3 replies to this topic

[Acerbt]

Hello

 

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this. I just figured this would be the best spot, given the nature of the problem I'm having.

I recently updated VP to the latest from github, which as of writing is version 10.8.0. I did see the info about the pause interface for the player being changed, however, as I went to actually play a table, I realised that this new pause interface is no longer accessible using my screen reader, as it was in the past versions. Before, it would come up as a standard system dialog box that my screen reader would focus directly, but now, it just silently appears, and I have to use OCR on the player window to locate the buttons. To make things more annoying, since I have the escape key enabled, if I click on resume or something like that from within the OCR result provided by my screen reader, I must then hit escape to escape the OCR result, which ends up not only passing to the screen reader to put me back in the window that I requested the OCR scan from, but also passes to the player window, there for opening the pause dialog again. Is there anything that can be done to fix this? I'm running this under windows 11, with the NVDA screen reader. I can provide more information if needed, but I figured I'd report this to start with.

[fhjui]

I have checked that with windows spy. Yes, the new "player integrated" pause/exit window has no window class to address the buttons with programs like Autohotkey.

The former versions (10.7.x) with the old menu had a winsdow class wih the objekts Button1, Button2 and Button3, which can be addressed by programms.

But in 10.8.x there is no chance. But with ocr reader, which triggers at the button fonts, should work, but very cumbersome

Edited by fhjui, 26 February 2025 - 07:55 PM.

[Acerbt]

Is there any reason from a usability standpoit why this is now the case? Does what ever method is being used to show the interface now provide any bennifits? It's always at least somewhat anoying for blind people like myself to come across changes like this, though since I can't actually see the display, I'm asking this. Also, while autohotkey is a tool which I do sometimes use, it is not a primary tool in my set of tools, since I only ever have to set things up with it for software that is mostly or entirely inaccessible with screen readers. Pretty much everything else in vp that isn't the main workspace, from the menus to the preferences dialogs, to the asset managers for sound and such use standard system controls, so NVDA can detect them as with any other standard windows app and I can navigate the screens accessibly. The OCR method is made all the more cumbersom by the fact that I end up having to scan the entire player window, so any text on the table itself, such as playfield labels and stuff is also detected, meaning that I must read through a lot of text just to find the resume, debug, and quit buttons. I guess I'll have to disable the escape key in the player for now, until/ if this changes again, so that i don't just reenter the pause ui by escaping the ocr output.

[fhjui]

I have checked this new pause menu in vpx 10.8.

There is a simple way to use the menu in a similar way to the vpx 10.7 version. You don't need an OCR reader for this.
In vpx 10.7, the focus in the pause menu was automatically set on the first button "resume game". The "Q" key closes the player, the "enter" key resumes the game.
In vpx 10.8, this pause window has the focus, but none of its buttons. Window waits for mouse over to focus the buttons. But it helps to send the following keys:

• press the "down" key once, then the second "table options" button has the focus.
• and then press the "up" key again. Then the first "resume game" button has the focus.

From here on, it is like in vpx 10.7: the "Q" key ends the player, the "enter" key resumes the game.
You don't need an OCR reader for this, you just have to count the up and down keys to use the pause menu.

And yes, its a good idea to disable the ESC key in vpx. If you use future pinball this key is in conflict and if you use popper you need the ESC key for the system menu

Edited by fhjui, 28 February 2025 - 09:50 AM.