A couple days ago I changed my in-game sensitivity to ~67%, and I noticed it felt quite strange. Jump forward to today, while alt-tabbed from SC2 I noticed my mouse sensitivity was the same in Windows as it was in-game, so I checked the mouse sensitivity in the control panel -> mouse window, and lo and behold it is about 8/11. As some of you may know, putting your Windows mouse sensitivity above 6/11 results in a huge loss of precision.

I really don't understand why it doesn't use DirectInput (or even better, raw input ala QL/CPM), and use a real in-game sensitivity like Quake/Quake3, etc. can. You can notice the effects on your own PC by putting the slider to 6/11, drawing some curved shapes in pbrush, then changing it to 11/11 and comparing the two. e.g.

[image loading]

TLDR: Don't change in-game sensitivity (unless Blizzard fix it) or your windows sensitivity. Buy a mouse with higher DPI or use a lower resolution.

Noxie

United States2227 Posts

August 07 2010 05:39 GMT

Thanks for the post.. Definitely informative and I am sure people change their in game settings without noticing this.

Jibba

United States22883 Posts

August 07 2010 05:41 GMT

Now that is interesting. I'll test with it later.

Phayze

Canada2029 Posts

August 07 2010 05:43 GMT

Testing right now. i personally had to turn up my in-game settings but perhaps i should have stuck with the razer drivers.

baeracaed

United States604 Posts

August 07 2010 05:48 GMT

What a horrible implementation! Good catch.

epik640x

United States1134 Posts

August 07 2010 05:54 GMT

So in SC2 we should leave it/put it at 50%?

damiah

United States14 Posts

August 07 2010 05:56 GMT

you should never change your windows sensitivity from default - this is pretty well known

50% is matching windows sens but in the end you either want Blizzard to do it the right way or get a mouse with changeable DPI

Noelani

55 Posts

August 07 2010 05:57 GMT

yea always leave windows sensitivy at 6/11 and in-game sensitivity on 50%, and get your mouse sensitivity how you like it by adjusting your mouse's dpi. That way you always have a 1-1 pixel precision.

professorjoak

318 Posts

August 07 2010 05:58 GMT

Good find. If you set your Windows mouse precision higher than the middle setting, then for every pixel that your mouse reports moving, Windows will move the cursor (1.5 / 2 / 2.5 / 3 / 3.5) pixels for the 7th-11th settings, respectively. In other words, if you set your mouse setting to 8/11 it is impossible to land on an odd-numbered pixel!

The middle (6/11) setting is 1 to 1 and is safe to use.

stafu

Australia1196 Posts

August 07 2010 06:01 GMT

#10

On August 07 2010 14:54 epik640x wrote:
So in SC2 we should leave it/put it at 50%?

Yes, 50% in-game and 6/11 in Windows (the middle/default setting) will give you a 1:1 pixel-accurate cursor movement.

Loser777

1931 Posts

August 07 2010 06:02 GMT

#11

Yeah, when I installed SC2 after beta ended I noticed my mouse sensitivity was WAAAYYY low... so I cranked it up to 85%... and then when I switched back to BW after finishing placement it was WAAYYYY high... it was 11/11 in the windows slider -I usually keep it at 7/11.

stafu

Australia1196 Posts

August 07 2010 06:02 GMT

#12

On August 07 2010 14:58 professorjoak wrote:
Good find. If you set your Windows mouse precision higher than the middle setting, then for every pixel that your mouse reports moving, Windows will move the cursor (1.5 / 2 / 2.5 / 3 / 3.5) pixels for the 7th-11th settings, respectively. In other words, if you set your mouse setting to 8/11 it is impossible to land on an odd-numbered pixel!

The middle (6/11) setting is 1 to 1 and is safe to use.

Good explanation

cheers!

sLiniss

United States849 Posts

August 07 2010 06:03 GMT

#13

What? Witchcraft!

Testing it now. Didn't know about this 1:1 pixel deal.

Anxiety

United States650 Posts

August 07 2010 06:15 GMT

#14

do you really need 1:1 ration if you only RTS? and browse web.

baeracaed

United States604 Posts

August 07 2010 06:19 GMT

#15

On August 07 2010 15:15 AnxietE wrote:
do you really need 1:1 ration if you only RTS? and browse web.

Of course you don't NEED it. We didn't NEED to get rid of dusty balls in our mice either but people like to use what's better.

kzn

United States1218 Posts

August 07 2010 06:21 GMT

#16

On August 07 2010 15:01 stafu wrote:

Show nested quote +

Yes, 50% in-game and 6/11 in Windows (the middle/default setting) will give you a 1:1 pixel-accurate cursor movement.

This (I think obviously) only applies if Windows and SC2 are the only programs modifying your sensitivity.

If you're using, say, Razer drivers, it gets a bit trickier.

stafu

Australia1196 Posts

August 07 2010 06:26 GMT

#17

On August 07 2010 15:21 kzn wrote:

Show nested quote +

This (I think obviously) only applies if Windows and SC2 are the only programs modifying your sensitivity.

If you're using, say, Razer drivers, it gets a bit trickier.

Yeah, I don't have a Razer mouse here so I can't test, and I'm unsure of how the Razer mouse sensitivity setting works. If you put your Windows to 6/11 and put the Razer sensitivity to full, and try something in pbrush like the image above you should be able to tell if it's the same pixel-jumping method or if it's something a bit more stable/precise.

Xapti

Canada2473 Posts

August 07 2010 08:37 GMT

#18

The reason the mouse skips pixels is because you don't have "enhance pointer precision" (I hear this is some form of mouse acceleration, maybe not good for some people, but I like it)

I usually have windows sensitivity high (or possibly maxed), checkmark "enhance pointer precision", and use the DPI I want on my mouse (which is the max of 2000, or sometimes 1600). Obviously you can choose non-max windows sensitivity, but even then you should select "enhance pointer precision" as far as I know.

On a different, but related note:
Anyone know what "reduce mouse lag" in SC2 does? Anyone noticed a difference? which do they prefer?

I do know on my old computer, when i played against 4 AIs and my machine slowed down to like 1-3FPS, my mouse clicks and stuff wouldn't register really. Perhaps that has something to do with that setting (it was disabled).

MuTT

United States398 Posts

August 07 2010 08:41 GMT

#19

my sensitivity is controlled by setpoint is that okay?

Keitzer

United States2509 Posts

August 07 2010 08:44 GMT

#20

On August 07 2010 15:19 baeracaed wrote:

Show nested quote +

Of course you don't NEED it. We didn't NEED to get rid of dusty balls in our mice either but people like to use what's better.

wait... we got rid of those? FFFUUUU!!!!

on topic: Testing this... sounds VERY interesting..

Edit: T.T ... WOW! I see what you mean by putting it on 11/11, the mouse like skips a few pixels, no, a LOT of pixels... well this helps narrow some choices for future purchases ... thanks!