- a few months ago.

[yakuza]

Use IntesKeychange to remap your keys, it works with WA.
Right shift as space is also a good idea, although it takes some time to get used to having your hands so close together it's one of the best options on many keyboards. You can also remap numepad 0 to f8 to make your life easier.