Author Topic: VoiceAttack hotkey stops working after a variable amount of time  (Read 2172 times)

AshDarko

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 4
VoiceAttack hotkey stops working after a variable amount of time
« on: February 05, 2021, 09:21:07 AM »
Hi everyone, looking for some help please..

As the title suggests, at various times after opening the program and using it for a while the hotkey to enable listen stop working altogether along with any other keyboard command. I mainly use voice commands and have a few binded to keyboard.

my hotkey was capslock, which i bound to a button on joystick, i have also tried just using a button on joystick and all works fine but then it just stops again. No error showing, program stays open.

If i go to the global hotkey and set it to the same again, it seems to start workign again for a bit and then stops.

I play StarCitizen and i run windows 10.

I used to play a lot in elite a few years ago now and never had this issue.

the profile i use is self created, and no hcs enabled on it. Just plain commands.

pls help.. also dont know if there is a logging or error log function?

Gary

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2827
Re: VoiceAttack hotkey stops working after a variable amount of time
« Reply #1 on: February 05, 2021, 10:46:00 AM »
VoiceAttack's hotkeys work by hooking into Windows to receive key presses.  If another application is also hooking into Windows or if a situation arises within Windows where VoiceAttack's hooks cannot receive those key presses, the hotkeys will cease to work.  Going into the options screen will effectively reset the hooks -  which means the hooks are working right up until something else is knocking them out (essentially, when it comes to hooking into Windows this way, the last man in wins).  This is not a new issue, and it's not a VoiceAttack issue - it's just how Windows hooks work.

So, since the last man in wins, what you can do is just create a command in your profile that executes a, 'Windows Misc Function' action with the, 'Reset Keyboard Shortcuts' item selected.   To do this, create a new command.  Click, 'Other' then choose, 'Windows Misc Functions' then select, 'Reset Keyboard Shortcuts'.  You can execute this command by voice next time your keyboard hook goes away.

On a side note, I'm looking at more ways to make VA's hooks more aggressive in terms of not being overridden.  This would end up being a user preference for sure, as it may not be desirable for a lot of folks.

AshDarko

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 4
Re: VoiceAttack hotkey stops working after a variable amount of time
« Reply #2 on: February 05, 2021, 03:09:36 PM »
Hi Gary!

Thank you so much for the reply! I will look into this now, as about to start a session. What you're saying makes sense as another program is detecting the keypress and muting my audio on stream, and while it works for the most part it does make sense what you're saying.

Will report back!

AshDarko

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 4
Re: VoiceAttack hotkey stops working after a variable amount of time
« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2021, 03:19:09 PM »
Actually as VA is not listening by default, I dont think this will work as I cant activate it if my hotkeys dont work, my hotkeys set VA to listen mode

AshDarko

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 4
Re: VoiceAttack hotkey stops working after a variable amount of time
« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2021, 03:37:12 PM »
Is it possible to have this command repeat say, every 15mins?

Pfeil

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4759
  • RTFM
Re: VoiceAttack hotkey stops working after a variable amount of time
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2021, 03:39:21 PM »
You can use the "Repeating" option set to "Repeat continuously until stopped", and insert a 15 minute pause into the command.

EricM

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 13
  • VA user since 2017
Re: VoiceAttack hotkey stops working after a variable amount of time
« Reply #6 on: February 12, 2021, 02:32:42 PM »
Actually as VA is not listening by default, I dont think this will work as I cant activate it if my hotkeys dont work, my hotkeys set VA to listen mode

You could assign the command to a cheep USB game pad button.  I don't think it's affected by the hook bug.