Hi Jim,
Not only that but using standard Windows keyboard events weather it is
done through the VB 6 runtime, .NET Framework, or is used in a C++
application is pretty slow. When a user presses a key he/she has to wait
for the keyboard event to be registered by Windows, go through the
message pump, and wait for Windows to signal the application that the
state of the keyboard has changed. Although, that seams fast to us it
is actually not able to keep up with constant fast action keyboard
input, and the Windows message pump will get bogged down in processing
multiple key presses. Something it was not designed to do.
As a result we need something like DirectInput. It does exactly what the
name implies. It acts as a direct bridge between the game and the
hardware input device. It frequently gets a snapshot of the entire
keyboard and can return the state of any key at once allowing you not
only to hold down multiple keys, have fast action key presses, but to
come up with new and interesting combos. You could, for example, use
c+up arrow for crawl forward or x+up arrow to jump forward. This is far
more flexible than the standard alt, control, and shift keys Windows
uses for modifiers.
Cheers!
Jim Kitchen wrote:
Hi Kelly,
Yeah I used to just use the VB6 keyboard input and that and Jaws get
along ok. But it can only get one key at a time. DirectX can detect
lots of keys at the same time. It does have that problem with Jaws
though. But I could not have made games such as Homer on a Harley,
Puppy 1, Mach 1 tts and Triple J Shooter without the multiple key
input stuff.
Have fun.
BFN
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