When “extending” my desktop across multiple monitors, how can I limit my mouse to one monitor when playing full-screen?

Question

I have two monitors, and I often use the "extend" mode to work on both simultaneously as a large desktop. When playing games full-screen only one monitor is used, and that's fine.

However, I would like to use the other monitor to still work and display some other application windows. The problem is that with many games, moving the mouse to the edge of the primary monitor can cause it to move to the other monitor, and thus leave the game window. This is very troubling when using games where I need to move the mouse to the edge of the monitor in order to scroll the view. In these cases I am forced to disable the secondary monitor for the duration of my gameplay.

Is there any way to "trap" the mouse inside the game window, i.e. to prevent it from moving to another monitor as long as the game is in focus, so that only alt-tabbing away will allow the mouse to move there?

Asked by Oak

Answer

Here are some more mouse-trap applications, like CSMMT which Shaun's answer mentioned, that trap your mouse cursor in one screen of a multi-monitor setup:

• MouseTrap
• MouseJail
• MurGeeMon (supports Lock Mouse Cursor On a Monitor)
• Script for AutoHotkey

I can't vouch for any of these, but you can try them out. You can also search for more with keywords "multi monitor trap mouse" or similar.

Answered by Wikwocket

Check more discussion of this question.

Mouse Acceleration in Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Question

Is there a way to enable non-linear mouse acceleration in Deus Ex: Human Revolution?

I'm asking about a non-linear translation of physical mouse movement speed to angular speed of the in-game view. This type of translation feels very natural to me, as it's implemented in many desktop operating systems and in most FPS games I've played.

I don't know if acceleration is the right term for this, but I remember Windows' mouse control panel calling it that way in some older versions of Windows. In Window 7 it's called enhance pointer precision and is enabled by default. It's called pointer ballistics by Microsoft and is described under http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463319.aspx.

I can't find any option controlling this in the game's menu or it's setup utility (launched from Steam by choosing Setup Deus Ex: Human Revolution after double clicking the game in the game library). Without this option, I find aiming very hard because if I configure the mouse sensitivity to get acceptable aiming precision, making a 180-degree-turn is impossible without either moving my wrist or lifting the mouse and moving it in the reverse direction.

Asked by Feuermurmel

Answer

It does indeed seem to be impossible to have any kind of nonlinear acceleration in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Yet I was surprised how well I could adjust to the difference in conversion from mouse to camera movement between this game and what I'm used to from other games (using any of the games based on the Source engine from Valve as a reference).

But I still notice that I need to move the mouse much farther and/or faster while being less precise at targeting, so I still consider this a deficiency of Deus Ex: Human Revolution's engine.

Answered by Feuermurmel

Check more discussion of this question.

How can I turn off mouse acceleration for PC Games in Windows XP?

Question

I've heard turning off mouse acceleration can help precision in games. How do I do this in Windows XP?

Asked by Jeffrey

Answer

Open Mouse Properties, and on the Pointer Options tab, look for "Select a pointer speed", then the "Enhance pointer precision" checkbox.

Answered by John Gietzen

Check more discussion of this question.

Mouse Cursor Won't Display in Full Screen Games

Question

Whenever I run a game full screen, if it doesn't have a custom cursor built into the game, I basically can't play it, because for some reason, my system mouse cursor simply won't display when I run any game in full screen. I know it's still there, because I can see menu item rollovers animating when my cursor passes over them, so with some doing I can usually navigate my way to an option screen to run the game in a window.

But still, this is just silly. What could be causing this?

Asked by GnomeSlice

Answer

Try going into 'Control Panel' through the start menu, and accessing the 'Mouse' option.

Under the 'Pointer Options' tab, uncheck 'Display pointer trails' and press 'Apply'. (this seems to be a common issue)

Under the 'Pointers' tab, uncheck 'Enable pointer shadow'.

If you are running Windows 7, or possibly Vista (not sure about vista), go into the 'Personalization' option within Control Panel, and try switching the theme from 'Aero' to 'Basic'.

---

From there, you could try installing the latest graphics drivers.

Find them here for Nvidia: (Often named 'GeForce'. Recent cards are in a series of '8xxx', '9xxx', '2xx', '3xx', '4xx', '5xx') http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

Find them here for Ati: (Often named 'Radeon'. Recent cards are in a series of '3xxx', '4xxx', '5xxx', '6xxx') http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

Answered by Lemmings19

Check more discussion of this question.

Mouse Button Press in ROCCAT Macro Manager

Question

I recently purchased a ROCCAT Kone[+] which has some great macro possibilities due to EasyShift, which allows you to bind extra commands to the other mouse buttons (accessed by holding the assigned EasyShift mouse button)

In the macro manager you can view all the in built macros and their key sequences. Below is an example which has mouse button presses:

In trying to create my own I was not able to add mouse button presses to my macro using the recorder. How do I do this?

Answer

In the sequence list (under 'KEY PRESS SEQUENCE') you need to right click and select 'Insert mouse event' after which you can select which button (or the mouse wheel) and what type of event (down/up/click)

Check more discussion of this question.

What does “Touchpad mode” change in Flight Control HD?

Question

Flight Control HD, available for Windows and Mac OS X, has a little option called Touchpad mode. The in-game help says: Ensure "Trackpad mode" is enabled in the options for optimized controls.

Well, "optimized controls" is too vague for me. I want to know (exactly) how it changes the gameplay interaction.

From the few minutes I played with it enabled, I didn't notice any difference.

Answer

In order to draw a path for a plane with Trackpad mode OFF:

• You must press and hold down the left mouse button while drawing.

In order to draw a path for a plane with Trackpad mode ON:

• You can either press and hold down the left mouse button while drawing.
• Or you can click on a plane and then move the mouse without any button pressed.

---

In other words:

• Trackpad mode OFF: Click-and-drag.
• Trackpad mode ON: Either click-and-drag or click-move-click.

Check more discussion of this question.

How to increase mouse sensitivity in Skyrim?

Question

How can i increase mouse sensitivity in Skyrim?

• on the main menu the mouse cursor is sluggish
• in-game mouse sensitivity is too low

---

Things i've tried:

• increasing Look Sensitivity in-game:

  

• In my SkyrimPrefs.ini file:

  • Increasing [Controls]\fMouseHeadingSensitivity from 0.0125 to 1.0500
  • Adding [Controls]\fMouseHeadingXScale = 1.0500
  • Adding [Controls]\fMouseHeadingYScale = 1.0500
  • Turning off mouse acceleration: Changing [Controls]\bMouseAcceleration from 1 to 0
  • Turning off v-sync: Adding [Display]\iPresentInterval = 0

• Changing Detail in the launcher to Low from auto-detected Ultra

• Running in Windowed mode
• Turning off Steam's Overlay UI:
• Increasing my mouse pointer speed in Windows

Note: My question is different from How can I sync vertical/horizontal mouse sensitivities?, which looks to make the poor mouse sensitivity equal in both directions. i want not poor mouse sensitivity.

Note: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\Skyrim\SkyrimPrefs.ini"

Note: And restarting Skyrim after each change.

Note: Including details of what i've tried are only presented to shut people up who bitch about a "lack of research effort". i should be able to ask my question with explanation, justification, or research. Also people love screenshots - it draws them in like moths.

See also

• FoV and sensitivity.
• How do I even out the mouse sensitivity?
• Tweaks to make Skyrim that much better (self.skyrim)

Answer

The suggested SkyrimPrefs.ini i was using was the wrong one.

Using Process Monitor i was able to figure out that the correct one is:

%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Skyrim\SkyrimPrefs.ini

e.g.

C:\Users\Ian\Documents\My Games\Skyrim\SkyrimPrefs.ini

Changing [Controls]\fMouseHeadingSensitivity to

fMouseHeadingSensitivity=0.1250  (new)
fMouseHeadingSensitivity=0.0125  (old)

did the trick.

Check more discussion of this question.

What is the name of an old PC game where you moved sphere (bubbles) to eat others?

Question

This DOS game is around 15 to 10 years old and here is how I remember it:

• You had a conic mouse cursor
• You selected a sphere to move from one hole to the next one
• You could somewhat eat/capture other spheres
• The spheres were placed on a line of holes / place-holder and moved from left to right and from top to bottom
• The game area was constituted of a number of horizontal lines holding the spheres
• I'm not sure but it could be a two-player game where the other player started at the bottom right and has to go up to the top left.

Any idea of what this game might be ?

Answer

I am 99.9% convinced that you are talking about Funball, by Impulse games.

I tracked it down over at Moby Games, and here's the description:

Funball is a checkers-like game for two players. The goal is for a player to get a ball onto the opponent's base, while stopping the opponent from doing the same. Each player controls one color of balls--either red or green.

Like checkers, the game board is an eight-by-eight grid. Unlike checkers's squares, though, Funball's bases don't just passively accept balls. Bases can change a ball's size, teleport it, spring it further along, cause it to slide past rather than land, or have numerous other effects--there are thirteen different types of bases. The arrangement of the different kinds of bases isn't always the same, either. When starting a new game, the player can choose from five different preset boards, or use the board editor to create a custom board.

Not only are there different types of bases, the balls themselves can be different sizes. The relative sizes of the balls determines the outcome of an attack, and can have other effects, depending on the target base. In addition to the balls, the board can contain a spider, which moves around the board each turn, and can lay eggs that balls can absorb to grow larger.

The game can be played against the computer, or against a friend in hotseat mode.

Here is a gameplay screenshot:

And the game's starting screen, with the conic mouse cursor:

Check more discussion of this question.

Are there Tools which help to develop aiming capabilities?

Question

I've just bought a gaming mouse, and had to disable the acceleration (windows settings) for decent movement.

My question is, are there any tools available where I can find optimal settings (dpi)?

I thought about something where I would have to move to targets like little boxes, circles or something like that.

Answer

Since Team Fortress 2 is free to play, and it comes with a training mode (including bots!), it might work for your situation. You'd not only be testing your DPI settings, but you'd be practicing in a real game situation.

I also found this app, which is more along the lines of a 'move the mouse around to hit little circles' kind of deal. The app is a bit annoying though, with some loud background music. It still might be quicker than loading up TF2, or there's some other reason why it's not optimal for your testing needs.

Check more discussion of this question.

Is a wireless mouse less reactive than a classic mouse?

Question

When I play a FPS with my wireless mouse I feel that the game reacts more slowly than my movements. Is a wireless mouse less reactive than a classic mouse? Is there a loss of performance with wireless mouse? What is the latency of a classic mouse or wireless mouse? How can I test that?

Answer

Wireless mice have several disadvantages for gaming, latency being one of them. They also have a nasty habit of dying just as you're about to get the game-winning kill. It may or may not be the biggest/only bottleneck to your gaming performance, but it's certainly true that more gaming mice exist that are wired than wireless.

As far as testing it goes, you could take a look at this article, which contains testing suggestions and tuning opportunities to measure the latency of you wireless mouse versus a wired one.

Check more discussion of this question.

Hand exercises after a gaming session?

Question

I hope this is not off-topic, but this is important for me, and I assume to many other gamers as well.

Unlike most other computer applications, many PC games make liberal use of the mouse for most actions, often requiring fast and / or prolonged movement. Sometimes games may leave my mouse hand aching for a bit.

Other than taking a break (and visiting this site meanwhile =D ), does anyone have any good tips for preventing or alleviating the pain? Exercises maybe?

Answer

check out carpal tunnel exercises online like bending your wrist up and gently flexing it a few times, then doing the same but bending it down. also, you may want to look into a comfortable mouse if it isnt already, and a wrist lift for your mouse pad.

Check more discussion of this question.

What are all the keyboard/mouse controls in Skyrim?

Question

I'm looking for a list of every keyboard control in Skyrim. Bonus points for the mouse too.

Answer

Here are the default controls for the PC:

Mouse  Look/turn
W      Move forward
S      Move backward
A      Strafe left
D      Strafe right
C      Toggle Automove / Zoom item in inventory
Alt    Sprint
Shift  Walk (slower and quieter than default movement)
Space  Jump
Ctrl   Crouch/sneak modeR      Ready/sheathe weapon
LMouse Attack with weapon or cast spell in left hand  
RMouse Attack with weapon or cast spell in right hand / Block if available
Z      Racial power/Dragon shout
P      Magic menu
Q      FavoritesE      Activate/use/hold to manipulate objects
F      Change views (1st and 3rd person)
Tab    Character Menu
J      Open journal
T      Wait
1-8    Hotkeys (no numpad)
M      Map
I      inventory
/      Perk menu
Mwheel Scroll in menus or zoom while in 3rd person
Esc    Menu
`      Open/close the console (~ key)

Source: UESP

Check more discussion of this question.

How can I sync vertical/horizontal mouse sensitivities?

Question

Is there a way to tweak Skyrim so that vertical cursor sensitivity = horizontal cursor sensitivity?

Answer

Under [controls] in Skyrim.ini (Found in "My Documents\My Games\Skyrim") there are two entries.

fMouseHeadingYScale=0.0100
fMouseHeadingXScale=0.0200

Change the YScale to match the XScale and all is well in the world again.

Check more discussion of this question.

Mouse moving out of the Game with dual screen

Question

I'm using a dual-screen setup and some games seem to not lock the mouse to the screen, especially in Battlefield 2142 a while ago I often left the game with my cursor, which was bad when I tried to turn around quickly to shoot someone, suddenly I was back in Windows and quite dead in the game because I clicked on the Windows desktop or another window on the second screen which caused BF2142 to minimize.

The last game I played a few days ago that had this problem was Stubbs the Zombie (of which I heard here on GSE) which didn't even try to keep the mouse on the screen, I couldn't turn right much or my mouse ended up on the second screen minimizing the game when I clicked at the wrong moment.

I remember a few other games where I had this problem a little longer in the past, so is there a solution to this problem without forcing me to disable the second monitor?

Answer

There may be a built in Windows way to do it but this Lifehacker link suggests a tiny program called MouseJail to keep the mouse on the correct screen.

Check more discussion of this question.

Is a trackball good for playing games?

Question

I toy with the idea of purshasing a trackball, because I've heard it will greatly reduce the strain of the hand, that normally occurs when using a mouse. But I have some doubts if it will fit all my needs, because I would use it for a lot of working and playing games.

How well does a trackball go with working and playing games (like Minecraft) where you have to move a lot? What are your experiences? Can you recommend me an ergonomic model?

Answer

I use a trackball for my computer and am an avid gamer. I play many different games (a lot of minecraft, lots of FPS games, lots of RTS games, etc) and feel that I am just as good with the trackball as I used to be with a mouse. I'm also a software engineer, so I use my computer a very large amount of time every day.

Making the switch to a trackball is definitely something you can do and still successfully game. Not everyone likes trackballs, though, so you may regret your purchase. One thing I would stress is that you should try to force yourself to adjust to the trackball if you want to learn to use it. Unplug your mouse and put it away. Make it so your only option is to learn how to use your trackball or don't use your computer. You WILL have to spend some time adjusting, and during that time you WON'T be as good at games as you had been. Don't fret - just keep trying. I'd say I was back to the same skill level within about 2 weeks, but it may be longer or shorter, depending on how well you adjust.

As far as recommendations, I've only ever used one model, the Logitech Trackman Wheel. You may have better luck going into a B&M store and trying out different models and find one that suits your hand shape.

Either way, I'd highly recommend attempting to switch if you're considering it. I haven't regretted my decision in the slightest.

Check more discussion of this question.

How can I switch items using mouse buttons instead of the scroll wheel?

Question

My mouse (a Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 5000) has smooth scroll (I can't turn it off) which means using the mouse wheel to change items is not ideal, sometimes it doesn't register the wheel turn, other times it registers it as 3.

Is there any way to change the item switch buttons to something else? Ideally mouse 4 and 5 (the side buttons).

Answer

I'm not aware of a way to remap the scroll wheel within Minecraft, so I think your best bet is to look for third-party tools that will remap your mouse keys for you. After a quick Google search, I found X-Mouse Button Control for Windows, and USB Overdrive for Mac.

Looking at screenshots of both programs, they both allow you to remap mouse buttons as mouse wheel up {MWUP} and mouse wheel down {MWDN}, which is perfect for item-switching in Minecraft.

---

X-Mouse:

USB Overdrive:

Check more discussion of this question.

How can I fix the mouse lag on the PC version of Dead Space?

Question

When I try and play the PC version of Dead Space the mouse is sluggish and unresponsive regardless of how high I set the sensitivity. Is there a fix for this?

Answer

Usually this means that vertical sync is set, and you need to unset it, it's one of the most annoying things ever from computers that are slightly behind recommended specs.

Check more discussion of this question.

How to change Razer Mamba “sensitivity stage up” shortkey?

Question

Is it possible to change button "sensitivity stage up" or "down", to any other keyboard key?

For example I want change to "Enter" the shortkey for "sensitivity stage up".

Answer

Yes, in the mamba configurator the 6th and 7th buttons are the sensitivity buttons. Just re affect them to "one key" and set as key. Hit ok and apply. You're done.

Check more discussion of this question.

Can you play Baldur's Gate without a mouse?

Question

I am currently forced to game on a laptop, and was on verge of viewing life as empty of all meaning, until I remembered Baldur's Gate (and Good old Games). My question is as above: can you play Baldurs Gate without a mouse, and what impact does mouse-less gaming have on your game (if any)?

Answer

From memory, there was a legion of keyboard shortcuts, but the only way to interact with objects was by mousing over and clicking them; I am 90% sure there was no way to "tab" between interactive items, and, for better or worse, Baldur's Gate was way before the current age of context sensitive controls.

Even if there was, you'd have to have a way to move your party/characters and control orientation of the formations of your party... I know it's Baldur's Gate, but it's probably more trouble than it's worth :P

You could buy a mini mouse, or go even further back to NetHack, or try out Dwarf Fortress.

Check more discussion of this question.