Driver

The driver for Bloody keyboards, including the B840, is called KeyDominator, and the current version of KeyDominator can be downloaded here. Note that you download a self-extracting archive file that needs to be run to get the actual installer operating, which is a fairly straightforward procedure aside from the lack of an option to choose the install directory or have shortcuts in the start menu/desktop. This archive takes up 19 MB, while the final install takes up all of 40 MB for what is a pretty light driver.


The driver, when opened for the first time, opens itself and a widget that can be placed on the desktop, with the latter having an option to be hidden for subsequent uses. Again, I had to rely on Windows OS scaling to be able to see anything in the driver on my 4K display because it scales terribly on older operating systems, and Bloody has not improved here. They did tell me that a revamped driver is in the works; however, for the purpose of this review, this is a negative. The default screen is Ultra Core. It does nothing but display the message you see above.

The Button menu is fairly extensive and has lots of options. You can re-assign any primary key (no arrow, numpad, etc.) to another key, a mouse button, an action, or text, or can execute a macro or combo. Bloody has some pre-configured macro and combo actions, although you may want to create your own, and that is where the other menus come in.

The B945 supports select RGB animations with some on-board controls, but you get those only if the driver is installed and active. Unfortunately, all the driver does is select the hotkey combination to activate said effects. You still have to trigger them manually. There is also very limited onboard control on the backlighting - be it static or animated - and this too has not improved from the previous generation of keyboards. Perhaps it is the software driver that is limiting, in which case the revamped version can't possibly come soon enough.

The macro menu is called Oscar Macro for some reason, but is, again, one of the most extensive programs I have seen. You can edit existing macros, but it is easier to start with a new file to create the macro you want. You can control the keystrokes and have the mouse move a few coordinates, which can potentially be very powerful in some situations. Say you are playing a game that requires more mouse and keyboard movement. Here, you can not only execute a combo move via keystrokes, but could also have your cursor move automatically between or after such combos.

Finally, we have a Super Combo menu, which is a combination of everything seen so far. You can create a combo that does a certain action once, as with a macro, or cycle through a combination of actions. Each has the option to press keys on a keyboard or mouse (or both) with controlled delays, and there's an option to record macros on the fly that get saved into this bigger combo action. Again, this is a powerful tool for work or leisure if you spend the time to properly configure everything. But it can also be intimidating to users, and to the point where many may shy away from exploring these options to stick to the default keyboard by itself. Once you have created a macro (or combo), you will see it in the drop-down list when assigning keys in the Button menu. Bloody does have a link to manuals in their driver to help explain the macro and combo sections, as well as on their website, and the same options from before did help me navigate around the otherwise full-of-options macro and combo menus. Everything done here is saved on the device itself, which has led to the brand having a reputation among some.. not so honorable gamers in the past.