Skip to content
← All errors

WASD stops working

WARDOGS: you can't move after opening chat (WASD stops working)

Published Data as of Season 2 · 15 Oct 2026

This one is not your machine

A known WARDOGS input bug with no patch yet. Swapping weapons or pressing X usually frees your movement. Players say turning the chat box off and back on in Settings > Interface clears it, and rebinding chat away from Enter stops it coming back.

Check whether WARDOGS is down right now →

What you see

You press Enter to chat, or close the map, inventory or a vendor, and WASD stops working. You can still look around, jump, lean and switch weapons, but you can't walk. The chat box often never appears, or stops showing anyone's messages.

Also reported as: wasd not working · wasd stops working · cant move · can't move after chat · unable to move after pressing enter · stuck in place · movement locked · keyboard input stops working · chat bug

What to do instead

The cause is not on your machine, so reinstalling and verifying will not reach it. These are the things that actually help while it lasts.

  1. 01 Swap weapons or press X

    Reported

    This is the quickest way out in the middle of a fight. On Steam and Reddit, players say switching to your second slot "fixes it most of the time", and pressing X (holster or inspect) frees movement too. The catch with X: one player says your chat then stays hidden until the next time you use a vendor.

  2. 02 Turn the chat box off and on in Settings > Interface

    Reported

    The fix players repeat most on r/WarDogs. One says to disable the chat box under Settings > Interface; another says turning it off and straight back on is enough. If you rarely type in chat, leaving it off removes the trigger completely.

  3. 03 Rebind chat away from Enter

    Reported

    Several reports pin the lock on Enter, especially Enter pressed together with Tab, or chat opened and closed quickly. On Steam a player says rebinding the chat key "will solve the problem". If you rebind, check that nothing else shares the new key.

  4. 04 Respawn or restart if nothing else works

    Reported

    Players on the official Discord say a respawn or a restart brings movement back when the other tricks fail. You lose your position. If you are in a match you care about, try the steps above first.

  5. 05 In a helicopter, swap seats to get down

    Reported

    The lock also hits pilots, and on 25 October one player on Discord said they had lost two helicopters to it. Another landed by swapping seats over and over until the aircraft was down. If your flight keys stop answering right after you pressed Enter, assume it is this bug, not the helicopter.

Did this fix it for you?

Notes from other players who hit this code. Say what worked, what did not, and which region you are in — a fix that only works in one place is worth knowing about. Best-rated first, and there is no time limit: an answer from the first beta is still an answer.

No comments yet. Be the first to say whether this worked.

The bug is old and it is getting worse. Players reported losing movement after pressing Enter for chat as early as 20 September, in Season 1. Since Season 2 went live on 15 October the reports have multiplied. On 20 October a thread called Keyboard input randomly stops working since Season 2 gathered 15 replies. By 25 October it was one of the most repeated complaints in the official Discord.

What triggers it?

Pressing Enter for chat is the common trigger, but not the only one (Reported). Players describe four ways in:

  • Enter for chat. The chat box may not appear at all, and your movement keys stop the moment you press it. This is the Steam report and the most common version on Discord.
  • Tab and Enter together. Two commenters on a 492-upvote r/WarDogs thread say this is what causes it.
  • Chat opened and closed fast. One Discord player loses WASD when they do this too quickly.
  • Closing a menu. A bug report in the official Discord says WASD and chat go dead for up to 30 seconds after pressing Escape to close the map or inventory. A Reddit player hit it after buying from a vendor.

That Discord bug report also explains why it looks so strange. After respawning, the player saw that everything they had pressed had gone into the chat box. The chat was open but invisible, and it was taking the keys meant for walking. That is our best reading of the reports, not something Bulkhead has said, but it fits every version above.

Is a fix coming?

Not that Bulkhead has said. No patch note from Season 1 or Season 2 mentions it, and we have found no developer reply on Steam, Reddit or the Discord thread about it. The closest patch line, "Fixed a crash when closing a chatbox entry tooltip", is a different fault. When a hotfix names it, this page will say so. Live reports are on the status page.

Not this bug?

  • Keys that never worked, or a binding that will not stick. That is a settings problem with a file fix: key bindings will not save.
  • Aim that feels heavy rather than movement that stops. That is V-Sync: WARDOGS mouse feels sluggish.
  • A helicopter that stops responding mid-manoeuvre with no chat involved. Players describe a separate control fault where letting go of every input and tapping them again brings it back. If you are new to flying, start with how to fly helicopters in WARDOGS.

Source

Steam Discussions, "Unable to move after Pressing Enter", 25 October 2026 ↗

If that did not do it