I've run into a problem where my character wants to start running backwards and I'm limited on what I can press to either pause to menu / resume game, tab+shift to a different program in Windows, autosave, or close the program. After the program closes, my keyboard cannot even type anything on other Windows programs, and I am left with the hasty option of having to restart my computer.

This is the first game that I've played on this machine using a keyboard instead of a gamepad, so I'm guessing that it has something to do with key combinations with Windows? I'll do some more research to see if I can find a solution, but please feel free to leave any advice.

I haven't been able to play this game in over ten years, and would very much like to play this game through at least one more time..

So are you saying your keyboard works fine, then you launch the game, and then at some point your keyboard goes screwy and stays that way even after you quit the game?

Perhaps you can provide more details on exactly what happens and what kind of keyboard you have.

This is a very strange problem. Windows does have a few shortcuts for accessibility functions but they result in a loud beeping sound and a pop-up when triggered, so usually you wouldn't be hitting them without knowing.

If the keyboard has its own custom drivers and/or configuration software forth you should try updating or reinstalling the drivers to see if that fixes it. You could also try a different keyboard (if you have one on hand) to determine whether this behaviour is specific to that keyboard.

Failing that you could try setting the game to run in fullscreen windowed mode, which might fix your problem and will also make switching to other programs more seamless.

To do this go to the installation folder (C:\GOG Games\System Shock 2, or wherever you installed it to) and edit cam_ext.cfg

Go to the force_windowed entry and remove the semicolon in front of it so it just looks like

force_windowed

and save your changes. This will make the game run in a borderless fullscreen window (assuming the in-game resolution is set the same as your desktop resolution).

@Arkose: Thanks. I'll give this a shot.

@Savant99: I played this game for two hours without any issues. Then again, two hours later the gameplay gets more intense and I'm like Michael Flatley on the keyboard. I checked into anything related to hotkeys or shortcut keys or similar issues, which I remember having dealings with on XP. I had already disabled anything suggested to be a problem with Windows 7...

I use a HP wireless keyboard/mouse combo ( Keyboard model: KBI ), and the performance of both has been less than satisfactory. I'm considering looking into a wireless combo that is more responsive...

Are you sure it's not sweat getting onto the IR receiver? ;) Seriously though, have you tried changing the batteries?

The problem still came up using brand new batteries. It also came up using windowed mode.

The weirdest thing is that it happens on random keys. I'm wondering if I might accidentally be pressing the Windows key, and in conjunction to another key that would cause something wonky to happen. I'll give that a try and see if it works.

EDIT: I think I was bumping the Windows key on accident, as I have played for over an hour and the problem has not come up.

If anyone else runs into this thread with a similar problem, my current solution is disabling the Windows key on your keyboard. Run a search for Microsoft Fix It program 50465.