Problems with Pokerstars hotkeys

[pseudocalm]

Before I got voice attack I was using keyboard hotkey options available through pokerstar's options to play poker.

I have insert / home / page up and delete / end / page down  along with various numpad keys set to things like bet 40% pot, 50% pot, 60% pot etc, and then my arrow keys set to call, fold, check, or bet. All of this I was doing through pokerstars alone previous to getting voice attack. 

When I got voice attack I set up a poker profile so that my voice commands would press these keys. I would say "90 pot", and the command would execute hitting delete key and then right arrow key to place the bet. 

The weird thing is when I first set up the profile, everything appeared to work fine when testing it for the first time on a poker table. Later on that same day I seem to recall it being hit and miss. As I started playing it would execute some of them but other times it would recognize my command but not execute it. By the next day absolutely none of the commands to do with my pokerstars keyboard hotkeys would execute by voice command. Voice attack would always recognize my spoken command, but nothing would happen. 

I've tried changing all the commands to directx input, I run voice attack as administrator (win7), I increased the hold down time of each key press to 0.3 seconds. I tried separating the commands so that "90 pot" command would only be "Press delete key and hold for 0.3 seconds and release", instead of adding the arrow key as part of the sequence. I've tried sending commands to active window, and sending the commands directly to my poker table that is open. I've tried using both "Key press" commands and "Recorder" commands for setting up the keyboard presses in voice attack. Still nothing happens. 

I also notice that when i say the commands with the poker table open, my mouse cursor very quickly blinks once off and then on again, as if it registered that it was trying to do something. I know that the commands ARE being executed when I have another window open. But while testing this I noticed something even more strange to do with the delete key command specifically. For instance my "85 pot" command uses the = key on the numpad. When I say 85 pot with notepad active it types an = as you would expect. But if I say "90 pot" with notepad active, instead of deleting one character of text like you would expect, it TYPES a period. <----- the period used to end that sentence was created by my voice attack command that says "Press Delete key and hold for 0.3 seconds and release"

What in gods name does all of this mean? Why did it seem to work the first day I set the profile up but not any more? Why on earth would a command that presses the delete key end up typing a period no matter how many times I delete and remake that command in voice attack??? I really need this to work with pokerstars as it is my income and I have tendinitis problems. 

[Gary]

Is your numlock on?

Gary

[pseudocalm]

Yes numlock is always on. I don't use the Del key on the numpad for any of the commands. Most of the keys I use are in the block of 6 keys above the arrow keys on a keyboard. Windows and most other programs recognize the del key on the numpad to be different from the delete key that is above the arrow keys. Pokerstars will perform the 90 pot action when I hit the delete key but not when i hit the del key on the numpad, and when I was setting up the commands in voice attack I used the delete key and not the del key. But I see now that is likely what voice attack is doing when its typing periods instead of hitting the delete key like i told it to, and it definitely shouldn't be. Those 2 keys have different identifiers in windows. 

But my main problem is that not one of the keyboard shortcut commands are working with pokerstars. Not even my commands for "check" "call" "fold" which are just using the arrow keys, as in "Press Left key and hold for 0.3 seconds and release". I have pokerstars hotkeys set for insert, delete, home, end, page up, page down, and then the 3 keys next to the numlock key, and also all 4 arrow keys, but none of them register while pokerstars is open and I give the voice command for them, except for the first day I had them set which is the most confusing part. 

[Gary]

So, if you issue these same commands in Notepad, it messes up in there, too?  Do you have any other software open that may be hooking input?

Gary

On Monday, May 25, 2015 at 2:54:01 AM UTC-5, pseudocalm wrote:

[pseudocalm]

I see whats happening now. Voice attack is incapable of using any keys outside of letters, numbers, symbols, and numpad keys for commands except when numlock is turned off, even though it accepts them as inputs while you are setting up commands. So if I am setting up a command and wanting voice attack to hit the page up key, I click the page up key I want to use, voice attack tells me that I have set up a command for the page up key, but then instead of hitting that key when i issue the command, voice attack hits the 'numpad9' key because that key can also function as page up when the numlock is off, but my numlock is always on. So if I open up notepad and give the command to hit page up, it types a 9. If I give a command for page down, it types a 3. If I issue the command for the right arrow key it types a 6. I also tested turning numlock off while setting up commands for the arrow keys, and it still reverted back to using the numpad versions as soon as numlock was turned back on while issuing commands. 

I dont know much about programming, but in javascript the right arrow keyhas a numeral digit code of 39, while the numpad 6 key has a numeral code of 102, meaning that the 2 will never be mixed up as long as the program is coded correctly. Voice attack is clearly entering the numpad version of all of those keys even though when i'm setting the command up I am hitting the normal arrow keys and normal page up / page down keys. I tested voice attack and while my numlock was turned off, all my pokerstars hotkey commands worked as intended which explains why they worked the first day I tried them and not since then. 

This is something I cant really live with. The keys that i am using for pokerstars hotkeys are really the only keys on the keyboard that I can use. I need access to the numpad number keys so i can quickly enter custom bet amounts in certain situations when multitabling. And I cant use normal numbers, letters or symbols on the keyboard because then when I am typing, or chatting or using the internet while playing poker I will accidentally take actions that I didnt mean to take when my tables pop up asking for my action when im in a hand. I dont know how voice attack is coded but this seems like an easily fixed bug is it not? The numpad keys should have different codes than the arrow and pgup/pgdown keys while numlock is turned on3, or windows wouldnt be able to use the numlock key to change them from one to the other. 

[Gary]

Not a bug.  For instance, 1 on the alpha row has a scan code of 49.  1 on the numeric keypad has a scan code of 97 (when numlock is on) and 35 (when numlock is off... which is END).  You will probably need to turn off the numlock through VA if you HAVE to use the numeric keypad for numbers.  Otherwise, you will need to use the numbers on the alpha row.  I will look to see if there is a way for VA to turn hard turn on and off the numlock/capslock keys (not just press, but verify either on or off).

Hope that helps!

Gary

[Gary]

What I meant to say further is that if VA issues a keyboard press with scancode 97 when numlock is off, the Windows api interprets it as an End key press.  VA will not alter state of the keys on its own, you will have to tell it to do so.

Gary

[Gary]

I checked and there is a way to detect if num lock/caps lock/scroll lock are, 'locked'.  I was going to add a method in the Windows commands of the, 'other' screen to toggle, but it would require me to hard-set the key down/key up pause interval (as well as the input mode).  I do not want to do that, since everybody has a different set of what constitutes a proper pause.  So, what I have done is I have added three new tokens that can be tested, '{NUMOLOCKON}', '{CAPSOLOCKON}', '{SCROLLLOCKON}'.  They each return "1" if they are locked, "0" if not.  For now, they can be converted to numeric conditions and tested.  Once I get the text compare finished with the source being a token, it will eliminate that interim conversion step.

The macro would look something like this:

Set [isNumLockOn] value to the converted value of {NUMLOCKON}

Begin Condition : [isNumLockOn] Equals 0

    Press Num Lock key and hold for 0.2 seconds and release

    Press NumPad 1 key and hold for 0.2 seconds and release

    Press Num Lock key and hold for 0.2 seconds and release

Else

    Press NumPad 1 key and hold for 0.2 seconds and release

End Condition

Tokens will be in the next beta (NO ETA).

Gary

On Wednesday, May 27, 2015 at 10:52:53 PM UTC-5, pseudocalm wrote:

[pseudocalm]

Yea I after I made my post I realized I could probably just add a numlock press into the beginning and end of all my commands. But I'm glad you seem to have found a way to check for numlock. I will look forward to the beta. Thanks for all your help.

[pseudocalm]

So basically that macro will have to run for all numbers, all arrow keys, and insert delete, home, end, pgup, pgdown, and all the numpad symbols I take it.

[Gary]

That is correct.  As I said before, VA will pass a scan code and depending on the state of the keyboard, Windows will alter it.  I can research further to see if there is something deeper I can come up with (extended keys or whatever) but that will be in the coming weeks.

Gary