Having 2 Keyboars functioning Separately

[ned1986zha]

Everybody knows connecting two keyboards will result in their merged function as one keyboard device in Windows.

Since DOS 6.20, It's been a problem for me and many of my friends while everyone of us likes to have keyboard as his controller playing games.
So, We're forced to connect our PCs and Play on a LAN.

Now I'm trying to make windows accept one of these 2 keyboards(a Ps/2 and another USB) as primary for keyboard device and the other only as a keyboard connected to PC.
This way, we may have the chance to play with two keyboards fuctioning separately connecting to the same PC.
I've tried a lot of tricks in windows and many modification to registery and posting here is my latest trick to reach this goal.

Your Idea may be the only remaining working one, Say it Please.

Sorry for Bad Writing!

 

[Zoron]

What you're proposing isn't possible. Even if you were able to enable this within Windows, it is unlikely that any game would be able to distinguish 2 separate keyboards. The only games that I know of that even allow multiple players on the same computer are sports games... and they're generally better played with a gamepad anyway. I know EA's NHL series used to allow two players to play with different areas on the same keyboard or one on a keyboard and another on a gamepad... but not two keyboards.

If you're both dead-set on using a keyboard, playing over a LAN is your only option. Windows was never designed to accept simultaneous input from multiple keyboards. If you could somehow make the 2nd keyboard something other than a keyboard under Windows while still retaining the function of a keyboard. Therein lies the rub: a keyboard is a keyboard and isn't likely to function as anything other than a keyboard.

 

[ned1986zha]

"Having 2 Keyboars functioning Separately in Windows Apps" could be a better name for this topic. This way we can focus on something more useful.

Before posting, I thought This subject shouldn't be treated as an impossible one. So, I dared to post.


Here's why:

1- While Windows puts both keyboards behind a layer in working with it's shell we're not forced to say there's only 1 keyboard in other apps.
So, It's better to say "Windows Shell was never designed to accept simultaneous input from multiple keyboards, Other applications may accept"

2- I saw games like FIFA 08 detect Controllers independently. I saw 2 keyboards appeared by my eyes in select sides screen, after a very short delay FIFA merged those 2 keyboards.

Maybe it's because of a shared loaded driver named "kbdclass.sys" located in system32\DRIVERS (or other shared stuff). And This way the game specifies them as attached to one PC and merges them. Notice that over a LAN, games do not merge keyboards on different PCs, Because Theose keyboards do not have anything shared.

So, If we try to install this keyboards without using this shared stuff then the game has no chance to recognize them using ordinary methods.

[strike]IMPOSSIBLE[/strike]