running diagonal left!

holy crap, i can't run/strife diagonal left　ｗｉｔｈ　ｔｈｅ　ｋｅｙｂｏａｒｄ! Ｃｌｅａｒｌｙ　Ｉknew this subconsciously but Ｉnever actually realized it　ｕｎｔｉｌ　ｎｏｗ.　Ｗｈｙ　ｈａｓｎ’ｔ　ａ　ｓｏｕｒｃｅ　ｐｏｒｔ　ｆｉｘｅｄ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｐｒｏｂｌｅｍ？？

What?

Seriously, what?

I call that a shitty keyboard.

negative. I can strife left. I can run forward. but when i try to strife left and run forward at the same time it doesn't work. it doesn't work in prboom or zdoom. i can strife right and run forward (diagonal right) just fine though. try it, let me know if I'm the only one.

Are you using a Japanese Keyboard?

Edit: Checking your myspace, I'd say no. That's the oddest crap I've ever seen.

I might recommend a new keyboard, but I don't think that's the best idea for what you're experiencing. I can run diagonal left just fine in prBoom+ and GZDoom, and I'm using some $10 keyboard I picked up at Big Lots.

Let me guess: you're using a keyboard-only control scheme, where to run you hold the shift key and to strafe you hold the alt key? Your keyboard can't handle all those simultaneous key presses, so yes, you have a shitty keyboard. I used to have one that did the exact same thing. Try changing your key bindings. If you change your run-on and strafe-on keys to regular keys (like letters) instead of shift and alt, it might work better. If that doesn't work, you can reduce the number of keys you need to hold down simultaneously by turning "always run" on, which is an option in both PrBoom and ZDoom, and you could start using the strafe-left and strafe-right functions instead of using strafe-on plus a direction key.

iiiiiinteresting. i am using a laptop and thus i cannot change the keyboard. odd that i can strife diagonal right no problem but not left. and i do use always run.

NaturalTvventy said:

iiiiiinteresting. i am using a laptop and thus i cannot change the keyboard. odd that i can strife diagonal right no problem but not left. and i do use always run.

Hm. You can still try using different keys, though. Key bindings are easily configurable within Prboom and ZDoom.

yea i know. but i've been using these bindings since Doom came out, so it'd be pretty tough for me to switch now. i'll just live with not being able to go diagonal left.

Small improvements can be easier to get used to than you'd expect. When I switched from that keyboard layout to mouse + WASD I was used to it in about half an hour. Of course, I'd rather play Doom with a keyboard-only setup than with a laptop mouse.

Yeah, its that 3 key limit again or so. In some circumstances, depends on what you press, even 2 is the top, but thats rare on normal keyboard.

The real problem here is "laptop". They are known to have problem with directional keys like that.

Its a really silly problem. Old keyboard never had that issue, but its like there is some hard limit in the keyboards themselves now. Why the hell would they limit it like that?

Creaphis said:

mouse + WASD I was used to it in about half an hour.

I found ESDF to feel more natural.

doom2day said:

I found ESDF to feel more natural.

That's alright, but nobody gives a damn, and you aren't helping NaturalTvventy by sharing.

I doubt that changing your keybindings will fix this issue anyway.

Creaphis said:

Small improvements can be easier to get used to than you'd expect. When I switched from that keyboard layout to mouse + WASD I was used to it in about half an hour. Of course, I'd rather play Doom with a keyboard-only setup than with a laptop mouse.

Keyboard + trackpad ftw :P

Jake250 said:

Old keyboard never had that issue, but its like there is some hard limit in the keyboards themselves now.

Actually they existed since keyboards exist. Ever tried to use a musical keybord layout and play a polyphonic melody plus accords on a regular PC (or C64, Amiga, whatever) keyboard? This is almost certain to fail due to this limitation.

Why the hell would they limit it like that?

To truly enable any key combination possible, it is necessary to put a diode under any single key, and it is certainly cheaper not to. With more then 2 keys simultanously, certain combinations are not possible to recognize. Which one those are depends how the actual keyboard matrix is wired, and apparently, every manufacturer implements this different, so key combinations may work or not. To be exact, the problem arises as soon as 2 keys lie in the same column or in the same line in the matrix and the 3rd key is in a different column/line.

Since keyboards are not meant to press more than 3 keys at a time (you wouldn't on an old fashioned typewriter either), manufactures don't bother. Maybe, there would be a target for specially made gaming keyboards which don't have that limitation?

Visplane Overflow said:

I doubt that changing your keybindings will fix this issue anyway.

I think, it actually might. It all depends how the keyboard matrix is wired. You just have to find the layout that works for you.

I have this exact same problem.

The computer tower starts going- EEEEEEP when I try holding shift, alt, left and forward. I can run diagonal right though (shift, alt, forward and right).

I was all ways too lazy to fix it, and just taught myself to all ways straight directly left.

My computer also does this. Up and Left together are fine, but if I add Alt, it gives off an almost undetectable clicking sound through the PC speaker.

It's 2009 for God's sake. Make a fully polyphonic keyboard already >_<

doom2day said:

I found ESDF to feel more natural.

I give a damn, because that's what I use :-) Fuck you Visplane.

Switching to letters helped for me (z instead of alt for strafe) before I started to use mouse fulltime.

My current keyboard has no such trouble, though. In addition to alt+shift+any combination of arrows, stuff like 3/4 arrows simultaneously in ITG/Stepmania is possible.

sonic_13 said:

I have this exact same problem.

The computer tower starts going- EEEEEEP when I try holding shift, alt, left and forward. I can run diagonal right though (shift, alt, forward and right).

I was all ways too lazy to fix it, and just taught myself to all ways straight directly left.

I never thought wise to use ALT as a key for anything. My keyboard doesn't like for anything either. So I just never use it.

Search for keyboards with 'n key rollover':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollover_%28key%29

I never tried one yet, but want to eventually.

'Most modern action-oriented computer games and console emulators use the control, alt, and shift keys by default, since they are always designed to be pressed in combination with other keys, and thus usually circumvent key jamming.'

Yeah.. but too bad they moved shift and ctrl way away from spacebar to make room for stupid windows keys or whatever (I don't remember because I took those keys out with plyers).


I used to have this problem on my normal keyboard, but changed arrow keys to the number pad which solved it. (laptops probably don't have a number pad though and probably suck for playing doom.. maybe a usb keyboard could work)

NaturalTvventy said:

strife

Decent game, but I never got very far in it for some reason. Lost interest. I prefer doom thank you very much.

My adolescence was probably the time that I had the most strife in my life. Those were some tough years filled with strife.

I strafe just fine diagonally left and right since I use a mouse and don't have the simultaneous key press problem... although I have had that problem playing on a laptop where I don't use a mouse.

It's true, though, strafing problems definitely cause strife in doom.

Strafing in Strife led to strife in your life?

tomato, tomaato

It would be some help here to list the keyboards
(manufacturer, model number) and which behavior they have for
the ALT, FORWARD-ARROW, LEFT-ARROW combination (I assume, actually I could not tell from the posts, and I use something entirely different with the CTRL-ALT,A-Z keys).
When we find out which keyboards are good, then anyone can pick a good one from the list.

You will never find out from the manufacturers which chip they are
using. There may be only 3 or 4 chip types used by all the keyboard
manufacturers, with some differing programming or support logic.

I bought a cheeeep keyboard, temporary, until I find a decent one.
They don't make them with a decent feel anymore.
Took this one apart and improved the feel with felt dots under every key, second day I had it. (The felt dots make the tactile feedback match the computer response, so I can tell by feel when I pushed a
key hard enough)