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>
Reproduced A/B on the dev box: with RP412STEAM=1 the wired pad
disappears from XInput because Steam Input intercepts Xbox controllers
for AppID 480. One-time client setting fixes it (disable Steam Input
for Spacewar, or globally for Xbox controllers); PadRIO hot-connects
within 3s once released. Our own AppID will configure this
server-side.
environ.ini in the dist now ships RP412STEAM=1 (the packer regenerates
the file, which was wiping the hand edit each round); machines without
Steam credentials fall back to TCP cleanly.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
CydandClaude Fable 5