west.logan
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I am not sure that this is a bug at all but wasn't sure where else to put it.

While playing the demo of TCB, I imported several holds and was trying them out. On each of these (including TCB), after about 5 minutes or so, I could no longer hold down any of the direction keys and keep moving. It looked like I would move about three times and then freeze. When twirling my sword I could hold down the "w" or "q" key and it would swing a couple of turns and then pause, with the sword "swoosh" still there until I released the key. The odd thing was, that after about another five minutes, the functionality to have a repeating key would return.

I haven't figured out whether this is a Mac OSX problem (running 10.6, Snow Leopard). It doesn't seem to be, from what I've found in my searches. The repeating keys is turned on in the settings.

I didn't find anything in the forums about this, perhaps it only happens with the demo version. I know I'm reaching, but has anyone else experienced the same and found a fix for it? It seemed to work fine for extended periods of time in the JtRH demo.

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Syntax
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I don't own a Mac but have had similar issues when playing over Synergy (basically, playing over a network). I've also played DROD directly on various linux versions, xp, Vista and Windows 7 and have never experienced that issue on those.

My guess would therefore be that "something" is capturing the keyboard input (in a similar way Synergy does in my case). I know that's not very useful in itself, but I think DROD can be ruled out of the equation.

In order to help, is there a way of telling us what other processes are running? Output from something like 'top' or other Mac utils would be helpful...

Another thought is that maybe you have some accessibility feature on the Mac which kicks in after keys being held down. I know Windows comes with several of these, and are enabled by default (in Vista at least)...

west.logan
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Thanks for your help. I'd thought of the "accessibility feature" as well but there doesn't seem to be such a thing. Closing DROD and opening it up again solves the problem but get annoying if you have to do it multiple times for one level.

It seems to happen quicker in large, empty (like in MetDROiD) where you move a lot. I can take a look at the processes and I'll let you know if I figure out what is bogging it down.

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Elfstone
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I'm using a fairly new (couple of months) iMac with 10.6.6 and I have only experienced one problem: apple-Q won't quit DROD which is annoying.

As to freezing, I haven't experienced that, but is that possibly because I 'm on a different keyboard? For DROD I don't use the (absolutely gorgeous) wireless keyboard which came with the iMac, because it doesn't have a numeric keypad; I plug in an ancient clunky keyboard which came with my old G4 about 156 years ago (yes; I'm that old!! ).

I'm not terribly clued up about computers, but if there's any way I can help by reading things on my iMac, let me know. (Actually, I'm away to Raasay this weekend so it would have to be early next week.)

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west.logan
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Once again, I am grateful for the offer. I only had one other program running at the time (Chrome) and couldn't imagine that doing anything by itself, then I remembered that I did have Google notifiers running, which might have caused the game to slow down. I disabled those and last night I didn't experience the bogging but I didn't play much either. I'll keep an eye on things.

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Syntax
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That's great news! Keep us posted

If that doesn't solve the problem, an output from running "top" in the cli would help too... Hope you've found the problem though

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[Last edited by Syntax at 04-30-2011 12:49 AM]

west.logan
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This afternoon I closed all programs, all notifiers, had a fresh boot, and still after a while it would start to "freeze up". I really don't think that's a keyboard problem Elfstone. It's like the program itself will pause if the key is held down. It does about three repeated moves (could be moving squares or spinning, or just pressing "5" to pause) and then it stops and waits until I release the key before it completes one last move.

Syntax, I was running top but didn't see anything unusual. Strange.

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Syntax
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Something must be capturing the key buffer - are you using a wireless keyboard? If so, test with the normal one.

Also, what happens when you keep a key depressed in whatever the equivalent of notepad is?

[EDIT]

And have you tried full-screen vs windowed?

[EDIT]

Also, what version of TCB are you running... In all honesty though, it's probably the keyboard as per Elfstone's advice. She's always right...

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[Last edited by Syntax at 05-01-2011 09:20 AM]

west.logan
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I am using a wired keyboard.
I'm not sure what happens in another program because I am playing full-screen which effectively locks out all the other programs or the capability to get to them. I'll try windowed as suggested.

The version is the demo I downloaded from the site just a few days ago. I've wondered if I upgrade to the full version if it would fix it. I will eventually do that anyway.

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Elfstone
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Syntax wrote: . . . it's probably the keyboard as per Elfstone's advice. She's always right...

Back from Raasay (reluctantly) - let me know if I can help.

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west.logan
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Shouldn't be a keyboard problem. It definitely is a program issue.

I tried the windowed instead of full-screen and the same thing happened. I could type in any other program, hold down the key and have it repeat with no problem (while DROD was still open). I opened top up and had it running alongside the DROD window and nothing out of place seemed to be happening (i.e. excessive CPU usage). I'll keep poking around. Next month, if the budget allows, I probably will just buy the full version and it should go away. I think the demo is version 3.0.

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Syntax
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Definitely worth trying, especially if you actually want TCB
Would be interested to see if that fixes it...

Jatopian
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We really are marketing only to fans if the demo is considered a much lower priority than the game proper.

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Schik
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We really are making strawman arguments if we say that a user's blind guess that maybe the full version and the demo version act differently implies something about the development team's priorities.

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west.logan
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I agree, it's only a guess (hope, really) that it might be the demo version. I hope the full version doesn't have the problem but even so, it's only a minor annoyance and someone playing the demo might not play long enough for it to start happening (happens after about 15-20 minutes, generally).

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Jatopian
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That's not what a strawman is, Schik. And I'll stop there because I don't want to derail the thread too far.

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Lamkin
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I have 10.6.6 running on an iMac (bought a couple of months ago now) with a wired keyboard. (It's a brand new keyboard; I got the extended keyboard for free along with the wireless one.) So...I've been meaning to post in the thread but have been really busy with work so I haven't had time to play TCB on the new computer...but Friday I'll play TCB for an hour or so and see what happens. Hope I can help somehow.

Edit #1: I'd actually upgraded to 10.6.7. Doubtful that that'll matter.

Edit #2: I'll play both the demo and the full version of TCB.

Edit #3: Okay, I found some time tonight to play for a bit. Both the demo and the full version worked flawlessly for me.

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[Last edited by Lamkin at 05-04-2011 05:13 AM]

west.logan
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Interesting. Thank you for doing that.

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west.logan
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I did install the full version and had the same problem.

I ran top on the side and at the beginning it shows DROD (TCB) as having 12% CPU time or so.

Playing for a while (perhaps after a certain number of moves?) results in not being able to hold down the key and move more than one square at a time. In top, this shows a sudden jump from 12% CPU time to 103% CPU time while holding the key down.

So for some reason, DROD isn't able to process the key being held down? The game freezes up until the key is released.

I've looked to see if this is a common Mac problem but haven't found it. Perhaps something is just different about my configuration. I'll post screenshots of top later, should it be of help to anyone.

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west.logan
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File: screenshots.zip (3.1 MB)
Downloaded 44 times.
License: Public Domain

Alright, for the interested, here are some screenshots of top running.

Note that the "After" file, I am holding down the key. It shows normal CPU usage when it is just sitting there.

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west.logan
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Well very strange. I was playing recently and trying to skip forward through 30 turns (someone said ctrl + 5 I think it was). It doesn't seem to work on a Mac, but in the process I realized that the game was back to normal speed.

I played until it slowed down again and found by pressing "option" and the "5" key along the top of the keyboard at the same time, the game would go back to not sticking when a key was held down.

I don't know what this does, I haven't been able to find out if it clears some sort of memory or what happens. It's far less inconvenient than stopping play and closing the game and re-opening though.

I'm also curious to know if there is a shortcut for skipping ahead 30 turns on the Mac version. Perhaps I would need to disable other shortcuts (e.g. F5 is currently assigned to Spaces).

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Syntax
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I'm afraid I'm not sure of the shortcuts for Mac so can't help you there but glad you found a workaround!

I've no idea why Ctrl (Option) + 5 would do this... Seems to me something must still be capturing the keypresses but other than that, I'm out of ideas.

Enjoy playable DROD

mrimer
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Would someone please check whether this issue is still present in 4.0.1+ on Mac?

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