Odd movement bug - is it just me?

[swartzer]

I've been gone for a while and when I came back I noticed some weird problems with keyboard movement; sometimes you keep moving after letting up on a key, and the other keys don't do anything for a while. Other times there's a delay of a second or two before keys respond. Needless to say this makes the game a lot harder!

I've tested this on both XP and Win7 in Firefox and IE. It's not quite as bad in IE, but still a problem.

Anybody else seeing this?

[asdasdg]

Now that you mention it, I've been noticing the same problem. on both IE 7, and IE 8... Bug? It even occurs with mouse movement.....

[Phantom]

It might be the game being to slow to react to the keys and so it fights it. Causing it to do that.

[swartzer]

With some experimentation I've determined that it's a lag issue, not a nonresponsiveness issue. In other words, keystrokes aren't being ignored; they're just not acted upon right away.

It's also related to the size of the level; the fewer the objects, the less the lag. A level with nothing but a core has no noticeable lag, but most of the levels here are pretty much unplayable for me, including all my old favorites.

The only thing that's changed on my computer is that Flash was updated to version ten.

[Zeke]

Swartzer - Have you done some googling to see if others are experiencing similiar problems after upgrading Flash? If Adobe gets enough complaints, they might fix it, if it is the culprit.

I haven't done the Flash update yet. I'm working out of town at the moment. When I get home in a few weeks, I'll probably be doing the upgrade the next time I get the pop up notice. I'll add my two cents after I get a chance to check it out. Good luck in the meantime.

[asdasdg]

I think ill add my "two cents" now. I have flash version 8 and Im experiencing this movement bug too.....

[Zeke]

I updated to Flash Player WIN 10,1,82,76 today and played a few levels without any issues. I use auto aim and mouse most of the time, so I guess it doesn't address you problem.

[swartzer]

I upgraded to 10.1.85.3 and it suddenly got a lot better. It's still really laggy but it's at least playable again. Woo-hoo!

[Zeke]

Same here. I noticed that glitch playing Hedgehog Launch 2, and it went away after the next Flash update. Hopefully the problem is gone for good.

[Zeke]

Well Swartzer... I started to experience the same problem after upgrading to Flash WIN 10,1,102,64. I was playing FireBoy and WaterGirl 2: The Light Temple, which requires using WASD and the arrow keys. The problem appears to be specfic to the arrow keys only. Intermittantly, the character that uses the arrow keys will continue to move in the direction I pressed after I've let off the key.

So, if you're not cuttently experiencing any problems and haven't upgrade to this version yet, you might want to stay with what you have until Adobe does their next update.

CORRECTION: I went back to the game and saw the same thing happen when using the WASD keys.

UPDATE: The problem was annoying me to the point that I did some Googling, a saw that a lot of people experience it. After trying a few recommendations unsucessfully, I switched from using IE to Firefox and lo and behold, the problem disappeared. Since this had been intermittant on IE, I suppose you could blame it on them. On the other hand, I'm inclined to say it's a combination of Flash and IE. At any rate, if I experience it again while using IE, I'll simple switch over to another browser. I haven't tried it in Chrome yet.

[swartzer]

I keep coming back here every month or two to see if I can play it again.

Unfortunately, I am already using firefox. The same thing happens in IE, and like you said, with WASD as well as the arrow keys. I've also tried other keybindings and it's pretty much all the same.

The game is playable on levels with only a few pieces, but it rapidly begins lagging as piece count goes up. The lag also increases with the number of pieces that are moving; static levels don't lag much unless they're filled with weapon spam.

Window size also has something to do with it, though that's less of a factor, and probably has more to do with graphics card performance than anything.

I've been trying to determine whether the bug has to do with lag or with the engine actually dropping keyboard events. At the current Flash version, it seems to be both. Though lag is more obvious, I've found definite evidence for dropped events; for instance I'll hold the left key, press up a couple of times, and keep holding the left key for a second longer, but not get any up motion before the left motion comes to a stop. Other times that works, however.

In any case, I'm still frustrated at not being able to play this game. It used to be fun, and when Flash gets fixed it'll be fun again, but for now I'm off again. Back in another couple of months. Thanks as always to MD for making this cool game!

[swartzer]

Meh, still no luck. I was hoping the latest Flash would help, since it boasted about hardware acceleration of graphics, but it's no different.

Oh well, I'll try again after the next big update. Have a good one, y'all.

[Zeke]

Sorry to hear that Swartzer. One of the things about this issue that confuses me is that while I have similiar issues with other games, I don't have them with Zeta Flow.

[yaufent]

Ya, I know what you mean. Its a matter of play testing to know how strong the core is going to be near the end. I just think some of them do it on purpose and it gets old if you know what I mean.