Hello fellow PlanetSide 2 players, after getting the permission from Wrel and the dev team, I would like to present: Uncerted WinKey It is a small application that disables the Windows keys when playing PlanetSide 2 so one cannot inadvertently be thrown out of the game into the Windows Desktop. The Windows keys are only disabled when playing the game, not otherwise. While running, the application sits in the System Tray so it is not in the way: The application does its job as soon as it is started so no interaction is really required, but it can be operated through the context menu by clicking the right mouse button on the application icon: Download link: Uncerted WinKey v0.9 (SHA-256: 68AC66DEDE03D1D51C9288C83D9A9080B3CB83EFFA82E6BD87C91BF06E73D97A) VirusTotal scans: Installer scan Application Executable scan I hope that I managed to make your PlanetSide 2 time a little more enjoyable. Please leave any feedback in this thread. Thank you! --- FAQ: Q: Who are you? A: I'm an old time PlanetSide 2 player who spent a lot of time enjoying this game 5 or so years ago. I'm also a software developer by profession. Q: Why did you create this application? A: Several of my buddies and I started playing PlanetSide 2 again. All of us being Arma 3 KotH players, we got very used to clicking the Windows key (a regular keybind in Arma 3). Unfortunately, we click it a lot in PlanetSide 2 too and that throws us out of the game, sometimes in the most unfortunate moments. Perusing the official and other PlanetSide 2 forums, I have noticed others complaining about the same so I decided to help all of us out. Q: Why is your game character low BR? A: When my buddies recently decided to start playing PlanetSide 2, I created a new account because of camaraderie and to more easily help them with the certifications and everything, being in the same situation. Q: Do I need to use this application? A: It can be useful if you find yourself accidentally pressing the Windows keys. Also, apparently some players stopped using the ALT key for keybinding in PlanetSide 2 because it is close to the Windows key. If you experienced the same, you can now bind the ALT key back to something useful and use it without fear of that Windows key lurking close by. Q: How does the application work? A: When working in 'Enabled' mode (active), the application waits for PlanetSide 2 to become active and then it starts suppressing the Windows key via the low level keyboard hook. When outside of the game, the application does not suppress anything so the Windows keys are functioning normally. Q: Should I be worried about BattlEye? A: The application is not injecting any DLLs into the PlanetSide 2 process nor interfering with the game or BattlEye service in any other way so there is no reason to worry. I have been using the application myself during the development and testing with no issues. Also, my buddies who tested the application reported no issues whatsoever. Q: Should I install any prerequisites for the application to work? A: The application is based on Microsoft .NET Framework which is already installed on all contemporary Windows based operating systems so there should be no need to install any additional software. Q: Can the application crash? A: The application is coded in a robust way and you should not experience any issues. In the case that something unexpected does occur, the application will show a notification window with error info and will also copy the error info into the Windows Clipboard. That allows you to easily paste the error info into the e-mail or here on the forums and let me know about it. Q: Do you plan to update the application or extend its functionality? A: There are some ideas about extending the functionality, but considering I do not have a lot of free time on my hands I think it is best to not plan anything for now. If there are any problems found with the existing application though, I will try to fix them and release the updates here. Q: Can I play with you? A: Sure, you can add me in-game. The names of my game characters are listed in the application 'Readme' or by clicking the 'About' option from the application context menu. Q: How can I contact you? A: You can post on this thread, send me a private message here or send me an e-mail. You can see my contact details in the application 'Readme' or by clicking the 'About' option from the application context menu.
Take a spoon, remove windows key, profit of the operation to clean your keyboard, put ducktape on Windows key's hole. Done. Obnoxious-DIY can do the job here. X) Joke aside, thanks for that anti Windows key program.
I hope it is ok for me to bump this up. It has been almost 2 months since I made this thread so I hope it is not seen as me spamming the bump. I just feel that having it on the first page now and then will let more people to find out about the program and use it if needed. Actually, it would be pretty cool if this thread was stickied, but I could not get in touch with anyone on the discord for this matter.
So far I have got very positive feedback from people using the program. Thanks to all for letting me know. Seeing that it helps people makes me happy and worth the effort.
Don't you think it would be a good idea to open-source code like this? E.g. on github or something so that people can see what the program does? Personally I'm a bit skeptical to downloading .exe's from unknown sources..
I understand your concern, but every individual and small company that creates software can be deemed an unknown source. Heck, even renowned companies and products have been hacked and their software modified to include malware. I have created the program as a freeware and although it is not doing anything highly sophisticated that one would care to protect as intellectual property, I'm not willing to distribute it as an open-source at the moment, although that could be a possibility in the future. For example, I have an idea to make the program functionally more general so that it works with any game as I'm seeing that people are having the same issues in a lot of other games (or full-screen applications). Also, having the source code hosted somewhere potentially gives only a false sense of trustworthiness. Most people would not inspect the source code, then download it and build the executable themselves, but would rather download the executable from the provided link anyway. If you really want to use the program, but are still apprehensive about installing it, I would suggest that you test it in a virtual container or on a virtual machine. It is easy to monitor what system resources a program is using and whether it is doing any modifications. That way you can be completely sure for yourself that it is harmless. I like seeing you raise the concern though as I feel that the majority of people are not cautious enough today, from downloading and installing software to protecting their privacy on social media networks and so on...
Good old days. Today it is getting harder and harder to even find a keyboard without silly multimedia keys and with normally sized function keys (F1-F12), the SPACE key and the ENTER key...
Wanted to make a bump considering the recent surge in PlanetSide 2 popularity and number of players. Maybe some of the new players will find Uncerted Winkey useful.
