It doesn’t go red when I hold FN and Pause-Break on my keyboard. It flickers something really quick, too quick to see. Does that mean anything? And yes, I’m holding down both buttons.
Enter your motherboard setup and check if there’s an option for inverting the usage of the function key. That way, you might be able to directly press pause. Also, try a keyboard tester outside RetroArch (there are even online alternatives) and see if it’s configured properly (or even broken).
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That may be the cause - if the laptop firmware is reporting both key down and key up messages on a simple press, it may happen too quickly for the game to notice. Normally, key down is reported when key is pressed, and key up is reported only when it is actually released. A workaround, if somewhat awkward, would be to bring up the on-screen keyboard of Dosbox-Pure and press Pause there. Unfortunately that requires pressing the L3 button, which needs to be assigned to a keyboard key (it does not have on by default).
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Hey there. I want to replay this great game.
I’m playing Warcraft 1 with DOSBox pure, and I decided to tweak things up for the minimal shortcuts in that old classic, so maybe you’ll find my settings interesting.
I dont use focus mode but I’ve set keyboard keys to gamepad buttons in Retroarch > Settings > Input > Retropad bind > Port 1 controls. Then I used DOSBox Pure gamepad mapper for mapping those fake gamepad buttons to keyboard keys… XD
You can display DOSBox gamepad mapper with L3 then L or R, same as the virtual keyboard.
So you could map for example WASD for DPad Up/Left/Down/Right in Retroarch, then in DOSBox Pure assign those to the arrow keys.
And then 1, 2, 3, 4 for L1, L2, R1, R2, then for 1, 2, 3, 4.
Then Q for L3, then for A for the attack moves, E for R3 for S for unit stop. Ctrl for select for ctrl.
And then finally F for start for PAUSE… XD
If I count right you’ve got 24 gamepad inputs available in total so that should do the trick, and maybe even be more ergonomic than having to move the hand around the keyboard. If you dont like moving the screen with WASD you can also use those keys for other command shortcuts you would use.
There’s also a very handy “action wheel” you can call with for example a thumb mouse button. It’s a radial menu that you can customise with additionnal keys and key combos (I use it for the function keys that are already assigned in Retroarch to savestates and the likes).
I also just realised you could use more than one “fake” gamepad if you really need to map all the letters and numbers.
If you got around your issue keep us posted, might be useful when I find some time to replay that game. TA Kingdom also.
I just tried the game in windows 10. There’s software that allows it to be played in windows 10, I don’t like it because I find games changed to run on modern systems lose something (in this case the briefing screen of the missions won’t play the audio). My pause button does work when I play on windows 10, it just doesn’t work in retroarch. I think it’s because my computer won’t allow the pause button to register long enough for retroarch. I tried online keyboard testers and found that my pause button only registers for a split second, just like it did in the keyboard tester in retroarch, and I think that’s not long enough for retroarch to sense it’s been pressed.
EDIT: In case I didn’t make it clear, keyboard testers won’t register pause being held down, even if that’s what I’m doing. I don’t know if that matters but I’m sure it has something to do with my problem.
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It probably is related to your problem. To avoid mistaken key strokes, some apps require a minimal press time to recognize the input. Perhaps the DosBox core works the same.
However, it’s kind of weird that your keyboard behaves like that. Correct behavior would be to maintain the key activated for as long as the user is pressing it. It may be faulty wiring, or just a quirk of your notebook. Anyway, the only way to be sure is to attach another keyboard (USB or wireless) or using a virtual keyboard. If it works there, then it’s settled and you can open an issue to see if the core maintainer can help you somehow.