Just use the keymap function to make the keys do what you want.

alternatively, you can get a different keyboard.

This isn't a DOSBox problem, it's a "they don't make them like they used to" problem.

well that is unfortunate..

gamepads arent quite as good as the good ol' keyboard

You could also invest in a fancy keyboard...

im still not sure how this is a keyboard problem

i can hold all directional keys to my hearts content in something like crysis, etc

but in dosbox i have to take my fingers completely off the keys to use the next one, which really kills the experience

im still not sure how this is a keyboard problem

Yeah strange.

im detecting a little sarcasm? from a dosbox author nonetheless

reason being - this issue only occurs in dosbox, not in other games as previously mentioned

There's no sarcasm. It's a strange problem you have, and all possible solutions have already been posted.

All directional keys in Crysis as in WASD vs the arrow up, down, etc?

you could try playing with the cycles (increasing them by a lot)... seems to have helped someone else who had a problem of keyboard events not registering properly. Not the same problem, but it might be related.

Depends a lot on how a particular game reads the keyboard. If there is an issue, it's possible that it's in SDL, not in DOSBox itself, so you could try other emulators that use SDL. Could also try SET SDL_VIDEODRIVER=WINDIB, which might seem more about video than the keyboard, but I believe it forces SDL to not use DirectX for other things, such as DirectInput.

bloodbat wrote:

All directional keys in Crysis as in WASD vs the arrow up, down, etc?

yes

123kid wrote:

bloodbat wrote:

All directional keys in Crysis as in WASD vs the arrow up, down, etc?

yes

Yes what? Anyway, I have a Sidewinder keyboard, it is claimed you can press n keys simultaneously with it, it's partially true...when using WASD, if I use the arrows, they won't register properly if paired with...say...shift. I don't really get the need for pressing, say, up and down at the same time, after all, you can't go forward and backward at the same time (you'd come to standstill), nor can you traverse two diagonals at once; given that, Crysis might get the jammed keyboard too, you're just not noticing or your keyboard could be wired like mine and work with WASD but not the arrows (that seem to have gone out of style for such endeavors)

a mechanical keyboard should alleviate these problems as the circuit for keys are independent of one another, therefore wont jam on multiple key presses/holds in the same area

(i use arrows and WASD area for dosbox)

In some cases you may have to re-map the keyboard to suit your needs. I did and evrything works fine now except I have to remember I swapped a couple of keys. Try what ripsaw8080 wrote first.

old keyboards were optimised for a use of arrows and ctrl/alt/shift/space and were jamming with asdw with ctrl/alt/shift/space.

as modern games use asdw with ctrl/alt/shift/space so in order to gain no jamming this combinations they had to jamm arrows with ctrl/alt/shift/space i guess