569084 - flash games focus and input problem

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Claudio Fontana]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2.3) Gecko/20100401 Firefox/3.6.3
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2.3) Gecko/20100401 Firefox/3.6.3

I play a whole lot of flash games on kongregate.
However, I generally play only games that involve not too many simultaneous inputs. The reason is that there is a problem in the way firefox and possibly flash interact with regards to the keyboard and mouse input or focus.

Normally it works ok.

When however the flash game has the focus, playing more input-intensive games, sometimes some input goes to the browser instead. This causes the browser, for example, to scroll back a page, or select some text from another area of the page etc.

Normally with the result of frustration due to the death of the in-game character.

Simultaneous inputs (for example: fast clicking with the mouse, while pressing many keyboard keys) trigger the problem easiest.

Just try the linked game:
http://www.kongregate.com/games/Arkuni/the-final-death-wish

You need to commit to the gameplay though, or you won't see the problem.
F.e: move with the AD keys while jumping with the W key all the while clicking with the left mouse button extremely quickly.
At a certain point, you will not be able to move again.
You will need to stop what you're doing, left click the flash object again, and then it will start receiving input again. By that time you'll be dead.

I think bug #474215 could also be related. Or not?



Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. go to the pointed game link

2. set detail to medium, remove weather particles, or the low performance of flash on linux will make it difficult to analyze this problem.

3. play for a while, in the way described above: high input rate, high amount of simultaneous inputs (keep moving, jumping etc, all the while left clicking like mad). It happens every time if you commit to gameplay enough.

4.notice your input will suddenly stop reaching the flash game. Left click the object again to solve (but you'll be dead).

Actual Results:  
game character will suddenly stop moving and responding to any keyboard command.

Expected Results:  
game character responding to the keyboard commands.

Comment 1

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

Reporter, are you still seeing this issue with Firefox 3.6.13 or later in safe mode? If not, please close. These links can help you in your testing.
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Safe+Mode
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles

You can also try to reproduce in Firefox 4 Beta 8 or later, there are many improvements in the new version, http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html

Comment 2

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

No reply, INCOMPLETE. Please retest with Firefox 3.6.13 or later and a new profile (http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles). If you continue to see this issue with the newest firefox and a new profile, then please comment on this bug.