Is there some sort of secret? No matter what sensitivity my mouse is set to I seem to get stuck when turning. On a controller I can turn completely in a circle, but not with a mouse unless i’m missing something. I’m willing to accept that I might be an idiot. But seriously how to people do it? It just feels so unatural. Sorry if this is a dumb question, because I think it’s a dumb question too.
While it’s true that experience is the only way to ‘get used to’ something, having the right settings can minimize the effort of it. It should almost be as effortless as pointing at something with your finger.
You will have to go into the settings and adjust your sensitivity to what matches your personal proprioception. The best way I know to do this is to open up the game and then pick a point to look/aim at (if it’s a first-person/OTS third person) or a point on the screen to put your cursor if it’s something with a static camera. Place your mouse/reticle on that point. Then swing it out for a loop/heart/star shape and try to snap your view right back to the same point based on where it would feel natural. Don’t readjust to get there if it’s not at the spot, just note where you are actually aiming compared to the target. If you go past it, sensitivity or acceleration is too high. If you don’t get there, it’s too low. If you are off to either side on a perpendicular line, (e.g. you come from straight to the side and end up too high or low) that’s you, and that will just have to come with experience. .
So with mice, you have a center position you return to after every move. From that position, ideally you should be able to turn your character between 270°- 180° degrees with a single swipe.
You’ll want to use a mouse with an at least 1000 hz polling rate. They can be found online for less than $30. There are websites to test polling rates.
I recommend a DPI of 800. 1200± DPI will often make your sensitivity way to high, even if you lower the in game sensitivity. 400 DPI has more hitches.
Turn off mouse acceleration in windows.
Make sure the sensor in the mouse and the mouse pad is clean.
Lighting round: light weight mice are preferred. 8000hz is better that 1000hz polling, but not by much and uses a lot of CPU usage and requires correct USB support. Don’t aim at the enemy, aim where they are going to be. Warming up a bit does help your aim. You don’t need to spend a lot of money to get the best gear or to have fun.
Useful mouse comparisons. https://www.rtings.com/
There is a mouse pad compare website, but I can’t find it.
Practice
With a mouse you turn back.
There’s aim trainer games to practice mouse speed and accuracy.
edit: aimlabs on steam.
I can understand where you’re coming from. As a lifelong PC gamer, it took me ages to adapt to controller usage (I use a controller on PC for some game types now) and I still can’t play any sort of shooter with a controller.
It’ll inevitably take time. You’re shifting from existing muscle memory, to an attempt to develop an entirely different kind of muscle memory. I’d suggest trying to use a PC for as many tasks as possible, even for stuff you usually use your phone for. Even general PC usage will help your muscle memory to develop.
Don’t give up, you’ll get there eventually!
I use a controller on PC for some game types now
I’ll use a controller if I’m emulating a console game(obviously.) The only PC games I use a controller for is strictly driving a vehicle in GTA5 and Cyberpunk, or racing games. WASD isn’t pressure sensitive, and it does my head in trying to feather the throttle to take a corner, or creep past an enemy so my companion can shoot them from the window. Just makes more sense to use a controller for that. Also too broke to buy a decent wheel and pedal setup.
I can definitely relate, similar experiences were my initial reason for getting a controller for myself. I ended up becoming a controller geek, though. Right now, I have a PS3 DualShock clone, a Logitech controller with DualShock ergonomics but Xbox face buttons, and then I have retro controllers for Sega Genesis and the SNES. Looking to expand beyond that eventually but virtually any game type works flawlessly with that setup haha
I use a mouse and keyboard for everything except gaming. I hate using my phone. I use to play basic keyboard and mouse games when I was a kid but it’s been a very long time. I actually started my game tonight and after adjusting my mouse sensitivity it’s easier than I thought. Hitting left shift with my pinkey to run kind of sucks but oh well. Still slightly cumbersome but I think I can get used to it. I’d still rather use a controller if given the option but I think I can manage. Thanks!
Get a good mouse with some extra buttons and it makes the whole experience a lot nicer. And remember you can usually change any keybindings you dont like. My mouse has two extea thumb buttons and theres some games where ill use one for sprint or dash, although left shift feels pretty natural after you get used to it for a while. The biggest difference with mouse is turning like you said, its not like a conteoller where you can just hold it to the side and then release to ‘reset’. Regardless of your preferred sensitivity tou have to get used to ‘resetting’ the mouse yourself by pucking it up and recentering it. But once you get used to that it feels way more responsive and accurate than controller aiming imo. I got a steamdeck a couple years ago and its largely replaced my pc for gaming but theres still times where i wish i had a mouse, even with the touchpads.
There’s no shame in getting a good USB controller for your games. I’m hardcore PCMR but I have no issue with PC players using a controller. The fact that you actually have those options is an excellent example of why PC is so awesome.
Definitly PC for the win. I have several controllers. The game I’m playing is mouse and keyboard only sadly. I get it, indie game developers have limited resources to work with. I’m forcing myself to use mouse and keyboard and its going better than I thought it was. The game is good so far.
Oh gotcha, did you try messing with Steam Input to see if you can sorta force that game to work with one?
Might try a low stakes, low stress first person puzzle or platformer. Was playing Faraway: Puzzle Escape a few weeks ago. It’s mouse look, WASD movement, no jumping, and no deaths or timers. Gentle gameplay, relaxing music, the puzzles are difficult enough to be interesting, but easy enough that I played the whole thing in one sitting between lunch and dinner…and I didn’t feel tempted to throw anything.
I got Faraway 1&2 off Amazon prime games, think they might still be available.
My thinking is that it’ll get you used to how to move around without being aggravating, and without adding too much complexity to the movement.
Or play Portal.
Practice
Play a less demanding single player game to get used to the mouse. I’m not sure how it handles mouse and keyboard, but I’m thinking something like Ratchet and Clank.
I’m actually trying an indie horror game called DreadOut: Keepers of the Dark because my controller won’t work for some reason. I have been reccommended Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart before. Maybe it’s a sign to play the game.
I would strongly recommend that a single player RPG would be the best. My first mouse and keyboard games were fallout New Vegas ultimate edition and fallout 3 of the year edition. I would recommend if you buy either of those. They are wonderful games and very easy to mod.
Playing a horror might not be the best to start with.
Edit: Third person view in some games might be really awkward with mouse and keyboard. Especially older games can be clunky af.
They’re all great. If you can get your hands on the originals, they hold up well. But don’t play the remake of 1 from a few years ago.
Try to keep the mouse centered in your mousing area. The aiming motions for the mouse are shorter, snappier throws rather than the long and slow arcs of an analog stick.
So move the mouse to your aimpoint, then pick up and recenter. I find that a full “flick” for me should go about 360 degrees. You can also check for mouse acceleration settings, this increases the rotation of your view based on how fast you move the mouse. Good for games where action is coming in from all sides, but it can cause some problems with precision and consistency.
If you can’t turn in a circle with your mouse, your sensitivity is too low. Crank it up until you can do a 360 comfortably without lifting it and repositioning. I have no idea why this advice suddenly became “lower the sensitivity and just use your whole arm across your whole desk” but, that shit sucks. Especially if you don’t have room.
It’s a good idea to disable acceleration and, when possible, use RAW input for the mouse so it moves 1:1 with your hand. You can do this in most competitive heavy games, and you might want to also disable acceleration (mouse smoothing) in Windows’ own settings.
Accuracy. When the slightest twitch makes me spin its way harder to consistently hit targets, especially small ones at a distance. Slower is better for sniping, faster works if you’re rocking shotties. A buddy of mine plays so much quake he has macros that adjust his mouse speed upon switching weapons so it adjusts accordingly, and it really makes a huge difference.
Logitech mx518 is the best gaming mouse ive ever used. I originally got it for $30 on a sale in like 2009 or so when i built my second main gaming pc. Then in 2020 when i got back into PC gaming and built a new rig I just checked to see if it was still available as my old one the cord had gotten chewed, and i guess they rereleased it and i ended up paying like $70 but i still think it was worth it. Anyway moral of the story aside from awesome ergonomics it has a little dpi switcher above and below the mouse wheel that lets you cycle tne DPI and therefore the sensitivity super quick and on the fly.
I have no idea why this advice suddenly became “lower the sensitivity and just use your whole arm across your whole desk”
Because that’s how you get the greatest level of precision.
Not really. Long time ago I was used to a mouse with ~3000 dpi and after a few years I was extremely precise with it. Also faster, obviously.
Yes, really. Speed /= precision.
Did you miss the “extremely precise” part? So no, not really.
No, I didn’t miss anything. “Precise” is relative term. Whatever skills you developed increasing precision can be applied and further improved with a lower DPI over a larger area.
Thank you, I will try adjusting the sensitivity and playing around with it a bit. I’m not using Windows so I don’t know If I have mouse smoothing enabled. I’ll look into that. I’m with you on the desk space. I don’t have alot of it.
lower the sensitivity and just use your whole arm across your whole desk”
Carpal tunnel avoidance
This question fills me with sorrow.
Sorry, was not my intent.
There’s no real secret other than to just play games and get used to it. FPS may or may not be the best choice for this. You could also play other games like strategy or city builders instead.
My sensitivity is so if I drag my mouse straight to either side, I’ll do about 7 or 8 full spins by the time I get to the end of my mat.
Thats crazy how much the preferences differ. I do like 2 spins with my big ass mousepad.
I don’t like to have to do that swing move that streamers and other hardcore gamers use. I like to use as little arm movement as possible
Its only an issue if you play like 8+ hours every day. For small movements most people use their wrist and that fucks your joints if you do it enough. That is one of the reasons for why pro players do it.
From left to right i do a 180 lol depends what kind of games you play
Step 1: Sit in front of your computer.
Step 2: Start using the mouse and keyboard attached to your computer.
CONGRATULATIONS! You are now well on your way to getting used to using a mouse and keyboard.
Practice/getting used to it
Also since you are learning try low sensitivity + moving your arm instead of high sensitivity + wrist movements
For the most part, it’s just like how you learned to be good with a controller: experience. The more you use the mouse the better you get. You brain just learns that this amount of movements equals roughly this distance moved on the screen.
For a lot of people, disabling mouse acceleration helps with precision. By default there’s an acceleration curve, so you move the mouse faster and the cursor goes even faster, disabling it makes it so the cursor tracks the mouse precisely. It can make it harder to do a 360 though, as acceleration can help get the speed needed. Dial in your sensitivity settings to where it feels comfortable for aiming, because if you make the sensitivity too much for the 360 it’ll be really hard to aim with any sort of accuracy.
There’s a rhythm game called Osu! if you want to stress test your mouse accuracy.
