City of Heroes control problem. Keys repeat.

ThePenciler · Post by **ThePenciler** » Fri May 01, 2009 2:06 am

The problem is that when moving (the most obvious activity you can see this with) the key you press acts like it's being pressed in rapid succession instead of being held down. That is until another key is pressed then the previous key moves the character smoothly. This might be a problem with my keyboard though. But I'm putting this out there just in case anybody else has the same problem.

I'm running Ubuntu 9.04 with WINE 1.1.20 and the latest patches for the OS and game.

ThePenciler · Post by **ThePenciler** » Fri May 01, 2009 2:21 am

Yeah, I tried my USB ZBoard and it has the same problems. Not a keyboard problem. The reason why I thought it was my keyboard is because my PS/2 keyboard's connector is flaky, but I guess that's not the problem.

vitamin · Post by **vitamin** » Fri May 01, 2009 9:15 am

ThePenciler wrote:Yeah, I tried my USB ZBoard and it has the same problems. Not a keyboard problem. The reason why I thought it was my keyboard is because my PS/2 keyboard's connector is flaky, but I guess that's not the problem.

Some users reported this problem from some XIM, keyboard emulators, etc.

Try to get rid of anything that messes with keyboard.

tparker · Post by **tparker** » Fri May 01, 2009 12:32 pm

ThePenciler wrote:

The problem is that when moving (the most obvious activity you can see this with) the key you press acts like it's being pressed in rapid succession instead of being held down.

Is your OS using any extra type of keyboard control/input? I don't know
about Ubuntu, in Fedora you find this in System>Personal>Keyboard.
Sometimes that being active will mess with wine/game keyboard controls.

Evil Jay · Post by **Evil Jay** » Fri May 01, 2009 1:00 pm

I see the problem too, and I'm doubting it has to do with the OS/distro,
since it doesn't affect any other applications (even games). Only
Wine's DInput routines appear to be confused, so that's the most likely
place that a logic error has occurred.

-J

tparker wrote:

ThePenciler wrote:
The problem is that when moving (the most obvious activity you can
see this with) the key you press acts like it's being pressed in
rapid succession instead of being held down.
Is your OS using any extra type of keyboard control/input? I don't
know about Ubuntu, in Fedora you find this in
System>Personal>Keyboard. Sometimes that being active will mess with
wine/game keyboard controls.

vitamin · Post by **vitamin** » Fri May 01, 2009 2:23 pm

Evil Jay wrote:I see the problem too, and I'm doubting it has to do with the OS/distro,
since it doesn't affect any other applications (even games). Only
Wine's DInput routines appear to be confused, so that's the most likely
place that a logic error has occurred.

Wrong. If you think it's dinput - use native. I'm sure you'll see the same exact problem.

ThePenciler · Post by **ThePenciler** » Fri May 01, 2009 8:40 pm

vitamin wrote:
ThePenciler wrote:Yeah, I tried my USB ZBoard and it has the same problems. Not a keyboard problem. The reason why I thought it was my keyboard is because my PS/2 keyboard's connector is flaky, but I guess that's not the problem.
Some users reported this problem from some XIM, keyboard emulators, etc.

Try to get rid of anything that messes with keyboard.

I don't have anything installed that messes with the keyboard. I first ran across this problem when using my plain vanilla PS/2 keyboard. Plugging in my USB keyboard turned up the same problem. So it's not the keyboard (USB or PS/2) and since I don't have anything installed that jerry-rigs the keyboard function I can't think of anything that could interfere. This is an upgraded installation of 8.10 that itself was kept free of any hacks. So it's just an unmodified Ubuntu. In the past I used something (btnx) that messed with the mouse to get the extra buttons to work, but that was before I did several formats and reinstalls of the OS. I mean, unless that utility somehow magically reached from beyond the grave to mess with stuff.

tparker wrote:ThePenciler wrote:
The problem is that when moving (the most obvious activity you can see this with) the key you press acts like it's being pressed in rapid succession instead of being held down.
Is your OS using any extra type of keyboard control/input? I don't know
about Ubuntu, in Fedora you find this in System>Personal>Keyboard.
Sometimes that being active will mess with wine/game keyboard controls.

Nope, the only thing I can think of is Keyboard Shortcuts that comes native with Ubuntu (ie: it's not a third party installation). But I don't think that's a background process, just a system preference app.

Just because I'm using a ZBoard doesn't mean I've installed anything to get it to fully work. I'm just using it as is as i plugged it in for the first time on a Linux box. So it's just being used as a normal USB keyboard.

And it's not like it started doing this after playing fine for a while after I upgraded to 9.04. It happened after I upgraded to 9.04 when i started up the game for the first time since I upgraded. Could it be 9.04? If that's the case then I have no idea what they did differently to Ubuntu to make this happen. Remember, this is an upgrade without modifications. I haven't done anything to the OS or kernel to mess with anything. Just installed stuff like Google Earth and other normal software. And I installed those things in 8.10 without any change in how CoH plays. I'm not sure if I'm getting across what I want to get across though. I'm not an uber-user or a person that regularly hacks at the Linux kernel or anything.

tparker · Post by **tparker** » Fri May 01, 2009 9:30 pm

ThePenciler wrote:

I don't have anything installed that messes with the keyboard. I first ran across this problem when using my plain vanilla PS/2 keyboard. Plugging in my USB keyboard turned up the same problem. So it's not the keyboard (USB or PS/2)

I had mentioned it as a possibility because the XIM, keyboard emulators,
and similar items are a part of the default install in many distros. It
may not be anything you have added or anything specific to your keyboard
but may still interfere with keyboard function through wine.

Check and see if you have SCIM enabled or installed. Remove SCIM and
anything the OS wants to take with it, also remove any version of
libgxim and anything tied to it, then retest. Those two are common
enough problems that, if nothing else, eliminating them will be sure
they are not your problem.

ThePenciler · Post by **ThePenciler** » Fri May 01, 2009 9:47 pm

tparker wrote:Check and see if you have SCIM enabled or installed. Remove SCIM and
anything the OS wants to take with it, also remove any version of
libgxim and anything tied to it, then retest. Those two are common
enough problems that, if nothing else, eliminating them will be sure
they are not your problem.

Ah. Ok, I uninstalled SCIM and all the items it wanted to uninstall with it. And I couldn't find anything related to libgxim (so I had nothing to uninstall). I then restarted and it still happens.

tparker · Post by **tparker** » Sat May 02, 2009 9:36 am

ThePenciler wrote:

Ah. Ok, I uninstalled SCIM and all the items it wanted to uninstall with it. And I couldn't find anything related to libgxim (so I had nothing to uninstall). I then restarted and it still happens.

I just tried COH in 1.1.20 (fresh build from source, no patches) to see
if I could make mine have the same problem, but no luck, typing and
movement both worked as normal.

Is your wine install a straight source build or did you add any patches
in, if so which ones?

Have you played before without having this problem or is this your first
try at it through wine? If it worked before, have you updated your OS,
changed any hardware or input related software between it working and
not? Have you used one of the funky keyboards with it's own drivers that
might still be on the system and conflicting with something? I'm mostly
just tossing out ideas to try and find a place for you to start tracking
the problem down.

ThePenciler · Post by **ThePenciler** » Sat May 02, 2009 10:17 am

tparker wrote:ThePenciler wrote:
Ah. Ok, I uninstalled SCIM and all the items it wanted to uninstall with it. And I couldn't find anything related to libgxim (so I had nothing to uninstall). I then restarted and it still happens.
I just tried COH in 1.1.20 (fresh build from source, no patches) to see
if I could make mine have the same problem, but no luck, typing and
movement both worked as normal.

I have a bad feeling about this now.

Is your wine install a straight source build or did you add any patches
in, if so which ones?

No patches. Just WINE.

Have you played before without having this problem or is this your first
try at it through wine?

I've played CoH for at least 2 years with WINE before having this problem.

If it worked before, have you updated your OS,
changed any hardware or input related software between it working and
not?

The only thing I've done is upgrade to Ubuntu 9.04 from 8.10.

Have you used one of the funky keyboards with it's own drivers that
might still be on the system and conflicting with something?

Nope, I was using my plain vanilla IBM PS/2 105 key keyboard (model number KB-9910 Rev: E02). Non-multimedia. Looks like the old Mac keyboards, but with the Windows key. I'm now using a ZBoard without any special software. Both keyboards have the same problem with the plain vanilla IBM PS/2 keyboard having the problem first. And I've been using the IBM keyboard (it's NOT a multimedia keyboard) all this time until I started having this problem. Then I attempted to troubleshoot by using the only USB keyboard I have which is my ZBoard WITHOUT trying to find and install any special software to get the multimedia keys to work. REPEAT: I have not installed any software for the ZBoard. It's working as a normal unmodified 105 key keyboard.

I'm mostly
just tossing out ideas to try and find a place for you to start tracking
the problem down.

It could be the upgrade from Ubuntu 8.10 to 9.04. If it is the only way I can think of to be sure is to wipe the hard drive and reinstall 9.04 from a CD. If that's the case then I can stand having the problem in CoH since it really doesn't impact performance. Just a little annoying if I forget to tap a second key to get the first key to work right.

ThePenciler · Post by **ThePenciler** » Sat May 02, 2009 10:28 am

I managed to find another PS/2 keyboard (if anybody gets confused I'm not saying it's a keyboard for a PlayStation 2. lol). Also not a multimedia keyboard. Nothing special about it. Just 105 keys. That's all. An old Hewlett Packard D4950B ABA keyboard. Same problem.

tparker · Post by **tparker** » Sat May 02, 2009 10:48 am

ThePenciler wrote:

It could be the upgrade from Ubuntu 8.10 to 9.04. If it is the only way I can think of to be sure is to sipe the hard drive and reinstall 9.04 from a CD. If that's the case then I can stand having the problem in CoH since it really doesn't impact performance. Just a little annoying if I forget to tap a second key to get the first key to work right.

Might be worth spending some time on the Ubuntu forums (install and
upgrade section, maybe) and see if you can find information on anything
effecting keyboard/input that they changed between those two versions.
They may have put in something with a different name that is causing the
same problem that SCIM/libgxim can. If so removing whatever it is would
be worth a try.

ThePenciler · Post by **ThePenciler** » Sat May 02, 2009 11:33 am

Ok, to get some inter-forum love going, here's the link to the topic I posted.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? ... ost7198575

As usual I wasn't sure where to post this as it covers many topics such as upgrading, games and third party software. :\

ThePenciler · Post by **ThePenciler** » Sat May 02, 2009 12:41 pm

I tried some other games that has third/first person perspective movement (WASD keys) and those games don't have the problem.

esemario · Post by **esemario** » Mon May 04, 2009 5:34 pm

I've been experiencing pretty much the same problem, but with World of Warcraft.

My current setup is Ubuntu Jaunty (9.04) with Wine 1.1.20 (packaged, not compiled from source). If I disable the key repetition, everything is OK, but when I enable it, the character seems be always starting to walk.

I've also tried with Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex (8.10), with the same Wine version (different computer), and here the problem does not happen. So I guess it's Ubuntu's fault, this time...

I hope this helps...

ThePenciler · Post by **ThePenciler** » Tue May 05, 2009 5:51 am

Ah, I hadn't thought of disabling key repeat. Just to be sure, you're talking about System>Preferences>Keyboard in Gnome and not some keyboard option within Wine itself, right?

esemario · Post by **esemario** » Wed May 06, 2009 8:42 am

Yes, the GNOME option.

The only problem is that the chat is less comfortable, but everything else works.

And, it seems that the problem, in the end, is neither from Ubuntu or Wine, but from the new XOrg release included in Jaunty...

ThePenciler · Post by **ThePenciler** » Wed May 06, 2009 10:02 am

esemario wrote:Yes, the GNOME option.

The only problem is that the chat is less comfortable, but everything else works.

And, it seems that the problem, in the end, is neither from Ubuntu or Wine, but from the new XOrg release included in Jaunty...

And if the XOrg team believes in the new code they introduced plus they want it to be included in future releases AND with their tests it doesn't seem to mess with Linux native software anyway then I doubt the XOrg team will fix it or think of it as a bug. Which means that it's up to the Wine team to code around it. The XOrg team probably doesn't expect their code to be used with Windows native software anyway (with them most likely being Unix/Linux centric focused on their project) and I don't think they can be expected to fix this problem just for Wine and Windows-software-on-Linux users.

Unless the Jaunty XOrg release causes problems with Linux software as well then we'll see some action from the XOrg team which may or may not fix the problem with Wine.

vitamin · Post by **vitamin** » Wed May 06, 2009 10:18 am

esemario wrote:And, it seems that the problem, in the end, is neither from Ubuntu or Wine, but from the new XOrg release included in Jaunty...

If you think it's an xorg problem - run Wine on a separate DISPLAY. See if the problem persists.