Command keystrokes are slow

[Incurable-Rash]

Any idea what might be causing slow key strokes when commands run. My keyboard is fast but the commands from VA are super slow.

[Pfeil]

Does this occur in a specific application? Does it also occur in notepad, for example?

How slow is "slow"?

[Incurable-Rash]

Note pad is receiving the keystrokes correctly, it seems to be Elite dangerous that is having the keystroke issue. Somewhere, when the keystroke is sent to the game, it is slowing it down, but when I use the keyboard it works fine.

[Gary]

Do you have an example of a command you are using to send input to Elite?

Are these your commands or are they through a plugin/pack?  If it's through a plugin/pack, have you tried using your own commands to send input to Elite?

[Incurable-Rash]

No plug and play, thanks to this wonderful forum and the moderators help I was able to build a very good profile. Its a little big, 621 commands.
Here is the command I am using

Execute command, 'Divert Full Power to Engines - Keybinding' (and wait until it completes)
Pause 0.05 seconds
Execute command, 'Set Speed To 100% - Keybinding' (and wait until it completes)
Pause 5 seconds
Execute command, 'Contacts silent' (and wait until it completes)
Press D key and hold for 0.1 seconds and release
Pause 0.05 seconds
Press Space key and hold for 0.1 seconds and release
Execute command, 'Close; Close Panel; Exit Panel; exit' (and wait until it completes)
Pause 1 second
Press X key and hold for 0.1 seconds and release

[Gary]

This command (without factoring in subcommands (such as 'Divert Full Power to Engines - Keybinding') at all) would take six to seven seconds to execute.  I'd have to assume the subcommands will add some time to this.

You'll want to dive into your subcommands and see how much time they each use.


This would be the first time that I've heard in over ten years that an app/game was less responsive to api keyboard input than physical keyboard input.  I'd start rooting around on my system to find out what's changed recently, since I'm not getting reports from anybody else about Elite's behavior changing suddenly.

[Incurable-Rash]

I am wondering if it might be my computer system. I may at one point try a clean install, but I have experienced this before just not this bad. Over time I have increased the time the keys are pressed maybe 2 times. I am also experiencing there is a little more lag time for the game to start loading.
Not sure this will help but VA is throwing this error in the event log


Log Name:      Application
Source:        Application Error
Date:          8/5/2020 1:11:15 PM
Event ID:      1000
Task Category: (100)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      DESKTOP-TDVD3B8
Description:
Faulting application name: VoiceAttack.exe, version: 1.8.6.5, time stamp: 0x5f207c9e
Faulting module name: msvcrt.dll, version: 7.0.19041.1, time stamp: 0x4c1230ad
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00056dda
Faulting process id: 0x37c8
Faulting application start time: 0x01d66b5e28c00e74
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\VoiceAttack\VoiceAttack.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\msvcrt.dll
Report Id: 1747e203-eefc-4ff8-b3c0-7b50f4771599
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Application Error" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
    <Version>0</Version>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>100</Task>
    <Opcode>0</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2020-08-05T20:11:15.9824324Z" />
    <EventRecordID>66519</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation />
    <Execution ProcessID="0" ThreadID="0" />
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>DESKTOP-TDVD3B8</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>VoiceAttack.exe</Data>
    <Data>1.8.6.5</Data>
    <Data>5f207c9e</Data>
    <Data>msvcrt.dll</Data>
    <Data>7.0.19041.1</Data>
    <Data>4c1230ad</Data>
    <Data>c0000005</Data>
    <Data>00056dda</Data>
    <Data>37c8</Data>
    <Data>01d66b5e28c00e74</Data>
    <Data>C:\Program Files (x86)\VoiceAttack\VoiceAttack.exe</Data>
    <Data>C:\WINDOWS\System32\msvcrt.dll</Data>
    <Data>1747e203-eefc-4ff8-b3c0-7b50f4771599</Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

[Gary]

You'll definitely want to do a system file scan/repair if msvcrt.dll is acting up:  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4026529/windows-10-using-system-file-checker

[Incurable-Rash]

thanks that made it a little faster and fix the error I was getting, but its still slow. I was wondering, the profile I have was built over several years, I am wondering if, with all the updates, improvement and enhancements, are the old commands I have possibility causing the slow down or at least contributing to it?

[Gary]

You did mention that running against notepad showed no slowdown, though.
It would be highly unlikely, however, not beyond the realms of possibility that your .dat is somehow gummed up.

Have you tried just creating a new command with some simple actions just to see how it performs against Elite? 

Do you have, 'send commands to this window' checked?  If so, what do you have set as the target?  Wondering if there's somehow a delay in getting the target for input.

[Incurable-Rash]

So I made a new command using the direct keystrokes used by the game keybinds, the slowness is gone. I have a command that keeps track of the keystrokes for the panels and resets it to the first tab when the panel is closed. It was adapted from a profile that Ishmair shared. That was at least 4 years old I am wondering if that could be the culprit.
I can share the whole profile with you but not unless you want to see it, its not your mess its mine.

[Gary]

Try this if you would - Export the profile that you're having trouble with.  Then, import that profile with a different name.  Try the commands in the newly-imported profile and see if that makes a difference.

[Incurable-Rash]

I imported the profile to an new profile name. No change.

[Gary]

Next thing to try is to make sure it's not the .dat itself.  If you're up for it, you'll want to close VA and then rename your VoiceAttack.dat to something like VoiceAttack.old.  Your .dat file is located (usually) in C:\Users\gmage\AppData\Roaming\VoiceAttack

When you start up VA, import that profile you exported and try it out to see if it makes a difference.  When you're done, just close VA, delete the new VoiceAttack.dat that was just created and then rename VoiceAttack.old back to VoiceAttack.dat.

A lot of steps, but we're making sure it's not internal to VA that way.

[Incurable-Rash]

It did not make any difference. So I did a clean install of windows 10 and reloaded my software and now its working correctly.
Thanks for your help.

[Incurable-Rash]

after reloading windows 10 and upgrading to build 2004 it went back to slow again, so I reloaded only to 1909 build and it works great now