Keyboard Entry

[Greybeard]

After several hours of play with version 1.54 of Uplink, it is becoming apparent that speed may be important in the future. Before I get to that point, I must ask about an annoying little problem that could greatly affect my ability to play the game. Whenever keyboard entry is required, the _only_ way I can get the game to recognize my keystrokes is if I use one hand to hold the mouse in the entry field to keep it enabled and type with the other hand. That is extremely slow and would _never_ allow me to modify records or other tasks quickly before I was traced. Is this by design? If so, then it is unfortunate and I don't believe I wish to continue the game with that glaring flaw. If not, then perhaps it is my configuration or my machine and I can try it on another machine.
The game is great so far and any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Greybeard

[Xocrates]

unless you're mouse moves of it's own free will, I don't see why you can't simply place the cursor over the field and type with boths hands.

If you have to keep the mouse button pressed, then that's an issue and it is not supposed to happen

However, I've made every type of mission in the game and never had that problem. I'm not sure if I unconsciously keep my mouse over the field, but I don't think so.

You could bounce through more servers to increase the time before they trace you. A monitor bypass would also be helpful since that way you only start to the traced once you're inside the system.

[Digital-NW]

You don't need to hover over the field with the mouse either. Just hovering once and clicking is enough to keep the cursor there.

[Greybeard]

My situation is unique. I am bedridden and play on a laptop that is on a tilted laptop stand that is positioned over my bed. I have a USB attached mouse that sort of floats to the bottom of the table when I am not holding it in position. Placing the mouse inside a text field and left clicking does not "select" that field and keep it enabled. As soon as the mouse floats out of the entry field my keystrokes are ignored. Digital-NW's reply would imply my installation is behaving differently.

Joe

[Xocrates]

I just went and check. Apparently you do need to keep you mouse hovering the field in order to fill it. (unless there is some option I'm unaware of).

So it appears there's not much we can do for you at the moment except.
Maybe you can increase the number of servers you bounce through and other little things that might give you enough time to complete the mission. Other than that, there doesn't seem to be a lot that can be done.

[frenchfrog]

Find a mouse scripting program that permit to lock the mouse position on a giving keyboard shortcut.

I know that there is tons of mouse scripting programs on the usual shareware/freeware sites (ie http://www.nonags.com/nonags/index.html, http://www.softpedia.com/ ...........

[Montyphy]

I have a USB attached mouse that sort of floats to the bottom of the table when I am not holding it in position.

Can't you place the cursor over the text box, lift the mouse off the surface and place it on the bottom of the table while you type?

[Greybeard]

Great! Thanks for all the suggestions. My paranoia probably is getting the best of me. I've been using multiple links and I've upgraded my gateway and processors and I seem to have plenty of time. I'm learning how to become efficient and my concern is probably unfounded. I had difficulty with the demo but that was before I found out about adjusting task time alotments.

greybeard

[Greybeard]

My paranoia was very well founded. I managed to complete all the missions except some mission that requires me to get around a proxy. I purchased a proxy disabler. I'm out of money with two processors running at a total of 240gQ/s or whatever the units are and I don't have enough time to complete the mission. I modify the record but while I'm waiting for the proxy to execute I'm traced. So, I guess that means I did not get very far in this game before I had to trash it and move on to another game. I enjoy adventure style games and not action/reaction finger manipulation and high speed thinking type of games which Uplink is apparently a part of.

Joe

[Xocrates]

A trick is to start the proxy disable before changing the record (for instances, as soon as you enter the server, start the proxy disable and while it finishes do whatever you have to do)

[Shwart!!]

Usually it will get about half done before you start being traced, so you can wait until that point to do the things that immediately get a trace.

Shwart!!

[Montyphy]

More bounce nodes the better!

[Greybeard]

Yeah. I enabled the display of each and every node that I have access to and clicked on each and every one of them to include them in the path. When I run the proxy disabler it runs soooo sloooowly even when I give it all the CPU time I always end up getting traced. I do not see a solution.

Joe

[Digital-NW]

I know you all have moved on, but I just wanted to say "For the password field this is true (the mouse must stay hovered). Sorry for my misinformation.

[Montyphy]

Yeah. I enabled the display of each and every node that I have access to and clicked on each and every one of them to include them in the path. When I run the proxy disabler it runs soooo sloooowly even when I give it all the CPU time I always end up getting traced. I do not see a solution.

Joe

Go to the Uplink mission listing and keep contacting each and every mission you like doing. Ask for more money, then ask for all money upfront, if they refuse, ask for half, if they refuse, break contact and try again. Get enough money so that you can afford the stuff required to use bypassers. If you run out of missions then just fast forward until more appear.

If you only go for Global Criminal Database, Academic Database, and Social Security related missions then it will make doing them easier since you should be able to do two or three missions in one hack.