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Battlefield 4, has somehow managed to keep me playing through thick and thin. Mostly thin, with its myriad bugs, but I do have to say it's pretty much working properly since the last patch. At last!

However one thing is still causing me problems: I'll be quite happily running around in-game, when the keyboard will become unresponsive. Typically in just one direction. If I lift my hands off the keys and try again, well I'm back in business.
Sounds like a rollover / ghosting problem, doesn't it? But I'm using a proper gaming keyboard: a Microsoft Sidewinder X6. And I'm not rolling my head across the keyboard, it's just 3 or 4 keys down at any moment in time at worst.
Maybe a dodgy USB port? I've just upgraded my motherboard and CPU, and it's still happening.

I will be plugging in an old PS/2 keyboard and seeing if the same thing happens with that, but I do have to wonder if it's a bug with the game rather than my system? I remember the Invisible Walls Of Doom in the earlier versions of the game, but you couldn't get past those by just releasing the keys and then trying again (could you?)

Has anyone else here had the same thing?

If it is my keyboard, well can anyone recommend a 'tenkeyless', backlit keyboard that's a reasonable price and can be bought here in Blighty (that's the United Kingdom, to you ex-colonial types )

Here's my setup:
Asus X87 A Plus mobo / i5-4670k @ 4ghz / Gigabyte 7950 / 8GB DDR3 / 2 SSDs for OS and games / Samsung F3 1TB HD / Windows 7 Home Prem / Func MS-3 mouse / MS Sidewinder X6 keybd / Benq XL2720Z screen @ 120hz / 12 meg internet, 15ms ping

I'm playing BF4 at low settings, usually TDM, so I'm getting between 80-120 fps (vsync on) depending on map and player count.

Well, PS/2 isn't equal to USB. So you can try that, but it won't really tell you if your current keyboard is bad. Try another KB in the same USB slot.

FWIW, I have had this happen to me in games before. Not BF4, but multiple others. Never really thought too much of it as it didn't happen all that often.

DancinJack wrote:

Well, PS/2 isn't equal to USB. So you can try that, but it won't really tell you if your current keyboard is bad. Try another KB in the same USB slot.

FWIW, I have had this happen to me in games before. Not BF4, but multiple others. Never really thought too much of it as it didn't happen all that often.

Yeah, I'm aware that PS/2 keyboards are more likely to show the ghosting problem, so it it happens with that it wouldn't show where the problem is. But if I don't have any problems then I can point at my MS keyboard and say "you dumb piece of shhhheeeeeeeee-*t" with a fair chance of being right

I don't have a USB keyboard knocking about, all the keyboards here at work are PS/2 ones (bizarrely), but I'll ask around.

Actually, USB is the one with the inherent rollover limit, not PS/2. But the limit is 6 "regular" keys + modifiers, so if you're hitting a rollover limit it is a "feature" of the keyboard, not the port.

You're not using a KVM by any chance, are you? I've seen weird interactions when using certain combinations of keyboard/KVM that cause pretty much the behavior you're describing.

just brew it! wrote:

Actually, USB is the one with the inherent rollover limit, not PS/2. But the limit is 6 "regular" keys + modifiers, so if you're hitting a rollover limit it is a "feature" of the keyboard, not the port.

You're not using a KVM by any chance, are you? I've seen weird interactions when using certain combinations of keyboard/KVM that cause pretty much the behavior you're describing.

Ahhh, I wasn't aware of the fact PS/2 keyboards don't have the problem - interesting!
I can't see how I could be hitting more than 4 or so standard keys at once... plus shift (for sprint)... but it's still a chance I guess.

No, I'm not using a KVM, the mouse and keyboard are both connected directly via the back plate USB ports...
There is one more bit of hardware I'd forgot to mention - my Plantronics Gamecom 377 headset (which is connected via the front ports on my case).


edit: "I lost at teh internetz"
I should have done this first - I searched for "Sidewinder X6 Ghosting" expecting to hit Microsoft marketing and review sites talking about zero ghosting, and instead found lots of complaints about the way pressing 3 keys at once can cause ghosting. My X6 does therefore... suck I suppose it's a good thing I got it for a bargain price off ebay!

So... any suggests for a replacement? It happens often enough to be annoying, and it gets me killed occasionally, so it's got to go! I'd definitely prefer a compact / tenkeyless design, otherwise I have a habit of hitting the mouse against the edge of the keyboard mid-battle

http://techreport.com/review/26273/tr-a ... taff-picks

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6823129006

i THINK reds are usually considered the "gaming" switch

DancinJack wrote:

http://techreport.com/review/26273/tr-april-2014-peripheral-staff-picks

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6823129006

i THINK reds are usually considered the "gaming" switch

Thanks Jack. That second link, the CM Storm Quickfire certainly looks like what I'm after, but... it's lacking back-lighting. I'm not a touch-typist, and prefer to play in a dark room, so back-lit keys are useful. But it's not a deal-killer.

I'd also prefer a proper UK keyboard (just so I can type a pound sign easily, and have my @ and quote marks in the right place, and not have the backslash key where the top half of the return key ought to be. Those are the other things I didn't like so much about the X6!
I'll keep looking, but I suspect "beggars can't be choosers"

DancinJack wrote:

i THINK reds are usually considered the "gaming" switch

Reds or blacks are generally considered to be the best for gaming. The difference is in the stiffness of the springs, with blacks being the stiffer of the two. Blues are optimized for touch typing (very "clicky"), and browns are a compromise (less "clicky", but still tactile).

RostokMcSpoons wrote:

Ahhh, I wasn't aware of the fact PS/2 keyboards don't have the problem - interesting!

Not quite. It isn't that PS/2 keyboards don't have the problem; it is just that with PS/2 the *interface* isn't the limiting factor. Unless you get a keyboard with true n-key rollover there will always be some combinations of keys which don't register properly, regardless of whether the keyboard is PS/2 or USB.

Bah Humbug.

I stopped off at my local PC World to see what they'd got in the way of gaming keyboards, and found the Roccat Arvo. Ok, only the arrow keys are backlit, but it's a different take on the "tenkeyless" design, 'anti-ghosting', very compact and most importantly of all... really quite cheap! (£38)
So I read a couple of (good) reviews and impulse-purchased it.

And BF4 is still doing the same darned thing!!!
3 times in 2-3 hours of play I got stuck, but resolved it by lifting off the keys and trying again.

So either the game really does have a bug, or Roccat's claims to anti-ghosting aren't... reliable.
(Or something in my Win 7 installation is playing up)

Arghhhhh!

Have you tried resetting BF4's controls back to default? Sounds like maybe you mapped some keys and they are fudging with the interaction of others.

I get this regularly, regardless of keyboard used; for me, it's the 'W' or 'forward' key, and this has happened in the last two BF games as well.

Airmantharp wrote:

I get this regularly, regardless of keyboard used; for me, it's the 'W' or 'forward' key, and this has happened in the last two BF games as well.

Oh.


Well, in the style of all people who ever write anything about BF4 in a forum, or on twitter:

"I shall sue them, sue them for every penny they've made from this hopeless misbegotten abortion of a game that I've only played for 300 hours. And I'm not even kidding as I'm a lawyer. And so is my wife."

RostokMcSpoons wrote:

Bah Humbug.

I stopped off at my local PC World to see what they'd got in the way of gaming keyboards, and found the Roccat Arvo. Ok, only the arrow keys are backlit, but it's a different take on the "tenkeyless" design, 'anti-ghosting', very compact and most importantly of all... really quite cheap! (£38)
So I read a couple of (good) reviews and impulse-purchased it.

And BF4 is still doing the same darned thing!!!
3 times in 2-3 hours of play I got stuck, but resolved it by lifting off the keys and trying again.

So either the game really does have a bug, or Roccat's claims to anti-ghosting aren't... reliable.
(Or something in my Win 7 installation is playing up)

Arghhhhh!

Is there an option in game that allows for the different key options, what I mean is, the key activates as soon as you press it or only after you release the key, not sure if I am saying that right but I think you might know what I mean.

Haven't tried it myself, but maybe this could help you figure out what the problem is?

just brew it! wrote:

Actually, USB is the one with the inherent rollover limit, not PS/2.

I miss my PS/2 keyboard.

JdL wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

Actually, USB is the one with the inherent rollover limit, not PS/2.

I miss my PS/2 keyboard.

In practical terms it's generally not an issue though, since the hard limit for USB keyboards (unless the vendor implements extensions to the protocol and provides custom drivers) is 6 keys + modifiers.

Same here running on a microsoft ergo keyboard 4000... but yes, it seems to be in BF4, not the keyboard. My guess it's somehow a physics/input interaction related bug or something weird like that.
I mean, sometimes you have invisable walls, etc. Considering the bug I linked below, I would'nt be surprised if you suddenly started interacting with something you don't see but the server think it sees, like a sync issues which seems to be where most of the current problems stems from.

Jackfrags - Death Shield - Latest bug... this really explains a whole lot of weird suicides and killed in action I've gotten at times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IRIbIMO0SY

And for the record, yeah, i've been continue playing, despite the bugs, just a few more assignments and 1st service stars left on like 3 weapons before I have on all of them.

Aphasia wrote:

And for the record, yeah, i've been continue playing, despite the bugs, just a few more assignments and 1st service stars left on like 3 weapons before I have on all of them.

First service stars? I'm working on getting star 5 and the dog tags for each weapon. Level 119, and I still have so far to go .

I usually work my way through it methodically.

First all assignments in tandem with all class and vehicles unlocks while working on the normal unlocks and main weapons, then at least one star on each weapon, then all unlocks, then dog tags for all weapons(500 kills).
Right now I have 13 weapons with 500+kills, another 8 between 200-400, and the rest down to 103 with a service star each. Although I discounted having it on knives, gadgets and pickup weapons. Alhtough I do have almost have 4 knives with a star.

That said, I had ALL unlocks in BF3 but cant myself see getting that in BF4 since it's just to damn many weapons, and a ton of them are terrible. Being a completionist is a bad thing in a game like BF4. 155 weapons so far and counting, before all DLC is out, it'll be 175 or so. Not all have dogtags or it would be just short of 90 K kills. Getting all the medals and especially the dog tag is where the hard part is, especially some of the commander ones.

No issues with key strokes on my N52TE...