How do I make a 4 directional sprite move diagonally

i have the animations working correctly for up, down, left, and right, but when I hit the up and right arrows the animation freezes( while the player is still moving correctly because I have the animations pinned). do I just need to make diagonal directions if I want it to move with the 8 directional behaviour to eliminate the wonkiness or is there a way to just use 4 directions.

Does it work if you use the keyboard condition (on key up&right is down) and the simulate control (up&right) command?

Create direction variables for your player, and have the game check to see whether or not the player is moving and which direction they are facing to assign variables. Then have the actual movement function independently.

I may try an & event because I was hoping to avoid using variables for movement but if that doesn't work I guess ill have too. Thanks for the help.