Better bluetooth keyboard support (or at least copy KOTOR on iPad)

davemo

It would be nice to have better bluetooth keyboard support. I don't know if the shortcomings of iOS make this impossible, but it would be nice if your could use the keyboard numbers to select dialog options. It would also be nice if the keyboard could be used to do things impossible as of now on iPad implementation, like getting coordinates. Didn't Apple make keyboard support not suck in iOS 7, or does it still suck?

greenfish

I've noticed your quick to bash anyone who doesn't uphold bg ee to a gold pedal. But it's okay to bash apple?

Why anyone would want to use a keyboard on a tablet instead of a laptop is beyond me. But just for you i plugged in a logitech blutooth keyboard (noteability) and it works just fine on my ipad 4.

Tried friends ms/apple keyboard, no problems here either.

Tested on ipad 4, ipad 3 no problems.

nsr

I assume the op was asking for better keyboard support integrated into BGEE. I assume that right now the only places a keyboard would work would be the same places that a virtual keyboard shows up on screen (typing in names, donating in temples, etc). Is this correct? And in general, hotkeys (such as 'q' for quick save) do not work?

davemo

Yes, hot keys. Hot keys do not work. While they could add a virtual button for coordinates on the map, they could use hot keys to completely avoid having to mess with what is displayed. I have a logitech keyboard. I have the iPad on it about 90% of the time. The keyboard works fine for text box input. I enter money in temples with the keyboard. I read somewhere that iOS 7 was supposed to have better physical keyboard support, giving more power to developers, as it supposedly had serious limitations to game developers in the past. I haven't seen enough about this to know if either of these claims are true.

I have no problem with people criticizing BGEE. I have criticized BGEE. I have also criticized Beamdog. I just have problems with people pretending their hyperbole is reasonable in its content and them posting over and over again the same rage posts. For example, I am not going to pretend that my last sentence in the initial post isn't hyperbole. But you, greenfish, actually defend your hyperbole as if it isn't exaggerated. Others have complainted about the failure to include German in the patch -- definitely a valid complaint. A few of those making complaints like to say that Beamdog are a bunch of liars because they couldn't deliver their timeline -- nonsense from people raging in common Internet style.

As far as using a keyboard with a (full-sized) iPad, well, the usefulness of that is obvious to anyone who isn't so self involved that they can't understand anything outside of their own personal motivations and feelings. The sentence "Why anyone would want to use a keyboard on a tablet instead of a laptop is beyond me" is also poorly thought out. People use a keyboard on a tablet because they are using a tablet and they want to improve their interaction with the tablet. They use a keyboard on a laptop when they are using a laptop. I hope that was clear enough for you to understand. Are you completely unaware of the many iPad 3rd party bluetooth keyboards that sell quite well? Have you never heard of the Asus Transformer line, which has been successful for years? Are you oblivious to the number of convertibles being sold? Or are you one of those people who think that if you don't want it, it is stupid and anyone who wants it is stupid?

Also, I am unaware of an iOS laptop. Perhaps you are the exclusive owner of one. Or perhaps you like playing one save game on your laptop at your desk, and then a different save game on your tablet on the train, a different saved game on the couch, and another on the toilet, depending upon which device is more comfortable to use in each context. Personally, I'll stick with playing one play through at a time on the tablet, whether I am standing on the train commuting, or sitting at a desk in the den, or laying in bed. Consider the iPad was original marketed with the smart cover, which was shown to be useful as a stand (which it does quite poorly, though I like the design of the smart cover), and with the short-lived dock that similarly propped up the device, having a keyboard that actually holds up the iPad stably on a table fits how Apple initially marketed iPad usage on tables or desks. So perhaps you should have asked Steve Jobs why Apple bothered showing an image of the iPad in a doc with a bluetooth keyboard in the initial iPad presentation years ago since it is such a silly thing to want to do.