scripts and cycle_delay

nitus · Post by **nitus** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 2:41 am

Since I'm not much of a keyboard user, I created a script to bind my controls to a playstation-style control pad.

What I've noticed is that, on servers with very low cycle_delay settings, the control pad seems to give me an unfair advantage over kb users. On such servers, I wind up using the keyboard, because using the controller makes me feel like I'm cheating.

I don't imagine that many people are using a controller, but maybe someone can help regardless.

What I want to do is introduce a delay to the script, so that it can't send keystrokes faster than I could do it manually. My feeling is that if the script is superhumanly fast, then I'm cheating - I'm not a cheater, and don't want to use an unfair control advantage.

My question, therefore, is - what delay (in milliseconds) would be considered fair? If there was a utility that I could use to test out my own keystroke speed, that would work, but I know of no such utility.

What would be considered an average speed?

On servers with more than 0.03 cycle_delay it doesn't matter, since the control script is no faster than double-click speed on such servers. But on servers where cycle_delay is much lower, the controller is noticeably and consistently faster than most people's keyboard double-bind speed. I just can't bring myself to use it on those servers.

Jonathan · Post by **Jonathan** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 2:51 am

I think you'll have to explain why and how it's faster first. I have no idea what kind of advantage you're talking about, other than that it has to do with rapid repeated triggering of certain actions.

Fair: single bind, no automatic repeating.

nitus · Post by **nitus** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 5:48 am

Using the control pad, I can seemingly pull off faster turns than I can with the keyboard.

I'm using a script to bind the control pad buttons to various joystck buttons - for the most part, just z and x on a number of the control pad buttons, but also for looking 9via the analog stick).

Either because the control pad is more responsive, or because my kb sucks, using the control pad executes significantly faster keystrokes than my keyboard does.

On servers with low cycle_delay, this can be faster than what most players are able to do with multiple kb double-binds.

I want to introduce a delay time into the script so that my control pad script can't outperform keyboard users.

I hope that makes it more clear. In point of fact, even with that edge I get pasted on most servers. It's just that I don't feel comfortable with it - it feels like cheating, assuming it doesn't feel like too twitchy to be playable.

I need to introduce a delay time between each keystroke that the script can execute, so that it "plays the same" as it would if I was able to use the kb.

Post by **Tank Program** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 6:39 am

I would suggest something in the range of 20ms.

DDMJ · Post by **DDMJ** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 7:55 am

Umm, do you have any screenshots illustrating this 'super fast turning'?

nitus · Post by **nitus** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 11:41 pm

I would suggest something in the range of 20ms.

Thanks. Now all I have to do it figure out how

. I'm a scripting newbie, too.

Umm, do you have any screenshots illustrating this 'super fast turning'?

Hang on, I'll take some. Edit: Here's a shot from Tigers Network Classic Play: http://www3.telus.net/nitus/sh1.PNG.

It probably doesn't look like much, but it's as fast as possible with the cycle_delay on that server. Even if I had 8 keys mapped for turning on kb, and more skill, I don't think I'd be able to casually pull off a turn like that using the KB.

I can do that easily and instantly with the control pad. Partly because a playstation-style controller is more ergonomic, but it still feels vaguely too fast on some servers.

I have seen more than a few players pulling off maneuvers that are a lot more striking than this, but I think it's pretty obvious that a lot of those players don't use dbs at all, but have pre-scripted maneuvers (like zzzxxx.

Maybe I'm just being cynical, and maybe my maneuvering isn't as spectacular as I think. Who knows.

Post by **Tank Program** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 8:02 am

I think that's about normal actually, now that I look at it.

DDMJ · Post by **DDMJ** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 4:07 pm

nitus wrote:Here's a shot from Tigers Network Classic Play: http://www3.telus.net/nitus/sh1.PNG.

nitus wrote:Maybe I'm just being cynical, and maybe my maneuvering isn't as spectacular as I think. Who knows.

I really don't suggest you put in a delay since now that I am seeing your turning, it really isn't that super tight (since it will end up being a disadvantage for you).

I did a quick little maneuver (I only have 2 keys binded to each turn) in Tigers Network Classic Play. Here's a screenshot (click it):

nitus · Post by **nitus** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 12:04 am

I see a lot of people turning tighter than that, and drawing supercomplicated mazes at lightspeed, but I kind of assumed that such player were using macros.

Now I think it's just because of my keyboard - this keyboard is old and kind of clunky, and doesn't seem able to send fast keystrokes.

Thanks for the help!