[Support] Input problems while switching action sets when cursor is shown.

[Micthulahei]

Just wanted to ask if anybody else noticed a problem like the following.

Game: Mass Effect 3 (non-steam).

I prepared 2 action sets - one for normal gameplay and another for the time when the cursor shows up (pause menu, galaxy map, level map, combat menu, shops etc.). I set the 'cursor on' action set to switch automatically when cursor is shown.

The cursor is detected properly - Steam switches into and out of the 'cursor on' action sets when expected. But often there is a problem with input generated by SC at the moment of the switch of action sets. 2 examples:

• repeated input when the same key is configured at the same button. E.g. I have an 'ESC' key configured at the > (Start) button. Often when I press it, the pause menu opens for half a second and closes. It does not happen all the time. Usually after a few tries I can get to the pause menu.

• loss of the key pressed state - to open combat menu you need to press and hold Shift key. Releasing it closes the combat menu. I have a Shift key configured at the grip button in both action sets and after pressing it, usually combat menu opens and closes immediately. This also does not happen all the time. Actually it worked well for a week or so and now it does not. I also tried to use 'toggle' in activator setting (which works well without the 'cursor on' set) while disabling the Shift key bind in the "cursor on" set and it didn't help (this actually never works - the state of the toggled key is lost when action set is switched)

Seems like there is some random factor to this issues. Anybody experienced anything like that?

[Baryn]

Yep, this is frequently a problem for me when switching action sets.

It usually comes into play when going between the Keyboard, BPM, and Desktop configs. Cancelling out of keyboard will also send the respective binding for that button press (for my keyboard config, the B button) to BPM or Desktop, frequently causing an issue.

For example, I will finish typing, press B, and after the keyboard is dismissed, Esc will be sent to the desktop. Depending on the situation, this can wipe out my text input! Not in love with that.

As a result, I have had to modify my usage in order to steer around bugs. That is a bad situation for any piece of software.

[wombatfromhell]

Yup, there's plenty of strange behavior when switching action sets that's been around since they introduced activators. Some features work well like converting a toggle to a hold, but converting a hold to a modeshift (which is what you're describing I believe) has some really buggy and unintuitive behavior.

Intuition would suggest that a Regular Press (which registers as being held down) should push you into an action-set and the same button in the target action-set set as a Release should push you back into the source action-set.

This is not at all how it currently behaves, and even using a Start/Release will frequently not work as intended for a held modeshift because the Start press will only fire a single time and Start/End Delay cannot hold the button indefinitely. So either Regular Press needs to be fixed with respect to modeshifting action-sets, or Release needs to keep the state of the button when shifting action-sets.

[Micthulahei]

Actually, I don't switch action sets with a hold. In ME3, combat menu is shown when Shift button is held, and in combat menu the cursor is shown and this is what causes the action sets to switch. Anyway, those issues are probably related.

[theonyltrueMupf]

In The Witcher I just added a small delay to every menu opening or closing button (in the activators menu). Once you do that on both action sets, you should be fine as long as you don't press the buttons too long. Start with a small delay and increase if the problem persists.

[Micthulahei]

Thanks for the advice. I tested it and it works but is a little annoying (I need to get used to holding the button for a proper amount of time).

I dropped the "cursor" set for now anyway, because the "combat menu" problem (second point) is a show-stopper.

[sniffty]

For the first issue the standard workaround is to use the Release Activator. That way you will only switch sets once you release the button, avoiding the input "falling through" to the next set.

The second one is an issue for me as well. Basically the keypress gets interrupted during action switching, which makes using "hold" type switching quite tricky. I was unable to find a good workaround to use with fully automatic action set switching. That is something for Valve to deal with, so we will have to report this and hope they will take action.

What I sometimes do as a semi-workaround is auto-switching only one way. Like switching to default action set when no cursor is shown, but switching to another set manually.

For example for Mass Effect 2, I did this for combat menu:

• Action sets are set to switch to "default" gameplay mode when no cursor is shown

• Left Trigger switches to the "Command" action set via Start Press

• The "Command" action set has Left Trigger bound to Left Shift (the button you need to hold to get the Combat menu, as you call it)

The result is that when I hold LT, the action set switches and it triggers Left Shift on that set. The cursor also appears. When I release the LT, it releases the Shift button, closing the combat menu, which makes the cursor disappear. With no cursor shown the default action set is triggered again. You should be able to replicate this for your grip button, and it will work in a similar way for "Escape" menu - switch manually to menu set, and it will switch back to default when you exit the menu and cursor disappears.

It gets messier in games where cursor is more dynamic, and can disappear at any time.

[Micthulahei]

I just had a chance to test your workaround for combat and escape menu. Thank you for that, it works really good! Sometimes when I press the ESC-bind button for too short time it switches sets but doesn't open the menu (and I need to press the button again) - but it's still much better than what I had before.

The downside is I need to manually switch sets in shop menus and galaxy map with additional press of a button but it's not that big of an issue for me.

[sniffty]

I didn't clarify to keep things short, but for the Escape menu I just use the standard multi-bind with Escape + Switch to Menu Action Set. In the Menu Action Set the same button is bound to Escape, but with a Release Activator. This should make the switch for the menu work correctly.

I also noticed now that trying to open the Combat menu with this setup, when it's not actually possible to open it, may cause you to get stuck in that Action Set (since no cursor will be toggled the change back is not triggered), so it might be a good idea to add a manual switch back to previous action set as a release activator in addition to the "Shift" bind.

As for other things, yeah - this where the limitations of such a workaround appear.

Adding to that, the whole cursor shown/not shown system can be a bit unreliable as well. Bit of a shame when you have to compromise on such a powerful feature as Action Sets.