RCT-3 does not repond to keyboard

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bobg
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RCT-3 does not repond to keyboard

Post by bobg »

Hi all,
RCT stands for Rollercoaster Tycoon. This is the GOG.com download version. I have jumped through just about every hoop there is to get this going under wine. It installs ok. It runs and there are only two problems but one of them is a game breaker. RCT does not play the background music (no biggy) and it does not respond to the keyboard (semi-gamebreaker). Most things can be done with a mouse but keyboard input is required sometimes when placing game pieces in the map. Specifically, the shift key is needed to adjust elevation. There is no other way of adjusting elevation.

'Oblivion' and 'Knights and Merchants (GOG.com)' work perfectly. Always have.

I seem to recall that in the distant past, I had a disk version that initially had this problem but somehow it was solved. it was run under wine. One thing that seems anomalous is that one time as I was just poking at my keyboard trying to find any reaction, a chat box style window opened and I could type into it. I don't know if I somehow invoked a system type response or if this was coming from the game.

My System
Desktop I5, nvidia1080, 16GB mem.

What I have done:


I originally installed under Linux Mint standard wine. RCT3 installed ok but had this problem. I tried just about every winetrick that looked even remotely related. No joy. I've tried using a 32bit version of wine even going so far as to compile my own wine-git version. No joy. During this time I repeatedly removed the '.wine' directory and started over with a clean copy. No joy.

Thanks for any enlightenment.
Best regards,
Bob G.
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Bob Wya
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Re: RCT-3 does not repond to keyboard

Post by Bob Wya »

@bobg
  1. Often issues with keyboard input are not actually Wine issues per-se.
    The obvious first 2 things to check are:
    • does a different Desktop Environment work OK (e.g. Gnome Shell is known to often mangle keyboard input)
    • do you have any game controllers plugged into your machine? If so, then unplug these!
  2. With regards to the missing background music, that is often caused by missing GStreamer plugins (especially the 32-bit variants).
    Could you post a Wine terminal log? See: WineHQ FAQ: 10.1.1 How can I get a debugging log (a.k.a. terminal output)?
    With:

    Code: Select all

    export WINEDEBUG=+timestamp,+tid,+gstreamer

Please use forum Code tags:

Code: Select all

I AM CODE
if posting logs inline (and for any terminal commands you post).

If a log is >200 lines, then it's easier if you post it to an external paste-bin-esque site...

Bob#2
bobg
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Re: RCT-3 does not repond to keyboard

Post by bobg »

Hi Bob,
Thanks for responding, Those were excellent items to check and the one about the 32bit gstreamer actually fixed sound on a different game. Sadly, RCT is not about to give up that easily.

I have had an 'aha' moment regarding the keyboard but it only moved the problem sideways. From the beginning, I had the winecfg option to 'let the window manager control the window' turned off. The reason for this was; when any game started, it came up in a bad screen resolution. No matter what res options were selected in the game, the display was always wonky and exiting the game often left my desktop resolution messed up. I had to log out and log back in to correct it.

After one particular re-install I accidentally left the graphics tab at default and even though the window was messed up, I suddenly had keyboard response. I tracked it back to that option.

So now I have a choice, bad display or no keyboard response :evil: Actually, RTC is the only game with a keyboard problem.

Using the 'emulate a window' solves the wonky screens but my cpu activity shoots right through the top of the schlepp-meter. I start worrying about over-heating.

It might come down to analyzing logs but I am hoping some simple solution will yet come to save the day.

Best regards,
BobG.
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Bob Wya
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Re: RCT-3 does not repond to keyboard

Post by Bob Wya »

bobg wrote:...

Using the 'emulate a window' solves the wonky screens but my cpu activity shoots right through the top of the schlepp-meter. I start worrying about over-heating.

It might come down to analyzing logs but I am hoping some simple solution will yet come to save the day.

Best regards,
BobG.
Do you mean the emulate a virtual desktop option in winecfg?

If you want I can take a look at a log file, without this option enabled.
Since I happen to be poking about in this area (in the Wine Source) anyway...

Can you supply a log file with:

Code: Select all

export WINEDEBUG=+timestamp,+tid,+x11settings
Ta
Bob#2
bobg
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Re: RCT-3 does not repond to keyboard

Post by bobg »

Bob Wya wrote: snip
Do you mean the emulate a virtual desktop option in winecfg?

If you want I can take a look at a log file, without this option enabled.
Since I happen to be poking about in this area (in the Wine Source) anyway...

Can you supply a log file with:

Code: Select all

export WINEDEBUG=+timestamp,+tid,+x11settings
Ta
Bob#2
Yes; virtual desktop. I was trying to quote from memory. Sorry :oops:

I unchecked the vitual desktop leaving 'window manager' option checked. Then;

Code: Select all

export WINEDEBUG=+timestamp,+tid,+x11settings
wine $HOME/.wine/drive_c/GOG\ Games/RollerCoaster\ Tycoon\ 3\ Platinum/RCT3plus.exe 2>wine.log
This produced a screen resolution with half the game window off the screen. In this instance the resolution returned to normal after closing the game.

the log file is about 2.4MB. I opened an account at pastebin but they don't accept pastes larger 512KB. As a tgz compressed file it is about 33k. A 'copy' of that file using the 'file manager' and pasting to pastebin resulted in the filename being posted to pastebin not the file content. Not exactly what we were looking for. Your surely have more experience in these matters than I. Any suggestions other than paying for a pastebin account?

Best regards,
BobG.
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Bob Wya
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Re: RCT-3 does not repond to keyboard

Post by Bob Wya »

bobg wrote: ...
the log file is about 2.4MB. I opened an account at pastebin but they don't accept pastes larger 512KB. As a tgz compressed file it is about 33k. A 'copy' of that file using the 'file manager' and pasting to pastebin resulted in the filename being posted to pastebin not the file content. Not exactly what we were looking for. Your surely have more experience in these matters than I. Any suggestions other than paying for a pastebin account?

Best regards,
BobG.
@Bob#1

Yeah, don't use Pastebin... That's why I explicitly gave you a URL link to 15 alternative sites... Pastebin has a bad reputation (with good reason).

A Github Gist would be my personal preference (Microsoft can afford the storage space - it's all cool). :lol:

Create your log file, then something like:

Code: Select all

cat log_file.txt | xclip -i -selection clipboard
- that will copy the whole log file directly into your standard Desktop Environment clipboard.

TBH this is a pretty crap way to do it... There are better ways, like "direct post to paste-bin site" terminal utilities... :lol:

Make sure you install the xclip utility first, if you don't already have it installed.

Bob
bobg
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Re: RCT-3 does not repond to keyboard

Post by bobg »

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Bob Wya
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Re: RCT-3 does not repond to keyboard

Post by Bob Wya »

bobg wrote:OK. Here it is (at git-hub).

https://gist.github.com/bgoodwin91006/7 ... tfile1-txt
@Bob#1

Code: Select all

6429.296:0009:trace:x11settings:X11DRV_ChangeDisplaySettingsEx (L"\\\\.\\DISPLAY1",0x165e164,(nil),0x00000004,(nil))
6429.296:0009:trace:x11settings:X11DRV_ChangeDisplaySettingsEx flags=FULLSCREEN
6429.296:0009:trace:x11settings:X11DRV_ChangeDisplaySettingsEx DM_fields=BITSPERPEL,PELSWIDTH,PELSHEIGHT
6429.296:0009:trace:x11settings:X11DRV_ChangeDisplaySettingsEx width=1440 height=900 bpp=32 freq=0 (XRandR 1.2)
6429.296:0009:trace:x11settings:X11DRV_ChangeDisplaySettingsEx Requested display settings match mode 5 (XRandR 1.2)
So the game is switching to a legitimate / supported monitor resolution on startup...
We'll never need more than 1440 x 900 pixels !!
But unfortunately it's not the native resolution, 1920 x 1080, that your monitor supports... :cry:

My first thought with issues like this, is that usually some else has the same problem (Google widescreen fix "name of game").
First hit: GOG Forums: Easy widescreen guide for RCT3.
So try that (GOG Forums) RTC-3 configuration file fix next...

Bob
bobg
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Re:SOVED RCT-3 does not repond to keyboard

Post by bobg »

That fixed the screen resolution by setting the game resolution to 1080p but still doesn't explain why I lost keyboard input unless the winecfg 'manage window' option is enabled. Is that actually supposed to cut off the keyboard if it's disabled?

Best regards,
Bob G.
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