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alt_above_tab_breaks_wow

Alt+` Breaks World of Warcraft Classic (SOLVED)

Issue encountered on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS running GNOME, with WoW running through LUTRIS.

When playing World of Warcraft Classic, Alt+` is keybound to activate one of my character's abilities. Since switching to Ubuntu, this keybinding has not worked.

  • After attempting to use Alt+`, the Alt key is…“toggled on.” If I press `, 1, or 2, the game will interpret those keypresses as Alt+`, Alt+1, and Alt+2. This state persists until I press the Alt key again.
  • Alt+` appears to be a system shortcut similar to Alt+Tab in windows. I do not like this, and would like to change it, but it is not listed in Settings > Keyboard Shortcuts.

SOLUTION:

This was surprisingly simple to resolve once I found a similar issue posted and resolved by Es Degan on StackExchange. The trick was realizing that Linux refers to the ` key as “Above_Tab.”

  • In the terminal, enter gsettings list-recursively | grep Above_Tab to list all shortcuts which utilize that key. I only had two:
    org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-group ['<Super>Above_Tab', '<Alt>Above_Tab']
    org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-group-backward ['<Shift><Super>Above_Tab', '<Shift><Alt>Above_Tab']
  • I opted to disable both, since both were related to the same function, and I can't imagine ever using this function rather than the much more powerful Ctrl+Alt+Up/Down.
  • I removed the shortcuts by entering gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-group [] and gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-group-backward [] in my terminal.
  • Checking gsettings list-recursively | grep Above_Tab confirms that both commands have been unbound. I logged into World of Warcraft classic, and was able to use my keybinds without any issue.

I will note that this solution is not entirely satisfying. It doesn't explain the peculiar “alt lock” behavior that the game was exhibiting. Also it seems like I ought to be able to tell Linux to ignore a shortcut when there's a game being focused. (I'd think this was automatic, even!) However, I didn't use Alt+` outside of WoW, and even if I did Alt+Tab seems to perform the exact same function, so I am entirely fine with this resolution.

alt_above_tab_breaks_wow.txt · Last modified: 2021/04/13 08:10 by ls