pressing buttons at the same time

[yimpat]

searched about a bit but I couldn't manage to find an answer.I am required to hold both L1 and R1 and then press x but it is not registering that I'm pressing these buttons which on the computer are left shift right shif and z.Specifically I'm playing the Chrono Trigger port and I'm at the point where you first visit the future and have to hold these buttons to open a door after catching a rat. Any help would be really appreciated.
Apart from that emulator works great and I believe has surpassed the expectations that I set based on epsxe. Thanks

[Deleted]

I don't know if the emulator has such limitation (never needed to test it), but I can say that some keyboards don't register more than x amount of keys pressed at once. So my guess is that your keyboard might be at fault here.

[yimpat]

damn.I wish there was some way around it.But I would think my keyboard would have been able to register at least 2 keys.Gutted that I won't be able to finish that game.Thanks for the help anyway.

[patrickp]

Yes, it's the keyboard. Why don't you get a USB controller, yimpat? I've done this particular keypress combination in Chrono Trigger, with the original SNES version and the Playstation one, with several different controllers - no problem. The common Squaresoft trick of restarting a game by pressing L1 and 2, R1 and 2 and the Start and Select buttons simultaneously works fine, too.

AFAIK there are special gaming keyboards that allow multiple key presses, but normally it's one key at a time (except for combinations with the Control, Shift, Alt keys etc).

You can get USB controllers very cheap now. I think every USB controller I've ever had has been installed automatically on being plugged in, in Windows and Linux. The only hassle can be (in Windows) if you want to install a rumble driver - these are frequently buggy.

I'd also recommend staying clear of force feedback type controllers if you don't need them; they can be problematic. Any decent USB digital or analog controller should be fine, though - and generally much easier to play console games with than a keyboard.

[yimpat]

thanks for the info.I was always considering buying a ps2 controller adapter for my pc but never got around to it. If getting it to work correctly with the emulator is as easy as you say I may very well get around to buying one this weekend.Thanks very much for the help guys.Any controller in particular that you'd recommend?

[dfreer]

The most common way to get past this limitation (at least in ZSNES) was to map one key to all 3 buttons. For Example, map the "=" key to press the L, R, and X at the same time.

Can you do this in pSX?

Regarding the controller, I would definitely recommend buying a PS2 shaped USB joypad instead of getting a PS2 -> USB converter. A great USB joypad to get is the Logitech Dual Action Gamepad, I've got three and they have never given me any problems thus far.

www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1085740&CatId=141
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826127204

EDIT:

May 30, 2008 10:44:57 GMT -5 patrickp said:

You can get USB controllers very cheap now. I think every USB controller I've ever had has been installed automatically on being plugged in, in Windows and Linux. The only hassle can be (in Windows) if you want to install a rumble driver - these are frequently buggy.

The Logitech Chillstream (Xbox/XBOX360 looking USB Gamepad) has actually been causing problems in linux (I'm pretty sure you have to install the driver in windows before it will work there). But in general most USB gamepads are generic HID USB devices and thus require no drivers in linux or windows. Just make sure you buy one of those

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_HID#Game_controllers

[patrickp]

PS2 controllers are often force feedback controllers, yimpat. It's quite possible one may work fine for you but, if you don't need the force feedback buttons for the applications you want to use the controller with, as I said, I wouldn't recommend a force feedback type.

The controller I'd recommend is the Logitech RumblePad 2. It's an excellent controller, sturdy and very good build quality and works extremely well. If you're using it in Windows and want rumble and the extra utilities, the rumble driver and utilities work extremely well, unlike those for many controllers. It's great for playing anything up to and including Playstation games. It has one particularly nice feature; a Mode button that enables switching function between the digital direction pad and the first analog stick. This means that when you're playing games with digital-only directional control, you can still use the stick rather than the pad.

If you want to go further - a Nintendo 64 or Playstation 2 emulator, or games featuring force feedback control or needing more buttons, you may want to go for something else. I've figured out a way to configure my RumblePad 2 for Mupen64 (a Nintendo 64 emulator) that works pretty well, although the completely different layout of the controller buttons for a Nintendo 64 controller makes this difficult on a Playstation style controller. I don't have anything like a fast enough machine to consider running a Playstation 2 emulator, so I'm not bothered there.

[yimpat]

dfreer your method worked out perfectly thanks for the help.

[Deleted]

I second the RumblePad2 recommendation. Though mine is the wireless version, it works just as well. For N64 emulation I have a n64->usb converter, but I don't really have the time to emulate much these days so it's not in use.

[boksha]

3-key rollover strikes again!
Basically, nearly all modern keyboards have loads of combinations of 3 keys that don't work. Press any two keys simultaneously and a good portion of the remaining keys gets disabled. The more non-disabled keys you press, the more remaining keys get disabled (usually up to a max of 8 or 9 keys pressed simultaneously at which point all remaining keys no longer work). It's a frighteningly under documented problem, especially considering ALL modern keyboards suffer from it except for a very few that explicitly state they don't (which usually cost in the 80-100 euro range and come with ridiculous extra features like LCD screens and card readers) and it's very relevant to gamers.

In this case, I'd say getting an adapter for your PS controller is definitely the best solution, but most other specialized gaming controllers will do. Or a keyboard with N-key rollover, but like I said those tend to be expensive and ugly. (or pretty and REALLY expensive like the Filco Majestouch N-key rollover)

[Sune]

Expensive.. hell yes.. Ugly? Not to me. I love the simplicity of the design, and the ridiculous feature list. Check this baby out:

www.steelseries.com/int/products/keyboards/7g/information

Though, if I had that kind of money to throw away, I probably wouldn't throw it in the direction of a gaming keyboard!

[stranger90]

OFF TOPIC
There are PC game such as Colin 2005 that allow you to play in 4 with the same keyboard Guess what a mess! ;D