Some key combos not working for AHK, some are Topic is solved

[downstairs]

That's literally the idea.

If your keyboard will not support three simultaneous keys, then using one as a tap and the next two as a hold is the next best workaround.

If your keyboard literally cannot tell your computer/Windows that it is 3 keys held down and not just the first two (Because of the wiring), there's I imagine there's nothing that can be done to make the keyboard work short of rewiring it and coming up with a new keyboard driver. It was mentioned that some gaming computers come with better wiring that won't ignore key presses when multiple keys are down, because some games require a lot of simultaneous input.

I haven't watched this video yet (and will in a moment when football goes to halftime), but this looks like it'll be a great video to learn from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOkV9BalNcw

Edit: Nah, that video wasn't as helpful as I hoped. Probably because they focused a bit more on gaming rather than someone trying to use AHK or other custom key combination software.

But one comment helped demonstrate something:

open notepad, hold both shift keys while typing "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog". have a lot of missing letters? you have a cheap keyboard, buy something better.

I only get THKBNFJDTHLAYDG doing that.

But the video does suggest one viable solution is to just get a new keyboard; a new keyboard driver may not be necessary (but a new keyboard may install a new driver.)

Ok, this all makes sense now and indeed my test of the two shift keys came up with a similar silly string of letters, with some missing.

Ok... I think maybe I'll just try a new keyboard. I assume I can find a good one that isn't crazy expensive. I'm not a gamer, so there's no way I'm dropping $100 US on a keyboard! But if I can get AHK to work perfectly or close to- it's a massive time saver.

Thanks for your replies!