G-Series Gaming Keyboards

[kgober Logi Guru III]

first, this is a user forum.  Logitech provides it so that users can share knowledge and experience with each other.  the engineering staff doesn't read anything posted here unless a mod forwards it to them.  and I wouldn't be surprised if that already happened here, although no mod is going to confirm it because that would cause people to get their hopes up for no reason if engineering decides it's impractical to implement, and because even if engineering decides to do it they don't need to be constantly nagged with "is it ready yet? can I beta-test it?  how about alpha-test then?" questions.  so they keep quiet on the topic -- if they add this you will know when you see it in the release notes for a new driver version.

second, there is nothing wrong with six-month-old drivers.  I will gladly take 2-year-old drivers if they work reliably, rather than new drivers every week that fix one thing but break something else (like you commonly see with video card drivers).  I am still using v3.02 (over a year old) on my main gaming PC, because that release was rock-solid, while v3.03 and v3.04(a) had some issues.

third, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, you will be personally better off if you concentrate on getting smarter yourself, rather than devoting your effort to getting Logitech to make the software smarter for you.  yes, they could expend resources making the product more 'accessible', but they already have a mechanism in place for that -- these forums.  and while you might be a novice to Lua, you are not a novice in the area of macros and keybindings, and the features that you're asking for will make Key Profiler more complicated and harder to understand for the true noobs out there who can't even grasp the idea that G keys aren't real keyboard keys and you can't bind them directly to game actions without using a keyboard key as an intermediate step.

the goal for Logitech here is to keep Key Profiler simple enough that idiots can use it, while still having an escape-hatch that allows more savvy users to make it do what they want.  right now, that escape hatch is Lua and it works very well.  it's easy to use, and easy to learn.  I suggest you give it a try.  as a start, make a post stating that you need some help with a script.  be sure to include what the actual keys are that you want the script to emit -- this was the only information lacking from your original post.  I'm sure someone will be able to help you, and once you have something that works to build upon, you can go on from there.

-ken

[dankerr]

Kgober- I appreciate everything your saying. I have been thinking about trying to learn Lua because of all of this, by I shouldn't have to spend 10+ hours learning it to run hardware I paid a premium price for. And I understand them making this software for real noobs, but I don't think adding a "right click" option to add the before mentioned macro assignments would confuse anyone, while also making it WAY more customizable for the rest of the users. Hopefully this does get passed up, I think this would only improve their product and bring in more users, while especially lowering the forum question and complaints. Oh, and I really appreciate all the users out there doing Logitechs work for them. It is very helpful getting scripts for moves from other users, the only problem is I only have weekends to play my game, when I ask the question on Friday, I may not get help until Sunday or longer, when WE wouldn't have to beg for help if they added a "right click" macro option in the recording section. I understand it won't be done overnight, I just hope they care enough to help us all out in upcoming versions. Any recommendations on Macro software to run my Logitech G13 gameboard?

[Mpyra]

Also, i believe i read somewhere that they limited the lua functioning of the g13, so that people wouldn't be able to use it to write bots or use the keyboard to facilitate a bot, sounds like it's a fine line on that issue...

[dankerr]

I don't know anything about Lua or bots, that's the problem, 95% of their customers that have this G13 don't know how to write script.... Of any kind. I think it woul be GREAT if they took these suggestions and added them to their next product update. Or I suppose at the very minimum least of the least, post game profiles, AND Lua Script for the most common and advanced functions where we could copy and paste it only needing to change the keyboard and G13 buttons that we would like to use. After all these years, don't tell me no one has suggested this to them and they just ignored another important request to help the other 95% of their customers that use these keyboards. I don't have anyother keyboards- the G15, G11, G17 etc. But I imagine they have the same problems and issues. What can we do to get help? Other than relying on ourselves/other users that actually are kind and care enough to help fellow players/users?

[ElAsno]

Hi dankerr,

How can you be so sure about that 95% you keep talking about? Is there any article on this?

********

I don't recall anybody suggesting that the G13 should be easier to work with. Normally users come to this or other forums, they ask for help to do a certains profile or help and they eventually learn how to do it themselves.

This "I-totally-refuse-to-learn-something-new" attitude is completely new.

Did you try to do that script you wanted? If you want I will help you to do it but you have to try at least. Come on mate, give it a try and if you can't do it I'll help you.

[dankerr]

I've been to the site you have listed at the bottom of your posting, it's a good site, but the game I want to play isn't on there.  Other than that, somone put a LOT of work into that site and it's awesome.  I really appreciate what you or that person did to create all those profiles and then post them, but why doesn't Logitech have ANYTHING like that, that I can imort or copy from the place where I got the product- the G13?

The 95% is nothing official, I guess that was my guess-timatiion.  I've asked everyone I know and everyone at Best-Buy including Geek Squad, and a couple Local Computer Repair shops and I ran into 1 person who knew Lua.  So I guess my numbers would be 2% know script, but I thought I was generous saying 5%, you think it's higher than that?  Granted I didn't ask people at a college, or people in the 13-20 range, most were probably between 25-45.

This all started because I asked in another forum if anyone knew how to make button G10 Stand, Crouch, and prone in 1 button, by pressing it 3 different times, and if there was a "Cycle" option in the Macro editor that I was missing.

I have been trying to learn Lua, I spent SEVERAL hours yesterday reading and trying to learn this script- http://lua.gts-stolberg.de/en/Variablen.php  It was translated from German...I think, do you know a better site to learn this?  I'm all ears if you have a good recommendation.

But I didn't write any script, I spent all that time prying to learn the "paramaters" of the code and terms- Variables, Global, Local, Blocks, Types, NIL, Conditions, Functions, Tables, Brackets, Charachters, Numbers, Symbols, Strings, Color of numbers, assignments, arraignments, when to Capitalize a letter, when to add spaces, when to start with an underscore _ etc.  I don't have any one here to teach me, I'm trying to learn from reading it.

I'm JUST saying it's a LOT of work and time invested into learning something I know nothing about,  to control a product that could ALL be avoided if they JUST ADDED A RIGHT-CLICK Macro edit option with some more options...Cycle, Double tap, tripple tap, double command, sniper assistant, and so on, keep the script, just add this...

I can tell nothing will be done, so I will just learn to play with it as it is, using 4 buttons to do things that could be done with 1, until I learn script, or find a helpful forum user. 

My only reason for coming here is to see if I was missing something, and asking them if they could add these options because it's so User Friendly and easy to use with the Pinnacle Game Profiler.  It didn't take but 5 minutes to learn, but maybe it's my fault, if I would've learned how to write script or code in school, I wouldn't be in this situation now.

If we can't talk about this here, where can we talk about it?.

[kgober Logi Guru III]

if you need help writing a script, ask for it.  and if the person trying to help you asks you to provide more details about your problem, like exactly what keys need to be sent when, please provide it rather than ignoring the request and complaining that you get no help.

if you need help learning Lua, ask for it.  my opinion on this is that the easiest way to learn enough Lua to write Key Profiler scripts is to look at other people's scripts.  most people's scripts use only a small fraction of the features of the language, so you can be productive if you learn only that small fraction rather than everything covered in the online tutorials and reference documentation.  try searching this forum for "OnEvent" to find examples of scripts.  also, if you ever provide enough information that somebody can help you with your prone/crouch/stand script, you can use that as an example too.

-ken

[dankerr]

Ken, ok, thanks. I wasn't trying to be rude or ignore someoneS help, I really do appreciate it. I found a work around that by making some changes in the In-Game profile itself, luckily it had one, but the one I'm playing next does not. You and other users are something that I have found reliable, Logitech has not been at all, not a reply, nothing. Thanks for your info on Lua, I had no clue. I'll do some searching for "OnEvent" and see what I can find, I looked at a couple examples the other day, but it's hard to figure out and understand when I don't know what words, numbers, symbols, tables, etc mean. I'll keep looking at different ones, find out what they do and see if I can't pick a little bit up.

[ElAsno]

Well you are right to say that certainly the .pdf that comes with the Script editor is note the easiest way to learn Lua.

Lets begin with something easy. Do you think you can create a script that simulates a certain key stroke when lets say G20 is pressed, and a different key stroke when G20 is released?

If you find that too difficult, then just create a script that simulates a single key stroke.

Try it yourself. If you don't succed I'll post the solution and explain you how it works. We'll go slow and easy :-)

By the way, which game do you want the script for?

[dankerr]

You don't have to do this, trust me, I really appreciate it, and if I need something specific I would gladly ask, but there is no way I could ask someone to teach me this script language in their free time. I didn't have time to look at anything yesterday after my last post, but the only thing I know about this script is what I read on your site "I think" on last Friday or Saturday. type some phrase- assign key "G" then something else- "assign key #" when pressed= Something. I plan on reading more when I have time, hopefully tonight, but it may not be until the weekend, if even then, have family member going into surgery. Right now I'm playing Cod4 MW1, next game will either be, Mass Effect 2, Crysis(+ Wars + Warhead) or Splinter Cell Double Agent, or maybe Battlefield 2 complete edition. I know, I know, games are all a little older, that's the way I roll, I think I got all these together for less than $20. I find it hard to spend $60 on 1 game, last time I did that it was Madden '09. I love a good deal. Thank you very much for your help and offer, it's beyond generous, but I can't ask you to do that. I will ask if I have something specific though.