[OptimusX]

After booting up freespace since finishing the first release of derelict 10ish years ago, I'm enjoying this saga with the SCP.  Finished FS1 and FS2, ST:R, TVWP Act 1, and now I'm trying Derelict SCP.  I am now having the same problem I had 10 years ago.  In the second mission, I am tasked with pushing "1" to drop a nav buoy.  It didn't work then and it doesn't work now.  I got around it years ago by cheating and using FRED, but I can't remember exactly how, and I would prefer to play it in game.

Does anyone have a clue why, even after all this time, my number key can't do the job?

[General Battuta]

What are your number keys bound to?

Reset default keyboard controls and try it.

[Capt_Thunder]

check if Num Lock on or if you have bound that key to something else

[MatthTheGeek]

Are you using something else than a qwerty keyboard ? I know by experience than Freespace only supports qwerty, even if I never had any issues with those missions on my azerty...

[OptimusX]

When I asked this same question a decade ago, I got the same responses that didn't do a whole lot of good, lol.  I'm good now...I changed the trigger in Fred to "X" instead of any of the number keys.  I drop a missile decoy with the same key and it still works.  It is strange that after 10 years, without using any of the same hardware, I reproduced this "bug" somehow....

[General Battuta]

Did you actually try any of these solutions?

[OptimusX]

Yes I did.  I am using a QWERTY keyboard.  I had the "1" key bound to "look left," since the joystick I bought doesn't have a hat control.  When it didn't work on the mission I cleared the map to that key.  I also did the Num Lock thing.  Still no joy.  They were pretty basic solutions that I attempted before I posted here. 

I did a google search first, and found this HLP post from 2006:  http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=38138.0

Same problem, and the OP never responded back to the thread.  When I first had the problem 10ish years ago, I was using FS2 Retail and the original unvoiced Derelict.

[General Battuta]

Yes I did.  I am using a QWERTY keyboard.  I had the "1" key bound to "look left," since the joystick I bought doesn't have a hat control.  When it didn't work on the mission I cleared the map to that key.  I also did the Num Lock thing.  Still no joy.  They were pretty basic solutions that I attempted before I posted here. 

That's the issue. The game is expecting you to press the key bound to 'multiplayer message all', which is normally '1'. Simply clearing the key binding isn't enough, you need to reset to defaults.

It's partly a problem with the mission design - they should have taken this into account by using '$' signs - but in the future if you hit this issue, please reset to default controls.

[OptimusX]

Well, I'm glad to hear that this problem has finally been diagnosed.  I suppose it would have been possible for it to work if I remapped that actual command to another key, would it have told me to use that button instead?  Anyway, I think this is something that should be included in the freespace wiki and readme file....

[General Battuta]

That depends on whether the mission designer was smart enough to put '$' signs around the keypress command and whether they work in this context.

[Droid803]

The way the engine handles key-pressed is rather counter-intuitive (if the $ sign method is unavailable), for both FREDders and Players, to be honest.
One would expect the function to interpret the key itself (or whatever function bound to that key rather than whatever key the function was bound to by default was changed to). If its not documented I doubt anyone would assume that key-pressed gets remapped along with controls, especially with the way the options are presented in FRED. They give you "1", instead of "the key for multiplayer message all" which is really how it works.

I'm no coder though so I have no idea if the 'ideal' behavior is even possible.