keyboard bug

[Moosey Fate]

Sometimes, when coming out of pause, and holding down 2 buttons to move diagonally, only 1 of the 2 buttons register. It's been doing this since around the beginning of the year. I played a bunch before that without it doing it. I'm on the same computer. I do use mods. If it happened constantly, I'd test multiple on off states for mods. But I don't because it can take a long time before happening, or happen right away.

I saw an old thread from 2014 about this, but being so old, I didn't want to post there. They asked about monitors there. I am running on 2 monitors. Buth 1440p, but the one the game runs on is an ultrawide, the other is a regular wide (16:9). I run in "Borderless Windowed". I'm on Win 10, without any monitor management software. I do run a macro Logitech mouse (and have some keys bound to the macro keys, but no macro actions set up), and a Stream Deck (with nothing Zomboid related set up for).

Today, this bug got me to run straight into zombies when I should have ran past (straight instead of diagonally, as up registered after the pause, but right did not register). I went to debug mode to remove this. But it just feels like I'm not playing a legit character now. So kinda makes the run feel lame. I am surprised how often this doesn't kill a character, but today was one of those days.

[Beard]

Make sure your keyboard does not have ghosting:
https://www.groovypost.com/explainer/what-is-keyboard-ghosting-and-how-to-stop-it/

[Moosey Fate]

Thank you for the helpful place to look. Will check it out!

[Moosey Fate]

Doesn't seem to be ghosting

Because of these two things:
1) I tested the keys that were bugging numerous times. No problems with any combo of 2 or 3 of them registering at the same time.
2) My keyboard (Ducky one 2 RGB) states "Handle any number of simultaneous key presses with the option of N-key or 6-Key Rollover".

My gut tells me it's the old issue of some combination of multiple monitors, switching applilcations, and windowed mode. I don't recall having the issue when I got the game ~0.8 years ago. I played it heavily when I got it without noticing it. Took a break in the fall. Came back in the winter. It either happened when I came back (i'm not positive when then is), or around late dec, early january.

Trying to share all the info I can to help. I certainly don't know that my "gut" is right.

Thank You

[Beard]

That is fairly unusual, is this problem reproducible or is it just totally random? Since if you can reproduce it, you may try disconnecting the other monitor to see if that helps. Alternatively, you may try going to C:\Users\YourUserName\Zomboid and deleting everything there except the "Saves" folder.
This will reset all your game settings, so if there were any issues with those, perhaps due to any updates during your time away, then that may fix that.

[Moosey Fate]

I don't think it's totally random. But it's also not totally consistent. I'll try to take note of the conditions happening in and out of game when this occurs. Maybe with me taking a log over a series of days or even a week or so, a pattern will unveil itself.

I'll probably try that before the other things, because I am a 2 monitor gamer. So one monitor would just be for testing. But I don't want to test until I see the reproduce able pattern. Same for deleting settings. Which I'll probably save to do if a pattern doesn't reveal itself.

I really get a sense that this is helpful to you, and we both want the same thing. So happy to put in the extra study to what's happening. Thank You!

[Treminari]

I've always had a lot of input problems with this game, a lot of dropped or stuck input, happens in linux and windows, Im using a N52TE from razer and a naga from the same vendor while these devices have input mapping software I dont use it with this game.

I do have some problems with another game that uses LWJGL(minecraft) but its nothing comparable to zomboid, ive seen threads on other forums where users claim to of fixed input issues by replacing LWJGL by dropping in a newer version as a replacement, but im hesitant to patch the game that way not knowing what problems I might be trading for, or how steam might respond to this. however theres threads back to 2013 on this.

In Linux:
-I've had so much difficulty getting back into vehicles ive been driving that if I get out and spot trouble Ive come to the realization that even though I left the engine running my chances of surviving the situation are better if I run and ditch the vehicle than if I try to get right back in, pressing the button to get back in often doesnt work and the radial menu doesnt get back either despite having faced the vehicle again, despite playing an out of shape overweight character my chances are better running than trying to hop in a vehicle left running
-Minor steering corrections turn into major oversteers a tap at directional change acts like I pressed and held on an occasion, destroyed over a dozen good vehicles in a couple hours with this one night

In Windows:
-Had issues changing direction while walking with keyboard, not with the N52 though
-Had the characters walk get stuck and had it walk me into a horde
-the right click input to aim sometimes gets dropped, it happens with enough frequency that I thought I may of unbound it when I tried the game in windows and thus asked a friend for help to figure out which bind it was, restarted the game and it seemed to work again, developed a misconception the game needed restarts for changing binds, realized it was just dropped input later when I tried to walk up to some zombies and do the stab one shot and the right click to aim stopped working again, so I ended up just giving them an easy dinner
-right click just randomly drops and will either be consistant for several moments or not
-Just cant live long enough to get a car, even starting with burglar occupation, though suspect based on walking inputs issues which dont have in linux, I suspect the steering problem is far worse

Both versions:
100+ hours have yet to die to my own mistakes, all death have been bad spawns, Input not working, or the result of compensating for input not working by assuming its not going to work and compensating for the problem ahead of time, I play a lot of rogue likes and die by my mistakes all the time, I consider this the same type of game and have yet to die on my own accord

[Moosey Fate]

Originally posted by Treminari:

-Had the characters walk get stuck and had it walk me into a horde

This sounds most like what I'm getting.

What is "LWJGL"?

I do have the pause key (which I have set to F2) set to one of my mouse buttons (Logitech G502). But I had this setup back when it wasn't misbehaving too.

[Treminari]

LWJGL is Light-Weight-Java-Game-Library

most developers when building games, or any sort of software for that matter use pre-written components from other developers to build up their framework more or less, its so they dont have to invent the wheel again, hardly anything is written totally from the ground up, so basically its just a building block of the game LWJGL handles Input, but it also handles some calls for graphics functions too

the reason I brought it up is I really would like to see the input issues for this game fixed, of anything ive played on PC this game is the worse experience ive had when it comes to dropped inputs and when searching for solutions to this some forum posts outside steam suggest downloading an updated version of that component and replacing it seems to fix this issue, I havent tested it on my system though, however I did see a forum post dated 2013 and another dated 2020 suggesting this is a long standing issue, if LWJGL has any bugs they may be fixed in newer versions, basically if your game is built with buggy components it will inherit those bugs, likewise the environments the games run is always changing too so not every user may see the same thing and components like that get fixes and updates too, forum posts elsewhere though suggest there might be an issue with this part

I'm kind of hesitant to try this fix because i've modded and tweaked minor things only to have steam overwrite them later in other games, also being a developer on another much smaller project myself I can see how patching a game yourself as a user can go wrong, in the project im working on one of the low level components is modified and if a user dropped in a replacement to fix some oversight, they would also remove those modifications and the whole thing would work fine until it all falls apart at the end

So im just sort of throwing this out there to say yeah I got the same problem and heres my observations and their not unique so that maybe the zomboid devs might look at it too, and perhaps update their LWJGL if they havent.

also a friend sent me this game and I feel kind of rotten about having finally brought it up the 100+ hours I put into playing this one have been pretty awful, most the mishaps that happened on their server since we been playing together have stemmed from missed inputs that are missed so much in this particular game and not others, minecraft which also uses LWJGL shows some of the same bugs, but not as frequently,(perhaps that component is kept up to date or handled differently) getting away from LWJGL games for me these bugs go away for me so I know its not my input devices. and not likely yours

I do know sometimes missed input can be tied to frame rates though too so Ive tried reducing some settings as much as possible which yielded no results for me I also set the frame rate limit too, however as suggested above disconnecting that other monitor might make a difference for you if your issue is tied to frame rate, however for me not so much the game misses input when running smooth the last time I got killed by dropped input tonight not much was going on

so yeah.... hopefully theres something here that leads to a fix

[Moosey Fate]

Beard and EnigmaGrey
(when I typed this, I thought you were the same person because of the gold dev color, so please take no offense to any phrasing that suggests you are the same),

I assume you are saying my previous 2 posts (reply #5 & #7), as opposed to the last to posts (reply #6 & #7).

I did mention some of these things in my first post (such as macros, mods, monitors) in my first post. If missed, absolutely no big deal, and completely understandable (especially now that I see your are two people). I write a lot and sometimes not the most elegantly. I much appreciate your efforts!

Thanks for the additional descriptions, they should help me be more scientific about the direction I have started taking (see reply #5)

Originally posted by reply #5 Moosey Fate:

...I'll try to take note of the conditions happening in and out of game when this occurs. Maybe with me taking a log over a series of days or even a week or so, a pattern will unveil itself...

I have only just begun trying to make the problem reproduceable (results inconclusive but ongoing). I'll just need more time with the game. I plan to be testing it with all the things that can cause issues you recommended turning off. Not because I don't appreciate the recommendation, but to be scientific about it, and to balance my own game play enjoyment with solving this (enjoying Zomboid the way I would be if this wasn't an issue). Once I find a reproduceable pattern with the problem (or feel I'm unable to) I will then eliminate the features you recommended (macros, mods, etc.). With it being reproduceable, it will be more efficient to test in different scenarios.

I appreciate the other ideas. Suggestions like system level macros is a great idea, and something I wasn't thinking about! I'm completely wired other than an infrequently used bluetooth headset, but I'll verify it happens when bloothooth is off. It shouldn't matter, but stranger things have happened.

This will take some time. Have faith I am taking in all you recommend, and if I respond to others, it doesn't mean I'm ignoring your recommendations. I'll take in whatever anyone says, but I know the gold text shows you are the devs, so nothing else will derail me from your advice, but I will still take it in under the pool of possibilities. The problems I'm having thus far are in the realm of reasonable in this stage of development. Everything has been reasonable, and I appreciate it all!

[Moosey Fate]

Treminari,
Thank you so much for the explanation of LWJGL !

I asked because this sounded suspiciously like what the devs were recommending with replacing files. But it doesn't sound much like a user directory file. So I will keep this in mind if my attempts at consistently reproducing the problem fail.

It sounds like you have it worse than me. I basically get the problem when ???? happens (the part I'll be testing to solve), and I am pressing 2 direction keys (WSAD for me, on windows) at the same time. When coming out of pause (which is on a macro button), one of the two directions will be registering, and the other will not.

Your problems seem much bigger. So I wish you luck! I feel like, for the devs sanity, when they reply to discussions, they may be only replying to the original treads problem. So if your interest is getting responses to your more elaborate problem, I would suggest starting a new thread for that. However, if you are just venting and don't want to work on it, but are trying to help me with ideas, then really no point. You not only gave me an additional item to check with, but also gave me some insight to gave development in general, which I always find facinating! I just finally got Minecraft a bit ago (right before microsoft moved java minecraft under their launcher), and have had no problems with that. But I have only played it 1-2 weeks, where Zomboid was played months before any issues popped up for me. So the solution I find in Zomboid may just carry on to Minecraft, given the ties you mentioned. So if your advice helps me currently, or down the road, much appriciated!

And good luck to you! I really like the game. I'm a huge fan of survival games, and this has taking my number one spot for the genre. But I can see being soured by it with the experiences you've had.

[Treminari]

The recommendation to replace LWJGL that I saw came from a third party on another forum and given some have stated it results in a fix it suggests internal problems in the game which is why I through it out there, and most forums recommend searching for users with similar problems over starting a new topic so there isnt too many threads on the same thing sorry about that I'll check out after this post, I've uninstalled it from my primary box anyways, I'm just throwing it out there and backing you up this game misses inputs, badly, and seeing what ive seen about LWJGL replacement working for some users,it sounds like fixes have to happen on the development end. as for system bindings on my end i've already dealt with that in my case telling the system level apps to use "super" instead of "alt", and I avoid peripheral software when not needed, I don't run IDE alongside games or see a need to,Mods; only in multiplayer to match what the server is running host doesnt report same problem, wireless I avoid for this reason, anyhow its not so much about venting, its just saying Ive seen suggested fixes that imply a potential issue in the game and this is how ive experienced the dropped input that further suggests this, Anyhow, ive mostly given up on this title at this point, and im not here to add confusion, im just here to point them towards what ive seen, im out.

[Moosey Fate]

i'm not replacing files yet. i'll keep that in mind that the LWJGL is believed to be fixed, and maybe save it for a last resort.

Not sure if you're talking to me (the OP) or Treminari, but i'm on Win10, filter and sticky keys are off. I will still test. I haven't played since we last spoke.