Sending Input to a game

[aanthonyz]

So far I have been able to send input to Notepad application to see if it works and everything runs smoothly. My issue is when trying to implement the same function to a game.

Currently im trying to make a click send once sentence but not even a letter appears.

private: System::Void StartMacroWTB_Click(System::Object^  sender, System::EventArgs^  e) 
		 {
			 HWND hwndNotepad = FindWindow(L"Archeage", NULL);
			 SetForegroundWindow(hwndNotepad);
			 Sleep(1000);
			 INPUT ip;
			 //Set up the INPUT structure
    ip.type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
    ip.ki.time = 0;
    ip.ki.wVk = 0; //We're doing scan codes instead
    ip.ki.dwExtraInfo = 0;

    //This let's you do a hardware scan instead of a virtual keypress
    ip.ki.dwFlags = KEYEVENTF_SCANCODE;
    ip.ki.wScan = 0x1E;  //Set a unicode character to use (A)

    //Send the press
    SendInput(1, &ip, sizeof(INPUT));

    //Prepare a keyup event
    ip.ki.dwFlags = KEYEVENTF_SCANCODE | KEYEVENTF_KEYUP;
    SendInput(1, &ip, sizeof(INPUT));

	keybd_event(VK_RETURN,0x9c,0 , 0);
	keybd_event(VK_RETURN,0x9c,KEYEVENTF_KEYUP , 0);

	PostMessage(hwndNotepad, WM_KEYDOWN, VK_RETURN, 0);
	PostMessage(hwndNotepad, WM_KEYUP, VK_RETURN, 0);
		 }

Ive tried 3 different methods and none of them work for the game itself. I dont know if this helps solve the problem but its an independent executable file that I am building. Do I have to make it into a DLL and inject it or can I keep it as it is?

I looked at a program called Macro Recorder by Jitbit, tried it and it works fine but its not open source so I cant see how they implement their keypresses.

[InunoTaishou]

HWND hwndNotepad = FindWindow(L"Archeage", NULL);

to

HWND hwndNotepad = FindWindow(NULL, L"Archeage");

[aanthonyz]

Why can I not use the class name for the handle?

[Biesi]

Why can I not use the class name for the handle?

You can if you know it, but I assume you only know the window title

[InunoTaishou]

Why can I not use the class name for the handle?

"Archeage" does not look like a class name. You would have to open up Spy++ and get the class name to use it that way. (Or autoit's window info, I use it sometimes because it's extremely simple)

You already know the window name so just use that

[aanthonyz]

Sorry forgot to mention I already checked with AutoIt. The Title is : - ArcheAge - Nov 18 2014 (20:28:40) Kyrios, and the Class name in fact is Archeage. Correction, ArcheAge, would the lowercase have caused the problem? I will check and edit after testing.

EDIT: Nothing worked. Replaced Class name with window name, made it the same case as well, even added both class name and window name. I dont know if this matters but in settings it says DX9 and DX 11. I have it set to DirectX 9, does it being a DirectX game cause DirectInput to reject my keystrokes?

[_PuRe.LucK*]

you could also hook the (key receive -> action) routine of the game(depends how it's managed) and fake sent keys

[aanthonyz]

Any links/tutorials on hooking?

[Miseryk]

Hook the keyboard or make ur sendkeys calling "NTSendInput", can't remember the params, debug it in olly.

Regards.