Key-command audit: the up arrow was the abort key; bombs disarmed

Full input-surface audit of the PC keyboard channel. The arcade abort
was the typed ampersand character (0x26), but the Win32 port feeds
WM_KEYUP VIRTUAL-KEY codes into the same channel - and VK_UP is also
0x26. The hat look-up key aborted the mission: that was every mystery
abort across the multiplayer test rounds. Likewise the E key (0x45,
the right pedal!) dumped the event queue on every release.

Disarmed: plain 0x26 and E are swallowed at the L4 layer; the abort
answers only to the deliberate Alt+Q chord (translated to the legacy
engine code, so APP.cpp is untouched); the debug toggles (wireframe
Alt+W, predator vision Alt+V, frame dump Alt+F, perf stats, event
queue on Alt+E now) arm only with RP412DEVKEYS=1. The cheat-string
manager has no PC-keyboard strings and the trace-log keys are
compiled out of release - both inert.

Verified live: a volley of VK_UP releases mid-race leaves the mission
running; Alt+Q aborts on demand. Docs and the dist README updated.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Cyd
2026-07-13 09:47:04 -05:00
co-authored by Claude Fable 5
parent 18c6f05cf1
commit fbd23ff1ca
4 changed files with 59 additions and 14 deletions
+7 -4
View File
@@ -61,10 +61,13 @@ this server-side; test machines need the client setting.)
## The abort key
The ampersand key (Shift+7) is the arcade mission-abort. It ends YOUR
mission on the spot - score banked, back to the lobby room. If the
host presses it, the race ends for everyone (members return to the
room too). Every "crash on keypress" so far has been this key.
**Alt+Q** aborts your mission deliberately - score banked, back to the
lobby room. If the host presses it, the race ends for everyone.
(History: the legacy abort was the '&' character, and the Win32 key
channel made the UP ARROW - the hat look key! - collide with it. That
was every mystery abort in rounds five and six. Plain arrow keys are
now safe; debug keys like wireframe/frame-dump need RP412DEVKEYS=1.)
## Notes and knowns