Glitching Keys/Buttons

[Woffin]

Hi there

My game is vanilla 1.4, but I've been having this bug in all previous versions and on a different machine too (so I'm not sure what the cause is anymore). Ocassionally, the game will glitch up and buttons will become super sensitive. For example if I press J once, it will actually register twice maybe even three times. This is very annoying as you try and activate SETA and it just throws it back off again. It's the same for menus, you press enter and it will actually do it 3 or 4 times and you end up giving a ship a command you didn't want to. I've noticed it affects the arrow keys too, as in Im pressing up to scroll up the sector map (for example) and it will scroll up really fast.

The problem will just come and go when it likes. I thought I'd show TC off to a friend today and it started doing it, which was rather embarrassing to say the least.

My equipment is a logitech illuminated keyboard, logitech mx400 mouse (which I dont use for any X game since I learnt without it back in X-BTF ) and a Saitek Cyborg Evo joystick. Speaking of the joystick, the buttons and trigger are also susceptible to the bug as well.

Does anyone have any ideas?
-Woffin

[CBJ]

This kind of behaviour is normally associated with Saitek X45 and X52 joysticks and is permanent rather than intermittent when those joysticks are plugged in. There is an FAQ entry that explains how to solve this, but that may not work if you're not using one of those joysticks.

The underlying cause is one or more buttons or other input methods that send a continuous signal to the game. What you need to look for is some input device that could be doing this, for example a key on the keyboard that gets stuck from time to time, a joystick button with a similar problem, or even possibly a non-input USB device that's malfunctioning.

[Woffin]

The only USBs that are the same between the old pc and the new one is the Saitek Cyborg Evo and also my Logitech Formula Force EX. However I can only have one plugged in at a time and whenever I play TC I (obviously) use the stick and not the wheel.

As you said though, the described problem is normally permanent and in my case it's intermittent (just comes and goes when it feels like it). It's also not with just one command, it's with every button I press. Something else I've noticed as well is that when the glitch is happening, if I switch to external view it's impossible to get back into cockpit view by pressing F1. Sometimes using a salvage insurance fixes this problem but normally I have to eject and reboard my ship to get the cockpit view back.

[CBJ]

It's also not with just one command, it's with every button I press. Something else I've noticed as well is that when the glitch is happening, if I switch to external view it's impossible to get back into cockpit view by pressing F1.

Both of these are standard symptoms. The continuous button press on the joystick causes all keystrokes to auto-repeat too fast, not just the command mapped to that button itself. The F1 issue is simply that the F1 key is auto-repeating like any other command, cycling you straight back to the external view you started with.

I stand by the statement that you've got an input device somewhere that's doing the same as the aforementioned joysticks and sending a continuous signal.

[Woffin]

Aaah sorry CBJ, I misread you there . I do agree with you that it's an input device but the one input device that is in use with X3TC running (and the same as on the old machine) is the Saitek Cyborg Evo. I just ran the game and pressed every concievable button on it but the problem never surfaced, which is typical eh? lol.

I noticed that the problem in the FAQ was a switch causing a continuous signal to be sent but on my stick there's no switches, just standard buttons and axis so it's probably likely to be a stuck button or something as you suggested earlier. Next time the problem happens, I'll make sure to check the stick thoroughly for any stuck buttons, make a note and report back

[Woffin]

Found the culprit! It's the throttle control on my stick I noticed that throttling completely up and completely down would remove the problem and the problem would come back when i pressed TAB on the keyboard (for boost) and then the joystick would override that and go back to whatever speed the throttle was set at previously. So I disabled "use throttle" in the X3TC startup options and even though I can still use the throttle control on my stick, I've not had the problem since .

[CBJ]

Glad to hear you've solved it. Enjoy the game.

[Woffin]

Thanks for the help mate trust me, I will be enjoying this game!